WHAT’S FAMILY GOT TO DO WITH IT?

: UNDERSTANDING
THE VARIABILITY IN KINDERGARTEN
ACADEMIC SUCCESS AS A FACTOR OF HOME LITERACY
ENVIRONMENT.

By Sara Hess
Every kindergarten
teacher starts the year
off not quite knowing
what their students will
know…
As a K teacher we
know…
◦ That students in the emergent stage of literacy need
a very specific diet of instruction

◦ The main goals for this academic year are for

students to reach full concept of word and there is a
heavy focus on phonological and phonemic
awareness (Brown, C.S. 2014).
What happens before they even
get to us?
◦ Think back and discuss with a partner about what your
home was like before you started kindergarten…
◦ Were you read to?
◦ Did your family promote or help foster you learning
new songs or rhymes?

◦ Research shows that all of these have a direct

influence on kindergarten academic success and
support further literacy development. (Niklas,
F.,&Schneider, W. (2013))
What is HLE?
◦ Home Literacy Environment refers to the literacy
relations, interactions, resources and attitudes that
students experience in their homes

◦ Why do you think this could be a factor upon

kindergarten academic success?
We Can Help!
◦ Research tells us that there are
specific modes of HLE have the
ability to influence emergent
literacy development prior to
kindergarten (Niklas, F. Schneider,
W. (2014).
◦ We have expert knowledge in
how to teach our students these
components of literacy.….
◦ What would happen if we could
transfer some of that knowledge
to parents and families?
Get Families Involved
Hold Parent Orientations or Family Reading Nights!

We can be creative here! Ultimately we want parents/families to

know how to give phonemic or phonological instruction

Discuss with someone how this could look

Questions about this?