>> It's their environment.
It's their second home.
So, we really try to make it inviting and welcoming for them and a part of them.
Our environment reflects families and culture in the way
that we have a family tree in the classroom.
And so, at the beginning of the school year, we ask parents, we encourage parents to provide us
with a picture or two of their family.
And then, we display that picture on our family tree.
The children get very, very excited to see their picture up on the tree.
They go show all the other teachers, their friends, their peers their families.
And so, they might be talking about their brother,
but we might not have ever seen their brother, so they're able to show us
on their family picture who their brother is.
We also provide other opportunities for the parents to describe their children,
so we have pictures of the children with words that their parents have provided for us
and three words that describe them in the way that the children feel special
because their parents were part of putting those pictures together.
We printed the pictures.
The parents provided the words.
And so, they are able to see themselves and those pictures
and the words that their parents provided.
We also provide opportunities for the families to share special events
that they've been going to, special activities that they've been doing at home,
and they provide the pictures and then we display them in the classroom.
And the children get very, very excited about showing their peers maybe a family trip
that they went on or a vacation that they took or something special
that they might have done at home.
And so, we're able to showcase those pictures for the children to feel apart of the classroom
by having those pictures here with them.