Row 1: Ashley Chubb, Kerry Koelzer,
JoAnn Perry, and Flor Mendoza.
Row 2: Mark Gocus, Kristi Thien, Janice Mathews, Jamie Zerb, and Billie Fort.
Meeting the Challenge to Involve More Families
Maya Angelou Elementary School is a large school with about 800 students from diverse families and neighborhoods. The ATP conducts many creative events to involve parents and the community with the school and students. One night last December, students, family members, and staff went caroling through the school’s neighborhoods from 6:30-7:30 pm. The evening of holiday fun, dubbed the Frosty Walk, helped build good will between the school and its neighbors. Students participated with at least one parent as a partner. Participants carried candles and shared song books. Over 100 students, parents, and school staff divided into two groups to serenade different areas by candlelight, with songs such as Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Several hundred others – family and community members – enjoyed this Frosty Walk. At the end of the evening, carolers gathered in the school’s gymnasium for candy canes and hot cocoa.
Reach Results for Student Success in School
ATP members revamped a family math night in 2008 to make the math curriculum less intimidating and more engaging for parents. In the past, parents reported that math instruction and materials had changed since they were in school, and attendance at family math events was low. The ATP wanted to make math more fun, increase parents’ interest in math, and enable parents to feel more comfortable about helping students at home with math concepts. They created Monster Math Night close to Halloween. On October 26, parents and children came in costume to carnival-style math games in the school’s gymnasium and math teachers set up interactive games in the classrooms. Over 400 students and their families took part in the math festivities.
See one of Maya Angelou Elementary School’s activities in the collection of Promising Partnership Practices 2008.