- family photographs
- brother
- family
- father
- grandfather
- grandmother
- mother
- sister
MA Standards:
Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.4: Describe personal experiences; tell real or imagined stories.
Social Emotional/Family 6.1: Describe different types of families, addressing membership and social influences, and the functions of family members.
Head Start Outcomes:
Reasoning/Problem Solving: Uses past knowledge to build new knowledge.
Language Development/Expressive Language: Engages in communication and conversation with others.
Language Development/Expressive Language: Engages in conversations with peers and adults.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
Health Education 20: Describe members of their family and discuss what parents do for their children to keep them safe and healthy.
Talk Together: My Family
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
Educator Prep: Bring in photographs of your own family to share with children in order to begin a discussion about families. After the discussion, hang pictures on the “Our Families” wall.
Talk about the idea of family. Ask children, Who is in your family? Encourage children to use words that describe their family relationships when they respond (e.g., father, mother, brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather). Then ask, Who takes care of you? Talk about how family members help one another and care for one another, etc.
- Invite children to ask questions about your family. Bring in photos of your own family to share with children. Model by identifying each member and his or her relation to you. For example, say, This is a picture of my father, my brother, my grandmother, and me. This is my family. We like to go on long walks together. Ask, What do you like to do with your family?
- Then hang your family pictures on the “Our Families” wall. Tell children they will be creating pictures of their families that they will hang on the family wall.
Educator Tip: You may want to take a photo of each child with a family member or caretaker as they drop off or pick up their child. Add these to the “Our Families” wall.
Adaptation: For larger groups of children or with children who are already reading words, you can create word cards of family-related vocabulary (father, mother, brother, sister, and so on). When a child talks about a family member, ask him or her to point to the words that describe that family member.
English Language Learners: Using visual support such as a photograph or an illustration, review vocabulary associated with families. Have children say the words in their first language and have others repeat, for example, brother, sister, mother, father.