The Together Time Project
- Project description
- How the project fits into the curriculum
- Goals of the project
- Who will benefit and how
- Time requirements
- Items to be purchased / Budget
- Evaluation
- Together Time themes
- Additional research about parent involvement in education
- Supporting references
Related pages:
Together Time Project Description:
Together Time Bags, a parent education and involvement project, sends books home with each student in Ustick Elementary morning kindergarten classroom. Grant funds will hopefully allow the project to expand into the afternoon class and other grades in the school. The project is currently in the pilot phase as a volunteer parent project. The Together Time bags contain a "six-pack" to go selection of quality, age-appropriate children's literature and a parent folder of activities and information that extend learning activities parents and children can share at home. The Together Time bags are a creative and innovative addition to other parent involvement strategies used in the kindergarten classroom including a weekly parent newsletter and a classroom parent volunteer program. Ustick Elementary has school-wide parent involvement strategies that include a Family Reading Night and an active Parent Teacher Organization.
How this project fits into the curriculum:
Parents and family members will reinforce the classroom curriculum in the home environment in a fun and relaxed way. Because parents are the single most important influence in a child's life, shared reading time between parents and children must be a priority. The amount of time a student spends in the classroom is relatively short. Kindergarten students spend less than three hours each day in class. In fact, students are only in class for "13 percent of the student's waking hours in the first 18 years of life." (Walberg, Paschal, and Weinstein, 1985). Clearly parental involvement in reinforcing the kindergarten curriculum is vital in student achievement. Together Time bags provide information and activities that reinforce skills in language, math, writing, science, and social studies. Some bags concentrate on a particular theme such as math, writing, cooking, time, or music while others focus on a parenting topics such as TV management, creating a home literacy environment, brain development, and the use of libraries. (View a list of Together Time themes.)
Goals of the project include:
- Home-to-school and school-to-home relationships will be strengthened.
- Family interaction will increase and parents will spend more time talking, reading, modeling, and playing games with their child.
- Reading aloud will be established as a daily habit, promoting a rich vocabulary, increased comprehension, increased background knowledge, and a better self concept.
- Children will spend more of their free time with activities that strengthen and reinforce early academic skills.
- Parents will increase their knowledge, skills, and abilities by having access to current strategies and information to reinforce their child's skills in motivating and developmentally appropriate ways.
- Children will show more interest and independence in their school work.
Who will benefit:
Kindergarten students, their parents, other siblings, kindergarten teachers, and the school will benefit from easy access to motivational and educational activities for students and parents provided through the Together Time bags.
How they will benefit:
The environment parents create at home plays a vital role in the development of a child's learning. Children who are read to, talked to, and exposed to enriching family activities are more likely to succeed in school. Parents who participate in quality parental involvement programs "have a higher overall evaluation of the teacher, sense of comfort with their school, and reported level of involvement" (Ames, 1995). Problems such as low self esteem and motivation start early in a student's schooling and impact them in later years. Positive prevention programs like this could benefit future teachers of these children for years to come.
"The most effective forms of family involvement are those that engage parents in working directly with children on learning activities in the home. Programs that involve parenting in reading with their children, supporting their work on homework assignments, or tutoring them using materials and instructions provided by teachers show particularly impressive results." (Novick, 1999)
Time requirements:
Once the 25 themes and parent handouts are developed and the books selected and assembled, it takes up to two hours a week to compile results from the feedback forms, check the bags in and out, restock the parent handouts, and make copies. A parent volunteer does most of the checking and restocking so that we are not using any class time on this project. Getting the project started always takes more time than you think it will as you could spend days developing handouts and themes. Using other library themes, etc. to get started takes a lot less time.
Items to be purchased, budget, etc.:
- 25 Ziploc bags (We use the gallon & a half tall size), $9.00
- 25 pocket folders & sheet protectors, $25.00
- 150 paperback books, $375.00
- Copies of parent information and handouts, $41.00
- Educational games, parenting books or brochures, $50.00
We estimate it costs about $500 for 25 Together Time bags. For the pilot project, we were able to round up books that had been donated or purchased at a significant discount. We only use books that are in pretty good condition and are age-appropriate, quality children's literature.
There are 20 children in this kindergarten class, but it's nice to have extra bags in case something ends up missing (which it will!) or you need a little more time getting handouts or materials together.
How do you evaluate the effectiveness of this project?
A feedback form is included in each Together Time bag. Parents are encouraged to complete the brief form each time they return a bag. Results are compiled, and the bags may be modified based on those results and on conversations with parents and students.
Teacher observations will also help evaluate the project. The morning kindergarten class participating in the project will serve as the experimental group and the afternoon class will serve, for the first semester, as the control group. We may be able to draw some conclusion between the two groups based on observations, assessments and Idaho Reading Indicator scores.
Almost all of the parents who have returned the feedback forms so far this semester report they have increased the amount of time spent reading as a result of receiving the Together Time bag and 99 percent report at least some of the handouts are useful to them. A sampling of comments has included:
- I like the idea. It gives us a variety of books to read each week and the handouts are fantastic!
- When we pick up one book we can't seem to stop.
- She wanted to read all of them in one sitting, and we enjoyed it as the whole family listened.
- I am really enjoying this!
- We all look forward to the books every week!
Together Time Bag Themes
| 1) Reading Tips | 10) On the Loose with Dr. Seuss | 19) Geography & Travel |
| 2) Creating a Home Literacy Environment | 11) Language & Listening | 20) Talking about Time |
| 3) Family Stories | 12) TV Tips | 21) Exploring the Weather |
| 4) Music | 13) Let's Go to the Library | 22) Multicultural Literacy |
| 5) Fun with Arthur | 14) Nonfiction Books | 23) Asset Building in Young Children |
| 6) Between the Lions | 15) Math Concepts | 24) The Amazing Alphabet |
| 7) Gardens, Growing, Insects and More | 16) Let's Get Cooking | 25) Listening & Reading Comprehension |
| 8) Fun with Writing | 17) Rhyme, Rhythm & Repetition | |
| 9) Brain Development | 18) A Positive Self Concept |
Barriers to Parent and Family Involvement
In 1992 The National PTA sent a survey to its 27,000 local and unit presidents and 3,000 council leaders, asking them what barriers they faced when they tried to get parents involved. The chart below shows their responses (The National PTA, 1992):
|
Barriers |
Percent Giving this Response |
|---|---|
| Parents do not have enough time | 89 percent |
| Parents feel they have nothing to contribute | 32 percent |
| Parents don't understand; don't know the system; don't know how to be involved | 32 percent |
| Lack of child care | 28 percent |
| Parents feel intimidated | 25 percent |
| Parents not available during the time school functions are scheduled | 18 percent |
| Language and cultural differences | 15 percent |
| Lack of transportation | 11 percent |
| Parents don't feel welcome at school | 9 percent |
| Other barriers | 21 percent |
Together Time bags, in addition to other parent involvement strategies including weekly newsletters, active parent volunteer programs, Family Reading Night, a parent resource library, and an active Parent Teacher Association, helps provide another avenue to get parents involved. An advantage Together Time bags provide is it overcomes several barriers listed above as each child in the class will take the materials home in their backpacks, thus avoiding some of the concerns about lack of time, transportation, child care and work schedules conflicting with events.
Additional Research about Parent Involvement in Education
The most basic statement that can be made about parent and family involvement in education is that when it happens, everyone benefits. Research has conclusively shown us that parent involvement in education benefits students, parents, teachers and schools, whether the program is at the preschool, elementary or high school level.
Benefits of Parent Involvement for Students
The benefits of parent involvement for students are:
- More positive attitudes toward school;
- Higher achievement in reading;
- Higher quality and more grade appropriate homework;
- Completion of more homework on weekends; and
- Observing more similarities between family and school. (Epstein, 1991)
Benefits of Parent Involvement for Parents and Community
The benefits of parent involvement for parents and community are:
- Receive ideas from school on how to help children;
- Learn more about educational programs and how the school works;
- Become more supportive of children;
- Become more confident about ways to help children learn; and
- More positive views of teachers (Epstein, 1992; Henderson, 1987; Liontos, 1992).
Benefits of Parent Involvement for Teachers and Schools
The benefits of parent involvement for teachers and schools are:
- Teacher morale improves;
- Parents rate teachers higher;
- Teachers rate parents as more helpful;
- Student achievement improves; and
- Parents support schools and bond issues (Davies, 1988; Epstein, 1992; Liontos, 1992).
Assumptions Upon which Successful Parent Involvement Programs Are Built
Parent involvement in education is not new. Head Start brought parent involvement into the spotlight in 1965, and since then thousands of parent involvement programs have been implemented. Research on successful parent involvement programs shows us that effective parent involvement programs are built on the following assumptions (Henderson, 1987):
- The primary educational environment comes from the family.
- Parent involvement in a child's education is a major factor in improving school effectiveness, the quality of education, and a child's academic success.
- The benefits of parent involvement are not confined to preschool or elementary school, but extend on up through high school.
- Low-income and minority children have the most to gain when schools involve parents.
Source: Parent Involvement in Education: A Resource for Parents, Educators, and Communities State of Iowa Department of Education, http://npin.org/library/pre1998/n00321/n00321.html
Supporting References:
Ames, Carole. (1990) Teacher's school-to-home communications and parent involvement: The role of parent perceptions and beliefs. (Report No. 28) San Diego: University of California.
Brit, Garaldine. (1997) Engaging Parents and Kindergartners in Reading through Class Lending Library. Instructional Resource No. 41. OERI.
Brooks, Nancy. (1997) Reinforcing Students' Motivation through Parent Interaction. Master's Action Research Project, Saint Xavier University.
Cohen, Lynn E. (1997) How I Developed My Kindergarten Book Backpack Program. Young Children, January 1997.
Denton, Kristin. (February, 2000) U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. America's Kindergartners, NCES 2000-070.
Foster, Suzanne M. (1998) A Read Aloud Project for At-Risk Kindergarten Children and Their Parents. The Indiana Reading Journal, Summer 1998.
Helm, Jeanne. (1994) Family Theme Bags: An Innovative Approach to Family Involvement in the School. Young Child Magazine, May 1994.
Novick, Rebecca, Ph.D. (1999) Family Involvement & Beyond: School-Based Child and Family Support Programs. Northwest Regional Education Laboratory Publication. Highlights include:
"The most effective forms of family involvement are those that engage parents in working directly with children on learning activities in the home. Programs that involve parenting in reading with their children, supporting their work on homework assignments, or tutoring them using materials and instructions provided by teachers show particularly impressive results."
"The earlier family involvement begins in a child's educational process, the more powerful the effects will be. Involving parents when children are young has beneficial effects that persist throughout the child's academic career."
"Parents want and need direction to participate with maximum effectiveness."
Reissner, Laura A. (March, 1994) A Read Aloud Program That Encourages Parent Participation in Schools. Proceedings in Rural Partnerships: Working Together, March 23-26, 1994.
Smith, Carl B. (2000) Creating Life-Long Readers. Family Learning Association. ERIC, Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication.
For more information:
For more information about the Together Time project, please contact Stephanie Bailey-White , Idaho Commission for Libraries, 325 W. State St. Boise, ID 82702, (208) 334-2150 / Fax: (208) 334-4016. She loves talking about this project!!
Contact Stephanie Bailey-White
Contact Peggy McClendon