At Home Curriculum Connections

At Head Start and Early Head Start, we believe that parents are their children’s most important teachers. The success of our programs is dependent on the role played by parents. Our staff actively supports children’s primary caregivers by helping them to continue the work done in the classroom with their own activities and positive reinforcement at home. Tips for enhancing children’s educational and social development in the home include the following: 

 

General Tips for Parents:

 

  • Promote school as an important part of your home life.
  • Set aside a consistent time of day, during which you and your child can talk about the day at school and other important things in their lives.
  • Create rules and enforce them consistently.
  • Praise your children when they exhibit positive behaviors.
  • Demonstrate a positive attitude.
  • Listen carefully when your child shares ideas with you.
  • Be sure to encourage your child’s efforts.
  • Enjoy activities and projects with your child.
  • Share favorite books and stories.
  • Communicate regularly with your child’s teachers.
  • Talk and write about things that happened at school.
  • Make literacy learning a part of your home life.
  • Provide toys that are safe and developmentally appropriate.
  • Promote health with nutritious food, exercise, and regular medical care.
  • Create opportunities for your child to see and do new things.
  • Limit the amount of screen time your child has. Encourage other activities, like exercise and storybook reading. Be aware of your child’s television viewing and watch television with your child.

 

Parents can play an important role in helping to develop their children’s literacy skills. Tips for supporting literacy at home include the following:

 

Activities to Support Literacy:

 

  • Storybook reading: You can read aloud to your child anytime and anywhere. Read to your, children during bath time, when they are sick, while waiting in line at the grocery store, or while waiting for meals at restaurants. You can even read traffic and street signs to your child while in the car, on the bus, or walking down the street.

 

  • Family story telling: Use puppets and stuffed animals, and create different voices for different characters, while sharing stories with your children. Possible story topics include where you lived as a child, what your grandparents were like, and how your child’s name was chosen.

 

  • Talk to your children: Having conversations with your children can teach them new words and help them learn to talk and listen to others. Meal time is a great opportunity to engage your child in conversation. To make sure they get the most from your conversations, use adult words like “cut,” not baby words like “boo-boo.” Ask open-ended questions, like “Why do you think that happened?” Listen patiently when your child speaks.

 

Family Reading Tips:

 

  • Go to the library regularly.
  • Let your children see you reading.
  • Fill your home with chances to read.
  • Read aloud to your children, even when they know how to read.
  • Establish a routine for reading aloud.
  • Make reading together a special time.

 

Simple Ways to Enrich the Experience of Reading Aloud:

 

  • Move your finger under the words as you read.
  • Point to pictures and say the names of objects and colors. Let your child repeat the names.
  • Let your child help turn the pages.
  • Take turns reading words, sentences, or pages.
  • Pause and ask open-ended questions, such as “How would you feel if you were that person?” or “What do you think might happen next?”
  • Look at the illustrations and talk about them.
  • Change your voice as you read different characters. Let your children make up voices.
  • Keep stories alive by acting them out.
  • Talk about the book as you read. Ask children to describe pictures, repeat phrases used in the story, and predict what will happen next.

 

Choose Books for Preschoolers that Include the Following:

 

  • Illustrations and photos that are colorful and engaging
  • Lively rhymes and repetition that children can say aloud and remember
  • Stories about everyday events, fears, and challenges, like having a new baby in the family
  • Stories that review basic concepts, such as letters, numbers, shapes, and colors
  • Characters their age or slightly older
  • Playful animals
  • Simple, fun plots. Books should be able to be finished in one sitting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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