How to Help Your Child Understand

How do you know when a child understands something? How can you help a chld understand something? The answer to both questions is ‘talk’. Talking to your child checks and deepens their understanding of topics. Do you often read to your child? The next time you read a book to your child ask them questions about what you read. Engage in dialogue with them. The plot of the book is gate to the beauty and complexity of their minds. Talking to your child engages their critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is about learning how to question, when to question and what questions to ask. It also entails learning how to use reason, when to use reasoning and what reasoning methods to use. Reasoning is derived from the word ‘ratio’ and essentially means to balance. When you talk to your child about a book you have read to them or that they have read independently you are gently encouraging your child to balance or weigh their thoughts and assumptions. You, as the parent, are a critical component of getting your child to think critically about a text. The critical thinking habits they develop under your tutelage regarding reading will last throughout their lives.

For more information visit www.oncekids.com and explore Fujimini Island.

Holiday Fun with Your Family

Looking for a great activity to share with your kids during this holiday season? How about dusting off those snazzy aprons and stirring up some cheer and warm memories. Cook with your kids and prepare for a wonderful time. Here are some benefits of cooking with your kids:

Allowing your kids to help with the cooking gives them a strong sense of contributing to the family’s well being. Cooking is an important daily activity that provides nourishment to the family. When kids help with this activity they feel important and needed.

Cooking helps sharpen their reading skills and ability to follow directions. Find an easy to follow recipe or modify an existing recipe and read along with your child. Point out new words, phrases and use the opportunity to start a conversation with your child.

Cooking explores creativity and imagination. Don’t be afraid to veer from a recipe. Cooking requires thought and improvisation. Allow your child to think of yummy ingredients to add to a recipe. Let your child’s imagination reign in the kitchen.

For more information visit www.oncekids.com and explore Fujimini Island.

Great Tips to help a Child Learn to Read

Teaching a child to read and write is not an easy feat. A great way to facilitate fluency is to get kids reading. Here are some tips for teachers and parents to encourage reading.

Tips for Teachers and Parents:

One way to get kids reading is to talk to them. Frequent communication with kids gets them hooked on words. Talking to kids guarantees great language skills.

Read to children. Make sure that you carve out a time each day to read to your kids. Being read to is a pleasure and it will ensure that kids find joy in reading.

Make sure you read books you love and tell your kids how much you love them. If you derive pleasure from a book chances are that a kid will as well.

Marvel over words. Do you have a favorite word? Is there a word you like to use often? Share your favorite words with kids. This will encourage them to become fascinated with language.

Don’t forget the library. Make library dates with your kids. Teach them that books are to be respected and cherished.

Want a great book to share with your child? Try the Fujimini Island Adventure Series to give the timeless gift of reading for your child.

Is your Child a good Learner?

Different cultures feel happy and respected when they are represented as wonderful characters in children’s stories. They feel comfortable reading about people that are like them – that celebrate the same holidays, eat similar food in a similar way and relate to the environment of the story. It is important for parents to have choices. Schools require a lot of reading by young, emerging readers. When a child is very young, they have to learn to read… when they are older they have to read to learn. So it is very important to develop children who love to read – this will result in better learners. So use the reading opportunity to develop a positive relationship with your child and read stories with as much diversity as possible.

What's Best for Your Child?

Want to know the best thing you can do for your child? 

Read to your child every day. Children who are read to develop a love of reading and develop advanced reading skills. Reading to your child also creates a solid bond between you and your child and can open up dialogue. The goal in reading to your child is not necessarily to finish the book but to discuss the book along the way. Discussions regarding text make the experience of reading richer. It also paves the way for learning about new words, which aids in language acquisition. As you read to your child point out each word. Also, read your child’s favorite book over and over. Repetition is the key to learning. Also, read many kinds of books. Poems are excellent reading material along with junior encyclopedias. Don’t feel you just have to read stories. A trip to the library with your child can open up many avenues of reading material. It will also a create a special time for you and your child.

For more information about ONCEKids and the Fujimini Series click here.

Children are never too young to learn the importance of words

You can never read to your child too soon. Often, just talking to a baby or toddler helps them develop their vocabulary. This vocabulary becomes very important as a child matures, and begins the task of learning to read. A great way to talk to your child is to point out objects and name them. Children eventually incorporate these names into their vocabulary. It is also a good idea to introduce a child to rhyme on sounds, songs and words. Studies have shown that children tend to remember pairs of words that rhyme before all other words. Another great activity is to take your child to the grocery store and say the names of objects in the store. Also, try to carve out a special place in your home to read, write and draw. The more prized reading is in your family the quicker a child’s language skills develop. Teachers often talk of ‘print rich’ environments when they speak about their classrooms. A home should be no different. Fill your home with books, magazines and newspapers and your chances of having an advanced reader increases dramatically. Read to your child and expose them to words as early as you can. Children are never too young to learn the importance of words.

For  more information about ONCEKids and the Fujimini Series click here.

Picture Books Encourage Children

Good readers are often excellent divergent thinkers. A divergent thinker is flexible, fluent, original and can elaborate. All these skills are critical for reading. Picture books encourage a child to increase the flexibility of their thinking by letting a child take contextual cues from the pictures and fill in critical elements of a story. Picture books also encourage fluency by enticing a child to read over and over again. The process of repetition actually encourages deep learning and understanding. Picture books can also develop original thinking in young readers by allowing them to fill in the story and make connections between pictures and words. Young readers can even develop their own story lines based on the pictures alone. Picture books can also develop the skill of elaboration in young readers. Elaboration is critical to understanding and comprehending a story. If a child can elaborate on a story then that means that they effectively digested the story. Picture books encourage divergent thinking.

ONCEKids: Enabling parents, teachers and children

ONCEKids has developed a series of books for children pre-K or nursery through second grade. The Fujimini Adventure Series references cultural symbols familiar to China, Japan and Korea. ONCEKids has conducted market research of children’s literature and has found that many Asian cultures are underrepresented in child and young adult fiction. The Fujimini Adventure Series enables parents and educators to introduce various Asian cultures to children.

Using the Fujimini Adventure Series in social studies affords the opportunity to expose children to other cultures and to learn about social responsibility. An excellent way to start teaching about the cultures of Japan, China and Korea is to brainstorm with your child or student. Learning is a process of adding new ideas to old ideas. Many children many already know about other cultures. For instance, many first graders may already have heard of sushi or bonsai trees.

Brainstorming is important to activate what a child already knows and brainstorming is the first step in acquiring new knowledge.