Family Literacy Catering Workshop
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Family Literacy Catering Workshop
Workshop Format
The first 6 years of a baby’s life are crucial in his/her development. Within this period, the brain of the child develops at a fantastic pace. Parents and family members need to take advantage of this phase by helping them to develop as fast and wholesomely as possible. Initially, literacy development was largely thought to belong in schools, when the kids were taught how to write and read. Although this form of literacy is vital, the groundwork for literacy starts much earlier (Van Steensel, Herppich, McElvany & Kurvers, 2012). It is the appreciation that children grow their literacy by interacting with adults and other children in all settings right from infancy that informs this workshop. Primarily, it is meant to help the parents to learn ways through which they can help to develop the literacy of their kids through their everyday interactions at home. It is also intended to help them determine which methods are effective and which ones should be used for children of particular ages. For the children, the workshop is yet another platform through which they can grow their literacy by watching, listening, and learning from the adults.
Planning the Workshop
The key practices that the workshop endorses for use to develop family literacy are interaction, demonstration, modeling, and imitation. On that note, it will be themed “look around, learn a noun, and gain some wholesome.” Primarily, as the parents learn how to help grow their kids’ literacy, the children are expected to watch and learn through imitating or asking questions.
Since the occasion will attract both adults and kids between the ages of 1 and 6, it will be held for only 3 hours at a children’s traffic park. It will start at 10 am to allow the parents enough time to finish their morning duties and find their way to the park. The traffic park is ideal because of its open space, several markings, and lots of signs that can attract a child’s curiosity. Volunteers from a chosen early childhood development center will deliver the presentation. The volunteers will be experts in the subject and will be appreciated using part of the donations from the event.
The first session of the workshop will go on for 1 hour and will involve parents checking in and finding the venue. Stickers with directions and labeled pictures will be strategically placed from the entrance to the venue inside the park. This session will help the children learn by observing their parents act on illustrations. With the help of their parents, they should be able to relate the stickers’ images and words with the actions of their parents. After that, one of the strategic partners will provide snacks for both parents and kids.
The next session will be a presentation by the early childhood development experts, and it will proceed for 45 minutes. After that, parents will be asked to pick an activity to take part in from a pre-provided list, and they will engage their kids in practical tasks like molding items, painting, or labeling items at the traffic park. This will take another hour, and then the final 15 minutes will be for thanking the attendees and allowing those who want extra lessons to schedule with the childhood development experts.
Preparing Resources
As stated in the previous section, stickers with directions and other illustrations will be needed to guide the guests to the workshop’s location. Therefore, I will have to prepare and print several copies of those. Further, the early childhood development professionals will distribute handouts to parents on tips for family literacy development for free. In the handouts, there will be games and home activities that the parents could regularly try to develop their children’s literacy. The requested donations are expected to cover the costs of preparing these handouts. The cards, charts, play balls, cones, numbers, and other learning material shall be sourced from the early childhood development center from which the presenters will be drawn.
Determining Assessment
For me to know whether my workshop was successful, I will prepare a questionnaire to collect the parents’ feedback. Some of the questions I will ask are:
- Was the experience what you had in mind when you signed up for the workshop?
- How would you describe your interaction with your kid at the workshop?
- Do you think the tips suggested by the experts are workable in your home?
- What would you like excluded or included in similar workshops in future?
Besides, I will observe the activity levels of both parents and kids, as well as their engagement with the presenters. If most of these are positive, then I will pat myself on the back. To assess the performance of individual parent-child pairs, physical observation of their interaction and creations will be necessary.
References
Van Steensel, R., Herppich, S., McElvany, N., & Kurvers, J. (2012). How effective are family
literacy programs for children’s literacy skills. A review of the meta-analytic evidence, 135-148.