The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
School builds family ties at engagement night
Scavenger hunt, reading room, photo booth top activities
Lorain City Schools is honing in on the relationship between schools and families.
Washington Elementary School, 1025 W. 23rd St., hosted its second community event Dec. 14.
The Family Engagement Night was an array of activities for all grade levels, including a Christmas Around the World Scavenger Hunt, reading room with Toby Koeth, INFOhio Library Session, photo booth and Make-and-Take Winter Science Kit.
The event also provided light refreshments such as popcorn, cookies and a hot cocoa bar.
Kindergarten teacher and event organizer Zenaida Rios is the school’s acting family literacy coordinator.
“In total, I’m organizing four events a year with a focus on literacy and math,” Rios said. “The goal is just to bring families in and provide some activities with them.”
Principal Jessica Dugan said the events align with the school year theme, “We are One/Somos Uno.”
“It’s really important to us that our parents feel at home here, at Washington, and that we create a true sense of community,” Dugan said.
It’s important for the school to celebrate the multiculturalism of its community, she said.
“We serve a predominantly Spanish speaking population, so it’s important for us to incorporate a lot of cultural elements in these engagement nights,” Dugan said.
The activities allowed for students to get familiar with different cultures and holiday customs, Rios said.
“The idea was to have different Christmas trees representing countries around the world,” she said. “Our scavenger hunt is fun because the kids have a list of items to find, but they also have to know which country it represents.”
Rios said she’s happy to see the interaction between students and parents.
“All the activities sorta required the entire family to get engaged,” she said. “I appreciate seeing that teamwork coming together for things like writing, cutting and gluing, which was the goal.”
Dugan said it is important to bridge the gap between learning at school and at home.
“A lot of these activities are to help bridge the home to school connection,” she said. “We want families to take materials to use at home and continue to cultivate literacy skills.”
Safety measures still are being implemented at Washington Elementary, Dugan said.
“It’s more important than ever that families feel comfortable in the school setting,” she said. “We want to make sure that everybody knows that we’re being safe, but still creating a nurturing and warm environment.”