During our Teacher Tuesdays series, we’re celebrating and exploring parent involvement at schools and we’ve asked our friends at Successful Innovations for some tried-and-true tips for boosting parent engagement. Successful Innovations works with schools to help parents become stronger advocates for their childrens' education.
Creative teachers and parent leaders working together can produce activities that are fun, educational, and get parents engaged in supporting their kid’s education and their schools.
Fun School-Family Engagement Events & Activities
By Darlene Mack
1. Organize music programs, holiday performances or talent shows which students perform for the community.
2. Have PTA meetings that include students so parents and students can learn and make decisions together.
3. Hold family orientations for new students at the high-school level – make it fun, consider an ice-cream social or pizza party.
4. Provide parent workshops on how to support student learning in a specific subject area (E.g. host an internet tools workshop or share fun literacy-boosting activities.)
5. Include parents and students on faculty planning and purchasing committees – involvement and transparency builds commitment to final decisions and action plans.
6. Organize ‘Family Field Trips’ on evenings or weekends – parents, students and teachers meet to explore community cultural events, museums, or local areas of interest.
7. Implement a Parent University or Parent Academy to train parents in leadership skills. Consider Family Service Days where students, parents and teachers work on projects to improve the campus or student life at school.
8. Partner with local restaurants to host a School Spirit Night at the restaurant for parents with a portion of the proceeds supporting the school.
9. Host “Discovery Nights” where parents, students and teachers learn together, in an interactive way, about a topic of universal interest (e.g. family math-game night, age-appropriate social media tools, or science demonstrations.)
10. Create a Parent Resource Center (online or on campus) and invite parents to come in on a special night to explore the resources available to them. Include content on parenting, social, community and academic topics.
If you are interested in receiving more creative family engagement tips, sign up to receive Successful Innovations' free Family Engagement newsletter at www.si4all.com
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Darlene Mack is the President and Co-Founder of Successful Innovations, INC. She is a leading national educational consultant and provides educational services and trainings for teachers, principals, and community organizations.
- Fun Summertime Learning by Amy Mascott
