NAEYC

The NAEYC website is the resource I found to be of extremely rich value and consistency as well as diversity. I looked up family support and found endless articles relating to how families can support their children`s growth as well as how families can receive they need in order to support their children`s early learning and readiness.

The one article that stood out for me was "Supporting Family Involvement and Readiness for Migrant Children. The article talks about a project to integrate traditional and tablet based learning activities so parents can help their preschool aged children develop early literacy, math, science and other early learning skills. Early learning standards, resources, research, and feedback from families inform program planning.

Families participated for three-month sessions, monthly evening meetings at the elementary school facilitated by the teachers. They discuss learning concepts for the unit, favorite
storybooks and related topics with families in Spanish. Parents also practice
activities they can try at home with their child.  Each family is loaned
an iPad preloaded with educational apps and parent resources such as activity
ideas, tipsheets, and short video clips modeling learning activities such as
“sink or float” and approaches to foster exploration like “asking open-ended
questions.” Activity ideas relate to the learning goals and include helping
their child create stories with both the iPad and traditional materials (paper
and markers), science and outdoor explorations, and educational games they can
play together.

During the program parents become more informed about what their child will need to know in school and learn ways to support their child’s learning at home. One parent shared, “At first he didn’t know how to use the iPad, but now he does. He learned
very quickly. It was good because he used it to read, to play, and to do other
things. He’s working on the same (learning goals) but in different ways.”

www.naeyc.org