Making a Difference: The Home to School Connection

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

Spruce Elementary is a school that is as diverse as it is challenging. The Spruce community consists of students from lower socioeconomic levels. Seventy-seven percent are second language learners from disadvantaged homes. Most of the parents speak little or no English, and have not graduated from high school. I am a third grade teacher entering my 31st year of teaching and loving every minute of it. Two thirds of my twenty students are newcomers and/or ESL students. There is a strong need to build connections between the classroom and the home. Most of the parents do not speak English and often feel intimidated by the school setting. I want to build a bridge that will open doors for them and make the connections between home and school. My proposal is to have the parents produce monthly parent authored books which will educate parents, involve their children and give them a voice that needs to be heard. Imagine if you were a parent of a newcomer student. Everything is different, confusing and difficult for you. But then, your child’s teacher asks you and all the other parents to contribute to parent authored books on a monthly basis. These books circulate around to each family. You have the opportunity to read each other’s descriptions, goals, questions, family traditions and more. The opportunity to share your goals and values, to have your voice honored and respected is powerful and creates a bond to the class, teacher, and curriculum. You are learning from each other. Imagine also making a valentine for your child for the very first time, or inviting the whole family to draw a family portrait! Each month has a different theme. Sept-Goals for your child, Oct.-Family portrait, Nov.-Family traditions, Dec.-How does your family spend time together, Jan.-New Year’s resolutions, Feb.-make a valentine for your child, Mar.-write questions for parent teacher conference, April-Family history, stories to share , May-record memories of the school year. All the parents (20-40) and students (20) will participate. Materials required are different packs of stationery with unique, colorful borders to correlate with the monthly themes or the parents to write on, nine three hole folders with clear plastic covers, one for each month, 100 three hole plastic sleeves to hold the parent letters and go into the folders, and, if possible, special valentine stickers and doilies to add a special touch. In conjunction with the parent letters, the students work all year writing their own autobiographies. At the end of the year, their finished project will also contain their parent’s letters and valentines to complete a special book of life long learning and memories of third grade. This project reaffirms my philosophy of teaching, builds self esteem, confidence and participation of my students' parents and creates lasting relationships over the years. The parents will be extremely excited about this project. Higher levels of learning will be achieved and bridges will be crossed.