Spring, 1999 No. 6 National Network of Partnership Schools
School in Old Saybrook, CT Helps Parents Plan Children's Summers
How can schools help parents keep children meaningfully engaged in learning and recreational activities during the summer months? The Home/School Forum of Kathleen E. Goodwin Elementary School's P.T.O. sponsored an evening in April, 1998 to answer this question. The team invited community organizations to come to the school to provide parents with information about summer programs—a Type 6: Collaborating with the Community activity.
To allow time for planning, the committee chose the date for the activity one year in advance. Four months before the event, committee members invited community organizations that provide valuable activities for children to present summer program information to parents at a Summer Learning Fair.
The response from the organizations was overwhelmingly favorable. The P.T.O. mailed registration information to approximately 30 organizations in February. Fliers were sent home with students and publicity information was provided to local newspapers.
The agenda for the event included: a list of presenters and a map of classrooms, a 10-minute welcome session, and a rotation schedule of 10-minute presentations for parents to hear about 8 programs. To keep the focus on information, parents could not register their children for any programs at the Fair.
Almost 200 parents in a school of 440 children learned about a variety of summer learning activities, including nature center camp programs, Boy and Girl Scouts, public library programs, YMCA programs, sailing lessons, and more. The Summer Learning Fair was simple and inexpensive to organize, including mainly costs for fliers and mailings.
According to Dr. John Walsh, principal, "Parents were happy to have program information in one place, and to speak to many representatives at one time." Parents also appreciated hearing information about activities that their children would be eligible for in the future. For example, parents learned when to register their children before popular programs or classes would be filled. In addition, community organizations and parents were able to discuss programs offered during the school year. The Summer Learning Fair was so successful that plans are underway for 35-40 community organizations to present information about summer programs this April.
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