Engaging Families in Curriculum

Engaging Families in Curriculum

“Family engagement has long been emphasized as part of developmentally appropriate practice for programs serving young children and their families” (National Association for the Education of Young Children Academy, 2014, p.1).

This idea is supported throughout Chapter 8 of your primary text as well. The key to being able to successful engage families in your curriculum is ensuring that you understand their diverse needs, develop meaningful relationships, and get them involved in their child’s learning and development (Kostelnik, Soderman, Whiren, & Rupiper, 2015).

For this discussion, you will need to choose one of the following three areas of focus related to engaging families based on the first letter of your last name.

• If your last name is A-F: Understanding the diverse needs of children and their families

• If your last name is G – M: Developing meaningful relationships with children and their families

• If your name is N- Z: Involving families in their child’s learning and development

Next, watch the video Family and Community Engagement Links to an external site.. As you are watching the video, play close attention for information related to your area of focus.

After watching the video, download and complete the Family Engagement Web. Download Family Engagement Web.Once you have completed the Family Engagement Web, you will need to upload it as an attachment as your initial discussion post. In addition, please include your chosen area of focus in the title of your initial discussion reply.

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your peers’ posts who chose a different area of focus from yours. In your reply, discuss how you see your chosen area of focus working together with the ideas your peers shared in their initial reply to foster increased engagement from families about curriculum.

Though two replies is the basic expectation, please further the conversation by engaging with peers and the instructor throughout the week as these interactions will provide you with further opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real-world experiences with designing developmentally appropriate strategies.