Sebrina Carroll, MS SPCAA HS/EHS

What is Family Literacy  Learning to communicate and understand the world through the context of the family.  Family teaches children what is important.

4 Components of Family Literacy  2007 Head Start Act  Interactive literacy activities between parents and children  Parent “training” on the role as child’s primary teacher and full partner in child’s education  Parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency and financial literacy  Age appropriate child education

Head Start Act Requires  Family Literacy services be of sufficient intensity and duration to make sustainable changes.

Families teach Their Children  Parents are a child’s first teacher  Families teach their children  How to walk  What they should and should not do  Who they are  Values

Research Bites  Number of words heard  By age 5, the child of a parent who is language focused has heard 50,000,000 words spoken as opposed to the child of a parent who is not language focused. That child has only heard10,000,000 words (Hart and Risley, 1995).  Variety of words heard  Children from low language resource backgrounds hear only the most commonly occurring words. (Wietz, 2001). All children need exposure to high-interest, less frequent words.

High-Interest Less Frequent Words Rare and Juicy Words

Research Bites Language is the basis of literacy. Children in poverty often have had fewer words spoken to them, with shorter utterances, and greater numbers of discouragements. May not have had the opportunity to learn the school language of negotiation, self advocacy, and prediction. May not have had the language underpinnings of math and science.

Research Bites  There is a strong relationship between  Parent language – rich parent child interactions where parents engage their children in play and language – rich everyday activities and Optimal learning in child outcomes

Research Bites  Children develop strong oral language through:  Conversation in which adults who model appropriate language  Vocabulary and explanations of concepts in everyday contexts  Regularity and frequency of language rich interactions

Research Bites  Current research and best practices teach that interactive literacy activities should be intergenerational experiences that engage the “joy of learning.” Interactive literacy includes:  Book Reading  Singing Songs  Storytelling  Enjoying rhymes and poems  Reading and responding to environmental print.

Research Bites  Head Start parent education efforts become stronger when staff:  Regularly and explicitly connect every parent training to the goal of building parents' skills as 1st educator of their child.  This changes attitude among learners  Use this intentionality to embrace the scientific evidence that parents are the key motivation factor in their child’s life  Seek ways to inform and involve parents on an on- going basis

Research Bites  Directly teaching parents how to work with their children has been a very successful strategy. In one study, parents learned how teachers were teaching their children. Armed with this knowledge, parents:  Began to use the same strategies at home  Attended parent workshops more frequently  Provided insight into their children’s progress  Interacted with their children more confidently  Motivated their children to learn more  Experienced the meaning of being their child’s first teacher.