Family Involvement/Transition to kindergarten

Children 's Transition to Kindergarten and the Involvement of the

Family in the Process of Change and Adjustment

Introduction

The mind develops fast especially between the ages of three towards nine . This crucial stage of learning actually makes it easier for youngsters to grasp lessons that are presented to them in a much easier process . This is especially in terms of which actually interests them as young learners . Reading is one particular subject though that is mostly considered less interesting in this stage of human understanding . The pressure that the mixture

of phonetics and understanding the context of the reading material implies makes it harder for the young learners to get grasp of the lessons . Most of it appears like as if everything is a pressure on their part . This is especially true when dealing with children who are having difficulty in reading . This are usually noted as special cases whereas there are some stages when the young learners are already expected to grasp and rather apply the lessons that they are learning regarding reading comprehension , still some specific individual learners find it hard to do so

Although some people notes the situation as a common problem that need not be worried upon , the case is rather serious . As per noted through studies implying the learning process of children and its development reading is a main factor that contributes to one 's capability of being able to write , to understand and to speak fluently not only as a student but as a developing individual . These factors of learning could be noted to have an instilled reaction from the psychological as well as with the mental and learning development of a certain child

The primary beginning of a child 's first entrance to educational institutions maybe a bit unnerving for a child who is still undergoing the challenges of adjusting to a more social approach in learning . This is especially true with novice kindergarten students . The formation of the pre-kindergarten programs has then well arranged the procedures needed to be taken into consideration by both the parents and the children before they formally set the young students into a more diverse school environment

The Case Presentation

The First Presbyterian Day School offers a public education for children younger than four years of age in preparation for the said youngsters ' introduction to actual school setting . The said school hosts at least 18 students whereas three of them are Hispanics , 12 are American African and the two other are White Americans . The said program helps the children cope up with all the new challenges that are to be presented to them in school later on . How then is the parent 's involvement in the program affecting the learning process of the children

Area

Durham , North Carolina is a notably diverse community that holds residences of people from different races around the world . Being diverse as it is , the culture of the said county is much more involved in several racial cases especially within universities and local schools

Relating the matter with the situation being dealt with in the program it is indeed necessary for parents to get involved in introducing their young children to the nature of primary learning being hosted in the said area . This particular process of assistance shall help the children realize that their parents are in full support of them and their progress in studies , thus giving them the confidence that they need in becoming immune later on with the environment of education in the said community

Review of Literature : Program Application and Benefits

Parent 's involvement and participation to their child 's learning development has been proven to have positive results . It appears that the simple encouragement and appreciation that parents have toward their child 's accomplishment and academic and scholarly activities will help the child 's esteem and positive perceptions toward his or her academe This idea is also supported by study conducted by Bornholt and Goodnow (1999 ) about the relationship of parental expectations and adolescent disclosure to the academic competence of students . Accordingly , they concluded that : Adolescent self-disclosure to parents suggested an important addition to the model of family influences on the adolescents `sense of academic achievement (Bornholt and Goodnow , 1999 . This conclusion agrees with that of the journal article written by McGrath and Repetti (2000 ) but the center of the article is about the difference of influence by the mother and the father regarding the academic competence of the child . Thus , the statistical study presented in the journal article is about the differences between the mother 's and father 's attitudes toward their children 's academic performance According to the statistical research of McGrath and Repetti (2000 parent 's attitudes toward their children 's academic performance are gender-differentiated . That is , mothers are believed to be concerned about the performance of both their sons and daughters while fathers are more concerned about their son 's . In addition , mothers tend to set lower academic performance standard compare to that of the father 's making them more relentless about the academic performance of their children Using methodology like conducting statistical survey and observing a random families and their educational institution , they determined the mean and significant differences between the mother 's and father 's involvement in their children 's academic performance . Also , they handed out questionnaires and performed interviews to determine the response of the parents regarding this psychological and sociological idea . Basing from their data , McGrath and Repetti (2000 ) found out that girls and boys perceived themselves to be more academically competent when their mothers reported greater satisfaction with their performance in school making their commendation and acknowledgement with their children 's accomplishments more significant to the children 's academic self-perception

Enhancing the Process of Parent Involvement

To be able to understand how the program works , the following enhancement procedures would actually give a brief overview on how much parent-involvement is needed in the process . The constancy of the said program in asserting the parents in taking part in their children 's learning development is indeed a vial part of the process of program enhancement . The following list denotes the necessary points that need consideration in assessing parent-involvement in the process

Two-way Communicating : this denotes the interaction between the parents and the teachers of the children who are needing assistance and are thus noted for having the need to be made comfortable in classroom environments

Supporting families with parenting skills : this process denotes the need of actually assisting parents in realizing their roles in the learning of their children in school

Organizing families as contributing Volunteers : Through asking parents to take part in the program , it could be expected that the program is rather empowered to take better processes of improvement in assisting the children in realizing the importance of school in their learning process

Involving families with home learning activities learning at home : This could include homework that could both involve the parents and the children allowing them some time to bond and for the parents to supervise the learning development of their children

Including families as participants in school decisions , and Collaborating with community resources

Make available family Involvement resources for teachers

Meet with teachers to plan types of meaningful involvement

Through these particular suggestions , the program for assisting children in facing the challenges of early schooling could be well dealt with by the young learners themselves with the help of their parents

Conclusion

Though there is only little significant difference among the influence of the participation of the mother and the father regarding the academic performance and self-perception of the child , the effect itself and significance depends solely on what the child thinks about it and how he or she will respond to it . One reason why it appears that mother 's participation have great effect seems to reciprocate from the fact that mothers are more open and emotional close to the children compare to fathers . Thus , the child might rely more on the help and support of the mother because it is easier to gain or the child is more emotional to her thus desiring to her more . Other case where the father 's participation has more significant impact depends maybe on the situation itself like scenarios where the mother 's participation cannot be easily achieved or the child personally has more emotional connection with him than the mother might result to the said conclusion

To be able to be successful with such learning difficulties , the involvement of the parents in the process of learning is a vital part of education for the said students . Hence , love for the students could be considered as the most essential part of educating exceptional students This emotion and concern would naturally move the educators to have all the necessary skills for teaching special children and thus apply them regularly in dealing with the children 's learning needs . Reading is one particular subject that needs to be given focus by the educators in several learning institutions . This is primarily because of the fact that reading skills spurs up the other learning capabilities of the students as young as kindergarten learners as per discussed in the earlier chapters of this . Moreover , without the ample attention given upon the importance of treading , the other levels of learning among young students would certainly suffer

Through the implementation of the pre-kindergarten program in the curricular system of the institution , it could be noted that the involvement of the parents in their children 's process of learning is rather strengthened and initialized for better application in actual procedures of teaching matters for the young students . Having been able to see the support that their parents are giving them shall ensure the children of the confidence that they need to be cable to face the different situations that they need to meet with in school Understandably , the process of preparing students in facing the new challenges that are to be offered to them in their new schools shall be a huge step for the parents in assisting their children in facing the new socially integrated way of dealing with others of their same age

References

McGrath , Emily

. and Rena L . Repetti (Dec 2000 . Mother 's and Father 's Attitudes Toward Their Children 's Academic Performance and Children 's Perceptions of Their Academic Competence . Journal of Youth and Adolescence . 29 .6 . This journal particularly discusses about the major issues that arise among students with regards their schools and how parents are able to make the said load much easier to take for the young students

McIntyre , L .L , et al (2007 . Transition to kindergarten : family experiences and involvement . Early Childhood Education Journal , 35 83-88 . this journal discusses the different elements of transition that children under the age of four usually experiences and how parents could assist in the process of making the children realize their full potential in achieving better in school as they enter kindergarten

Deane Darnell (2003 . Personalized kindergarten program with supplementary parent involvement : Final report , Title III ESEA project no . 93 . Boulder Valley Public Schools . This program report discusses the pros and cons of the supplementary parent involvement in the process of learning of children as young as kindergarten . The report further features the different procedures of understanding that parents could use so as to be able to relate to the needs of their children in learning

Kay Wright (2002 . Building School and Community Partnerships Through Parent Involvement (2nd Edition . Prentice Hall 2 edition . The relationship of teachers with the parents actually strengthen the entire community relationship . Nevertheless , this reading makes a certain implication that the said process could also help in developing children who are socially aware of their surroundings as they see their teachers and parents coexist to be able to give them a better future ahead

Rebecca L Hunsaker (2002 . A teacher initiated parent involvement program for the kindergarten classroom (Weber State College / Utah State University Combined Master of Education Program . Master 's Project . This journal shows how much progress parent-involvement could give in the development of their children 's learning and achieving in school

Michael E . Sikes (2007 . Building Parent Involvement Through the Arts Activities and Projects That Enrich Classrooms and Schools . Corwin Press . This reading gives careful suggestions on the most effective activities that could be used in assisting students and parents interact with each other through given homeworks from school

Elaine K . McEwan (2000 . Solving School Problems : A Guide for Parents Educators : Kindergarten through Middle School . Shaw Publishing . This material gives a brief overview on how and why parents should get involved in the process of learning of their children . Something that needs careful assistance among parents today

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Kindergarten ...