Ohio Department of Education Families

This program is intended to increase family support at home and at school for children’s education, as well as increase opportunities for families to participate in school life.		Contact: Jo Ann Wheat Organization: Hamilton County Family and Children First Council District: Mt. Healthy City Phone: (513) 728-4450    All families at Greener Elementary School The popcorn machine was located in the school lobby. Throughout the school year, with weekly announcements
A popcorn machine in the school lobby was the focal point of this program. We encouraged parents to earn free popcorn tickets by doing things at home and school to support their children’s learning. Families could earn popcorn tickets through actions such as reading a book; helping with and signing homework; signing a permission slip; attending an evening event; returning a teacher's phone call; attending a teacher conference; helping with field trips; and updating emergency contacts. Parents who could not come to the school also had the opportunity to earn tickets and feel that they were helping. Each week a popcorn ticket was pulled from the machine and a parent would win a prize. We announced winners on Friday afternoons to help keep the momentum going throughout the school year.
Parent Participation Is Popping at Greener Elementary is increasing parent involvement and improving communication with our families. Many parents have told us they feel their opportunities to participate in their child's education has increased. They also have stated that they feel welcomed in their child's school.
Keeping the momentum going through the school year We spent a lot of time promoting the program with our families. Once the popcorn machine started filling up with popcorn tickets, it became much easier.
The program’s success was measured over the course of the school year by the number of popcorn tickets being redeemed by parents. The school  received 250 tickets. We also conducted a survey of families at the end of the school year. We plan to conduct a similar program with another catchy theme.  We are working on a space-theme program called Shooting for the Stars with Your Parent Participation.
Program partners are teachers, parents and other community partners who make up the school’s parent involvement committee. Most of our prizes were donated by area businesses, including coupons for free food, skating and video rentals. The Bengals and the Cincinnati Reds also donated posters and fame tickets.