The Sippican School Anchor program is off to a good start.

Anchor, a community outreach program that teachers Lisa Horan and Lisa Dix designed to cultivate a positive relationship between the school and its families, has had its first few meetings and Dix is thrilled with the response.

“We’re really happy with the turnout and the feedback we’ve received,” she said.

The first meeting, held in September, was a kick off event that saw between 50 and 60 people show up.

“We kind of had an overview of what we hoped to accomplish, and we had a cake to celebrate the beginning of the school year,” Dix said. “Parents asked us questions and we passed out a survey to see what people are looking to spend time to learn about.”

Each month the program features a different topic to help teach parents how to help their children with schoolwork at home. The second meeting was about homework tips and the importance of attendance. Dix estimates they had around eight families come, and four high school students came to babysit. There were also about 10 staff members in attendance.

“We gave away a couple of door prizes, like gift cards and gift certificates,” Dix said.

Local businesses such as Rose & Vicki’s in Marion and the Target in Wareham donated gift cards to give away as incentives.

The program also met in November and focused on math.

“A lot of parents struggle to help their kids with math because it’s not the same way we learned as kids,” Dix said.

Teachers went over the curriculum that is used at Sippican School and set up individual grade level stations. There were 15 teacher volunteers to show parents the strategies and vocabulary that students are learning in school.

“The parents asked a lot of great questions,” Dix said.

The most recent meeting was Dec. 21 at Marion Village Estates and focused on reading. Dix said that not only is it important for students to be reading at home with their parents, but it’s also important they’re reading at the right level.

“We want the parents to know what we use in school to determine the reading level, and how to find the right fit for a book,” she said. “It should be challenging, but not too difficult.”

Dix and Horan used a donation to spend about $200 on books of different levels for parents to bring home to their children.

As for the rest of the school year, the duo have big plans.

In January, Anchor will not meet because the district is bringing in a behavioral specialist and the teachers want to encourage parents to attend that instead.

Additionally, based on the responses to a survey they sent out, Dix and Horan have decided to put some focus on child development.

“Parents aren’t always sure about expectations for different age levels,” Dix said. “Principal Lyn Rivet will start a blog, and we’ll purchase fifteen yardstick books that break down five to twelve year olds and what would be typical behavioral and academic expectations.”

The idea is to start a book club and blog to help address parents’ concerns.

The program also now has a Facebook page to keep parents informed, and has a section on the school website. Dix and Horan also continue to make phone calls, send email and pass out flyers to continue spreading the word and encouraging attendance.

“I think just from the first meeting to the second word of mouth had passed that we were offering babysitting, transportation and having giveaways,” Dix said. “We’re just going to continue to grow. We’re putting it all out there and have a ton of positive things going on.”

For more information, contact Lisa Dix at lisadix@oldrochester.org or Lisa Horan at lisahoran@oldrochester.org, or visit their website.