Getting Parents Involved

I'm starting to see comments from parents on our blog!

Brianna's mom asked: Is there anything that a parent can do from home to assist in their child's project?

If you haven't done so already, you may want to send home a letter to parents explaining the project, its goals, and letting them know about the presentation day (December 18.)

It is often helpful to give parents something they can do with their child that relates to the project. Here are some ideas off the top of my head, but feel free to add your own ideas:

• K-14: Ask parents to talk to children about family and family traditions. Make a mini picture album of "who's who" in your family.
• 1-104: Talk to your child about what you do and where you work. Interview friends and relatives about their jobs and why these jobs are important to the community. 
• 2-204: When you run errands or visit places in the community (specifically Brooklyn), show your child where you are going on a map. Mark the map with important places in Brooklyn that your child has visited.
• 3-304: Discuss your family culture and heritage with your child. Where were your ancestors from. What types of music, food, clothes, and traditions are from that culture.
• 4-404: Look at maps of New York State. Mark places on the map you have visited or want to visit. Research statistics about NY State and create a graph or chart.
• 5-504: Have your family do a health and safety evaluation. What steps do you have in place to ensure the health and safety of your family? What areas could you improve?

All students benefit from working on their home computers with parents. Play learning games at FunBrain or Primary Games or use some of the free Internet tools such as Animoto or Wordle. Use the interactive tools at Read-Write-Think. In the younger grades, parents can help students find pictures or visit learning web sites. In the upper grades, students may be able to teach their parents some of the skills they have learned in class. Parents and children can create a family blog  to promote writing skills and keep family members up to date with what is going on in their lives.