Building Relationships With Families
Our Open House is this week. I have a presentation and a Kahoot for the parents to complete after the presentation is done. What are some other ideas that you have to keep parents actively engaged at your Open House?
We host a STEAM night each year at our school and are always looking for large scale activities that families can engage in together. Have you been successful with any activities that you would recommend?
What are some of your favorite STEAM activities that you like to do with elementary students (bonus if you can share something that could be done as a family!)?
Back to School = Back to Family Literacy!
As we head into a new school year, let’s remember that literacy grows strongest when school and home work together.
Family literacy isn’t just about reading books—it’s about building language, curiosity, and a love of learning through everyday moments. 📖✨
Here are a few simple ways to weave literacy into your family’s daily life this fall:
Read Together – Even 10 minutes a day makes a difference.
Talk About Your Day – Conversation builds vocabulary and connection.
Write for a Purpose – Grocery lists, thank-you notes, and family calendars all count.
Share Stories – Tell family stories or make up your own adventures.
When families read, talk, and learn together, children’s confidence and academic success grow. Let’s make this year one where literacy thrives—in every classroom and every home. ❤️
What’s your favorite family reading tradition?
Have you found any good strategies that keep your absenteeism rates lower?
We introduced a school wide award that is awarded to the classroom in each grade level with the highest attendance rate each month. When our individual classes have attendance above 95% on a daily basis, we get a postcard with our mascot on it to display outside our classroom door (with the date earned). When our classroom earns 10 of them, we get a visit from the Woot-Woot wagon and each student gets to pick a treat!
🎥 Family Book Trailer Challenge
What it is: Families work together to create a short video trailer for a favorite children’s book.
How to use: Share through Seesaw, Padlet, or Wakelet. Adds media literacy + excitement.
Our families utilized this as an extension after Reading Month in March.
How do you encourage students and their families to continue to celebrate reading - even after Reading Mont has ended?
🌱 "Story Roots" Project
What it is: Families trace a favorite story or folktale from their cultural or linguistic background.
How to use: Students share the origin, language, or meaning behind the story and retell it (via video, audio, drawing, or writing).
Bonus: Builds home-school connections and honors multilingualism.
This is one of the projects our upper elementary students are using with their families.
What unique projects are families in your area doing?
We had a late Reading Month celebration due to snow and ice storms followed by spring break. Last night we met with families and shared all kinds of fun reading and math alternatives to common board games. Here is the Google file with a few of the FILE FOLDER games we shared! Feel free to share them, print them etc!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vw2EFbC-XW6n4pbOkDU5WyU0Uvu4SCWC?usp=sharing
How did you celebrate reading month with families this year?
Celebrating Reading Month with Families! Check out all of the FREE literacy activities at: https://www.ginapepin.com/blank-10-1-1
In lieu of Night of the Notables, which has historically focused too much on white men and has raised concerns about cultural appropriation, we hosted a TEDx Event to give students the opportunity to take on the role of changemakers—a major focus of our civil rights unit. This event allowed them to share their own ideas, passions, and leadership, amplifying diverse voices and meaningful, authentic storytelling.
It was truly inspiring to see these young voices confidently express their unique perspectives and innovations with the world. Rather than looking only to the past, this event empowered students to shape the future. Do other schools also host TEDx Talks? I'd love to see them!
This year our school is using the theme - board games for reading month. We all design and create board games on our classroom doors. We make them interactive so that students and families can enjoy them!
My door is based on the game Mad Gab - and I used the sentences from UFLI to create this fun activity!
March is reading month! This year our reading month theme is - board games! What theme is your school using for reading month? And do you have a family night - if so, what type of evening do you plan with your families?
Michigan Department of Education shares several resources for family literacy and home to school connections. It is entitled: Family Engagement for Literacy. Here are a few of the documents included:
Supporting Families in the Essential Practice of Read Alouds; Sharing Why the Read Aloud Is an Essential Practice With Families
Does your state department of education share valuable resources you can use to collaborate and build understanding with families?
https://www.michigan.gov/mde/services/academic-standards/literacy/family-engagement-for-literacy
How can we reassure parents that struggling with reading is not a reflection of their child's potential, but rather a natural part of the learning process?
Next week we are planning an hour with our families for our first and second grade students. We are part of the Leader in Me program and we have invited families to come in and view our Classroom Mission Statements and then create Family Mission Statements! We have set up social media picture spots in the building for families to pose by/at. What hashtag do you think would be fun to use? We are the Lemmer Leopards ;).
