Be Involved!

A vast number of researches have established the unequivocal relationship between parental involvement and student achievement. The earlier parents become involved in their children’s education, the more powerful the effects.  These studies have demonstrated that students whose parents are involved in their education tend to have higher grades, scores, and graduation rates. Parental involvement also acts as a motivation for students’ attendance, increased academic enthusiasm, and better self esteem. In the long run, children whose parents are involved in their education tend to have lower rates of behavior problems, decreased use of drugs and alcohol, and a better attitude for facing life-difficulties. Parental involvement has also shown to be a good indicator for students’ academic success even within families with low socio-economic status. While there are many ways by which parents can become involved in their children’s education, the most effective forms of parental involvement are those, which engage parents in working directly with their children on learning activities at home.

• How to do it?

Sometimes parents do not know exactly how to help their children with their education, in that case the best advice is to approach your children’s teacher and ask him/her for guidance.  With the teacher’s support parents can become increasingly involved in home learning activities and find themselves with opportunities to teach, to be models for and to guide their children. For example, the teacher may require from parents to practice reading at home. There are many studies proving that when children read with their parents at home, they make significant gains in reading achievement compared to those who only practice at school.

Some basic tips for parental involvement include:

1.       Establish a daily family routine. Start by providing a specific time and a quiet place to do homework and study. It’s important that you make an effort to have the basic supplies for your child to complete his/her homework: paper, scissors, colors, pencils, erasers, a dictionary, etc. If you don’t have a specific place, prepare a container (shoe box, paper bag, etc.) that your child uses only during homework time.

2.       Monitor out-of-school activities.  Limit the time your child spends watching TV or plays outside during school days; these need to include other extra-curricular activities including family visits, shopping etc.

3.        Model the value of learning, self-discipline, and hard work.  It’s important  that you  communicate regularly with your children, through questioning and conversation, showing them that achievement comes from setting goals and working hard toward meeting them.

4.       Set high but realistic expectations for achievement.  Ask your child’s teacher about the goals and standards appropriate for his age, grade level, and maturity. It's equally important to take into consideration your child's special talents, and to offer support to overcome specific limitations.

5.       Encourage children's development/ progress in school.   Children need to see/hear their parents maintaining a positive and supportive home-school relationship. Thus stay in touch with teachers and school staff and show your child your appreciation for their decisions and recommendations.

6.       Last, but not least, encourage literacy. Your children need to see you reading on regular basis (the newspaper, a letter, emails, etc.), writing (letters, emails, shopping lists), and talking (of activities that include literacy) among family members. 

Additional resources for parental involvement:

- Education Week

- Parent Involvement Matters

- National Education Association

How to Choose a Book for your Child

If you’re buying books for your child take into consideration his/her age and preferences; overall young children like books that use word repetition and predictable texts, and of course they have plenty of colorful pictures. If your child is beginning to read, be sure to choose books that match their skill level. Look on the back of the book; you will see something like K (kindergarten) or 1 for first grade.  Children who are already reading enjoy choosing their own books. If your child has a favorite book, try to find other books by the same author; or books that match their interest: dinosaurs, spaceships, sports, etc. Expose your child to a variety of genres: folktales, biographies, mysteries, and non-fiction stories. Show interest on what your child reads, and share with your child what you are reading: a novel, a cooking book, the newspaper, THIS BLOG!

Raising a Successful Reader!

There’s no doubt that learning to read is the most important skill a person will need  in his/her life. Reading is involved in every part of our life. We need to be able to read for accomplishing from the simplest to the most complicated tasks.

However, a child success as a reader does not start on the first day of school. The basic skills he/she will need to become a reader must be developed early in life, with YOU at home. In fact, there are many things parents can do with their child that wouldn’t even require a special time and that could be incorporated within much of your daily routines.. For example, when you are driving or walking to the store, park, etc. you can just point to the print around you: street names, traffic  signals, store names, billboards, etc. You can point to a word, say the word, ask your child to say it to you, spell the word, etc; see if your child can find the word on other forms. Play word games with your child, such as “Silly Tongue  Twisters.” Reading Rockets offers the following “Tips for Parents.” I suggest you print this one page document and place it on the refrigerator as a reminder of how you can start Raising a Successful Reader!

Getting Ready for your Child's First Day of School

In just a few weeks your child will be starting school. You both are anxious and excited! What can you do to have him/her ready? Well there are many things that parents can do to get their children ready for that great adventure of starting formal schooling. To start, help your child to “have fun” with language: play with letters, words, and sounds. Talk, talk, talk, to your child. As the first day of school approaches encourage your child to talk about school, what is he/she going to learn, about making new friends, and other exciting things that would happen in school. Read, read, read, to your child. Take your child to the public library, bookstores, yards sales, and get books he/she seems interested in and read it to him/her. Read the books as often as your child want to hear them, and encourage him/her to “read” portions of it to you. Help your child make connections with the story. This is an excellent way to help your child to develop reading comprehension skills. Connect the reading to what happens in real life. If you’re reading a book about sea animals, for example, relate that to a trip to the beach. Teach him/her nursery rhymes, sing songs together. Use the newspaper, magazines, and other type of print to cut out letters, make an alphabet chart; write your child’s name and other family members’ names. Help to develop his/her fine motor skills by helping him/her to trace letters, cutting and pasting, coloring, etc.

Remember, you’re your child’s first and most important teacher: Have fun!

Avoiding Summer Loss

Summer is the time we're all looking for! It's the time we use to relax, recharge our energies and do all those things we postpone for the most part of the year. Yet one of the most dreary consequences in our children is learning loss. To avoid it, parents ought to plan activities that include plenty of opportunities for their children to be in contact with books. To start, take your children to your local library. Most libraries have summer reading programs which provide both intrinsic rewards and incentive programs to reading all summer long!

It's also important that you help your child to develop reading comprehension. Help your children by asking them to stop, review, clarify, make connections with previous readings and experiences, and reread if necessary. Also, have your child read books to you. Have them stop when they encounter difficult vocabulary, passages, and pronunciation of words.

Read a book together! Take turns reading with your child and modeling appropriate reading comprehension when it’s your turn to read! Make reading a daily routine. Twenty or thirty minutes would be enough. Read in front of your child. Reading is contagious. The more your child sees you read the more they will think it’s a good idea too!

Have grandparents, favorite aunts, uncles, close family friends, etc. to suggest your child would like to read. Go to a book store, garage sale, or look for books in the internet. Nowadays there are several digital libraries offer books/stories that could be read online. But most importantly: READ, the best way to become a better reader is to read.