Family Wellness Wednesday

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As we enter the month of November, we have much to celebrate and reflect on as a community. This month, we honor Native American Heritage Month, recognizing the rich cultures and histories of Native peoples. We also celebrate Veterans Day, taking time to express our gratitude to those who have served in the military. As Thanksgiving approaches, I encourage each of us to focus on the importance of gratitude—appreciating our loved ones and the support we give and receive. Let’s continue to celebrate our diversity and strengthen our sense of community during this special time.

To learn more about Native American Heritage, please visit https://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/ and to learn more about our Veteran's Day and how to honor these amazing heros you can also visit https://www.twinkl.com/teaching-wiki/veterans-day

Have an amazing November month and a Happy Thanksgiving with your loved ones!!

- Maria Herrera, LCSW

Director of Family & Community Engagement

On November 21st, we celebrate Family Engagement Day, recognizing the vital role you play in your child's education. Your involvement at school and at home is key to their success, and we are grateful for your continued support.

Together, we create a strong partnership that helps students thrive. Thank you for being an essential part of our school community!

Please remember to schedule a parent-teacher meeting if you have any questions or concerns. We encourage all parents and guardians to keep regular communication with your child's teachers to stay updated on your student's progress and success plan.

Click the following links for instructions on how to check grades:

English - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BOCyL8LBJFXr2_AuDqcz-CSXQPIH7okm/view?usp=sharing

Spanish - https://drive.google.com/file/d/170yA6de37gY7kITTwn_Y1n-iWA38Gi8H/view?usp=sharing

Parent-teacher conferences will help you and your child’s teacher find ways to work together to ensure your child’s success.

What is a parent-teacher conference?

A parent-teacher conference is a meeting between you and your child’s teacher to discuss your child’s progress in school. Parent-teachers conferences happen in elementary, middle, and high schools. This meeting may take place as part of the regularly-scheduled conferences held by the school each year, or your child’s teacher may contact you to schedule a meeting at other times during the school year.

You can also request a conference with your child’s teacher if you have questions or concerns about your child by contacting the teacher conference.

Prepare a list of questions

Preparing a list of questions will help you have a productive conversation with your child’s teacher.

Prioritize the questions in case you run out of time during the conference.

Click here to see the flyer in spanish

Ask the most important questions early in the conference

Ask the most important questions first as you may run out of time, especially if other parents are waiting to have their conference after yours. You can always schedule another meeting with the teacher to cover any points you didn’t cover.

Create an action plan

Ask your child’s teacher for specific suggestions of ways that you can help your child at home with homework, reading, organization, routines, behavioral issues, etc. Make sure you understand the teacher’s suggestions, and ask for clarification if you don’t. This list of suggestions will become the action plan. Establish a way to keep track of the child’s progress, as well as the best way to stay in touch with your child’s teacher — through phone calls, emails, notes, or meetings. Review the action plan with the teacher as you end the conference to make sure that you both have the same expectations.

Talk with your child

Talk about the conference with your child. Emphasize the positive points, and be direct about problems that were discussed. If you and the teacher created an action plan, explain it to your child. Make sure that your child understands that you and the teacher created this plan to help him.

Keep in touch with the teacher

Stay in touch with your child’s teachers. This will help you strengthen the parent-teacher partnership, and will be an important part of the child’s success in school. When a child sees that parents and teachers are working together, the child will understand that his/her education is a top priority at school and at home.

By: Colorín Colorado

Did you miss our last Parenting on the Go in October? No worries!! We have a recording. Click the following link and scroll to October 1st to view: https://www.gpisd.org/Page/50880

To view the presentation slides, click here.

We talked about Elevating our Parent Teacher Conferences and had several GPISD Departments join to share tips on how to have a successful meeting.

Making a family calendar can help keep teens - and everyone else in your family - on track. Teens benefit from knowing what to expect and having reliable family rituals. In this article, we'll show you some ideas for setting up a family calendar that might help everyone.

Start with Your Daily Family Routine

Deciding how detailed you want your family calendar to be is a personal decision. Some families schedule every daily task, while others make a general plan for what will happen during the week.

Teens Need a Sleeping Schedule

Teens need 8-10 hours of sleep each night, and most teens aren't getting enough. Sleep plays a big role in brain development and affects behavior. When teens don't sleep enough, it can affect them negatively. They may be grouchy and have a harder time learning. They are also at higher risk for motor vehicle accidents if they are driving. So how can you help your teen get enough sleep?

Source: Get Parenting Tips

The good news is that there are concrete steps we can take to make the digital world feel less overwhelming.

Approach the discussion from a place of curiosity, empathy, partnership and respect.If you don’t know where to start, ask them: “what made you laugh today?” or “who do you like to follow?” You can even give them a chance to be the teacher. Ask them how to set up your own account. You may have to endure the “Don’t be cringe” comments, but they’ll appreciate it.

To help families develop a safe online experience tailored to their needs, TikTok recently launched the Digital Safety Partnership For Families together with the Family Online Safety Institute.

Use this guide to set boundaries that make sense for your family, including when and where your teens can use their devices, a commitment to stop and think before posting something in the heat of the moment and expectations about privacy. Everyone in the family can sign the agreement and check in regularly to see if it’s working for them.

By Suzy Loftus, Head of Trust and Safety for TikTok USDS

We will continue to provide monthly workshops to our GPISD families virtually! You can join us from the comfort of your home or when you are out and about doing errands.

The purpose of these sessions is to educate and empower our families with knowledge to support their students at home.

All sessions are from 6- 7:30 p.m. And if you are unable to attend session, don't worry!! You can always watch the recorded session.

Click here to view all of our workshops for this semester and pre-register!

Click here to view our past recordings.

Next session: Tuesday November 12th

Protecting Our Teens: Navigating Bullying and Drug Awareness in Today's World

Presione aquí para ver el folleto en español

In GPISD, we have chosen to begin providing transition services to students beginning in 6th grade to improve postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities. Students from our specialized programs will attend RISE, a transition facility for students in middle and high school, to develop skills related to Employment, Independent Living, Fine Arts, Sensory, and Fine & Gross Motor. RISE is an extension of the classroom allowing for generalization of skills learned on their campuses.

RISE is designed to be inclusive for all students with disabilities. Lessons are designed with each individual class in mind.

To learn more about RISE please visit https://www.gpisd.org/Page/46666

Click here to see Spanish flyer.

There are seven Texas Medicaid Waivers that support long-term and community-based services for people with disabilities or special health care needs in order to help them live in their community. Sign your child up for the Medicaid Waiver Interest Lists as soon as possible, even if you think you may not need care or services in the future. It will be years, sometimes 15-20 years, before your child's name comes up for consideration.

For CLASS, DBMD, and MDCP call 1-877-438-5658. For STAR+PLUS HCBS call 1-877-782-6440 and for HCS and Texas Home Living call your local LIDDA. For Dallas county residents Metrocare is the local LIDDA and they can be reached at 214-333-7000.

See attached documents below for more information.

Skills and Strategies document provides families and educators a checklist of skills and strategies by age range in order to build independence at home and school. This is a great resource for assessing skills as well as selecting areas of focus. Each age range also includes some strategies and action steps. (document attached in English and Spanish)

Come to learn and enjoy fun ways to help your child be ready for school !

PACT is a two-part educational session designed to enhance your parenting skills. During the first half of the session, you'll learn about a specific topic that can benefit your family. Following that, you will have the opportunity to apply what you've learned during the second half, engaging with your children in a practical way.

If you are a parent of a Pre-K or Kinder student, please ask your student's teacher if your school provides PACT sessions. If so, please join our next class....you don't want to miss it! If one is not offered at your school, please ask your teacher on how we can bring PACT to your school.

You may also contact our Family Engagement Specialist, Ruth Minotti at ruth.minotti@gpisd.org for more information.

See photos below from our PACT meetings this past month.

Get ready to shake, rattle and roll as your toddler dances, marches and runs their way to literacy success!

Join us monthly at either Grand Family Service Center or at Dickinson. Dates and times can be found on the flyers below.

This interactive discovery time gives your child the opportunity to explore their world with new friends as they begin to move about. It's a lot of fun and we would love for you to join us!

Click here to see the spanish flyer

As part of Title III Initiatives, the TEA Emergent Bilingual Support Division is thrilled to assist in planning events to assist parents and families in helping their children to improve their academic achievement, and become active participants in the education of their children.

Please join this upcoming virtual session will will provide additional resources for families.

Click here to register

Spanish Flyer

Join us for our next Future Ready event, focusing on Financial Aid Literacy, where both parents and high school students can learn how to navigate the financial aid process and prepare for college. This is a valuable opportunity to get informed about scholarships, grants, and other financial resources—definitely not an event to miss!

Where: Grand Prairie High School

Time: 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Check out the upcoming events we have planned!

We are excited to announce our new Call 4 Care initiative, allowing parents to call 972-522-7070 for assistance with mental health, food, clothing, and other essential needs.

The Counseling Center provides support for students facing behavioral or emotional concerns, including depression, anxiety, grief, and self-esteem issues, with services offered both in-person and virtually.

Also, the Social Work Hub offers clothing, uniform support, and food assistance, including monthly food boxes and extra meals during holidays.

We also provide school supplies, hygiene products, and other items to assist families at home.

If your family needs support in any of these areas, please do not hesitate to reach out through Call 4 Care at 972-522-7070 or visit our website www.gpisd.org/Call4Care if your family needs assistance.

Spanish flyer click here.

• in a homeless, domestic, or other similar type shelter
• in a motel or campground due to the lack of an alternative adequate accommodation
• in a car, park, abandoned building, or bus or train station
• doubled-up with other people due to loss of housing or economic hardship

If you answered yes to any of the above, your child might be able to receive help through a federal law called McKinney-Vento Act.

Please click here to provide us with some basic information and someone will reach out to you.

The Grand Family Service Center serves as a one-stop resource center for GPISD families and newcomers to our district.

This facility provides a wide array of essential services, including assistance with student registration, language proficiency assessments, assistance with lunch applications, access to food, clothing, school supplies, and much more.

Established with the objective of minimizing travel across the district, the center offers a supportive and welcoming environment to efficiently meet the diverse needs of our families.

Yvette Riquelme from Workforce Solutions comes to Grand Family Service Center to help those who are in search of employment or in need of resume assistance. She has information on job fairs and who is hiring. Please take advantage and come by to talk to her.

Her next visit will be Friday December 6th or contact her directly:

Yvette Riquelme

Community Outreach Specialist

Equus Workforce Solutions | Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas

3560 W. Camp Wisdom Rd, Suite 110

Dallas, TX 75237

Direct: (972)-709-5377 | Mobile: (469) 401-6208 |Yvette.riquelme@equusworks.com

www.EquusWorks.com

Director of Family & Community Engagement

Email: maria.herrera@gpisd.org
Website: https://www.gpisd.org/FamilyCommunityEngagement
Location: 1301 E Coral Way, Grand Prairie, TX, USA
Phone: 972-522-3196
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GPISDfamilyengagement/