One area of weakness for me as a teacher is family involvement in our classroom. It’s something that I want to improve but it’s also something I’ve shied away from addressing. We all know how important and necessary family involvement is for our students but it can also be a challenge. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something new and people, it was a SUCCESS! Kids loved it! Families loved it! I loved it!
Here’s what I did….we call it Bring Your Family To School Day! I sent home a letter inviting each family to join us in our literacy centers/workstations/hippopotamuses! The letter explained the idea and gave the date and time. We set the time for an hour, from 9:00-10:00. A specific time was set so it would be a finite event and not drag on.
I explained to the kids that they were going to be the teachers and would teach their family how to do their centers/hippopotamuses. The kids were thrilled to be teaching their parents! The families were told they would be working with their children in their centers.
Turnout for this event was amazing. We had 12 of 18 families join us for this first time event! The parents jumped right in and got hands on with their students! There was so much laughing and learning and great conversations!
This was such an easy and effective way to get parents involved and everyone loved it! The kids said it was the best day ever and keep asking when we could do it again! Every parent thanked me for the opportunity! 
This event will become a monthly event for our class from now on!