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Welcome to Lights On

For the past few years our school has had a homework help/completion program afterschool and this year our Special Services Department in our school district began an afterschool program for at-risk students. I had worked at a similiar program in Illinois before I relocated to Missouri. For everyone else this was a new event.

For our program we notified the principal/superintendent, and other business leaders in our area to invite them to share in this special night celebrating afterschool programs. Our event was a family night and started with a time of refreshments and "Greet the Teacher" time. Then we discussed both afterschool programs provided by our district and followed that with a brief explanation of the Afterschool Alliance and Lights on Afterschool. Then we went into the fun part of our event. Each teacher set up a center which included a fall themed book and a craft or activitiy that went along with the book. The families were encouraged to go to each place and hear the story and make the craft. We read books like "There was an old Woman who Swallowed a Bat" and made flapping bats. We read ghoulish books and each person was allowed to make their own "Ghoul finger Pen" out of Crayola Model Magic and fake fingernails. You get the idea! All of the families who attended had a great time and thanked us for providing such positive programs for our students. It was nice for us as well to hear such appreciation for the work to do to ensure our students find learning a fun and rewarding experience.

Teresa Poe, Jill Hosick, Abigail Warden, & Jerri Wright - Franklin County R2 School, New Haven, MO

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