Activities to Engage Families Year-Round with Wit & Wisdom®

Engaging families and caregivers in Wit & Wisdom can have a positive impact on student learning. Consider some of the ideas below for engaging families in Wit & Wisdom, hosting an annual literacy night, and increasing communication between school and home.

Share the Family Resources

Educators have access to a variety of free resources on the Great Minds® dashboard to share with families and caregivers through their routine communications at home. All of these resources can be found in the Wit & Wisdom Family Resources. These resources include:

• Family Welcome Letter: This letter introduces families to Wit & Wisdom and is available in 14 languages; send this home at the beginning of the school year.
• Family Tip Sheets: Module tip sheets help families support their student’s knowledge building at home and are available in 14 languages; send each tip sheet home at the beginning of a module.
• Wit & Wisdom Overview for Families: These videos provide a general overview to Wit & Wisdom and are available in English and Spanish; they are best shared at the beginning of the school year.
• Building Knowledge and Skills in the English Language Arts Classroom: This e-book provides information to families about the role of knowledge building in English language arts; it can be shared at any point in the school year.

Conduct a Book Tasting

Invite families to a book tasting to learn about Wit & Wisdom and the core texts. Have fun with the set up by decorating the classroom or cafeteria with tablecloths, battery-operated candles, and menus with a short description of each module. Have students serve each table with a selection of core texts, either from an upcoming or current module or from the entire grade level. Caregivers will appreciate sampling a few pages of each text, looking at the beautiful illustrations, and perhaps even creating a Notice and Wonder chart of their own!

Create a Family Library

Create a section for families and caregivers in the classroom or school library. Allow caregivers to check out copies of the core and supplemental texts to read at home. Consider also providing copies of the Volume of Reading texts to encourage caregivers to read these selections with their students.

Practice Fluency Homework

Use a recent fluency homework passage to teach caregivers how to provide support to their students. The following steps can make this practice session a success, even when families and caregivers may be uncomfortable with reading the fluency passages themselves:

1. Share that the purpose of fluency homework is to read accurately and automatically with appropriate expression and phrasing. Students should read the passages in a way that helps the audience understand the passage.
2. Encourage caregivers to provide positive feedback to their students with sentence stems like, “I understood…” or “It was clear when….”
3. Show caregivers how to complete each day’s chart with their student.

Wit & Wisdom educators can access a lesson plan for a Fluency Practice Family Literacy Night Task for Grades 1-8 in the Wit & Wisdom Family Literacy Night Resources.

Notice and Wonder about Art

Invite family members to notice and wonder about a work of art from one of the modules. If it’s far enough into the school year, students may also feel confident enough with noticing and wondering to lead the activity! Consider one of these options:

• Option 1: Lead families in noticing and wondering about a piece of art from Module 0 or the current module.
• Option 2: Display several pieces of art that students will study throughout the year with an anchor chart that includes columns labeled “I notice” and “I wonder.” Facilitate families moving through a Chalk Talk with the works of art used in Wit & Wisdom throughout the year.

Wit & Wisdom educators can access a lesson plan for a Module 0 Art Study Family Literacy Night Task for Grades K-8 in the Wit & Wisdom Family Literacy Night Resources.

Hold a Fluency Recitation

Invite students to select a favorite fluency passage from a current or previous module to perform live for their families and school community. Consider whether some passages may allow for a Reader’s Theater performance where several students could participate and read a selected section. Some students could also demonstrate a choral reading of a passage. Provide time for students to practice their passage prior to the event. Then have everyone dress in their finest to perform! Provide light refreshments after the event.

Host an End of Module Celebration

Invite families and caregivers to an event that celebrates all the knowledge students have developed throughout the module. Consider some of these ideas for celebrating student learning during the event:

• Share final copies of the End of Module task, either orally or in a display.
• Display examples of student work from the module in a Gallery Walk.
• Include a few student performances of fluency passages from the module.
• Project or display the visual art from the module and encourage caregivers to share what they Notice and Wonder about the art.

Facilitate Student-Led Conferences

Provide time for students to select several pieces of work from the module or year that demonstrate their best learning. Ask students to reflect on the goals they set or on the Learning Goals from a module. Students annotate their previous work to show how they have met those goals or identify areas of growth for the future. In the conference, students share their successes and areas of growth with their families and caregivers. Everyone leaves with next steps on how they can work together to help their student achieve their goals.

Summary

Like you, families and caregivers want the best for their students. Building their understanding of the curriculum strengthens the connection between home and school, creating opportunities for richer conversations about students’ learning.

We’d love to know more about how your family engagement with Wit & Wisdom. Connect with us in our Facebook groups for each grade band (K–2, 3–5, and 6–8) or on Twitter @WitWisdomELA.