Help me give my students Family Engagement Reading and Math Packs to take home as well as a Family Engagement evening at the school making Gingerbread Houses and reading together.
My students are dreamers, problem solvers, and likely the most creative little people you will ever meet.
They are a happy group of first graders who love school and love to learn.
My students' economic situations are just as varied as are their family dynamics. We have military families with a local National Guard unit in our area and an Air Force base close by. We aim to take good care of our military families. Our district includes an Indian Reservation and we have a high population of Hispanic students, many of whom have family members who work in the agricultural industry. It is so rewarding to teach, whether I am helping a gifted student learn, one coping with ADHD learn, or anything in between. I feel like I have the best job ever!
My Project
"Successful schools not only embrace but also actively solicit the engagement of student families,"--Debbie Silver. I am so excited to create this request and provide materials to involve my student's parents more in reading and math activities. First, families will be invited to attend a special evening at school where they will make a gingerbread house together. We will take pictures and each family will receive the book, "The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas." I have done something similar before, and even though December is such a busy month, I have been so impressed that nearly all children have attended with a parent or grandparent. Sometimes the entire family will come. Other times parents will make it a date night with their child.
Activities like this will build strong, learning-focused partnerships by engaging parents in their child's learning to build students’ skills.
The second part of this project is to send home Family Engagement packs. Each pack includes everything families need to play a hands-on game that boosts reading or math skills. Plus, each pack comes with simple, step-by-step instruction cards in English and Spanish…so busy families can jump right in! I have chosen packs that are at grade level and below grade level, so all students can benefit. The children can play them at school, so when they take them home they are excited and familiar with them. I echo Jane Baskwill's words, "Teachers need to create a supportive environment in which they demonstrate, through their words and actions, that they value parents' knowledge as their children's first teacher." Your help with this goal is very much appreciated!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Hunt and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.