Know

Family Engagement: What Is It?

What are your feelings about working with families? What do you enjoy about it? What seems difficult? While you may feel motivated to develop relationships with families and to support family engagement, it is common to feel more success in focusing on your teaching practices and your direct interactions with preschoolers. It may not seem simple to combine these practices.

Family engagement has different meanings for different people. In many cases, it relates to an ongoing partnership between you and families. Early care and learning programs are committed to engaging and involving families in meaningful ways, and families are committed to actively supporting their child’s learning and development. The literature around family engagement highlights the following characteristics:

• 教师，家庭和社区之间的强大，信任关系
• Recognition, respect, and support for families’ needs, as well as differences
• Strength-based partnership where decisions and responsibility are shared
• 活动，互动和支持增加家庭参与他们孩子的健康发展
• Families take responsibility for their child’s learning
• Acknowledgment that family engagement is meaningful and beneficial to both families and the early care and learning program

It’s important to realize that family engagement can look different and take on many forms. What family engagement means and looks like depends on the unique characteristics and the individual comfort levels and understanding of each family.

为了帮助确保家庭致力于他们的孩子的学习并从事学龄前方案，应邀请家庭参加他们觉得最舒适的水平。亚慱彩票yabo电子游艺参与是否为每月会议或参加父母咨询委员会？（并与所有父母共享的母公司咨询委员会会议纪要？）参与意味着捐赠饼干的烘焙销售吗？和班级一起去实地考察？对于家庭来说，对于他们所能做的方式并选择参与和参与 - 每天将学龄前儿童带入计划的方式是非常重要的，以便在委员会中分享或在委员会中分享或服务。亚慱彩票有关支持家庭参与的其他想法和考虑，请参阅本节附带的讲义。

Importance of Family Engagement

Family engagement in early learning can benefit children, parents, families, teachers, and program quality in various ways. Can you remember what caring adults in your family, community or early care program did to help you grow and develop?

Families are their children’s first teachers and they have a powerful effect on their young children’s development. Family engagement during the first years of life can support a preschool child’s readiness for school and ongoing academic and lifelong success. Research shows that when children have involved parents, the results are very positive, especially over the long term (A New Wave of Evidence, 2002).

When families are involved in the preschool program, they may also feel more vested in what happens there and more competent in their role as parents. Through these interactions and relationships, families may learn additional strategies from you to promote development and learning at home. Such strategies include expanding children’s language, readings stories aloud, asking open-ended questions, encouraging children’s efforts, identifying feelings and emotions, or responding calmly to behavior that challenges.

Including Families in Preschool

There are many reasons to include parents and families in the preschool program. Families usually have the largest impact on the development of young children. Family involvement is linked with positive outcomes for children, including better outcomes in child development, attitudes, and behavior. Furthermore, family involvement in school can help improve school programs, the school environment, and teachers (Hanson & Lynch, 2004; Turnbull, Turnbull, Erwin, & Soodak, 2006).

儿童在家庭单位内发展，对每个孩子都有不同。由于孩子的整个家庭可以影响他/她的发展，因此重要的是考虑承认的方法，并在您的计划中包含不同的家庭类型。在整个这一系列的课程中，我们使用这个词familyto refer to important people in children’s lives. These people can be parents, siblings, guardians, extended family members such as aunts or cousins, and other individuals who are involved in children’s lives.

Helping Families Feel Welcome: Entering Preschool

Families and preschool teachers ultimately have a common interest in children’s development. It is crucial to establish and maintain collaborative relationships between home and school that will promote children’s learning and growth. Considering that for many families preschool is the first encounter with group care, the beginning of the year may seem scary and stressful. As preschool teachers, you can do the following to support families during this sensitive time:

• Invite families to visit your classroom before their child’s start date.
• Ask families about their child’s interests, favorite toys, nap routines, likes and dislikes.
• For children whose first language in not English, ask families to provide a list of words or phrases in the child’s native language.
• Ask the family to video or audio record a message to their child that you can share with their child during difficult times in the transition period.
• 鼓励家庭为他们的孩子带来舒适的物品，例如最喜欢的毛绒动物或毯子。
• 请家庭分享他们孩子的希望，目标和优先事项。
• 为家庭信息提供有关他们可以参加课堂的不同方式的信息。
• When it comes to families of children with special learning needs who are transitioning to preschool from home-based early intervention services, provide information about the transition process, including a timeline of events.
• Make sure you ask families about their preferred method of communication in case you need to reach them about their child.
• 在课堂上展示儿童及其家人的照片，儿童可以轻松地看到它们。
• Include books about families in your classroom library.
• Invite families to participate in the assessment process.
• Ask families of children with special learning needs to share input and preferences about their child’s placement and education.

鼓励家庭参与其中

Within your program, there should be a specific plan as to how to engage families throughout the year. Though families’ participation is voluntary, it is your job to make them feel welcome by actively encouraging involvement. Program activities should reflect families’ interests and motivate them to participate. Additionally, your program may have a family involvement committee. This committee is composed of family members who encourage communication and involvement with the goal of strengthening and supporting the well-being of children and families. This committee is a resource and asset to your program as families may discuss issues or concerns and suggest changes to improve family satisfaction and involvement. Collaborate with a trainer, coach, or supervisor to promote family involvement.

Although you may provide several opportunities for family involvement, some families may still not participate, and you may sometimes feel discouraged by their lack of involvement. It is important to continue to invite all families. Lack of participation does not mean they do not care. There may be reasons why their participation is difficult, including inflexible work schedules or unique family demands and characteristics. As a caring and resourceful professional, be flexible and think of alternative ways to engage with all families in your classroom.

There are a number of ways to encourage and support family participation in your regular preschool routine, such as:

• Inviting family members to share special talents (e.g., play an instrument, lead a cooking activity, sing, make a craft).
• Giving family members jobs in the preschool routine (classroom helper, guest reader, party planner, activity-preparation helper).
• Inviting family members to visit your classroom at any time.
• 要求家庭成员为活动提供贡献（用于中心活动的空食品容器，用过戏剧性的戏剧区使用服装品）。
• Inviting family members to join a classroom field trip.
• Inviting family members to be guest speakers about certain topics (e.g., a firefighter talking to children about the job).
• 邀请家庭成员分享他们文化的方面。
• Asking family members to help put together a class photo album.
• Asking family members to help organize a family dinner night.
• 要求家庭成员分享关于课堂现场旅行的输入。
• 要求家庭成员进行额外的帮助手，并重新排列您的教室。
• Encouraging families to share suggestions or concerns with you.

See

Do

A great way to encourage family involvement in your classroom is by establishing personal connections在你的照顾中与孩子家庭。想想家庭作为合作伙伴;分享有关您自己的信息和您在学龄前的工作将帮助家庭更好地了解您，最终感受到课程经验的一部分。亚慱彩票

Here are some ideas to help you continue to engage families, to increase their involvement in the program, and to build relationships:

• Communicate与家庭一起，花时间观察他们的肢体语言，以帮助您在护理环境中衡量他们的舒适度。找到方法来询问他们是如何感受到该程序的感受，例如afamily survey, and discuss any concerns they might have.
• Smile和greet families by name.
• Arrange theenvironmentin a way that encourages families to spend time there. Keep the entrance area open and uncluttered with simple but attractive signs welcoming them. If possible, have a space for families' coats or belongings. Consider setting up a large board on a wall near the center of the room for parents to leave daily messages. Include some comfortable spots, such as pillows on the rug or a small sofa, so parents can read a picture book to their child or a small group of children.
• Spend timeobserving他们与孩子互动的家庭学习在您的照顾时支持支持它们的策略。
• 展示重要的家庭supplies和other items are stored so they have access to things they might need for their children when in the care setting.
• 包括特殊材料或海关family’s culture.
• Establish regular times to与家庭面对面见面和帮助家庭设计一个计划或创建activities to reach the dreams and goals they have for their children.
• 分享观察和other strength-based information about their children.
• 问家庭的问题about their children.
• Share something personal about yourself（例如。，“My mom tells me I struggled falling asleep for nap, just like Carlos. She said I never wanted to stop playing!”).
• Offermultiple ways to communicate dailywith families (e.g., note home, share a photo of children playing, communication sheet with information about routines, phone call, newsletter).
• 创造仪式around hellos and goodbyes.
• Invite families to share他们看到并听到他们在家或社区中的孩子们在做什么。

In addition to encouraging family involvement, it is also important to spend time acknowledging families in your preschool routine. Review the attached促进家庭参与教室的战略document for ideas on how you can establish personal connections with families and how you can acknowledge families in your preschool routine. Then review the following two links. The first resource is for and about fathers from the National Center for Fathering (NCF). The second link provides suggestions for children’s books about all kinds of families from the Children's Book Council (CBC).

http://www.fathers.com/

http://www.cbcbooks.org/cbc-book-lists/all-kinds-of-families/?sortby=young.

Use the resources in this section to encourage family involvement and language and communication development at home.

在此视频中，聆听家庭成员分享他们参与其孩子计划的经验。