PTO Today

Parent groups are using new ways to make fathers feel welcome. Want to get more fathers involved at your school? As these groups show, it helps to make an appeal for volunteers aimed directly at dads.

Dads’ Night at the Movies

The Huntsville (Ala.) Council of PTAs, together with some local churches, sponsored a PTA Dads Night at a movie theater in September, allowing fathers to purchase reduced-price tickets. The selected film, Courageous, follows four police officers and focuses on their roles as fathers. Parents from 17 schools attended, along with the superintendent and school board president.

Specific Requests

A San Antonio PTA found success asking fathers to volunteer at school on their child’s birthday, giving them the chance to enjoy lunch with their child. During meet the teacher night at Canyon Ridge Elementary, one father signed up about 60 other men to volunteer.

While researching programs to get more fathers involved at school, Canyon Ridge PTA president Lisa deBonoPaula learned of another area school that keeps a “honey do” list at the front desk. Dads can tackle tasks like moving heavy furniture, helping the PE teacher during gym class, and hammering nails into walls.

Just for Dads

Other schools have had success with dads-only parent groups or programs such as Watch D.O.G.S. and All Pro Dads, or by forming father’s committees that are a part of the parent group. The Mountainview Elementary PTA in Saugus, Calif., has an active Dads Committee. The group meets monthly and hosts a golf tournament and a rummage sale and helps with other PTA events.

Read more: Dad involvement article archive

Here’s an idea if your parent group is short on volunteers. Instead of sending out a tersely worded note asking for help from your parents, how about borrowing some volunteers from a neighboring school? We came across a story about schools in Chattanooga, Tenn., doing just that and we think this is a great idea. In Chattanooga, one school had literally hundreds of volunteers (can you imagine!) while another had just a dozen. So, the school with all those helping hands sent over volunteers to the less-fortunate school to give it a boost. Think of the possibilities. If you could get some neighboring schools interested in this idea, you could create a volunteer swapping program. There are many opportunities for this, including providing babysitters for each other during parent meetings. Also, volunteers could assist a neighboring school by manning the snack or carnival booths so parents could enjoy these events with their children instead of working the event as likely do most of the time.

The Chattanooga story was particularly touching because the school in need of help had been without a parent group for a decade. It was really trying to make a go of it and those borrowed volunteers made a big difference.

That’s a win-win, as they say, especially for the kids.

We are excited to let you know that we just kicked off the 2012 Happy Healthy School Kids Program! This is a fabulous way for your group to support health and well-being efforts at your school. We’d like to invite parent group officers to sign up — space is limited.

If selected to participate, each school will receive 200 gift packs to distribute to parents at an event. Each gift pack will include:

• Family-friendly product samples
• A copy of THRIVE!, our health and wellness focused digest and savings booklet which features tips and high value coupons.

In order to participate in the Happy Healthy School Kids program, you must have a school family event planned sometime between February 1 and March 31, 2012, at which you can distribute the packs to attending parents. This can be any type of event (doesn’t need to be health/wellness focused). There is no fee to participate and you’ll be notified, via email, by early January if your group has been selected.

This program is always a huge hit with parents so be sure to sign up early!

We are super excited to announce a new School Family Night:  Kinect™ Family Game Night!

As you know, at PTO Today we are all about helping PTO and PTA leaders build community at their schools. We think that Kinect Family Game Night is a fabulous way to bring families at your school together for a night of feel-good fun that’s a blast for everyone! Kinect™ for Xbox 360 will get parents and kids alike up and off their feet for an energetic night of game playing and friendly competition!

Here’s how this family night works:

• Start by ordering your free downloadable kit materials, which include step-by-step planning guidelines and a reproducible invitation flyer. Hint: straightforward materials and instructions make finding a volunteer to run this night a snap!

• Families will jump at the chance to attend this action-packed night out at school! This new event features a fun evening of physical activity using Kinect™ for Xbox 360, where you are the controller, as well as traditional gym games that will get everyone up and moving! All these activities are spelled out in your kit materials.

To see a Kinect™ Family Game Night in action, view our video and photo gallery! Through videos and photos you’ll get a sense of the fun and energy this event brings to your school community!

Now here’s the really cool part: Order your free kit before 1/31/12 and your school parent group will be automatically entered into the exclusive PTO Today Kinect™ Family Game Night sweepstakes*! One lucky school parent group will win a Kinect™ for Xbox 360® Prize Pack, featuring an Xbox 360 console, Kinect Sensor, a set of games, and a 50” big screen TV! Plus, (3) first prize winners will each win a Kinect Sports and Kinect Sports: Season Two game!

Winter is coming.  What better time to promote a healthy, active lifestyle, and get families out and moving? Order your free kit now!

*No purchase necessary. Open only to school parent group leaders registered with PTO Today. Prizes will be awarded to the registered school parent group organization. Sweepstakes ends January 31, 2012. See Official Rules for full details.

A Florida PTO found a creative way to raise money and reinforce math skills at the same time. While walking through the hay maze built by the S.S. Dixon Primary PTO in Pace, students can use a handheld GPS and take measurements while trying to find a hidden package. The “Haystackular” hay maze is open during weekends in October. Teachers can also arrange field trips during the week.

Parents play a key role in helping children learn to read and encouraging them to keep reading. PTOs can help by holding family literacy events and providing parents with helpful tools and information. Consider observing Family Literacy Day on Nov. 1 with one of the activities below. For more ideas, visit the National Center for Family Literacy website.

Book Swap
At your next family event, invite students to bring books they have finished reading. Give kids a ticket for each book they donate. At the end of the event, they can take home a different book. Donate any books left over to a children’s hospital or a local nonprofit that serves children.

Family Reading Night
Plan an evening of reading-related activities for families to enjoy together. Include stations where attendees can listen to stories as well as play games and make crafts related to popular children’s book characters. Provide books and some quiet corners where kids and parents can read together. Give each family a bookmark before they leave. For a limited time, everyone who orders a free Family Reading Night kit receives a free copy of Shel Silverstein’s book Every Thing On It. Now who doesn’t love Shel Silverstein?

Parent Education
Provide parents with printouts that give tips for working with early readers and encouraging reading at home. Invite the school’s reading specialist to speak to parents about common difficulties young readers have and what parents can do to help.

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

During a break in the action at a faculty basketball game, teachers at Grafton (Mass.) El­ementary suddenly started dancing. The basketball players were joined by school staff members from around the gym to create a flash mob to a version of the song “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music. The dance and game were a hit with students; some wore wigs, body paint, and leis in their favorite team’s color. The school parent group sponsored the April event.

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!

Recently a lot of people have been searching ptotoday.com for information on carnivals and fall fairs. A fall carnival is a great event to create excitement among kids. It’s also a terrific way to get parents involved and create camaraderie, since you’ll need a lot of volunteers but the jobs are mostly fun.

Here are my top tips for running a carnival:

• Keep volunteer shifts short so parents can spend time with their children. If you need extra volunteers, tap high school service clubs or sports teams.
• If you plan to charge, take money in just one place and issue tickets. It’s important to limit the number of people handling cash. Consider selling wristbands so kids can enjoy all the games without worrying about how much each one costs.
• Fun game idea: Create your own mini golf course. Even one hole will be popular, and it’s a good project to get creative dads involved — you might even find a crafty person to build a windmill for your course.

Here are three links with great resources for planning your carnival. Have fun!

• School Carnival Planning Basics
• Classic Carnival Activities
• Carnival File Exchange: Flyers, feedback forms, supply lists, and more

“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.