This summer, I had the opportunity to be Lead Teacher for a summer program called Summer Success Academy. The program was meant for third graders who may need some extra help, but who are not already identified and supported by special services at school. We hoped to build students' self-concept as learners, reinforce skills learned in third grade, and prevent the "summer slide" to help these kids transition well into fourth grade.
As part of my role as Lead Teacher, I developed three parent outreach presentations - which we dubbed "Very Important Parent (VIP)" sessions. The first of these sessions was on the topic of Reading At Home (RAH!). It was well-received by parents, and I thought I would post it here as a resource for other teachers.
In developing the session, I thought about how I wanted to approach this particular group of parents. These were parents who had put their child in a summer program focused on reading skills, and who were taking time out of their morning to come and hear me speak about reading at home. I decided that they didn't really need to be convinced that reading was important. They already knew it was important, or they wouldn't be here!
With that, I knew that I didn't want to focus on making the case for reading at home - I would briefly refer to the research on how important it is, but not spend the majority of our time on it. Instead, I would focus the bulk of our time on what they could actually do as parents to bring more reading into their homes. And the best ways that I know to do that, as a parent and an educator, are reading aloud to kids and turning kids on to reading series. I brought in dozens of examples of books that I have read to my own son, as well as books that he (and other kids I've known) have enjoyed. Together, we also created lists for both of these categories of titles recommended by parents who attended.
If you'd like to view, share or use the presentation, go ahead! Please leave the credits at the end of the presentation intact, though. I would like the contributions of my colleagues to be recognized!
As part of my role as Lead Teacher, I developed three parent outreach presentations - which we dubbed "Very Important Parent (VIP)" sessions. The first of these sessions was on the topic of Reading At Home (RAH!). It was well-received by parents, and I thought I would post it here as a resource for other teachers.
In developing the session, I thought about how I wanted to approach this particular group of parents. These were parents who had put their child in a summer program focused on reading skills, and who were taking time out of their morning to come and hear me speak about reading at home. I decided that they didn't really need to be convinced that reading was important. They already knew it was important, or they wouldn't be here!
With that, I knew that I didn't want to focus on making the case for reading at home - I would briefly refer to the research on how important it is, but not spend the majority of our time on it. Instead, I would focus the bulk of our time on what they could actually do as parents to bring more reading into their homes. And the best ways that I know to do that, as a parent and an educator, are reading aloud to kids and turning kids on to reading series. I brought in dozens of examples of books that I have read to my own son, as well as books that he (and other kids I've known) have enjoyed. Together, we also created lists for both of these categories of titles recommended by parents who attended.
If you'd like to view, share or use the presentation, go ahead! Please leave the credits at the end of the presentation intact, though. I would like the contributions of my colleagues to be recognized!
rah_rah_sisboombah.pptx |