PTO Today

The old proverb says ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. I also think a picture or graphic can add a splash of color and fun and make the whole communication piece (including the words) a lot more interesting and engaging.
A couple of months ago we added a clipart gallery to our website. Lots of parent group related graphics that you can use in your newsletters, emails, websites, letters, flyers, and any other piece you use to communicate with parents.

If you’re feeling really creative you might want to check out this website I stumbled upon that lets you customize graphics. It’s pretty simple to browse the images, select the one you want to customize, and add your text and preview. If you’re really tech savvy you can get the html code and include the image wherever you like. I took the simple route and simply right-clicked on my image and saved it to my computer. Now it’s ready to be inserted into a flyer, letter, or maybe even an email.

Here are the two I created:

Do you use clipart in your communication pieces? Any topics or themes that you’d like to see in our clipart gallery? Please share in the comments below (or email me at klagden@ptotoday.com).

Just had to share this Smilebox greeting Misti Steger from John Paul II PTO shared with us. She created it to encourage her school’s families to attend the next PTO meeting. Click on this link to check it out.

Love how it includes photos of kids and parents enjoying themselves at past events. Nice way to welcome folks and show how much fun everyone has at family events.

Feeling inspired to create your own Smilebox greeting? It’s really easy as Smilebox gives you the design template. You simply add any photos, videos, words, and music you’d like to include and then send it to your email list. (You will need to download the Smilebox application first but they’ll walk you through the steps). Get started at www.smilebox.com.
Thanks Misti for sharing!

We’d love to see what you put together. Leave a link to your Smilebox in the comments or email me at klagden@ptotoday.com.

This video is making the rounds over email and is so darn funny we just had to post it up here in case you haven’t seen it yet. In just under 3 minutes, Anita Renfroe sums up everything a mother says in a 24 hour period. So on the mark and really good fun, check it out: (just hit the play button)

For years Tim Sullivan has been posting links to parent group issues and stories making headline news around the country. Today we’re excited to be replacing the “Headline News” section of our website with the “PTO Today Blog”.

Lots more features and functions with a blog that will let us share more ideas, newsy items, opinions, and tips. Tim will continue to add his perspective on issues and trends in the parent group world but you’ll also hear from a few other folks as well. I’ll be writing about different tools and resources to help in your day to day parent group work. And a few other expert PTO Today staffers will jump into the mix as well. Should be a good place to get a lot of helpful and timely information.

And of course we’re hoping to hear from you as well! One of the nice features about going with a blog format is that everyone gets to add their 2 cents into the conversation. Disagree with something we’ve posted? Have your own experience to share? Add a comment…we’d love to hear what you have to share, but more importantly, so would the community of parent group leaders working hard for their schools and kids.

Couple of features to point out:

• The list of categories in the right hand column is useful if you’re looking for help with a particular topic. We’re in the process of pulling in all the posts from the Headline News section. The archives go back to September 2003 so this will take us a couple of weeks.

• It’s easy to subscribe so you’re notified whenever we put a new post up. Over on the right hand side you’ll see a spot to enter your email address. Simply enter your email and click ’subscribe’. You’ll receive an email each time we put up a new blog post. And of course if you recognize the little orange icon you’ll know how to pick up our feed in your feed reader of choice.

Hope you’ll jump in over the coming weeks and add your comments to the blog! If you any questions or if you’re not sure how to post a comment please email me at klagden@ptotoday.com – I’d be happy to help.