2010 ACEI Phoenix Conference Family Literacy Book bags

1. Revisiting Family Literacy: Strengthening School, Family, and Community Through Children’s Literature Patricia A. Crawford University of Pittsburgh Nancy Brasel & Sherron Killingsworth Roberts University of Central Florida ACEI 2010, Phoenix. Arizona

2. Purpose of session: To consider the benefits of implementing a family literacy program component while exploring ideas for creating interactive literacy activities for parents and children

4. Federal Definition Family literacy "services that are of sufficient intensity in terms of hours, and of sufficient duration, to make sustainable changes in a family, and that integrate all of the following activities:

5. training for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher for their children and full partners in the literacy education of their children; parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency; an age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences; Interactive literacy activities between parents and their children.

6. Family Literacy findings Parent-child literacy activities, such as reading to children, have been found to improve children's language skills and heighten their interest in books The more frequently parents read to their children, the more likely the children are to show emerging literacy skills Children’s development and school achievement is highly correlated with the amount of time they spend with their parents. (Jacobs, 2004; Pianta, 2004; Powell, 2004).

7. family literacy findings Parents have a significant impact on the language and literacy development of their children (Dickinson & Tabor, 2001; Hart &Risley, 1995; 1999). The more time that parents spend interacting with their children, the better the chance that their children will have higher vocabulary and IQ test scores at age three (Hart &Risley, 1999). Frequent parent-child book reading benefits children’s language and literacy development (Bus, vanIjzendoorn& Pelligrini,1995; Lonigan&Whitehurst,1998).

8. Supporting families as literacy coaches: Roles and tips Actively Listen- Listen closely to the children and accept their perspective. Become a Mentor- As a mentor or coach you will be asking children to extend their ideas, by wondering & asking questions Share Positive Reading Experiences- Share books you have read, magazine articles, newspaper articles, letters, etc. to demonstrate the importance of reading

9. Supporting Families as literacy coaches: More roles and tips Provide a Model-Read and think aloud so children can learn what successful readers do. Model fluent reading Provide Appropriate Support- Wait five seconds before intervening if a child is having difficulty reading a word or text.

10. Interactive literacy bags A Means to Support Family Literacy:

11. Interactive literacy bags Serve as a transportable classroom library Provide a tangible connection between home and school Typically include a developmentally appropriate book and relevant support materials May include suggestions for parents and other caring readers in the child’s life Invite both reading and reading response

12. Three sample programs Red Bug Reads (Casselberry, Florida) Family Literacy Bags (Palm Bay, Florida) The Wordless Book Nook (New Wilmington, Pennsylvania)

13. Red Bug reads Part of an ongoing and comprehensive program to support a love and learning of literacy at Red Bug Elementary in Casselberry, Florida Packets developed as part of a 10+ year collaboration with the College of Education at the University of Central Florida Packets developed by teacher education students and used by a wide range of community tutors who work with elementary students

15. Red bug reads packets Book packets include activities to use before, after, and during reading Packets include a wealth of generally applicable activities such as the five-finger strategy, graphic organizers, reading and writing connections See more at http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ira2001/home.html

16. Family Literacy BagsPort Malabar Elementary Ongoing program at Title One school in Palm Bay Florida that began in January 2008 25 bags with children’s book(s), related activities and materials Children choose bag based on picture tag attached to bag Children take home bags each Friday and return them the following Tuesday Participants included the kindergarten student and: mom, dad, brother, sister and/or grandmother Mothers were the most frequent participants Families reported participating in the literacy activities for one or more hours each weekend.

22. www.storylineonline.net

24. Inexpensive bags/totes Dollar Store Reusable grocery bags Back to School clearance End of the year Lost & Found collection of backpacks

25. Parent Comments “Both kids loved these books. Thank you for sharing them with us. We loved the Farmer Brown books.” “This was a great bag for Jesse because he loves animals. He’s familiar with snakes so I liked the non-fiction books in the bag.” “We enjoyed the book and the movie comparison. Rocco really got into finding the differences.” “This bag (book) was very good. Bright pictures and the story taught some good ideas. As a parent I give this a 10!! We liked listening to the CD in the car on the way to school. The lyrics set to music were enjoyable to listen to and learn. This will be a good book to add to our library.”

26. Wordless book Nook Program funded by the Elizabeth Breathwaite Award, Association for Childhood Education International Aimed at supporting family literacy at a college-based child development center Partnership between faculty at University of Pittsburgh and Westminster College Book packets include only wordless texts and are aimed at promoting child-family interactive reading and language development

27. Wordless books

28. Wordless books Introduce children to the aesthetics of children’s book illustrations Offer invitations to construct meaning Can be used by a variety of age levels Provide support structure for ELL Offer unique family literacy opportunities

29. Program components Exposure to literature Classroom introduction Recorded storytelling by each child Three book-in-a-bag family literacy engagements over a 3 week period Draw a picture Beginning, middle, end Post it story recording Final recorded storytelling by each child

30. 10 Principles of Literacy Nothing is better than reading and writing to develop students’ reading and writing. Most reading should be easy reading (high accuracy/good comprehension). An 80/20 ratio (easy to harder) seems about right. Students do not develop comprehension strategies by answering questions after reading.

31. 10 Principles continued 4. Children do not develop composing strategies from red ink corrections. 5. Children do not develop decoding strategies from drills or isolated worksheets (nor from just reading) 6. Children benefit from an integrated, content-oriented, and comprehensive reading/language arts curriculum plan. 7. Some children need access to larger amounts of more intensive instructional support and enhanced opportunities to read & write with instructional support.

32. 10 Principles continued 8. Thoughtful literacy is the new general goal for reading and language arts instruction. 9. Developing independent readers and writers is critical to developing thoughtful lifelong learners. 10. Good classroom instruction is absolutely central to every student’s achievement.(Prepared by R.L. Allington, 1995)

33. When we open the door to family literacy…the contagion begins! When parents read to their children, they open the door to a lifetime of literacy and to endless learning. When you read with your children, your lives are forever changed.

34. Interactive Literacy bags: Selected support strategies to share with parents and other caring readers

35. 5 FINGER STRATEGY Open the book to any page with text. Read the page. Hold up a finger for each word you do not know. How many fingers are you holding up? 0-1 Finger=Easy Book 2-3 Fingers=Okay Book 4-5 Fingers=Challenging Book More than 5= TOO HARD!!!

36. Read to, with, and by children Read books aloud TO your children. Read books WITH your children, by inviting active participation in the reading experience. Take turns reading various parts Support reading BY children. Listen as they read stories to you.

37. Before, During and AFter BEFORE READING: Engage children in talk about the book. Ask them to predict what the story might be about after looking at the cover. Take a “picture walk” and have the child “read” the illustrations to you. DURING READING: Promote active engagement by inviting questions, pointing out details in illustrations, or explaining concepts. AFTER READING: Celebrate the story! Discuss the storyline. Ask the children to retell the story.