Family Partnership Plan

Partnering with families is essential to the success of Sunrise Preschool. If we are to help

children develop positively in physical, social, and cognitive areas as our mission states, we must

have open contact with their family members. Most of the learning that happens in a child’s life

happens in the home. If we help families be actively involved in children’s education, they will

have more fulfilling learning experiences at home. Communicating openly with families will

allow us to work with them effectively.

Benefits

As we intentionally involve families in the goings-on at Sunrise Preschool, they will feel

more included and valued. The children will talk about preschool more with their parents. This

communication from the child benefits the parents because they will be more aware of what they

can do to help their children learn at home. They will be more trusting of the program that their

children are enrolled in and have positive interactions with those who are facilitating their

children’s learning at school. The community will thrive because many of the families involved

in our program will know each other and be collectively supportive of their preschoolers’

learning experiences at Sunrise.

Family Participation

There are many ways that parents or family members can participate in our program

during preschool hours. Here are ten simple suggestions:

1) Share a special skill with the children during a group learning time.

2) Play alongside the children during free-play time.

3) Volunteer to administer snack after being trained on food guidelines.

4) Attend field trips as invited and act as chaperones.

5) Share information about their occupations with the children during a group learning time.

6) If the children are interested in learning about a service or hands-on unique experience that

families have connections to (tractors, ponies, etc.), those specific things can be a focus of the

preschool day.

7) Take time to evaluate the classroom environment and interactions according to prepared

questionnaires while preschool is in progress.

8) Provide additional safety during outdoor time by supervising the play area.

9) Read books to the children as desired.

10) Pictures of the children’s families can be displayed at the children’s level.

Family members can also contribute to the preschool environment from home, on site

after hours, or in the community. Here are five ideas of how to do so:

1) Come to a preschool social to get to know the other families.

2) Help us find sponsors by contacting local businesses.

3) Let their friends in know about positive experiences with Sunrise Preschool.

4) They are welcome to remain behind after preschool to help clean up and organize the learning

areas so as to maximize the time of staff members.

5) Invite members of the community to come take a tour of the preschool.

To enlist and sustain family partnership involvement in our program, we will have the

parents fill out a questionnaire about their willingness to share talents, connections, or help in the

classroom. We can encourage their involvement by inviting them to participate. We will

continue to make regular, personal invitations to family members to participate. Weekly “sneak

peaks” of the plans we have made for educating the children will also be provided and family

partnership will be documented.