Week 14-Home-School Connections to Support Word Learning

S&H 9 Home-School Connections to Support Word Learning

Background

Vocabulary is crucial to early learning; however, there are often to many words for students to learn in a year. Therefore, it is important for teachers and parents to work together towards this goal. Parents are students’ first teachers for vocabulary, and it is critical that they continue this role  throughout the early learning years. Teachers and parents should work together so that the role of word learning and literacy and the way in which they are taught are congruent.

Home Communication

Figure 9.1 shows a comprehensive chart about what parents want to know from teachers about teaching vocabulary. Teachers must communicate with parents; this can be done in a variety of ways including newsletters, emails, texts, phone calls, websites, etc. The focus should be on specific themes and words and skills and strategies that parents can use with their children. Teachers should be mindful about what they send home; this includes being sensitive to both available time and materials. Teachers should be specific about expectations.

Figure 9.2 shows a helpful example of a vocabulary word newsletter with accompanying activities, and Figure 9.3 provides a descriptive chart of activities that would be suitable for home use. Figure 9.4 presents information about word learning routines that parents and children can perform at home. Some supportive guidelines for building literacy and word learning include using home language (ELL), viewing educational programs, and using a variety of texts (print and digital).

Involving Parents in Vocabulary Instruction in School

Teachers can also invite parents to participate in in-school instruction of vocabulary. This helps parents to become engaged in their children’s learning, helps them learn how teachers are talking about books and words in school, allows parents to share words in their cultural context, allows children more opportunities to talk about what they are learning, and gives the teacher extra help in the classroom.

There are several ways that teachers can invite parents to support word learning. Teachers can invited parents to come tell a story or read a book that relates to the theme or words they are learning. Teachers can have parents come to school to read with individual or pairs of children who may need extra support. Teachers can also invite parents to introduce a weekly mystery word in class. Parents describe the word before revealing it, or they can tell a story or read a book using the mystery word.

Family Programs

·         Family Program-Dialogic Reading

Dialogic reading approach includes questioning and prompting children during reading to foster extended conversations about texts. In this program, parents are taught to: 1) ask their child open-ended questions, 2) follow their child’s answers with questions, 3) repeat their child’s answers, 4) assist their child as needed, 5) praise and encourage their child, and 6) follow their child’s interests. Parents follow the steps in Figure 9.5. Parents help their students with both contextualized and decontextualized language during dialogic reading.  Dialogic reading is simple and it is easy to train parents how to use this activity.

·         Family Program-Oral Language ~Project EASE

Project EASE includes monthly in class meetings and then weekly follow up activities to be done at home. It includes the topics of storybook reading, working with words, letter recognition and sound awareness, retelling family narratives, and talking about the world through the use of nonfiction text. Vocabulary is the main focus, but language is also addressed. Parents met with a parent educator each month who presented information on the current topic. Immediately after, parents did related activities with their children. Parents were given take-home activities to use regularly with their children. This program is heavily guided through parent support and guidance that continues throughout the program.

·         Family Program-Reading and Writing

This program focuses on book reading as well as interactive writing. The program included bimonthly workshops ad ample materials. This program found its strength through focusing on reading and writing and attention to vocabulary within each domain, focusing on how children develop over time and how parents can support them at different stages of development, and focusing on the role of parents in modeling and guiding children to become proficient readers and writers.

·         Family Program-ELLs

Project FLAME focused on the needs of Latino parents who were learning to speak English with their children. It provided English as a second language instruction to parents and taught them how to support their own children’s language and literacy development. It places focus on family in culture, which is very important to Latino cultures.  Figure 9.9 includes a chart of the workshops included in the program.

·         Family Program-Specifically Targeted Vocabulary

This program was tied to the curriculum and followed many of the same strategies that were already being used in school. Parents were taught the words students were using in school and then they discussed how they chose word and how to define words for young children. The strategy would be reviewed each night and the parents could practice with their children. They discussed using words in both English and Spanish, the many ways to explore words, and encouraging students to try new words. More strategies and games were suggested such as I spy and word walls.

Conclusions:

Families need consistent support, and programs should focus on explicitly supporting vocabulary in context of reading and writing. Family literacy programs should be responsive to parents’ strengths and needs. Family programs should build a bridge between what is learned at home and what is learned at school.

Questions:

What do parents need to know about vocabulary?

What do you do/would you do to get parents involved with vocabulary in your classrooms?

Pick a vocabulary strategy from the text or create one that you would have students do at home: