As educators, we know that each child's family is their first teacher. It is during the early years that children begin to learn basic skills, routines, and tasks that stay with them forever and develop over the years. With this in mind, Lillio Learning helps you prioritize family engagement and support home-to-school connections by including Family Newsletters in our curriculum kits.
Our Family Newsletters inform parents and caregivers about what children are learning each month, including letter, number, color, and shape concepts, theme concepts, sign language, and songs and rhymes. It also includes a book list of suggested titles that can support extending learning into the home environment, as well as simple recipes to engage children in the kitchen.
A distinct section of our Family Newsletters is called the "Learn with Me!" section. Here, we share simple activities related to learning happening in the classroom that can easily occur in the home environment. For example, during our Everyday Helpers theme, we offer ideas for simple ways children can help at home, or during our Hello, Summer! theme, we encourage walking barefoot in the grass and talking about its scent and texture. Such experiences are accessible and easily implemented across home environments. Also included in the "Learn with Me!" section are highlighted art projects. These projects are those made from supplies available in your kit. We provide prompts that will help families talk with their children about the projects in ways that promote dialogue and reinforce key learning concepts.
Cues for Including the Family Newsletters in Your Program
- Each kit comes with an additional newsletter for the provider. Consider displaying your copy in an area of the classroom where parents and caregivers can read it. We all know that papers can get lost or accidentally discarded. Having the newsletter available for all to see ensures that families will have the opportunity to read it and ask questions. You can also build out the area around the newsletter with samples of work children completed related to the highlighted content.
- Choose activities from the newsletter to highlight periodically during parent/guardian communication. Whether it's through a report in a family engagement app or during conversation at pick-up, suggest one of the learning opportunities from the newsletter, such as song to song, a sign to practice, or a letter to search for, to try at home.
- Ask families for feedback. Talk with them about what they've tried from the newsletter or if the information has been valuable for them. Let us know what you find out! We're always looking for ways to do better.