Family Literacy Workshops
Thank you for your interest in our family home literacy workshops!
Growth from a place of wonder.
Whether we’re in-person or remote, our engaging format emphasizes diverse learning modalities and encourages participants to interact, question, and problem-solve as a community of learners.
Together, we explore multilingual storytelling, audiobooks, neighborhood exploring, and other fun and connecting ways that families can foster a love of reading in their young children. We will also come up with new activities that work for your families’ complex lives — so bring your curiosity!
Personalized for your organization’s needs.
Partner with our expert facilitators to create a workshop that meets the unique needs of your learning community.
Emphasize strategies for families with special needs
Focus on multi-lingual households
Host a workshop as a part of your Family Literacy Night made especially for families
Interactive learning modules for seasoned educators or in-service teachers
Lead by Experts.
Workshops are facilitated by Alexis Filippini, PhD, founder and executive director of Words in the Wild. Since 2002, she has applied her strengths-based approaches to literacy as a behavioral clinician, a bilingual (Spanish) reading interventionist and family literacy provider, and an administrator. Dr. Filippini earned her PhD in special education with an emphasis in cognitive science from UC Santa Barbara. She holds a BA in linguistics, an MA in special education, and an education specialist credential with autism and English Learner authorizations.
Testimonials
“I loved the mix of group work, small group conversation, physical movement, and visual aids. This all fits so well with how we need to teach our students, so was another great example to staff about what works best with all types of learners. It was great to see all of our staff deeply engaged in your presentation from beginning to end.”
— Annie Crowder, Oakes Children's Center
Workshop: Everyday Family Literacy
“Attendees were appreciative, as always, of your interactive and engaging style. It definitely helped to make our first live-streamed event a huge success!”
— Jo Cummins, Parents Education Network
Workshop: Fostering a Love of Reading
“You did, as always, such a great job sharing information and drawing out insight/reflection from the audience. I left with some concrete strategies to help me improve how I work with my students.”
— Anne-Marie Becker Morey, Baytree Learning
Workshop: Positive Behavior Supports for Engagement
WHAT & WHY
It is our mission to make learning to read and write a joyful pursuit for children and the adults who teach and love them.
One way we do this is by offering interactive workshops that support families in developing their children's literacy skills in fun, stress-free ways.
WHO
Our workshops are typically offered as family-provider partnerships hosted by a school or organization (both caregivers AND teachers/providers attend to learn more about supporting their families). This approach builds community and gives attendees opportunities to learn from each other.
Attendees will take away concrete skills to promote early literacy along with a new perspective on the strengths each community member brings to the rewarding pursuit of guiding children to become competent, confident readers and writers. We hope this opens a clear pathway for educators, service providers, and the families they work with to continue to support each other beyond the workshop experience.
Age: Our workshops are perfect for families of emerging readers; typically pre-K to 2nd grade, families of children with learning differences including those which disproportionately impact literacy skill development including dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, and processing disorders.
We specifically address the concerns of families who are often overlooked: those who speak languages other than English at home, households with low literacy levels, and families of children with disabilities.
HOW
Strengths-based: Our approach builds on the skills and knowledge that families and educators already possess in order to promote positive early literacy experiences at home as well as in educational settings. We recognize that literacy skills are built in many ways beyond book reading and letter practice. In our Everyday Literacy Workshop, we guide families to identify the ways that they already practice literacy skills with their children and we help providers recognize the positive contributions families are making towards their children’s literacy development.
Culturally responsive and anti-racist: We recognize that families are each children’s first and most important teachers. We value families as holders of wisdom, not recipients of outsider knowledge. We honor the diversity of families through meaningful representation in materials and highlight culturally, linguistically, and ability inclusive practices.
Help us make joyful early literacy experiences the norm.
Logistical Questions? Content or "Fit" Questions?
If you have any questions, or if you’re ready to bring a family literacy workshop to your community, please contact us however is most convenient for you:
email: team@wordsinthewild.org | call: 510.500.5380 | schedule a call