Home to Kinder Program July 6 to August 2, 2006
Thursday, July 6 2006

The Home to Kinder program is a 4-week summer program for parents and students, to help them better prepare for their transition into an elementary school setting. This summer's program served 40 families, targeting children who have little or no pre-Kindergarten classroom experience. The student component familiarized children with the routines of a school environment, while ensuring they learn the concepts and skills children need for kindergarten (e.g. colors, alphabet, writing, numbers and shapes).

The parent component was conducted on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9am to 12pm.The parent component familiarized parents with the kindergarten standards, educated them on how to teach and reinforce key kindergarten concepts at home, and provided guidance on building relationships with teachers and other parents. The program taught parents methods to promote literacy in the home, every week families took home a set of books to read with their child at home. Parents learned parenting skills, as well as how to support their child's learning in the classroom and in the home. Parents and children also learned about school and community resources through field trips to the local Benjamin Franklin Branch Library, the Lucille Becerra Roybal Youth & Family Center, the Los Angeles Music Center,and the Getty Museum.

On thefinal day of the program, students demonstrated what they learned in a performance. Parents made their final visits to the classrooms and collected their child's work, creating their first "student portfolios." Student and parents were presented with certificates of recognition, and through resources of Families In Schools andthe Boyle Heights Learning Collaborative, each family took home books and a setof school supplies. Overall, the program helped parents make great gains in leading their child's educational development in the home while connecting them to teachers and parents in their child's new school.