Bilingual books written by parents and family engagement staff were also created as a way to learn about children’s familiar knowledge and everyday experiences. Since everyday activities are cultural in nature, these storybooks were an excellent means for teachers to gain insight into the important routines in children’s lives that might have relevance for building culturally inclusive STE curriculum. The books also include guides for teachers for HSC and STE integration.
These books were created jointly by Head Start parents, staff, and the RISE team, to represent familiar family activities, routines, objects or cultural events. When children see something familiar to them (e.g., familiar routines, home languages, stories from home), they connect more readily to the topic at hand, and feel a sense of belonging as a member of the classroom community. At the end of each book is a guide for teachers to use to connect home and community information to STE frameworks to support connected, deepened, and extended STE learning experiences.
