Please find the required PowerPoint presentation below.  This workshop has been developed as part of the course Parents in Teaching and Learning (ECUR 823) at the University of Saskatchewan with professor Debbie Pushor.This workshop is meant to be personalized.  Select the activities you wish to discuss, and spend as much or as little time on the concepts that speak fully to your school.  As you select activities and where to put your focus think of what needs to be done as a school and as a classroom teacher before school begins, during school, and over the summer.  Pick and choose the activities that best fit your school and your school’s needs.If you have any questions, feedback, or require clarification please feel free to call or email Melissa.lander@sunwestsd.ca. 

Next Steps
What is Parent Engagement
Why is Parent Engagement Important
Parent engagement activities

Planning Parent Engagement Toolkit (external link)

“Hospitality and invitation remain empty gestures until they are made with the genuine intention to open up the school space and agenda, to co-create it with parents and other caregivers as well as with students” - from Parent Engagement: Creating a Shared World (external PDF) by Debbie Pushor, PhD

Parent engagement increases student achievement and fosters positive learning outcomes. To increase parent engagement in your school, follow these simple steps to get started:

Assess:
Parent engagement checklist
Getting started:
How to make parent engagement “come alive”
Increasing involvement:
Barriers and strategies for success

Grade Alike Planning (GAP)A job embedded, structured planning framework that infuses key pieces to students educational experiences.

Table of Contents
I. Toolkit Overview Pg. 2
• Purpose of the Toolkit
• How to Use the Toolkit
II. Background Pg. 3
• What is Parent Engagement?
• Why is it important?
• What do we mean by sustainability?
• What will success look like?
III. Sustaining and Improving Parent Engagement Pg. 4-6
• How did this effort come about?
• What does experience tell us about the importance of each strategy?
IV. Achieving Success: Guide for Creating Your Own Strategies Pg. 7-17
• Creating a Parent Engagement Roadmap
• Developing a Parent Engagement Checklist/Self Assessment
• Establishing a Parent Engagement Support Network
V. Source Material & Additional Resources Pg. 18

"Have you been thinking SLCs sounded like a good idea but you were afraid of screwing them up? OR have you been doing them for years but never really felt like you were doing them “right”? This article by veteran teacher Kelly Williams has you covered."

How to : plan and prepare, schedule, decide a structure, decide roles and what to share. This resource includes a sample parent letter.

Engaging and building trust with parents and creating supportive home-to-school connections is critical to new-teacher success; find resources to get started here.

"This seven part video series on parent engagement, explains how important it is for educators and parents to engage well with one another to enhance educational outcomes for our young children.This video series is supported by the provincial Early Years Outcome Team and the Ministry of Education."

A handout for parent use. Tips, strategies and resources to help students increase math fluency with help from parents at home.

Including hot tips, cool ideas and practical suggestions for supporting all parents to be effectively involved in their children’s education.

If parents did these 5 simple things they would greatly improve their child's readiness for school and reading. These suggestions come from a former Reading Recovery Teacher and a mother of a very early reader.

Parents Canada is a Canadian website aimed at parenting children at all ages and stages of life.

This lesson engages children in using writing to their families as a persuasive tool to get what they want and need.

Learners and their families are encouraged to go outside on a clear evening and view the sky to see the planets for themselves. Using sky charts and other resources, and possibly in partnership with a local astronomical society, children navigate the night sky and view planets with the naked eye and binoculars or telescopes. This activity is part of Explore! Jupiter's Family Secrets, a series designed to engage children in space and planetary science in libraries and informal learning environments.

In this brief, Christine Patton and Justina Wang, from Harvard Family Research Project, look at ways of helping to make the transition into kindergarten a positive experience that will serve as a foundation to help children reach their full potential throughout their school years. The brief highlights promising practices in six states—New Jersey, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Virginia, and California—where local- and state-level leadership support a variety of initiatives to ensure successful transitions into kindergarten. The authors examine effective collaborative approaches in which state departments of education, advocacy organizations, school districts, early education teachers, kindergarten teachers, families, and community members work together to help kindergartners enter school ready to begin this pivotal new phase of their lives

Check out these great video/curricular resources for Kindergarten. The ROVER videos all indicate the curriculum outcomes that they address.

ROVER (Recommended Online Video Education Resources) is a video streaming service for Saskatchewan teachers and students in the PreK-12 education system. It is managed and maintained by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. ROVER is a video-on-demand service that provides teachers and students with the convenience of immediate access to streamed, educational videos that support curricula.

This site also offers all of the curriculum documents for all grade levels.

If you are unable to access the site, it may be because a Saskatchewan Ministry of Education Blackboard login is required. All students have an Edonline account, so contact your child's school or the Ministry of Education’s Support Desk at 1-866-933-8333 or email at stans@gov.sk.ca for login information. Your child's student number will be required.

Student Vote is an independent evaluation commissioned by Elections Canada reports that the Student Vote program is having a significant impact among students in the key areas associated with future voting, as well as increasing the engagement of families in the election.

Teach students how to be informed and engaged citizens.

Mock elections are run at all levels of government and the materials are all provided for free once you register. Bring civics to life for your students!

From bringing you closer as you share stories to having a special time together at the end of the day, reading aloud to your children has many benefits. Reading isn’t just a part of the school day but a lifelong practice you can reinforce and celebrate at home. You can share favorite books, explore new titles, and read aloud together.

What does it look like to read aloud to your children? A child who might not read independently can sit with you side-by-side as they listen to you read a picture book. Independent readers might take turns reading aloud a chapter book with you as you explore a favorite book from your childhood. The possibilities are endless!

In this blog post, Monica Burns has nine tips for reading aloud to your children. Reading aloud can happen at any age.

In this session, Dr. Debbie Pushor from the University of Saskatchewan will first share some of her thoughts about learning at home and remote teaching during Covid-19. She will then explore the implications of these understandings for a) parent engagement with their children during the summer months and b) parent engagement with us as educators as students return to school in September.