LITERACY CONNECTS HOME, SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
by Sara Schwabacher, Cornerstone

Cornerstone schools are extremely committed to parent involvement

As I travel to schools for the first time, I am struck by how committed all our schools are to parent involvement. The staff of every Cornerstone school is already thinking a great deal about the important relationship between the home, community and student academic achievement. Schools work hard to entice parents to attend parent workshops, open school nights, and special events. Parents and community members serve on parent and school governance committees, work in school-based health clinics and parent centers, and support school events like children's performances, sports events and awards ceremonies. A few parents, including many of our Cornerstone parent liaisons, are even able to commit large amounts of volunteer time in classrooms, help out on field trips, provide an extra hand after school, and otherwise serve almost as staff persons in the school.

Schools also conduct activities specifically to encourage reading, writing and conversation among parents and children. Special events such as Family Literacy Nights, cultural sharing, celebrations and festivals are held. Take home library and parent-child read aloud programs are in place. Teachers communicate with parents about their children's reading when they see them at events and write notes to parents who are not able to come to school. Literacy development is the topic of home visits. Parent liaison Darlene Cuevas at Scranton in Cleveland runs a Book Club for parents on Saturdays. Principal Jean Tunstall sent a note about a successful Literacy PJ party at Cadwalader in Trenton where "boys and girls wore their pj's, sat on the floor mats, listened to a storyteller and had books read to them. Parents were present; students could not come without an adult."

Ordinary daily activities are infused with literacy

I spent last week on a site review at Maplewood Annex in Bridgeport and saw a school community committed to inviting everyone into the world of literacy. As I was sitting with a kindergarten class in the cafeteria, one boy told me excitedly, "Today is my birthday! My mother is bringing my birthday to our classroom this afternoon!" What a great event. This child gets to celebrate his birthday with his class and with his mother. He knows that his birthday is important. By her warm welcome, his teacher is communicating that he and his mother are bringing something of value to his class. What a simple, yet profound, example of home and school coming together.

Then there was Jennifer, my third grade student tour guide through the school, who pointed out many community connections to literacy. She showed me a letter she'd written on the bulletin board outside her class where her teacher had displayed letters they'd written to New York City school children about the recent tragic events. Down the hall, she stopped at a bookcase outside the door of another classroom. When I asked her if she knew any of the books, she not only pulled one off the shelf, but re-told me the story and said she knew it from "Read Aloud Day." That was the day each month when a college student came to her 2nd grade class to read a book and leave it behind for them to enjoy. College students, along with business people and parents, have this wonderful opportunity to get to know some students, to introduce a favorite book, and to be a part of the school. Jennifer was eager for the program to begin again this year.

Later that week I saw a kindergarten teacher writing a note to a parent reminding her about the importance of reading aloud every day. Every week she sends books home for parents to read aloud with their children and a log to be filled in and brought back to school. Many parents also write notes back to her. What a great way for teachers and parents to communicate.

And then there's one of the most important people at Maplewood Annex, George the custodian. His commitment to the school, the teachers and the children is evident in every nook and cranny of the school. George's "office" is a haven for anyone who needs a break, a sink to wash their hands, or good conversation. It can also provide a moment of inspiration if you glance at George's "credo." He keeps a quote from Teddy Roosevelt about striving to achieve on his wall and is ready to tell you the story about his daring to take a mule down the Grand Canyon as one way he has lived this credo. That is living language.

Each of these activities, although they may seem ordinary, reveals how the community coming into the school and the school going out into the community develops children's literacy. Because the community is welcome, students have opportunities to talk about and use their background knowledge (activate schema), to ask their own questions and to understand the purpose of reading and writing in the world. These activities show a school honoring what children already know from growing up and welcoming what communities know about raising children.

Cornerstone grants

As you know, every Cornerstone school has a $5000 grant to support a parent/community project. This grant provides an opportunity to think about parent and community engagement activities that will support your Cornerstone goals for the year. Now that you have completed your Asset Map and Action Plan it is a perfect time to develop further the ways you are engaging parents with these goals in mind.

Every time I've met with parents and staffs, I've heard many great ideas for possible Cornerstone projects. One parent liaison, Kathy Jones, has already surveyed the children at PJ Hill in Trenton to find out what they want to be when they grow up and is combing the community for people in those professions who will come in and read to children a few times during the year. In Talladega, teachers and parents at Stemley Road are learning to tell their own stories to share with children, and Sycamore is proposing to introduce books and the school to families of newborns through a "Readers From Birth" program.

I look forward to being with you as you generate ideas about what parents can do to support school literacy learning and how community literacy can be brought into the school.