Kennedy School first grade teachers, Donna Brown, Mary Ann Freund, Andrea Solecki and Karolyn Martin, have been very busy implementing a program created almost 15 years ago entitled, Parent Connection.
Since its inception, the program has benefited over 1,000 students. Materials for the program were purchased over the past 15 years using two previously received grants. This year the first grade team at Kennedy School received a grant from the Roxbury Foundation for Educational Excellence. This grant money was used to add a new genre to the collection – non-fiction literature.
The Parent Connection is a reading program that further extends the pleasure of reading into the family environment. It is also a learning bridge between home and school. At all times, the focus is on the child. The reading materials that are used are a variety of high interest subjects on various reading levels.
On Monday of every other week, each student is given a book-folder to take home for the week. Parents are encouraged to begin the activity by choosing a special, quiet place to read the selection with their child. Then the parent and child read the story. The teachers have encouraged the families to read the story over and over again, so that the child can begin to “pick up” the story.
After reading the story, the families are encouraged to complete an activity from a list of activities created by the teachers. The activities reinforce are variety of skills through oral reading, creative writing, art expression and decision-making.
On Fridays, the children bring back their book folders to school and conference with their teachers. During these conferences, the children read their books to their teachers and discuss the activities completed.
The children then have the opportunity to “pair” with another child who has read the same selection. They then read the book together. Sometimes students have the opportunity to further share their book with a school staff member or with a Kindergarten class.
The first grade teachers find this program to effectively increase their students’ interest in reading and writing. They also find that the program positively impacts parent involvement in the educational process.