Community members involved in the classroom?

Question

How can you involve community members in the classroom to enrich the students learning?

Any tips or suggestions?

Answer 1

Have you considered inviting grandparents to your classes? When they live close by they can become a great resource for classroom sharing with children information on their jobs (or what they used to do), talking about history moments that they lived through (moon landing and stuff like that), etc. I did an activity with a kinder group where a different grandparent came to school every day for 2 weeks and they shared with children a story from when they were the students' age and the games they used to play. Grandparents are sometimes more available than parents who have to work and really grateful of being involved in their grandchildren's education.

Answer 2

First, you can send notices home to parents inviting them to come and speak to your class.
You can also contact local community members, such as a dentist, doctor, real estate agent, or whom ever you are interested in coming in to share by either letter or phone. Phone would be the best, you get answers quicker.