Partnering with Parents

Parents are an integral part of early literacy.  Of course students experience daily reading opportunities during school, but parental involvement is still essential to creating strong, lifelong learning structures that will improve student literacy now and later.  For this reason, all elementary sites have held Parent Literacy Nights with the help of Literacy Specialist Teachers (LSTs) and primary teachers assisting.  For example, Audra Soto held Parent Literacy Nights at both Reagan and Sequoia in which parents participated in "centers" to learn new and practical ways on how to help their children with specific literacy skills.  Bernadette Gomez held Parent Literacy Nights at Del Rey focusing on fluency and questioning strategies that parents can incorporate into reading with their children at home.  Marissa O'Donnell drew over 300 people to Jefferson's Family Reading Night last month.  Families were encouraged to wear pajamas and bring pillows and blankets to read on.  Opportunities included reading to a service dog, participating in a Book Walk, creating bookmarks, exploring literacy websites at an iPad station, checking out new books from the Roaring Readers book exchange, and taking at least one new book home.  What awesome opportunities to build excitement about reading with Sanger families! 

If you are a parent, or you would like to share these tips with your students' families, here are some suggestions from Hanover Research:

• Let your child see you read and write.  When you read something interesting, share what you are reading with your child.
• Provide a comfortable, quiet space for your child to read stories, draw, and write.
• Read with your child every night.
• Encourage your child to have many experiences that help build listening, speaking, writing, and reading skills.