How the Family Board Supports Learning at Home

“What did you learn at school today?”

It’s a question you’ve likely asked many times, only to find the answer is far less detailed than you’d like. We have a solution and it’s right in front of you: The Family Board! Look for it inside or near your child’s classroom, with lesson plans and details about that week’s learning experiences.

On some Preschool and Pre-K Family Boards, you’ll also see a Focus on Literacy! Building Blocks at a Glance chart showcasing the experiences that address each of the five literacy strands throughout the week that ensure your child is ready for kindergarten.

Of course, you still want to hear about your child’s specific experiences and how they felt about what they learned. The Family Board is here to help with that, too!

Use the weekly lesson plans to ask more directed questions, such as:

• “So, you read Mouse Paint today. What was your favorite part of the story?”
• “I heard your teacher sorted everyone into groups by the color of their shirts.”
  • “Was there a color that a lot of people in your class were wearing?”
  • “How many people were in the group with your shirt color?”

This approach can help children remember more about their days by giving them a focus.

The Family Board also gives you the chance to extend your child’s learning at home.

If the class read Go, Dog, Go! and talked about transportation, you could play a game on the drive home and list different kinds of transportation you see:

• Car
• Truck
• Bus
• Bike

Or if the class is exploring shapes, on the drive home you can look for:

• Yield signs (triangles)
• Railroad crossing signs (circles)
• Stop signs (octagons)

For a quick Print Awareness experience, point out the words on these signs to bring in the literacy strands from the Focus on Literacy! Building Blocks at a Glance chart.

For even more helpful suggestions about extending learning at home, check out what the National Association for the Education of Young Children^® has to say about supporting children’s learning through play and using everyday materials to build math skills at home.