Idea Bag

  • My Tip of the Week: Grants for School Improvement Projects

    The involvement events, teacher/staff support, and student enrichment activities that your parent group makes happen are all vital to your school community. But sometimes -- bet we could even say often -- PTOs and PTAs are asked to help with larger projects to enhance learning at the school.

  • My Tip of the Week: Thank Volunteers Early

    Volunteer appreciation isn't just for spring. Not at all. Sure, a well-organized, larger volunteer thank-you effort is great, but it's actually way more important to build a year-round culture of thanks in your PTO or PTA.

  • PTO Today Rock Stars: Barb R & Rachel

    Woot! Excited to be putting up our very first "Rock Star" blog post. I will doing these periodically to feature the best content from PTO Today Rock Stars in our message boards. Here are two incredibly helpful posts from two terrific community members.

  • Parent Groups in the News Round-up -- 9/10/10

    Found a mish mash of interesting articles this week! Lots of things for you to ponder over the next week.

  • My Tip of the Week: 3 Fun Ideas for PTOs and PTAs

    No real theme this week -- I just thought I'd highlight three of my favorite crazy ideas from PTOs. Fun is good. Can you make one of these work for your group?

  • Spirit Cups, Spring Fundraising and Product Quality

    We've been working with these guys at Spirit Cups Fundraising for a while now, and I really like the product. Might be because I'm a college sports nut, but I know I'm not alone in that.  The real reason, though, is the uniqueness and the quality. Plus these folks seem like good guys. Worth a look if you're looking for an add-on spring fundraiser.

  • My Tip of the Week: Take Steps to Emphasize Healthy Practices at Your School

    As you know, it doesn't take much for parents to talk themselves out of attending your events or getting involved at school. A new obstacle I started seeing last year was flu fears canceling or hurting PTO and PTA family events. Ugh.

  • Video Blog: Get Healthy School Kids Gift Packs

    Sign up now to participate in our 2011 Healthy School Kids program, and you could get health and wellness gift packs to distribute to parents at an upcoming school family event!

  • Trend Watch: School Reading Gardens

    PTOs promote literacy by creating special places for kids to curl up with a book.

  • Video Blog: Is Your PTO or PTA Serving Parents?

  • Parent Groups in the News Round-up 12/17/10

    This news round-up can be summed up into two categories; parent groups thinking outside the box and parent groups doing good. Hope you'll find a nugget of inspiration somewhere.

  • Video Blog: How To Get More Dads Involved in Your Parent Group

    Have you tried to get more dads to be involved in your PTO with little success? Tim gives a dad's perspective of why more fathers are not jumping into the parent group volunteer fray and offers some simple, practical suggestions on how to engage those dads and turn them into active volunteers.

  • My Tip of the Week: Steal This Email

    Before we sign off for the year, I thought I'd write an email for you to use for the New Year. Please feel free to steal it or edit it to make it your own

  • Join our Teacher Appreciation Chat

    What: We'll be using hashtag #PTOtalk to talk about all things Teacher Appreciation! Where: On Twitter, of course! Party on our Custom Tweetgrid (Use hashtag #PTOtalk) When: Wednesday, October 6th, 2PM EST (1PM CET, 12noon GMT, 11 PST) - 3:30PM Why: To have some fun brainstorming creative ways to show teachers appreciation Who: We'll be hosting the party (@PTOtoday & @TimPTO) and will be joined by our friends from VolunteerSpot: @Volunteerspot @VspotMom Featured Guests: @CarissaRogers @TeachMama @ZiggityZoom @SmartPlayBlog... and you!

  • Video Blog: The Importance of an International Night

    Wouldn't it be great if our PTOs, PTAs and school events had equal representation from every ethnic group in our schools? But, it's harder than you think, isn't it? Language barriers and cultural differences often prevent many families from connecting to the school community. This week Tim talks about an event that is a great starting point for reaching out to minority groups at your school and forging new connections.

  • Get Those PTO Tasks Done Efficiently

    It's that time of year. New Year's resolutions abound. One of my resolutions is two-fold: 1) to figure out how to be more efficient with my volunteer gigs so I can 2)lead a more balanced life and enjoy my kids.

  • Parent Group in the News Round-up 10/15/10

    No shortage of inspiration in this week's news. Here are my take-aways from this collection of articles:

  • Date Book: Parent Involvement Day

    Parent Involvement Day 2010 is Nov. 18; here are some ways to tap into the parent power at your school.

  • Trend Watch: Families Sprucing Up Schools

    Parent groups bring new ideas to the traditional school beautification day.

  • My Tip of the Week: Give Your Teachers a Valentine

    Usually I save my annual "candy bar poem" tip for Teacher Appreciation Week, but I actually think it may be even better as a Valentine's Day gift for the teacher's lounge. With the candy and all, y'know?
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