Getting Parents Involved

After the class has shared a piece of literature it is helpful to have the students go home and discuss what the story was about, how the characters felt, how the child felt about the characters, situation or decisions that were made, and have their feelings and values supported by their parents or care givers.

Suggestions for Focus Information for Parents:

The teacher can send one or two discussion ideas home to the parents as suggestions to discuss around the supper table. Keep the suggested ideas to a minimum and try to suggest ideas that will set a tone for a dinner table conversation rather than a homework assignment.

Suggestions for what to send home:

• Include a summary of what literature the class shared without describing how the story ended or giving too much detail.
• Include some focus topics or questions.
• Have the adult ask the student to explain what the story was about.
• Have the adult ask the focus questions or ask the student to describe the focus topic.
• More sample ideas

Suggestions for sample questions:

• Describe what happened to character.
• Describe how you think character felt when incident happened. What made him/her feel that way?
• Describe how you think character felt at the end of the story. What made him/her feel that way.
• more question ideas to process literature
• more questions ideas for developing caring

Depending on the age of the student those three might be enough. For older children you might try.

• Describe how character felt about incident an the beginning of the story and at the end. What made her/him feel that way and why did she/he change?
• What experiences have you had when you might have felt like character in the beginning of the story and at the end?
• What can people do to cope with situations like characters?

  You might send a parent feedback sheet along with the summary sheet (seven sample summary sheets).

Sample for John Jermey Colton I would start with this sheet, read the story, discuss the story with the students, then edit the activity sheet according to how the discussion went, print it, copy it, and send it home for dinner. If I wanted parent feedback, then I would copy the parent feedback sheet onto the back and have the students bring it to school the next day.

Robert Sweetland's Notes ©