Parents as Active Participants Martha Gomez Director of Language Services and Student Programs Jurupa Unified School District.

Parents as Active ParticipantsMartha Gomez

Director of Language Services and Student Programs

Jurupa Unified School District

Where to Start?

Informational Pamphlet Initial Parent Meeting Parent Commitment Form

Parent Commitment Form

Who are your parents?

Career-oriented/too busy to attend school activities

Very involved in school activities Single parents working two jobs/too busy to attend

Immigrant parents with language issues or school cultural differences

Surrogate parents: foster parents, grandparents

Making Contact

Flyer Homework Phone calls

Reminder Specific messages

Sample of Calling Messages

Good morning, My name is _________ and I am calling from Jurupa Unified School

District. I am calling to remind you that there will be a meeting for the parents of students in the dual immersion program. If you haven’t received the flyer you will soon. The meeting will be on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Sunnyslope in the cafeteria.

We truly appreciate your previous attendance to the last three meetings and are truly looking forward to seeing you again on the 18th.

OR We have held three meetings this school year and we noticed you have

only attended 1(or 2) of them. We sincerely hope that you will be able to attend on March 18th. If you remember, an important part of the program is parent participation and involvement. Do you think you will be able to make it to this coming meeting?

Thank you, we will see you on the 18th.OR We have held three meetings this school year and we noticed you have

not been able to attend any of them. We sincerely hope that you will be able to attend on March 18th. If you remember, an important part of the program is parent participation and involvement. Do you think you will be able to make it to this coming meeting?

Thank you, we will see you on the 18th.

Keeping Track of Parent Attendance

Examples of Topics

Specific skills Films Question/answer sessions

Parent concerns Make it/Take it Reading of articles regarding bilingualism

Benefits of bilingualism

Improving our dual immersion program

Resources available Internet Community

English Vs. Spanish Parent Presentations

We try to never do concurrent translation

Dual immersion parents and kids are a community Acceptance Value Learn Support

What is the Objective for the Parent Meeting?

Support Expectations Meeting other parents Working with other parents Parents of students in higher grades helping new parents in the program

Example of Activities

Putting a puzzle together

Small groups of parents working together to put puzzles together

Puzzles had missing parts and they had to ask for those parts to other groups

Prizes were given to those who completed the puzzle

Goal: Having parents work together

Very successful activity. Parents were talking to each other and all were actively involved.

This was a warm up activity

Example of Activities

Three Parent Groups English Only Spanish Only Bilingual

Three Charts to Define the Following

Fin Once Red Tuna Dice Pie Meter Son Sin sale

Example of Activities

Sharing Parent Concerns/Successes Time for parents to write their concerns/successes

Formed two lines One with all English Only Parents One with all Spanish Speakers Bilingual Parents were split among the two lines The two lines had to face each other Parents had to introduce themselves and share with each other either a concern or a success

After sharing individually, they shared in small groups about what they had learned and then with the large group

Calendar

Parent Meeting Dates for the 2009-2010 School YearDate Grade Location Time

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 All grades MPR 5- 6pm Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Grade level meetings 5-6pm Wednesday January 27, 2010 All grades MPR 5-6pm Wednesday, March 24, 2010 Grade level meetings5-6pm Wednesday, June 9, 2010 Parent Pot Luck  MPR 5-6:30pm

Juntas para padres durante el año escolar 2009-2010Fecha Grado Lugar Hora

Miércoles, 14 de octubre, 2009 todos los grados Salón Multiusos5- 6pm

Miércoles, 16 de diciembre, 2009junta para grados individuales 5-6pm Miércoles, 27 de enero, 2010 todos los grados Salón Multiusos

5-6pm Miércoles, 24 de marzo, 2010 junta para grados individuales 5-6pm Miércoles, 9 de junio, 2010 Fiesta de traje Salón Multiusos

5-6:30pm

Other Parent Programs Available

Café Literario English/Spanish Classes SENG Next to come:

Dual Immersion Booster Club

Who Presents at These Meetings?

Classroom Teachers Resource Teachers Director of Language Services and Student Programs

Principal

Most Successful Parent Meetings

Student Performances Skill Specific Make it/Take it Potluck/Picnic Assembly Oriented Meetings

Questions?

Martha E. GomezDirector of Language Services and Student ProgramsJurupa Unified School [email protected]