1 Schools and Families of Early Learners Collaborating to Support At Home Read Alouds Charlene Cobb, Camille L. Z. Blachowicz Q uestion asked in a preschool/primary teacher PD ses- sion on read-alouds: “After our Family Night presentation on home read-alouds, we got so many questions from families and caretakers. What should we be doing as a follow-up to support them?” Questions like this often emerged in our own class- rooms, and in years of working with teachers, and other early childhood professionals, as classroom teachers, literacy specialists, and university faculty. We noted that the single most frequent suggestion given to families and caretakers is “Read to your children.” Research sup- ports that this is a powerful suggestion (Mol & Bus, 2011; Neuman & Wright, 2007). Read-alouds, from books or on electronic devices, develop concepts, build vocabulary, and can affect children’s social and emotional abilities, school readiness, and lifelong reading habits (Aram et al., 2017; Edwards, 2009; Mendelsohn et al., 2018). We have worked in many early literacy settings and learned three simple ways effective teachers provided sup- port after Family Night is over: 1. Develop an understanding of your students 2. Establish a relationship with your students’ families 3. Respond to families’ and caretakers’ needs with simple, practical advice. Within this brief teaching and learning guide, we first describe some interactive ideas for building an under- standing of your students and establishing meaningful relationships with their families. We then focus on ways to address some of the most-asked questions with practical, evidence-based responses that are easy for families to do with their children. Developing an Understanding of your Students Most early childhood and primary-grade teachers spend the first few weeks of school getting to know their students. Some of this knowledge comes from benchmark assess- ments administered at the start of the year. Much of it comes from discussions and interviews held with the entire class and with individual students. This information pro- vides teachers with an understanding of student strengths, and how to use those strengths to further their learning. Student surveys are another knowledge-building tool. McKenna and Kear (1990) developed the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS). The ERAS consists of 20 items that ask students to consider their attitude toward recreational and academic reading. Students respond by circling one of four images of the cartoon charac- ter Garfield—from happiest to very upset. The ERAS can be administered to an entire class in a single sitting. Information from the full survey can help guide and differ- entiate reading instruction. In addition to providing information for the teacher, individual ERAS questions related to recreational reading can be used by teachers when they meet with families and caretakers. Teachers can share these responses with them and ask whether this aligns with what they observe at home with their child. Establishing A Relationship with your STUDENTS’ Families Surveys open lines of communication between school and home. For children in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade, the most significant adult in their lives are their families/caregivers and good communication with their teachers is critical. However, some families and caretakers may feel uncomfortable at school due to language barri- ers. Further, some adults’ own negative school experiences TEACHING AND LEARNING GUIDE The Reading Teacher Vol. 0 No. 0 pp. 1–5 © 2024 International Literacy Association. doi:10.1002/trtr.2305 Charlene Cobb is a Literacy Consultant and served as an adjunct professor at National Louis University, Chicago, IL, USA; email charcobb@gmail.com. Camille L. Z. Blachowicz is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus and Co-Director of the Reading Leadership Institute at National Louis University, Chicago, IL, USA; email cblachowicz@nl.edu.