Every Day Can Be a Valuable Day

Get involved in or start a community or school arts project.

Call 1-877-KIDS-NOW or visit www.hcfa.gov to learn more about the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Volunteer to be a math or reading tutor over the summer.

Encourage parent-child reading efforts in schools and community organizations. Remember to highlight successes through newsletters and special ceremonies.

Volunteer to be a mentor.

Work with community and youth groups to start or expand an after-school program. Contact 1-800-USA-LEARN for ideas and information.

Learn more about nutrition assistance programs. Visit www.fns.usda.gov or call 703-305-2286.

Turn off the TV! Spend time reading, playing games, talking, singing, and just having fun together.

Start a reading club in your neighborhood.

Volunteer with your child at a soup kitchen to serve meals to those in need.

Organize community workshops on diversity. Involve persons from all segments of the community to share their talents.

Advocate for better education--encourage teachers, parents, principals, superintendents, and school boards to set and maintain high standards.

Share your computer expertise by volunteering in the classroom, on technology planning teams, or organizing training for teachers and parents.

Collaborate with the local hospital to sponsor a community health fair. Provide booths on child safety, children's health insurance, and drug and alcohol prevention.

Sponsor a financial aid night to provide information on funding a college education for students and families.

Join the Favorite Poem Project. For more information, contact the Library of Congress at (202) 707-2905 or visit http://www.poets.org

Write a note of appreciation to your school nurse.

Help schools develop "rules of the road" for safe Internet use.

Have your child cut out comic strips and rearrange them into his/her own story.

Read the newspaper with your child. Pick a topic and discuss local as well as national articles related to this topic.

Have your child swap a favorite book with a friend.

Start a journal of books that your family reads together. Draw your favorite parts of the stories in the journal.

For a listing of good books, visit the American Library Association Web site at http://ala8.ala.org/parents/ or call 1-800-545-2433.

Start using a chalkboard or message board in the kitchen to write weekly "words to look up" or famous quotes or sayings.

Use your journal of favorite stories to record new entries and draw new stories.

Encourage students to read or write for 30 minutes a day. Contact 1-877-4ED-Pubs for materials.

Start a new summer reading program. Reach out to families and community members who are not currently involved in children's education and encourage them to get involved in your new program.

Invite families and community members into the classroom to read a story in their native language. Have the teacher read the same story in English.

Arrange for students and teachers to visit businesses in the community to generate interest in careers.

Conduct school tours for community partners (employers, community groups, and the media) to familiarize them with the school building and resources.

Invite Grandparents in to the school for lunch, classroom visits, and tours of the school.

Send a "Take Home Bag" instructions for hands-on activities for parents and children.

Talk with parents about developing a parent resource center to reinforce parenting skills, literacy, and career training.

Have students plant a school garden. Do research on what types of flowers grow best in your area and let students be involved in the planning and selection of plants.

Have students study different countries and do reports, exhibits, or prepare food dishes from those countries. Start a "student exchange" program via the Internet.

Build partnerships with local employers to provide tutors, mentors and work study sites for older students.

Put up bright, colorful welcome signs in the school to invite students and parents in on the first day.

Invite fathers and mothers to school to discuss their careers and to mentor students.

Have a Family Fun Day organized by parents and invite the entire community to participate. Let students distribute flyers to announce the event.

Sponsor a "Read Together" breakfast for families and students before school.

Organize a focus group to improve and modernize school facilities. Involve community members, families, employers and school officials.

Take students to perform at a senior citizens' center or nursing home, or invite senior citizens to your school for a special concert.

Give personal "good news" notes or phone calls to every parent during the school year.

Sponsor a Family Math Night where parents and children participate in hands-on activities.

Visit a museum that offers children levers to pull, lights to switch on, buttons to push, animals to stroke, or experiments to do.

Go to a planetarium with your child. Use the telescopes to view planets and see the "sky" or step on scales to learn what you'd weigh on other planets.

Explore the five senses. Look around your home for objects that use the five senses. What senses do you use most?

Find Internet sites of interest at the American Library Association's 50+ Great Sites for Kids & Parents at ala8.ala.org/parentspage.

Visit B.J. Pinchbeck's Homework Helper at www.tristate.pgh.net with your child.

Go on a walk and collect natural materials such as acorns and leaves to use for "fall" art projects.

Talk with your child about good eating habits and physical activity. Visit www.healthfinder.gov or call (800) 336-4797.

Take your child grocery shopping with you. Discuss the importance of nutrition and healthy eating habits.

Visit the Franklin Institute Science Museum Web site at http://sln.fi.edu/.

Place a globe or world map near the TV and use it to locate places discussed on television programs, or use a U.S. map to follow the travels of your favorite sports team.

Talk with your child about American history and have them tell you what they have been discussing on this topic in school.

While walking through your town with your child, look at buildings and talk about ways older buildings differ from those of today. What are some reasons for these changes?

Ask your teenager's opinion about a teen-related topic or political issue.

Design your own cereal. Use cereal boxes in your home as examples. Discuss what food labels tell and make a label for your imaginary cereal.

Go for a nature walk. Take an empty egg carton to collect treasures along the way. Glue the things you find on paper and label them.

Gather and share family stories through snapshots, jewelry, or other heirlooms. Participate in the "My History is America's History" initiative by visiting http://www.neh.gov/.

Listen to a selection classical music with your child or attend a school or community concert.

Use pictures from books and magazines to associate geographic terms with visual images. For example, "volcano" with a picture of one.

Make a book of family holiday traditions with your child.

Have your child practice different drawing techniques using lines, shapes, and colors.

Listen to music with your child and/or visit http://www.playmusic.org.

Create a musical instrument out of items found around your home. Play with recorded music or as your own rhythm band.

Help your child record special moments from his/her life. Think of creative ways to display the information.

Use a journal to record stories and histories of your mother, father, grandparents, and great grandparents.

Encourage your child to write notes, letters, and emails to older relatives and friends during the summer.

Make a word web. Choose a word such as automobile and write it in the center of a sheet of paper. Have your child think of other words like "wheels" or "fast" that tell more about the word and add them to the web.

Practice printing or handwriting with your child. Make a certificate for a job well done.

Write the evening news or local weather forecast with your child. Let him/her pretend to report the news for the entire family.

Encourage a child to teach a friend something he or she is good at, such as dancing, skating, or riding a bike.

Go on an electronic field trip! Climb Mt. Everest or explore the inside of the Pyramids with PBS at http://www.pbs.org

Visit the zoo, park or state/national forest with your child. Choose your favorite animal and come home and use stones to make a "pet rock" of that animal.

Map your home or block. Have your child pretend to be a bird overhead and use that view to redraw the map.

Read about your state flag and bird, then have your child draw pictures of them.

Visit a farm with your child. While there, identify different animals and food crops. Discuss the different types of farms such as dairy or vegetable.

Put on your apron and make a favorite family recipe. Let your child do the measuring and mixing.

Make up a story with your child. Take turns telling parts of the story until you decide to end it.

Start or participate in a Groundhog Job Shadow Day at your workplace. Visit www.jobshadow.org or call (202) 401-6222.

Advocate in the workplace for family-friendly policies. Encourage employers to provide time off to employees to volunteer in schools.

Get school and business leaders together to share leadership and management experiences.

Participate in Take Our Children to Work Day.

Help your child draw a scale drawing of her room showing doors, windows, and cut-out furniture. One inch to one foot is a good scale. She can use it to try different arrangements of furniture.

Talk with your child about things that are measured in metric units. For instance, soft drinks are often sold in bottles that hold one liter.

Explore this Web site with your child: http://mathforum.org/~steve/.

Use an apple or an orange to discuss the concept of fractions with your child. Cut the fruit into different sizes and explain their value in fractions.

While at the gas station, ask you child, "if gas costs $1.19/gallon, how many gallons can we buy for $10.00?" When the dial reads $10.00 see how close you were.

Have a "shape contest" with toothpicks. Give every family member the same number of toothpicks. See how many combinations of shapes can be made.

Help children do mental math with lots of small numbers until they develop quick and accurate responses.

Talk with your child about mathematics in baseball. Ask a first grader, "If we're behind 3 to 7, how many runs must we score to win?" With a fifth or sixth grader, relate batting averages to percentages.

While walking with your second grader in the city, ask "If we're on 17^th St. now, how many more blocks is it to 25^th St.?"

Help students think about college and financial aid searches early. Visit www.ed.gov/finaid.html or call 1-800-4-FED-AID.

Start a series of weekend seminars for middle and high school students and their parents to discuss how to prepare academically and financially for college.

Help your middle and high school students with course selection to ensure that he/she is taking the right courses to prepare for college.