Hosting A Family Night

I find that family involvement is very valuable component to a successful school year.  These events don’t have to be fancy or have lots of bells and whistles.  Usually I try to get buy in from kids, and then the rest is easy.

I just had my first family event of the year.  It was called Multiplication Madness.  It was one hour of basic fact games and activities.  Doesn’t that sound like just more homework?  But kids will beg parents to return to school for just a little incentive like door prizes or snacks.

I had about one third of my students attend.  I also had a few siblings. 

Here are the steps I recommend for planning and hosting a successful family involvement event:

1. Choose a theme or focus.  Keep it very positive and upbeat.  Some themes I’ve chosen in the past include math games,  homework success, out of this world reading, etc.  I try to choose something that is well suited to my students and timely to what we are learning.
2. Promote it with kids.  Really talk it up.  This time I said I had multiplication games that they had not seen yet, they would be able to use the Smartboard to play the games of their choice, and there would be door prizes.
3. Have the students promote the event and invite adults.  I copied the basic info of the night--what, where, when--on half a sheet of paper turned landscape.  The students folded that in and decorated the front to make an invitation to give to the adult of their choice.  In the past I’ve had grandparents, aunts, adult siblings, and babysitters attend.
4. Continue to promote with parents.  I sent an email out to my parent list.
5. Gather the materials you need, but keep it simple.  I went to a dollar store to buy door prizes.  I try to relate these to the theme.  If we are doing reading, I give away books.  If we are doing homework help, I make little homework boxes.  This time I had an assortment of calculators, bendable rulers, compasses, mechanical pencils, and fancy erasers.
6. Put together a page or a packet that the grownups can take away with hints, ideas, and resources related to the topic.
7. I try to spend little time talking, and set up activities for kids and adults to do together.  For Multiplication Madness we had time drills (kids vs. adults), 2 computers with online games, wipe off practice boards, a game to make and take home, various decks of flash cards, EM game--Multiplication Baseball.  
8. I try to mingle, encourage, and respond to questions.
9. I did the drawing for door prizes about 30 minutes in.  It worked out for everyone to get a prize.  Cost of prizes:  about $8  I do NOT always do prizes, but I usually try to for the first event of the year.
10.   Ask kids to help clean up.  The adults will follow.

I find that I over plan, and that less is usually more.  I reap great rewards from these sorts of events.  {They really pay off when I need to share difficult information of any sort.)  

Some people ask this:  Don’t the same people always show up?  Isn’t it the ones who don’t need it who attend?

My response:  In this day and age the parents who are really parenting their kids need to be encouraged and supported.  At the very least those people are getting the message to keep doing what they are doing.  {There is almost always one kid or adult who attends that really surprises me.  I think my job is to offer it not control the results.)

I wish I could find a job where I got to do this all the time!  It’s like being an educational party planner!

What sort of events do you do with your students and their adults?

Before School Picnic A Success

So the before school picnic was a great success. I loved that both kids and adults started to mingle and talk really quickly. It's always fun to watch other people socialize! About half the class showed up. It's always good to meet kids and families and infuse some enthusiasm.

Not one to lose a great opportunity, I took shameless advantage of my captive audience. I passed out this years "Inspiration Guide" filled with some important highlights about the beginning of the year. I passed out a wish list, which included everything from recycled coffee cans to 4 flip camcorders on digitalwish.com. I asked for volunteers, and I've already received 4--yippee!!!
And I passed out book order forms. (The first one is always a sweet deal for teachers and hard to pass up.) I loved that kids were already previewing!

We ended with a crazy twist for charades. Kids are the guessers and adults are the actors. It's great because the adults are embarrassed, and the kids love it!

I'm sure will put it on the calendar for next year! Here's a little video:

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Calling Ants, Students and Families to a Picnic

I've wanted to write about hosting a before school picnic and the benefits. Last year was the first year I had a picnic in my backyard the week before school started, but the idea had been brewing for about 6 years.

I took one crazy (I mean INSANE!) and educational (for me more than the kids) year and taught in a bush village in Alaska. I was feeling a little smug about my teaching, and boy, was I humbled. (--thought I'd never teach again, but 2 years later I got back in the saddle!) So I thought about what I wished I had done differently to feel more success in Alaska, and one thing I always came back to was feeding my students and their families before I had them set foot in my classroom. Feeding people has a different value in their culture than mine, but food and hospitality are important everywhere.

So last year I finally got brave enough to collect addresses, send out flyers, and wait in my backyard to see who would show up. You might think that I teach in a place that supports this sort of thing, think again! Many of my coworkers don't even know I did this, and some of those who do look at me ascance. (nothing new there!)

And if you think I must live in an amazing place to invite these people over, I'll paint you a picture: I live in a rental in a city neighborhood. The paint is completely peeling off the garage and the yard is a little weed patch. (It looks lots better with lots of blankets thrown down.) I prayed it wouldn't rain, because even with all the furniture pushed back, I don't know if we have standing room for 30 people--and that's if no one moves their elbows! I love my home, and I love to offer hospitality. It's more about opening the heart than opening the home.

So over half of the students came on out! Kudos to their families, too. I mean who's ever heard of going to the teacher's house before school starts?

So I provided soft tacos and the fixings, lemonade and water, and paper products. People brought other foods, and there was more than enough. Everyone wore nametags. Kids enjoyed seeing old friends. I shared a little information about the year that was about to begin. The most fun part was a game of charades where the adults were the actors and kids were the guessers. It was a great ice breaker, even though it was late in the event.

Benefits???

Well I did not have many parent issues last year.

I think it builds more trust and makes the teacher a real person (not the Charlie Brown teacher robot voice.)

We were more of a team together than versus each other.

Great way to offer family outreach.

Good start on communication

Shy kids had already met me, so I saw a lot more comfort on the first day.

Kids and families already knew some of what to expect on the first day.

It is a tangible manifestation of my belief that teaching is not just a job.

I could recognize student family members and didn't just spend time wondering if I should know who they are.

I'm sure there are many more, too! Was it just a fluke? I don't know, but I'm testing it out by hosting another picnic later this week!