The Reference Desk section contains tools for classroom teachers, parents,
and teacher trainers for using storybooks to promote family involvement, including
new tools for use with the storybook Tomás and the Library Lady.
Many of these tools are easily adaptable for use in different programs and community-based
settings for children and families. Several of these tools also facilitate effective
family literacy practices—for example, they guide active shared reading
and parent–child conversations.
1. General tools for using family involvement storybooks in the classroom
Ideas for teachers on how to use family involvement
storybooks
The
Family Involvement Storybook: A New Way to Build Connections With Families
Read more about our ideas for using family involvement storybooks in an article
from Young Children, a journal of the National Association for the Education
of Young Children (NAEYC). (Copyright © 2006 by the National Association
for the Education of Young Children. See information on permissions and reprints
online at www.journal.naeyc.org/about/permissions.asp.)
2. Tool kits for use with particular published children's books
The family involvement storybooks selected portray culturally diverse families
and appear on Reading Is Fundamental's list of the 100
of the Decade's Best Multicultural Read-Alouds. The books selected are designated
by RIF as appropriate for reading aloud to children in grades K–3. Each
tool kit below includes a teacher lesson plan with home and school activities,
commentary from a teacher in the field who used the storybook to increase family
engagement, a parent handout, and an interview with the author of the storybook
about family involvement ideas.
A tool kit for the storybook Halmoni
and the Picnic. This book focuses on home–school relationships
and the important roles that children, families, and teachers can play in bridging
cultural differences. These resources can be used to build home-school connections
for families and to welcome families—particularly immigrant minority families—into
schools. Special features of this tool kit include questions to help teachers
reflect on their practice with culturally diverse families, step-by-step help
for families on how to talk with teachers about their children's learning, and
a guide for teacher trainers that uses the illustrations in the storybook to
explore home–school communication.
Guide for teachers using Halmoni and the Picnic
in the classroom
Teacher commentary after piloting Halmoni and the
Picnic in the classroom
Guide for parents to using Halmoni and the Picnic
at home
Guide to training teachers in family involvement using
Halmoni and the Picnic
Interview with the author of Halmoni and the Picnic
A tool kit for the storybook Tomás
and the Library Lady. This book focuses on learning outside of school
and the important role that families' cultural practices play in supporting
literacy. The book also explores the importance of community-based sources of
literacy learning. These tool kit resources can be used to build home–school
connections for families and home–school–community connections involving
the public library. The resources can help promote summer learning by focusing
on literacy achievement and preventing the “summer literacy slide.”
The resources also focus on engaging Latino families in their children's learning.
Special features of this tool kit include a family literacy handout for an informal
summer walk that parents and children can take together around the neighborhood
to promote literacy (available in both Spanish and English), the detailed journal
of a teacher whose class used the storybook to build relationships with English
Language Learner families and the public library, and thoughts from the storybook
author and an educator about engaging Latino families.
Guide for teachers using Tomás and the
Library Lady in the classroom
Teacher commentary after piloting Tomás
and the Library Lady in the classroom
The
Word Walk – literacy handout for families (in English)
La
Vuelta de Palabras – una actividad de alfabetización para familias
(en español)
Conversation with the author of Tomás and the
Library Lady
Related resource: Educator reflections on engaging
immigrant Latina mothers
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| Photo taken by Stella Johnson |
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