School Level Family Engagement Plan

Mooresburg Elementary School

2018 - 2019

Each Title I school is required to establish a Family and Community Engagement Committee.  To the extent possible, the Family and Community Engagement Committee will be a demographic representation of the school.  The school-level Family and Community Engagement Committee will be responsible for:

• ● Developing, implementing, and assessing the school-level Family Engagement Policy.
• ● Determining what action needs to be taken, if any, to plan and increase participation in family engagement activities.
• ● Identifying barriers to participation in family engagement activities.
• ● When applicable, integrating parent involvement activities with existing community agencies such as Tennessee Early Intervention Services, Head Start, preschools (public and private), etc.
• ● Prospective committee members will receive an invitation to serve at the beginning of the school year. They will return the invitation to the committee chairperson (Beth Morgan) stating whether they accept or decline the invitation.
• ● The Committee Members will meet on Sept. 10, Dec. 3, Feb.4, and May 13 this school year. The first meeting will take place on August 20th. At the August meeting the committee will be given a list of the meeting dates that will take place the rest of the school year.
• ● At the August meeting, the committee will elect offices to be held by the attending parents. Such offices will include time keeper, secretary, and then any others that the committee members may deem needed.
• ● The committee will discuss issues that have come up throughout the year and discuss ways to resolve them. The committee will also discuss positive aspects that are happening throughout the school.
• ● The committee chairperson (Beth Morgan) will be responsible for seeing that all committee members are aware in advance when and where the meeting will take place. The committee member will also receive a list of dates for the meetings to be held the remainder of the year. The chairperson will also keep a list of the committee members on file.

Additionally, each school will:

• ● Annually distribute the Home-School Compact to families at the beginning of each school year. Discuss the Home-School Compact with parents and students at parent-teacher conferences. The compact will also be posted online on the county and school-level websites.
• ● Convene an annual parent meeting following State and Federal Guidelines.
• ● Address the importance of communication between teachers and parents
• ● provide at least two parent-teacher conference dates to address student progress
• ● provide frequent child progress reports for parents
• ● provide parents with reasonable access to staff through phone numbers, emails and scheduled meetings
• ● opportunities to volunteer and participate in their child's class
• ● opportunities to observe classroom activities following school procedures
• ● Provide parents with materials to help parents work with their children to improve academic achievement
• ● make the Parent Lending Library easily accessible to parents
• ● promote the use of the Lending Library through newsletters, websites, and classroom communication.
• ● Provide at least two parent training and activities designed to increase parents' capacity to help with learning at home.
• ● Focus on strategies to improve homework, attendance, and discipline.
• ● Convene at varying times to accommodate family schedules.
• ● Invite all families to attend activities through written and verbal notice.
• ● To the extent practicable, the school will provide full opportunities for participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities and parents of migratory child.
• ● The Back to School Bash will be held at the beginning of the school year. The students will be given an opportunity to socialize with past and present classmates. While the students are socializing, the parents will be attending various breakout sessions that covers policies, procedures and programs that occur at Mooresburg. The students and parents will also be able to meet with the child's teachers to gain more information about classroom procedures and expectations.
• ● Kindergarten meet and greet will take place the first two days of school. This will be a time for the kindergarten teachers to meet with each family individually to discuss policies, procedures, and to help complete paperwork. The parents will be getting to preview the school planner and will be advised to check the planner each night to look for notes and behavior. Along with the planner, behavior will be discussed by using the Dojo system and each parent will be encouraged to join Dojo using their individualized code. The parents will also be given the Hawkins County handbook as well as a kindergarten handbook.
• ● On September 27, the school will hold a school-wide family night. The goal of this family night will be to cover activities centered on ELA. Activities will include role playing, writing, and art based creations.
• ● A school-wide family night will take place in the spring. This family night will be centered around STEM activities for the students and their parents to complete.
• ● The first parent teacher conference will be held in September. Each family will be encouraged to attend. The conference will allow time for discussion of the child's achievement and to make parents aware of different programs happening at the school. It is also a way to guide the parents in a direction that they may be able to assist their child in both academics and behavior.
• ● Kindergarten students and their families will have the opportunity to participate in camp read-a-lot. This will be an overnight campout at the school which will be centered on literacy. The students, with the assistance of their families, will be participating in literacy workstations. They will also participate in a scavenger hunt that will help reinforce high frequency words. Camp read-a-lot will take place during the month of November.
• ● Kindergarten and first grade families will be invited to join their child for the reenactment of the first Thanksgiving feast. The student's will demonstrate their knowledge of the information gained from their class discussion about the first Thanksgiving. The families will be informed of the Tennessee State standards that were covered during this unit. Additional information will be provided for parents for additional assistance at home. The reenactment of the first Thanksgiving will happen during the regular school day.
• ● Book fair will be scheduled by the school librarian in the spring. During the book fair, tips on how to become better readers will be available for families via information pamphlets
• ● A second parent/teacher conference will be held in March. Each family will be encouraged to attend to further discuss the child's academic success. The teachers and families will work together in determining strategies that will best help the child progress. The beginning portion of this conference will be student led.
• ● In the spring the kindergarten classes will host the wedding of Q and U. Before the wedding, parents will be informed of the common core standards that the wedding focuses on and why those standards are an important foundation for their child's success. Families will also be made available various pamphlets focusing on reading strategies.
• ● Kindergarten registration will take in May. The families will be provided with strategies to work on over the summer. They will also be provided material on how to help their child succeed.
• ● In May, Kindergarten will be hosting the Reader's Café. The kindergarten students will be serving up some good books and the parents will be invited to come and listen to them read.
• ● Third grade will be completing a grade level book that they will have published. The parents will be invited to listen to their story. The author's (students) will be available for a book signing.
• ● First and second will also be holding a grade level family engagement night but it has yet to be determined what topic and activities they will be completing.
• ● Fourth and Fifth grade will also be holding a grade level family engagement night, but it has yet to be determined what topic and activities they will be completing.
• ● In an effort to help increase family engagement participation, a homework pass will be given to those students who attend. The homework pass will allow them to be exempt from homework on the night of the event.

• ● Provide parents with a student handbook at the beginning of each year to provide information on
• ● procedures to learn about the course of study for their child and have access to all learning materials.
• ● the right to access their child's official records.
• ● Utilize the Family Engagement Coordinator for technical assistance on policy development
• ● Provide parents with written procedures on how to access the Parent Involvement Policy, the Hawkins County Schools Family Engagement Plan, and curriculum.
• ● Increase parents' capacity to become involved in the educational process by presenting information in a timely manner and through various means to include information such as
• ● a written description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school.
• ● the forms of academic assessment used to measure student progress, and the proficiency levels students are expected to meet.
• ● State's academic content standards.
• ● State student academic achievement standards.
• ● State and local academic assessments, the requirements of parent involvement.
• ● how to monitor a child's progress and work with educators to improve the achievement of their child.
• ● Parents will receive report cards for each of the nine weeks grading periods. While reports cards will be sent at the end of the grading period, parents may access their child's progress anytime by using their child's individualized login to Skyward. The report cards will be sent out on October 19^th, January 11^th, March 29^th , and May 23^rd.
• ● In all grades progress reports will be sent home in the middle of each nine weeks. Progress reports will be sent on September 5^th, November 14^th, February 6^th, and April 24^th.
• ● Parents will receive a parent newsletter at the beginning of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th nine weeks. Included in the newsletter will be a list of skills that will be covered during the current nine weeks.
• ● K - 5 will be tested three times a year in reading using the AIMS Web Plus testing program. Students will be placed in cooperative RTI (response to intervention) groups for additional targeted instruction. AIMS Web reports will be sent home periodically to show student progress in the area of reading. Some parents may be called in to discuss the reports. A parent letter detailing the testing and intervention will be sent home with each student at the beginning of the year.
• ● AIMS Web Plus will also be used to benchmark the students three times a year in math.
• ● Each week student work will be sent home.

• ● Set up meetings requested by parents to give suggestions and be part of the decision making about their child relating to the education of their child, and respond to the suggestions as soon as possible.
• ● Coordinate parent involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, the Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters, the Parents as Teachers Program, and public preschool and other programs, and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers.
• ● Kindergarten registration will take place in May. During registration parents will have the opportunity to meet with the kindergarten teachers and discuss curriculum or concerns they have at that current time. Parents are also welcome to look around and tour the school when they bring their child to register. Students will also receive materials to use over the summer in order to better prepare them for kindergarten.
• ● Registered kindergarten students will be invited to attend Kindergarten Sneak Peak at the end of the year after registration. Newly registered students will be able to experience what a day in kindergarten will be like. They will stay a half day. Parent are asked to come in for an hour long information session with the teachers.
• ● Registered kindergarten students along with kindergarten students from the previous year will be invited to a day "Reading at the Park". Both kindergarten teachers will attend and will share some literacy activities with the students along with a craft. The students will eat lunch at the park with their new classmates and will have time to play as well.
• ● All information about school and parent programs, meetings, and other activities is sent to the parents in an understandable language.
• ● Provide other reasonable support for parental involvement activities as parents may request.
• ● Provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports in a language such parents understand.