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Family Literacy Handbook Kindergarten-3rd grade

Created by Kristen Walker 2009

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Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………..2 Definitions…………………………………………………….3 Reading Activities To Do At Home……...9 Literacy Night Ideas……………………………………38 Parent Communication……………………………….67 References…………………………………………………….85

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Family Literacy Handbook This handbook is created for teachers who are searching for ways to encourage parents to be more actively involved in their children‟s literacy practices. It is divided into three parts; Reading Activities To Do At Home, Family Literacy Night Ideas, and Parent Communication. The “Reading Activities To Do At Home” section is a great tool to give parents ideas of how to help their children. Oftentimes, parents want to help, but do not know how. “Family Literacy Night Ideas” will give teachers various examples of ways to incorporate Family Literacy at your school. Finally, “Parent Communication” offers easy ways to communicate with parents and understand their culture, background, and educational history more effectively. I hope you find this handbook helpful in your classroom. Good luck encouraging your scholars‟ parents, it can be done!

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Definition of Terms Below are various terms that are used throughout this handbook. The definitions are listed to make the reading easier to understand.  Alphabetic Principle: The concept that letters represent speech sounds (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2002).  Auditory Discrimination: The ability to hear likenesses and differences in phonemes and words (Manzo, Manzo, & Albee, 2004)  Communication: A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors (Communication, 2009).  Comprehension: Reading requires being able to understand the meaning of print. Readers must develop certain skills and strategies that will help them comprehend text (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2002). It is a constructive process of synthesis and putting word meanings together in special ways. One must be able to interrelate and combine the separate meanings of each of its words (Adams, 1990).  Decoding: It is the ability to sound out new words and continues to be a major factor in text comprehension as students‟ progress through the grades (Moats, 1998). It is using sound-symbol associations to identify the spoken equivalent of a written word (Manzo, Manzo, & Albee, 2004).  English Language Learner (ELL): Someone who lives in an English-speaking environment but whose primary language is not English (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2002 , p.519).

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 Family Literacy: The term, "family literacy," was coined by Denny Taylor (1983) to describe the meanings and uses of literacy in families. Parents are active participants in their child‟s literacy growth. According to Morrow and Neumann, (1995), family literacy encourages adult learners to enhance their own literacy skills while promoting the literacy of their children. 

Fluency: The ability to read aloud with the same phrasing and intonations used in speaking (Manzo, Manzo, & Albee, 2004). Theorists have developed their own definitions of fluency, “although an exact definition of fluency has yet to be agreed upon, there does seem to be a consensus regarding its primary components: (a) accuracy in decoding, (b) automaticity in word recognition, and (c) the appropriate use of prosodic features such as stress” (Kuhn & Stahl, 2000, p. 5).

 Intonation: To read with intonation, children must be able to do more than decode the text and translate punctuation into speech. They must also incorporate the ordinary rise and fall of pitch in ordinary conversation” (Schwanenflugel, Hamilton, Kuhn, Wisenbaker, & Stahl, 2004).  Literacy: The ability to read, write, think, and communicate. Literacy is the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential (White & McCloskey, 2003).  Literacy Event: Heath developed the notion of literacy events as a tool for examining the forms and functions of oral and written language. It is “any occasion in which a piece of writing is integral to the

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nature of participants‟ interactions and their interpretive processes” (Heath, 1982, p. 93). Any activity in which literacy has a role is a literacy event.  Literate Environment: a literate environment enhances literacy learning in reading, writing, speaking and listening while developing independent readers and writers. It should also reflect the wide cultural diversity of the children in ones class and support all content areas (Balanced Literacy Handbook 2009,). It is print rich and includes various reading material and contains environmental print such as words and letters on signs and in magazines that can be read.  Parental Involvement: It includes school-based involvement (volunteering in class), home-school communication, and home-based involvement (homework) (Epstein, 2001).  Parent-Teacher Partnerships: The goals is for parents and teachers to work together for the sake of the child‟s success as they set goals that are directed toward forming mutually beneficial partnerships and two-way communication while reducing practices (e.g., calling on parents to monitor homework) that too often represent a power imbalance that favors the school or the teacher (Moore & Lasky, 2001).  Phonemes: “The smallest unit of speech sounds that makes a difference in communication” (Yopp & Yopp, 2000, p. 131).  Phonemic Awareness: Phonemic Awareness is an understanding that speech consists of a series of small sounds units and is a powerful predictor of success in reading (Adams, 1990). It is both a

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prerequisite for learning to read and a result of increased awareness of language that comes from learning to read (Yopp, 1992).  Sight Words: “Words students recognize instantly without analyzing them” (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2002, p. 54).

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Reading Activities To Do At Home Introduction……………………………………….9 Listening and Speaking………………….12 Auditory and Visual Discrimination, Writing, Comprehension, and Intonation

Emergent Literacy…………………………..17 Auditory and Visual Discrimination Alphabetic Principle, Phonics, Phonemic Awareness

Comprehension…………………………………23 Order of Events,Main Idea, Cause and Effect, Story Elements,Beginning/Middle/End

Literature Extension Activities…….28 Alphabetic Principle, Phonemic Awareness, Decoding, Comprehension, Story Elements, Main Idea, Order of Events

Writing……………………………………………….33 Phonemic Awareness, Printing, Order of Events, Comprehension, Spelling

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Reading Activities to Do At Home According to Snow, Burns, and Griffin (2004), characteristics of the home and family, such as income, parents‟ literacy levels and literacy habits, and parent-child engagement in literacy activities have been found to be associated with children‟s literacy and language skills. The home serves as a valuable setting in which language and literacy is first encountered. Ideally, children should be exposed to literacy materials and activities such as reading books together, writing about a weekend activity, or discussing a favorite scene from a book, given the opportunity to independently explore literature, and engage in joint reading and writing activities in their primary language. One of the most studied parent-child activities that are assumed to promote early literacy is joint book reading. Indeed, the results of a meta-analytic review of seventeen studies revealed an overall positive association between parents reading to their children and children‟s emergent literacy or reading achievement (Bus, van

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IJzendoorn, and Pellegrini, 1995).Parents can also provide practice in the foundational skills that young children need when they begin formal reading instruction in school. Through the most basic activities, such as engaging in conversations, listening, storytelling in the primary language, pretend play, and reading aloud, parents and caregivers can prepare children for the benefits of formal literacy instruction (Bus, van Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995). When conversing with young children adults can clarify meaning and strengthen articulation, word vocabulary, and sentence structure by restating and extending the child‟s sentence modeling the correct form. Parents can do a lot at home, but they can do even more if schools offer the tools so that parents can better assist their children at home. This section is divided into five components: Listening and Speaking, Emergent Literacy, Comprehension, Literature extension activities, and Writing. The following activities offer an array of engaging and motivating activities that contribute to a child‟s reading development. Reading, writing,

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listening, and speaking are the four major areas of language arts. All four components work together to create a successful reader and will be explored in this handbook. The activities can be used in Parent Workshops or assign as homework. These activities are positive learning experiences designed to encourage parents and children to work together while providing praise and encouragement. Each activity has been rated as easy, medium, or challenging. Stars next to the title of each activity represent the degree of difficulty: one star indicates that the activities are easy, two stars indicate activities that require intermediate skills, and three starts indicate activities are challenging. Remember, the degree of difficulty is to be used as a guide and that not all children work at the same rate. Regardless of your child‟s age, you may want to start with the easy activities and work your way up. Finally, there is a box in the corner of each activity that shows the skill(s) being practiced. Many of the ideas have either been created by me or adapted from activities teachers have suggested that I try.

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Listening and Speaking Listening involves the ability to hear and distinguish sounds in words, a necessary skill for the foundation of reading. A child who can discriminate among the different sounds (phonemes) represented by graphic symbols will be able to make the sound-symbol associations necessary for decoding unfamiliar words (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2004). Speaking is a constructive process where the speaker puts together words in an attempt to convey ideas (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2004). From my experience, it was evident that parents were unaware that listening and speaking were critical pillars in the foundation of reading. Therefore I created activities to be used in the classroom and at home to reinforce those necessary skills.

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Picture Puppets These simple puppets are an engaging way for your child to express themselves. What you‟ll need: popsicle sticks, glue, scissors, magazines Help your child cut out pictures of people or animals and glue them to the popsicle sticks. Then your child can act out or tell made-up stories using the sticks.

*Invite your child to write a script Writing Speaking

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Go Rhyme Identify rhymes with this fun game. What you‟ll need: 30 index cards, crayons or markers Use the index cards to create a deck of rhymes. The deck will be made up of 15 different pairs of rhymes, such as dog/hog, man/ran, and car/star. When it‟s complete, pass out the cards to each player.

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object of the game is to be the first player to get 2 pairs of rhyming words. Begin by asking for a card that rhymes with dog. If the child has it, he or she must give it to you. If not, you must draw a new card from the deck and discard one of your cards to the bottom of the deck. *Challenge your child to come up with new rhymes Auditory and Visual Discrimination

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Listen!!! This game encourages your child to really listen! What you‟ll need: household items

Have your child close his or her eyes and listen carefully. Then make a sound with a common household item (keys, bell, closing a door, etc.). Have your child guess the sound! Auditory Discrimination Comprehension

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Books on Tape Your child will love hearing their favorite stories on tape. What you‟ll need: books on tape or cd, headphones, portable tape/cd player Let your child listen to their favorite stories. This is a great way for children to hear proper intonation and expression. You can also record yourself reading the book to your child as well. You can challenge your child to read the book while recording them do so. Make sure the book is at their level. *Parents can check-out books on tape at the library, purchase them fairly cheap at Walmart, visit storybookonline.net or readinglions.com in which books are read to children with captions included, or buy them through Scholastic book orders.

Comprehension Intonation

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Emergent Literacy When beginning to read, children go through a phase called Emergent Literacy, a developing awareness of the interrelatedness of oral and written language (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2002). Some components of Emergent Literacy that will be discussed in this section include phonics, phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, and auditory and visual discrimination. Effective readers are familiar with these components and utilize them as they progress through the reading process. Phonics is the association of speech sounds (phonemes) with the printed symbols (graphemes) and is a valuable aid to word recognition when used with other skills, but is only

one useful skill among many (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2002). According to Groff (1998), “the consensus of pertinent empirical investigations is that the more phonics information that children acquire, and learnt to apply to decode written words, the better “(p. 139). As children learn to associate sounds with letters, they advance their knowledge in reading and writing. Phonemic Awareness is an understanding that speech consists of a series of small sounds units and is a powerful predictor of success in reading (Adams, 1990). It is both a prerequisite for learning to read and a result of increased awareness of language that comes

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from learning to read (Yopp, 1992). It is critical that beginning readers understand the alphabetic principle, the concept that letters represent speech sounds (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2002). They also need to be able to discriminate sounds and letters. Auditory discrimination is the ability to hear likenesses and differences in phonemes and words (Manzo, Manzo, & Albee, 2004) whereas visual discrimination is the process of visually identifying similarities and differences of letters and words. The following modified activities are games chosen for their simplicity and value as they relate to Emergent Literacy.

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Alphabet book Create your own alphabet book using magazines, stamps, and stickers. What you‟ll need: 26 sheets of construction paper, magazines, glue, scissors, stamps, stickers, markers Write one uppercase and lowercase letter on each sheet of paper ahead of time. Then, give your child a few letters to complete a day. Look in magazines or use stamps, stickers, and illustrations to find things whose beginning sound matches the letter of the day. For example, your child can cut out an apple, use an ant stamp, or draw an animal on the Aa page. Once the book is complete, you can read it, add to it, or mix it up and try and put it back in alphabetical order, therefore, don‟t bind it.

Alphabetic Principle Phonemic Awareness Phonics Visual Discrimination

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Does it Fit? This is great for beginning readers! What you‟ll need: just you and your child 1. Name 3 things that have the same beginning sound, then ask your child what they have that is the same. Encourage your child to give you the name of the letter and the sound. You can do this for middle and ending sounds as well (bike, belt, and band). 2. Name 3 things, 2 of which are the same sound and one that is not (bike, cat, belt) and ask your child which word does not belong. Ask your child why it does not belong. 3. Give your child a word and ask them to change the first sound to ____ (Change the beginning sound in hat to /m/. Your child should say mat.) You can do this for beginning, middle, and ending sounds. Auditory Discrimination Phonemic Awareness

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Salt Trays Your child will love this hands-on approach. What you‟ll need: cookie try and a container of salt Pour salt on the cookie sheet so it forms a layer at the bottom. Have your child practice writing the alphabet and comparing letters with their finger in the salt.

*To challenge your child, have him or her spell sight words or spelling lists in the salt. Visual Discrimination Alphabetic Principle

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Bag It Let‟s learn about vowels! What you‟ll need: 5 lunch bags, small household items Write the vowels-a, e, i, o, and u- on each bag. Find a household item with a vowel sound and place it in the correct bag. For example, put a brush in the “U” bag. Continue taking turns with your child.

Auditory Discrimination Phonemic Awareness

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Comprehension This section is designed to help your child understand what he or she is reading. Reading requires being able to understand the meaning of print. Readers must develop certain skills and strategies that will help them comprehend text. Oftentimes, teachers check for comprehension using question and answer worksheets. From experience and classroom observation, worksheets tend to be tedious and unappealing. Engaging measures to assess a child‟s comprehension will be shared in this section of the handbook and are activities designed to help children construct meaning, monitor comprehension, and use background knowledge (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2002).

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Listen and Sketch While you read a favorite story, your kiddo gets to draw! What you‟ll need: a favorite book, pencil and paper

Read a story aloud to your child without showing the pictures. Stop frequently so your child can sketch what he or she visualizes (chapter book, stop every paragraph, picture book, about every other page). Encourage your child to do a quick sketch which should take about 30 seconds (they can color it at the end). At the end of the story, have your child share their sketch. Then, reread the book, but show the illustrations. Your child can compare his/her sketch with the illustrations. Your child can also retell the story using the sketches.

Story Elements Order of Events

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Daily News Work on main ideas as your child writes headlines for the day‟s events. What you‟ll need: a piece of paper and pencil, newspaper Have your child recall the most important events that happened in your child‟s day (ie: taking a test, scoring a goal, etc.). Discuss what makes them important or memorable. Which events would other people want to know about? Then go through the newspaper and point out headlines. Explain what a headline is (it is the main idea). Then, have your child write a few headlines about the day on a piece of paper and then write a story and draw an illustration below. Writing Main Idea & Details

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Puppets Retell a favorite story with your own puppets. What you‟ll need: paper lunch bag, craft materials, markers or crayons, and a favorite book Read a book together. Then get enough paper bags for each main character. Decorate the paper bag (the bag should be upside down, the fold is the mouth). Then, act out the story with your finished puppets (child puts hand inside the bag).

Story Elements Order of Events Beginning, Middle, End

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Cause and Effect Challenge your child‟s thinking skills with this fun game. What you‟ll need: 10 index cards, scissors, and markers Before you begin, cut each index card in half. Write the words IF and THEN at the top of each index card. Have your child write or draw pictures (of events that involve cause and effect situations) on each set of cards. For example: If I study for my test Then I will do well Then, have your child turn the cards upside down and scramble the cards and try to match them up. Cause & Effect

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Literature Extension Activities This section is designed to get your child started on a love for reading and will encourage your child to read. Children who are read to at home are more successful at school because they are exposed to new vocabulary, hear correct intonation, and are exposed to concepts of print (Roes, Smith, & Burns, 2002). It is essential for students to appreciate what they read. One way to foster an appreciation is to create activities that correlate with what is being read. The activities in this section emphasize different components of reading.

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Alphabet Eating Learn new words with this tasty snack. What you‟ll need: alphabet books and alphabet crackers/cookies. Read alphabet books together. Then, have your child find the cracker or cookie that matches the letter in the book.

*To challenge your child, use the crackers or cookies to create words. Alphabetic Principle Phonemic Awareness

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Shared Reading One of the best memories you can give a child is sharing a favorite book together. What you‟ll need: favorite book that the child is comfortable reading aloud Begin by reading the first book aloud to your child. Then have your child read the second page to you. Take turns reading the entire book. Remember to stop along the way to ask your child questions about the book make connections to the characters, or discuss what you would do if you were one of the characters. Decoding Comprehension

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Pasta Party Find out what happens when a town has too much pasta! What you‟ll need: Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola, dried pasta, glue, thick paper Read this story about a magic pasta pot and a man who didn‟t follow the rules. Choose important words from the story, use the pasta to create the words, and glue them on the construction paper. You can do this activity with your favorite book!

Phonemic Awareness

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Diorama Recreate a scene with this fun art project What you‟ll need: shoe box, a favorite book, craft materials (glue, paper, paint, etc.)

Read the story together. Choose a favorite scene to recreate as a three dimensional representation. Be creative with this fun activity.

Comprehension Story Elements Main Idea Order of Events

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Writing Learning the fundamental skills of writing can be an enjoyable and fun experience for your child. Writing strengthens and reinforces reading skills through activities such as poems and songs. Children who are proficient readers tend to be proficient writers and vice versa because growth in reading and writing occur jointly (Strickland & Morrow, 1988). Writing is a wonderful tool for your child to share ideas and feelings with others. When children write to communicate meaning, their writing is purposeful (Roe, Smith, & Burns, 2004). Children learn writing by actively using it for real purposes; therefore the activities in this section are real-life,

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Acrostic This type of poetry is great for a special person or event! What you‟ll need: paper, markers I

If your child needs to make a card, this activity is perfect. To create an acrostic poem, have your child write the word on the left hand side of the paper vertically. For example, if it‟s mother‟s day, write mother on the left. Then, on each line, write a word that describes that person. M ommy O n time

Phonemic Awareness Printing

T errific H elpful E veryone’s friend R eally friendly

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Journal Keeping a journal is a great way for your child to share their thoughts and feelings. What you‟ll need: special notebook and a pencil

Your early reader can draw pictures of their day while adding simple words to describe it. As your child‟s writing skills improve, he or she can begin writing complete sentences about their day. Make sure your child records the date of each entry. You can make it interactive by responding to your child‟s journal. Comprehension Order of Events Printing

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Phone Message This activity will teach your little one how to take a message. What you‟ll need: notepaper, fairytales, and pencil

Read a fairy tale to your child. For example, if you are reading Cinderella, ask your child what Cinderella might have said if she phoned home when she was running late from the ball. Invite your child to explain in the message why Cinderella is late from the ball. This will help your child transfer what they hear into written form. Comprehension Printing

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Birthday Message This activity will teach your child how to write a birthday card. What you‟ll need: stationery, pencil or markers, note cards Have your child practice their writing skills as he or she makes a birthday card for a special person.

Printing Spelling

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Literacy Night Ideas Introduction………………………………39 Family Literacy Night…………….40 Literacy Night examples

Literacy Events……………………..49 Literacy Night Handouts……..51 Sample Itinerary Flyers Parent Information

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Literacy Night Ideas The following suggestions are ideas that can be used to create Family Literacy Night ideas at your school. It is essential to have parents actively involved in these events because parents play a critical role in their child‟s reading achievement. In order to increase awareness about literacy and engage students, it is important for parents to be actively involved. Family literacy offers whole families educational opportunities so that every member is able to improve literacy and life skills. It is based upon the simple, but powerful premise that parents and children learn best when learning together (National Center for Family Literacy, n.d.). Literacy events serve as concrete evidence of literacy practices. Heath (1982) developed the notion of literacy events as a tool for examining the forms and functions of oral and written language. She describes a literacy event as “any occasion in which a piece of writing is integral to the nature of participants‟ interactions and their interpretive processes” (p. 93). Any activity in which literacy has a role is a literacy event.

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Book and Activity Teachers sign up to read a book and do an activity to go along with that book. Each teacher makes a poster advertising their book. Only allow a certain number to sign up for each story because you want the teacher to know how many to plan for when preparing for an activity to go along with the story. Some teachers order craft items from Oriental Trading (www.orientaltrading.com). Hang these in the cafeteria or hallways so students can see them and be thinking about the two stories they want to sign up for that night. Then, make a sign-up sheet showing the title of the book and the teacher reading the book. The sheet has 10 spaces for parents to sign up their children to go to that teacher's room to hear the story and do the activity. When students arrive that night (accompanied by a parent/guardian) they can meet in the cafeteria for food provided by the Parent Teacher Organization (PTA) (a great fundraiser). When the event starts, parents and children go to the classroom they signed up for do participate in activities. While in the classroom, students will fill out a raffle ticket for a raffle at the end of the night. To close the evening, everyone meets in the Multipurpose Room to participate in a book raffle. Books can be donated or ordered using PTA money from the book fair fundraisers. End the night by taking a group photo.

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Literacy Rotations Here are some ideas for literacy rotations, depending on how many rotations you can do. Each center can be set up throughout the school and can be run by teachers or parents. Books for prizes can be bought through Scholastic using teacher points or PTA bonus points earned from PTA Book Fairs.

1. Sight Word Bingo: The winner wins a new book. 2. Reader‟s Theatre: Each class chooses their favorite read aloud short story. The children with simple costumes act out the story while it is being read by the teacher or student. 3. Book Walk: Like a cake walk, except with books. Students will walk around a numbered circle, when the music stops, the student stands on the number they stop on. The student standing on the number that is called wins a book. 4. Computer Lab: Students can show their parents reading games that they do at school. 5. Read Aloud in the Multipurpose Room: Students will listen to a parent or teacher read a story.

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Parent Workshops: Comprehension  Invite parents and students to various workshops throughout the year (one every other month works well). At each workshop, teachers will explicitly teach parents about one or two comprehension strategies to practice at home.  Read a story to parents and students modeling how to use the strategy. Then, have parents and students work together to demonstrate their understanding of the strategy in a fun way.  At the end of the night, send families home with a packet with information and activities about the strategy to use at home.

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Books and Blankets  Have families come in their jammies for a fun night of reading. They can bring their favorite books and blankets to read.

 At the start of the night, families can view a short story with the use of a DVD player and projector (Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom or any book from UnitedStreaming.com works well).

 Then, families can discuss the book together while drinking milk and eating cookies.

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Literacy Luau  Choose a wonderfully "dramatic" teacher to perform the story, Where the Wild Things Are, in the multipurpose room with a spotlight shining on him/her.  Serve nachos, cookies, and a drink. Or, you can raise money while barbequing burgers and hotdogs for families to purchase.  Then, families visit their child‟s classroom where each teacher will present strategies or center games in their classroom to show the parents what skills are being worked on in literacy and how they can help at home.

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If You Give a Mouse a Cookie A great circular story for beginning readers Each family in attendance received a folder containing directions for each activity set up during the evening of the Family Night, ideas for extensions at home, coordinating math/literacy skills and concepts taught within each activity, a take home game, and a feedback form. Each kindergarten student who brought their family also received their very own copy of the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to read again and again! ABC Mice

Why: To reinforce letter recognition; to match upper and lower case letters; to practice identifying the letters at the beginning of pictures .

How: 1) Choose one of the three sets of mice and cookies to work with first. 2) Put the cookie puzzles together by matching the upper and lower case letters. (A with a, B

with b, etc.) 3) Look at the pictures on the mice. What letter does each picture start with? Match each mouse to the correct letter cookie. 4) Return all cookie pieces and mice to the correct bag when finished. Write a Story

Why: To practice letter formation and letter/sound associations ; to encourage creativity by drawing/writing a variation to a known story.

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How: 1) Choose either a mouse or cookie shaped paper. 2) Read the sentence, "If you give a mouse a _____, he'll want a ____ to go with it!" 3) As a family, figure out what you could give a mouse and then what he would want to have to go with it. 4) Help your child to stretch out the sounds of the words with you and to try to write the beginning and ending letters they hear (like in our kid writing and writing notebooks) on the blank lines. 5) Make an illustration to go with your story. Mouse Puppet

Why: To increase fine motor skills; to practice retelling a story using pictures How: (Note: You may take one set of story pictures home with you if you do not have time to complete this project here.) 1) Trace a mouse head pattern onto gray construction paper. Then cut it out. 2) Use the smaller pieces of construction paper to add ears, eyes, nose, and whiskers to the mouse head. 3) Cut out a pair of overalls and color as desired. 4) Glue the mouse head and overalls onto a brown lunch sack. 5) Color and cut out the story pictures. 6) Use the mouse puppet and the story pictures to retell If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to someone else

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/if_you_give_a_mouse_a_cooki e.html

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Online Literacy Night Resources  PTO Today Wonderful, free Reading Night materials  National Center for Family Literacy. (n.d.). What is Family Literacy? http://www.famlit.org/ncfl-and-family-literacy/what-is-familyliteracy Great tools for teachers and parents

 If You Give a Mouse a Cookie http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/if_you_give_a_mouse_a_ cookie.html  Rhyme Time http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/kindergarten_rhyme_time. html

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Calendar of Literacy Events September Library Card Sign-Up Month www.ala.org/pio/librarycard/ International Literacy Day www.reading.org/meetings/ild Banned Books Week www.ala.org/bbooks

October Children‟s Magazine Month www.childmagmonth.org National Book Festival www.loc.gov/bookfest/ National Book Month www.nationalbook.org/nbm.html Kids Love a Mystery Week www.kidsloveamystery.com National Storytelling Festival www.storytellingcenter.com/festival/festival.htm

November Family Literacy Day www.famlit.org/nfld/nflduse.html#events Children‟s Book Week www.cbcbooks.org/html/book_week.html

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February Library Lover‟s Month www.librarysupport.net/librarylovers/ Children‟s Authors and Illustrators Week www.childrensauthorsnetwork.com/caiw.htm

March Read Across America www.nea.org/readacross/

April National Poetry Month www.poets.org/npm/faq.cfm TV-Turnoff Week www.tvturnoff.org/week.htm International Children‟s Book Day www.ibby.org/Sieten/04_child.htm

May Reading is Fun Week www.rif.org Get Caught Reading Month www.getcaughtreading.com/getcaughtreading/index.html

June National Audio book Month www.audiopub.org

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Literacy Night Handouts The following handouts are samples of flyers, parent surveys, and information given to parents. Many of these tips can be given to parents to promote literacy at home.

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Taken from PTO School Family Nights

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Taken from PTO School Family Nights

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Taken from PTO School Family Nights

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Parent Communication Introduction……………………………….68 Newsletter Samples………………69 Parent Interview……………………….72 Research…………………………………….82

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Parent Communication As teachers think about their work with parents and families, they often have mixed feelings. There are good feelings of shared efforts and mutually valued achievement with some parents, while with others there is a sense of frustration, helplessness or even anger over conflicting perceptions and understandings. The degree of success teachers have in developing a partnership with parents depends heavily on the „fit‟ between parental cares and concerns and those of the teacher. Unlike many other kinds of relationships in people‟s lives, the parent–teacher pairing occurs by assignment rather than choice. The common interest is the schooling of a child. What ALL good parent–teacher relationships have in common is the „absence of conflict‟. Optimally, this absence of conflict is due to a presence of mutual trust and respect; less optimally, it is due to the absence of caring (Keyes, 2002). This section provides opportunities for teachers and parents to communicate effectively. Feel free to modify any materials to meet the needs of your families.

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Newsletter This section is designed to give you the tools to stay in communication with your parents. A newsletter can be sent home weekly or monthly. It is important to include upcoming events, reminders, and the skills being taught

in school. In order

to encourage parents to read the newsletter, it is a good idea to add class photos from the month on the back.

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Miss Walker‟s 1st Grade Week of: September 1-8

Newsletter

Homework

Events

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Parent Interview It is essential to delve beyond the surface level questions and truly understand the background, culture, and educational experience of the students‟ families. One way to do this is by administering Rogers‟ (2004) “Beginning of the Year Survey” during conference time. Administering the survey can create a trusting, close relationship with the families because it breaks down barriers and allows parents and teachers to communicate honestly since it allows them the opportunity to speak at the same level, adult to adult rather than teacher to parent. The “End of the Year” survey is also a great tool because it allows parents to reflect on the year as they give their honest feedback on successes and failures of the year. I created this several years ago because I wanted to know what was and was not working in my classroom. Although many of my colleagues felt it was “too honest,” honest feedback was exactly what is necessary in order to grow positively as an educator.

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Beginning of the Year Survey Name of Student__________________Parent(s)_____________ Parent‟s Involvement with THEIR Child‟s Education Tell me about __________. Tell me about his reading.

What do you remember as a “teachable” moment when your children were young?

Tell me about __________ as a learner.

Describe a situation where you were involved with _________‟s learning?

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What do you think of ___________as a reader? As a writer? As a student?

Describe how you are involved with your children‟s education.

What experiences stand out where you interacted with the school on behalf of ________________?

What issues/concerns do you wish you knew more about?

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Past & Present Experiences with Schooling Describe yourself as a learner. Tell me about your own school experiences.

Who was your best teacher? Why? Who was your worst teacher? Why?

Tell me about your parents‟ involvement in your education.

What goals do you have for your own education?

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How do you see yourself as a reader? As a writer? As a student?

Family & Community Language & Literacy Practices What is something you are an expert at?

What are some of the traditions in your family? Tell me about them.

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What types of activities do your children like to do at home?

What books, magazines, and/or newspapers are in your home?

What types of reading and writing occurs in your home?

Describe a typical day in your house from when you get up to when you and your children go to bed.

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How do things get done around your home?

What questions do have for me?

Adapted from Rogers, R. (2004). Storied selves: A critical discourse analysis of adult learners‟ literate lives. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(3), 272-305.

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End of the Year Parent Survey

1. What activities did you do with your child that helped him or her succeed?

2. What activities did Mrs. Walker do with your child that helped him or her succeed?

3. How many minutes per day did you spend working with your child?

4.

How many minutes a day do you think Mrs. Walker

spent working with your child?

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5. How did you communicate with Mrs. Walker about your child? Was it beneficial?

6. What activities or projects did your child enjoy?

7. What activities or projects did your child not enjoy?

8. What would you like to see more of in the classroom?

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9. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a parent helping your child succeed?

10.

What are Mrs. Walker’s strengths and

weaknesses as a teacher helping your child succeed?

11.

Is there anything you would like Mrs. Walker to

know?

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Research There is a great deal of research about the importance of a positive parent/teacher relationship. This short article gives insight into parent-teacher dynamics, how to create a collaborative partnership, and effective strategies to get to know the community. This article is great to share with your staff.

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References Adams, M. (1990). Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Balanced Literacy Handbook (2009). Retrieved December 11, 2009, from instech.tusd.k12.az.us/balancedlit/handbook/.../environment.doc Bus, A. C van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & Pellegrini, A. D. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis of intergenerational transmissions of literacy. Review of Educational Research,65, 1-21. Communication. (2009). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.Retrieved December 14, 2009, from http://www.merriam webster.com/dictionary/communication

Epstein, J. (2001). Building bridges of home, school, and community: The importance of design. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 6(1/2), 161-168. Groff, P. (1998). Where’s the phonics? Making a case for its direct and systematic instruction. The Reading Teacher, 52(10), 138-141.

Heath, S.B. (1982). Protean shapes in literacy events: Ever-shifting oral and literate traditions. In D. Tannen (Ed.), Spoken and written language: Exploring orality and literacy. 91-117. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Keyes, C. (2002). A way of thinking about parent/teacher partnerships for teachers. International Journal of Early Years Education, 10(3), 177-191. Kuhn, M. & Stahl, S. (2000). Fluency: A review of developmental and remedial practices. MI: Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement. Manzo, A., Manzo, U., & Albee, J. (2004). Reading assessment for diagnostic-prescriptive

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teaching. California: Wadsworth. Moats, L. (1998). Teaching decoding. American Educator/American Federation of Teachers, 1-9. Moore, S., & Lasky, S. (2001). Parent involvement in education (EQAO Research Series No. 6). Retrieved October 3, 2009, from www .eqao.com/Research/research.aspx?status=logout&Lang=E Morrow, L. M. & Neuman, S. (1995). Introduction: Family literacy. The Reading Teacher, 48(4), 550-551. National Center for Family Literacy. (n.d.). What is Family Literacy? Retrieved October 11, 2009, from http://www.famlit.org/ncfl-and-family-literacy/what-is-family-literacy Roe, B.D, Smith, S.H., & Burns, P.C. (2005). Teaching reading in today’s elementary school. .

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Rogers, R. (2004). Storied selves: A critical discourse analysis of adult learners’ literate lives. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(3), 272-305. Schwanenflugel, P.J., Hamilton, A.M., Kuhn, M.R., Wisenbaker, J., & Stahl, S.A. (2004). Becoming a fluent reader: Reading skill and prosodic features in the oral reading of young readers. The Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 119-129). Snow, C. E., Burns, M. S. & Griffin, P. (Eds) (1998) Preventing reading difficulties in young children: Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children, National Research Council. Available online at: www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/prdyc/ Strickland, D. & Morrow, L. (1988) Creating a print rich environment. The Reading Teacher, 42(11), 156-157. Taylor, D. (1983) Family Literacy: Young children learning to read and write. Exeter, N.H.: Heinemann.

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White, S., and McCloskey, M. (forthcoming). Framework for the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NCES 2005-531). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Yopp, H. K. (1992). Developing phonemic awareness in young children. The Reading Teacher, 45(5), 696-703. Yopp, H.K. & Yopp, R. (2000). Literature-Based reading activities. DE: Prentice Hall.