Hi North--well long story short--about 2 years ago I fell down some steps and broke my neck. I'm fine but as I sat in a brace in the chair of my living room (still going back and forth to the PTO offices and school mind you), it dawned on me how difficult it is for our special needs parents to attend our "regular" functions. Of course they are always invited, but the reality of wheel chairs, special food requests etcetera makes it more difficult and not much fun for the parents. With the major muscle coming from our special needs teachers and our assistant principal, we started Dreamcatcher's Day. Held on a Saturday it is a 3-4 hour event that is designed specifically for our special needs children. We come up with games they can play, use their favorite equipment (like the parachute), we invite those children that have been particularly helpful in our school to be their special buddies so the parents can socialize and we attend to the food needs for the children and the adults. After lunch we all head outside for 2 rounds of t-ball after which the children all get called up for a t-ball trophy. We have also these past 2 years had t-shirts donated and make special hats for the children.
It is a wonderful day for all of us who participate and really makes you feel blessed to be a part of giving our families that may not always feel comfortable attending our events a time designed with their enjoyment especially in mind.
d
ps--I got the term "Dreamcatchers" from a team of t-ball players I saw on a TV show. They were all special needs children--so this day is dedicated to every child that has a dream...and especially those that need a little more help catching it.
Have a Noah's Ark stuff-n-fluff workshop. The kids absolutely love it! Parents are tired of candles, gift wrap, and home decor. Although it may make some money for the school, it doesn;t get the kids involved. Having a Noah's Ark workshop is a great fun night. The kids make their own stuffed animals, paint t-shirts for their animals & have a great time socializing. My school even printed up little t-shirts with the schools name/logo on them for the animals. We all took a picture infront of the school & got our picture ont he paper. They also have come up with a "GO GREEN" Night where the kids learn about conserving energy, water, trees, etc. so the night is both educational & fun! Let me know if you want contact info. you can email me at efgogola at aol dot com
If I was to recommend just one, it would be Field Day. If your school does not have one this would be a big addition. Many schools run this without the control of the PTO, and if that's the case then I would recommend:
The Back to School event. This is a great way to start off the new school year.
But of all of the events that we hold, the one that the kids seem to love the most, is our annual Halloween Party (Harvest Hoopla). We allow the kids and parents to come dressed, if they would like. We have had party games, such as bean bag toss, ring toss on pumpkin stems, DJ games and best yet, a spook house (age appropriate). In year's past the spook house has consisted of a witche's Den, Gypsies, A Wizard and a Mad Scientist. This year we are going to even try an older kids actual "haunted House". Again age appropriate, but fun. Nor gore, but things that the older kids (8 and 9) would like.
If you want to go with a family game night, try an Are You Smarter evening for your older kids. We do it for 3rd and 4th grade, while the younger grades have their own evening playing BINGO. This has been a huge hit. I've posted something on the File Share section here.
Fall Festival
Jingle Bell Jog
Muffins/Moms
Donuts/Dads
Karate Kamp
Talent Show (with the music teacher)
Book Club (One school - One book)
Math 24 Club
Chess Club
Dinner and a Movie
Dreamcatchers Day (for our special needs children)
Legacy Fund Ice Cream sales
Sham Grams for St. Patty's Day
Dr. Seuss Day
Alumni Night (6th graders/parents return to visit the 5th graders and share pizza and ask questions)
Swim Night (rent a local pool for our families for the night).
Baseball Day (go to the local single A team for the game)
We did a Family Game Night with Deal or No Deal and bingo utilizing only 4 adult volunteers and 10 junior high volunteers. The jr. hi helpers were all girls who served as the "models" and then helped with the food and games. The game nights are loads of fun and something families will remember and talk about for a long time. We offered board games in the cafeteria for the folks who wanted to be sedentary, but our big push was the active games in the gym-we got those from the PTOtoday game night packet.
