A Menu for Successful Family Engagement- How Administrators Set the Table, by Bev Schumacher

This session is part of the Follett Growing Readers Series

Imagine walking into a new restaurant without knowing what the restaurant served. How would you know if the restaurant was appropriate for you and your family and how to plan your meal?  Walking into a new early learning setting can be a similar experience for families and teachers. You may  assume teachers know how to engage families and families know how to navigate the program, but they both need clear expectations. The answer is that your program needs a parent engagement menu.

A thoughtfully designed menu of opportunities and strategies can help parents know what to expect and guide your staff member’s interactions with parents. Setting the table for strong relationships with families begins with defined expectations, clear communication, and a welcoming atmosphere.

This webinar, presented by experience parenting expert, Bev Scumacher, will help you plan your menu by guiding you to:

•Assess your current practices:

- Are there sound practices already in place? Where can you refine and improve?

-Do you have the planning time, professional development, and materials the teachers need to help parents succeed?

- Does your menu address the early learning state standards, learning frameworks, quality rating system requirements you need to address?

•Take the cultural temperature:

- Are parents contributing to their children’s learning and development?

- How does your program encourage and support parent involvement?

- Do the staff and families engage in two way communication?

• Take the next steps:

- Gather resources and professional development to improve your parent communication and involvement program.

Attend this session and you will be entered to win a CUSTOM Door prize from Follett Early Learning!

When you attend the Growing Readers Series webinars, you will automatically have a chance to win a collection of books and/or other resources customized to your specifications with the personalized expert guidance of the literacy specialists at Follett Early Learning.

All sessions are 1.5 hours long, and include a brief announcement from our sponsor. 2:oo PM – 3:30 PM Eastern Time. Can’t participate in our webinars at the appointed time? Never fear! All of the webinars are recorded. To view the recordings, simply register now and you will receive an email with a link to the recording when it is ready to be viewed. You can still download the certificate by watching the recording to the end when the certificate link is announced and displayed on the screen. *Please be advised that you will only be eligible for the great door prizes if you participate in the live session. See the schedule of upcoming webinars.