It is hard to believe that we are approaching the end of July. I hope you are enjoying warm summer days with your children. As we approach the fall, one of the things we are working on at both the ELC Newark and Wilmington are our opportunities to engage with you as families. We have had several opportunities as a full staff to decide on some commonly held agreements about family engagement. I am pleased to share the following statements that we have all agreed to work toward.
Family Engagement at the ELC is about celebrating families and sharing children’s experiences at the ELC with loved ones.
Specifically, family engagement events will:
- Help families feel a sense of belonging by providing opportunities to connect with one another within the ELC communities.
- Provide meaningful opportunities for families to share their gifts, talents, and culture.
- Inform families about what their child does during the day and why it is important to the child’s overall growth and development.
- Support parents and caregivers with their role and assist them to be their child’s primary advocate.
With these statements in mind, I will be holding “Chats with Linda” throughout the year ahead. These chats will be an opportunity to share and to seek to understand your thoughts about family engagement and other topics of interest to the group. We will share in the next Family News about what was discussed at each chat so if you cannot come, you are aware of the conversation. The schedule for the chats is listed below. I invite you to mark your calendar and join me for these informal discussions. In addition to Chats with Linda, we are adding three parent events to assist you to support and advocate for your child. I hope that you find these additional opportunities to engage with each other and with the leadership of the programs helpful. I look forward to seeing you on August 16
th
for our first chat from 4:30 – 5:30 in Newark.
Best,
Linda
