Danielle Ciaccio

EDE 554
July 18, 2020

Home-School Connections
Annotated Bibliography

Amorson, A. (2015). Engaging linguistically diverse families in classroom programs using their
home language. Practically Primary, 20(1), 22-31.
This article addresses numerous suggestions that assists educators in engaging linguistically
diverse families in classroom activities while using the family’s home language. Such
suggestions include, communicating with families in different languages, initiating discussions
through a variety of communication strategies and technologies, and becoming familiar with
barriers that may hinder a family’s involvement with their child’s education. The article explains
the importance of establishing sustained relationships among parents and teachers. Families will
wish to become more involved in their childrens’ education once this strong relationship is
created. The author also lists various ideas that teachers can implement in their classrooms that
will support linguistically diverse parents. Labeling the classroom, singing songs, and reading
books in dual languages, are just a few suggestions the article describes. This article is very
beneficial to educators who teach linguistically diverse students and engage with families of
different cultures. I intend to implement a variety of the author’s ideas in my own classroom so I
am able to respect and value the home languages of my diverse students.

Dismuke, F., Parks, N., & Jablon, J. (2017). Deepening families’ understanding of children’s
learning in centers. Teaching Young Children, 10(4), 6-9.
This publication describes an event hosted by the author and her staff that was designed to give
parents the opportunity to understand why play is so crucial in a child’s development. In order to
assist families in understanding the importance of play-based centers, they were invited to a
family night. Families were given the opportunity to observe and take part in their children’s
play-based learning. Parents observed and recorded observations of their children as they
interacted and played in different centers. This allowed families to become partners in their
children’s learning. This publication is helpful to educators because it explains the organization
of the event, as well as how effective and successful family night was for parents. I enjoyed
reading this publication since I am a Pre-K teacher and we use play-based learning daily. I
would be interested in hosting my own family night for my students’ families so they could see
the importance of children’s’ learning in centers.

Henderson, A.T., & Whipple, M. (2013). How to connect with families. Educational
Leadership,
70(9), 44-48.
This article focuses on the importance of building relationships with family members and how
educators can connect with families and their surrounding community. Research shows that
strong ties with families and community can make it four times more likely that your students
will make major gains in math and reading. Even though school is not in session during the
summer months, there are multiple ways and ideas that teachers may use in order to build strong
relationships with their students, families, and community members. Teachers can take
advantage of the summer months to plan or implement activities that may help build these strong
relationships before and during the school year. Planning a back-to-school community walk and
using social media are just a couple ideas that teachers can use to engage with their students and
families. This article is helpful to teachers who are interested in finding new ways to connect
with students and families through community involvement. It was helpful to me to read about
these new concepts of creating strong connections between educators and students. I am
interested in trying to plan a back-to-school community walk once we are able to gather in large
groups again.

Jensen, D.A., (2006). Using newsletters to create home-school connections. The Reading
Teacher, 60(2), 186-190. https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.60.2.8
This article explains how a newsletter can be used to initiate interactive communications, and the
benefits that newsletters hold to the teacher, students, and parents. Too often are newsletters only
used as a link between school and home, and not frequently used to foster interpersonal
communication and connections. Teachers can use newsletters to proactively communicate
information about the strategies being taught in the classroom, or explain topics and themes
being studied. This will enable parents to become aware of what’s going on in their child’s
classroom and daily school day. When teachers use newsletters more efficiently then a
partnership is formed between the teacher and the parents. Newsletters also create multiple
positive opportunities for parents and students. This article is beneficial to educators who may be
familiar with newsletters as a source of communication, or who may not be familiar with
newsletters at all. I am eager to begin using this means of communication in my own classroom
so I am able to create strong relationships between my students and families.

Kennedy, J. N., Missiuna, C. A., Pollock, N. A., Sahagian Whalen, S., Dix, L., & Campbell, W.
N. (2020). Making connections between school and home: Exploring therapists’
perceptions of their relationships with families in partnering for change. British Journal
of Occupational Therapy, 83(2), 98-106.
This research article focuses on a study that aimed to understand the factors that influence the
development of family-therapist relationships and to explore suggestions for improving
collaboration among families and occupational therapists in the Partnering for Change (P4C)
model. The article explains what this model needs in order to be successful, in addition to
influencing factors. The study is one component of a two-year implementation evaluation study
of P4C. Data collected in the second year of the study was used for this inquiry since the
questions specifically pertained to building relationships with families. The design of this study
consisted of qualitative description methodology. All participants in this study were registered
occupational therapists who were trained to deliver P4C model, and participated in the two-year
study. There were 15 total participants, who each provided P4C services 1 day per week in 2-4
schools, resulting in 40 schools receiving P4C in two health care regions in Ontario, Canada.
Participants practiced O.T. for between 1-41 years and had delivered school-based services
between 1-30 years. Therapists were grouped into two focus groups, which were based on the
geographical region in which they delivered services. One group consisted of seven participants,
and the other of eight. Findings of this research study included five factors that influence the
development of family-therapist relationships, and two suggestions for improving these
relationships. This article is informative to educators and therapists that work very closely with
families and who wish to improve their relationship-building skills. I work closely with
occupational therapists daily, so the findings of this study will provide me with ideas that I can
share with my colleagues. This will enable us to work as a team to improve our relationship-
building with families.

Kirkwood, D. (2016, April 11). Understanding the power of parent involvement. NAEYC.
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/blog/understanding-power-parent-involvement
This blog post describes the experiences of an educator who has been teaching for over twenty
years. Her experiences allow the reader to understand her struggles with family involvement,
even as an experienced educator. The author researched ways to improve parent involvement in
her classroom. Through this process she came across HIPPY USA. This program empowers
parents as their child’s first and most important teacher, providing support and education to
parents. Many parents wish to be more involved in their child’s education, but may lack
confidence and knowledge to do so effectively. This article is helpful to teachers because it
provides a first-hand experience of a veteran teacher, proving that it’s never too late to improve
home-school connections, regardless of your teaching experience. I look forward to researching
more about the HIPPY USA project and how I may use this program to assist the families in my
own classroom and school.

Michael-Luna, S. (2015). What parents have to teach us about their dual language children. YC:
Young Children, 70(5), 42-47.
This article provides guidance for collecting and understanding parent knowledge about their
children who are dual language learners (DLLs) to enhance classroom practice. Families were
interviewed and given surveys to assist the author in writing this article about ways in which
teachers can teach diverse students effectively. Within the article, there are examples of
language surveys that teachers can send home so they are able to gather a deeper understanding
of families’ home backgrounds. Creating a space for family knowledge, beliefs, and concerns
about their children’s language use and development at home gives educators crucial insights
into meeting DLLs’ individual needs in the early childhood setting. The article expresses ways
in which teachers can create this space for families and how DLLs’ needs can be met effectively
in the classroom. Teachers can use this article to research ways they can implement in their own
classrooms so they are able to teach effectively to all students in the classroom. As a teacher of
dual language learners, I would like to use the author’s insights to assist me in connecting with
my families so I am able to learn more about their DLLs and so I am able to meet their needs
more effectively.

Weisner, T., Ryan, G. W., Reese, L., Kroesen, K., Bernheimer, L., & Gallimore, R. (2001)
Behavior sampling and ethnography: Complementary methods for understanding
home-school connections among Latino immigrant families. Field Methods, 13(1), 20-46.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1525822X0101300102
The authors of this research article combined ethnography and experience-sampling methods
(ESMs) to examine home activities that were school-like, complementary to school, or unrelated
to school. The researchers’ work led them to examine the connections between home and school.
The research was completed in the United States with children consisting of male and female
genders. These home activities were related to children’s school achievement in a sample of
eight low-income Latino immigrant families, in addition to, their ten to eleven-year-old children
at risk for low school achievement. The children reported a wide variety of types of activities in
their evening routines at home. Children with higher school achievement engaged in chores,
homework, outdoor activities, family social activities and hobbies, and self-directed, goal-
oriented activities. In contrast, children with lower levels of school achievement tended to be
engaged in more television, video games, peer and solitary play, and resting at home. This
article further studies the different effects of children’s school performance based upon their
families’ involvement with school. School achievement data was provided by teachers to
complete this research. This article is helpful to educators who work with Latino families and
children. It provides educators with information about Latino families who are involved and not
involved in their children’s school lives. I thought this article was very interesting because I
teach Latino children and communicate with Latino families daily. It was interesting to see the
differences of Latino families’ involvement with school, and how this greatly affects their
children’s school performance.