I just thought of 2 more things our class mothers do.
The day of a school budget vote a class mother calls the parents of each child in their class to remind them to get out and vote for the budget.
We also have a phone chain. When shcool gets closed due to snow or any other emergency there is a person on the board who calls all the class moms as soon as the Superintendent makes the decision. The class moms then call all of the parents of the kids in their class and let them know.
Our School is grades K-3 and we have about 300 kids. As a class mother for 3 years I can tell you what we get used for.
1)class parties... We plan all the parties, we try to collect $5 from each parent at the begining of the school year to pay for the parties. We end up spending a bit of our own money as $5 a kid doesn't go far over a year and not everyone gives. We supply the food, crafts, & games for each party and the kids get goodie bags. We get some donations of refreshments and goodie bag items from the parents.
2)class trips...The class mothers go on the trips.
3)Teachers sometimes do things throughout the year where they might need an extra hand, like in the fall teachers make applesauce with the first grade and they ask moms to come in and help peel the apples.
4)2 times a year our cafeteria needs to be used for an event that involves one grade level. So the other kids need to eat lunch in their classrooms on those 2 days. Because the teachers are on lunch break at that time they use the Moms to sit in with the kids while they have lunch.
5) At the end of the year each grade has their own picninc. The class mothers for each grade get together and plan the events that will take place (tug of war, potato sack races...etc)The PTO provides the pizza for the kids, but the moms get the paper products and ice pops.
6)our second grade has a full Thanksgiving Feast every year half dress like pilgrams & half like Indians. Each group of class mothers has to provide a Turkey, mashed Potatoes, corn bread, apple pie, etc..Those class moms also attend the feast as well. You help serve the kids and then pig out!
We are a very small school 70 kids in K - 5 and another 80 in pre 3 and 4. We have never effectively used room parents. I'm sure there are about a million ways parents could help, but other than class parties I can't come up with anything. Obviously, I am new to the PTO Pres position and my oldest is only in first grade. Not much experience here! Any suggestions would be appreciated!
