| Teachers to Teachers Write to englishlesson@mail.com www.teacherstoteachers.com is the address of this web site. |
| Visit the home page of a Professor of Liberal Arts and read some FREE lectures. Good for building a stronger and more flexible vocabulary and you can get a college education, too. www.nova.edu/~alford |
| Other links www.talkinusa.com www.whatdoyaknow.com www.creatingthefuture.org Jack Rich, Educational Counselor whereinbroward.com www.supergrammar.com www.teacherstoteachers.com www.treeswaterpeople.org www.treesftf.org www.gaiglobal.org A Photobook of Fort Lauderdale (11" x 14" or 275mm x 357mm) with Captions on the Web www.randi.org www.oocities.org/creatingthefuture/ resumefischler.html www.gaiglobal.org When is the next launch of the Space Shuttle? www.oocities.org/talkstudents/shuttle.html www.wildperuadventures.com Get a university education by reading lectures by Prof. Steven E. Alford at Nova University www.nova.edu/~alford Click here to visit the ESL book www.punchbuggykids.com Barefoot Cafe at Gateway Theater, Sunrise Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale. www.oocities.org/browardtourbook/barefoot.html Home of the Barefoot Mailman Site of Appreciation www.africanandtribalarts.com in Fort LauderdaleFlowers for Schools: 1000 packets of seeds will be given to parents http://www.oocities.org/teachers2teachers/parents.html To: Newspaper and TV Reporters I’ve got a friend, Dennis Yuzenas, who has a lovely idea for parents – he wants to show them how to get involved with schools. Please click on the above link. I hope you will do a story on Dennis’s work. Dennis wants to give away 1000 packets of flower seeds to encourage teachers and parents to work more closely together. With the opening of school, I hope this is a timely issue. Thanks, Steve McCrea Substitute Teacher at a local school. 954 646 8246 2314 Desota drive Fort Lauderdale FL 33301-1567 Mr. Yuzenas is at 561 792 0740 Wellington, Florida Each packet of seeds contains 10 seeds, enough to start one or two plants… and they will create dozens of seeds and plants. The seeds cost about a penny each, but the packaging, postage and other materials add up to about 50 cents per package. The project is budgeted for $500, and we hope that parents and teachers will work more closely together through this “flowers for schools” project. We're giving a free packet of seeds to the first 1000 parents and teachers who send their request to englishlesson@mail.com Thank you for helping parents learn about this offer. We hope that it will take just one newspaper article. Then other reporters will want to report on the project, especially since it involves “free seeds” to the first 1000 parents who request the seeds. Teachers can request seeds, too, but the aim is to get parents to have a project to “get their foot in the door” at a local school. By meeting with an assistant principal and by taking charge of a small project, parents will find out how to get things done, whom to speak with and what procedures to follow. The “Flowers for Schools” project is just a start for helping parents “get their feet wet.” We hope that parents will then graduate to take on other challenges in the school. If you want any of this on email, just go to the following web link: www.oocities.org/teachers2teachers/parents.html and go to the absolute bottom of the page. This press release appears there. |
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| Making All Schools Great Schools For Parents that want to get involved! Use the Five-Minute CHECKLIST for Concern Parents This booklet is just a start. You can get all of this information and more on an eBook written especially for parents. See the last page of this booklet for information or visit www.WhatDoYaKnow.com Compiled by Dennis Yuzenas What Do Ya Know.com Zebra Press 13541 La Mirada Circle Wellington, FL 33414 yuzenas@prodigy.net and ask for free flowers Copyright 2002 by Dennis Yuzenas. About the author: Dennis Yuzenas began his teaching career in middle school in 1985 in Broward County, Florida. He was part of the team of teachers that won the highest rating of any SAC review (at Seminole Middle School, Plantation, FL) He developed the concept of “Internet on CD” with his series of eBooks, compiling information for his students. The eBooks are available through Dennis’ web site www.whatdoyaknow.com. Table of Contents A. Parent Power! B. Six Things (see below for specifics) a. Volunteer to work in a classroom. Bring in videotapes from Cable TV. b. Serve as "press liaison." c. Sponsor a "Don't Come" event. d. Create a Celebrity Charity Auction (fundraiser). e. Bring old computers into the school. f. Help write grants. C. The Check List D. Order the eBook on CD Parent Power! The best schools have empowered parents. Take the lead in your school improvement project. Knowledge is power. Sample the power of eBooks! We have the technology. Isn't it time we started using it? Not every parent that wants to play a role in their child's education wants to sit on a committee and attend loads of meetings. Here are six things that can make a huge difference to any school. Implementing any one of these small projects will produce thousands of dollars in real life monetary rewards for your school. This isn't a sales pitch, it's what Great Schools do. This booklet (on the web) shows parts of the “Parent eBook,” which is a sample of the technology great schools use in their classrooms. When you get your eBook, just click on the links on the CD to access the parts of the eBook you'd like to review: The Perfect School. Sharpen that pencil and test your school.... Making the Grade. What should a parent do when a child is not living up to potential? Here's what the experts (who charge big bucks!) say a parent should do. American Students Flunk History--AGAIN! Another round of tests point out how little impact education reforms have.... High Expectations for All. What does that mean? (Did we leave anyone behind?) Go to www.WhatDoYaKnow.com to order the CD for this "guide to building a great school" written especially for parents and volunteers. Click here to visit the CHECKLIST The "Flowers for Schools" Project The flowers that you see above are grown from seeds called "COSMOS." We buy them from Burpee Seed, Warminster, PA 18974 If you are a parent or a teacher, send an email message to englishlesson@mail.com and ask for a free packet of 10 seeds to get started. You'll also get the free brochure about "How to Make a Great School" with the 6-point checklist. If you are a nursery or a garden store, why not start your own "Flowers for Schools" program? Encourage parents to get involved with their local schools. If you are a newspaper writer or a TV reporter, why not take notice of this program? :-) Please call Dennis Yuzenas at 561 792 0740 or Steve McCrea at 954 646 8246 and let us tell you about the "Great Parents Make Great Schools" program as well as "Flowers for Schools" seed project. If you want to donate seeds, please buy them from a seed company and mail the seeds to 13541 La Mirada Circle, Wellington FL 33414, so we can make up more packets to send to schools! Thanks! http://www.burpee.com/shopping/prod_detail/main.asp?uid=BAAC1B44-8528-4A1F-89AB-3333359BCCC6-1177660&search=cosmos&stype=All&sl=1&productID=291&catID=22&page=1&pos=undefined http://www.burpee.com/shopping This is a good place to start to get your cosmos seeds. What has the Flowers for Schools project done so far? Packets sent Destination 71 45 Middle and 26 high schools in Broward County (PTAs) 71 Middle and high schools in Broward (School improvement teams) 10 Middle and high schools in Palm Beach County 25 Neighbors in Fort Lauderdale. _________________________ 177 packets sent as of August 29, 2002 A packet of 450 seeds costs $5 or about a penny a seed. 10 seeds = 10 cents plus envelope (1 cent), postage (37 cents) for a total of 49 cents Cost so far = $0.50 x 177 = $88.50 Why are we so interested in seeds? Because we want parents to get involved. in any way.... and seed-planting is as good a place as any! Will you help spread the word and spread the seeds? Get some seeds today! |
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| Six ways for a Parent to get involved with a school -- very quickly and easily... These are fun suggestions and a typical parent can find time to do at least one of these activities. That first PTA meeting or Open House is the time to sign parents up! Great schools make sure to strike while the iron is hot. Here are a bunch of suggestions for getting parents involved. They're all fast, almost free to implement, limited duration projects that can have a huge impact on the school. 1. Become a Cable in the Classroom Video Archivist--There is a project called Cable in the Classroom that offers free video resources and lesson plans for every subject under the sun. Nine of ten schools in the US and Canada have access to cable television in the school, yet fewer than 20% of those schools use this service! Great schools use Cable in the Classroom.. There is a potential savings of thousands of dollars for each school and the benefit of the latest research and material in each classroom. Parents can take turns taping the programs, downloading the lesson plans from www.CIConline.com, and improving the school through creating a video archive. The perfect parent job is of limited duration, has a high chance for success, and is fun. 2. Press Liaison--Parents can send articles to the local newspapers. The local papers will print just about all the news you deem fit to print. They'll even print pictures. This is a perfect job for the parent that wants to get involved, but not too involved. 3. Sponsor a Don't Come Event--The Non-Event Fundraiser. Face it. There is only so much wrapping paper and chocolate that any one family can stand. Wouldn't it be great to to just drop all the pretense and have a fundraiser that makes money for the school and not some professional fundraiser company? Click here for details. 4. Get Tech Donations--Parents can rescue old computers from the dumpster! Yes, they may be old, but every classroom can use computers to run eBooks, play PowerPoint Presentations, serve as word processors, etc... Great schools have students and teachers rebuild them. The Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach even gives refurbished machines to students that don't have their own computer at home. Advertise for old equipment in your student newsletters, the local paper, flyers to local businesses, etc... Stress how the donations may be tax deductible. 5. Collect Celebrity Autographs for Fun and Profit--Parents can do the most amazing things. For just a few stamps and some acid-free paper (your media center specialist and art teacher will know all about acid-free paper) your school can put together a fundraiser that is simply amazing. Getting students involved as part of a Language Arts project makes this rewarding in more ways than one. Click here for the details. 6. Write grants--Parents can do the most amazing things. One of those things is writing grants. There are literally hundreds of grant opportunities that schools can be a part of. The problem is finding someone to write the things. Getting parents involved in this process can be rewarding beyond everyone's wildest imagination. Education Week is a great source for grant opportunities. (Every school media center should have a copy.) |
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| What can one parent do? Public schools need help, but what can one parent do? Ask a public school teacher. Teachers know exactly what their classrooms need. That’s the message behind “Flowers for Schools,” a program developed by a middle school teacher in Palm Beach County. Dennis Yuzenas has taught in public schools for 15 years and he knows exactly what runs through the mind of a parent. “When you first walk toward the entrance of a typical school, what do you see?” he asks. “You see big NO WELCOME signs like Visitors must report to the front office. That’s intimidating to many people. It doesn’t sound like a message of welcome.” “Schools can do more to show the way to parents, to give parents a reason for coming to the school. Parents should be on campus at least once a week, not once a year for Parents night. That’s why I created this checklist for parents, to give them six reasons for being on campus.” Here are six “things to do”: 1. Become a Cable in the Classroom Video Archivist--There is a project called Cable in the Classroom that offers free video resources and lesson plans for every subject under the sun. Parents can take turns taping the programs, downloading the lesson plans from www.CIConline.com. 2. Press Liaison--Parents can send articles to the local newspapers. 3. Sponsor a Don't Come Event--The Non-Event Fundraiser. Wouldn't it be great to drop all the pretense and have a fundraiser that makes money for the school and not some professional fundraiser company? 4. Get Tech Donations--Parents can rescue old computers from the dumpster! Every classroom can use older computers to run eBooks, play PowerPoint Presentations, serve as word processors, etc. 5. Collect Celebrity Autographs for Fun and Profit—and create a fundraising auction with the proceeds going to education. 6. Write grants-- There are literally hundreds of grant opportunities that schools can be a part of. Getting parents involved in this process can be rewarding beyond everyone's wildest imagination. (Note to Media: Please feel free to reprint anything on this page. The six points above can have a profound change in a school's ability to deliver good teaching. The Pentagon operates schools on military bases and requires its parents to put volunteer hours in the classroom, at least 10 hours a month. We need the same from parents... and this checklist shows how to volunteer for the school in evenings and weekends.) Each point is explained more fully on the Internet at www.oocities.org/teachers2teachers/parents.html. Mr. Yuzenas maintains a web site called www.whatdoyaknow.com where teachers and parents can find interesting supplements for textbooks – tools to make history and social studies more interesting. Segments on math and science are planned for release in early 2003. |
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