Tag: literacy

Happy TigerKubz family spending quality time together reading aloud on couch sharing a storybook with toddler and preschooler

We are a proud partner of Read Aloud 15 to help remind parents of the importance of daily reading aloud starting at birth. For just 15 minutes a day, you can make a difference. According to Read Aloud, research shows that reading aloud the single most important thing you can do to help a child prepare for reading and learning. Birth to age 3 are critical years in the development of language skills. You help grow vocabulary and knowledge for your child. You can start reading aloud with the Read Aloud’s 21 Day Challenge. With that said, I’ll introduce you to an interactive read aloud Readatron-15 activity from Read Aloud and this can be part of your ‘read aloud’ curriculum.

What is Readatron-15

Readatron-15’s role is to show you how important reading skills are for child’s success in school. It is to help remind you that how beneficial reading is for child’s mind. It shows important it can be for subjects such as art and music as well. You’re building readiness that comes all together. Be consistent and make it fun. And reading doesn’t have to be a book, it can be anything. Remember that you are your child’s first and most important teacher.

Interactive Read Aloud
“I grew up in the 80’s and my favorite shows as a kid were usually about robots, and often ones that combined using their unique abilities to create one big robot to defeat evil. It is time to think about that same level of unity ” – Bryan of Read Aloud

Assembling The Paper Robot

Download the Readatron-15 Paper Robot Activity From Read Aloud Here

You can also find more Read Aloud’s activities at their site as well.

Interactive Read Aloud Is Important For Kids and Preschoolers

How many books should I read to my toddler a day?

How many books should I read to my toddler a day? I get this question a lot from parents. The rule of thumb is to read for at least 15 minutes a day. Because books vary in length, there isn’t a magic number for the number of books you need to read to your toddler.

You know the saying, quality over quantity? That applies to reading too! Going by how many minutes to read a day instead of how many books is a better gauge. The quality of the reading time matters. Quality of reading does not mean choosing the perfect book, but the engagement during reading. Are you pointing out things in the picture, making predictions, talking about the story, or relating it back to your toddler’s experiences? Engagement during reading helps toddlers build vocabulary, comprehension, and expands their world to new ideas.

I mentioned before that a quality book doesn’t mean the best book – because every person has their own preference, including our toddlers! The best books to read to your toddler are about topics they are interested in (e.g., dinosaurs, cars, trains). If you are looking for new books to add to your collection, you can never go wrong with classics that have stood the test of time. You’ll know they are interested in the book when they ask to read books over and over again. If you read their favorite book repeatedly every day for at least 15 minutes a day, you are already on a roll!

For a starter list of popular children’s classics, look for these books in your local library or at the book store:

  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle
  • The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
  • Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
  • The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown (click here for free book-based activity ideas)
  • Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
  • Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
  • Pete’s a Pizza by William Steig (click here for free book-based activity ideas)
  • Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
  • If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

Sure, reading the same book can get repetitive for parents, but with every reading, children may be picking up on new themes and ideas. This is how we build reading comprehension!

Next time, don’t worry about how many books you should be reading to your toddler each day. Instead, focus more on the quality of your reading time and aim to read for at least 15 minutes.

How Many Books Should I Read to My Toddler a Day?

Bilingual Books for Preschoolers

Reading bilingual books to preschoolers has many benefits. Raising multilingual children as a parent not familiar with a second language is quite difficult. Not to mention if you’re not fluent in both languages, it becomes more difficult. In either case, starting early will benefit you and the child greatly. By creating an environment of speaking a different language at home while they learn English at school, your child will naturally learn both languages. For this reason, I made a list of children’s bilingual books for preschoolers to help you get started.

Benefits of reading bilingual books aloud to babies, toddlers, and preschoolers

  • Helps young chidren with learning new vocabulary by expanding their vocabulary through books
  • Exposes children to new and different cultural backgrounds
  • Helps connect with family culture and traditions for 2nd and 3rd generation learners
  • Encourages learning new language at home for both the parent and child
  • Helps develop cognitive thinking skills and enhances memory

Will my child learn English if I speak another language?

Worrying if your child will speak English is a common fear bilingual parents and immigrant parents have. But, I have great news! Your child is 100% capable of learning both English and other languages. Assuming you’re in an English-speaking country, once your child starts going to school, they will easily pick up English.

If you are fluent in another language, your child is already at a significant advantage. Only speak to your child in another language and they will be fluent in no time. If you’re not convinced, use my experience as one case study.

I immigrated to the U.S. when I was 6 years old. English was my second language and I primarily spoke Mandarin. My mom was afraid I wouldn’t pick up English and struggle in school. As a result, she only spoke in English with me. I only had to take ESL for one year and I was fluent in English. As an adult now, I always joke that my Mandarin proficiency is that of a 6-year-old since that’s the last time I was fully immersed in the language.

Here’s another example. I lived near my oldest son’s paternal grandparents for the first five years of his life. His grandpa only spoke to him in Mandarin since he was born and still do so till this day. He’s now way more fluent than I am in Mandarin.

Bilingual Books for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers

Bilingual Books for Preschoolers - Let's Clean Up by Cadamini Books

Let’s Clean Up / Korean-English
By Cadamini Books

Let’s Clean Up has text in Korean, English, and Romanized Korean, making it easy to read. With bright imagery, hand-drawn illustrations, and simple dialogue, it’s enjoyable for both parents and little learners to enjoy together.

Author and Illustrator, Katie, created this book because she wanted to expose her child to the Korean language. She couldn’t find a book for a non-Korean speaking parent to read, so she created her own!

To purchase the book and free Korean learning printables, visit Tiger Boom Creative.

Bilingual Books for Preschoolers - Dot Line Curve

Dot Line Curve / Traditional Chinese-English
By Dot Line Curve

Dot Line Curve makes teaching the basic principles of Chinese character writing simple with this interactive tracing book.

Available for purchase at Dot Line Curve.

Bilingual Books for Preschoolers - The Hangul Story

The Hangul Story / Korean-English
Written and Illustrated by Miss Anna

The Hangul Story series is an educational fiction that focuses on teaching the sounds of the Korean consonant and vowels sounds. In fact, the line art inside is simple yet beautiful.

Buy this over here and more of Anna’s work here.

Bilingual Books for Preschoolers - Celebrating Chinese New Year

Celebrating Chinese New Year / Chinese-English
By Lacey Benard and Lulu Cheng

Chinese New Year is commonly celebrated around the world every year. In this book, you will find engaging pictures for little learners. It’s also in romanization for non-native learners.

Find the book at BittyBao.

Bilingual Books for Preschoolers - Hajimete Zukan 415 Picture Book

Hajimete Zukan 415 Picture Book / Japanese-English
By Shogakukan Inc.

All in all, the 415 photos in this bilingual book introduce all sorts of fascinating things from animals to vehicles. With text in English and Japanese, this book is a great way for kids to learn vocabulary in both languages.

Little learners can also hear the English and Japanese pronunciations of every word via smartphone.

Do you have bilingual books for preschoolers you’d like to share with our community? Let me know in the comments below or send me a message!

More on Asian culture children’s books

Bilingual Books For Preschoolers and Toddlers

Haiku Poems for kids

Do you know what Haiku poems are? Haiku is a shortest form of poetry in world, consisting of just three lines. It capture scenes from daily life and even tell a story. Haiku is also popular around the world for both adults and children. With Haiku poems, anyone can freely express themselves and enjoy creating a poem. I’ll share some examples of Haiku poems for kids and how your child can make them.

Haiku always uses 3 lines and 17 syllables and the rule is 5 7 5:

First Line: 5 syllables

Second Line : 7 syllables

Third Line: 5 syllables

If you don’t how to count syllables, you can drop the word here and it will tell how many syllables it has.  For example, “beautiful” has 3 syllables and the world “fight” has 1. Also, parents can learn more how to make haiku poems for kids right here.

Examples of Haiku:

The batter is ready
The pitcher is winding up
Three, two, one, Homerun!

Olympics are near,
And all we can do is cheer!
So let’s celebrate!

I wake up today
With my heart still beating
I love my gool life

Finally, JAL Foundation holds the “World’s Children Haiku Contest” every other year with different themes. You can find more about that on their website and how to participate for free.

Haiku Poems For Kids And Things To Do In Haiku

Japanese Stories for Kids

How about changing up your bedtime story with Japanese folktales? ‘Folk Tales From Japan: Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales for Children‘ by Florence Sakade and illustrated by Yoshio Hayashi is a great book to start diving into eastern stories. All the stories are easy to understand for preschoolers and young kids.

Japanese Stories For Kids

Folktakes From Japan: Fables, Myths and Fairy Tales for Children
By Florence Sakade, Illustrated by Toshio Hayashi

16 Japanese stories for kids! It includes “The Princess and the Herdboy” explaining the origins of the Tanabata Festival and “Urashima Taro”  one of the most popular folktales in Japan.

Buy Now
Japanese Stories for Kids

Suki’s Kimono
By Chieri Uegaki and Stephane Jorisch

Suki’s Kimono is a great story for teaching how to respect others’ differences and introducing their culture to classmates. The book is about Suki who shares her story in class, what she did during her break, and shares about the festival she took part in.

The story also shows the mean treatment she received from students and how Suki handled the situation. Since many students will be going back to school, it’s never too early to start teaching children how to share their culture and appreciate others.

You can find more activities for this book by clicking here.

Buy Now
Issun Boshi One-Inch boy

Issun Boshi: The One-Inch Boy
By Ichinori

This classic Japanese fairy tale tells the story of Issun Boshi, the tiny son of an old, long childless couple. His mother had longed to have a child for so many years that she finally added “even if it is a very small one” to her wish. When the elderly couple did in fact bear a son, he turned out to be only one inch high. He was thus called Issun Boshi, Japanese for one-inch boy. Although his parents raised him very lovingly, Issun Boshi realized one day that he would not grow any taller. He then left his home to set off on a journey to find his place in the world.

Buy Now
Once Upon a Time in Japan

Once Upon a Time in Japan
Translated by Roger Pulvers and Juliet Carpenter 

The tales in this collection are brilliantly illustrated by a different talented Japanese artist in each story. These retold stories have been shared countless times in Japanese homes and schools for generations. Like good stories from every time and place, they never grow old. Kids (and their parents!) will enjoy hearing these stories read aloud on the accompanying CD. 

Buy Now
Yuki In The Snow

Yuki In The Snow
By Y.K. Maple, Illustrated by Lilla Vincze

Yuki is a little girl who moved to Japan from Hawaii. This is the story of her first experience with snow and the significance of her name. The book illustrates Japanese culture to the children in the world and introduce Japanese children to English-speaking cultures.

Buy Now

Read stories online at Kids Web Japan

Also, if buying a new book isn’t in your budget right now, check out this website that has a collection of Japanese folktales. You can read these from your smartphone or tablet, pick one from the list, and then click “next” to begin. There’s a collection of 19 stories here for FREE. I highly recommend reading “Kaguya Hime” and “Tanabata”.

They’re many more Japanese stories for kids but that’s all for today!

Japanese Stories For Kids To Strengthen Intercultural Competence