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Parent and Family Engagement: Fostering a Strong Start

FIND MORE ABOUT > early childhood | family engagement | kentucky early childhood standards | parent engagement | Title I
How is your school district currently fostering parent and family engagement at the preschool level? The Collaborative for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is positioned to support your district with professional development regarding parent and family engagement strategies and programming.  Our parent and family engagement program Artful Reading on the Go disseminates “information on best practices […]

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On November 7, 2023
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How is your school district currently fostering parent and family engagement at the preschool level? The Collaborative for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is positioned to support your district with professional development regarding parent and family engagement strategies and programming.  Our parent and family engagement program Artful Reading on the Go disseminates “information on best practices focused on parent and family engagement, especially best practices for increasing the engagement of economically disadvantaged parents and family members” (ESSA Title 1, Part A, Section 1116). This program reaches parents and family members in their homes and communities because we, like the Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood, believe that “Every child can have a strong start in the Commonwealth when families, communities and schools work together.”  

What is Artful Reading on the Go? It is an at-home, arts-integrated literacy program that provides parents and families with carefully crafted literacy experiences in a kit. While this blog focuses on the preschool experience, kits are available through grade eight. Each kit is designed thematically around a high-quality book that then curates educational resources, arts materials, and task cards to guide engaging learning experiences. The kits are appropriate for all children and their families but particularly for those children of low-income families as a means to help them meet achievement standards and provide them the resources to build on at-home libraries, at-home educational resources, and at-home arts materials. 

These experiences promote developmentally appropriate approaches to early childhood education and are aligned to the Kentucky Early Childhood Standards. These are divided into two age bands: Birth to Three and Three to Four.

Birth to Three Three to Four
Approaches to Learning Approaches to Learning
Creative Expression Creative Arts
Communication Language & Early Literacy
Motor Development Physical Education
Social Emotional Development Health/Mental Wellness
Cognitive Mathematics
Science 
Social Studies
Technology

 

How is Artful Reading on the Go aligned to the Kentucky Early Childhood Standards? The program provides at-home learning opportunities for both age bands.The following table highlights a variety of tasks that a child and their caregiver might experience as a result of engaging with an Artful Reading on the Go kit: 

Birth to Three Three to Four
Approaches to Learning

  • A child will sit in a caregiver’s lap and feel the textured pictures in a board book. 
  • A child will point to pictures in a picture book and the caregiver will name the object
 Approaches to Learning

  • A child will add to a chore chart and create a plan with their caregiver to complete the chores.
  • A child will use loose parts of bedding to create a tent for a camping experience.
Creative Expression

  • A child dances in their caregiver’s arms while the caregiver sings.
  • A child smiles when rolling a ball back and forth with a caregiver. 
 Creative Arts

  • A child uses modeling clay to create a spiderweb.
  • A child practices shaping their body into a tree pose and waving their arms like limbs in the wind.
Communication

  • A child feels the textures of a sensory mat that their caregiver has shared for them to touch together.
  • A child will venture on a scavenger hunt with their caregiver to point out objects from a book they have shared.
 Language & Early Literacy

  • A child responds appropriately when a caregiver asks them questions about a book they are reading together.
  • A child will use a puppet to retell a story.
Motor Development

  • A child stacks blocks on top of one another.
  • A child grabs and releases a figurine.
 Physical Education

  • A child uses tweezers to remove objects from a sensory bin.
  • A child will button and zip their clothes and attempt tying their shoes.
Social Emotional Development

  • A child responds to the facial expressions a caregiver uses during an Interactive Read Aloud.
  • A child completes a three-piece puzzle and shares the product with their caregiver. 
 Health/Mental Wellness

  • A child will return the lids to the markers and place them in the designated storage container/area.
  • A child names their favorite fruits and vegetables. 
Cognitive

  • A child fingerpaints with the assistance of a caregiver. 
  • A child plays with a pretend spoon and bowl and pretends to eat.
 Mathematics

  • A child will venture on a shape hunt with their caregiver to point out shapes in everyday life.
  • A child uses foam shaped pieces to create a pattern.
Science 

  • A child goes on a nature walk with a caregiver and gathers objects (e.g. flowers, pinecones) in their basket.
  • A child uses a magnifying glass to observe the details on a leaf.
Social Studies

  • A child explains how they wash the dishes in their home compared to other homes and/or countries.
  • A child learns about different jobs in the community including firefighters and farmers. 
Technology

  • A child uses a digital camera to capture their artwork.
  • A child chooses to listen to an audio recording of a suggested book title.

 

Artful Reading on the Go builds capacity for parent and family involvement by providing the materials they need to work with children to improve their children’s achievement toward kindergarten readiness (ESSA 116(e)(1-5)). 

How can your district work with CTL? At the school level, Title I schools are required to develop a parent and family engagement policy. CTL can support districts in meeting the requirements in the statute and/or align your family and early education programming to the guidelines laid out in The Kentucky Family And Early Education Program Partnership Guide. 

Your district may use funding that has been set aside for parent and family engagement activities. As a nonprofit organization, we can provide professional development to early childhood educators regarding parent and family engagement strategies. These strategies will then reach parents and family members at home and in the community through the kits. CTL will work alongside you to build the necessary communications with parents and families in their native language(s) to engage all families in your community.

Governor’s Office of Early Childhood. (n.d.). https://kyecac.ky.gov/professionals/Early-Childhood-Standards/Getting-Started/Pages/Start-Here.aspx 

Kentucky Department of Education. (2023). Title I, Part A Handbook. Frankfort, Kentucky: Office of Continuous Improvement and Support Division of School and Program Improvement