Valentine's Gifts and Doll Party Supplies

 Disclosure: I was sent these craft lots to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I added links to the particular products for your convenience, but not for any compensation. 

Yesterday I shared Hazel's lucky ducky Valentine cards for her classmates and teacher with free printables. It is a little hard to put a card with a rubber duck into an envelope. However we wrapped them in a piece of red construction paper and then used these great We Know What Love Is stickers to seal them.  They are not pretty, but at least the card is hidden and the stickers have a Scripture and Valentine theme. (Hazel goes to a Christian school.)

Lucky Ducky Valentines with Free Printables

Now I know I have talked about Hazel's Ducky before. When I saw this idea for a Valentine, I knew we had to do it. Of course, I cannot find where I saw it. Sorry!! However, I found red and pink mini rubber ducks at Michaels and bought two packages of 8.

Mahalia Jackson -- Black History Month Blog Series and Giveaway

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Black History Month Blog Hop and Giveaway. More details below. 

While reading the books written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s relatives this year I kept seeing mention of Mahalia Jackson. I had read the book Martin & Mahalia by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, but did not really see the connection to them besides she was a gospel singer and he was a preacher.

Reading stories about how Martin asked Mahalia to get the people in Washington in the right frame of mind for his speech and her whispering to him to tell them about his dream, made me want to learn more. Of course with any musician one of the first things I do is look for a CD at the library so we can hear the music.

Sharing Saturday 15-6

Thank you to everyone who shared with us last week!! There were so many amazing ideas shared!! If you have not checked them out, please do so. For features this week we have a few Valentine Features, Book Features and a category I am calling Play and Learn Features.

The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra Book Review Black History Month

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to 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.

Have you ever heard of Sun Ra? How about Sun Ra and the Arkestra? I hadn't until I read this great book, The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra by Chris Raschka. You know it is going to be interesting when it starts out with Sun Ra always said he was from Saturn. It goes on to basically say even though we know that is not true let's assume it is. Sun Ra was an amazing musician and composer. He formed a group of musicians called the Arkestra or Sun Ra's Arkestra. When looking at the various cultures, I like to give Hazel a well rounded look. As important as the Civil Rights Movement is, I think it is also important for her to learn a bit about the arts and the people.

Sun Ra and the Arkestra in 1992 by Pandelis karayorgis at en.wikipedia
[GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons