Family Participation/Involvement
Families play an essential role in the education and growth of their children. Their degree of involvement effects emergent literacy as well as other areas of development in their children.
Levels of Participation
Families can be involved in their children's technology activities at three levels:
1) awareness
2) assistance
3) adult productivity
Realizing that families are unique with different interests and commitments, each level offers participation in various forms.
Awareness Level
Each family participates at the awareness level in individual ways.
- First and foremost is just knowing that the computer and related activities are being used in the classroom. Families can be made aware of the many benefits technology and literacy activities offer for young children.
- Teachers share information with families at the beginning of the school year during their initial contact, in informative notes when outlining the content of the curriculum in the classroom and through periodic newsletters.
- Families continue to stay informed when teachers send newsletters home containing information about what is going on in the classroom.
- Teachers also may communicate with families on an individual basis when sharing scenarios describing a child's interaction with the technology and an important outcome.
- Families are kept aware of the technology literacy activities as children bring their computer creations home. A printed copy of a HyperStudio stack, a Kid Pix drawing, or a scene created with Stone Soup are examples of some of the products children can share at home with family members.
- As the family asks questions about the products, they realize how their very young child can interact, produce materials and benefit using the computer.
Family Invitations
Besides receiving materials at home, families may be interested in seeing first hand what their children are doing with technology.
- Invite families into the classroom to see what the children have made with HyperStudio.
- Plan off-computer activities around a theme so that families can see how the technology is integrated into a variety of activities. For example, one classroom read “The Three Bears” book then acted out the story in play form. They made hats for the different bears and Goldilocks. They also painted the back drops for the different rooms in the house. On the computer the children helped create a HyperStudio stack around the “Three Bears” theme.
- Invite the families to see the performance of the play on a particular day. Invitations are made on the computer with pictures which were taken with a digital camera and downloaded into Print Shop.
- Make invitations to families on the computer including each child's drawing done in Kid Pix with the words “Look What I Can Do on the Computer”!!! The drawing will spark the parents' interest and may spur the child to talk about what he/she does on the computer at school.
Video
Video of children can be a nice way of letting parents who are unable to visit the classroom see the activities children are doing at school.
Video segments should be taken at least twice during the year and sent home with children to share with parents for a couple of days.
Family members may want to share reactions to the tape. Bundle the tape with a survey inviting responses to the technology literacy activities and the perceived benefits to their child.
To produce the best quality videotape for families, there are several helpful tips to consider.
iMovies can also be used to make a movie of what's happening in the classroom. The movie can be copied onto a videotape to be shared at home. iMovies requires the Mac OS operating environment.
Notes to Families
Notes can be used to communicate to parents about special events in the program, or their child's progress with computer or other activities. A teacher or therapist may want to write what they like about the child in a note. Also notes are a way to let families know what their child likes about school, such as their favorite books, songs, software, activities, or even friends or playmates from class. Personal notes can request classroom volunteers or needed information about the child. Notes add a personal touch to the family/school communication.
Newsletters
Newsletters are another form of communication between preschool staff and families. They can include:
- reports on past activities
- coming events
- helpful ideas for literacy activities at home
- information on computer software and activities
Newsletters with a visually appealing layout, colorful graphics, and appropriately written text become a popular item in the child's backpack.
Writing a newsletter may seem fairly easy; however, there are a number of tips to consider to insure that families will read it when it arrives home.
