How can you help bridge home and school settings?

What the research tells us. When children enter preschool settings, they have learned many literacy skills. However, home literacy is often different from school-setting literacy. Home literacy is embedded in the daily lives of families. Reading the bus schedule, making shopping lists, writing addresses on envelopes, and reading television program guides are all examples of literacy events in the home. While children's roles in literacy events vary from home to home, studies demonstrate how literacy skills are involved (Morrow, 1993). Connecting children's prior knowledge with classroom learning and understanding the literacy environments of children from diverse cultures can help you become more responsive to children's differing needs.

Applying the research. A learning environment that celebrates the strengths of each child and each child's family fosters collaboration among children and makes it possible for all parents to become involved in their children's learning in school. As tutors and program coordinators, you can recognize the strengths of different families and build your program around them. For example, when working with an English-language learner, you can begin by asking the child to teach you some words in her native language. "Great!" the tutor might say. "You know a language that I can't speak. So you can be my tutor, too."

All families contribute to the literacy development of their children. It's important to recognize that families can be rich in literacy even if they aren't rich in books. Many children come to school having actively listened to stories told to them by grandmothers, uncles, and other relatives or elders. Tutors can use the power of oral storytelling to introduce these children to the world of books.