Bush Elementary School dad Wayne Snyder watches as Bush students Corry Seeking, Bionca Clifton, Clair DeVilieger and Myamee Seekings work with Bush Elementary School teachers Eileen Healy and Carrie Blitz to create duct tape pencil pouches during the school’s recent Family Literacy Night.

Bush Elementary School’s Family And Community Engagement committee’s goal is to welcome families into the school to partner with them to help benefit their child’s education.

Bush Elementary School’s FaCE committee meets once a month. They plan upcoming activities, review school data, set goals and discuss family participation and how they can engage Bush School families in all areas of their child’s learning.

“We want our families to feel welcome at Bush School and that faculty and families are a partnership working towards the same goals for their children,” said Bush Elementary School teacher Amy Vezina, who is a member of the FaCE committee. “As a committee working closely with every grade level and having family members on our team, we can get a feel for how we are achieving these goals. We are working on presenting data that is useful and beneficial to parents so they can use it to help their child on his or her path to educational success. Our families and community are our greatest assets and we want to make sure we are engaged as partners.”

The FaCE Committee has held several activities this school year. One school wide event was the Comprehension and Concert Day. Families visited the school and worked with their child to create grade-specific, fiction and non-fiction comprehension rings to use with their reading at home. Comprehension rings are grade level specific comprehension questions and discussion starters for fiction and non-fiction books that are laminated, hole punched, and put on a ring to take home. Families also had an opportunity to watch a short concert performed by each grade level.

Another event the FaCE Committee planned was the school’s Literacy Night during PARP. Families came in the evening to a plethora of fun activities to participate in including: literacy activities, a photo booth and a Bush School Teacher Choir. Each activity was created to engage families in reading and everyone left with a smile on their face.

The final FaCE Committee activity will be the school’s upcoming summer reading challenge. The committee is working with Scholastic to track students reading over the summer. The school is hoping families will read for 100 minutes a week over the summer and use the Comprehension Rings they made together to take conversations about their reading to a deeper level. Bush School is excited to see the data this reading challenge produces in the fall.

“The FaCE Committee wanted to have a very intentional plan to take our parent, teacher and community partnerships from just interaction to engagement,” said Mrs. Vezina. “We want to break down any barriers we might have and really work together for the success of each Bush School student. The FaCE Committee is helping us do just that.”

A special thanks to the Bush Elementary School FaCE Committee members for all their hard work: parents Michelle Waterman and Kristie Maloney; kindergarten teacher Vicky Connor; first-grade teacher Bonnie Walsh; second-grade teacher Katie Darling; third-grade teacher Amy Langworthy; fourth-grade teacher Amy Vezina; and principal Daniel Bracey.