Sea the World from a Different Perspective this Summer

The unofficial start to summer is here! While 2020 has not been smooth sailing, we are happy that we can continue to share quality reading and fun activities with little ones and today we are kicking off Summer Reading Under the Sea.

Splash around through 24 underwater and beachy ebooks through August 31st on arbordalepublishing.com. We choses a few of our classic favorites along with some of our newer titles and a mix of fiction and nonfiction for readers to enjoy!

Don’t miss out on the fun! Read our blog weekly for crafts, scavenger hunts, and coloring pages to go along with a theme! Join us next week as we explore the darkest depths of the ocean and the strange creatures that live there!

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Start reading today!

If you have any questions about our summer reading program email heather@arbordalepublishing.com.

New Year, New Goals, New Languages

Is learning a new language part of your New Year’s Resolution? If you are still working on this goal, congrats, you made it through the hardest days and even past Ditch the Resolution Day! If you haven’t started yet, we have some new languages to test your skills.

This year we are helping new language learners expand their horizons with Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, French, and German. It’s amazing how much you learn while enjoying a picture book. This is extremely exciting for our little company, and we hope these books will help language learners of all ages.

As a high-school student, I experienced this first hand. My French teacher assigned a book report on a classic French children’s story – we groaned in unison. But we had a choice, and I knew Le Petit Prince would be perfect for me. I had never read it.

The reading was definitely a challenge, so the dictionary stayed by my side as I slowly made the way through the book. I loved it! We each presented our book report to the class in what I am sure was a cringe-worthy pronunciation of the French language, but the enthusiasm shined as each student talked about the merits of their book.

Since then, I have revisited the book in French and English. It is still a great story at any age.

So now, I am pretty proud to share with you our expanded library of great stories in many different languages. You can explore the Rainforest in Portuguese, Spanish, and English or push and pull with Newton and Me in Arabic, Spanish, French, and English of course.

This month you can read Animals are Sleeping in English, Spanish and Chinese. It is our free ebook of the month! While so many of the new languages are available in our incredible ebooks. We have just received many of these books in print! Check out our website to find the perfect read in your new language.

Crossing the Sahara on painted wings

Here is one fact you won’t find in Ten For Me… painted lady butterflies travel 12,000 kilometers a year and cross the Sahara!

New research found that these butterflies travel about 2,000 kilometers further than the monarch’s yearly journey. The scientists found chemical markers from Africa on European butterfly wings. This told them what the caterpillars ate and where they had been when analyzing the returning butterflies in the spring.

The painted lady also migrates throughout the United States. And, it is found on every continent except South America. If you want to attract this butterfly to your garden, daisies, asters, and black-eyed Susans are perfect picks.

This summer, you can learn lots of butterfly facts in Ten For Me, one of our free Summer Reading picks. The dual-language, interactive ebooks are tons of fun for little readers. Then kids can print and start their own bug study with the “Buggy Science Journal.”

Tweet or Instagram a photo of your favorite butterfly to @ArbordaleKids to win a copy of Ten For Me! And, if you can’t get enough butterfly facts A Butterfly Called Hope is a perfect companion!

Visit the homepage of Ten For Me or A Butterfly Called Hope to learn more, download the printable activities or quiz yourself on what you learned!

 

 

Spring is in the Air

Do you have itchy eyes and a stuffy nose? With blooming flowers and trees, pollen is flying and bothering our allergies. Some people may have miserable runny noses while others may not be bothered at all.

This is a problem that Baby Bear encountered as he leaves his den after hibernation in Shennen Bersani’s Achoo! Pollen Counts. And, although Baby Bear is a little unhappy with all his sneezing, he learns that there are many forest friends that use pollen. Especially the bees that make honey.

To celebrate spring, author and illustrator Shennen Bersani has created a fun pollen globe using the printable coloring sheet below check it out on her blog http://www.achoowhypollencounts.com/achoos-blog/achoo-pollen-snow-globe-craft.

And…check out this great video review of Achoo! 

Achoo! Why Pollen Counts is available in hardcover, paperback, and dual-language, interactive ebook learn more about the book on arbordalepublishing.com!

 

 

Questions and Answers: Summer Science Journal

A scientist is always at work posing questions and finding out why? Most recently an archaeozoologist, Wim Van Neer set out to find the origins of domesticating cats.

From artifacts, they knew that Egyptians valued cats and even shared their homes with the animals, but were they the first to domesticate the feline? A much older cat was found in a tomb in Cyprus. Is this the ancestor of our modern housecat?

The genetic tests show our housecats can be traced back to the Near Eastern Wildcat. The Egyptian cat mummies have a different subtype and so the research continues for this team. Even with some questions answered, there is always more to discover.

Author Scotti Cohn shares her home with a kitty or two. Before writing her book, Big Cat, Little Kitty, Scotti’s questions lead her down a different path. She researched the behavioral similarities of domestic and wild cats.

“Animal behavior is fascinating to me, whether we’re talking about pet cats and dogs or wild animals around the globe,” says Scotti. “I think my interest in animal behavior comes across in all of my Arbordale picture books. Why do wolves howl? How does a domestic cat’s behavior mimic that of a lion or tiger? What prompts animals to migrate? Why do animals form “partnerships”? I like being able to respond to those questions in a way that makes children eager to learn more.”

We know sometimes science seems overwhelming to kids and parents, but really asking questions and finding answers is fun! Summer is a great time to hone research skills, and test theories without the pressure that sometimes comes with school assignments.

Here are some tips:

Write it down: Start a science journal filled with questions just waiting to be answered

Research: Head to the library or a museum and find tools that help to fine tune your questions

Experiment: Set up simple experiments or observations to help come to a conclusion

Begin Again: What did you find out? Are there new questions waiting to be answered?

Read Big Cat, Little Kitty, as part of the Arbordale Summer Reading Program. Learn more about domestic and wild cats in the For Creative Minds section too!

Want to read about the origins of your kitty, learn more about the domestic cat study here.