Parent Presentation: Lincoln

Elementary School
Kaely Hopkins
ECE 497
Professor Parker-Plummer
July 28th, 2019

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 Period of Development
• Lincoln Elementary school provides classes for PreK to Sixth Grade. For this
presentation I will be specifically focusing on PreK.
• PreK comes after Preschool and is for children getting ready for Kindergarten, between
the ages of four and five.
• During this age, your child is still developing his/her executive functioning.
• At this age, your child is becoming more aware of other people’s feelings, they should
have easier transitions throughout the day, have the ability to remember their morning
routine, and use their self-control to remain focused on activities at school or home
(Child Abilities, n.d.).

It is important to note that children develop at different times. If your child has
not developed one of these milestones, there is no need to worry. If you are
concerned about their development, it never hurts to get a second opinion.

Other milestones that your child should achieve:

-able to play with one toy for about 15 minutes
-able to throw and catch a ball without loss of balance
-able to adapt to new changes in their routine
-able to transition to a new activity or environment (Child Abilities, n.d.).

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5-Year-Old Milestone
Checklist

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 Child Development Professional
• A child development professional can come in
many forms

• They can be teachers, social workers, parent

educators, child care directors, daycare providers,
child life specialists, bus drivers, etc.

• They are anyone who works with children,

families, and the community

• I am an early childhood educator. I am the person

your child sees everyday when they come into
school. I teach them, develop positive
relationships with them, and help them to
succeed.

• I work closely with families in order to help the

child grow and develop to their fullest potential.

When working with young children, one must follow the NAEYC Code of
Ethical Conduct which offers guidelines and responsible behavior when
encountering ethical dilemmas while working with children.

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 NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct
These are some of the guidelines that every child development professional should uphold. You
should expect all of these from your children’s teachers, principals, bus drivers, etc.

•Appreciate childhood as a unique and valuable stage of the human life cycle

•Appreciate and support the bond between the child and family

•Respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual (child, family member, and
colleague)

•Respect diversity in children and families

•Recognize that children achieve their full potential in the context of relationships that are based on
trust and respect (NAEYC, 2011, pg. 1).

NAEYC stands for the National Association for the Education of Young
Children. Above are the core values that are included in the code of ethical
conduct. As you can see, a child development professional does not just work
with children, they also work with family, the community, and society. These
are the types of things you should expect from your child’s teacher, principal,
bus driver, etc.

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 Why am I here?
• I am here today because I have been contacted by Principal Edwards to talk to you
(the parents at Lincoln Elementary School) about creating partnerships with families
and the community and how those partnerships will help your children develop and
learn.
• When your child goes from PreK to Kindergarten, it is a big deal! During this
transition, children must accommodate to new surroundings, to new adults, different
daily schedules, peer companions, and new academic challenges (Berk, 2013).
• One way to help your child during this transition is to get to know other families and
their children that will be going to school with your child. You are not going through
this alone. Parents can help other parents out as a support group and to help ease
the stress or to navigate the new school. The children can get to know each other,
so it will be one less thing they have to adapt to in their new surroundings.

Creating a partnership with other people in the community is also important.

These people can act as you and your child’s support group as well. Getting
out in the community helps the child because they may be more involved in
after school programs such as art, sports, music, or other activities that will
help improve their school performance and reduce emotional and behavior
problems in the future (Berk, 2013).

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Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System: The Mesosystem
• Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems
theory shows how different things
can influence a child’s development.
• Your child develops with the help of
their family, community, and the
environment (Berk, 2013).
• “It takes a village to raise children.”
That village is the Ecological
System.
• One level is called the Mesosystem
Image (Berk, 2013, sec. 1.5)

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 Mesosystem
• The Mesosystem is the second level after the Microsystem.
• This level includes all of the connections between the microsystem like the
child’s home, school, neighborhood, or child-care center (Berk, 2013).
• Every relationship that your child has is more likely to help support their
development.
• Every relationship that a child has should each work together for the better
development and learning of the child. They should not be separate
relationships since they all effect each other.
• If you (the parents) collaborate with your child’s teacher, it will only benefit your
child.

An example from the textbook states, “a child’s academic progress depends

not just on activities that take place in classrooms but also on parent
involvement in school life and on the extent to which academic learning is
carried over into the home” (Berk, 2013, sec. 1.5).
The textbook shows how the community affects the child’s development by
stating, “religious youth groups, special-interest clubs, and other neighborhood
organizations contribute to favorable development, including self-confidence,
school achievement, educational aspirations, and responsible social behavior”
(Berk, 2013, sec. 1.5).

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Epstein’s Types of Involvement
• Joyce Epstein developed a framework that talks about six different types of involvement

• The framework helps educators when they are developing school and family partnership
programs (Parent Involvement, 2011).

• The main reason for developing these partnerships is to help all children succeed in school
and in life (Parent Involvement, 2011).

• The six types of involvement are:

• Parenting

• Communicating
• Volunteering

• Learning at Home

• Decision Making

• Collaborating with Community.

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Parenting
• Goal: To help families establish an environment at home that helps to support their children as students
(Epstein, n.d.).
• When parent support their children as students it Influences the child’s learning and development by:
-Learning family values, beliefs, habits, and positive personal qualities that are taught by the family (Epstein,
n.d.).
-Children learn the importance of school (Epstein, n.d.).
-Children develop a new respect for their parents (Epstein, n.d.).
-Develop the ability to balance homework, activities, and chores (Epstein, n.d.).
• Since 94% of the students at the school are eligible for free and/or reduced lunch, the school could introduce
family support programs that help families with health and nutrition services. This could first include handing
out brochures on healthy eating and posting MyPlate posters around the school. Later, it could include
providing classes that teach these ideas and giving resources to parents for additional services.

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Communicating
• Goal: “Design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications
about school programs and children’s progress” (Epstein, n.d., pg. 2).

• This type of involvement influences a child’s learning and development by:

-shows that teachers and parents care about the student

-the child becomes aware of their progress and what actions are needed to maintain it

-The child feels included in their education which makes them feel more in control of their
learning

• The school can implement regular communication by sending memos, phone calls,
newsletters, or email. Since the majority of students at the school are Hispanic, make sure
to include the newsletters or memos in Spanish as well.

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Volunteering
• Goal: to organize and recruit the parents help and support (Epstein, n.d.)
• This type of involvement influences a child’s learning and development by:
-enhancing their skills when communicating with adults (Epstein, n.d.)
-higher development of skills by receiving tutoring or more attention from volunteers (Epstein,
n.d.)
-learning about different skills and occupations from the contributions of volunteers (Epstein,
n.d.)
• The school can ask for parent volunteers. The volunteers can use their own specific
talents, skills, or culture to help around the school. For example, 2% of the school is
American Indian so the parents could volunteer in the class and teach the children about
their culture so they can learn more about cultures that are different from theirs.

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Learning at Home
• Goal: “Provide information and ideas to families about how to help
students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities,
decisions, and planning” (Epstein, n.d., pg. 4).
• This type of involvement influences a child’s learning and development
by:
-the student will gain skills, abilities, and higher test scores from the extra
help n homework and classwork (Epstein, n.d.)
-develop a more positive attitude toward schoolwork (Epstein, n.d.)
-Increased self-concept of ability as a learner (Epstein, n.d.)
• The school can provide families with calendars that include fun activities
for the parents to do with the students at home and they can also
provide them with weekly learning packets. The activities can relate to
different cultures that are found around the school and can help to
teach different languages like English, so the children can become
more culturally aware.

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Decision Making
• Goal: to include the parents in decisions made at the school and develop parent leaders
and representatives (Epstein, n.d.)
• This type of involvement influences a child’s learning and development by:
-the child will realize that school is important because their parents want to make decisions to
better the school
-they will see teachers and parents collaborating for their betterment
-the child will be more represented in school decisions than if parents did not help make
decisions.
• Create a parent teacher organization (PTO) or another parent organization that can help to
make decisions about the school and to help raise money for the school. Make sure that
the different cultures are represented among the PTO because each culture has different
values and beliefs that can help make the school better.

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Collaborating with Community
• Goal: “Identify and integrate resources and services from the community to strengthen
school programs, family practices, and student learning and development” (Epstein, n.d.,
pg. 6).
• This type of involvement influences a child’s learning and development by:
-field trips help to give children hands on learning experience and help to give more attention
to the different local businesses
-children learn about different careers and future education (Epstein, n.d.)
-children develop more skills and talents through extracurricular activities (Epstein, n.d.)
• The school can hand out flyers for extracurricular activities that children can participate in.
Also, the school can educate parents on whether there are scholarships available for
certain extracurricular activities or which ones are free. This will help lesson the financial
burden on families.

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References
Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development. (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Child Abilities: 4 Years Old. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://pathways.org/growth-development/child/abilities/

Epstein, J. (n.d.). Epstein's framework of six types of involvement. Retrieved from

http://www.unicef.org/lac/Joyce_L._Epstein_s_Framework_of_Six_Types_of_Involvement(2).pdf

NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment [PDF]. (2011, May).

https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/position-statements/Ethics Position

Statement2011_09202013update.pdf

Parent Involvement. (2011). Retrieved from http://go.sdsu.edu/education/parent/involve.aspx

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