"Anything that teachers believe they can accomplish alone, they can do better in collaboration with parents." Peter Hannon

Background

Research demonstrates that involving parents in their children's literacy education contributes a powerful influence on the development of early literacy skills (Hannon, 1998). In the past the emphasis was on the amount of reading parents did with their children. However, recent research has shown that the use of effective strategies by parents during shared book reading is more significant than frequency of reading (Bergin, 2001). Parents need assistance in understanding how they can embed literacy experiences into routine activities within their family and to use effective strategies during shared book reading (Genisio, 1998). To facilitate this teachers need to encourage and build home-school partnerships to enhance children's literacy development.

Children entering kindergarten have a wide variety of skills and knowledge about literacy. Much of that variation is a result of what parents do or do not do during the preschool years (Sulzby & Teale, 1991). As a Kindergarten teacher I wanted to know how I could assist parents to become knowledgeable and effective partners in their children's literacy development. Through action research, I hoped to increase parents' knowledge and understanding of what was happening in my classroom and why and how they could support their child's literacy development at home.

I have been very interested in the literacy development of kindergarten children. The works of Marie Clay, Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas, Sharon Taberski, Helen Depree and the 1999 release of Reversing the Real Brain Drain: Early Years Study by Dr. Mustard have had, and continue to have, a significant impact on how I teach literacy. Kindergarten classrooms and programs look very different from the classrooms and programs that parents remember. It is important that kindergarten teachers communicate these changes to parents and begin building a positive partnership between the school and family. I wanted to facilitate development of this partnership by providing opportunities for parents to build upon their present knowledge and understanding of how children learn to become literate. Following a literacy information night at our school, many kindergarten parents showed an interest in learning how to read with their children at home. I found that even though parents wanted to become involved in their children's literacy development they felt they did not have the skills and knowledge required to provide that support. They asked what they could do to help their children and how to support their children when they began to read. This led to the creation of literacy workshops for the parents of my kindergarten students. I wanted to provide parents with strategies they could use to support their children on the road to literacy and to show them how they could embed literacy activities into their everyday lives.

Research Process

Initially, a survey was given to all parents in my two kindergarten classes. This was done to determine what literacy supports parents were providing. Did they have adult books, children's books, magazines, newspapers, writing materials, tape recorder, computer, school supplies? What type of TV programs did their children watch (Sesame Street, Mr. Dressup, Reading Rainbow)? How often did they read to their children and how often did they go to the public library?

I assessed the children on letter recognition, sound awareness (initial and final sounds), forming words ("ear" spelling), concepts of print and story comprehension. I tracked parental involvement in our monthly Read Aloud Club, the rate of return and completion of activities in our weekly Poems and Songs booklet. The monthly Read Aloud Club invited parents to read to, with or listen to their children read ten books a month. A certificate was awarded on completion of this activity each month. The Poems and Songs booklet was sent home each Friday. The booklet contained favourite poems and songs, along with follow up literacy activities to be completed at home with parents. Parents were asked to return the booklet by the end of each week so that a new poem or song and follow up activity could be added to the booklet. Parents were invited to record any comments or suggestions in the back of the booklet.

I designed three literacy workshops and arranged to complete them during the school day in the kindergarten classroom. Parents, grandparents, older siblings and friends were invited to a literacy information talk during the children's lunch recess time. The first part of each session was a balance of discussion and information sharing followed by a brief question and answer period (30 minutes) After recess the parents were invited to stay for a read aloud demonstration by the teacher. During the read aloud, the teacher modelled shared reading techniques using a big book, at times drawing the parent's attention to the children or the technique being modelled. This would help parents notice the sometimes subtle events and interactions that occur between children and teacher. For the final part of the session, parents invited their children to read books (these books had been selected for each child's reading level and placed in colour coded baskets or bags labelled with their names (80 minutes). The final part of the session provided an opportunity for parents to practice some of the techniques modelled by the teacher and for the teacher to scaffold parent and child interactions. The afternoon ended with snacks and refreshments.

Findings

Results from the survey indicated that almost all parents had a large variety of literacy materials in the home. A few parents had no books and only a few writing materials in the home. Most parents read to their children at least once a week and went to the library occasionally. Many children watched educational programs at home.

Children whose parents participated in the literacy workshops tended to complete more home literacy activities. Families who engaged in more home literacy activities also reported having more materials at home. Parent responses were overwhelmingly supportive of the Read Aloud Club, the Poems and Songs booklet and the Literacy Workshops. Some parents who were unable to attend a workshop because of work commitments requested information to be sent home following the workshop.

All of the children improved over time, as would be expected after a year of kindergarten instruction. Children with low pretest results and who had been determined " at risk" made great gains by the end of the kindergarten year. Children who started out low in literacy skills were doing almost as well as their peers who had started out with high literacy skills. Children whose parents participated in all of the workshops and completed all of the home literacy activities showed the greatest gains.

In the weeks following the parent workshops, I noticed the following changes:

• Children returned their Poems and Songs booklets more consistently to receive new poems and songs and follow up literacy activities
• More children completed the Read Aloud Club 10 books a month challenge and some children began to read even more than the 10 required to earn a certificate
• Parents requested books based on their observations of their child's reading
• Parents shared their observations of their child's reading with me indicating when a book was too hard, just right, or too easy
• The children began to request opportunities to share with the class the books they had read at home
• Some of the parents planned family reading parties during July and August. They invited family and friends to their home for an afternoon of literature and fun
• The children saw themselves as readers

Conclusions

The high level of attendance at workshops and participation in home literacy activities indicated that parents enjoyed being invited to become involved in their children's literacy development (47 out of 48 parents became involved in workshops and literacy activities during the year). The level of involvement indicates that parents felt the workshops and activities were beneficial and worthwhile for them and for their children. Comments from parents confirmed this impression. The enthusiasm generated among the parents and the positive results demonstrated through improvement in literacy skills indicate that parental involvement in early literacy development would be beneficial in other kindergarten classrooms.

Parents welcome invitations to participate in promoting their children's literacy development and are happy to receive instruction in how to do so effectively. Parents need confirmation and recognition that their efforts result in improved literacy skills.

Along the way I discovered that conducting literacy workshops for parents is both challenging and highly rewarding. The following are some of the challenges I encountered:

1. Contacting and maintaining consistent communication with hard to reach parents
2. Creating time for intervention activities in families/children of need
3. Communicating effectively about literacy activities to families with low parental support
4. Resources such as books to send home (blackline masters), having enough books to create levelled baskets of books and have individual book bags for each child (kindergarten classrooms often have 50 or more children!)
5. Creating follow-up for at home literacy activities to ensure that the skills parents have learned are given time to be applied

This action research project challenged me to reflect upon my classroom practice, learn from my experiences and the experiences of critical friends and to share this experience with others. It has resulted in some changes to my teaching in an attempt to improve student learning. Although it is difficult to determine the full impact on parent and child interactions with literacy, it is clear that a collaborative approach is welcomed and wanted by parents and has positive results for kindergarten children in becoming successful readers and writers. This experience has helped me become aware of the need for training for kindergarten teachers about how they can help parents become effective partners in their children's literacy development. Kindergarten teachers need to find ways that will help parents gain the necessary skills and knowledge to help them help their children grow in literacy.

References

Bergin, C. (2002). The parent-child relationship during beginning reading. Journal of Literacy Research, 33(4), 681-706.

Genisio, M. H. (1998). "What goes on at school? A teachers' focus group develops a 2-step plan to communicate about emergent literacy practice." The Reading Teacher, 51(6), 653-687.

Hannon, P. (1998). "How can we foster children's early literacy development through parent involvement?" In S. Neuman and K. Roskos (Eds.), Children achieving: Best practices in early literacy (pp. 121-143). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Mustard, F. (1999). Early Years Study. Toronto: Government of Ontario.

Sulzby, E., & Teale, W. (1991). "Emergent literacy." In R. Barr, M. Kamel, P. Mosenthal, & P.D . Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research 2 (pp. 727-788). New York: Longman.