The Importance of Family Involvement

At the beginning of the school year, I asked families to complete a short questionnaire about themselves. One of the most important questions that they answered was, “When are you free to volunteer?”. Family involvement has many positive outcomes within the school setting. It leads to improved academics, positive changes in social-emotional skills, as well as increases students’ self-esteem and makes them feel that their family pays attention and cares about their education.

All families are welcomed to volunteer after completing and passing the mandatory background check. Our First Grade Crew has been so blessed to have families volunteer in our classroom. March was National Reading Month, in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Therefore, I emailed families to ask if they could come in to be “Mystery Readers” for our crew. Of course they were asked to keep it a secret because I LOVE surprising my students. The smiles on their faces were priceless! After the first parent came to read to our class, everyone went home to ask their families to come read to us. I received so many emails letting me know families’ availability to come read. 

Families volunteering in the school setting is essential for the previously stated reasons, but reading, in particular, improves students’ language skills, creates a love of reading, helps nurture a special bond by spending quality time together, and enhances concentration, critical thinking, and analytical skills. We’ve also had the pleasure of having families chaperone our field study to the Kensington Nature Center. We are currently becoming Bird Experts, so what better place was there to visit to learn about birds? Families joined us as we learned about different types of birds and how they use their body parts to survive. Families were just as amazed as the students. 

 Again, we are so grateful for the family involvement that we’ve had thus far and look forward to more opportunities before the school year comes to an end!