Fostering Support and Success Through Lunch Clubs

At CS 111Q , providing wraparound services to our scholars is an integral part of the Community School experience. One avenue of support comes in the form of Lunch Clubs for all scholars. The clubs range from arts and crafts to athletics, and provide scholars with an opportunity to hone their interests and build relationships with fellow scholars and staff.

Ms. Joachim (Home Visitor & Classroom Aide) and I (Ms. Woloszczuk, Community School Coordinator) have the privilege of facilitating a Lunch Club for CS 111Q’s Pre-K scholars. Part arts & crafts, part attendance monitoring, the club is designed to get scholars engaged and excited about coming to school. Ms. Joachim and I selected scholars with 85-90% attendance to mentor through our Lunch Clubs.

We meet with these scholars in small groups on a weekly basis. This gives us the opportunity to provide our scholars with individualized attention while conducting fun, arts-based activities with them and discussing the importance of attendance.
Our Lunch Club also contains an attendance component. Scholars who come to school every day for two weeks in a row receive a prize of their choice. Scholars are able to track their own attendance and see their progress using special calendars.

Observing positive behavioral changes in our scholars has been a rewarding experience for us. Our Lunch Club scholars recognize us in the hallway, eagerly anticipate our meetings, and are excited to report their attendance for the week. They appear happy to have another familiar face in their school, and develop a bond with staff that is exclusive to them. While they may not meet their perfect attendance goals every time, it is their demonstrated enthusiasm towards school and their efforts to be in attendance that we consider small, but significant victories towards our greater goals.