4.15 Partnering with Families
As the snail-exploration vignette illustrates in several places, teachers also include the children’s families in supporting children’s learning. Teachers find it particularly helpful to share documentation of children’s learning with children’s family members. When families and teachers reflect together on documentation of children’s play and learning, family members offer insights into the children’s behavior and ideas, as well as share expectations of their children at home or in the community. Teachers also provide resources to families in order to bridge children’s experiences in preschool with experiences at home and in the community. For example, the teachers used the children’s interest in the snails to support family members’ participation in creating learning opportunities in the following way:
During the snail exploration, teachers posted near the entry a note with a photo of children exploring snails at the science table.
Figure 4.
4.43: Taking a closer look at the snails.[1]
They suggested to families to consider doing a snail hunt on the way to school, in a park, or in a yard. A stack of copies of the snail diagram with the words eyes, tentacles, and shell written in Spanish, English, and Russian was available for family members to take with them.[2]
References
- Image by the California Department of Education is used with permission
- California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 1 by the California Department of Education is used with permission
: Partnering with Families in Curriculum Planning by Jennifer Paris, Kristin Beeve, & Clint Springer is licensed CC BY 4.0.
The snail vignette illustrates how teachers can help children make connections and thereby make meaning. This exploration allowed children to investigate and learn about creatures from the outdoor environment in the classroom. In doing so, the children were able to make meaning about snails’ natural habitats while encountering opportunities to engage in integrated learning in every domain.
Young children’s experiences at home and in their communities are a powerful source of connections. Teachers nurture children’s appetites for learning and making meaning by building upon the knowledge children bring to the preschool setting. For example, children may come to preschool with knowledge of many family stories. Their teachers may have observed that the children used the stories in the dramatic play area. However, the children did not seem to be aware that their stories could be written down and then read by someone else. In such a case, teachers can partner with families to create a story dictation study. In planning the snail exploration, the teachers and family members may ask:
Would the children be interested in seeing their family stories written down, and would such experiences help them increase their awareness of print in the world around them?
What strategies or adaptations might help a child who is nonverbal to become engaged in family storytelling?
Would children in the group who are English learners make the connection to print more easily if they can dictate their stories in their home language to family members or community volunteers?
What topics may be interesting and engaging for children to dictate? What kinds of questions would help individual children, English learners, or children with diverse cultural experiences to get started with dictation?
How might the activity be adapted to accommodate children with disabilities or other special needs?
Would asking children about how their family helps them get ready for preschool encourage them to dictate a meaningful experience?
Would a child who likes to draw pictures have an easy time dictating a story about a drawing?
Teachers can explore these questions and see where the exploration leads.[1]
References
[1] California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 1 by the California Department of Education is used with permission (pg. 23-24)
: How It’s All Connected by Jennifer Paris, Kristin Beeve, & Clint Springer is licensed CC BY 4.0.