A Parent Resource Center is offered to all parents at each of our ACPS elementary schools. 

The Resource Centers contain supplemental materials to be used at home to further meet student needs. Being part of the ACPS family provies you with access to these resources!  Materials range in difficulty and relate to various content areas in grades K-5. These materials include items, such as:

• thematic backpacks with books and activities,
• board games to reinforce various reading and math concepts,
• leveled books,and
• many other interactive materials

Contact your child’s school today to find out more about the Parent Resource Center!

On December 10, 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law. Section 1112(e)(1)(A) states that as a parent of a student in one of our elementary schools in Amherst County, receiving Title I funds, you have the right to know the professional qualifications of the classroom teachers instructing your child. Federal law requires the school division to provide you this information in a timely manner if you request it. Specifically, you have the right to request the following information about each of your child’s classroom teachers:

• Whether the teacher has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction.
• Whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status because of special circumstances.
• Whether the teacher is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification or degree he/she received.
• Whether paraprofessionals provide services to your child and, if so, their qualifications.

If you would like to receive any of this information, please contact your building’s Principal, either by phone or via email.

Robin Wheeler, ACPS Supervisor of Literacy and Federal Programs

Amherst County Public Schools division is committed to encouraging parental involvement in the Title I Program.  To ensure this involvement, Amherst County Public Schools provides many opportunities for Parental Involvement in the Title I Program:

• Each School has a Parent Advisory Committee which meets two to three times a year and can be in person or virtual.  The committee may be composed of parents, reading specialist(s), principal(s), teachers, and community business partners. These members are involved in the planning (developing parent involvement policy), implementing (sharing responsibility for student progress), and evaluation (building capacity for elective involvement) of the Amherst County Title I Program.  Also, the committee acts as a liaison between parents, citizens, and the Title I staff in promoting a better home-school relationship.
• Parents of each student selected to participate in the Title I Program are notified and an explanation of services through the program is provided. This can be a paper packet sent home to parents, or via email.
• Assessment results wil be regularly shared with parents.  Parents are strongly encouraged to attend parent-teacher conferences to discuss their child’s testing results and progress. These meetings may be held face-to-face or virtualy.
• Literacy workshops and events are held within each individual school, in-person or virtually, to provide parents with information and skills on how to help their children at home.
• A parent center is available in each school for parents and students. Each Parent Center contains materials for parents and families to check out to use with their child at home. These include thematic backpacks with books and activities, board games to reinforce various reading and math concepts, leveled books, and many other interactive materials. Any division health mitigation protocols will be utilized for these materials.
• Title I parents are given the opportunity to evaluate the Title I program yearly and offer suggestions for improvement.
• Each school writes a Comprehensive School Improvement Plan which includes parental involvement and academic support related to school goals. The development of the CSIP is a colaborative process through the school’s leadership team and various stakeholders such as parents, teachers, school administration, and the community.
• Newsletters containing program information and suggestions for parents are sent home throughout the year.  These wil be offered to parents of all students electronically and/or hard copy.
• Title I students receive a Progress Report each quarter, either electronically or hard copy.  Parents are asked to sign the report and return it to the school. Parents may also send an email to indicate they have received and reviewed student progress information.
• Parents are offered opportunities to learn how to support their child by attending conferences and workshops within and outside of the division.
• Parents are given a copy of the Parental Involvement Policy.  This can be a hard copy or an electronic copy. The policy is explained at the first Parent Advisory Committee Meeting. This policy is also posted on the school and division website.
• Parents are provided information on the level of achievement of their child on state academic assessments.
• Parents are provided timely notice if the child has been assigned to, or has been taught for four or more consecutive weeks by, a teacher who is not highly qualified.

The Amherst County Public Schools’ Title I staff believes that support from the home and community plays an important part in the achievement of children.  Therefore, we strongly support the involvement of parents in education.

Below are some activities that you can do with your child at home to support his/her literacy development:

• Sing the ABC song. When you get to L-M-N-O-P, slow down and say each letter slowly. If you have an alphabet chart, have your child point to each letter as he/she says its name.
• Match upper and lowercase alphabet letters.
• Practice writing letters in a fun way (tracing, using shaving cream, sky writing, sidewalk chalk, etc.)
• Write an alphabet letter (upper or lowercase) and ask your child to name it. Then ask your child to te l the sound the letter represents.
  • Show your child the letter “m.”
  • Your child can say, “M is for /mmmmmm/.”
• Play “I Spy” with objects that start with specific letter sounds.
  • You say, “I spy something that starts with /k/. Can you find something that starts like /k/?
  • Your child may find items that begin with the /k/sound, such as cat, kite, kitchen, and cap.
  • If your child finds something that doesn’t start with the correct sound, te l them what sound that object starts with and then remind them of the sound you asked for and give an example. “No, dog starts with /d/. Can you find something that starts with /k/, like cookie?”
• Read and recite nursery rhymes.
• Ask your child to give you a rhyming word or play other rhyming games.
  • You say, “Can you give me a word that rhymes with “cat?”
  • Your child may say words like “hat” or “bat.”
• Read aloud to your child every day for at least 20 minutes. (This doesn’t have to be in one sitting.) Ask your child questions about the story as you read or make predictions about what wil happen next. After reading, see if your child can rete l the story (beginning, middle, end).

Below are some activities that you can do with your child at home to support his/her literacy development:

• Play “I Spy” with objects by giving sound clues.
  • You might say, “I spy something that with these sounds: /d/ /ŏ/ /g/. Can you find it?”
  • Then let your child take a turn giving sound clues.
• Help your child segment (separate) sounds in words:
  • Give your child 4-7 blocks, beads, bingo chips or similar items. Say a word and have your child move one object for each sound in the word.
  • Ex: If you say “ship,” your child should say: /sh/ /ĭ/ /p/ (3 sounds, 3 objects moved)
• Read aloud to your child or have your child read to you every day for at least 20 minutes. (This doesn’t have to be in one sitting.) Ask your child questions about the story as you read or make predictions about what wil happen next. After reading, see if your child can retell the story (beginning, middle, end).
• Encourage your child to point to words as he/she reads.
• Have your child re-read familiar books.
• Have your child retell a story or act out what happened.
• Play hot potato vocabulary game:
  • You or your child determines a category. The categories can be simple: pets, clothes, family members.
  • Take turns saying a word that belongs in that category. You can even toss a ball or other small object to be the “hot potato” as you take turns.
  • As your child gets better at the game you can add a timer. The person holding the “hot potato” when the timer goes off loses the round.
• Many children love to send and receive notes, and writing is a great way to reinforce phonics skills. Send your child notes in his/her backpack or place notes on the pillow. Have a relative or friend send a letter or email to your child. Whenever your child receives a note, have him/her write back. Don't be concerned about spelling. Instead, have your child sound out the words to the best of his/her ability.

Below are some activities that you can do with your child at home to support his/her literacy development:

• Set a designated time and place for your child to do his/her homework. Once complete, go over it together.
• Play the Sound Change Game. Take turns.
  • Give your child a word and have them segment (separate the sounds).
    • If you say “spray,” your child should say: /s/ /p/ /r/ /ā/ (4 sounds)
  • Then ask your child to change, add, or remove one of the sounds and they should tell you the new word.
    • If you say, “Take away the /s/ sound. What word do you have now?” Your child should say “pray.”
• Listen to your child read to you every day for at least 20 minutes. (This doesn’t have to be in one sitting.) Ask your child to tell you about what he/she read.
  • If the text is fiction, then ask: Who are the characters? Where does the story take place?  What is the problem/conflict? How did it get resolved?
  • If the text is nonfiction, ask: What do you already know about this topic? What new facts did you learn? What does this remind you of? What questions do you have about the topic?
• Encourage your child to read to other family members or pets.
• Encourage your child to read a wide variety of materials, including magazines and newspapers.
• Play hot potato vocabulary game:
  • You or your child determines a category. The categories can be simple: pets, clothes, family members, etc. Or they can be complex: astronomy, math terms, The Revolutionary War, etc.
  • Take turns saying a word that belongs in that category. You can even toss a ball or other small object to be the “hot potato” as you take turns.
  • As your child gets better at the game you can add a timer. The person holding the “hot potato” when the timer goes off loses the round.
• Encourage your child to keep a journal or write letters to friends and family members.

Information from the Institute of Education Sciences

Based on the common instructional elements from the REL Southeast Summary of 20 years of research on the effectiveness of adolescent literacy programs and practices (Herrera, Truckenmiller, & Foorman, 2016), there are activities that parents can initiate at home to help ensure successful literacy outcomes for their adolescent students. The activities include:

Increasing vocabulary – Engage in activities and provide explanations that illustrate the meaning of individual words.

• Work on crossword puzzles together and play word games like Scrabble and Boggle.
• Point out interesting or unfamiliar words you or your adolescent encounter while reading or playing word games and talk about their meaning.
• Discuss the meaning of important terms from the news, parents’ careers, family finances, etc.

Fluency building – Engage in activities to help your adolescent read text at an appropriate pace and with expression when reading orally.

• Establish a regular reading schedule in the evenings and/or on weekends and during breaks.
• Encourage your child to read a wide variety of texts including fiction and non-fiction.
• Help adolescents find magazines or books that relate to their interests in libraries, bookstores, and online.
• Listen carefully to your adolescents read orally to ensure they are reading at an appropriate pace and with expression.
• Help your adolescents pronounce challenging words correctly.

Improving reading comprehension –  Engage in activities to help adolescents understand what they are reading.

• Ask questions like, “What do you think this story will be about?” before reading, questions like “What do you think will happen next?” during reading, and “Why do you think the author ended the story the way he did?” after reading.
• Encourage adolescents to write down questions they may have as they read the text such as, “I wonder why the two characters saw the same situation so differently?”
• Talk about high interest topics (career exploration, job applications, driver’s exam, job interviews, etc.) with your adolescent, help them find texts that address these topics, and show them the types of writing they will need to do in the future.
• Read the same book as your adolescent and discuss what happened after each chapter.
• Connect reading and writing at home to topics that are being addressed at school. • Take time to discuss texts that adolescents find interesting or important.

Partner with your adolescent’s school – Keep in touch with your adolescent’s teachers to ensure they are working on grade level.

• If you think your adolescent needs extra help, speak with school counselors, administrators, and/ or teachers to determine the best intervention materials and instruction to meet their needs.
• Ask content area teachers and interventionists how you can support literacy development at home.

References:

1. Barnard, W. M. (2004). Parent involvement and educational attainment. Children and Youth Services Review, 26(1), 39-62.
2. Englund, M. M., Luckner, A. E., Whaley, G. J., & Egeland, B. (2004). Children's achievement in elementary school: Longitudinal effects of parental involvement, expectations, and quality of assistance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(4), 723.
3. Herrera, S., Truckenmiller, A. J., and Foorman, B. R. (2016). Summary of 20 years of research on the effectiveness of adolescent literacy programs and practices (REL 2016–178).Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs.
4. Jeynes, W. H. (2005). A meta-analysis of the relation of parental involvement to urban elementary school student academic achievement. Urban Education, 40(3), 237-269. 
5. National Center for Educational Statistics (2019). The nation’s report card: Reading 2019. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/