Home Literacy Support for Families

Abstract

Building a bridge between home literacy and school literacy has become very important for young children. A creation of consistent school to home communication about what went on during the school day was another important factor. To address the issues of the gap between students’ home and school literacy skills, the research question was created, “How can teachers support home literacy connections for families with children in preschool to kindergarten?” First finding was to ensure that their is positive communication among teacher and families about their children's reading and writing abilities which would then promote positive student literacy achievements at school. The Second finding was found that when families kept a steady communication connection (newsletters, face-to-face conversations or emails) between themselves and the school the students showed reading and writing improvements. The third finding was that when families took an active role in their children’s literacy activities at home and at school their children felt supported and showed improvements in reading and writing. Finally it was determined that when teachers took their time to get to know their students personally by talking to their families the students felt welcomed and did their best in reading and writing. All of these findings led to a Prezi professional development project to answer the question and support teachers abilities to engage families in different literacy activities.