At the early childhood back to school workshop, you considered the following two questions:
How will you find out what the hopes and dreams of the families are for their children?
How will you communicate back to families how the work you are doing in your classroom is addressing these hopes and dreams?
In better late than never mode, here are the suggestions/ideas you had for those questions. I would be very interested in knowing whether this has impacted or influenced the work you are doing in your classrooms the past two months. Please take a moment to add your comment to this post.
AND--if you haven't done anything,choose one of these excellent ideas, execute it and document it during November.
IDEAS
1. Mount/draw pictures of your family and the fun things you do together
2. Provide cameras and send home with families to take pictures of home
3. Giving tree--shared information about themselves
4. Asking questions--what makes your family special?
5. Names--what their name means to them
6. Bulletin boards
7. Books
8. Show and tell
9. Star of the week
10. Involve/discuss other significant family figures (other than parents)
11. Favorite places/people in their lives
12. Include ALL adults in the process of sharing/community building
13. Use themes or study topics that lead to discussions of family, i.e. kites, food, play, games
14. Potluck for all families at school
15. Use authentic home/family items in the dramatic play area
16. Spotlight a child each week and encourage families to participate by highlighting the child's "favorites" or reading a book to the class.
17. Send home copies of nursery rhymes, songs, fingerplays or recipes that are being used in the classroom. OR record a CD of favorite classroom songs!
18. Make a display of photos of each child's name
19. Make a comfortable corner or area for parents/children to enter and have a (hopefully) calm separation time
20. Have a bulletin board/display with family photos, photos by teachers of parents with their children, teachers' family photos, too!
21. Teacher photos with their bio and their HOPES AND DREAMS for their classroom of children for the year
22. Have parents talk to the children in the class about how things were when they were little, their jobs, etc.
23. Invite children to bring things from their home to share--and no matter what it is, VALUE THE CONTRIBUTION
24. Introduce new languages and cultures through map experiences, globes, parent visits, etc.
25. Send home a house shape. Families fill with photos, narrative, etc.
26. Keep parents informed: photos, emails, talk to parents, suggest possibilities
27. Invite parents in to share jobs/traditions/special foods
28. Birthdays--give 'compliments' to birthday child as a gift
29. Make cards/draw pictures for the birthday child
30. "Open door" feeling for the classroom
31. Open lines of communication
32. "What does love look like?" and other questions for kids
33. Kids can draw pictures about families to share with parents, give to parents
34. Parents can draw pictures to give to children
35. Meeting question--what part of your house do you like the best? Why?
36. Photos
37. Children's work, not just product but the process and posted not just in the hallway outside the room
38. Send daily emails to parents as appropriate
39. Immediate phone call to parent when child is doing something noteworthy
40. A family photo collage (pictures of family, vacations, homes, cabins, hobbies, pets, etc.)
41. Family holiday traditions
42. Super Star--Star of the Week--highlight one child, line leader, etc.
43. Different kinds of music--music from their cultural or ethnic background, music that families like to play at home
44. Letter of the week--do a country for each letter and bring photos, souvenirs, stories
45. Map of SLP (and beyond) with a sticker showing each child's home location
46. Give each parent a Hopes and Dreams sheet and have them fill it out
47. Family and child information form
48. Map home addresses from the school
49. Star of the Week
50. Photos for sit-upon or placemats
51. Photo album of all class members for classroom use
52. Post family photos
53. Family Book--can check out and take home
54. "Day in the Life of a Preschooler" video--check out to take home
55. Home book--photos with questions that families answer
56. Map of where we live
57. Explore what the kids know about their homes and their parents' occupations and their pets and siblings
58. Observe dramatic play and the role of the parents
59. How did you get to school today? (graph)
60. Invite parents in to share family holiday traditions
61. Kids draw pictures of parents, parents draw pictures of kids
62. Family photo in cubby
63. Comfort item from home in cubby
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Our class is having a family pot luck dinner November 7th and we are going to have a large paper posted for the parents to write down the hopes and dreams they have for their children. Since not all of our families can make it that night, we'll post the paper in the hallway and invite those parents, and any other parents walking the hallway, to add their wishes for their children. We're looking forward to reading what the parents write! The pot luck dinner is also a great bonding time for our families who only see each other in passing, if at all. One of our parents asked about starting a sort of a 'gifts and talents' list where parents can write down what they are good at or willing to help others with and parents can also list needs they might have. We're hoping to announce this at our pot luck dinner and get this started in our room. We figured everyone is good at something, and everyone needs help now and then, so now people will know where to turn to give and receive! We'll let you know how it goes.
Post a Comment