In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPI) Month, the Greater Austin Reading Coalition and Success By Six Coalition are excited to share 10 age-appropriate, children’s books that reflect the rich diversity of AAPI culture. These coalitions — convened by United Way for Greater Austin — work hard to make sure that all local children and families have access to books, especially books that illustrate the diversity of our community and that children can see themselves, their families, and their culture depicted in. Many of the books listed below are available to check out at your local library or in audio form on YouTube! Five books for babies to toddlers (ages 0-4) “Hot Pot Night!” by Vincent Chen “I am Golden” by Eva Chen, Illustrated by Sophie Diao “Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao” by Kat Zhang, Illustrated by Charlene Chua “My First Chinese New Year” by Karen Katz “Moana” by Disney Five books for young readers (ages 5-9) “The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family” by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali, Illustrated by Hatem Aly “The Most Beautiful Thing” by Kao Kalia Yang, Illustrated by Khoa Le “Asian-Americans Who Inspire Us” by Analiza Quiroz Wolf with Michael Franco “Eyes that Kiss in the Corners” by Joanna Ho, Illustrated by Dung Ho “Ohana Means Family” by Ilima Loomis, Illustrated by Kenard Pak Ensuring that all kids are happy, healthy, and ready to succeed in school and beyond is critical to breaking the cycle of poverty in […]
Read MoreNational Book Week
National Book Week 2016 is upon us – what better way to celebrate than to get your child involved by finding a good book to get hooked on? Reading allows a child to use their imagination and develop social, emotional, gross motor and fine motor skills that are important to their success in school and life. ReachoutandRead.org states that, “Children who fall seriously behind in the growth of critical early reading skills have fewer opportunities to practice reading. Evidence suggests that these lost practice opportunities make it extremely difficult for children who remain poor readers during the first three years of elementary school to ever acquire average levels of reading fluency.” So how do you get your child to love to read? Here are a few suggestions: Limit Media Time It’s easy to switch on the TV after a long day at work in order to quiet down your kiddos. However, best practices suggest to balance TV or media time with reading. Next time your child wants to watch their favorite TV show, suggest that they pick up a book instead or have to read for 30 minutes before being allowed to play their video games. Share Reading Experiences Reading together can be used to not only bond with your child, but is an important activity that allows you to discuss elements of a story with them. Once you have completed a book, open up a conversation discussing your favorite/least favorite part of the story, character development and common themes in the story. […]
Read MoreInternational Literacy Day 2015
Did you know that children growing up in homes with at least 20 books get three years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents’ education, occupation and class? Today (September 8th) is International Literacy Day, and we are taking the opportunity to stress the importance of beginning to teach your children to read as soon as possible. Here are some classroom/home activities you can take part in while celebrating International Literacy Day, provided by internationalliteracyday.org: Scavenger Hunt Create a scavenger hunt where the answers are found in a book. This keeps your child active, engaged and critically thinking while making a game out of learning. Read-a-thon Encourage children to read as many books as possible within a certain time period (a day, a week, a month, etc.). Help them to track the books they are reading and monitor their progress on a chart to show how much they’ve read over time. Book Sale/Exchange Have any old books you want to toss out? Host a book sale/exchange at your school, or even in your driveway à la garage sale. This is an inexpensive way to not only find new books for your child to love, but spread the love of reading to even more children in your community. Writing Competition Host a writing competition within your family and provide a special theme. You can even make it more challenging by developing a list of required vocabulary words to include in the story. First prize? A trip to your local bookstore! Character Dress Up […]
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