Brightwood ES Home Page: Mission Statement

In our attempt to bridge the gap between home and school and strengthen our sense of community, Brightwood is in the second year of implementing the Family Literacy Initiative, facilitated by the Family Literacy committee, comprised of 25 individuals who represent a range of teachers and school personnel, with additional outside volunteers from DCPS central administration, DC Public Libraries, Sidwell Friends School and Phi Delta Kappa, Incorporated.

Some of the components of the Family Literacy Initiative include:

Semiannual bilingual Family Literacy Nights during which families and staff come together to share the joys of reading, writing, listening and speaking while sharing games, music, art, gifts and dinner. Be sure to check out our photo albums (in "Classroom Connections") to get a glimpse of some of the great activities that took place at our Fall and Spring Literacy Nights!
English and Spanish language courses for staff and parents.
Spanish translations of all information sent home to parents and Spanish translators present at all parent and community meetings
Monthly PRIME DC math and Ready to Learn reading parent workshops which offer suggestions for helping students learn at home
Parenting workshops offered monthly by our bilingual counselor.

Goals associated with the Family Literacy Initiative:

Helping students and their families enjoy and appreciate reading together
Establishing a strong multicultural multilingual resource center in our school where we can help our families help themselves by providing literacy, language, and parenting support in addition to employment resources.
Fostering an environment where families feel welcomed and wanted and are active in the classroom, and know the curriculum of their children and how to help them.
Promoting an atmosphere of fun and learning where children feel a personal connection to reading and writing and school in general because the line between home and school is blurred
Developing a school culture where parents and teachers work together to ensure that a child feels loved and is learning all day, everyday, seven days a week.
Encouraging bilingualism and planning a bilingual education program
Fomenting a spirit of cooperation so our staff can work together as a team to deliver the best instruction possible.

We are now in Phase Two of our Family Literacy Initiative as we strive to achieve our goals. Phase Two is a collaborative effort entitled:

Brightwood FLIPS
Family Literacy Involves Parents in School
Familias Lectoras son Importantes en Promover la Superación

Brightwood FLIPS is a bilingual family literacy initiative, where families and teachers come together on a consistent basis to read, write, and share their family experiences in a fun and inviting setting, producing family journals and an anthology of family stories in English and Spanish. As families circulate interactive community journals and share their tales and traditions both orally and in writing at bimonthly group meetings, the involvement of parents, students, and school staff helps hone home-school links and improve student literacy.

Highlights of FLIPS include:

Open to all
Kickoff celebration held at our Fall Family Literacy Night in November, 2002
Ten bimonthly community meetings where families read about traditions and celebrations and share their own
Each classroom circulates an interactive community journal
Parents and their children share and record stories together that are special to them, helping improve literacy skills and blur the home-school line.
Families share, learn, and practice, specific reading comprehension skills including discussing texts, doing picture walks, making predictions, asking open-ended questions, dramatization, and relating stories to our daily lives.
Creation of FLIPS anthology, a collection of family stories produced by our community
Publication, display and sharing of anthology and oral stories at spring celebration during the Spring Family Literacy Night in May, 2003
The school furnishes a stipend and free books for families that participate
Parents are invited into classrooms to help with curriculum
Language and literacy support for those who need it
much, much more.

Literature used in the program:

"The First Thing My Mama Told Me" by Susan Marie Swanson
"Tar Beach" by Faith Ringgold
"Stellaluna" by Jannell Cannon
"A Gift from Papá Diego" by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
"Family Pictures" by Carmen Lomas Garza
"I Love Saturdays y Domingos" by Alama Flor Ada

Participants: