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Resources and Materials for Parents
For the Parents of Early Childhood Students
Articles:
Reading Rockets: Becoming Bilingual
This article reminds ELL families, you are not alone. Almost 10% of the students in this country are English Language Learners. Teachers, parents, and students know that if you don’t speak much English, reading in English can be very difficult. Help can sometimes be hard to find. Today, research is showing what works! This link shows you some parents and teachers working together to help kids. Click on the link above to see how they did it!
Colorin Colorado: How to Prepare for the Beginning of the School Year
These ideas will help your child get ready for a new school year. As the first day of school approaches, there are many things you can do to set your child on the path to school success. Ideas include finding out and discussing with your child school expectations as well as why it would be a great idea for you to volunteer!
Websites:
The site has a variety of online resources! It features reading tips in 11 languages and discusses how to share a wordless picture book to help build your child's vocabulary. There are recommendations for wonderful books for children as well as how to read ebooks. This is the parent's guide to reading success! Neatly organized, the headlines make it easy to figure out exactly where you want to go.
PBS Parents
This is the online version of PBS! It features all sorts of fun games and activities that you can explore with your child. PBS Parents is a trusted resource that’s filled with information on child development and early learning. It also serves as a parent's window to the world of PBS KIDS, offering access to educational games and activities inspired by PBS KIDS programs.
The Importance of Storytelling: This video discusses why it is important to tell stories!
For the Parents of Middle School Students
Articles:
Making Parent Teacher Conferences Work for Your Child
This article published by the National Parent Teacher Association details thoughtful tips so that you get the most out of your parent/teacher conference. This is such an important time to find out how your student is doing and to determine the best ways to help your child be successful in the future. The tips given in the article will help you feel prepared and make the most of your time with your child's teacher.
Homework Tips for Parents of ELLs
Homework can be such a helpful reinforcement of learning. However, if it is difficult to understand, students can put off doing it all together. This quick and easy to read article gives some helpful suggestions about how to get your student started. One strategy emphasizes the importance of setting a routine so that your student has a place to concentrate and think about their studies. It's also important to remember that talking about homework can be just as important as doing it, and that conversation can be in your native language!
Websites:
Department of Education Site for Parents
The Department of Education site has links for Reading Resources and Helping Your Child Learn that cover topics like reading tips and helping your child with homework. There is also a Parents Guide for School Success. This website is a resource for many others so it is a good place to start when you are looking for information. Some of the reading tips are en espanol.
This remarkable resource has endless ideas about how to help! ColorÃn Colorado is a free web-based service that provides information, activities and advice for educators and Spanish-speaking families of English language learners (ELLs). ColorÃn Colorado's mission is to find research-based and best-practice information about teaching reading to English language learners (ELLs) and use the power and reach of the Internet to make it widely available to parents, educators, and policymakers.
The site offers amazing ideas about reading and parenting! It is easy to use and navigate.
You make the difference in your child's life! Watch this quick video to see how some other families made a difference in the lives of these children!
For the Parents of Adolescent Students
Articles:
Helping Your Child Through Adolescence
This publication produced by the Department of Education covers many of the challenges that families face as students come into adolescence. It discusses how to be an effective parent and how to stay involved during this transitional time for your child. The PDF does have a table of contents so you can skim and quickly click to the section that you might be the most interested in reading. The site establishes that many of the reading habits that your child is developing during this time will become their lifelong reading habits, so it offers helpful strategies to make sure that they are good ones.
Motivating Kids to Read: Teenagers and Reading
This article on the Reading is Fundamental site deals with the problem that sometimes as students get older, they seem to lose their interest in reading. The site has realistic strategies about how to talk to your teen about why reading is important in their life. It also gives great ideas about how to help them choose good books that they will stay interested in and that may even lead to new interests!
Websites:
All About Adolescent Literacy: Parent Tips
These tips can be found on the AdLit website, which is just short for Adolescent Literacy. The site has many valuable resources, but in the special section for parents, it contains articles about everything from the importance of encouraging your adolescent reader to your role as an advocate for them. This amazing resource is for parents of kids 4-12 and has many interesting aspects. Your student might enjoy its Meet the Author section where they can see clips of young adult authors.
ReadWriteThink Parent Resources Page
This site offers engaging ways to get your teen to read and write. The age appropriate suggestions are great for afterschool activities or just for a rainy day. All of the materials are designed by experts and are fun, educational, and easy to use. They are also searchable by grade level so you can find exactly the right activity for your child.
Reading Rocks! is a buoyant PBS television special that appeals to kids and encourages struggling readers to keep trying. While Reading Rocks! is designed for children ages seven to twelve, the special was also created with parents and teachers in mind so they can watch, understand, and encourage struggling readers at home and school.
Below is the introduction to the show, to watch the entire episode, click here.
National Support Organizations for English Language Learners
National Association for Bilingual Education
NABE's mission is to advocate for our nation's Bilingual and English Language Learners and families and to cultivate a multilingual multicultural society by supporting and promoting policy, programs, pedagogy, research and professional development that yield academic success, value native language, lead to English proficiency, and respect cultural and linguistic diversity.
In short, it is a helpful place to find resources about legislation and advocacy for your child.
National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition
This site is a part of the No Child Left Behind commitment as it pertains to English learners (ELs). It has a wealth of research and resources, including statistical information about ELs. There are informative webinars that discuss important issues in educating ELs. The Promising Practices section shows teachers and students in action!
Office of English Language Acquisition
The mission of the Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA) is to provide national leadership to help ensure that English learners and immigrant students attain English proficiency and achieve academically.The Office identifies major issues affecting the education of English learners and assists and supports state and local systemic reform efforts to improve the achievement of English learners. There is a dedicated section for Family and Community Engagement with some resourceful links.
Click for the latest Literacy Apps! Join the Colorin Colorado blog!
Additional Resources
The Scholastic site has sections for books and reading as well as school success and activities. You can sign up for updates and participate in blogs. There is also an easy age by age quick find that allows you to find the just right resource for your child age 1-13. One more thing: there is also a fun daily tip!
International Children's Digital Library
If you are looking for books to read with your child, this site offers so many opportunities. The site itself can be translated into multiple languages including French, Korean, Arabic, and Spanish and features books that are in multiple languages! It is searchable by level and interest.
The online reading section of this site features books in both languages. In the top section, the story is told in English and in the bottom section it can be told in multiple languages, ranging from Tagalog to Vietnamese. The site seeks to bridge the east and west. All of the stories are culturally based and provide rich reading opportunities for parents and children of all origins.
Last updated July 25, 2014
