Lake County Office of Education

School Readiness Program

PARENTING WORKSHOP GUIDE

Ideas for conducting a series of Parenting Workshops based on the First Five Commissions Kit for New Parents
Developed by Betty Dryden & Nina Marino For more information, call 707-994-7068 ex. 123.

COME ONE, COME ALL

Parenting Workshops
(for families with young children ages 1-6) Monday, April 22nd 6:00 7:30 pm Bumble Bee School Multi-use Room
Join us for a fun night of food, parenting tips, and childrens activities. Dinner will be served and after the dinner we will show a video about parenting. (Childcare will be provided while the presentation takes place.) We

will discuss your questions and concerns and brainstorm together ways to deal with various parenting issues. Your

children will have the opportunity to participate in fun learning activities.

Dinner will be $1 for adults and .50 for children.
Dessert will be sold by the PTO as a fund raiser.

Call 555-5555 by March 18th to reserve your place (and so that we can order enough dinner!).

Parent Nights
Rough draft of ideas

Materials needed:
Flyer inviting parents to meeting Press release to media Dinner or snack prices Desserts from PTO Activities for children in library Parent child activity to end evening Parenting video and one or two handouts

Possible agenda/structure of meeting

6:00 6:30 Dinner (subway sandwiches, raw veggies, water or milk, desserts at end of evening sold by PTO or classes doing fundraiser). Could charge $1 per person for dinner or .50 for children. Could just provide snacks (grapes, vegetables, cheese and crackers, fruit juice. Kids go to library for stories, songs, indoor language type activities or art project while parent activities take place.

6:30 7:15

Parent activities:
6:30 6:40 Welcome and introductions 6:40 6:50 Overview of the skill or topic of the evening. Preview the main skills that will be targeted. Comments from the audience: their concerns, what they want to learn. 6:50 7:10 Watch video tape. 7:10 7:20 Guided group discussion afterwards. What did they learn, remember, find new, find helpful. Record on chart paper. Review specific skills or strategies to focus on for the upcoming week. Practice these when the kids come back for the parent/child activity. 7:20 7:35 Kids return for short parent/child interaction. 7:35 7:45 Buy desserts from PTO table. Have a raffle? Get a book for each child? Hand out homework passes. Ask for help cleaning up. Thank everyone for coming and see them next week. Time to go home.

(SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Send to newspapers, radio stations, TV Channel 6 Names, phone and fax numbers are on the Media Information handout) On Monday, April 21, Bumble Bee School will be having a parenting meeting from 6 7:30 pm in the multi-use room. The topic of the meeting will be Tips for Disciplining Your Young Child (ages 1-6). Parents with children of all ages are invited to attend and childcare will be provided. The evening will begin with a dinner of delicious sandwiches from Subway, vegetables and dip and bottled water. Call the school at 555-5555 by Friday, April 18 to make your reservation so that we can place our dinner order. The cost of the dinner will be $1 for adults and .50 for children. Dinner will be served from 6:00 to 6:30. At 6:30, the children will go to the library for stories and other activities. Parents will view a short videotape on effective ways to encourage cooperative behavior with young children (ages 2-6 but some strategies apply to older children as well). We can also share our own strategies that work. The evening will end with a short activity that parents and children will do together, and then our raffle drawing will be held. Desserts will be sold by Mrs. Smiths 5th grade class. For more information, please call Jane Smith at 555-5555. We encourage all parents of young children to attend and hear these great discipline ideas.

Proposed Budget for 6 Week Parenting Workshop

(Assuming 2 presenters, 2 childcare providers, 12 parents) Item
Stipend for 2 presenters Per Week $200 Total Cost Comments

Materials & copying Snacks Childcare (2 providers) Incentives for attendance (per parent) TOTAL

$30 $25 $50 $50

$1,200 $100 per week for each presenter Assuming 2 hour session plus prep time Or presenters could take flex time instead of stipend $180 Handouts and parent/child activities $150 Fruit, vegetable platters, cheese, crackers, water $300 Could also be provided by AmeriCorps for free $600 $50 gift cards to Walmart for attending all 6 sessions $2,430

AGENDA SUGGESTIONS

Discipline
QUESTIONS to pose before viewing the videotape: What is positive discipline? How do I set limits? What should I do when my child wont listen? CHILDRENS ACTIVITIES during childcare: Read books about feelings Sing When Youre Happy And You Know It Child can color and cut the bear feelings handout. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear action song CHILD/PARENT ACTIVITY: Talk about the bear picture and ask the child to draw a picture of himself. Ask: what makes you happy? sad? scared? excited? laugh? PARENT HANDOUTS: various

AGENDA SUGGESTIONS

Safe From the Start

QUESTIONS to pose before viewing videotape: What can I do to prevent my child from choking? What can I do for a minor burn? How do I prevent accidents? CHILDRENS ACTIVITIES during childcare: Read some safety books. Talk about what is not safe. Play the game I Spy Something Dangerous. Find items around the room that might be dangerous. Learn the Stop, Look and Listen poem. If there is enough time, children can make a stop sign out of red paper. If time, teach Five Little Monkeys CHILD/PARENT ACTIVITY: Child recites the Stop, Look, and Listen poem and parent/child talk about safety. What are some safety rules in your house? How can you be safe when playing outside? in the car? at school? PARENT HANDOUTS: various

AGENDA SUGGESTIONS

Your Healthy Baby

QUESTIONS to pose before viewing the videotape: My child is a finicky eater but I want her to eat healthy. How can I buy healthy foods when I dont have enough money?

CHILDRENS ACTIVITIES during childcare: Read books and talk about healthy foods Cut out magazine pictures that show healthy foods and glue these on a paper Label the foods Sing I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas (changing the vowel sound each time you sing a new verse)

PARENT/CHILD ACTIVITY: Talk about the healthy foods that the child found on her paper. What does she eat at home thats healthy? What other foods could you have at home that are good for you? PARENT HANDOUT: various

AGENDA SUGGESTIONS

Ready to Learn
QUESTIONS to pose before viewing the videotape: How can I help my child to be ready to read and write? My child is 3 years old and only says a few words. What can I do to help? CHILDRENS ACTIVITIES during childcare: Read a story. Talk about the story and ask the children to retell the story If possible, let the children act out the story Using paper and crayons, ask the child to draw a picture about the story Have the child to tell about what he drew If time, teach Mr. Crocodile PARENT/CHILD ACTIVITY: The child shows the drawing to the parent and retells the story. Encourage parents to ask questions about the story. Parents could write down the childs words. PARENT HANDOUTS: various

AGENDA SUGGESTIONS

Quality Child Care

QUESTIONS to pose before viewing the videotape: What should I look for in a quality childcare program? What should I do if my child refuses to go to childcare? CHILDRENS ACTIVITIES during childcare: Read books related to counting (Annos Counting Book) Teach counting fingerplays like One Potato, Two Potatoes Have children count and sort with items such as counting tiles, pennies, beans or buttons PARENT/CHILD ACTIVITY: Parent and child say the One Potato, Two Potatoes fingerplay together. PARENT HANDOUTS: Quality Child Care; About Child Care; Child Care for Preschoolers

AGENDA SUGGESTIONS

The First Years Last Forever

QUESTIONS to pose before viewing the videotape: What can I do to bond with my baby? What do you remember about your childhood and how you were disciplined? CHILDRENS ACTIVITIES during childcare: Use a flannel board with nursery rhymes For a fun movement song, do the Hokey Pokey Sing and do the finger movements to Where is Thumbkin? Sing and act out Head and Shoulders PARENT/CHILD ACTIVITY: The child sings, Where is Thumbkin? to the parent. Parent and child then sing it together. Do the Hokey Pokey with everyone. PARENT HANDOUTS: The First Years Last Forever

Lake County Office of Education

School Readiness Program

Parenting Workshop

The First Years Last Forever

Lake County Office of Education

School Readiness Program

Parenting Workshop

Discipline

Lake County Office of Education

School Readiness Program

Parenting Workshop

Safe From the Start

Lake County Office of Education

School Readiness Program

Parenting Workshop

Ready to Learn

Lake County Office of Education

School Readiness Program

Parenting Workshop

Your Healthy Baby

Lake County Office of Education

School Readiness Program

Parenting Workshop

Quality Child Care