Jen's Kinder Kids: Family Project

Hello bloggy friends!!

I hope that everyone's school year is off to a smooth start!

We have been in school for 6 weeks now, so we are sailing right along.

Anyhow~

One of my personal goals this year is to promote more parent involvement both in & out of the classroom. Let me remind you that I work in a high priority school where most of my students are on free lunch (not reduced...free). They are coming from sad & unfortunate home situations that you & I would probably not survive in....seriously. Many times the only meals that they get are the free breakfast, lunch, & snack that school provides to them. Sooooo, I want to get the parents involved as much as I can & show these kiddos that I care about their learning, but, more importantly, their parents care about their learning!

Here are some of the things that I already do to try to get the parents involved:

I send "Good News" cards to the students in the mail. This way the parents can see some of the positive things that are going on with their kiddos.
Anytime I send home something that needs to be signed, I offer a treat to those that bring it back to me. This ensures that at least one grown up has seen the info coming home and, hopefully, taken the time to look over it. I usually get 100% returned.
I call the parents when something good happens with the kiddo. Although, many times the phones are out of service...I still give it a shot!
I send a bilingual newsletter so that they can be aware of what we are working on in class or other school info.
There are other things that I do...but, let's get on with the program.

Well, this year I have decided to start the monthly family project. This way the families can work together to create a class project. I am hoping that this will give my kiddos a little special attention as the families work together being creative with the projects. I wanted something that would be simple & fun at the same time!

Enter these little cuties from my bestie Jen Ross:

click the pic to go get your very own!!

Ya'll these are PERFECT-O!!

I sent home the apple for our September project & OH. MY. WORD....the cuteness that came back...well, see for yourself!

The "project" was to decorate your apple with things you like about school or things that you have learned so far in school! I was super impressed with their hard work!