Family Involvement Mini Grant Opportunity for
K-12th
OVERALL GOAL = Increase Academic Achievement by Strengthening
Home-School-Home Communication and Learning at Home opportunities.
Schools received $400 - $750 each for these projects. Thank you to
the Laurel Foundation for funding these
mini-grants.Salmon Bay
Elementary - Math Games at Home - Project will be
completed in June 2006
Staff will organize, catalog and package their Math materials and
games to send home with parents for summer learning. An
end-of-the-year Math Night will kick off this project. Families
will come to school to play Math games together and check out the
summer packets. Van Asselt Elementary - Ready for
Kindergarten – Project will be completed in June 2006
The school will offer 4 sessions for incoming Kindergarten
families to assist them with the transition, orient to the school,
educate them about home-school-home communication, provide them
with tips for learning at home, volunteering, and how to support
learning at home.Green Lake Elementary -
Successful Kindergarteners – Project will be completed in
Aug. 2006
The school will offer Family Information Nights featuring an Ice
cream social & Buddy Project. At each event home-school- home
communication would be discussed along with tips for learning at
home. Having a buddy system in place will allow for on-going
support in the summer for the families entering kindergarten and
for a head start on building partnership and community with the
school. Parents will be able to offer input and information about
their children.Northgate Elementary -
Home-School-Community Project – Project will be completed in
Aug. 2006
The school will create a home visiting program to help families
feel comfortable with the school and for the school to build
relationship with the families. Families will receive homework
kits, family involvement guides (translated as necessary) and
information as to how to better communicate with the school and how
to support learning from home.Secondary Bilingual
Orientation Center - THE SBOC NEWS – Project will be
completed in June, 2006
The school will publish a translated family newsletter with
information about supporting learning at home and with an attached
parent survey. This project will be used to bridge gap between
families and schools and to invite parents to share their opinions,
suggestion and comments with the school for the school to use to
create a more parent friendly school. This will be an end of the
year project that will provide info and connections to build on for
2006-2007 school year.Cleveland High - The Future
of Cleveland – Project will be completed in June 2006
The school will offer an open house to inform families about
school changes and a discussion about learning at home and homework
completion tips. There will also be a time to appeal to parents for
leadership and volunteerism and to create connections for building
strong family partnerships, leadership and PTA starting 2006-2007
school year.Franklin High - Partnering for School
Success – Project will be completed in June 2006
The school will offer eight 2-hour sessions for parents of
incoming 9th graders who have a GPA of 2.0 or lower. The sessions
will focus on three areas: Parent-Teacher Relationships,
Parent-student Relationships and Parent-School Relationships. They
will work collaborative with their feeder Middle Schools to
outreach and invite families.
Madrona K-8 - Parent-Interactive School Handbook
– Project will be implemented 2006-07 school year
A family friendly School handbook will be developed with the help
of school staff and parents. It will be used to increase
home-school-home communication and learning at home. The handbook
will be infused with tips to increase learning at home and tips on
how families can connect with the school and the type of questions
they should ask, etc. Each parent will get a book and be asked to
sign that they received it so they know that each family has
received one. The monthly school newsletter will feature questions
about learning at home, home-school communication, etc. The
families will have to look for the answer in the handbook and send
in their response and to their name entered into a drawing for a
chance to win a family pizza dinner. Planning for this project
starts May 2006 with implementation for 2006-2007 school
year.Aki Middle School – Orientation Video
for Culturally & linguistically Diverse Families –
Project will be completed in Aug. 2006
This video project will be created and implemented by staff and
students for families from 10 different cultures/languages. Videos
in different languages will be filmed featuring students providing
a tour of the school, learning at home, home-school-home
communication tips for families and more. This video will be shown
at several family evening or day events and copies will be made
available to families throughout the year.
Chief Sealth
High School – 11th Grade Family Cultural
Heritage/Involvement Project – Project will be implemented
2006-07 school year
11th grade students will be assigned to work with their families
on this cultural heritage/Involvement project. They will audiotape
guided cultural discussions at home and present them in the
classroom. They will also be assigned discussions topics with their
family on how to increase learning at home with assignments such as
creating and/or designate a place at home with their parents for
homework; students will then report back after each learning at
home family discussion. Teachers will use this project as a bridge
between the school and families to create relationships and
partnerships. The funding will allow purchasing of necessary
supplies to sustain this project over the years.
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Family
Involvement Surveys
One of the benchmarks in the School Board approved Five-Year Plan
is to increase family involvement in student learning by 5% each
year.
During the months of
April and May, Seattle Public Schools will be sending out surveys
to all 34,000 families who have their children enrolled in the
District. The Surveys were translated into 10 languages, to make
sure we include our bilingual families, and it covers topics such
as: demographic information, family involvement in their child's
learning, school communication, and school climate. They are
voluntary and anonymous.
Seattle Schools would greatly appreciate all families'
participation in this Survey, so we can measure our families' level
of satisfaction with schools. The return due date is May 18, 2007
and a self-stamped envelope has been included with the surveys.
Thank you for participating with your input, to help us better
serve our shared children!Top
New Family and
Community Information Center
On Wednesday, April 5th, the
Office of Family and Community Partnerships, Public Affairs, and
School Services announced the opening of the new Family and
Community Information Center. In this center, families and
community members can find information, utilize computer resources,
access The SOURCE, and much more! Participating in the event was
Superintendent Raj Manhas, School Board Representative Irene
Stewart, and Co-Chairs of the Parent Advisory Committee Peter Aberg
and Iris Okimoto-Nielsen. The students' whos artwork is displayed
in the center were also recognized:
Visit the resource
center today!! At: www.waslinfo.org Top
North Beach
Elementary—Certified Parent Involvement School of
Excellence
The National PTA has certified North Beach Elementary as
a Parent Involvement School of Excellence. National PTA’s
Parent Involvement Schools of Excellence certification recognizes
schools that uphold the highest standards in parent involvement. As
part of the certification process, North Beach Elementary formed a
team consisting of the principal, teachers, parents, and
representatives from the community; completed a self-assessment;
and applied for a Certification of Excellence based on the results
of their self-assessment. According to team members, the
certification is a symbol of parents, staff, and community members
working together for the common goal of helping children
succeed.
A sample of a successful program implemented at North Beach
Elementary is their North Beach Chronicle, which integrates student
learning with community involvement. This student written newspaper
is funded by businesses and distributed to the local
community.
For
more information, please contact: Julia Detering, North Beach PTA
Co-President, jrdetering@comcast.net
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