Importance of Family Engagement in Early Childhood Education

A positive relationship and engagement betwixt parents and educators is essential, particularly in the earliest years of pedagogy. Children need a lot of back up and guidance as they are developing their motor, social, emotional, concrete and cognitive skills.

The Importance

A positive relationship and date betwixt parents and educators is essential, peculiarly in the primeval years of pedagogy. Children need a lot of back up and guidance as they are developing their motor, social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills.

In early childhood, it can be hard for parents to understand where their kid is academically and how that relates to what is developmentally advisable. It is of import for educators to build relationships with families and help parents understand how they can support the learning that is happening in the classroom in their dwelling house besides. A unified front between families and educators will create the conditions where a honey of learning tin can develop in our youngest students.

→ Run across how we back up Family Engagement in Schools

Strategies to Increase Family Engagement

True family engagement views parents and schools every bit co-facilitators of learning. Here are several ways that your school can build authentic family engagement:

Build Genuine Relationships with Families

Cultivating a relationship with families takes time and try. Most schools have an Open House and and then parent-teacher conferences every quarter to discuss the kid's development and performance. This is not plenty time or touchpoints to build a trusting relationship where teachers fully empathize a family unit'due south needs and where parents tin share their knowledge, strengths, and what is important for them and their kid.

Routinely Send Positive Communication

Sometimes the only time educators call parents is when there is an academic or behavioral issue. Instead, call or communicate with parents routinely and share the positive things their child did that day or week. This way, parents are excited for phone calls from the school. This volition give positive deposits to the parent-teacher relationship and make the calls when negative beliefs or grades are communicated easier because you accept already spent time edifice the human relationship and sharing what their kid is doing well.

[Pro Tip] Send quick positive letters to parents through the Kickboard Family unit Portal.

Share Daily Schedules

An like shooting fish in a barrel way to appoint families in early education is to share the classroom'southward daily schedule. This will inform parents on how their child's day is structured, the length of time their child participates in dissimilar activities, and gives them an choice for how to structure their weekends and summers similarly. You can also share lesson content in the schedule.

Invite Parents into the Classroom

One big way to heave family engagement is to implement an open door policy for parents to come and volunteer in the classroom when they have availability throughout the 24-hour interval. This volition help educators facilitate fine art activities, center rotations, read alouds, and more. Parents will feel valued and appreciated and will have the opportunity to exist a part of the learning.

Assign More Interactive Homework

Parents will capeesh a weekly or monthly newsletter that has more interactive and engaging activities to practise that connect to the theme and the learning that is happening. For example, if your curriculum's theme is Building, suggest finding shapes in the grocery store, creating a house with materials from their home, or walking around their neighborhood to spot different shapes that make upwardly buildings. Yous could enquire parents to send you pictures of them completing some of the activities equally a family and share it with the grade during morn circumvolve time.

Additionally, send a annotation home asking if whatsoever parents work as a construction worker, engineer, architect, etc, and would like to speak to the class about their career.

Family Learning Night

In one case the schoolhouse twelvemonth is several weeks or months in, host a Family unit Learning Night. Parents will have already had the logistical questions about schedules, teachers, and more answered so this will be a great time for parents to ask questions about the curriculum, themes of the classroom, and the priorities for their course.

Teachers tin can take this opportunity to model educational activity strategies for parents. During read alouds, teachers use feedback loops, or a series of questions that build on students' answers to increase their understanding of a topic. The feedback loop consists of 3 back and forth exchanges with feedback to the student.

Hither is an example of a feedback loop that can easily be modeled for parents on Learning Night while reading a book about community helpers:

• Instructor: "What community helper do yous meet on this folio?"
• Student: "I run across a fireman."
• Teacher: "What does a fire fighter do?"
• Student: "A fireman keeps people safety."
• Teacher: "How practice they go on people rubber? What tool do they use to help people?"
• Educatee: "They apply a hose to spray water on building that are on burn down from their firetruck."
• Teacher: "What color is the firetruck?"

This example will give parents a peachy model on how they can take better, richer conversations with their children every bit they are reading books to them at dwelling. This will help parents make connections in conversations to shapes, letters, numbers, the themes that students are learning in their curriculum, and get students to practice their speaking and listening skills.

Focus on Positive Literacy Experiences at Domicile and School

Studies take shown that when children accept positive literacy experiences, information technology will help gear up them on the path to be reading on grade level by third course. Research shows that families tin promote early literacy with their children by making reading enjoyable, having ongoing and engaging conversations, visiting the library, creating a reading space in their home, and holding high expectations for their child.

Search for videos on youtube about means families tin can engage their young children in reading. When parents and teachers are using the same strategies when reading and discussing books, they mutually support the child's learning. Parents and teachers could watch a video together, practice request questions and feedback loops while reading a volume to their child, and brainstorm additional activities and ideas to practice at home.

Create a Platform for Feedback

Families should be given the infinite and should feel comfortable enough to share feedback about their kid's school. Figure out the all-time platform that works for your community and enquire for genuine feedback on how they feel near the school, their interest in the schoolhouse community, how they are engaged as parents.

These strategies will help build a positive relationship and date between parents and educators. Parents, aslope teachers and administrators, tin can ensure their child is having fun learning inside and outside of the classroom. This partnership in the early didactics years can positively impact the learning outcomes for a child's whole educational career!

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Source: https://www.kickboardforschools.com/family-engagement-communication/the-benefits-of-family-engagement-in-early-education/

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