Family Engagement & Inclusion Plan
Horizon Elementary Family Engagement Plan for 2023-24 School Year
Family Engagement Belief Statement:
Parents/caregivers are the first and best teachers for their children, and we are your partners in helping your child achieve their potential. We are better together and are looking forward to another great school year!
Our school staff and Horizon families work in partnership to create a safe, welcoming and nurturing school community for all of our Horizon students.
We love our Horizon families! We find our students are more successful in their school career when their families are more engaged or involved. Therefore, we'd like to get all our families more involved at Horizon! Please reach out with any suggestions on how we can better involve you and other families at Horizon. Below is our current work in this area.
How can you be more involved at Horizon?
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Attend our Horizon School Community Organization (SCO) monthly meetings on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in our LGI (large group instruction room). Attending meetings is a great way to get information WITHOUT being signed up for further commitment. Meetings are open to ALL parents and school and community members as a great way to connect and learn what is happening at Horizon. We also provide free childcare and pizza meals!
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Attend Caregiver/Teacher Conferences:
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Teachers will send out SignUpGenius prior to conferences.
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Conference weeks are: Oct. 16th - 20th and Feb. 12th - 16th.
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Participate in the Horizon Helpers program. Each student may have two family member volunteers per school year.
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Participate in Family Engagement events throughout the year. A great place to start is by attending school events–our Ready, Set, Go Welcome Night, our Hootie Hustle and our Fall Festival are a few examples. Horizon staff has a Community Outreach Committee. This committee and SCO will work together to coordinate and plan other events throughout the school year. Watch your email for sign ups and events taking place. Classroom teachers will often remind you of upcoming school and classroom events in their weekly communication as well. You will find that your active involvement is what makes our school great.
Horizon staff are committed to working directly with our SCO so that activities and fundraisers are equitable for students and families. Our SCO Board is aligned with the District Parent Leadership Council’s commitment to equity across our district. The District PLC is working on establishing a set of shared experiences for all students so that all SPASD students will have access to similar and consistent educational experiences at each elementary school in the district.
Did you know that Horizon has a 3-Year Theory of Action? Horizon staff members established this in the summer of 2023: THEORY OF ACTION. In addition, the following goals were developed in alignment with our district’s newly adopted Instructional Framework :
Goal 1: We will engage students and families as partners in learning, creating opportunities for goal setting, ongoing communication, and wrapping around families to support attendance and engagement in school.
Goal 2: We will improve core instruction, including small group work, by strengthening early literacy components (interactive read aloud, shared reading, interactive writing, close reading, phonics/word study, phonemic awareness, reading workshop, and writing workshop) through a strong PLC framework that emphasizes the four essential questions, ongoing feedback and analyzing data to drive instruction. Horizon School Leadership Team creates 100 Day Plans three times a school year. The purpose of a 100 Day Plan is to get clear and focused about the above theory of action goals over the school year. This year our first 100 day plan incorporates family engagement as a focus goal to strengthen the partnership between school and families. Teachers are working to improve communication to our families that is specific about each family’s student(s).
Other ways we do this work is through our school events that we achieve together with our SCO, our PBIS Community Outreach Committee and our Multilingual Team. Better family engagement is also included in the District Parent Leadership Equity Model. Here is the Horizon Elementary Calendar that includes all of our family engagement events. We update this regularly and you can link it to your own digital calendar.
Our SCO follows the District Parent Leadership Council model that was created in the 2022-23 school year. The model includes four strategic areas: Teacher Appreciation, Needs/Asset Mapping, Shared Operations, and Shared Experiences. All elementary schools are working to align our SCO work so that every school has similar experiences offered for students and families. Horizon SCO supports this mission. We also hold a commitment to equity in this work, meaning that activities that fall outside of this model should be met with the question “Can this (or something like this) be done at all schools?”
Our Horizon SCO Board will electronically share the monthly Horizon Scoop Newsletter. In this, they will include sign ups for the upcoming volunteer needs. We encourage you to sign up as you can.
Sign up to be a Hawk Helper
This is a great way to volunteer in the school and be a positive role model for our students.
● Must complete a background check: https://apps.raptortech.com/Apply/MTk1MDplbi1VUw==
● Sign up for two (2) days max per student per year.
● Two (2) volunteers per day (must be different grade levels).
● Come for a half day and follow your student’s schedule.
● Email or call Aliesha Rauls (608) 834-7903 or Serena Osen (608) 834-7902 to sign up!
If you ever have questions, concerns or great ideas for us, we encourage you to start with your classroom teacher. Horizon Staff Directory If that is not the right direction for you, please know that we are here to serve and anyone of us can help you find the right person to help you.
Resources
We aren't only here for your student, we are here for you. If you need help accessing services such as free/reduced lunch, warm winter clothes, etc. please know you can reach out to our school social worker Andrea Faulkes and we can help connect you with resources.
Local and Support Resources (also found on our website)
Use the District webpage as another resource. It is very likely that you can find what you are looking for on the webpage. We highly recommend it as a go-to resource for our families.
We look forward to a great year together at Horizon Elementary School.
This document is co-created by Horizon Elementary staff and families.