View and purchase photos

By Thomas Celona
Staff Writer

Shady Grove Elementary School held an Ambler Celebration at West Side Park Aug. 20, bringing students and families from Ambler together for its first P.A.C.T. event.

Teachers from the school served up water ice and soft pretzels and passed out back-to-school supplies, while students and their parents enjoyed an evening at the park and had the chance to talk with some of the teachers.

Administrators and teachers from Shady Grove organized the event to help form connections between the school and its families as part of the newly developed P.A.C.T. program, which stands for Parents and Community Together.

"We want to make connections with the family members, not just the children," said reading specialist Lynn Marta, who was on hand to serve up water ice.

For this event, the school's focus was on students and families from the Borough of Ambler.

"The idea is we want to go out into the community of Ambler," Principal Beth Bauer said.

While many of the students at Shady Grove live in areas of Lower Gwynedd and Whitpain townships, many students living in the borough attend Shady Grove for fourth and fifth grade after spending kindergarten through third grade at Mattison Avenue Elementary School.

The school sent letters to approximately 75 students living in the Ambler area, inviting them to the event. The school followed up with parents with a global connect phone call Aug. 19, reminding them of the event.

"For some of our students' parents, it's very difficult for them to get to our school," Bauer said, noting Shady Grove's distance from the borough and parents' work schedules can often prevent them from making a connection to the school. "We thought by coming to them, that might make it a bit easier."

In addition to forging connections between the school and the families, the event aimed to motivate students to succeed during the upcoming school year.

Teachers at the event had contracts for the students and parents to sign in the start of a yearlong initiative.

"The parents and their children sign a contract saying they're going to do their best to maintain homework and attendance throughout the year," Bauer said.

The school is planning three events during the school year when it will acknowledge the students who have followed the contract, maintaining perfect attendance and homework completion, according to Bauer.

"It'll keep motivation going, keep them doing their homework, keep good attitudes," assistant fourth-grade teacher Anne Wartman said.

"If it's ongoing and people will be checking up, I'm sure it's a motivational factor," parent Nick Bruni said.

Bauer said the school hopes these contracts will help students focus on succeeding in the classroom.

"We've been talking about high expectations for all students," she said.

The school also passed out packages of back-to-school supplies to students who attended the event.

"We did apply and receive a small grant through the Wissahickon Educational Opportunities Foundation, and throughout the summer, myself and others made frequent trips to Staples and Office Max and other places when they were having their best sales," Bauer said.

Madelyn Robertson, 9, said she was excited to open her package.

"I got two folders, markers, pencils — lots of cool stuff," she said.

Madelyn's parents, Mike Robertson and Christine Munck, said they were excited to hear about the Ambler Celebration and the planned events throughout the school year.

"We couldn't miss our back-to-school celebration," Munck said. "This is going to be our first full school year here ... so it's nice to know they're going to have these events for us to get involved in."

Before parents left, teachers and administrators asked them to complete a survey about the event and the P.A.C.T. program to receive feedback since this is the program's first year.

Marta said she was excited about the upcoming P.A.C.T. programs throughout the year and the impact it will have on students' learning.

"It's to celebrate the little things that will add up," she said.

We encourage your feedback and dialog. All comments are moderated by the editors. We ask you to follow a few simple guidelines when commenting on stories on MontgomeryNews.com.
1) Please post responsibly.
2) Be polite.
3) Don't hate.
4) If you object to someone's post, use the "Report Abuse" button and we'll review it.
5) Users who don't play by the rules will be blocked and won't be allowed to participate.
6) Self-promotion of businesses or advertisements of anything for sale are not permitted.

Name:

Email: (optional)

Comments:

Image Verification: (Case sensitive)