Teaching the Parents: KCSOS Family Workshop Series Focuses on Early Literacy

Kern County families are strengthening the bridge between home and school with the new KCSOS Parent Workshop Series, focused on the foundations of literacy and reading. Parents of young children — prekindergarten through second grade — gathered at the Larry E. Reider Building in Downtown Bakersfield on Saturday for the first of four sessions, centered on Background Knowledge and Literacy.

“Our office is working to empower our families to become a side-by-side team with the schools to support their students,” said Lisa Vargas, Executive Director of P-3 Alignment and Early Learning. “They can set a solid foundation for their children when they do become readers.”

Led by the Curriculum and Instruction team, the workshops were created to build parents’ capacity to support early literacy development using practical, research-based strategies. Program Specialist Ana Adamson, who helped organize the series, said the goal is to equip families with hands-on training that they can take home.

“We understand that children begin developing their oral language and literacy skills long before they enter school,” Adamson said. “Everyday interactions — talking, reading, singing — all build the foundation students need to become strong readers and writers.”

Each three-hour session includes both background learning and hands-on practice. Parents not only learn about key concepts such as phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, and environmental print, but they also create materials to take home and use right away.

“We really appreciate getting this new knowledge to help our kids at home,” said parent Adriana Tavera De Perez. “Please continue doing it for other grades.”

Parents experiment with hands-on lessons they can use to promote literacy in their home.

The workshop series emphasizes how everyday moments — grocery shopping, gardening, visiting grandparents — help children understand language and set them up for future success.

“We want to make parents aware of how our brains are always developing,” Adamson added. “Before a child even knows how to read, they understand the significance of a symbol. For instance, if they go to McDonald’s, they see the arches and know it means food.”

Workshops are offered in both English and Spanish, with separate sessions tailored to preschool–kindergarten and first–second grade families. Organizers are also working to dispel common misconceptions, including the belief that strengthening a child’s home language may interfere with learning English. Research shows the opposite is true: strong foundations in a home language can support and accelerate learning in a second language.

“I speak 100 percent Spanish at home, and my daughter is fully bilingual,” Tavera De Perez said. “This program is helping me to get English resources.”

Parents are strongly encouraged to attend all four sessions. Those who complete the full series will receive a certificate of completion and a reading basket donated by local pre-K programs.

Adamson says the effort comes at an important time, as districts continue rebuilding parent engagement following the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. By hosting the workshops at the county level, she hopes to model a program that districts can replicate within their own communities.

“We have been working with some of our districts to bring up their engagement,” she said. “This is just one more step to continue to create that awareness for our districts.”

More than anything, Adamson hopes that these sessions will create a safe space for parents to ask questions, communicate, and build strong partnerships with their child’s school, and take an active role in their learning.

“Parent engagement is such an important aspect of student success,” she said. “We’re inviting our parents to create that bridge.”

The remaining sessions will be held:

All sessions run from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at 2000 K St. You can register for the free workshops here, and walk-ins are also welcome. Parking is available onsite; and childcare is provided for children ages 3–10, along with a light breakfast and snack.