Creating and Sustaining Partnerships for Our

ChildrenWhy is This so Important to the Development of Children?

By Christina Montell

My Role as a Child Development Specialist

To Build a bridge between your family at home and your child’s development at School.

Be a Resource for you to rely on when it comes to your child.

To foster healthy growth and development in your child.

Provide Positive Guidance and Influence in your Child’s life.

Nurture a Sense of Community for your Family and Child.

Middle Childhood: The Elementary Years

What is Happening Developmentally for Your Child? An Overview:Physical

DevelopmentCognitive

DevelopmentSocial/Emotional

Development

Children grow an average of 2 inches in height per year

and gain an average of

5-7 pounds

Reached Piaget’s Concrete Operational

Stage (Reversibility, Flexibility and Decentration)

Children Increasingly regulate their own

behavior.

A Marked increase in Speed, Strength,

agility and balance.

Further Moral Development

(Kohlberg and Piaget)

More capable of taking the

perspective of others into account.

Fine Motor Skills also Develop further

Language Development has

become more sophisticated

Parental Involvement is still a vital role, but peer influences are

becoming more important to the

child.

Why is it so Important For us to Work Together?

Promotes Motivation and Achievement in Your Child

Sends a Message to your Child that Education is Important!

You Model Constructive Ways to Solve Academic Problems

Teaches your Child how to Make Wise Educational Decisions

You will Learn From Other Parents

Builds Bridges Between Home Culture and School Culture

Your Child will Receive More Consistent Messages from School and Home

Bronfenbrennar’s Ecological Systems Theory:A Funny Name with Important

Ideas!

Why is The Ecological Systems Theory so Important?

“Witness the American ideal: the Self-Made Man. But there is no such person. If we can stand on our own two feet, it is because others have raised us up. If, as adults, we can lay claim to competence and compassion, it only means that

other human beings have been willing and enabled to commit their competence and compassion to us--through infancy, childhood, and adolescence, right up to this very

moment”

~Urie Bronfenbrennar

School Learning Community and Epstein’s Types of Involvement

There are Six Types of Involvement Styles:

Parenting Style Communicating Style Volunteering Style Learning at Home Decision Making Collaborating with the Community

Parenting How This Influences

Learning and DevelopmentAppropriate Ways we Could

Implement This Style Child Benefits:• Awareness of family supervision; respect for parents. • Positive personal qualities, habits, beliefs, and values, as taught by family. • Balance between time spent on chores, on other activities, and on homework. • Good or improved attendance. • Awareness of importance of school.Parent Benefits:• Understanding of and confidence about parenting, child and adolescent development, and changes in home conditions for learning as children proceed through school. • Awareness of own and others' challenges in parents. • Feeling of support from school and other parents.

Parenting Strategy Groups: Hold evening discussions on Middle Childhood and share effective parenting strategies, while also networking on other important topics related to parenting. Dinner will be provided by the local Salvation Army and childcare will be provided for those who request it in advance.

Communicating Style

How This Influences Learning and Development

Appropriate Ways we Could Implement This Style

The Child Benefits:• Awareness of own progress and of actions needed to maintain or improve grades. • Understanding of school policies on behavior, attendance, and other areas of student conduct. • Informed decisions about courses and programs. The Parent Benefits:• Understanding school programs and policies. • Monitoring and awareness of child's progress. • Responding effectively to students' problems. • Interactions with teachers and ease of communication with school and teachers.

Coffee Mornings and Evenings: Hold an early morning and evening “Coffee or Tea Time” every Wednesday. This is an opportunity for parents to meet with other parents, teachers, administrators, and other staff involved with their child’s learning in order to discuss topics like homework, curriculum, testing and reading programs as well as many other topics. Translators will be available to encourage families of other language backgrounds to attend. Students are encouraged to attend with their family.

VolunteeringHow This Influences Learning

and DevelopmentAppropriate Ways we Could

Implement This Style The Child Benefits:• Skill in communicating with adults. • Increased learning of skills that receive tutoring or targeted attention fromvolunteers. • Awareness of many skills, talents, occupations, and contributions of parent and other volunteers. The Parent Benefits: • Understanding teacher's job, increased comfort in school, and carry-over of school activities at home. • Self-confidence about ability to work in school and with children or to take steps to improve own education. • Awareness that families are welcome and valued at school. • Gains in specific skills of volunteer work.

Incorporate a “Diversity Celebration Program” where Parent and Community Volunteers provide culturally relevant items and work with students and staff on cultural “costumes,” plays, foods, and other creative displays. This program encourages the community and students to learn and appreciate other cultures within their environment. This is an ongoing program throughout the year. Also, we have a Volunteer Roster where parents can sign up to be called when the school or community holds events that require volunteer help.

Learning at HomeHow This Influences

Learning and DevelopmentAppropriate Ways we Could

Implement This Style Student Benefits:• Gains in skills, abilities, and test scores linked to homework and classwork. • Homework completion. • Positive attitude toward schoolwork. • View of parents as more similar to teacher and of home as more similar to school. • Self-concept of ability as learner.Parent Benefits: • Know how to support, encourage, and help student at home each year. • Discussions of school, classwork, and homework. • Understanding of instructional program each year and of what child is learning in each subject. • Appreciation of teaching skills. • Awareness of child as a learner.

Family Literacy Night! Join us every Thursday evening for a fun filled family night where we share new books as well as some old favorites concentrated on your child’s age and development. There will be literacy activities for students and families to engage in together.

Decision Making How This Influences

Learning and DevelopmentAppropriate Ways we Could

Implement This Style Child Benefits:• Awareness of representation of families in school decisions. • Understanding that student rights are protected. • Specific benefits linked to policies enacted by parent organizations and experienced by students. Parent Benefits:Input into policies that affect child's education. • Feeling of ownership of school. • Awareness of parents' voices in school decisions. • Shared experiences and connections with other families. • Awareness of school, district, and state policies

Link Families to Parent Representatives: An important aspect of our parent/teacher meetings is to get information regarding school decision making to our families. We do this by providing contact information of school board parent representatives to all families during their parent/teacher meetings.

Collaborating With Community How This Influences

Learning and DevelopmentAppropriate Ways we Could

Implement This Style Child Benefits:• Increased skills and talents through enriched curricular and extracurricular experiences. • Awareness of careers and of options for future education and work. • Specific benefits linked to programs, services, resources, and opportunities that connect students with communityParent Benefits:• Knowledge and use of local resources by family and child to increase skills and talents or to obtain needed services • Interactions with other families in community activities. • Awareness of school's role in the community and of community's contributions to the school

Community Reading Activities: Local Police, Firefighters, Doctors, and other community members come to school during, before and after school hours to hold a reading activity in the library. Families are encouraged to attend! Medical and Health Awareness Days: Our local Medical Center produces volunteers to come out and provide students and families with simple preventative testing, presentations on health and fitness as well as nutrition.

ReferencesBerk, L. E. (2013).Child development. (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Center for the Social Organization of Schools. (n.d.) Epstein’s Framework of the Six Types of Involvement. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/lac/Joyce_L._Epstein_s_Framework_of_Six_Types_of_Involvement(2).pdf.

Epstein, J., & Salinas, K. (2004). Partnering with Families and Communities. Educational Leadership, 61(8), 12-18. Retrieved from

http://mnliteracy.org/sites/default/files/partnering_with_families_and_communities_-_epstein.pdf

Rathus, S., (2011). CDEV: Child and Adolescent Development. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning