“Together We Learn Better: Inclusive Schools Benefit All Children” 
The start of the school year is the perfect time to begin planning your Inclusive Schools Week celebration.  Consider focusing your 2008 celebration on this year’s ISW theme “Together We Learn Better: Inclusive Schools Benefit All Children”.
Inclusive Schools Week offers a great opportunity to spread the word about the benefits of inclusive schools. Check out the following ISW celebration ideas to make this year’s event the best yet!

• Write an op-ed in a newspaper about the benefits of inclusive education in your community.
• Offer a briefing paper to staff, families and the community highlighting the benefits of being an inclusive school.
• Create a slideshow highlighting the benefits of your inclusive school community to be viewed at parent meetings, faculty meetings, community events, etc.
• Contact the local news media to suggest a story about the benefits of inclusive education.
• Write a “Top 10 Benefits of Being an Inclusive School” list to display in the school lobby.
• Create a school motto or mission statement for your school that highlights the benefits of being an inclusive school.
• Host an art contest focused on the benefits of being an inclusive school. Open it up to performance and graphic artists.
• Develop a list of goals that you would like to achieve as a school community that would increase the benefits of inclusive education for all students in your school.
• Have a faculty and/or community discussion around the “Together We Learn Better: Inclusive Schools Benefit All Children” article that will be available in the Celebration Ideas book and online at www.inclusiveschools.org in September.
• Develop an inclusive schools advisory committee to help ensure that decisions are in line with the guiding principles of the school and that school policies and procedures are benefiting all students.
• Discuss the Sesame Street Parent series on the benefits of inclusive education at http://www.pbs.org/parents/inclusivecommunities/inclusive_education2.html