Active Parenting for School Success

Parents will learn seven smart things active parents can do to help their children succeed in school, from being active in the school community to structuring homework time.

Provider:  Home City Families

Attendance Matters

Participants will learn the Springfield Public Schools attendance policy and procedures, the affects of poor attendance and how to build the habit of good attendance.

Provider:  Springfield Public Schools

Autism- Know the Signs/Act Early

This course is designed to offer basic information on possible indicators, physical presentations and red flags that may signal a diagnosis of autism. Typical development will also be highlighted over a span of birth to five years of age (the typical time span for early detection). Cultural belief and practices will also be discussed as possible inhibitors of early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.

Provider: No Small Victories

Baby and Me Massage

Infant Massage is a tool that is proven to improve baby’s immune system, ensure healthy weight gain, improve muscle tone, relieve stress and anxiety, stimulate motor development, stimulate cognitive development and much more. This course is taught over 3 weeks (1-hour long class per week) to give both the parent and baby time to learn and become comfortable with massage. Each week we will learn strokes for a new part of the body while reviewing strokes from previous classes. Each session new strokes are learned and previous information is reinforced. Teaching a little at a time to ensure that parent and caregiver are confident with every aspect. Babes are welcome and encouraged to be brought to class so that the parent can practice the techniques and get support with their baby present. If a baby is unavailable or unwilling to cooperate, a simulation (doll) can be used and will be provided.

Provider: Charlen Benoit

B.E. H.E.A.R.D.

This workshop will provide participants with principles for effective communication with teachers and school staff so that they can B.E. H.E.A.R.D. As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher. You and your child’s school have something in common: You both want your child to learn and do well. When parents and teachers talk to each other, each person can share important information about your child’s talents and needs. Each person can also learn something new about how to help your child.

Provider:  Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Division

Bullying Kills Dreams

This workshop will offer insight about the negative impact of bullying and the potential consequences. Parents will also be educated on how to prevent bullying and how to detect verbal and physical signs of bullying.

Provider: Tremaine France

Cooking Matters for Parents

Cooking Matters for Parents teaches participants how to raise healthy eaters, get kids to love their fruits and veggies, involve their kids in the planning, shopping, and cooking of healthy meals. Each Cooking Matters course teaches kids and parents important lessons about self-sufficiency in the kitchen. Participants practice fundamental lessons including knife skills, reading ingredient labels, and making a healthy meal for a family of four on a $10 budget. This course is a six week series.

Provider: Cooking Matters Massachusetts

Cooking Well with a Microwave

This workshop will provide you with nutritional guidance, tips for making healthy meals in your microwave, basic microwave safety and cooking techniques. Each participant will receive a copy of our Microwave Cookbook.

Provider:  The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

Diabetes Prevention and Management

In this workshop, participants will learn about Diabetes basics, reading food labels, managing blood sugar levels, counting carbohydrates and tips for overcoming barriers to changing eating patterns.

Provider:  The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

Find Your Voice: Fatherhood and Family

This course is designed to help fathers identify their role in the lives of their families and understand how their beliefs and values influence their behavior and relationships with their families. Fathers will also hear stories from other fathers regarding parenting with valuable information to help them grow as fathers.

Provider: TrueDaddy.org

Finding the Best Fit for Your Child

Potential and current Springfield Public School students must be registered for school and follow a balloting process to select Magnet and High Schools.  This workshop will walk you through the process and requirements for selecting a magnet school, high school or preschool that best fits your child’s needs.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Center

Heart Healthy Eating

During this workshop you will learn about reading nutrition labels, reducing sodium in cooking without losing flavor and choosing healthier types of fats and carbohydrates. The workshop will provide you with delicious meal and snack ideas.

Provider:  The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

Homework Help: A Recipe for Student Success

It’s a fact! Children who do homework do better in school. Homework reinforces learning. It gives children a chance to catch up if they are behind, and it gives those who are doing well a chance to go deeper into the subject. So, if homework is such a good thing, why is it such a family headache? Come and find out how both you and your children can win the homework battle!

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

How to Be Together when NO One Can Agree

Is it hard to find time to be together as a family? And when you do find time, is it hard to know how you want to be together? Is it hard to agree on what that might be? This presentation will teach 5 common challenges that can create disconnection in a family and 5 steps you can take to turn that around. How you can shift your family time from less frequent and satisfying to more regular, connected and peaceful.

Provider: Nancy Francisco

How to Survive the Teenage Years

This course will highlight the lingo and behaviors of teens that parents should be aware of, and how to navigate difficult conversations and situations, so that the relationship is preserved.

Provider: First Chance Life Coaching

Keeping Privates Private

Keeping Privates Private is intended to teach parents (and other adults concerned about the well-being of children) how to protect children from sexual abuse. All participants will receive a free copy of a children’s book on body safety. The focus of the Cafe will be learning how to use the book to talk to pre-school and early elementary aged kids about staying safe from sexual abuse.

Provider: The Prevention Collaborative, A Program of the Baystate Family Advocacy Center

Laugh for the Health of It: Creating Healthy Lifestyles Through Laughter

“Laugh For the Health of It: Creating Healthy Lifestyles through Laughter” is a structured, action oriented, systematic, and highly interactive program that creates enjoyment and camaraderie. It is a community based health and wellness activity meant in creating strategies in keeping people happy, healthy and productive. Current research states that when people lighten up and are less stressed, there is a significant increase in positive attitudes and behaviors. Wellness is a serious issue in our society where stress-related illnesses are frequent terms of discussion. Anxiety and stress are two of the leading mental health challenges facing people today. This Program addresses these issues by teaching self-care strategies for healthy attitudes and behaviors. As a Certified Laughter Leader, (CLL) and Laughter Wellness Leader, Trevor Smith facilitates the program in a supportive, non-judgmental environment. At the end of the program, participants will be able to: reduce daily stress to allow for greater productivity and efficiency, develop a positive attitude towards self and others (reduce hardening of the attitudes and foster flexible, open, creative thinking), foster trust, team building and better communication, improve social connections/networks, discover a new sense of mental balance and perspective, learn and apply the six principles of Good Hearted Living, and identify emotions and attitudes that improve health, happiness and overall well being

Provider: Blue Sky Consulting

Middle School:  Choosing The Right School For Your Child

Although Springfield Public Schools has an assignment plan that determines a student’s Middle school placement based upon his/her address, Students may elect to sign up for a Magnet school. Find out what these options are and what the process is to ballot for a chance at one of these schools.

Provider:  Springfield Public Schools

More than the Birds and the Bees: Talking to Children About Sex

This course will look at communication strategies for parents, from infancy through adolescence that can help families prepare children to deal with sexual issues in their lives. We will look at the importance of families’ choices of parenting strategy, parent-child communication style, parent roll modeling, and choice of what information to share when can help children make good decisions in an ever more sexual society.

Provider: The Prevention Collaborative, A Program of the Baystate Family Advocacy Center

Over The Counter Medication Safety

Research shows that children begin to self-medicate at around age 11—in fifth and sixth grades.
By the time they reach age 16, approximately 90 percent report taking over-the-counter (OTC) medicines on their own. If not equipped with the knowledge and training to make safe choices, mistakes can happen, leading to negative outcomes.
Our goal is to train parents and caregivers to educating their children on Reading medicine directions, Following OTC label directions, Proper measurement of medicine, Safe storage and disposal of medicine and Consulting with parent or guardian before taking medications.

Provider: APhA Operation Medication Safety

Packin’ Up…A Guide to Middle School Transition

The transition from elementary to middle school is often an exciting, yet nerve-racking time for students and parents. Packin’ Up… A Guide to Middle School Transition will give parents support in this exciting endeavor. This offering will take the stress out of middle school transition and make it the best transition for you and your child.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

Parents are Powerful

This offering explores what parents can do at home, in school, and at the school district level to ensure their children receive a quality education. Learn strategies to get involved at school and home and what key questions to ask so you receive responses from your child.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

Playgroups and Story Hours

Home City Families Playgroups and Story Hours provide opportunities for parents and their children to interact with others in a fun and relaxed setting. Our staff will provide structured activities including stories, songs, and activities to made positive interaction between parents and children. We can design the group to meet the needs of parents with children of specific ages from birth to five.

Provider: Home City Families

READY! For Kindergarten

READY! For Kindergarten is a hands-on interactive workshop for parents of children birth through five years old. Recognizing that parents are the child’s first teachers, developmental targets are reviewed so that everyday experiences can become “purposeful play”. Each class is geared toward the child’s age and includes enjoyable activities and free materials (puzzles, books, toys) for families to take home and use with their child.

Provider: Home.City.Families and Springfield Public Schools educators

Resolving Your Child’s Difficult Behavior

During this workshop, you will learn how to address your child’s challenging and persistent behaviors by using a simple yet effective problem-solving process. By the end of this workshop, you will be equipped to establish behavioral goals for your child, gather and review information, identify potential causes of misbehavior, develop a behavior management plan, and use that plan to support your child’s unique developmental needs. This workshop is appropriate for parents of children with and without disabilities.

Provider: UMASS School Psychology Program, Sarah Fefer, PhD BCBA

Responding to Dating Violence

This training provides information regarding teen dating violence. We will be discussing statistics, different forms of abuse, prevalence rates, how to appropriately work with teen victims, LGBTQ victims/barriers to receiving help, parent’s role in helping teen victim, reporting rates, the role of society, long term effects, and teen dating violence and the law. We will dedicate time at the end of the training to answer any questions about the YWCA, or teen dating violence more generally.

Provider: YWCA of Western Massachusetts

Rude vs. Mean vs. Bullying

“Bullying” is a hot topic word. Is it always used accurately? There is a real need to draw a distinction between behavior that is rude, mean and behavior that is characteristic of bullying. When we talk about bullying, we want people to take it seriously, but if everything gets labeled bullying, people stop paying attention. In this workshop you will learn what is rude, mean and bullying behavior and the Springfield Public Schools incident reporting process.

Provider:  Springfield Public Schools

Social Media 101 for Parents

Are your kids constantly on their phones, tablets, and social media? Do you want to learn what about what they might be doing on these social platforms? If your answer is yes, this workshop is for you! Learn about why kids are on social media, what apps and programs they are using, how to guard digital footprints, many useful tips, and more! Bring your questions and join us for a conversation about kids and the good, bad, and ugly sides of social media.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

Simple Steps for Creating Wellness

This course teaches participants what the likely root causes are for the lack of wellness, along with ways to make changes, one step at a time, to achieve wellness. Taking control of our wellness is not so difficult.

Provider: Self Wellness is My Bag

Steps To A Positive Resolution

This course will help the parent navigate concerns and issues in the Springfield Public Schools on behalf of your child. The workshop offers concrete suggestions to help parents make a difference in every area that influences their child’s learning experience. It also touches on the involvement of parents in their child’s education at home, in their school, and in the community.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

Structuring Home for the Best Possible Behavior

Most parents deal with whining, tantrums, or power struggles from time to time, but if you feel it’s getting out of hand or if you want to prevent problem behavior escalations in the future, attend this workshop to learn how to use basic positive behavior supports strategies to structure your time and space to promote positive behaviors. During this workshop, you will learn how to identify potential causes of misbehavior, define your family’s behavior expectations, discuss simple strategies to adjusting your household routines and schedules, and respond to child’s behavior more effectively.

Provider: UMASS School Psychology Program, Sarah Fefer, PhD BCBA

A Student & Family Guide to High School Graduation

Learn the fundamentals of graduation requirements including the high school courses students must successfully complete and the scores needed to demonstrate competency on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems (MCAS) tests. Explore options to meet these requirements such as MCAS appeals and Educational Proficiency Plans, the various types of MCAS appeals, and the requirements of each. Learn how a specialized graduation plan is developed to meet unique student needs using appropriate options.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Assessment, Research and Accountability

There is an app for that!

During this workshop parents will learn about the Springfield Public Schools Parent Portal. Parent Portal is an easy to navigate only system that will put your student’s attendance and grades right at your fingertips. Participants will learn how to create an account and how to begin using it.

Provider: Parent and Community Engagement Center

Teens and Sex – Important Information for Parents

Learn up-to-date information about HIV and STD’s in our community and about some newer birth control methods that are out there. We will also discuss about how families talk to their kids about these topics.

Provider: Gandara Center

Ways Busy Parents Can Help Their Child Succeed

To busy to help your child succeed? We can help! This session will provide the busy parent with practical parent engagement tips for increasing positive communication between home and school.

Provider: Parent and Community Engagement Center

Autism- Know the Signs/Act Early

This course is designed to offer basic information on possible indicators, physical presentations and red flags that may signal a diagnosis of autism. Typical development will also be highlighted over a span of birth to five years of age (the typical time span for early detection). Cultural belief and practices will also be discussed as possible inhibitors of early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.

Provider: No Small Victories

Baby and Me Massage

Infant Massage is a tool that is proven to improve baby’s immune system, ensure healthy weight gain, improve muscle tone, relieve stress and anxiety, stimulate motor development, stimulate cognitive development and much more. This course is taught over 3 weeks (1-hour long class per week) to give both the parent and baby time to learn and become comfortable with massage. Each week we will learn strokes for a new part of the body while reviewing strokes from previous classes. Each session new strokes are learned and previous information is reinforced. Teaching a little at a time to ensure that parent and caregiver are confident with every aspect. Babes are welcome and encouraged to be brought to class so that the parent can practice the techniques and get support with their baby present. If a baby is unavailable or unwilling to cooperate, a simulation (doll) can be used and will be provided.

Provider: Charlen Benoit

Be SMART, an educational program on gun safety and kids

Be SMART is a program developed by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America to bring together parents and all adults concerned about kids, guns and safety. Its goal is to reduce gun violence and suicides resulting from child and teen access to unsecured firearms. The acronym SMART stands for S: secure firearms; M: model responsible behavior; A: ask about unsecured guns in other homes; R: recognize the role of guns in suicides; and T: tell your peers. It does NOT address policies or politics.

Provider:  Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America

Bullying Kills Dreams

This workshop will offer insight about the negative impact of bullying and the potential consequences. Parents will also be educated on how to prevent bullying and how to detect verbal and physical signs of bullying.

Provider: Tremaine France

CHOICES: Steps Towards Health

The University of Massachusetts Extension Nutrition Education Program promotes healthy eating by
providing nutrition and food safety education. Program participants are encouraged to reach
individual goals by making small changes over time. The curriculum emphasizes eating a variety of foods, being physically active, taste-testing healthy recipes, handling food safely and enjoying foods in moderation. Available for presentation in English or Spanish.

Provider: UMASS Extension Nutrition Education Program

Cooking Matters for Parents

Cooking Matters for Parents teaches participants how to raise healthy eaters, get kids to love their fruits and veggies, involve their kids in the planning, shopping, and cooking of healthy meals. Each Cooking Matters course teaches kids and parents important lessons about self-sufficiency in the kitchen. Participants practice fundamental lessons including knife skills, reading ingredient labels, and making a healthy meal for a family of four on a $10 budget. This course is a six week series.

Provider: Cooking Matters Massachusetts

Cooking Matters in the Store

Cooking Matters in the Store is a workshop that empowers families to stretch their food budgets so their children get healthy meals at home. Whenever feasible, participants meet at the store for an hour long tour, where participants engage in group discussion and interaction on food and nutrition topics at key locations throughout the store. (In situations where transportation is an issue, an in-class, “pop-up” tour can be scheduled). The tour culminates with a 30-minute activity called the $10 Challenge, where participants use the skills they’ve just learned to buy a healthy meal for a family of four, for under $10. Participants take home a booklet with recipes and shopping tips, a reusable grocery bag, and $10 worth of healthy groceries.

Provider: Cooking Matters Massachusetts

Cooking Well with a Microwave

This workshop will provide you with nutritional guidance, tips for making healthy meals in your microwave, basic microwave safety and cooking techniques. Each participant will receive a copy of our Microwave Cookbook.

Provider: The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

Diabetes Prevention and Management

In this workshop, participants will learn about Diabetes basics, reading food labels, managing blood sugar levels, counting carbohydrates and tips for overcoming barriers to changing eating patterns.

Provider: The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

Early Detection is the Best Prevention

This workshop focuses on preventative health. Participants will be educated on the importance of three specific cancer screenings; Breast/Cervical/Colo-rectal and will receive Information on in-depth facts about risks, ways to reduce risks and what to expect during the screenings. This is a three part workshop.

Provider: Gandara N.O.E.L. Program

Finding Information for Families in Recovery

Families in recovery deserve our respect. Coping with addition is hard work! Good information helps families understand their situation and their options. Come learn about helpful websites so that you search privately and share information with your family that you find most helpful. Topics include: addiction and the brain, how drug screening works, legal rights of people in recovery, and the amany types of treatment. Taught by a medical librarian.

Provider: Baystate Health Sciences Library

Heart Healthy Eating

During this workshop you will learn about reading nutrition labels, reducing sodium in cooking without losing flavor and choosing healthier types of fats and carbohydrates. The workshop will provide you with delicious meal and snack ideas.

Provider: The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

How to Be Together when NO One Can Agree

Is it hard to find time to be together as a family? And when you do find time, is it hard to know how you want to be together? Is it hard to agree on what that might be? This presentation will teach 5 common challenges that can create disconnection in a family and 5 steps you can take to turn that around. How you can shift your family time from less frequent and satisfying to more regular, connected and peaceful.

Provider: Nancy Francisco

Laugh for the Health of It: Creating Healthy Lifestyles Through Laughter

“Laugh For the Health of It: Creating Healthy Lifestyles through Laughter” is a structured, action oriented, systematic, and highly interactive program that creates enjoyment and camaraderie. It is a community based health and wellness activity meant in creating strategies in keeping people happy, healthy and productive. Current research states that when people lighten up and are less stressed, there is a significant increase in positive attitudes and behaviors. Wellness is a serious issue in our society where stress-related illnesses are frequent terms of discussion. Anxiety and stress are two of the leading mental health challenges facing people today. This Program addresses these issues by teaching self-care strategies for healthy attitudes and behaviors. As a Certified Laughter Leader, (CLL) and Laughter Wellness Leader, Trevor Smith facilitates the program in a supportive, non-judgmental environment. At the end of the program, participants will be able to: reduce daily stress to allow for greater productivity and efficiency, develop a positive attitude towards self and others (reduce hardening of the attitudes and foster flexible, open, creative thinking), foster trust, team building and better communication, improve social connections/networks, discover a new sense of mental balance and perspective, learn and apply the six principles of Good Hearted Living, and identify emotions and attitudes that improve health, happiness and overall well being

Provider: Blue Sky Consulting

Learning About Healthy Living/Tobacco Products

This workshop will discuss the dangers of primary, secondary and third hand tobacco smoke and products. The effects that smoke and products have on air pollution, health outcomes and risks to these exposures. Gain an understanding of harm reduction strategies and quitting methods.

Provider: Caring Health Center

 

More than the Birds and the Bees: Talking to Children About Sex

This course will look at communication strategies for parents, from infancy through adolescence that can help families prepare children to deal with sexual issues in their lives. We will look at the importance of families’ choices of parenting strategy, parent-child communication style, parent roll modeling, and choice of what information to share when can help children make good decisions in an ever more sexual society.

Provider: The Prevention Collaborative, A Program of the Baystate Family Advocacy Center

Over The Counter Medication Safety

Research shows that children begin to self-medicate at around age 11—in fifth and sixth grades.
By the time they reach age 16, approximately 90 percent report taking over-the-counter (OTC) medicines on their own. If not equipped with the knowledge and training to make safe choices, mistakes can happen, leading to negative outcomes.
Our goal is to train parents and caregivers to educating their children on Reading medicine directions, Following OTC label directions, Proper measurement of medicine, Safe storage and disposal of medicine and Consulting with parent or guardian before taking medications.
Provider: APhA Operation Medication Safety

Raising Healthy, Successful, Drug-Free Kids

This course provides information to parents about drug and alcohol use among youth in Springfield. It provides information about the effects of drugs on the developing teen brain. This course also works with parents to develop strategies to support their children to abstain from drug and alcohol use.

Provider: Stop Access Drug Free Communities Coalition, Gandara Center

Responding to Dating Violence

This training provides information regarding teen dating violence. We will be discussing statistics, different forms of abuse, prevalence rates, how to appropriately work with teen victims, LGBTQ victims/barriers to receiving help, parent’s role in helping teen victim, reporting rates, the role of society, long term effects, and teen dating violence and the law. We will dedicate time at the end of the training to answer any questions about the YWCA, or teen dating violence more generally.

Provider: YWCA of Western Massachusetts

Simple Steps for Creating Wellness

This course teaches participants what the likely root causes are for the lack of wellness, along with ways to make changes, one step at a time, to achieve wellness. Taking control of our wellness is not so difficult.

Provider: Self Wellness is My Bag

Stepping Up to Kindergarten

Parents and caregivers of children who are entering kindergarten will learn more about the Springfield Public Schools, the kindergarten program, and how to prepare their student for the start of kindergarten.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Early Childhood Curriculum/School Readiness Committee

Teens and Sex – Important Information for Parents

Learn up-to-date information about HIV and STD’s in our community and about some newer birth control methods that are out there. We will also discuss about how families talk to their kids about these topics.

Provider: Gandara Center

This Ain’t the Brady Bunch

This workshop is for parents in step family situations to help them better recognize and manage the dynamics of blended families. Participants will be given tools and advice to promote a positive, cohesive family culture.

Provider: CrossPoint Clinical Services

Weeding Out Asthma Triggers in the Home

This is an interactive learning session that covers how to recognize the signs and symptoms of asthma and how to identify and remove environmental triggers. We will also discuss the different asthma medications – what they are and how to use them.

Provider: Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition

Cooking Matters in the Store

Cooking Matters in the Store is a workshop that empowers families to stretch their food budgets so their children get healthy meals at home. Whenever feasible, participants meet at the store for an hour long tour, where participants engage in group discussion and interaction on food and nutrition topics at key locations throughout the store. (In situations where transportation is an issue, an in-class, “pop-up” tour can be scheduled). The tour culminates with a 30-minute activity called the $10 Challenge, where participants use the skills they’ve just learned to buy a healthy meal for a family of four, for under $10. Participants take home a booklet with recipes and shopping tips, a reusable grocery bag, and $10 worth of healthy groceries.

Provider: Cooking Matters Massachusetts

Financial Literacy Workshops

Financial Literacy workshops are designed to help residents set up household budgets, establish savings accounts, reduce debt, build and maintain credit and more.

Provider: Springfield Partners for Community Action

Small Business Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

How to take an idea for a business and turn it into an actual, real business.

Provider: Liberty Tax Services

So You Want to Buy a House!

Understand the basics of the home buying process. Discussion will include: preapproval vs. prequalification, developing your search criteria, making an offer, after your offer is accepted and the closing process.

Provider: William Fiore, Realtor at William Raveis Real Estate

Take Control of Your Finances

The focus of this workshop will be to help middle income Americans take control of their finances, and in turn, teach them to empower their children with financial knowledge.

Provider: Primerica Financial

Tax Tips For Home Based Day Care Providers

What to document for tax purposes and how to do so to keep the IRS happy.

Provider: Liberty Tax Services

 

Active Parenting For School Success

Parents will learn seven smart things active parents can do to help their children succeed in school, from being active in the school community to structuring homework time.

Provider:  Home City Families

Attendance Matters

Participants will learn the Springfield Public Schools attendance policy and procedures, the affects of poor attendance and how to build the habit of good attendance.

Provider:  Springfield Public Schools

B.E. H.E.A.R.D.

This workshop will provide participants with principles for effective communication with teachers and school staff so that they can B.E. H.E.A.R.D. As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher. You and your child’s school have something in common: You both want your child to learn and do well. When parents and teachers talk to each other, each person can share important information about your child’s talents and needs. Each person can also learn something new about how to help your child.

Provider:  Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Division

Bullying Kills Dreams

This workshop will offer insight about the negative impact of bullying and the potential consequences. Parents will also be educated on how to prevent bullying and how to detect verbal and physical signs of bullying.

Provider: Tremaine France

Homework Help: A Recipe for Student Success

It’s a fact! Children who do homework do better in school. Homework reinforces learning. It gives children a chance to catch up if they are behind, and it gives those who are doing well a chance to go deeper into the subject. So, if homework is such a good thing, why is it such a family headache? Come and find out how both you and your children can win the homework battle!

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

Middle School:  Choosing The Right School For Your Child

Although Springfield Public Schools has an assignment plan that determines a student’s Middle school placement based upon his/her address, Students may elect to sign up for a Magnet school. Find out what these options are and what the process is to ballot for a chance at one of these schools.

Packin’ Up…A Guide to Middle School Transition

The transition from elementary to middle school is often an exciting, yet nerve-racking time for students and parents. Packin’ Up… A Guide to Middle School Transition will give parents support in this exciting endeavor. This offering will take the stress out of middle school transition and make it the best transition for you and your child.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

Parents are Powerful

This offering explores what parents can do at home, in school, and at the school district level to ensure their children receive a quality education. Learn strategies to get involved at school and home and what key questions to ask so you receive responses from your child.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

READY! For Kindergarten

READY! For Kindergarten is a hands-on interactive workshop for parents of children birth through five years old. Recognizing that parents are the child’s first teachers, developmental targets are reviewed so that everyday experiences can become “purposeful play”. Each class is geared toward the child’s age and includes enjoyable activities and free materials (puzzles, books, toys) for families to take home and use with their child.

Provider: Home.City.Families and Springfield Public Schools educators

Rude vs. Mean vs. Bullying

“Bullying” is a hot topic word. Is it always used accurately? There is a real need to draw a distinction between behavior that is rude, mean and behavior that is characteristic of bullying. When we talk about bullying, we want people to take it seriously, but if everything gets labeled bullying, people stop paying attention. In this workshop you will learn what is rude, mean and bullying behavior and the Springfield Public Schools incident reporting process.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools

Stepping Up to Kindergarten

Parents and caregivers of children who are entering kindergarten will learn more about the Springfield Public Schools, the kindergarten program, and how to prepare their student for the start of kindergarten.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Early Childhood Curriculum/School Readiness Committee

Steps To A Positive Resolution

This course will help the parent navigate concerns and issues in the Springfield Public Schools on behalf of your child. The workshop offers concrete suggestions to help parents make a difference in every area that influences their child’s learning experience. It also touches on the involvement of parents in their child’s education at home, in their school, and in the community.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

A Student & Family Guide to High School Graduation

Learn the fundamentals of graduation requirements including the high school courses students must successfully complete and the scores needed to demonstrate competency on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems (MCAS) tests. Explore options to meet these requirements such as MCAS appeals and Educational Proficiency Plans, the various types of MCAS appeals, and the requirements of each. Learn how a specialized graduation plan is developed to meet unique student needs using appropriate options.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Assessment, Research and Accountability

There is an app for that!

During this workshop parents will learn about the Springfield Public Schools Parent Portal. Parent Portal is an easy to navigate only system that will put your student’s attendance and grades right at your fingertips. Participants will learn how to create an account and how to begin using it.

Provider: Parent and Community Engagement Center

Baby and Me Massage

Infant Massage is a tool that is proven to improve baby’s immune system, ensure healthy weight gain, improve muscle tone, relieve stress and anxiety, stimulate motor development, stimulate cognitive development and much more. This course is taught over 3 weeks (1-hour long class per week) to give both the parent and baby time to learn and become comfortable with massage. Each week we will learn strokes for a new part of the body while reviewing strokes from previous classes. Each session new strokes are learned and previous information is reinforced. Teaching a little at a time to ensure that parent and caregiver are confident with every aspect. Babes are welcome and encouraged to be brought to class so that the parent can practice the techniques and get support with their baby present. If a baby is unavailable or unwilling to cooperate, a simulation (doll) can be used and will be provided.

Provider: Charlen Benoit

CHOICES: Steps Towards Health

The University of Massachusetts Extension Nutrition Education Program promotes healthy eating by
providing nutrition and food safety education. Program participants are encouraged to reach
individual goals by making small changes over time. The curriculum emphasizes eating a variety of foods, being physically active, taste-testing healthy recipes, handling food safely and enjoying foods in moderation. Available for presentation in English or Spanish.

Provider: UMASS Extension Nutrition Education Program

Computers 101

The objective of this course is to provide basic computer training. Technology is advancing at a rapid pace in today’s society and parents should be able to at least know the basics in operating a PC so that they can help their children with homework and also be able to monitor what they are doing online.

Provider: Computech Solutions

Cooking Matters in the Store

Cooking Matters in the Store is a workshop that empowers families to stretch their food budgets so their children get healthy meals at home. Whenever feasible, participants meet at the store for an hour long tour, where participants engage in group discussion and interaction on food and nutrition topics at key locations throughout the store. (In situations where transportation is an issue, an in-class, “pop-up” tour can be scheduled). The tour culminates with a 30-minute activity called the $10 Challenge, where participants use the skills they’ve just learned to buy a healthy meal for a family of four, for under $10. Participants take home a booklet with recipes and shopping tips, a reusable grocery bag, and $10 worth of healthy groceries.

Provider: Cooking Matters Massachusetts

Do You Want a Career in Real Estate?

Have you ever considered a career selling real estate? If so, this offering is for you! It will provide participants with information on the Massachusetts licensing process, startup costs, finding the “right” sales office and explain basic real estate concepts and terms.

Provider: William Fiore, Realtor at William Raveis Real Estate

Family Finances

Peoplesbank will discuss the benefits of using a bank account versus other alternatives that individuals use to manage their money. Other topics include: preparing a budget plan in an effort to save money and highlighting the basic concepts of strengthening your credit in order to obtain a future loan.

Provider: PeoplesBank

Find Your Voice: Fatherhood and Family

The course is designed to help fathers identify their role in the lives of their families and understand how their beliefs and values influence their behavior and relationships with their families. Fathers will also hear stories from other fathers regarding parenting with valuable information to help them grow as fathers.

Provider: TrueDaddy.org

Finding Your Passion

A workshop focusing on using the Harrington-O’Shea, an interest survey, to determine the career clusters that best fit you. The inventory looks at your skills, abilities, strengths and interests to develop a profile that provides you with a starting point for career exploration.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

First Impressions & the Job Interview Process

Do you need help in preparing for the job interview? If you answer yes to this question, this workshop is for you! You will learn how to develop a resume, cover letter, what employers look at during the interview and much more.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools School Parent and Community Engagement Department

How to Sell Your House In Today’s Market

An overview of the home sale process. Areas of discussion will include: For Sale By Owner (FSBO), entry only listings, marketing your home, determining your asking price, market trends, and handling negotiations.

Provider: William Fiore, Realtor at William Raveis Real Estate

Laugh for the Health of It: Creating Healthy Lifestyles Through Laughter

“Laugh For the Health of It: Creating Healthy Lifestyles through Laughter” is a structured, action oriented, systematic, and highly interactive program that creates enjoyment and camaraderie. It is a community based health and wellness activity meant in creating strategies in keeping people happy, healthy and productive. Current research states that when people lighten up and are less stressed, there is a significant increase in positive attitudes and behaviors. Wellness is a serious issue in our society where stress-related illnesses are frequent terms of discussion. Anxiety and stress are two of the leading mental health challenges facing people today. This Program addresses these issues by teaching self-care strategies for healthy attitudes and behaviors. As a Certified Laughter Leader, (CLL) and Laughter Wellness Leader, Trevor Smith facilitates the program in a supportive, non-judgmental environment. At the end of the program, participants will be able to: reduce daily stress to allow for greater productivity and efficiency, develop a positive attitude towards self and others (reduce hardening of the attitudes and foster flexible, open, creative thinking), foster trust, team building and better communication, improve social connections/networks, discover a new sense of mental balance and perspective, learn and apply the six principles of Good Hearted Living, and identify emotions and attitudes that improve health, happiness and overall well being

Provider: Blue Sky Consulting

Parents are Powerful

This offering explores what parents can do at home, in school, and at the school district level to ensure their children receive a quality education. Learn strategies to get involved at school and home and what key questions to ask so you receive responses from your child.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

Simple Steps for Creating Wellness

This course teaches participants what the likely root causes are for the lack of wellness, along with ways to make changes, one step at a time, to achieve wellness. Taking control of our wellness is not so difficult.

Provider: Self Wellness is My Bag

Small Business Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

How to take an idea for a business and turn it into an actual, real business.

Provider: Liberty Tax Services

So You Want to Buy a House!

Understand the basics of the home buying process. Discussion will include: preapproval vs. prequalification, developing your search criteria, making an offer, after your offer is accepted and the closing process.

Provider: William Fiore, Realtor at William Raveis Real Estate

Social Media 101 for Parents

Are your kids constantly on their phones, tablets, and social media? Do you want to learn what about what they might be doing on these social platforms? If your answer is yes, this workshop is for you! Learn about why kids are on social media, what apps and programs they are using, how to guard digital footprints, many useful tips, and more! Bring your questions and join us for a conversation about kids and the good, bad, and ugly sides of social media.

Provider: Springfield Public Schools Parent and Community Engagement Department

Take Control of Your Finances

The focus of this workshop will be to help middle income Americans take control of their finances, and in turn, teach them to empower their children with financial knowledge.

Provider: Primerica Financial

Tax Tips For Home Based Day Care Providers

What to document for tax purposes and how to do so to keep the IRS happy.

Provider: Liberty Tax Services

Weeding Out Asthma Triggers in the Home

This is an interactive learning session that covers how to recognize the signs and symptoms of asthma and how to identify and remove environmental triggers. We will also discuss the different asthma medications – what they are and how to use them.

Provider: Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition

These workshops take approximately 15 minutes and provide an overview of the topic selected.

Coming Soon

Coming Soon