Room Parents

ROOM PARENT MEETINGS
September 11 at 9:30 am Room 48 (4th grade wing)
February 26 at 9 am Room 48 (4th grade wing)

ROOM PARENT RESPONSIBILITIES
Thank you for volunteering your time to serve as a Room Parent for your child’s class!  It is both fun and rewarding and is something your kid’s will be proud.  A Room Parent is a very important part of our Abby community and provides volunteer services to a teacher’s classroom and the ARES PTA.  A Room Parent should enlist the help of other parents and be able to delegate these responsibilities.  The teacher will tell you of their specific needs and determine exactly what type of assistance is needed.  
 
Typically, Room Parents help coordinate class parties, special events, and create a raffle basket in combination with other classes.  While a Room Parent’s main responsibility is to the teacher and class, the PTA does ask for your help to further communicate with our parents throughout the year. It is the Room Parent’s responsibility to communicate with the classroom parents and keep them informed. Every child’s family should be given the opportunity to be involved in their child’s classroom and school.
GETTING STARTED CHECKLIST

  • Meet with your teacher as soon as possible (bring your calendar)
  • Discuss expectations and ideas for the school year.
  • Get party dates and ideas of what will be expected at parties.
  • Get schedule of dates/times when volunteers will be needed and whether it is inside/outside the classroom.
  • Find out the preferred method of contact for the teacher and let them know the best way to reach you.
  • Find out if there are any important allergies to note in the class.
  • Write an e-mail/letter introducing yourself to the class and tell the parents how and when they should expect communications from you.  If you do not have a co-room parent, now would be the best time to ask another volunteer to serve with you.
  • Let them know about events for the month.  It is IMPORTANT to give your parents a chance to be involved in the classroom and share their feedback on improvements.  
  • Your teacher should have completed the “Tell Us About Yourself” teacher profile form. The PTA Parent Coordinator will have the completed form posted on the Room Parent Shutterfly Site.
  • “PTA Room  Parent Contact List” will be available at Back to School Night for classroom parents to fill their contacts for your communication.  Please talk to your teacher prior to that night and remind them of the importance of this contact form.  If you need to get additional contacts ask your teacher if she would like you to stuff them in the students Wednesday Envelopes and let her know the importance of getting them back.  Ask them when you should come back to pick up the returned forms.    You can also attach this to your introduction letter. 
***Without these forms returned it will be very hard to reach all of your parents.***
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COMMUNICATIONS GUIDELINES

  • Normal everyday communication with your parents doesn’t need to be reviewed by PTA as long as you DO NOT use a PTA logo or verbiage that would lead a parent or teacher to associate that it is coming directly from PTA.
  • E-mail will be the primary source of communication between the PTA Room Parent Chair and you, and it should be the primary between you and your parents.  If you do not have e-mail, please let the PTA Room Parent Chair know and we will make sure you are contacted via phone on updates.  Please respond to all e-mails, even if it is a simple “ok” so that the sender knows that you received and read the email.
  • You will receive PTA mails throughout the year that simply need to be forwarded to your classroom parents. These emails allow the PTA to further communicate with parents on a timely basis. PLEASE FORWARD ALL OF THEM AS REQUESTED.
  • Please keep an electronic or paper copy of all communications, with parents, teacher, or PTA.
  • Please notify the PTA Room Parent Chair as soon as possible if there is any change to your contact information or if you are planning a move from the school.  
  • Please consider using Shutterfly to host your Class Site information.  If you need more information about Shutterfly please contact the Room Parent Coordinator.
  • Communication is the key to having a successful year, so make sure you “over communicate” rather than “under communicate.”  
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​RESPONSIBILITIES WITH THE TEACHER

  •  Successfully interpret from the teacher their needs and expectations.  All communication should be genuine and effective.
  • Obtain and update, as needed, a class roster.  Back to School Night is the biggest opportunity to obtain parent contacts so please aid your teacher in spreading the word to have these filled out.  Please remember that this information is to be considered confidential amongst the other parents unless they give permission for you to share their information with the other parents.  If a new student enters your class, be sure to contact the parents  and add them to your list so you may send them updates as well.
  • Make every attempt to personally attend as many special events as possible.  If you cannot be there, enlist someone from the class to take your place.  Invite and encourage as many parents to come as well, assuming space is not a concern.
  • Any memo that needs to go home is Wednesday Envelopes/backpacks please let your teacher know.  If it’s a surprise and parents are returning something back to you, just indicate to teacher that students/parents will be turning things to you and use the Room Parent envelope/box if needed.  Set up an envelope for these situations and many teachers provide one for you.
  • REMEMBER:  Don’t try to bear the burden yourself.  You are a classroom coordinator, and there are people out there willing to help.  Please reach out to them.  If you find that you need assistance, and are not getting anywhere within the class, please reach out to your PTA Board and/or Room Parent Coordinator.
RESPONSIBILITIES WITH THE PTA

  • Check www.arespta.org often to stay current on important dates.
  • Help your teacher in making sure that your room gets to 100% PTA Membership!
  • Support school-wide events.  The key areas that you will support are as follows:
 Turkey Trot Raffle Baskets
Basket Donation for the Raffle:  Each class will be grouped with other classes (3-4) and work together to make a Basket filled with items for a raffle at our annual 5k Turkey Trot.  In previous years, we have seen remarkable success; you can use this project to set the tone of enthusiasm between the parents, teachers, and students. As soon as you decide you would like to be your class’ room parent, please contact the room parent coordinator and you can select your basket theme.  This will be done in order of contact so act quickly.
  • You may choose to ask families to donate items for the basket, donate money to be spent on purchasing items for the basket, or to go out and find things that may be able to be donated for the basket.  You may also use Shutterfly to use as suggestions for donations as well.
Teacher Appreciation Week
In recent years we have been celebrating our teachers and staff in May. As room parent you will help coordinate your class celebration.
  1. Decorate Teachers Door— The door typically is decorated the Friday before teacher appreciation week.  Please feel free to ask other parents to decorate the door if crafting is not your forte. In most cases another parent will love to volunteer and decorate your teachers door.  The kids love seeing the decorations and involving the students makes them so proud to have helped. The February Room Parent Meeting will cover the details of decorating the door and please invite the parent making the door so they get all the information first hand.
  2. Teacher Appreciation Daily Events— You will coordinate the daily events for your classroom.  The PTA Room Parent Coordinator will have a loose list of daily activities/events that can help you plan.  Please don’t think you have to do difficult or time-consuming events/plans.  The kids loved being involved so just consider including the students.  Again, the February Room Parent Meeting will cover details about this week.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!!

Please do not hesitate to contact our Room Parent Coordinator with any questions or comments:
Jennifer Pursley
roommom@arespta.org
Download the Room Parent Guidelines here:
pta_room_parent_guidelines.pdf
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