From Playing the Erhu to Making Pizza: Parent Participation and Family Engagement in the Classroom
By Chia-wa Yeh, Head Teacher and Research Coordinator, and Kay Erikson, Teacher
One day last winter, a group of children gathered on the rug and listened attentively to a special guest. Evelyn’s grandfather, Tian Xiong Wei, demonstrated for the children how to use a bow to play the erhu, a two-stringed Chinese instrument. He played familiar children’s songs and an evocative piece about horses galloping across green fields. The children were mesmerized by the distinct and expressive sounds the instrument made. Another morning, Center Room was suffused with the aroma of Indian spices like cumin, mustard seeds, and turmeric as children helped to make curried potatoes for masala dosa with Angelina’s grandmother, Dolly Puravath, and mother, Feby Maria Puravath Manikat. “There’s more than one way to eat a potato!” exclaimed Parul Chandra, head teacher in Center AM. Kan’s grandmother, Zhongmei Zhao, was visiting from China and demonstrated Chinese calligraphy in West AM. Anna’s grandfather Mark Volcheff described what it’s like to fly planes when he visited Center AM from Colorado. He crafted paper airplanes, read a book about planes, and answered the children’s questions.
Parent participation has long been a tradition at Bing Nursery School. Parents might read books aloud, help children explore basic, open-ended materials (blocks, clay, paint, sand, water), and engage in other classroom activities. But many parents, and grandparents, come to the classroom to share a bit about their backgrounds and cultures, whether by cooking a dish they eat at home, such as buttermilk pancakes, buregs (Armenian cheese pastry), dosas (South Indian pancake), jiao zi (Chinese dumplings), and pizza; demonstrating a hobby or talent, such as calligraphy and music; or describing a work experience like flying cargo planes while serving in the Air Force.
The benefits of parent participation for children and families are manifold. Parents get to share in “funds of knowledge,” a concept first coined in 1992 to describe knowledge embedded in the daily practices and routines of families. Decades later, education scholar Luis Moll and his colleagues published Funds of Knowledge, a book that explores the concept that families have an abundance of knowledge “generated…on the basis of their experiences, especially their work experiences, their social experiences, and their social history.” According to Mariana Souto-Manning, professor of early childhood education at Columbia University, bringing this knowledge to the classroom enriches the curriculum while enhancing children’s deeper understanding of their identities and boosting their self-esteem. Family involvement in the classroom not only strengthens the connection between home and school but also benefits the entire class by exposing them to different cultures. Teachers at Bing always strive to nurture an environment that is culturally relevant and responsive to the children and families in their classroom.
What’s more, a strong connection between home and school helps parents and teachers build a collaborative, reciprocal partnership, which in turn fosters a supportive and trusting school environment where children can thrive socially, emotionally, and intellectually. When families share treasured recipes, translate songs to home languages, and celebrate musical talents, children develop self-confidence and learn leadership skills. Sharing familial culture also builds a more inclusive classroom community as connections are made and children learn about our similarities and differences.
That inclusive environment extends beyond parents: Collier and Berend’s grandfather, Ron Smith, a professional musician who lives in the Netherlands, brought in his guitar and played for the children in East PM. Tyler’s 10-year-old sister, Alex, played the cello for the children in Center PM. Abraham’s mom, Liza Wang, and nanny, Julie Zhao, prepared jiao zi with the children in Center AM in celebration of the Lunar New Year.
Sharing a home language is another meaningful way that parents have participated in the classroom. When teacher Lindsay Damiano in Center PM invited families to translate a simple song that was part of her story time, she did not receive any responses. But after the children learned “The Trees in the Woods Go Swish/Swish/Swish” (sung to a familiar tune) in French and Spanish on Monday, she was flooded with audio recordings and translations into the children’s home languages. Parents joined Lindsay in the classroom that week as children learned the song in Turkish, Swiss-German, Greek, and Hindi, and the children continued to practice the languages the following week during music time.
A couple of months later, teachers Amanda Brannon and Paloma Moreno in Center PM featured The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle at story time. Amanda read the beloved children’s book in English for one week and invited parents via email to read the book in their home language the following week. Parents signed up immediately! They read the story in Farsi, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, and Turkish. Children were excited to hear the story narrated in their home language (“I speak that at home with my mom!”) while their peers listened attentively, drawn to the different sounds. Since the children all knew the story well, they were able to follow along with the help of pictures. While reinforcing the partnership between home and school, such experiences also promote children’s curiosity about and awareness of different languages and emphasize the value of multilingualism.
Family participation and involvement in the classroom doesn’t end when the activity is over. In February, Anthony Sandrik, who had helped the children make Armenian cheese pastry, shared that his daughter, Tilda, asked for Chinese music to be played at home. When he asked why, she explained that it was the Lunar New Year. Tilda had learned about the holiday through cooking projects, music, and stories in her classroom. Her father was only too happy to put some Chinese music on, welcoming an aspect of the Bing classroom—and her learning—into their home.
My husband, Mayank, and I were so excited when our son’s teacher Parul invited us to do a pizza-making activity in Center AM that we changed our travel plans for that long weekend! Alexander was eager to share with his friends how he makes pizza, which he learned from his Italian grandma. We were thrilled to be able to participate in Alexander’s classroom in such a hands-on manner—and even stayed for snack time!
I often cook at home with Alexander, and it was a lot of fun to share the experience with the whole classroom. On that Friday, I was immediately impressed by the children’s curiosity about pizza-making and their unbridled enthusiasm. Each child’s unique approach was a joy to witness—some relished chopping peppers and mushrooms or hand-shredding the cheese, while others took on the challenge of stretching the unwieldy pizza dough. The more adventurous ones were sniffing herbs and tasting the mozzarella as they went. The creatives and scientists alike enjoyed decorating the dough with sauce and toppings—some systematically and some in surprisingly colorful and creative ways. It was also fun to see parents at drop-off stop by to share their experiences making—and eating—pizza!
After all the hard work by the budding pizzaioli (chefs trained to make authentic Italian pizza), it was satisfying to watch the children devour their artful creations at snack time, trying flavors they had never tasted before, such as oregano, basil, or the combination of peppers and mozzarella.
It was also a learning experience for me to let go of how to “properly” make pizza and embrace experimentation in the way children do. Some of their original flavor combinations are now part of my culinary repertoire!
But the best part of all was a couple of days later when one of the children came up to me at drop-off and said: “I loved your pizza last week! I’m going to start making it at home as well!”
—By Maria Pasquale, Bing parent