Connecting With Families
With any classroom instruction, we know that its reach is amplified when families engage and support that learning at home. Through family engagement, children understand that the same messages are valued at home; they have opportunities to practice and cement concepts; and their education transfers beyond the classroom to their greater world. As your children interact with texts from your Rising Voices Library within your classroom community, they will carry those thoughts and conversations with them throughout the days and weeks that follow, inside and outside of school. Here are some suggestions for how you can help welcome families as vital partners in that process:
Share the goals of your Rising Voices Library with families. According to the 7th edition of the Kids & Family Reading Report, more than two-thirds of all parents surveyed believe that diversity in children’s books is important. And black and Hispanic families overall have the strongest views on the importance of and need for books with diversity. This indicates that parents as well as their children are eager to have access to more high-quality books that highlight black and Latino protagonists— the kinds of books that comprise your Rising Voices Library. Remind families that they are reading role models. Let parents know that reading with their child at home, talking with their child about books, and listening to their child read all help their child come to value and love reading. Connect families to the books you share. Consider sending home some books for
“Kids and parents alike expect books to bring the world to them in all its beautiful shapes, sizes, and colors . . . [T]he stories that stick are about the emotions that blossom when a reader connects to a character, experience, or place. It’s this connection that empowers readers to be the protagonists in their own stories.” —Andrea Davis Pinkney (2019) Author and Publisher
children to borrow and share with their families. You may also wish to purchase additional copies to help your children’s families build home libraries. Help your children select and bring home sample writing and artwork that they have created in response to Rising Voices books they have read and discussed in class.
24 • Rising Voices Library
10 Rising Voices | Books Celebrating Black and Latino Boys
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