Ann C. Barbour - Learning at Home Pre K-3: Homework Activities that Engage Children and Families

Praise for Ann C. Barbour and
Learning at Home Prek3: Homework
Activities That Engage Children and Families

This book has so many rich choices for families to work together at home. The activities are categorized by academic subject and will be extremely easy for teachers or even an entire elementary school to incorporate as homework practices.

Stephanie Malin

Instructional Coach, Beaverton School District, Beaverton, OR

This book is a great resource for educators and families and is filled with practical ideas to engage everyone in the fun of learning.

Susan Stewart

Curriculum Consultant, Supervisor, Adjunct Instructor,
Stark County Education Service Center, Ashland University, Hartville, OH

I love this book. What a great resource, full of activities and directions for those activities that parents and other caregivers can easily do at home.

Nadia Mykysey

Educator, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Wonderful! The author has done an excellent job of providing a wealth of materials for the educator and/or parent, as well as answering some tough questions about home learning for young children. It has been done with the utmost care and in a very professional manner.

Ken Klopack

Art and Gifted Educational Consultant, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago, IL

This book is stuffed full of very valuable material for the classroom teacher who wants to encourage student engagement in meaningful learning activities at home. I am going to use this book and these wonderful ideas in writing my own professional goals for next year. The research, ideas, and materials are all very appropriate for me as I continue to grow as an experienced teacher who is interested in getting better every year!

Carol Forrest

Primary Teacher (K1), Nyssa Elementary School, Nyssa, OR

There is no doubt that connecting with family members is of great benefit to a students learning. Dr. Barbour presents clear and easy to implement strategies for successfully making this connection, with an emphasis on building positive home-school relationships and promoting learning together as an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. This work shows a clear commitment to exploring all subjects with children, including the often neglected science and art. This publication is clearly a valuable resource for educators and administrators alike at all stages of their career. Dr. Barbour clearly recognizes the importance of community resources, outdoor spaces and informal learning sites such as museums as valuable places for children and their families to learn together and provides clear guidance for how to tap into these resources.

Leah M. Melber

Director of Student and Teacher Programs, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL

For young children (and their parents), homework is often a painful, empty experience. Barbour rethinks this age-old task with meaningful and powerful ways parents can joyfully connect with their children and build the skills they need for school.

Steven Hicks

Teacher, The Accelerated School, Los Angeles, CA

At this critical time in early childhood education, Anns book provides a valuable resource for programs seeking to strengthen ties between home and school. Grounded in the research on play and the benefits of family involvement in the learning process, this book provides a rich menu of ideas and resources that can be easily implemented in any early childhood setting.

Blanche Desjean-Perrotta

Associate Dean for Teacher Education and
Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of Texas at San Antonio

Copyright 2012 by Ann C. Barbour

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Barbour, Ann.

Learning at Home Prek-3: homework activities that engage children and families/Ann C. Barbour.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-61608-548-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Homework. 2. Early childhood education--Activity programs. 3. Motivation in education. I. Title.

LB1139.35.P37B37 2012

371.30281--dc23

2011040818

Printed in Canada

M any people have shaped this work. I learned about the power of informal and interactive activities to involve parents in childrens learning while teaching a course in family and community resources at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) many years ago. Three early childhood teachers in Alamo Heights Independent School District in San AntonioSusan Peery, Susan Wilson, and Liz Mendenhallgenerously allowed me to track the first year of their classroom-based literacy bag projects. In the process of reading childrens and parents enthusiastic journal responses to the materials these dedicated teachers sent home, I became convinced that interactive homework of this sort benefited parents and teachers along with the children.

In California, I worked with the Academic English Mastery Program (AEMP) in Los Angeles Unified School District. AEMP is a multischool program that supports standard English learners, most of whom are African American and Mexican American, in acquiring school language and literacy. With the goal of increasing the involvement of their families, I helped design literacy backpack projects in these schools. This project gave me a better understanding of the importance of culturally relevant materials in engaging family members. I also saw how eager parents were to help their children learn and how conscientious young children were in caring for materials. I am particularly grateful to Lilly Alexander, the Parent Representative at one of the AEMP schools, for exemplifying how parents, and indeed grandparents, can be the most valuable resources in implementing projects of this type.

Many of my students at California State University, Los Angeles, created interactive homework activities as an assignment for a school-family partnerships course. They donated these activities to stock AEMP backpacks for first and second graders. This assignment collectively helped us focus on ways to create sturdy materials inexpensively and efficiently. A number of these studentsthemselves classroom teacherssubsequently developed learning-at-home projects in their own classrooms. They witnessed the positive impact of interactive homework materials on family involvement and childrens eagerness to learn.

A number of my students creativity and resourcefulness provided inspiration for this book, but I want particularly to thank several talented Los Angeles-area teachers for permission to share their ideas in this book. Saray Fregoso, a second-grade teacher, created the Making Progress and Trail to Freedom games. Saray also developed Lifes Ups and Downs and My Weekly Schedule. Steven Hicks, a kindergarten and first-grade teacher and recent Washington Teaching Ambassador Fellow, made the Cakewalk game. Karen Gilbaugh, a primary-grade teacher and assistant principal, designed the Poetry Awards cards. Sevan Yagyazan, an early intervention preschool teacher, had the idea of making puppets out of sponges. Phung Ballot, an Early Start teacher, created the Win a Chair for Mom file folder game. Second-grade teacher, Helen Hsu, made the Retelling Stage. Another second-grade teacher, Catalina Munguia, sewed the hand puppets and made the story sequencing folder activity. Natalie Palma, a curriculum resource teacher, devised the Fact or Fiction sorting activity. Evan Barbour, a science illustrator and museum-based science educator, painted the Bird Puzzle and made the craft stick puzzles.