Community of Caring Value of the Month: Family

    This month's core value is FAMILY.   We discuss with the students that the idea of family varies from home to home.   There is no one definition of family.   It is a unit that provides love, support, encouragement to one another.  The family teaches values and carries on traditions.  Families come in all sizes, shapes and colors.

    The notion of family can be extended here to Westbrook where the students follow the Community of Caring values.   We often refer to being part of the Westbrook family by demonstrating respect, caring, and encouragement to everyone in the school community.  Thank you so much for being such an integral part of our Westbrook Community of Caring.

    Mrs. Pickle

    My Family
    By Judy Spain Barton

    Family is a special place,
    It's where I know I belong.
    There's lots of love and comfort there,
    A place that's safe from harm.
    Families live inside your heart,
    It's all that stuff that you share-
    The happy and the sad things,
    and all the love and care.
    It's not just moms and dads, you know,
    It's anyone you choose.
    It's brothers, aunts, and grandpas,
    Even friends can be family, too.
    So it's not the "who" that really counts,
    It's someone whose always there.
    Anytime you need them,
    They're always there to care.

    Some fun ideas to do as a family include:

    • board game night
    • movie night (children pick the movie..mom and dad make the popcorn)
    • bicycle riding along the trail
    • make a bird feeder
    • think of a charity that everyone could contribute their spare change to and then deliver the money to the organization
    • plan a scavenger hunt inside or outside in the yard (I do one for my children on Valentine's day)
    • picnic by a lake and take out canoes or paddle boats
    • visit a wonderful museum in Washington
    • check out the cherry blossoms in the spring
    • read books aloud
    • play charades
    • play "start a story"- one person starts the story and talks for three minutes and then the next person must continue the story and so on
    • camp in your backyard
    • make a family art project with scraps and odds and ends from around your house and then display it (we have done this in our home on three occasions and the kids love to show them to everyone who visits)
    • go to the zoo
    • bake cookies
    • finger paint on waxed or glazed paper-use chocolate pudding -- fun and yummy, too!