I need some ideas about involving the community in my classroom. So far I have invited them to my class and then we wrote letters to them about what we learned. I need to keep involving the community in my class an on-going basis and need some ideas to do this.
Do you teach anything about careers? You can have a policeman, fireman, banker, public librarian, pizza maker, etc. come in and talk to the kids. How about working with a local charity, invite them in and have them tell the kids about their cause. Then have the kids do a project to support the charity. Have the mayor (or other city employee) come in and tell the kids how the city is run, then follow up with a field trip to the city hall.
I forgot to mention that I can't take a field trip and whatever I do has show impact on student learning.
We do Are You Smarter Than A Sixth Grader monthly. We decide on someone from the community to invite to class, and I make up questions based on what we have been doing in class. Then that person comes in and basically plays the same game as the TV show (only without the million). Incidentally, they are usually NOT as smart as a sixth grader, which is insanely funny to my kids. (I warn the volunteer of this before hand and make sure they are good sports.) We have had our principal, super, a parent who is also an occasional substitute, the HS basketball coach, and several business people around town. I may have gotten this idea from someone on here, I can't remember. If you have youngers, this may not work as well, but you could modify somehow...
Who have you had come to your room so far? Police officers can do some pretty cool presentations, so can fireman. They can bring hands-on items to engage students. It's also good for public safety. (sp?)
What are you studying? Our local meteorologists will come in and do experiments and demonstrations related to weather. How about college kids? One of the local universities has drama students that travel to elementary schools to put on skits about different issues like bullying, cyber-safety and the like.
