We honor parents as the student's first and most important teacher.  It is our desires to develop a home-school partnership that will empower parents to feel comfortable supporting their students mastering the Indiana Academic Standards.  Parents and extended family members are encouraged to participate in the following activities:

 Back to School Night: "Everything You Want to Know About Kindergarten" is held in August before the school year begins.  This is a day set aside for parents to meet the teachers, tour the building, and find out about routine procedures of the school. 

 Parent University : Parent University (PU) is held twice each school year.  The August PU allows parents to be introduced to the character-building curriculum provided by the ELC school counselor.  At this meeting our Speech & Language Pathologist reviews letters and sounds with parents and discusses the importance of phonemic awareness.  The January PU helps parents understand the development of phonemic writing and the benefits of playing board games with their children.  Child care for infants and toddlers is provided for parents while attending Parent University.

 Family Fun Nights: Family Fun Nights are held three times each school year.  In September our first Family Fun night is held at the Jennings County Public Library.  Included in the evening's activities are guest readers, a library scavenger hunt, a Safe Kids booth, crafts, and refreshments.  Each child attending receives a free book. This activity introduces our ELC students to the Sea of Readers campaign, which is a take home reader program. 

 Sea of Readers : This campaign allows each student to build a home library by making books and taking them home to read to friends and family.  By the end of the school year the students have a library of 30 + books in their school-home libraries.  Each take home book has 4-5 school work activities for the student and his/her parents to complete at home.  These activities reinforce the IAS that are being emphasized during each specific grading period.  A "Reading Celebration" is held at the end of each grading period for students who completed the proper number of books.  Students attending the celebration receive a free Scholastic Book to add to their home library. 

 Included in our Family Fun Night activities are the 100 Days of School Celebration which is held at the ELC in late January, and in April an Earth Day Open House is held for parents and family members to examine the many projects developed by our students.

 VIP Guest: Each classroom hosts "Invite a Guest to School" activities throughout the school year.  Students are allowed to invite a family member or a family friend to come to school to participate in a special class activity.  Activities may include making seasonal decorations, hosting a sing a-long, making folder games, playing board games ,and many additional "kid friendly" activities that encourage learning and support the IAS.

 Parent Lending Library:   In an effort to assist parents in supporting learning and mastery of the Indiana Academic Standards, the ELC has developed a lending library specifically for parents.  Available in the Parent Lending Library are Lakeshore Take Home Packs for Reading, Math, and Science skills.  Each pack contains a book, manipulatives, and directions for six activities that parents and children can do together.

 Software is available for both Apple and PCs that supports mathematics and language arts skills.  Resources on parenting, child development and topics for parents with special needs children are available in books, videos and DVDs.