Parent Involvement

I find that it’s very helpful to send home a letter from you, the classroom teacher, at the beginning of the year. I send home a very friendly letter. I try to make it warm because unless it’s warm, it’s ineffective. In that letter, I encourage my parents to read outloud when they can make time for it. In this busy world, I don’t tell parents to make time for it. I do tell them that many research studies show that children who are read to do better in school. Not just better at reading but better across the board at everything. I tell them that even a few minutes every day or as often as possible can help a lot and that it doesn’t matter what is read to the child. A favorite magazine of the parent , even well-chosen parts of the newspaper can help a child make good reading connections to the world.

Past that, it depends on the school I’m teaching at. If I have parents who have time or are very educated themselves, then I’d go on to suggest “reading games” they can play with their child. At one school, I sent home a letter every month with new “reading games” in it. Shaving cream words, magnet words, certain board games are great for beginning readers. But if my parents are just about making in through the day with both parents working very long hours and a high percentage of very challenged families, I don’t send home those perky reading games newsletters. Then I keep my newsletters to the things we’ve done in class because my parents are carrying enough and don’t appreciate my well-intentioned but somewhat insensitive suggestions.

Past reading outloud and reading games, I’d need help from you to understand what parents of children with reading difficulties can do. Children with reading difficulties often require great flexibility and innovation in approaching those difficulties. Children with reading difficulties often perplex teachers as to what best to do for them. What do you see a parent as able to do in those situations other than the suggestions that would apply to any young child learning to read?

I’m so glad to see new teachers asking questions like this. Can I recommend the book Reading Reflex? They also have a magazine called Parent & Teacher. They also have a new website for kids and parents. www.homegrownchild.com. Good luck in your work. God Bless!

When summer came our school had used Touchphonics with phonographix plan. I checked out the material and lessons for the summer. It worked well.

Encourage them to read every night with their children for 20-30 minutes. Explain to them the relationship between reading practice and fluency. I would do this in an early open house—most schools have something in September. Suggest they do “buddy reading” where the child reads one page and the adult the next. This is very helpful with kids who are struggling because they get a rest.

Use a good reading program like phono-graphix so you end up with fewer struggling readers.