This week we highlight three Somerville Public School classrooms where teachers are partnering with families to increase engagement that supports children at home and at school.
Author Celebration: Georgia O'Keefe - Argenziano Preschool
Children spent a month working on writing books and then
celebrated their work by inviting families in for a special breakfast and
publishing ceremony. There is also a "mystery reader." Parents sign up to come read to the class
but the children don't know who it is until the parent arrives. Parents love this
opportunity and the children get so excited about the "mystery."
 |
| Published books on display |
 |
| The authors with their books |
 |
| Mystery Reader! |
 |
| Beautiful Buffet |
Oobleck Adventure: Lori Hight - Capuano Preschool
We read the book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck By Dr. Seuss, in 3
reading times. The morning of our last
reading, we surprised the children by making oobleck! A parent volunteered
to help the
children add ingredients and involved himself in discussion with the children
about how the oobleck felt, what happened when they handled it and thinking
about whether it was a solid or a liquid.
I have been very fortunate to have parents volunteering throughout the
year for extra special activities we do.
With parent support, we are able to do whole class activities and assist children with fine motor work during extra special small group
activities that are related to a theme we are focusing on. I truly appreciate their time and energy to
build on the children's learning and fun at school.
 |
| Parents help make ooblek |
 |
| Playing with ooblek - Why does it feel and move this way? |
Breakfast Literacy: Jess Ferris and Veronique LePaix - Healey Head Start Preschool
Our class spends half and hour each
morning in the cafeteria to eat breakfast. Parents and family members
stay as long as they can, some for the duration. Earlier in the
year we had books for children to read after they finished breakfast, but we
noticed an opportunity to infuse this time with more learning. We have
added name puzzles, clothespin activities that focus on identifying beginning
sounds, matching letters of the alphabet with images that start with that
letter and sound, counting syllables and soon rhyming. The children are
more focused on finishing their food so they can have game pieces, parents are
engaging with their children and others as they work on the activities, and
children are getting more exposure to literacy concepts. It has also been
a great opportunity to demonstrate to parents some simple activities they can
do with their children to work on literacy learning and also to get a concept
of their child's understanding of literacy. The time at
breakfast flies by and the class and families seem to really enjoy doing
this work together!
 |
| Clothespin picture-letter matching |
 |
| More picture-letter matching |
 |
| Name puzzle |
