WOW!!! YOUR TITLE I SPONSORS PARENT WORKSHOPS!!! I am so impressed. I'd love to see that happen. Our Title I along with our FRC sponsors a "Fall Into Reading" and "Spring Into Math". During Fall Into Reading our library has it's bi-annual book fair. The teachers and aides (especially Title I) dress up as story book char and read to the children. It is usually set up in groups, we have pizza and door prizes too. Spring Into Math is like a spring fling, but free. There are several math games set up and a child has to get a sticker for each card to earn "money" for the store and we have ice cream for that night.
One thing I'd like to see more of especially in our rural schools is community history. So many children and parent do not know the rich history they are surrounded by. I think it is important for people to know where they came from.
Thank you all so much for your input. This past Monday night, we hosted a Read N Feed. We had approximately 130 people attend. Each family received a bucket filled with books, parenting tips, homework help information, and fun activities to do with children at home. It was a huge success and I couldn't have done it without you. Thanks so much, Jennifer
We run a parent resouce center at our school and i run the evening workshops for parents so far we have had very succesful ones on testing how it effects your child what the test looks like (big hit) and so forth. We are a small town and we are hosting a walking tour of our downtown area with the town historian on a weekend in the spring for parents and kids, we also have done a great wokshop on how our town govenment work town officals come and disscus what their branch does and how a budget is made good one around budget time! For the parents and kids we also have had a media center open house so parents can see what the kids are reading and the media center person also talks a little. These are all free as we have no budget but there is so much out there if you have funds, do a web search for workshops boy are they out there! Good Luck!
We have literacy nights. They have taken various forms. Sometimes it is all grades and sometimes specific grades.
For example, Monday night the kindergarten held a pajama party. Kids and parents came in their pajamas. Teachers read a couple of books and told the parents how they were teaching sequencing and how parents could reinforce that. The activities were making bear biscuits (very easy for kindergarteners) and going on a bear hunt.
One time, we had a school wide literacy night about space. We were able to get this blow-up space dome that showed the constellations. We had 3 activities for younger children (PK-2) and 3 for older children. Our snack was moon pies.
These nights started as a grant, but were so successful that the PTO took them over when the grant ran out. The PTO pays for refreshments, activity supplies, and books for drawings.
Take a look at the School Family Night programs PTOToday has set up (see the tab to the left). Based on what you described, maybe the Family Arts & Crafts night would fit your needs. There are also lots of other ideas mentioned throughout this forum. A few I've read about: Donuts with Dad, Family reading night, bingo night, movie night, big trucks visit the school day, and more. At our school, we've had success with bingo/dinner and movie night. Minimal expense, good fun.
