Improving Primary Literacy Linking Home and School

Parents can play an immensely important role in supporting their children's literacy learning at home, but how can primary teachers enlist the support of parents in helping children learn literacy? With a focus on improving children's literacy skills, this book provides practical answers to key questions that are directly relevant to all primary teachers and to many parents. It presents new ways of linking learning in home and school through a range of activities that can be used to share knowledge between children, parents and teachers. Activities include: teachers and children making videos to show parents how children learn literacy in school parents and children taking photos of the 'everyday' literacy they use outside school parents and teachers exchanging information through Home-School folders and diaries. Particular attention is given to ways of working with parents from a diverse range of family backgrounds reflecting the multi-ethnic nature of many schools today. The practical activities can easily be fitted into the day-to-day activities of busy classrooms and can provide crucial new ways of improving children's learning of literacy skills.

1. Why link home and school learning? 2. Literacy at home 3. Literacy at school 4. Literacy activities that take school to home 5. Literacy activities that bring home into school 6. Home-school knowledge exchange: benefits and challenges Appendix: The Home School Knowledge Exchange Project

Anthony Feiler, Senior Lecturer in Education, Pamela Greenhough and Wan Ching Yee, Research Fellows and Martin Hughes, Professor of Education, are all at the University of Bristol, UK. Jane Andrews is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of the West of England. Mary Scanlan is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Winchester. David Johnson is a Lecturer in the Department of Educational Studies and Fellow of St Antony's College, University of Oxford, UK.