Fun Facts about Pizza -- National Cheese Pizza Day!

Today is National Cheese Pizza Day! In honor of this favorite treat, I thought I would look at some fun facts about pizza and share a round-up of crafts, books and recipes. So go grab a slice and enjoy!!

Easter Around the World Round-Up

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

Since Easter is almost here, I thought I would do a round-up of our Easter Around the World adding in a few more countries I hoped to share about as well. So sit back and travel the world with me. Since our first Around the World post was in South America, I thought we would start there.

• Easter in Argentina

Holy Week in Argentina is an elaborate celebration. People dress in costume and reenact Jesus' last supper, his betrayal and judgment. They carry large wooden crosses and act out the Stations of the Cross, Jesus' crucifixion and his resurrection. It can be a very emotional time. 

Chocolate Egg Source: By Diegogabriel (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

• Easter in Colombia

 Holy Week is important in Colombia or should I say Semana Santa. The celebration begins as early as Thursday through Easter or Pascua. Good Friday is the most important event in Colombia other than Christmas. It is a joyous day that includes mass in church and processions. In Mompox people dress in turquoise robes and lead others to the Immaculate Conception Church. They throw stones as the doors to gain entry. Their robes are blessed during the mass and church activities and celebrations can continue the following morning as early as four. Many of the cities have processions similar to the ones in Spain. 

Source: By Campoelias (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

• Easter in Ecuador

In Ecuador, the Easter and Holy Week celebrations are pretty much the same as many places with reenactment processions on Good Friday, masses and processions on Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. On Easter after mass families gather for a feast featuring a traditional Ecuadorian soup called fanesca. Fanesca combines the food from the lowlands and from the highlands. It includes onions, peanuts, fish, rice, squash, broad beans, lupine, corn, lentils, beans, peas and melloco. Melloco is a highland tuber. 

Fanesca Source: By Micah Yoder (Transfered from en.wikipedia.org)
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

• Easter in Guatemala
• Easter in Haiti

During Holy Week in Haiti there are rara bands who take to the streets. Rara bands are like a club. The men and women in them wear colorful clothing and play instruments including handmade ones.The instruments include drums, bamboo, graters, horns and long metal cylinders like trombones. Their music is based on four notes, but they are able to produce many different sounds. See the Youtube Video above. The Rara bands travel the streets with dancers and everyone joins in. Rara bands also play during All Saints' Week in November.

Musician playing a Bamboo horn called Vaksen
Source: By LombinodrAlfonso Lomba (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

On Easter Sunday there is a fair in a park nearby. Children can go on rides and eat fresko (similar to Italian ice or snow cones) and many other goodies.There are raffle booths where children can try to win a toy, a game or a surprise gift. There is also a magician and a sek contest. Sek is a game about keeping a metal circle balanced with a special hanger while rolling the metal circle on the ground and chasing after it. On the way home, the children get ice cream at the ice cream parlor and go home exhausted.

• Easter in Mexico

Palms for Sale Source: By Nindasofia24601 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

In Mexico we begin with Palm Sunday. In Mexico they weave the palm leaves into intricate crosses and other shapes and they are sold at the doors of churches. During Holy Week, people get together to act out events from the last days of Jesus' life. These reenactments are called passion plays. They can range from simple to intricate. Participants called Penitents inflict pain on themselves to feel some of Jesus' pain. As in many countries Good Friday is the most important and somber day of Holy Week. They have processions with statues of saints carried through the streets on shoulders of people. The women also carry flowers, incense and candles and everyone sings Easter hymns. On Holy Saturday figures of Judas are burned. Judas was the disciple who betrayed Jesus. He is often portrayed as a devil figure in Mexico, but sometimes the devil's head is replaced by a hated figure. During World War II, Adolf Hitler was often used. The figures were wrapped in firecrackers and then lighted to break up in a shower of sparks. Today they are just burned. 

Card sculpture of Judas used for the "Burning of Judas" at Easter Sunday in Mexico
Source: By Wolfgang Sauber (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

• Easter in Peru

In Peru the Easter celebrations start the Monday before Easter. In Cuzco, people carry a statue of Jesus in a long procession through the streets. The people there believe this statue saved Cuzco from being destroyed in a bad earthquake on March 31, 1650. They call the statue Our Lord of the Earthquakes.  Festivities continue throughout the week with dancing, feasting and drinking. There are many favorite snacks including besitos (little kisses a type of candy) and chicha ( a beer brewed using corn). In Ayacucho artists make images on the ground using flowers. Similar to Mexico, many Peruvian towns hang and burn images of Judas on Good Friday. Many Peruvian Catholics believe God will not see what you do between Good Friday and Easter Sunday since Jesus is dead, so it is a chance to break rules and misbehave.

Our Lord of Earthquakes Source: By LopeHope (Own work) 
[CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

• Easter in Russia and Ukraine
• Easter in France, Portugal and Spain
• Easter in Sweden
• Easter in Germany, Hungary, Norway, and Poland

 

 

•  Easter in Ethiopia
• Easter in Lebanon

Eid Il Fasih is a joyful celebration in Lebanon. All Lebanese Christians fast the 40 days of Lent or Es Soum. During this time families do not eat meat. On Palm Sunday or Sha'aneeni, the Christian children dress in their very best clothes for the Ziah, a parade around the church just before noon. The children carry candles that are decorated with flowers and olive branches. The festival ends with a feast. Holy Week passes quietly with families going to church and eating simply.  On Holy Saturday, the churches are lit with candles and the day is called Sabt innour or Sabboth of Light. It is said that many years ago lights appeared by miracle in churches throughout Lebanon. On Easter Sunday, people dress in their best clothes, the children hunt for eggs and play a game called youdakis. They have a traditional meal and eat kousa or zucchini and grape leaves stuffed with rice and meat and Tabbouleh. On Easter Monday or Ithnayn il Rahib, families tend to take trips into the country and lit loud fireworks.

 

This is the end of our Around the World exploration of Easter celebrations for this year. I hope you enjoyed it. The resources I used for this post are the following books. 

 

 

 

Also if you want to see more Easter posts check out:

•  Activities to Teach the Meaning of Easter
• The Legend of the Sand Dollar
• Sharing the Easter Story with Young Children
•  Last Supper Model
• Beaded Crosses
• Chocolate Easter Egg Wrapper Cross
• Resurrection Eggs
• Religious Easter Match Game
• My Easter Pinterest Board

Fun Facts about the Tooth Fairy & Lost Tooth Traditions from Around the World

Did you know that August 22nd (and February 28) is National Tooth Fairy Day? In honor of this fun holiday I am sharing some fun facts about the mysterious Tooth Fairy. No one knows what the Tooth Fairy looks like, but often the Tooth Fairy is betrayed as a female with wings.

Women's History Month Picture Book Round-Up

 

March is Women's History Month. Over the years I have shared many books about amazing women. Some are biographies and some are books based on their lives. There are even some that feature more than one woman. I share these books all year long and not just in March. Today I thought I would do a round-up of books about women that I have reviewed in the past. I also have checked to see that the books are still available for the older ones. Some books are about famous women and others may be a woman you haven't heard of. Each has a story that is worth learning about and I hope you will consider checking out the book and sharing it with someone this month! Full disclosure: I was sent copies of these books at some point in time to review. The links provided will take you to my review of the book. These books are recommended for ages between 4 and 10. Next week I will share a round-up of books for older kids.

A Look at Real Life Princesses -- National Princess Week Resources & Giveaway

Disclosure: Penguin Random House Books gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.  As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Last week I introduced our big giveaway for National Princess Week (April 23-29). Today I am going to share our first post about the amazing resources we are giving away. The prizes in this giveaway are the resources I like to use with Hazel to see princesses as strong, brave and wonderful role models and not just weak girls waiting to be saved or who just go to tea parties and balls. To begin with resources my favorite place to start is a look at real life princesses. One of my favorite places to start especially with younger girls is Princess Grace by Mary Hoffman and illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu. 

Stand Up and Sing! Pete Seeger, Folk Music, and the Path to Justice

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Today I am sharing a fun book that teaches kids about Pete Seeger. Now Pete Seeger is a name I know but I will admit besides the fact that he was a folk musician I did not know much about him. Do you? The book is Stand Up and Sing!: Pete Seeger, Folk Music and the Path to Justice by Susanna Reich and illustrated by Adam Gustavson. I learned so much about Pete Seeger from this picture book.

Interesting Facts about Samurai and Himeji Castle Jigsaw Puzzle Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent this puzzle in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Today I am going to share another 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. It is a beautiful photograph from Japan. It is the Samurai Castle and Cherry Blossoms 1,000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle. 

Dovey Johnson Roundtree -- Civil Rights Activist & More #blacklivesmatter

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I saw a meme on Facebook recently about how we shouldn't need Black History Month, Asian American History Month, etc. because it should all be covered in US History. My first thought was that I agreed. It would be wonderful to be able to study history and know it was all in there. But I have been thinking more about it. I am remembering my own schooling and how much I found history pretty boring. Back then the books were all about white males with perhaps a mention of a woman or Black person. It was about memorizing dates (how does that help me in real life?) and names and not really about understanding the whys. To me the reason to study history is to understand the whys so we don't repeat the bad things. We need to learn from our mistakes even if the mistakes are of our ancestors. Plus can you imagine how big the history books would be if they included everything. I do believe our history books need to include all history but I love having the heritage months to focus on different groups because otherwise I might not get a chance to read a book like the one I'm sharing today. I might not have learned about Dovey Johnson Roundtree and her significant role in the Civil Rights Movement. Have you heard of Dovey? I know I hadn't until I read this book. The book is Mighty Justice (Young Reader's Edition): The Untold Story of Civil Rights Trailblazer Dovey Johnson Roundtree by Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe and adapted by Jabari Asim.

Sharing Saturday 17-2

It is time for Sharing Saturday!! This is a link party to share all of your child-oriented crafts, crafts made for kids, activities and lessons as well as your parenting and/or teaching posts.

On Sunday night we also host Crafty Weekends for all your crafts (done by any age), patterns, and craft product reviews! It is the perfect place to share your creative side!! And for all of your cultural posts come share them at the monthly Creative Kids Culture Blog Hop(a new one starts Sunday).

Thank you to everyone who shared with us at our last party! It was a fun party with many great ideas shared. Our features are just a sampling of them so if you haven't checked them all out, you should! This week we have three groups of features: Holiday, Parenting and Crafts & Lessons.

Gary Paulsen's Middle Grade Autobiography -- Fascinating and Heart-wrenching

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Have you heard of the author Gary Paulsen? He is a three-time Newbery Honor winning author. He wrote books such as Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room. I haven't personally read them but they apparently are amazing middle school and young adult books. Now he is sharing his own childhood story in Gone to the Woods: Surviving a Lost Childhood. 

Weekend Time==Cooking, Snow Angels, Lent Preparation

Coming home from my parents we rushed to the library for the Move and Groove program that we signed up for. Hazel loves it. While there we got a few new books. One of them is The Snow Angel by Glenn Beck.

This story is about a sister and brother who are very upset because their parents are working so much (out of need) and their grandmother keeps spending the night with them. They have been eating macaroni and cheese made by their father (which they claim is not as good as their mother's) every night. Their grandmother tells them a story about a young girl who had similar circumstances--her father was fighting in the war (World War II) and her mother was sewing uniforms for the soldiers and she was home by herself. When her father was home on leave he taught her how to make a snow angel the last day he was home and explained that snow angels are magical. They stay with the person you make them for and watch over them. Therefore, since he made one for her, she wouldn't be alone anymore. She no longer felt so alone when her parents were gone. The sister figured out the girl in the story was their grandmother. Then they talk about making snow angels for their parents, but their is no snow. The next morning the children surprise the parents with breakfast in bed and downstairs hung paper snow angel chains all around.

I folded some white paper like a fan (back and forth) and then sketched a snow angel and cut through all the layers. Then I tried folding it smaller and sketched half a snow angel. These are the chains on the top of the page. Hazel tried to cut some but had a bit of trouble so I helped her and cut it in half so she didn't have as many layers. Sorry the picture is a bit out of focus. (We also started some more crafts to do with books we have been reading, but we will save those until we are done.)

We also started our grass egg shells for Easter. Since Lent started on Wednesday and we were away, we started it a few days late. I had been saving half egg shells from whenever we used eggs. I washed them out and left them to dry. Then I used a safety pin to punch a hole in each one for drainage.

We lined them in a plastic egg carton (which we usually use to put Hazel's paints in when she is painting with different colors) and filled them with top soil. Hazel enjoyed this part and made a bit of a mess.

Then we put some grass seeds in each one (again Hazel had fun and dropped the handful in the middle so we had to spread them out). We added some more soil and water and placed them in the window. Now we need to check the water of them each day and look for growth.

We will share these closer to Easter when we hopefully have some grass. We did this last year and used them as part of our Easter basket center piece. Plus it helps Hazel learn about the growing process.

Yesterday morning we made pancakes. We decided on pumpkin blueberry pancakes. Hazel had a small breakfast with Daddy earlier, but she at almost four of these pancakes with me. Needless to say, they were a hit.

Mixing the Dry Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed meal
2 Tablespoons toasted oat bran (you can use wheat germ as well)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
dash of ginger

Mix all together. Then set aside.

Beating Liquid Ingredients

Then we did the eggs. I separated the egg white and let Hazel crack the whole egg. Then let her beat them while I got all the liquid ingredients together.

Liquid Ingredients
1 large egg
1 egg white
1 can of cooked pumpkin (you could use homemade as well)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 cup fat free milk

Mixing all the Batter

Beat these together with a whisk. Then add dry ingredients and mix. Then add a cup or so of blueberries (we use frozen) and mix. (I find the blueberries hide most of anything you put in there.)

Then heat a pan sprayed with a cooking spray.  When griddle is warm enough pour batter on in small circles. Let cook until edges look a bit cooked and then flip. Press down with spatula to make sure insides cook. Flip a few more times pressing down.

Enjoy!

Around the World in 12 Dishes-- Canada

This month we are exploring Canada with the Around the World in 12 Dishes group. Hazel and I have been having so much fun with it. If was warmer weather, I might even consider taking her to Canada, however I cannot imagine going anywhere colder and snowier than what we already have. I am so done with winter, but alas, we are expecting snow again tomorrow. Anyway, a bit about Canada. Canada borders three oceans: Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic, and its southern border with the United States is the worlds longest land border between two countries. Canada is the second largest country in area. Canada was settled by both France and Great Britain. After the French and Indian War, France ceded its colonies to Britain in 1763. As a result of both countries settling, Canada is officially a bilingual country. Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. The Queen's representative carries out most of the federal royal duties in Canada.

Learning about Japan for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Week 1

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Wow, April was a bit of a strange month with the stay at home order. It is hard to believe it is May. Our weather is finally starting to warm back up. April was the coldest April on record here and until this weekend our warmest day in 2020 was in January! May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Multicultural Kid Blogs has stopped doing its monthly heritage month series but I still wanted to share about it. So this year as I looked at my resources (aka my review shelf) I noticed a definite theme of Japan. So I am going to try to post on Mondays sharing different resources on Japan and Japanese culture. And it makes the most sense to begin with well the beginning. So our first book today is Kojiki: The Birth of Japan by Kazumi Wilds. 

The History of Zero--Asian Pacific American Heritage Blog Series and Giveaway Post

This post is part of the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Blog Series and Giveaway on Multicultural Kid Blogs. You can enter the giveaway at the end of the post. There is a link party for all Asian-Pacific American Heritage posts on Multicultural Kid Blogs. We also have a link party for Japan posts in our Global Learning for Kids this month. Next month will be India.

History of Zero:

Can you imagine a world without zero? Or perhaps you wonder why we need to represent nothing at all? For centuries there was no mark or symbol of zero. The history of the number zero begins in Asia. It is believed that the first people to have a symbol for zero were the Babylonians. The Babylonians had inherited the counting system of the Sumerians which was the first to have a symbol instead of hash marks for each number.

Around 1450 B.C. By Свифт/Svift (my work) 
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Sharing Saturday 15-38

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! We had less than usual, but what was shared was amazing!! Our feature themes this week are Autumn Leaves, Art and Educational Play.  Remember the features are just a sampling of the things shared so if you did not get a chance to check them all out, go back and be inspired!

Multicultural Children's Book Day Review--Greenhorn #readyourworld

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Are you ready for another multicultural children's book review? This week I am featuring two books by Anna Olswanger that share a bit of Jewish history. Today's book takes us to New York City post World War II. It is Greenhorn and was illustrated by Miriam Nerlove. 

In this book, a Holocaust survivor from Poland is brought to a Jewish boarding school in New York City. The young survivor does not speak English and carries with him a small box all the time. One boy at the school befriends him and tries to protect him from the teasing of the other boys however the friend stutters and is often teased himself. 

The story is about friendship and bravery. It is powerful and teaches a bit about the Holocaust. It is written for 8- to 12-year-olds. Through friendship the two boys find their own voices and are able to help one another through a tough time in each other's lives. The story is well written and interesting to read. There is the typical teasing and even bullying in the story but throughout it we learn about what Jews had to go through during the Holocaust. 

Anna Olswanger provides a discussion guide for families as well as one for teachers to go with this book and there is a short film made based on it. The photographs are from this film. Here is the trailer for it. 

The book itself is short and small but the story is based on real life. At the end of the book Anna shares that the real life boys in the story meet as adults and discover that each has made his own dreams come true. This book is perfect for any unit on the Holocaust to see a side not often discussed. I hope you will check it out.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2021 (1/29/21) is in its 8^th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those book into the hands of young readers and educators. Eight years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues. Read about our Mission & History HERE.

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TWITTER PARTY! Register here!

 

Join us on Friday, Jan 29, 2021, at 9 pm EST for the 8th annual Multicultural Children's Book Day Twitter Party! This epically fun and fast-paced hour includes multicultural book discussions, addressing timely issues, diverse book recommendations, & reading ideas. We will be giving away an 8-Book Bundle every 5 minutes plus Bonus Prizes as well! *** US and Global participants welcome. ** Follow the hashtag #ReadYourWorld to join the conversation, connect with like-minded parts, authors, publishers, educators, organizations, and librarians. See you all very soon on Twitter! Hashtag: Don’t forget to connect with us on social media and be sure and look for/use our official hashtag #ReadYourWorld.

11 Interesting Facts about Trick-or-Treating

Have you check out our Interesting Facts series that I began last week? I have been having so much fun writing them, so I hope you are enjoying them!! Today we are looking at Trick-or-Treating!

Books to Celebrate Filipino American History Month

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Did you know October is Filipino American History Month? Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation. They are third largest ethnic group in California (after Latinos and Blacks). October was chosen because it commemorates the first Filipino to step foot on the continental United States. On October 18, 1587, Luzones Indios came ashore at what is now Morro Bay, California, from Nuestro Senora de Esperanza, a Spanish galleon. In 2009 the United States Congress recognized October as Filipino American History Month. (Source) To celebrate I thought we would look at some books about the Philippines and their culture. 

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Prize Review

Have you entered the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Giveaway being hosted over at Multicultural Kid Blogs? It is part of our Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Blog Series. I will be co-hosting two posts in the next couple of weeks as part of the series and I wrote the first post for the series on Multicultural Kid Blogs. I also played a roll in getting some of the prizes for the giveaway. I thought I would take some time to review the prizes since I wanted to check some out for myself. There are three prize packs that you can win and each has a good number of books. Some of the books we have reviewed previously and others we have not. Today I am going to review four books published by Lee & Low Books that I got out of the library. I will also share information about the other prizes that I have previously reviewed or know something about. I will provide links to where prizes can be purchased for your convenience. I do not get anything from you purchasing them besides the joy of sharing wonderful resources.

 The Prizes

Fun Facts about Times Square New Year's Eve Ball Drop

How was your Christmas? Ours was good, but it included 12 hours without power besides a generator. Thank God for the generator which gave us heat and a microwave. Our Christmas dinner which really wasn't included microwaved lasagna with my father's birthday cake for dessert that had hand whipped frosting. Luckily Hazel thought it was fun to hand whip the frosting. But as always it is so great to be with family.