Early Childhood Kindergarten 4yr Outreach

Early Childhood: Outreach Activities

Definition of Outreach Activities

Direct services to parents, legal guardians and primary care givers in the form of home visits, parent education and parent/child activities.
Primary care givers also include:

People whom the parents entrust with the care and education of their children in their absence, usually while they are working outside the home. Discussion of child specific information with primary care givers who may or may not be blood relatives requires the approval of the parents.

Description of Outreach Activities

The legislative intent of the 1991 revision of the four year old kindergarten statute was to provider a fiscal incentive for school districts to incorporate a parental outreach component to their center based four year old kindergarten program. Such outreach activities must comprise at least 20% (87.5 hours) of the 437 required hours for a four year old kindergarten.

Support for parent involvement with the schools recognizes that parents are partners in the educational process and that parents have both the right and the responsibility to share in decisions about their child's education and development. Furthermore, the outreach activities are intended to support, nurture, and instruct parents in their role as the primary educator of their children.

Outreach activities can occur in or outside of the school facilities and within or outside of traditional school hours. It is suggested that outreach activities be flexible and varied in order to be accessible to all potential participants and recognize the varied needs and abilities of different families. Such outreach activities should also be sensitive to cultural, racial, and religious differences among families.

The following is a compilation of what a random selection of districts are doing under the outreach umbrella.

Orientation activities the summer before the 4K program begins: These can include visits to the home and/or visits to the classroom in the school. Such orientation visits are often done in collaboration with other agencies.

General Communications: This can include parent phone calls that describe the child's accomplishments or regular newsletter that describe what is happening in school, child development tips and upcoming events

Special Classroom Events: Some programs organize special day-long events, including field trips for both children and families, campouts, planting a pumpkin patch, or having a family learning day

Evening Fun Gatherings/Family Celebration Nights: These gatherings run one to two hours in the evening. They often mix a theme with food and fun. They happen four to ten times a year, and they are especially popular in the winter months. Note: Activity first and then food often works best. Themes include:

Make & take decorations or gifts
Pumpkin carving or painting
Popcorn, pajamas, and movie or storytelling
Computer night
Dads only night
Math or science night
Stone soup early literacy activity
Winter swim
Sledding/sleigh ride

Sing-along
Gym and game night
Library, evening access
Nature centers
Pizza making
Sweatshirt decorating
Pet pals
Ice cream social
Chef combo

Pot Luck/dinner meeting: Informal get-to-know-each-other discussion and dialogue with staff. These can be used as the party or celebration following a unit in school. It may include live or videotaped performances by the children. Sometimes these are scheduled on evenings prior to school board meetings so that parents can also express themselves at that meeting.

Parenting classes: Often coordinated or offered with the Family Resource Centers, Head Start, Even Start, etc. Some districts use a packaged program. Others use topics that parents have expressed interest in:

Community resources
Discipline
Typical development
How to read to your child
Active/positive parenting

Offering child care for parenting events is an incentive and supports parent participation. High School students can provide the care during parenting classes and learn more about young children in the process.

Classroom Involvement Training: Training prior to working in the classroom or assisting teachers Other parents are trained to serve as bus greeters or escorts; especially during the first 10 days of school.

Parent-Teacher Conferences: Conferencing days above and beyond the days (usually 3) that all your elementary grade teachers receive for parent conferences

Home Visits: 2-6 times per year. These are optional--remember, not all parents are comfortable with visitors in their homes. Make the school or a neutral site available. Most programs use a "Parents as Teachers" or other strength-based model. Support staff sometimes come on visits.

Family Resource Center/Lending Library: This is often in collaboration with other funding sources. The center/library can offer:

Learning Activity Kits
Project/Book Bags
Parent Outreach Programs
Videos
First Book Club take-home books
Thematic home activity kits

Governance Activities: Establish an ongoing parent "advisory" committee to give input/feedback on how the 4K program is organized and respond to issues as they arise. This committee usually has representation from other school staff and the school board/administration. This committee can also help organize special events.

Interface with other Care/Education Providers: Collaborate with child care, Head Start, Even Start, county health and nutrition staff, and pediatricians. In addition to periodic phone calls to discuss specific child needs, the 4K outreach can include one or two meetings a year to discuss scheduling and cross-programming efforts, as well as the developmental needs of children.

Extended Family and Intergenerational Component: 4K programs extend invitations to siblings, grandparents, and other significant care givers whenever possible. This can also include asking retired people in the community to come and read to the children.

Transition to 5 Year-old Kindergarten: End-of-the-year transition activities with the 5K program could involve planning time or dialogue with the 4K parents.

For questions about this information, contact Jill A. Haglund (608) 267-9625

Last updated on 2/25/2008 9:07:52 AM