| Project Director: Jean Simers
Featured on West Virginia 21st Century Community Learning Centers
March 2007 Newsletter
Saturday Fun and Learning Days are events to involve parents in activities with their children. We have eight Saturdays planned and if parents and their children attend five of the eight Saturday sessions they are eligible to a trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo.
This trip was voted on by the parents. They gave us their suggestions for the trip at the September meeting and then voted in October. The project is a collaborative project with Heads UP, GEAR UP and the Parent-Educator Resource Center. The PERC does a session each time with the parents entitled, Boundaries.
While the children are enjoying Dance, Dance Revolution, volleyball, parachute games or crafts the parents are having their training with featured speakers.
We have had the Sheriff come and talk about how to recognize drug abuse in your children; two sessions on internet safety; SMART 529 plan, and in March we have bicycle safety and a percussion professor and world music instructor at Marshall University conducting an African Drum clinic with the children.
We have pith helmets for all the children to wear on March 10th as we're having an African Safari. In April, we have a Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Prevention Olympic Day planned with the Tobacco Coalition in the county.
We have incorporated technology as much as possible into these events. Every teacher in the county has an interactive whiteboard and we've used them in the presentations to the parents so when their children come home and talk about the whiteboards the parents will be knowledgeable about them.
We have the parents give us their feedback after each Saturday Fun and Learning Day and we've tried to incorporate all of their suggestions into the program - we want them to feel like this is their project too and I do think we have been very successful. During one Saturday, we asked for suggestions for after-school classes for all three sites.
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