PTO Today

2011 PTO Expo T-shirt -- Your fun phrase could be on the 2012 t-shirt!

We are super excited to be in 14 cities for our 2012 PTO Today Expos! To kick off the Expo season we need your help! Do you remember the “My Parent Group Rocks” t-shirts that we gave away last year? (pictured right) They were a huge hit. In fact, we ran out. So, this is where you come in!

We need a new fun phrase for the 2012 Expo t-shirts!

Share your creative brilliance and you and your parent group can win!

Here’s the scoop on the Fun Phrase T-shirt contest!

First of all it’s living on our Facebook page on the Contest tab (left hand column of our Facebook page).  Pop over there to submit a fun phrase (7 words or less) that captures the spirit of PTOs, PTAs, HSAs, etc. (Note: We want all parent groups to be able to wear the t-shirt. So please use the term “parent group” instead of PTO or PTA.)

What will the winner get, you ask?!  Well, fame, notoriety and free stuff!

The winning fun phrase will be printed on t-shirts that will be used as prizes at PTO Today Expos and beyond.  The winner will be featured in a photograph wearing the winning t-shirt (with up to 4 fellow parent group volunteers) in an upcoming issue of PTO Today magazine. Also, you and 11 of your closest PTO or PTA peeps receive a free t-shirt. AND everyone who enters gets one free admission to your closest PTO Today Expo!

Here are the details on timing:

• From October 13- 25 submit your fun phrase (7 words or less) — use the “Enter Contest” button on the Contest tab or Facebook to get started. One submission per person.
• On October 26 the judges, the PTO Today editors, will choose the top three slogans.
• Starting October 27, all parent group volunteers are invited to vote for their favorite phrase until November 9th. Be sure to invite your PTO and PTA friends to vote for your fun phrase!
• The winner will be announced on November 10th.

Just think of the boost your parent group would get by winning the contest, getting the free t-shirts, and having your photograph in an issue of PTO Today Magazine! As they say in the Mastercard commercials, priceless!

* NOTE: When entering the contest using the Internet Explorer browser, after you hit “enter contest” and you get to the next page you need to scroll down to see the contest information. This is inherent in the contest application we are using and beyond our control.

Wanted to give a big shout out to the PTO Today Teacher Wish List grant winners!  Here are the 10 lucky winners:

• Ririe Elementary School - Ririe, ID
• Centennial Academy - Littleton, CO
• Lakewood Elementary -Twin Lakes, WI
• Gardnertown Fundamental Magnet - Newburgh, NY
• Nolachuckey Elementary - Greenville, TN
• Meadows Elementary -St Louis, MO
• 66943 Skipwith Elementary - Richmond, VA
• Coronado Elementary - Amarillo, TX
• Berryton Elementary - Berryton KS
• Hollister Elementary School - Hollister, MO

These ten PTO Today grants are added to the 100 grants given by Teacher Wish List and Bounty. That’s a total of 110 schools that have received Teacher Wish List grants! It makes me smile to think of all the school supplies that these grants bought!  And the best is yet to come. Next week Bounty will announce the winner of the $25,000 art room makeover! Stay tuned…

Have you signed up your school for Teacher Wish List yet?  What are you waiting for? Order a free kit to get started or visit the Teacher Wish List site. The teachers at your school will thank you!

We’re excited to let you know that our new, free Family Movie Night kit is available. Now that the dust has settled a bit from back-to-school mayhem, your parent group may be considering hosting a family night. Good idea! Family nights are a fantastic way to build community at your school. Building community is the first step towards getting more parents to volunteer! Family movie nights are a low-key and fun way to bring families together. Our kit has everything you need to organize a successful event.

So, check out the new kit. It has a professionally designed poster and banner to promote your event, that we’ve been getting rave reviews about! Also, be sure to visit Family Movie Night section on our message boards to get and swap ideas. Once you host a Family Movie Night, don’t forget to share your fabulous event photos with other parent group leaders on our Facebook page!

“This event not only created a sense of community for our school, but was a great promotion of literacy. Plus, everyone had fun. We plan to do this event twice per school year.”

~Joanie Triestman, Board Member

Canyon Vista Elementary – Aliso Viejo, CA

Now for a limited time, when you order a Family Reading Night kit you have a chance to receive a free copy of the new Shel Silverstein book, Every Thing On It (coming September 20th), to give away at Family Reading Night! Books are limited to the first 2,000 schools*, so be sure to order your kit now. (Details on how to request your free copy can be found on the Shel Silverstein-themed activity sheet in this year’s Family Reading Night kit.)

This year’s Family Reading Night kit also includes an activity sheet that provides fun Shel Silverstein-themed activities your event’s activities — Rhyme Race, Draw Me a Poem, and Create a Creature, to name a few!  The kids will be reading, rhyming, and writing in imaginative ways!

Shel Silverstein books are always a hit for all ages, so don’t put off ordering your Family Reading Night kit. And don’t forget to take photos of your fabulous event and share them on our Facebook page.   We’ll send a “My Parent Group Rocks” t-shirt to everyone who uploads photos of their Family Reading Night by the end of 2011.  Have fun!

*If you were chosen to receive or have already received an advance copy of this book from PTO Today, your school is ineligible.

Every Thing On It cover and artwork © 2011 Evil Eye, LLC.

It’s a beautiful day here in Massachusetts but the affects of Irene live on! Our PTO Today office is closed and our phones are down due to a power outage. If you need to be in touch today, the best way to reach us is info@ptotoday.com. What would we do without smart phones and iPads?! Stay tuned on our Facebook page for the status our our power outage.

Thanks to everyone who checked in on our Facebook page yesterday during the storm. We hope everyone who lost power has it restored soon and that your families are safe and sound! Those affected with floods, downed branches and storm damage are in our thoughts. Hang in there!

Judging from my news feed, things are heating up in parent groups across the country. So refreshing to read how PTOs and PTAs are making the first day of school fun and memorable for anxious kids and teachers! Here are some of the highlights:

–One Missouri PTO brilliantly sponsored a back-to-school event that let students and parents check out their classroom and local businesses set up booths to hand out goodies to connect with families. “The businesses give so much to PTO.This is our way to support them,” said, PTO Co-president Cherie Horn said.  Sounds this school is thinking ahead and starting their year off right!

–Like how this Illinois PTO recognizes that going back to school is not a picnic for students — so they start the year off with a back-to-school party!

–This PTO’s First Day Celebration invites parents and kids to the first day of school! What a great way to emphasize how parent involvement is encouraged and valued.

–One Texas school hasn’t started yet but their PTA has been busy buying back-to-school supplies, in effort to help cash-strapped parents. Bet these families will be more likely to say yes to that call to volunteer!

–Kudos to this Illinois PTO for kicking off the school year by getting kids involved in a community service program. Kids at this elementary school are learning the valuable lesson of helping others by bringing in gently-used backpacks and school supplies to send to Tanzania.

Remember, if your school is in the news we’d love to share it with other parent groups. Share your story on our Facebook page or by emailing me at lgundlach@ptotoday.com.

Hey football fans, are you doing the happy dance now that it’s “game on” for the NFL?  We sure are! That’s why we are super excited about Back to Football Friday! We’d like to invite you to share your NFL pride and build some serious school spirit by signing up for Back to Football Friday! Also, keep an eye out for the Back to Football Friday poster in the August issue of the PTO Today magazine and start building that spirit.  If you haven’t already registered your school to participate, be sure to register now at www.NFLRUSH.com/contest.

Here’s how it works:

• Once you’ve registered, start planning a Back to Football Friday celebration for Friday, September 9th! Invite your school community to get creative and show their NFL team spirit at the celebration… and get those cameras ready!
• After the celebration, submit 3-6 photos of your awesome event and answer the 3 questions in the entry form (each 100 words or less) to complete your submission before the contest closes on Thursday, September 22nd.
• Here’s the really cool part: the schools that showcase the most NFL pride have a chance to be one of 34 NFL PLAY 60 Super Schools. These grand prize winners will receive a $10,000 NFL PLAY 60 health and wellness grant* and an NFL team celebration that will include a NFL PLAY 60 ultimate gym class at your child’s school. Check out these photos of one of last year’s winning schools at their NFL team celebration.

What a fabulous way to start your school year out on a spirited note!

* Awarded in the form of a check made payable to the winning school.

For the list of the NFL Teams’ training facility or city center locations, please click here.

No Purchase Necessary to Enter. Registration starts 12:00:00 p.m. ET on 3/15/11, ends 2 weeks following the conclusion of the first 2011 NFL regular season game. Entry Period starts 9:00:00 a.m. ET on the day after the first 2011 NFL regular season game and ends 2 weeks following the conclusion of the first 2011 NFL regular season game. Must be a legal resident of the 50 U.S. or District of Columbia 18+ years and either a school Administrator, Teacher, PTA leader or PTO leader representing a public, state-accredited private school or vocational school with grades between Kindergarten and 8th. For the purposes of this Contest, a school Administrator is defined as a Principal, Vice-Principal, Dean, Superintendent or Health and Wellness Administrator. Void where prohibited. For complete details, click here for the Official Rules.
“NFL Team Celebration” prize consists of a visit to the school associated with the Grand Prize winning Entry for a portion of a school day by one or more cheerleader(s), mascot or NFL player(s).

Wow, can you believe that July is almost over? For some of you, August means the start of school. No doubt you are in the thick of getting your kids ready and working on organizing your PTO or PTA back-to-school projects and programs. For those of you who don’t start until late August or September, I bet you are already thinking about how to get more parents involved in the next school year – c’mon, admit it : )!

Speaking of parent involvement, thought you may be interested in a neat webinar that Shutterfly (one of our Back2School 2011 partners) is hosting!

Here’s the scoop:
Webinar Topic: Parental Engagement

Audience: Teachers, room parents, principals and district administrators

Date/Time: Tuesday, August 9, 2011 2:00 pm, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)

Webinar overview: “Strong parental engagement with their children’s classroom experience is highly correlated with successful learning outcomes, especially in earlier grades. But how can you build parental involvement in today’s world of busy and diverse families? This web seminar will explore a new program for improving the parent-school relationship called Classroom Connections Challenge from Shutterfly, which provides schools with Share Sites: free, private classroom websites for safely sharing information, photos, videos, calendars and more.”

For more information and to register for free click here.

Sounds like a terrific way to get geared up for the best school year yet!