Get Reluctant Parents "March"ing into Your Classroom

How can I encourage more parental involvement in my classroom? This is a question that plagues many educators, as we each know how vitally important it is to keep parents engaged in their child's learning. It seems that parents will often come in to the class for a party or holiday, but by March, most of the holidays are gone, and many parents are complacent toward what is happening at school. Why not take advantage of some unique holidays during the month of March to invite parents into your classroom? 

Dr. Seuss's Birthday - March 2nd 

Everyone loves Dr. Seuss! Invite parents to come to his birthday party, which just happens to be taking place in your classroom. As part of the celebration, ask them to come in to read one of Seuss’s stories to the class. Some parents will likely have a favorite Seuss book at home, but others will need to choose one when they arrive at school. As you gather Dr. Seuss books to have on hand, consider having a variety of books, including the ones tease anxiety for parents who might not be comfortable reading aloud. Another way to make parents comfortable, is to have students rotate in small groups to various stations. The smaller group size is less daunting for the person reading, and it also and allows for structured movement within the room. Beyond reading books aloud, consider adding other stations, like one for food and another for crafts. Green eggs and ham, or toast (The Butter Battle Book), are two easy ways to incorporate food into the celebration. For craft ideas, consider decorating clay pots for Daisy Head Mayzie, or making slime for Bartholomew and the Oobleck. If you send out Seuss’s birthday party invitation a couple of weeks in advance, you might even get some great, original ideas from parents.

Hug-a-GI Day - March 4th 

Two day later, Hug-a-GI Day will appeal to quite a different crowd than Dr. Seuss’s festivities. On March 4th, encourage students to invite parents or family members who have served in the military to come to class. They can simply participate in the celebration, or if they are comfortable, they can talk about some of their experiences. I suggest you ask the servicemen if they are comfortable sharing. If so, ask them a few questions about why they joined the military, the type work they have done, and what sacrifices they have had to make. Prior to that day, have your pupils make thank you cards for the visiting servicemen. When they visit, class members can give them their cards in appreciation. 

Johnny Appleseed's Birthday - March 11th

An apple a day, or in this case, a day of apples. Johnny Appleseed’s birthday can become a celebration of all-things apple. This is another instance where stations could make the day run smoother. Consider setting up a separate place in your room for mapping, crafts, reading/listening, and of course, eating. Here are some suggestions for each of the stations:

• Mapping: Make maps tracing Johnny’s tree-planting journey.
• Craft: Simple or complex, follow this link for a plethora of craft ideas. 
• Reading: Check out a few Johnny Appleseed books from the library. There are some very simple children’s picture books that narrate the legend. Kids can read these books by themselves, or a parent volunteer can read a few of them aloud. For older students, you can also provide questions for the parent to ask about the story.
• Food: Applesauce, apple pie, dehydrated apple chips, caramel apples.

Parents will love coming in to help with this exciting day. Be advised that depending on how elaborate you make your stations, some may need more than one parent helper.

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day - March 15th 

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day was created by Camp Fire over fifteen years ago to encourage parents to show love, support, and encouragement to their child through a letter. This day can be an opportunity to help connect parents and kids in a deeper way. Several weeks before March 15^th, send home a request to parents asking them to write a letter. I suggest you use e-mail, but if you send home a hardcopy, be sure that the envelopes are sealed. Ask them to write a letter to their child telling him why he is special. Ensure the deadline for turning in letters is early enough that you can remind those who haven’t returned a letter that their child will be expecting one. Additionally, provide enough time for yourself, a former teacher, or another staff member to write letters for children whose parents were unable to get you one on time. On the actual day, try to be even more encouraging than usual. Make it a personal goal to encourage, inspire, or compliment each pupil that day. When it comes time to pass out the letters, let your pupils know that this letter is personal. The content is for their own eyes, not to be shared with others. Discretion is a good skill to learn, and it will also help to mitigate the hurt feelings of the children whose parents did not submit a letter. In order to entice parental presence in the classroom, at the end of the note asking them to write a letter, invite them to come for the last hour of the school day to have an Incredible Kid Day party. I’m sure some of your parents will get quite creative with the theme if you let them! 

National Agriculture Day - March 25th

National Agriculture Day is celebrated on March 25th. Depending on your resources and your location, you can do a variety of things to celebrate this day. First, you can find out if any of your pupils’ family or friends are farmers. If so, invite them into your classroom to talk about their day-to-day life, explaining how their farm runs and their particular challenges. Another idea is to find out if any local farms or diary farms offer tours. If they do, asking for drivers and/or chaperones is a great way to get parents involved. Finally, you can let them know that the class will be studying agriculture and how it affects each of us. Use this as an opportunity to expose students to some fruits and vegetables to which they are not accustomed. Invite parents to join you in class to have kids sample a variety of the more exotic fruits and vegetables. As long as they are there, have some of the parents read farming stories, such as The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash. Finally, if your school has an open area, find out if you can plant a class garden. Parents will like coming in for the day to assist with the set-up and planting of the garden. Some will even come more regularly if your garden needs a parent helper to supervise the nurturing and maintenance of the garden. If your region’s weather is not ideal for planting in March, consider an indoor herb garden, which will grow quite nicely in your room. Or, have pupils plant seeds in a small pot. These can later become a Mother’s Day present.

Whether they are reading, crafting, cooking, or simply lending a helping hand, offering a variety of special celebrations in March just might entice parents back into your classroom. Please note: These dates are for March of 2014. Some dates might change in future years.

Related Resources:

Hip Hip Hooray! Happy Birthday to Who?

Need more ideas for what to do on Dr. Seuss’s Birthday? Check out this article for ideas - many of which that can be used in an upper-elementary classroom.

Johnny Appleseed or John Chapman? Which is Your Favorite Character?

Working on comparing and contrasting? Desire to use technology in your classroom as well? Look at this lesson plan in which students look at Johnny Appleseed and John Chapman in a variety of resources. Then, they use online resources to study his life, as well as type up a non-fiction story.

Agriculture is a Cycle

If you want to incorporate a study of agriculture into multiple subjects, this resource is the key. It has ideas for language arts, science, social studies, technology, and physical education, including a water cycle and a carbon dioxide experiment.