Exemplary Practices 2008

Connecting with Parents Starts Early

Angeleen Musyj teaches kindergarten at Rendell Park Elementary School in Lloydminster, Alberta and she likes to make connections early. So early, in fact, she provides outreach to students and their parents before they start kindergarten. "I hold a pre-kindergarten literacy workshop," she says. "It helps me establish a relationship with parents before the children are even in the school."

Musyj invites all the pre-registered kindergarten students and their parents to a literacy evening in May. She sets up a variety of workstations around the school gym and the incoming students and their parents work on the activities together. In January, another literacy evening takes place where the new kindergarten students and their parents return for a literacy workshop and work on higher-level activities together. At the end of the evening, each student receives a literacy kit, essentially a shoebox full of activities that parents and children can do together at home. "It connects me with the parents," says Musyj. "It's a great vehicle for communicating."

To further the connection, she also provides a school-home links program that consists of a weekly five-minute activity based on reading readiness. "It allows parents to have a guiding role in their child's education," she says. One of the kit's components consists of letter magnets where kids can spell their names and simple words.

Technology plays a role in fostering parent communications. On the school website are password-protected pages of the kindergarten class. Pictures are posted and parents can log on and see what is going on. In addition, Ms. Musyj has created a series of audio podcasts. Children listen to themselves from home and share what they've done in school with their parents. Parents may also leave comments in the blog section of the site.

Future projects to enhance early literacy include themed backpacks that students can take home and work on activities with parents, incorporating an interactive whiteboard into classroom instruction and take-home reading audio podcasts. The idea is to have children take home a book, then log on to the podcast and read along with her. "I think the kids would just love to be reading with their teacher and then you can give them little messages like, make sure you do your chores, and brush your teeth before you go to bed," she says.

In Ms. Musyj's class, "parents are given innovative access to their children's learning from the very beginning of their school career."