Partnering with Parents

1
Partnering with Parents

• Communication
• Home Learning

Elementary School Module
2
Workshop Overview

• Focus on two areas
• Improving Home-School Communication
• Improving Home Learning
• Briefly discuss each area and present some
  strategies suggested by others
• Utilize the tremendous amount of knowledge in
  this room to generate strategies for possible use
  in this school

3
Communication
4
The greatest problem of communication is in the
illusion that it has been accomplished. George
Bernard Shaw
5
Home-School Communication

• Cornerstone of building parental involvement
• To be effective the communication must be
• Regular
• Two-way
• Meaningful

6
Research Findings

• Consistent, two-way communication between home
  and school results in benefits for students,
  parents, and teachers.
• Students
• Increased understanding of expectations and rules
• Increased awareness of their own progress

7
Research Findings

• Parents
• Improved understanding of school programs and
  policies
• More aware of childs progress
• More involved in childs learning
• Evaluate their childs teachers as being more
  effective
• Teachers and Administrators
• Make more effective use of parent volunteers
• Achieve greater teaching effectiveness

8
Our successes

• What strategies are we presently using in our
  school that appear to be effective in
  facilitating effective home-school communication?
• At the classroom-level
• At the school-level

9
Ideas from others
10
Fayetteville Elementary,Fayetteville, New York

• Identified that although the school sent home a
  lot of information there was not a way for
  parents to easily and consistently communicate
  back to the school.
• Designed and distributed bright colored notepads
  that parents could use to communicate back to the
  school.
• Parents were provided with suggestions and
  examples on the many different ways they could
  use the notepads to communicate with teachers.

11
Guilford Primary SchoolGreensboro, North Carolina

• BUDDIES (Building Unity Despite Diversity in
  Every Situation)
• Based on a survey parents were paired up
• A family bilingual in Spanish and English was
  paired with a family who spoke Spanish but little
  English
• Used to help communicate about school and
  education issues
• Over 1,700 people attended a multicultural night
  where they learned about each others cultures

12
Atenville Elementary SchoolHarts, West Virgina

• Developed a telephone tree
• Parent representatives contact 20-25 parents
  every month to discuss school issues and give
  parents an opportunity to voice their concerns
• Parent volunteers serve on school committees,
  read with students at lunch breaks, attend staff
  development sessions, make site visits to other
  schools.

13
Improving CommunicationIdeas from Arkansas
Educatorsin Elementary Schools

• Personal contact is the key
• Parent Orientation
• Information / Family Kits
• Weekly folders
• Class newsletters
• Daily planners / agendas
• Translators / materials translated
• Outreach liaisons
• Grade level nights
• Help parents understand what questions to ask
  teachers during parent-teacher conferences
  (develop a form)

14
AR State PIRC/Center for Effective
ParentingStrengthening the Partnership between
Home and SchoolWorkshops Handoutswww.parenting
-ed.org
15
Brainteaser
WORD YYYY
16
Brainteaser
IMPROVEMENT IMPROVEMENT IMPROVEMENT IMPROVEMENT

17
Brainteaser


18
Solution


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Small Group Activity

• Break into groups of 4-6
• Brainstorm practical strategies to improve
  home-school communication
• For use at the classroom-level
• For use school-level
• Complete the Communication - Group Activity
  Worksheets
• List and then rank strategies
• Select a person in your group who will be the
  recorder and report back to the whole group.

20
Count the Fs
FEATURE FILMS ARE THE RE- SULT OF YEARS OF
SCIENTI- FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE
OF YEARS
21
Count the Fs
FEATURE FILMS ARE THE RE- SULT OF YEARS OF
SCIENTI- FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE
OF YEARS
22
Large Group Activity

• Small groups report back to the large group
• Large group identifies overall top 3 ideas at the
  classroom-level and at the school-level (based on
  potential effectiveness and practicality)
• Discussion/feedback/suggestions regarding the
  these top ideas
• Information will be passed on to the principal
  for further action

23
Home Learning
24
Home Learning

• Parents play an integral role in assisting
  student learning
• Help parents realize that they can make a
  significant impact in their childs academic
  achievement
• Many parents who might appear uninterested are
  very intimidated and dont know how to help
• Assist parents in communicating that education is
  valuable and important
• Help parents acquire the skills and knowledge
  they need to help their children learn

25
Research Findings

• Valuing and supporting parents as key figures in
  the childs learning has been found to benefit
  students, parents and teachers.
• Students
• Develop a more positive attitude toward homework
  and school
• Develop more self-confidence in their academic
  abilities
• Get higher grades, higher test scores, and have
  better attendance

26
Research Findings

• Parents
• More knowledgeable of how to support and
  encourage their child at home
• Better understand the curriculum and what their
  child is learning in school
• Discuss their childs school day, homework, and
  class work more regularly
• Teachers and Administrators
• Create more interactive homework assignments for
  parents and children to do together
• Greater recognition of the importance of families
  in motivating and reinforcing student learning

27
Our successes

• What strategies are we presently using in our
  school that appear to be effective in
  facilitating home learning?
• At the classroom level
• At the school level

28
Ideas from others
29
Woodridge Primary SchoolCuyahoga Falls, Ohio

• Storytelling time to promote reading at home
• Invited families to a storytelling time
• Used a professional storyteller to demonstrate
  different read-aloud techniques.
• Teachers also talked about the benefits of
  reading and demonstrated different home
  reading/storytelling activities.
• Had a reading table set up with different types
  of books and reading materials
• Stressed the importance of limiting television
  time

30
Ferguson Elementary SchoolPhiladelphia, PA

• Parents Make a Difference Conference
• A 2-day open house where parents observe children
  reading and participating in hands-on math
  activities
• Principal, teachers, and students travel
  door-to-door to invite the community
• Teachers offer workshops on the needs of students
  in different grade levels

31
Improving Home LearningIdeas from Arkansas
Educatorsin Elementary Schools

• Read with me Saturdays
• List of recommended books and software
• Interactive homework
• Refrigerator curriculum guides
• Homework and study skills information
• Importance of sleep and nutrition

32
Brainteaser
dothepe
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Brainteaser
staying the game
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Brainteaser
GOOD BETTER
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Brainteaser

• IX

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Brainteaser

• SIX

37
Small Group Activity

• Break into groups of 4-6
• Brainstorm practical strategies to improve home
  learning
• For use at the classroom-level
• For use school-level
• Complete the Home Learning - Group Activity
  Worksheets
• List and then rank strategies
• Select a person in your group who will be the
  recorder and report back to the whole group.

38
Large Group Activity

• Small groups report back to the large group
• Large group identifies overall top 3 ideas at the
  classroom-level and at the school-level (based on
  potential effectiveness and practicality)
• Discussion/feedback/suggestions regarding the
  these top ideas
• Information will be passed on to the principal
  for further action

39
Unity
I dreamed I stood in a studio And watched two
sculptors there, The clay they used was a young
childs mind, And they fashioned it with
care. One was a teacher the tools he used Were
books and music and art One was a parent with a
guiding hand, And a gentle, loving heart. Day
after day the teacher toiled With touch that was
deft and sure, While the parent labored by his
side And polished and smoothed it oer, And when
at last their task was done, They were proud of
what they had wrought, For the things they had
molded into the child Could neither be sold or
bought. And each agreed he would have failed If
he had worked alone. For behind the parent stood
the school, And behind the teacher, the
home. Author Unknown