Ways to Engage Families at Home

Creating an environment for learning at home

Suggested procedures:

1. Help the families of your students create homework routines at home. There are at least four important factors to consider: location, space, time, and schedule. Some activities you can do assist families in this area are:

• Provide information about your homework policy and expectations during your Open House presentation. If possible, have samples of the homework you tend to give to your students in the different subject areas.
• Periodically and in small increments, inform families about how they can help their children with schoolwork. For example, you can have a “homework tips” section in your weekly newsletter.
• Survey students and families about their homework routines. Recognize what is going well and collaborate with students and families to work towards improving these routines.
• Visit your students’ homes. You can gather relevant information about the opportunities to learn that are available to your students and their families.

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Setting goals

Suggested procedures:

1. Identifying needs and resources. Help students and families gain ownership of the learning process working with them to identify personalized goals.

2. Work with students to create a list of goals they will be working on. Send a folder home that includes the following docs:

• An explanation of the activity
• Tips for families to help children identify goals.
• A goal-setting template.
• A documentation form.

3. Share with students and families the progress made and redefine goals or create new ones as the goals are met.

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Communication folders

Suggested procedures:

1. You need to organize a system to have continuous and effective communication with families. For example, you can send a home folder every Monday and call it “Monday Folder.” Label the folder with its title and use its title when you communicate with students and families.

2. Decide what goes into the folder. For instance, you can include a relevant piece of students’ previous week’s work, a classroom weekly newsletter (if you don’t choose to email it) and letters and notifications about things such upcoming events, fieldtrips, and classroom guests. Whenever possible, have documents translated into the families’ native languages.

3. Let students take ownership of the process. As a Monday routine, have students organize their folders, deciding what papers need to be sent home in the “Monday Folder.”

4. Introduce families to your system of communication. You can present your system at Open Night, send families a letter, or ask your students to share the system with their parents.

5. Make it workable. In addition to enlisting your students to help to choose and organize the folders, solicit a reliable family volunteer or a group of rotating family volunteers to help collate papers into students’ folders each Monday.

9. Be creative. There are many ways in which you can organize the folders. Here are a couple of ideas:

– Use color-coded folders for take-home assignments. This can help prepare students to be organized as well as provide parents with a reliable tool to be informed of homework. It can also help minimize confusion and increase communication amongst all stakeholders.

– Include memos to parents and goal setting charts

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Carefully consider your homework practices

Suggested procedures:

It is important to consider the reasons why you are asking students to do homework and what you expect students to get out of it. Read these two short texts (click here), and then answer the following questions:

1. What is the purpose of your homework? Vatterott talks about the following purposes:

• Pre-learning, Tasks to provide an introduction to a topic or background for a more in-depth lesson and prepare students for the materials that are going to be introduced.
• Checking for understanding. Tasks that provide information to teachers about students’ knowledge in order to plan for re-teaching or for further instruction.
• Practice. Tasks that allow students to practice the knowledge and skill learned in class. It is important to ensure that students have actually learned the material and don’t have any misconceptions that might be reinforced by practice, as well as to make sure that practice is distributed and not given all at once.
• Processing. Tasks that ask students to reflect, synthesize, apply, or extend what they have learned in class.

2. What type of learning are you seeking for your students? Vatterott provides the following overview:

• Facts—Discrete bits of information that we believe to be true (e.g., whales are mammals)
• Concepts—Categories of things with common elements that help us organize, retain, and use information (e.g., the process of photosynthesis)
• Principles—Rules that govern concepts (e.g., matter can change forms)
• Attitudes—Degrees of commitment to ideas and spheres of learning (e.g., we should be concerned about the environment)
• Skills—The capacity to apply the understandings students have gained (e.g., drawing conclusions from data)

3. How will you promote students’ interest and motivation to do homework? You need to carefully consider the following aspects:

• Academic purpose—Tasks should have a clear academic purpose.
• Competence—Tasks should have a positive effect on a student’s sense that they can be successful.
• Ownership—Tasks should be personally relevant and customized to promote ownership.
• Aesthetics—Tasks should be aesthetically pleasing.

4. How will you differentiate your homework? Homework should be differentiated based on the learner’s readiness, learning style, and organizational skills. Homework may be differentiated by difficulty or amount of work, by the amount of structure or scaffolding provided, or by learning style or interest.

5. How do you plan to give feedback to students about their homework? Good feedback on homework requires back-and-forth dialogue between teachers and the students, so teachers need to find efficient ways of doing so. Consider also self- and peer- feedback on homework.

6. How do you plan to use the homework info in your teaching? Ideally, homework should provide feedback to the teacher about student understanding, allowing the teacher to adjust instruction, and when necessary, reteach concepts, before practice is assigned.

Read the following quote:

“If children are not required to learn useless and meaningless things, homework is entirely unnecessary for the learning of common school subjects. But when a school requires the amassing of many facts which have little or no significance to the child, learning is so slow and painful that its school is obliged to turn to the home for help out of the mess the school has created.”

– Excerpt from article in the November 1937 issue of Parents magazine, cited in Alfie Khon’s “The homework myth: Why our kids get too much”

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Do all students need homework?

by Cathy Vatterott

A parent once asked her daughter’s teacher “If my daughter already knows how to do these math problems, why does she have to do 30 of them?” To which the teacher replied, “Well, if she already knows how to do them, she should breeze right through it.”

The answer to the question “Do all students need homework?” depends on what one believes the purpose of homework is. If you believe the purpose is to reinforce learning or extend learning outside the classroom, then you probably believe that the child needs more challenging homework. If you believe the purpose of homework is to develop independent learners, then you probably believe the child should be able to create her own homework. If you believe the purpose of homework is to build the habit of doing homework, then you probably believe all children must have homework.

The idea that some children would not have homework makes many people very uncomfortable. Is it fair that they have less work than other students? But if you believe the purpose of homework is to help students master a set of standards for a grade level or course, and the student has done that, then you may quite comfortable with some students not doing homework.

In standards based systems, homework is often optional. If the student can pass the assessments, they have shown mastery—the homework is merely a tool for those who need it, much like in many college courses. If a student gets 100% on the 3rd grade spelling test, that student doesn’t have spelling homework. And no, they don’t have extra homework in other subjects.

Most of us could see the logic of allowing an Olympic athlete or a gifted musician to succeed academically without doing homework, because they are honing a unique talent. But if other students are allowed to skip unnecessary homework, they may spend more time reading, learning Spanish, or delving into their passion for history, science or art. And isn’t that what educating the whole child is all about?

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Homework planner

Suggested procedures:

1. Before the start of the school year develop or purchase homework planners for your students. Collaborate and consult with colleagues and administration, since this may be implemented on a grade- or school-wide basis.

2. Decide what will go in the homework folder.

3. Present and explain the purpose and use of the homework folder to students and parents during Open House, with a letter home, or both.

4. Establish daily and weekly routines. For example, at the end of the day, students could quietly and independently copy down homework off the whiteboard. At the beginning of the day, students can put the folder in a pre-arranged bin. During the day, check the folder for completion, add information as needed, and include new homework. You can enlist the help of parents or community volunteers to do this.

5. You may want to have parents sign or initials next to completion of homework on a daily or weekly basis.

6. Work with your students and their families to decide what happens when homework is not submitted on a consistent basis. What are the classroom consequences? Will there be any consequence at home?

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More homework support

Suggested procedures:

Check out other support systems in the resource section.

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Homework hotline

Suggested procedures:

1. Talk to your administration and colleagues about the feasibility of setting up a homework hotline and whether there is a budget to support teachers who participate. If there are no funds, collaborate with peers to investigate grants for which you can apply.

2. If the administration is supportive and you have funds and commitment from teachers, seek input on ideas from the PTA, families, and students about how to set up and run the homework hotline. Conduct a needs analysis survey to find out:

a) The subjects with which the students need help.
b) How, specifically, teachers will be able to help students with the homework.
c) The time of day that would be convenient for students to call the hotline and for teachers to be available.
d) Whether you will need bilingual teachers (or assistants) to help with non-native English speaking families

Be open to other feedback. In addition, consult with the other teachers about the needs of their students.

3. Based on the above information gathering, create a plan of action:

a) Set up a schedule (day and times) indicating the names and telephone numbers of volunteer teachers.
b) Establish guidelines or expectations for calling the hotline. For example, make a list of the kinds of questions students might ask, the type of homework assignments volunteers will assist with, and what is an acceptable frequency of calling.
c) Write a letter and send it home to parents.
d) Give students a written copy of the schedule, phone numbers, expectations, and other relevant information.

4. Pilot test the hotline.

5. At the end of the semester, send home a survey to collect feedback and suggestions and also gather information from the other teachers regarding whether the program is helping students improve their homework. Remember to continuously modify your system, as needed.

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Lending library

Suggested procedures:

1. Gather books to start your own lending library. You might have access to funds from the school, write a grant, seek donations, and/or purchase inexpensive second hand books.

2. Decide whether the lending library will be used for all children or if you will target at-risk children. While all students will benefit from additional opportunities to read, having access to books is especially important for at-risk students, who may not have access to books at home and may have difficulty determining the level of books they should choose. Providing books for at-risk students can accelerate their academic achievement, love of reading, and sense of self-worth.

3. Send an explanatory letter home and follow up with a phone call, if necessary.

4. Explain to students the purpose and goals of the program.

5. Model how you want students to complete the readings.

6. Allow for choice and student ownership by setting up a system. For example, if you send home five picture books a week, students may be given the option to choose three to which they will respond. Responses can be written, drawn, or presented in other forms.

7. Create a system to keep track of who is doing what and when. For instance, make a checklist and mark books that are borrowed. Gather and label resealable (e.g., Ziploc) plastic bags for students to carry books home. Provide a checklist for students to mark the books they have read and responded to, and record students’ completed reading comprehension tasks.

8. Send home the resealable bag full of books on Friday. Collect them the following Friday, check off and collect tasks, and refill the bag with new books.

9. During the week, have each student share at least one of the lending library books using multiple modes of delivery.

10. If possible, try to get help for your project by involving family volunteers, student helpers, colleagues, the school librarian, and others relevant parties.

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Mini-books for fluency

Suggested procedures:

1. Print out and photocopy printable mini-books according to your students’ levels and interests.

2. Send home a parent letter explaining the mini-books, highlighting their purpose and use in improving children’s reading proficiency. Provide suggestions about how parents can support their children’s at-home reading development (go to the resources section for some ideas about this). Even better, hold a home literacy night to give this information to parents and model reading with their children.

3. Integrate the mini-books as part of your weekly homework assignments. For example, you can send the books home in your “Monday Folder” or “Homework Folder.”

4. Explain to students the procedures and expectations for completing the mini-books. Model and provide examples.

5. In small group reading instructional teams, discuss and follow up on the assigned mini-books.

6. Get students excited about reading. Expose them to a variety of topics and genre. If you can afford to allow students to keep the books, encourage them to highlight new words, write questions, make text connections, and decorate the pages.

7. When possible, try to connect the reading of these books with children’s individual goal setting and interests.

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Decodeable and phonic readers

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High frequency words

Suggested procedures:

1. In your small instructional Language Arts team (e.g. literacy/struggling readers), explain the high frequency word program that you’ll be starting with them. Explain the purpose and benefits.

2. Individually assess each student (in the at-risk instructional group) during Language Arts/Reading or any other free time during the day. The student is given a laminated copy (one sheet) of the first one hundred words. You have the assessment sheet. Write down the student’s name and date. Ask them to read the words one-by-one. They do not need to know the meaning; they only have to decode.

3. Put a check next to the word any time they make a mistake. After reading all 100 words, tally how many words were misread. If more than 95% of the words were read correctly, they can advance to the next level. In the same way, give the next level test.

4. Note: if the student is making many mistakes and struggling to read the words, you should stop the test and congratulate them on what they’ve done so far. You don’t need to have them get through all 100 words.

5. If the student doesn’t pass the level, then you know this is the benchmark level.

6. Prepare resealable plastic bags filled with laminated flashcards for each level. Label the bags.

7. When the student doesn’t pass the level, give a bag filled with the words misread mixed with some of the words that were read correctly. Have them practice and memorize those words for the next week.

8. Send a parent letter/memo home explaining the high frequency word program, its purpose, and how parents can support their child (e.g., having them practice the words, read aloud the words to the parents, playing word games with the cards, fun quizzes to review).

9. A week later, retest the student on the same 100 words. If they score more than 95%, then they pass on to the next level and the process starts over again (e.g. benchmark text, flashcards in a bag, practice for a week, retest).

10. Involve your parent volunteer: have a station during Language Arts/Reading time in which students who are involved with this program rotate to the volunteer to practice reading their words, playing word games, and other decoding/word manipulation activities.

11. Be consistent and you’ll see exponential growth in your struggling readers.

12. Make connections and help your students make connections with the high frequency words and words they see in their texts and reading assignments.

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Timed readings

Suggested procedures:

1. It is well documented that students’ reading comprehension is closely tied to reading fluency. Without fluency, students will struggle to read grade level texts. The following at-home tasks can help to accelerate students’ reading proficiencies.

2. If, due to management and time constraints, you only have time to work with a small group of your struggling readers, identify the students with whom you will be working.

3. Schedule a time during the day when you can assess each of the students. (a) Find an on-grade level text (or if that’s too difficult, find one that’s slightly above student’s level)– preferably a one-page story from a teacher’s resource book. (b) Photocopy the story–one for you and one for the student. (c) Ask children to read the story to the best of their abilities. (d) As the students read, check off any words that are misread. (e) Stop the student after 1 minute– regardless if they finished the story or not. (f) Congratulate the children on their reading. (g) Count the number of words read in the 1 minute minus the words misread. This is the total words per minute, (h) Go over the misread words with the students, and if possible read the story together and practice.

4. Assign the story (same one as above) as part of the students’ special homework or integrate it as regular homework. Tell the student that they should practice reading the story as often as possible to practice their fluency–at home during breakfast, in front of siblings/parents, by themselves, etc.

5. Send home a parent letter explaining this at-home reading fluency program and how the family can help Ask families to encourage practice, listen to children reading aloud, check for accuracy, record progress, and praise!

6. In one week, retest the students on the same story to see how much their fluency has improved. Record the results.

7. Pre-test using another story, and continue the same process.

8. In a few short months you should steadily see an increase of your students’ reading fluency and confidence.

9. This reading fluency program is also a low stress task for parent volunteers. They can help students practice reading their text and provide correction.

10. You may also connect this to the students’ portfolio, goal setting, and communication folders for parents.

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Audio books

Suggested procedures:

Many educators recommend that parents use audio books to promote children’s language and literacy development (Beers, 1998; Koskinen, Blum, Bisson, Phillips, Creamer, & Baker, 2000). Audio books can help develop children’s abilities to read books fluently and may enhance feelings of confidence and excitement in reading. Audio recordings can assist struggling readers. Listening to a book on tape together promotes awareness of children’s reading materials and may encourage family members to be involved in children’s reading.

The following are tips to promote the effective use of audio books at home (Beers, 1998).

1. Provide positive experiences of using audio books at school.
2. Recommend audio books that interest students or are related to the current academic topics.
3. Introduce the content of the audio books to the kids first before sending the books home.
4. Check the speed of the recording. Struggling readers might need a slower speed.
5. Check with parents about whether they have compatible machines to play the audio books at home.
6. Encourage parents to use books and recordings with their children.

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Reading tips

Suggested procedures:

Check out the list of resources and ideas, including links to websites for further information.

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Promoting writing at home (traveling Flat Stanley)

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Promoting Math at home

Suggested procedures:

As with other subjects, parent involvement is important for students to learn mathematics. There are several ways to promote your students’ parents engaging with their children about math topics.

Activities related to school curriculum:

1. Send math projects home for parents and students to talk about. Provide a feedback sheet for parents to provide comments. For example, ask parents to talk about quantities of things with their children. Tell them to ask their children how they came up with their answers. Below is an example of a conversation between a parent and her child.

– Family member: Tell me about your picture.
– Child: This is me, Amy. I am drawing my dolls at home.
– Family member: How many dolls did you draw here?
– Child: Four.
– Family member: In your room, I saw six dolls. Why did you draw only four in your picture?
– Child: Oh, because on that day, I only had four in my room. Daddy just sent me that blue one yesterday and Auntie Lily gave me this one today.

2. Design math projects that promote family engagement. For example, ask students to find containers at home, investigating the purposes and size of each container.

Opportunities parents can use to discuss math at home:

1. Dinner time. A family member takes advantage of an upcoming improvised dinner with some family members and turns the occasion into a math game.

– Family member: Tūtū and auntie Mary are coming for dinner. How many more utensils should we prepare now in addition to those for mommy, daddy, and you?
– Child: I’m not sure…
– Family member: OK, let’s set up the chairs and see how many more utensils we need. [Child counts newly set up chairs and gets two forks]
– Family member: we also need knives, right? [Child gets them and sets them on the table]
– Family member: OK, let’s count together [Family member and child count up to four]
– Family member: four, great, we needed 4 more utensils, 2 more forks and 2 more knives. And now, how many plates do we need? [Continue to the conversation for other items needed to set the table for two more guests]

2. Clean-up time.

– Family member: Kahea, it’s time to clear up. We have to get ready for bed.
– Child: OK. (Starting to put away all of the toys into a big basket).
– Family member: Kahea, what could we do differently instead of putting away everything in that green big basket so everything will look neat? Maybe we can put things by color?
– Child: Can I put the green toys here?
– Family member: That’s a great idea. How about those blue toys? [Continue to the conversation with other ways to sort items by color] 

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Dual language books

Suggested procedures:

This shows respect and recognition of students’ and families’ identities, and also helps to increase literacy in both languages. Dual language books can be used as a scaffolding structure for your English language learners. Incorporate the native language (other than English) and/or bilingual books into your language arts curriculum and into the weekly reading homework.

1. Send an explanatory letter home to parents. Gather resources. Ask for donations of used children’s books in the native languages of your students, get a grant, and ask your school to see what is already available.

2. During your small group reading time, explain the purpose and goals of the program to the bilingual students.

3. Read a couple of books with your students as a class activity.

4. Model and explain how you would like them to complete the readings at home.

5. Integrate these books into your lending library system. For example, you can create a checklist of books borrowed, get re-sealable plastic bags for students to carry books home, maintain a checklist of the books students have completed, and keep a file for recording students’ completion of reading comprehension tasks.

6. Motivate students. Encourage family members to get involved by having their child share the story at home, reading together, discussing the contents, and making personal connections to the student’s home and culture.

7. Have students share their readings and use the opportunity to connect to students’ home cultures.

8. Promote family members reading aloud in the native language, helping children read, and extending the readings by explaining, comparing, and commenting on the text. Recruit bilingual family members to come to class and do the same.

9. As a culminating activity, have students read aloud their chosen bilingual texts, with or without the help of their family.

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Examining and learning from family engagement initiatives in Hawai‘i

Read several examples about family engagement initiatives in Hawai‘i. Consider what was successful and challenging, and generate at least two action items you could try in your classroom to enhance your family engagement practices.

Suggested procedures:

1. Read the two short newspaper articles about two different family engagement initiatives in Hawai‘i.

• Use multiple strategies to keep parents updated: https://www.staradvertiser.com/2010/10/08/hawaii-news/teacher-best-in-kids-book/
• Families and classroom teachers (FACT) at Kaunakakai school: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/02/06/news/story4.html or http://themolokaidispatch.com/hero-kaunakakai-school/

2. Reflect on what you learned. How can you use what was learned to shape your approach to family engagement?

3. Peruse the resources section to see links to family engagement in current school projects in Hawai‘i.

4. Select two projects that pique your interest.

5. Based on the previous reading and the two projects you learned about, answer the following:

• What is the most powerful aspect of family engagement you observed in this project?
• Who took the initiative for the project?
• How did the families, teachers, and students react?
• What kinds of resources are available for you and your school to support your family engagement efforts?

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Home visits

Home visits allow teachers and families to connect in an informal setting, provide teachers an opportunity to expand their knowledge and understanding of students’ home lives and cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and provide opportunities to identify, prevent, and resolve problems in a more friendly and efficient manner.

Home visits allow teachers and families to connect in an informal setting, provide teachers an opportunity to expand their knowledge and understating of the students’ home life and cultural and linguistic background, and provide opportunities to identify, prevent, and resolve problems in a more friendly and efficient manner.

Conduct at least one home visit with the family of a diverse student in your class. Write 2 double-spaced pages of reflections about the experience, and indicate three specific things that you learned as well as three specific actions you can take to use your newly acquired knowledge and experience about the children and families you are serving in your daily teaching practices.

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Neighborhood Inventory

Become familiar with the neighborhoods where the majority of your students live. You can then be aware of the resources available and refer students and families to them.

As the classroom teacher, are you familiar with your students’ community? What resources exist? What’s available in the community for students to do after school? Where do they go shopping? The neighborhoods students come from always have a great influence on students’ learning in class. When teachers spend time understanding where their students are from, the students get more respect from their teachers. At the same time, the teachers will have a deeper understanding of the neighborhood in terms of its history, challenges, and resources. Several places/ people you can visit:

1. Local landmarks
2. Longtime residents
3. Community activists
4. Church leaders
5. Small business owners who live or work in the neighborhood for years

With one or more colleagues, explore your school’s community. Before you go, do some homework first. You can jot down some questions that you want to ask community members. What you learn from the neighborhood walk will help you identify resources that you can use for your instruction. Also, you might start to build your relationship with parents before the school starts during the walk.

After or while familiarizing yourself with the neighborhood(s), draw a map illustrating the location of the school and the various resources in its vicinity.