Thank you for volunteering to be Room Parent for your child’s classroom. It is very rewarding to help out the teachers, and bring extra joy and fun to your child’s school experience.
As Room Parent, duties include:
- Being the liaison between the PTO and parents in your classroom and distributing information as needed
- Helping to find volunteers for additional school events
- Encouraging other parents to get involved and support school events
- Assisting in the planning of classroom parties
- Working with your child’s teacher
- Fostering communication among parents and the school
To begin, it is a good idea to create a class contact list. Your teacher may have gathered this information at Back to School night already. If not, there is a Class Contact sheet you can print out and post on the classroom door to get sign-ups. If most of the children in the class take the bus and the parents do not come to class very often, perhaps you can provide the teacher with a quick note to send home with the children asking the parents to email you with their contact information. It is very helpful to have the contact information to be able to alert parents about parties, school functions, etc.
Here is a sample note to send home:
I am ____________, the Room parent for _______________ class. I am compiling a class contact list to make it easier to get in touch with you regarding class parties, school events, etc. This information will only be used to inform you of Lakeview Elementary School activities and will be confidential. Please email me with your name, child’s name, phone number and email.
Thank you so much, and we look forward to a great year!
(Name)
(Email and/or phone
number)
Room Parent
Classroom Parties
As Room Parent, you will be called upon to assist with classroom parties. Your child’s teacher may have a set plan from previous years that have worked well, and simply ask for assistance in carrying this out. Or, the teacher may ask for your input on new ideas for classroom parties. Here are some suggestions of websites that offer fun party ideas.
www.holidays.kaboose.com/birthday-party
www.amazingmoms.com/htm/holiday
www.familyfun.go.com/parties/holiday/specialfeature/backtoschool_act_sf
www.kidspartyfun.com/pages/themes/backtoschool
www.partyideasparade.com/school-party-ideas
Parties work best when you ask for help from other parents in the classroom. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, whether it be for assistance the day of the party or help with acquiring supplies.
School Events
As Room Parent, you will be asked to help out with additional school fund-raising events, such as the Fall Festival. The planning committee for events such as these may call on you to help secure additional volunteers for the events, raffle prize donations, class basket assembly, promote ticket sales, etc. This is another reason the class contact list comes in very handy. Through emails to other parents, you can get information to everyone quickly.
Fall Festival
The Fall Festival Committee is asking for help from the Room Parents in helping secure volunteers for the event. The Fall Festival is a great family-friendly event at Lakeview that helps raise money for the PTO. Some volunteer activities include set-up, clean-up, working various games and booths, pumpkin painting, donating items for the cake-walk, and more.
Fall Festival / Class Baskets
As part of this year’s Festival, each class with be preparing a themed Gift Basket (themes will be assigned) that will be for sale at the Fall Festival. As Room Parent, you will be responsible for getting the Class Basket prepared, with the help of other parents. Your class can solicit donated items from various businesses, or each parent can provide an item for the basket. After the baskets are assembled, they must be wrapped, and will be put on display in the library for one week prior to the Festival.
The Room Parent Coordinator can assist with ideas and suggestions, and will assist with meeting deadlines.
Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week
As room parent, you will help honor your child’s teacher for one week in May. All supplies and a schedule of activities will be provided. We ask for your help in making sure each teacher feels pampered for a week. Some past activities include decorating the teacher’s door, bringing a vase to class and asking each student to bring one flower for the vase, asking each child to bring a homemade card to the teacher, etc. You will receive instructions for this as it gets closer.
Contact with any questions:
Kim Mattoch
Room Parent Coordinator
916-358-5993 home
916-397-0500 cell