TWS Part 8: Family & Community Involvement Plan

By: Alexa Rogers

Family and Community Resources:

 Field trip to Alligator Adventure in North Myrtle Beach: View reptiles and amphibians

 Field trip to Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach: View oceanic animals

 Visit the San Diego Zoo Website: View animals live in their habitats

https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams

 Watch National Geographic on YouTube: Learn more about specific animals

 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLivjPDlt6ApTjurXykShuUqp7LQcj9s8s

 Visit the Public Library of Myrtle Beach: To check out books about animals and their

habitats

Family Communication:

To communicate with parents about the unit I will first begin by sending students home

with a newsletter which will explain how we will be learning about animals and their habitats.

The newsletter will give parents details about field trips and other resources that students will

utilize when learning about animals and their habitats. The newsletter that will be sent home will

also include brief information about the home activity that students will be expected to do. This

allows parents to be kept up to date with what students will be doing before the unit starts.

Parents will also be able to use this newsletter as a guide for the upcoming unit and they can

communicate with me further after this information is shared. During the lesson I will utilize the

Remind app to allow parents to be kept up to do date about day to day information. The Remind

app can also be used to give updates to parents while we are on field trips or reminders about
upcoming assignments that are in class or online. Remind allows me to send out group messages

to all the parents while also allowing parents to text me back individually. Another way of family

communication that I will use is the Seesaw app. Seesaw allows me to post information

pertaining to my class such as assignments, videos and pictures. This can be used when giving

students activities like the home assignment. I can post pictures that will allow families to see

what we are working on in class with our unit as well as seeing pictures from field trips.

Family Involvement-School-Based:

Families can be involved school based in many ways during this lesson. One way I can

involve families is by asking them to volunteer on field trips. We are going on two different field

trips during this unit and I will give families the opportunity to sign up to volunteer on these

trips. This will allow both students and their families to learn together about animals and their

habitats. This will also be beneficial when students are working on their home activities because

they can get an idea of what kind of animal they want to create a habitat based on and their

parent can assist them with this. Another way to get parents involved is by asking for donations

for the home activity. Even though I plan on providing students with everything for the home

activity, parents can make donations of boxes or other supplies to give students the opportunity

to utilize more items. Class visits will also be an opportunity given to families. After students

complete the home activity they will be asked to bring it in so the other students in the class can

see it. Parents will be given the ability to attend so that they can see their child’s work and

support them. If families are unable to attend I will involve these families by giving the

opportunity for a Zoom call during this time. This will allow parents to log on during the time

and see the home activities if they are unable to make it physically in the classroom. If families
are still unable to make in into the classroom I will post picture and videos onto Seesaw for

parents to see. I also encourage families to help students work on their home activities which will

allow them to share information that they know about animals and their habitats.
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