Lincoln Elementary School Parent Presentation

Early Childhood/Middle Childhood Children who attend this school are between the ages of 5 and 12 therefore this presentation will focus on parent involvement for children who are in preschool to 6th grade.

My Role As a child development professional I am here for you and your children. Parents/caregivers are the child’s first and most important teacher. Everything that is learned at school is supported and reinforced in the home. It takes a team to encourage a child’s social and educational growth and I am here to guide everyone in the right direction for the child.

Why is parent involvement important? Parents are their child’s first teacher. It is parents that begin to socialize the child. Children will take these skills with them into school and if the parents are involved children will see and learn to respect adults and other children. As a child development specialist I am here to help parents be involved in their child’s life as well as their community to ensure that the child is getting the best support from all areas around them. Later in the presentation Epstein’s Framework will be covered showing the different types of family involvement.

The Mesosystem Bronfenbrenner’s mesosystem shows how everything that is in a child’s life has an influence on their development. This includes family, school, doctors, and others in the community. The image below shows a clear example of all the different factors that contribute.

Epstein’s Framework of Six Types of Involvement Parenting Communicating Volunteering Learning at Home Decision Making Collaborating With Community

Parenting This type of involvement helps the child understand how home and school can be linked to create a positive learning environment. The school should implement time for the families to understand the school as well as the school understanding the families. This can be achieved through open houses at the beginning of the school year and throughout the year. If an open house does not work for every family due to scheduling then the teacher or school should contact the family by phone and have a question and answer period where the parent can ask questions as well as the teacher.

Communicating Proper communication between teachers and families will help the child’s development by ensuring that they are on the right track. The child’s progress should be recorded and shown to the family regularly. There needs to be communication often to create a strong support system for the child. Due to a language barrier there should be a translator on staff at the school to ensure that all families are being heard. It can sometimes be difficult for someone who speaks another language to try to communicate with someone who does not speak that language. Having someone on staff that speaks that language will make the families more comfortable.

Volunteering Parents and families should always be welcome to volunteer in the classroom. This will help the child by showing the child different occupations in the community and different talents other parents may have. The school should encourage parents to volunteer by setting up a classroom volunteer sheet. This is where parents can sign up to do different tasks in the classroom such as; preparing materials, reading to the children, or speaking about their profession.

Learning at Home Expanding what the child learns at school into the home is beneficial to development. When parents/caregivers work with children on what they learned at school, then the task is reinforced. Teachers can send home weekly newsletters about what the children are learning that week. There can also be a calendar of at home activities that reinforce what is being learned at school that month.

Decision Making It is beneficial for parents to be involved in school decisions because these decision impact their children. Teachers and schools should encourage parent involvement through PTA/PTO organizations.

Collaborating with Community Children’s development can benefit from this because there are resources that are available to the families through the community. This could be resources such as food banks, community activities, and even play groups. Schools should have a list of community resources on hand as well as contact information. This is where communication is important. If teachers know their families then they are better able to serve them.

References Berk, L. E. (2013).Child development. (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Epstein, J. (n.d.). Epstein's framework of six types of involvement. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/lac/Joyce_L._Epstein_s_Framework_of_Six_Ty pes_of_Involvement(2).pdf http://lifeinstructionmanual.wikispaces.com/Bronfenbrenner's+Bioec ological+Model