Parent Café – Literacy and Learning

Why bring parents together in conversation around literacy and learning?

• A community conversation café format is an opportunity to create a supportive environment of trusting conversation.
• This Cafe format is an opportunity for adults to explore their role in helping their child develop a love of reading, and the strategies for ensuring each child experience success.
• Parents and caregivers play a key role in supporting the transition to school and connecting learning that takes place at school with the home environment.
• Technology is everywhere and having a large impact on literacy and learning. Parents and caregivers need and appreciate support in managing this complex issue.
• An positive, appreciative inquiry approach to the conversation serves to highlight strengths, possibilities, and local resources.
• Parent Café can also serve as a forum for parents to learn together and become energized to connect with the community and its resources.

The Parent Café materials are designed to help stimulate flowing, organic conversations relevant for each group of parents. Café  provides hosts with a guide of possible questions and background resources to help get conversations started. However, be prepared for conversations that have a life of their own!  Cafe’s can be hosted as a dedicated event, or as conversation starters within existing programs or gatherings. Café offers provide personalized orientations to any groups or individuals wanting an in-person introduction. More on hosting Parent Cafe’s…

Follow the links below to access conversation guides around these themes:

• Parents as Partners: Participating in the School Community
• Supporting Literacy: a foundation for learning
• Connecting Learning at Home and School
• Your Child’s Individual Strengths
• Your Child – Your community
• Technology as a Learning Asset – Coming soon!

Cafe is pleased to make these resources available to parents, school groups and other community educators to use in bringing parents together.  In return, we request that those who have used and appreciated the resources share their stories of success and provide feedback about how the materials were used and observations. Please refer to the attached survey evaluations below, designed for both the conversation hosts and participants. (please circulate link to participating parents if applicable). Follow-up and ongoing feedback from users will inform Café’s work and development of future resources.

 Host evaluation                                                                         Participant evaluation

How can I host a Parent Café Conversation? 

Would you like to make a difference in supporting children and families in the school or extended community?

Are you a parent leader, teacher or community educator with an interest in bringing parents together for conversations around supporting literacy and learning?

Are you already doing this work and looking for additional resources?

 

For more on Hosting Parent Café – The School Years

 

 

de available for educational, non-commercial  purposes.  Users are free to copy, distribute, and transmit information if cited or a link to cafeinstitute.org is acknowledged. If material that is linked or recommended is individually copyrighted by another organization or author we ask that all specified rights be respected. If you or your organization appreciates and makes use of this consolidation of resources, please consider making a donation to support a continuation of Café’s efforts.

For further information or inquiries please feel free to contact us. If you decide to go ahead and use the materials in your work or host your own Café conversations, have fun and be ready to be inspired by parents doing great things! Please do not forget to share your stories, photos or successes as you go along and become a member of the Café community!

Thank you for your responsible and ethical use of the Cafe materials.  Cafe’s resources, materials, and information on the website are all made available for educational, non-commercial  purposes. Users are free to copy, distribute, and transmit information if cited or a link to cafeinstitute.org is acknowledged. If material that is linked or recommended by Café is individually copyrighted by another organization or author we ask that all specified rights be respected. If you or your organization appreciates and makes use of  Cafe in-person orientations or this consolidation of resources, honorariums will be graciously accepted along with any  donations that will help to support a continuation of Café’s efforts.