When our teachers conducted their home visits last August, they asked the families to create a heart for this school display. On the first week of school, students brought them in and we built this huge mural that takes up the whole front hallway. It’s the first thing you see when you walk up to the building.

This project is part of our deliberate attention to parent engagement. We want our families to understand their role as their child’s first teacher, and we want them to be excited to send their child to school every day. Every morning when they drop their children off, they see themselves. They are reminded that education happens in school and the home. School is an extension of the home environment, not a separate place where they drop their kids off every morning and pick up in the afternoon. When parents are involved in the education process, when they feel connected to the school community, they are more likely to work closely with their children on academics in the home. The children of these families perform better on academic assessments. So it’s a win-win. The more we can involve parents, the more the students are able to learn, and the better the school environment.

This art project sends a clear message: we’re all in this together.

By the way, each year we feature a new project – the past two years, we’ve had the gratitude tree and the gratitude garden. It’s not about the project as much as it is about making a clear decision to have a prominent display of our families right at the front of the school.