Family Literacy Project
~Community~

This proposed activity was developed for an assignment in a graduate course - Family Literacy - taught by Don and Ann Seaman at Texas A&M University in Summer, 1999.

Community

Community was the theme selected for this project because it relates well to the family. A family's community is everywhere around them. In order for families to be able to function better in their communities and utilize the resources available to them, they must understand what a community is. Once there is an understanding of community, families will be able to recognize helpful individuals, facilitate the resources available to them through their community, and know where to go to get the things and assistance they specifically need.

This unit was designed to be implemented with the Family Literacy program, Even Start, currently operating in a city of about 100,000 people in Texas. Prior to implementing this unit, a survey was given to the Family Literacy participants. Upon reviewing the survey, it was apparent that the families were interested in knowing more about their community. The families wanted to know about the community's resources that were available to them, what places could help them with various specific family needs, how could the community help them help their family, and what could they do to be a community helper/participant.

The Family Literacy participants will be provided transportation by the local school district to and from the elementary school where the program is housed. In addition, daily breakfast and lunch will be provided for each adult and child in attendance without any cost to the parents.

Two adult/parent educators, one early childhood education teachers, and one teaching assistant are the needed for the teaching team at the Family Literacy program.

There are 35 adults and 22 children enrolled in the Family Literacy program. The adult age ranges from 16 through 48 years. The children range in age from 9 months through 5 years.

Program Schedule

8:00-8:15 Parents and children arrive at program.

8:15-9:00 Parents and children eat breakfast together.

9:00-11:00 Parents attend GED/ABE classes while children are attending preschool class.

11:00-12:00 PACT: "Community"

12:00-1:00 Parents and children eat lunch together

1:00-2:30 Parents are in parent training while the children have a rest period and fun activities.

2:30-2:45 Parents and children assemble and depart.

Curriculum Goals and Activities

Adult Education

1. Better understand the local community and rules that govern the community.

2. Practice speaking, writing, listening, math, and computer skills.

3. Create a community notebook and share with the other parents.

Parent Education

1. Learn about the services and resources available to them in their community and know how to utilize the those services and resources.

2. Know how to participate in the community

Early Childhood Education

1. Identify community "helpers" and state what they do to help the community

Early Childhood Education

Schedule

8:00-8:15	Arrival
8:15-9:00	Breakfast with parent
9:00-10:15	Centers (fifteen minutes spent at each center; 3-4 students per center; will circulate through 5 in morning and 3 in the afternoon (one is free choice)
10:15-10:30	Restroom and snack break
10:30-11:00	Group Circle Time
11:00-12:00	PACT time
12:00-1:00	Lunch with parent
1:00-1:30	Rest
1:30-1:45	Outside/Recess
1:45-2:30	Centers (last 15 minutes is free choice center - no more than 4 per center)

* The classroom will be organized into several centers i.e., the "eight kinds of smart" denoted by Thomas Armstrong.

The centers and their corresponding objectives and activities are found below.

Centers

Dramatic Play: Identify and dress up as various community helpers and perhaps role-play various helping activities

Activities: Several different costumes of community helpers such as a librarian, doctor, nurse, veterinarian, forest ranger, police officer, and fire fighter will be provided for students.

Music: Create different sounds and harmonies by playing with different instruments collected in the center. Also, the children will be allowed to listen to favorite community helper songs and sing along with the music.

Activities: Flashing lights, drums, bells, sirens and whistles will be provided in the center for children to create their own music. Also, a tape player will be playing the community helper songs such as, "I'm a police officer dressed in blue, here the things I like to do..", and "The driver on the bus says.."

Math: Sort community helper picture index cards in two ways: A) sort by small, medium, large and B) sort by community member.

Activities: Sort the community helper picture Cards.

Science: Like a farmer, plant a plant

Activities: At the center, the children will be provided with Dixie cups, soil, and lima beans to plant and watch grow.

Art: Students express themselves by decorating, coloring, or illustrating a picture of a community helper.

Activities: The center will be equipped with all kinds of art media for the child to decorate, draw, or create their own community helper.

Langauge Arts/Library: Listen to books on tape, read books, create your own simple book and develop a better understanding of who is a community helper.

Activities: The center will be supplied with all sorts of community helper books (see bibliography), some of which will be on tape. In addition, a small book will be provided for the children to take home.

Computers: Learn to operate the computer as a source for receiving information.

Activities: The center will be equipped with two computers, one of which will be bookmarked for a Mr. Rogers Web address dealing with communities http://www.pbs.org/rogers/index.htm. In addition, the other computer will utilize a Hyper Card program about community helpers, who they are and how they help the community.

Circle Time

Group Lesson

Objective: Participate in a group circle by listening to a story, discussing the story within the group, and helping create a class "Community Helper" book that will be shared during PACT time.

Materials: Book: Ask Nurse Pfaff, She'll Help You, by Alice K. Flanagan; one piece of large manila paper for each student (already Xeroxed with sentence), crayons and other art media to illustrate manila paper

Procedure:

1. Ask the students if they know who a community helper is. Talk about the different community helpers they suggest and discuss how they help the community in their own unique way. What do they wear that helps us recognize them? Would you like to be a community helper?
2. Read the story, Ask Nurse Pfaff, She'll Help You. Ask the students various questions to encourage and check for comprehension. In addition, discuss how the nurse is a community helper and how she helps the community.
3. Show the students the beginning of the class book titled, Community Helpers. Tell the students that they are going to get to select a community helper they would like to be. Practice filling in this sentence as a group with as many different community helpers. "I am a_________________. I help the community by ______________. This will already be printed on each of the manila pages.
4. Allow the students time to illustrate their page and orally tell the teacher which community helpers they would like to be and how they help the community. Remind the students that they will share this with their parents during PACT time. Once the students have finished, allow them to practice the book once and role-play the particular community helpers they selected.
5. Once the students have finished, allow them to practice the book once and role-play the particular community helpers they selected.

Assessment: Were the students able to select a community helper and state how they helped the community? This could be gathered by observation, participation in group discussion, and the work sample

Follow Up Activity: The children and their parents will attend a field trip to the community police department.

Children's Books Bibliography

Theme: Community Helpers

PACT Time

During the hour designated for PACT time, the children will share their Community Helpers class book. Next, the children and their parents will engage in child-directed activities. During this time, a table will be filled with various materials to create hats and/or badges worn by community helpers. The children and parents can visit this center along with the other seven already provided in the room. In addition, the parents will be encouraged to talk with their children about community helpers and how they help the community, particularly how they help families.

PARENT EDUCATION

The parent education component will be done in home visits, group discussions, and during PACT.

Family literacy does not stop at assisting parents help their children learn; it also should and does deal with making the parent a better person: a better neighbor, a better worker, a more active community participant. The parent education component will be done after or alternately with the adult education part of the unit.

Definition

Community is defined by Webster as: "A body of people having common rights, privileges, or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations; as, a community of monks (Hence a number of animals living in a common home or with some apparent association of interests). Another definition considers community to be a social group whose members live in a specific locality, share government, and have a common heritage. Fitting in a community is a necessary condition for positive participation. The educator needs to ensure that participants not only understand the concept, but also that they can correlate it to their everyday lives and are ready to educate their children in that domain.

Class discussion: educator and parents.

Discussions will allow parents to learn from one another and from the educator as well.

As a warm up, the parent educator will ask participants to talk about the understanding of "community" they received from the adult education session and the community services they know of. They will also state how they think their new knowledge will help them in their involvement in their community. As a role model, the parent is showing his or her children how to be an exemplary community member. Parents should reflect the behaviors they try to inculcate in their children.

The educator will then talk about services available to community members and how to use them. The importance of each community helper's work, whether it is a paid position or volunteer work needs to be stressed. Then the educator will lead the discussion to participation in community activities. The educator will talk about agencies that can help community members get jobs and organizations that provide training as well. The concept of "working together" is to be stressed as the backbone of a community.

Home visits

Parent education can be done in one-on-one sessions during home visits.

In community development, the family as an entity cannot be left aside as it is a nuclear form of community. For people to live in harmony in a community, there should be peace in the family circle. Even though all adults were once children, it still remains that comprehension can be hard to achieve if at all attainable. The family is to be stressed as a component of community. Participants will realize that without families, communities would be harder to manage and develop, if even possible. In fact family can be considered the first type of community. The need for companionship, for support, and for comprehension explain the existence of families. In helping organize their lives, families participate in making better-organized communities. Furthermore, families need rules to make harmony possible. In the same way, communities have rules that govern them and that help make life easier for all community members. Therefore community rules, whether explicit or tacit, should be complied by in the same way as rules in the household are observed.

All the different activities dealt with and the occupations described play important roles in community, even though those roles are different. In a community, just like in the family, people do different things, have different characters, different likes and dislikes, but complete one another. Being aware of that may render the individual more tolerant, more understanding, and less judgmental, be it with children or with any other community member.

Field trip

To make the program more positive and to allow the participants to apply some of the suggestions, a field trip to a community library will be organized. Teachers, children, parents, and educators will spend an entire afternoon at the library. Parents and children will be asked to prepare questions. The educator will fill in the checklist (below) before departing. All participants will wear name-badges; they will bring along notebooks, pencils, and their trip booklets. A librarian will give a tour to the group. Then parents will ask the questions they wrote before the trip. Participants may also ask about volunteer work at the location. Besides they will have a better perspective on the rules and regulations that are to be observed at the library. Overall, the trip will allow the participant to know the types of documents that can be obtained from the library and what services are provided and how.

After the trip, educators and participants will discuss the knowledge acquired during the visit and things to do differently for the next field trip. The children will be asked to make and send "thank you" notes.

FIELD TRIP CHECKLIST

____________________________________________________________________________________

Location:

_________________________________________________________________________________

Directions:

________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

Contact Persons Name: ____________________________________ Phone:___________________________

References

Even Start Indicators of Program Quality. Waco: Baylor University, Texas Family Literacy Assistance Center.

"Quality Family Literacy Program". Newsletter, Fall 1994. Louisville: National Center for Family Literacy.

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