Tuesday+-+Parent+&+Community+Involvement

=Parent & Community Involvement - Tuesday Class=

Reynell Barnes Carolyn Irwin Lisa Lummus

====Parent and community involvement in the classroom can enrich the learning experiences for all. There are multitudes of ways to get parents and the local community involved outside of the traditional ways of parent conferences and PTO meetings. Teachers can develop newsletters, create interactive homework assignment, find e-pals or writing pals from across the country or world, have parents or community volunteers give specialized presentations, obtain donations from local or national sponsors and donors, and obtain travel trunks to bring field trips into the classroom. Teachers need to tap into the valuable resources that our parents and community have to offer. Opening lines of communication and thinking outside of the box can lead into creative and unique ways to connect the learning that is happening inside the classroom to the outside world.====

**Activities:**
====Donations- Several community resources can be utilized. There are websites that allow you to post materials you will need for projects, find people that have specific items they wish to donate, and stores that have special events where teachers can obtain free school supplies. Many local business will also donate items such as Publix, Target, and Dollar General.====

Interactive homework- This allows parents to assist and support their child in completing homework instead of doing it for them.

 * ====Students can interview parents, family members, neighbors, and friends for writing, social studies, or science projects.====
 * ====Teachers can send home unit bags where students add one thing to the bag that relates to the unit topic. Examples include pictures, artifacts, news articles, student writing or reflections.====

Classroom website- Scholastic has a free website where teachers can create their own classroom website. The sites can be interactive and password protected.
Classroom Newsletter - This provides an excellent source of communication between parents and teachers regarding current standards being taught, upcoming school and class events, important dates to remember, and even friendly reminders. ​Newsletters are also a great way to communicate to parents the need for volunteers in the classroom and upcoming field trips.

 ====Field Trips - School Field Trips expand children's learning through active hands-on experience with the rich resources of the local community. Field trips increase student knowledge and understanding of a subject and add realism to the topic of study. ====

====Traveling Trunks--Traveling Trunks are a great way to bring museums to you! Traveling Trunks are suitcases filled with artifacts and reproductions that are designed to assist teachers in highlighting various aspects of local, state and national history. The trunks provide teachers with the ability to recreate an actual educational experience by putting materials into students' hands.====

====ePals--The ePals Global Learning Community is the largest online community of K-12 learners, enabling more than 325,000 students and educators in 126,000 classrooms across 200 countries and territories to safely connect, exchange ideas, and work together.====

====Open House--The school's open house is a great way to get parents excited and involved in the classroom and their student's academic life. This is a wonderful time to establish two-way communication between the parent and teacher.====
 * Some ideas include: parent survey, family photo opportunity, "PlayDoh Maker's club," Home Volunteers, "Donuts with Dads," Volunteer Training
 * Resources:**
 * Resources:**

http://www.iloveschools.com
- This website allows you to post projects that donors can fund or find donations that you can use in the classroom. Many of the donated items are mailed to you free of charge.

http://www.donorschoose.org/
- This website allows you to post projects or needed supplies. Donors then can fund full or partial projects. You can track the funding status of your project. One requirement for funded projects is that the teacher and students send a thank you letter to the donor or donors.

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- This website gives you information about a local teacher supply store that has donation events throughout the year. Teachers are able to come and select items, at not cost, for their​ clas​srooms.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/homepagebuilder/
- This website allows you to create a free classroom website. It offers many different features and is ad free and password protected.

http://www.csos.jhu.edu/P2000/tips/index.htm
- This website has great ideas on interactive homework.

-Atlanta History Center's Travel Trunks are available for weekly or monthly rental and are designed to assist teachers in highlighting various chapters in our nation's history. Each trunk includes a teacher's guide and a selection of hands-on materials. Monthly Rental is $75 per trunk. To reserve a trunk or for more information call 404.814.4058 or email at outreach@atlantahistorycenter.com

[] Martin Luther King Jr. Traveling Trunk Exhibit
-The traveling trunk exhibit provides students with hands-on information about the life of Dr. King and the "Sweet Auburn" Community. The exhibit contains photos with captions of historic buildings, background information on the area, videos, speeches made by Dr. King, reading materials and workbooks with classroom exercises. The exhibit is available for a two week loan. The school is responsible for the cost of returning the exhibit. For information contact the education coordinator at 404.331-6922

[] ePals -The ePals Global Learning Community is the largest online community of K-12 learners, enabling more than 325,000 students and educators in 126,000 classrooms across 200 countries and territories to safely connect, exchange ideas, and work together.

//Great Sources for Newsletter Templates and Ideas on What to Include In Them://
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Great Sources for Planning Your Next Field Trip: · [] - links to plan fun field trips online · Stone Mountain Park : [] · Fun filed trip ideas that go along with you lessons: [] · Local field trips that are cost effective and involve the community: [] · Atlanta Area Field Trips: [] · Steps in preparing for a field trip: []