Welcome to the Family Resource Center. The Family Resource Center was created to meet the literacy needs of USD #480 Parents and Teachers. Our goal is to service district families in a variety of areas with the purpose of increasing family literacy and student scores through parental involvement. Parental involvement and family fiteracy are proven to directly affect the National test scores of students. Often parents become frustrated and discouraged trying to enhance or improve their child's development. There are many causes for this frustration. One reason for this frustration is, not knowing how to help the child or where to find the resources to help. In the past, a teacher would express a concern about an area academically and ask the parent to 'work with' the child. The parent would go home with a desire to help but feeling frustrated because they did not know where to find the resources or 'know-how' to carry out the task.

The Family Resource Center bridges this gap by working as a liaison between parents and teacher, we are able to direct parents and assist them in finding activities to make or items to borrow from our lending library that will enhance their child's learning. We are also able to provide support for parents in many areas including; discipline, encouraging reading and language development, and learning English if necessary. The Family Resource Center offers several services in order to bridge this gap. In the 'Make It, Take It' section we have hundreds of activity 'recipes' for the parent to choose from. The activities are designed for the parent to make and then take home to use with the child. Most materials needed to make these activities are sold in the Family Resource Center at our cost. Most activities can be made for less than $1.00. Activities address a number of skill areas, however our main focus is the Mathematics and Communications areas of learning. For instance, 'Ship Shape' is the title of one of the Preschool level activities. It addresses skill areas the child needs to master in Preschool, knowing shapes and colors. Playing the game also prepares the child for learning math and for reading through sorting, matching and, key to their development for successful learning, listening and following instructions. This activity cost only thirty-seven cents to make. Another activity is geared toward 2nd grade students and up. "Shake-A-Fact" is a math game using an empty egg carton and 2 or more dried beans. The child shakes the carton allowing the beans to fall into the carton at random. Then, for instance, the child is working on multiplication facts; he would multiply the numbers indicated by the beans. This is simple drilling, but because of the game like concept is more enjoyable for the student. The cost for this activity would be less than five cents.

Children are always welcome in the Family Resource Center. A children's area is available for the children to play and read while the parent works on an activity, and at specified times an attendant is on duty to provide supervision and activities.

Another aspect of the room is the Lending Library. We have over 1000 items that the parent can check out and take home for the child to play with. All of the items have been selected to enhance the educational and skill development of the child. For instance we have floor scooters that help develop gross motor skills and "Magna Force" a magnetic tower game that develops problem solving skills, color recognition, matching and fine motor skills. We have several children's books and software. Along with the children's items we have parenting books and videos that encourage and inform parents of all aged children. Items are checked out for two weeks, limited to 4 items per household at a time. There are on fees for using the Lending Library. A staff member will ask for some personal information during your initial visit and thereafter it's just a matter of giving staff your name.

We also provide services that are more directed toward the parent. We offer a monthly workshop at the Family Resource Center. Most workshops are free of charge. Topics vary from making an activity together, to parenting issues such as how to handle difficult children. We encourage pre-enrollment in order to assist us in planning, but walk-ins are always welcome. Childcare and a Spanish interpreter are available. Transportation is also available from specified locations, (pre-enrollment is required for transportation).