That's a great idea! We were planning to offer our homework night again at the beginning of next school year, but... One of the kindergarten teachers and I had discussed providing the kindergarten info at roundup this spring so parents could have all summer to set their children prepared, but extending that to all grades could be really helpful. Off I go to talk to the teachers!!!
FYI---another idea to boost attendance at your final PTO meeting is to have a "Movin' Up Night". We started this two years ago, and it was a big success. You go to the designated classroom of your child's grade next year and get a presentation from the team of teachers previewing what that grade will be like in the fall, what supplies they'll need, and what activities the children can do in summertime to prepare for the next grade.
We even invite the incoming kindergarten parents to come as well. It's been a big success (credit goes to our principal for this idea!)
justme... The way we run the Pot-Luck Dinner is the PTO supplies the main entree (chicken) and all of the paper products. Three weeks before the event we send home notices and a reply sheet for parents to tell us how many adults and kids will be coming. We ask for everyone to bring a dish to pass including drinks and desserts. We order the chicken from a local place and have it delivered.
The event is actually quite easy in comparison to the other things we have done. We decorate the tables and that is about it.
This year we had roughly 120 parents/grandparent and 150 students and siblings. It was a great night because we coupled it with the other events. We spent a total of $300.00 on the chicken, paper products and decorations.
We just had our annual "Pot-Luck" Dinner with a twist... We also had a Math and Science night along with our Scholastic Book Fair at the same time. Our time line was: 6-7 math and science
7-8 Pot Luck and shopping book fair was random.
The emphasis was math and science because of the new curriculum, the teachers all set up different activities in their rooms, with many hands on things for parents and students to do. The science part was by far the most interesting. Each activity was chosen directly for our new program. The parents were shown the many math manipulatives that are now standard in learning and the science experiments were outstanding.
We also had a stellar book sale, sold $3,400 worth of books in a little over two hours!!
It is part of our district's accredidation to have these types of events.
We had our first segment last night. We didn't have the turnout I would have liked to see, but it went really well. I got a lot of positive feedback from the parents about the seminars and about having events like this at the school. All the kids had a blast in the gym while their parents went to the seminars and then chatted with other parents. Got some requests to offer this every year only closer to the beginning of the school year next time. It was a big thumbs up!!
