Information for Educators About Using the Storybook
Tomasito's Mother Comes to School/La mamá de Tomasito visita la escuela
is an online bilingual storybook about family involvement at school that you
can use with children and families. The fully illustrated, printable storybook
consists of a children's story and informational guide for adult family members—written
at a level accessible to most families—as well as story discussion questions.
You can use it in a range of educational settings including school classrooms,
family literacy programs, after school programs, and ESL programs.
Family Involvement Ideas in the Storybook
Research tells us that family involvement in education boosts children's learning.
But, for educators, engaging families in their children's education can be a
challenge. This fun and educational storybook can help you meet the challenge
of getting families involved in their children's education.
Through the story, illustrations, and family guide, the storybook presents
the following family involvement themes:
Family involvement in school is important for children's learning and for
their success in school. The storybook offers examples of some of the different
ways families can get involved at U.S. elementary schools and communicate with
teachers, while acknowledging the variations that exist across schools. It conveys
the importance of teachers and families working together as partners to help
children learn. The storybook offers support, encouragement, and validation
to all families for their involvement in their children's learning.
Parents face challenges to getting involved in their children's education.
The storybook talks about some of the challenges that families face in communicating
with teachers and provides suggestions for surmounting those challenges. Both
of Tomasito's parents support their children's education at school—for
instance, by attending parent–teacher conferences. But the mother wants
to become even more involved—in this case, by dropping by the classroom
to chat with the teacher about what her son is learning. Challenges that she
faces and overcomes include resistance from her son and language differences
with the teacher.
Children have an impact on the home-school relationship. Second-grader
Tomasito is learning to negotiate the different worlds of home and school. The
storybook shows him self-consciously taking steps toward growing up by seeking
some independence from his mother. Mindful of the opinions of peers, he at first
resists his Spanish-speaking mother's attempts to visit with his teacher. But
after a change of heart, he plays an important role in bringing the two together.
The storybook portrays the impact that children themselves can have on the home–school
relationship—how by their behaviors and actions they can draw their two
worlds together or push them apart.
Parent-teacher communication is important for children's learning. The
teacher in this storybook knows the importance of family involvement in education,
and she actively reaches out to and welcomes families. As she tells Tomasito,
she wants to build a relationship with his mother. Because she understands the
important role the child plays in the home–school relationship, she works
with him to make a positive connection with his family.
Using the Storybook to Communicate With Families
Whether you are an elementary school teacher, an after school program instructor,
or an educator in another setting where children learn and grow, the storybook
can help you achieve a number of goals:
Convey information to families about school involvement opportunities.
You can use the story and accompanying family guide to provide students and
their families with examples of different school involvement activities and
ways to communicate with teachers—such as parent–teacher conferences,
volunteer opportunities, and even informal chats. The storybook also can help
you explain some of the ways that families' involvement in school can help their
children learn more.
Share with families expectations about their involvement at school. The
storybook can help you communicate to families—particularly immigrant families—your
hopes and expectations for their involvement in the U.S. educational system.
The family informational guide uses Tomasito's story to highlight three lessons
about family involvement at school: Schools and families work as partners to
help children learn, families can get involved at school in many ways, and it's
important for parents and teachers to communicate.
Share information, messages, and encouragement with all families—but
especially immigrant Latino families. While Tomasito's challenges in negotiating
the worlds of home and school will appeal to many readers, the storybook should
particularly resonate with Spanish-speaking immigrant Latino families. The family
informational guide is specially intended to support and empower immigrant Latino
families in connecting with their child's school. You can also use this storybook
to support immigrant families from other cultures in connecting with U.S. elementary
schools.
Forge a connection with classroom families. If you are a classroom teacher,
sharing this story about a warm and welcoming teacher can be one way to show
your students' families that you care about communicating with them about their
children's learning in order to help their children succeed.
Ideas for Using the Storybook in Your Classroom or Program
Tomasito's Mother Comes to School/La mamá de Tomasito visita la escuela
is one of many children's storybooks with family involvement content. You can
use it—or the other commercially available books
featured in the Family Involvement Storybook Corner—in a variety of
ways:
Share Tomasito's story in your classroom or program. By reading Tomasito's
Mother Comes to School/La mamá de Tomasito visita la escuela together
with the children in your classroom or program, you can begin discussion, reflection,
and activities about family involvement. For ideas about ways to use family
involvement storybooks in the classroom, see the general
tools in the Storybook Corner.
Send the storybook home for children to share with their families. This
printable online storybook is specially designed to go easily from school to
home. You can share the storybook with families as part of back-to-school activities,
general family involvement information, or just regular classroom homework.
If families have access to the Internet, you can send them the link to the online
storybook. Or you can send home to each family a printed-out copy of the story,
along with the supporting family materials, in English or Spanish (or both languages).
There's also a bookplate at the beginning of the storybook to record the student's
name—with enough space for you to write a note to families.
Send families a letter about the storybook and family involvement. You
can also send home this family letter, available in both English
and Spanish, from the author of Tomasito's
Mother Comes to School/La mamá de Tomasito visita la escuela. This
letter offers families three simple steps for using the different sections of
the storybook at home.
Related Resources for Educators
If you find the storybook to be a helpful teaching tool and would like more
information about related resources, here are some places to get started:
Tomasito teaching case. Explore the complex family involvement issues
underlying this story with this teaching
case, based on the same research that inspired the storybook. The case delves
into the different perspectives of the teacher, mother, father, and child on
whom the storybook's Tomasito and his family were based. Designed for use in
pre- and in-service settings to help educators gain a comprehensive and ecological
understanding of the child, this teaching case explores the role of the child
in the parent–teacher relationship, as well as issues of language and cultural
differences between teacher and parent.
Resources for engaging Latino families. For more information about engaging
Latino families in children's learning, as well as a tool kit for using the
published storybook Tomás and the Library Lady to promote family
involvement in education, visit the Storybook Corner
Reference Desk for a variety of resources.
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