As a parent

• Read aloud with child who struggles with reading. Son is engaged by humor, so Mom reads as a character (Miss Penelope). This has increased his interest in reading.
• Developed a reading nook at home.
• Child receives extra help from school with reading difficulties. Mom uses public library every day for doing homework and reading together as a daily routine activity. This gives focus (both on reading and on the one-on-one relationship).
• Daughter struggles with reading, which shows up particularly because twin brother reads well. Parent becomes the characters in the book, uses voices and expression. Makes reading aloud a one-on-one special time. Teacher shared books for child to take home.
• As a result of book study of Reading Magic by Mem Fox, when reading aloud Mom has stopped stressing the sounding out of words, instead give them the word and make reading fun. Child likes to make a game out of reading and word play.

As a leader of parents

• Share idea of reading nook with other parents. It is also spreading because daughter shares it with her friends.
• Share Cornerstone Comprehension Strategies with other parents. Carry around a 1-page sheet which translates terminology into simpler terms and pass it along when-ever the topic comes up.
• Turn 1-pager into book marks. Laminate them into cards and turn into a game.
• Family Fun Learning on alternate Fridays (during the school day). Two hour session begins with a Book Study for parents, then model a read aloud with the children of participants, then a family activity to follow-up on focus.

As a Cornerstone Parent Representative

• Began with a core group (5-10) of parents who were active in the school and skeptical about Cornerstone. Success has come about by explaining Cornerstone to the PFO. Coach does a crafting session and activity at every PFO meeting. PFO is now working with Cornerstone Team to plan activities for parents.
• Family Literacy Room has been moved to a prominent place in the school, includes a reading nook, displays for parents and for teacher professional development, as well as brochures and materials including the Cornerstone School Review report.
• Parent reps worked with staff to plan and purchase Take-Home Book Bags. These have created opportunities to for parents and children to read together at home and write in the book journals. Journal stays in the book bag, which travels through a classroom, so families can see what other families write. Builds community among families. Turns children into readers. One child came home and announced: "Mom, Good News. We get books."
• Bringing in additional parent representatives. Identified key people at each grade level and initiated a Parent Support Team of grade level representatives. Team meets monthly to share what's happening in classrooms. This gets more information directly out to parents.
• Regular Cornerstone Corner in newsletter. Translated into Spanish.
• Classroom-based workshops for parents where strategies are modeled. Getting more parents into classrooms.
• Home/School Connection - regular newsletter from parent reps to parents that follows-up on workshop content.
• Regular communication between parent reps and Cornerstone coaches lead to a school-wide Heritage Quilt. Families each produced a square. Connected families to the focus strategy for the month "Determining Importance."