When you are passionate about a topic it shows. A little nudge was all it took for me to share literacy with families at our school.
Our evening kicked off with parents scanning QR codes on personal devices or our iPads to sign in. (Second to my passion for literacy is my love for technology.) Utilizing Google forms for sign in will allow us to sort and group data by categories. (I *heart* Google forms.)
We began with everyone in the cafeteria. I was excited and a little nervous to share with a large crowd.
First I explained our campus expectations of nightly reading & its purpose. Thirty minutes of nightly reading is the campus requirement.
Next, we discussed 6 reading strategies to ensure success. Then I shared with parents what strategies could be used in addition to the age old, "Sound it Out."
A story was shared that encouraged conversation between students and families. Questions were asked and a read aloud was modeled. Three specific reading strategies were identified and modeled (inferencing, using context clues, and summarizing).
At the conclusion of my presentation, families visited classrooms for skills and strategies specific to their grade level.
Before departing all students were provided pizza and a free book.
This was the first of four in our Parent Education & Involvement Series. Next up, March Madness where we will share strategies for how to be a SuperSTAAR (test taking strategies), followed by hotdogs and a staff VS students basketball game.
Stay tuned to celebrate our success and for details on other upcoming Parent Education activities.
If you're interested in a copy of the presentation please email jennroach@live.com or find me on Twitter @JennGRoach.
What a great event Jenn! I truly love when families are learning together. So many parents want to support their child's learning, but simply don't know how. If we want families to "support the learning from home", we need to share with them tips on what that means and how. In addition to making this a family event, I think you hit on another important aspect, combining learning opportunities with food and fun (pizza, hot dogs and basketball)...the extras appealing to those students and families that might not give the event a try otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading about your future events in this series. I would love to read a post/excerpt from a student or parent that attended. :-)
Thanks for sharing!!
That is a super idea! I will visit with a few students & parents and get their perspective. I'll share with you my findings. @mrskegler tweeted her thoughts Tuesday night. You can also follow @BQJES to see what else is happening at school.
ReplyDeleteOur next event is March 6th. March Madness SuperSTAARs will focus on standardized test strategies (YUCK, but it is a hot topic for parents this time of year in Texas). We will end the night with hotdogs and a basketball game. We are excited to share with parents and learn from them.
We have struggled some this year with parent outreach now that we've become a Title I campus for the first time. You have shared some incredible ideas here. A while back, I wrote a column for our district's annual news sheet about the importance of parents reading to, with, and for their kids. On the Importance of Reading...as a Parent http://farleythroes.blogspot.com/2013/07/on-importance-of-readingas-parent.html
ReplyDeleteI never thought to bring them to school and present it, though. And the invite to parents to watch the student-teacher game is just brilliant. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. I look forward to continuing to learn with you and from you.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the "Why Can't I Skip My 20 Min. of reading Tonight" poster. I'll be blogging about it soon myself. I even put it on my class website for my students and parents to see. I love you idea. It should be a great way to get parents excited about reading with and promoting reading for their children.
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