The Learning Ladder A Reading and Writing Curriculum for Early Care and Education Teachers, Children and Families

Welcome to the Introduction to Module 3!

Module Objectives

Parents are their children's first teachers and they know more about their child than anyone else. For example, they know what makes them happy or sad, what is difficult for them or what they enjoy.

This module will help you understand the importance of building relationships with parents so that you can provide the best care for children. It will also provide you with some suggestions to help you improve your communication with parents.

In this module you will learn ...

• the important part that parents play in their children's growth and development.
• the benefits for children when their parents participate in their school activities.
• the ways to increase both your formal and informal communication with parents.

In this module you will ...

• review your center's policies for working with parents.
• create a paragraph that describes your memories of school.
• describe the benefits of working with parents.
• interview and describe what a parent wants for his or her child.

Terms from the Field

Below are words and definitions that you may need when you work as an early care and education teacher. You will learn more about these words later in the module.

When you see the speaker after each of the definitions you can hear the pronunciation of the term and what it means.

drop off - Drop off is a time when parents bring their children at the beginning of their day.

drop off [WAV] (69kb WAV file) drop off [RAM] (15kb RAM file)

pick up - Pick up is a time when parents take their children home at the end of their day.

pick up [WAV] (56kb WAV file) pick up [RAM] (13kb RAM file)

parent involvement - Parent involvement is when a center designs activities to include parents in the center and their child's preschool experience. The family project activities at the end of each module are examples.

parent involvement [WAV] (140kb WAV file) parent involvement [RAM] (29kb RAM file)

partnership - A partnership is when two people work together. An example is when a parent and a teacher meet to develop a plan to help a child play more cooperatively.

partnership [WAV] (110kb WAV file) partnership [RAM] (23kb RAM file)

self-esteem - Self-esteem is when a child has good feelings about him or herself and the things he or she is able to do.

self-esteem [WAV] (76kb WAV file) self-esteem [RAM] (17kb RAM file)

If you find other words that you don't understand, you can do two things :

1. Learn how to identify a word without a dictionary.

Or

2. Use an online dictionary that will be at the bottom of each page. See below.

Now go to the activities for Part 1.

Home | Module 3 | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5