ISSUE DATES

  • Add More Fun to Your School Fun Run

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    Parent groups get creative to raise interest in their fun run fundraisers.

  • 4 PTO Events That Promote Health and Fitness

    These fun family programs encourage healthy choices.

  • Reenergize Your PTO or PTA Midyear

    If your PTO or PTA is like most, you probably started the year with a burst of energy, eager volunteers, and plans that everyone was enthused about. But by the midyear point, many parent groups stall out a bit. It doesn’t have to be that way. Midyear is actually a great time to review your progress and renew your momentum for a great year. This guide to reenergizing your parent group midyear includes everything you need to keep your group motivated to carry on with its good work. Read Free Guide Inside the Midyear Guide: Managing volunteers. Keep your numbers from dwindling with our ideas for showing appreciation, keeping up momentum, and more. Dealing with low meeting attendance. Meetings aren’t everything, but they’re important—and sometimes simple ways of making them more enticing can inspire more people to show up. Reviewing your financials. After fall fundraising and the holidays is a good time to have a detailed discussion about your group’s financial performance. Managing burnout. “Midyear slump” is a common situation, but one that you can overcome. Our tips can help. Read Free Guide Still have questions? Call us at 800-644-3561; we’re here to help. Share this page:

  • PTO and PTA Community Service Ideas for Families

    Nine kinds of community service projects that school families can complete together.

  • PTO Leaders: How To Use Facebook Live

    Livestreaming PTO meetings and other information can help you reach parents wherever they are.

  • 6 Ways To Work Well With Teachers

    Ideas to help your group establish good relationships with your school's teachers.

  • A Royally Fun Family Event

    Families go back to medieval times during this creative program.

  • 6 Questions To Ask Before Your Spring Fundraiser

    What to consider when thinking about spring fundraiser ideas for your school.

  • Your PTO Facebook Page: How To Build Involvement

    Expert tips to build involvement and increase engagement on your PTO or PTA Facebook page (plus tips on what not to do).

  • 6 Ways To Add Fun and Energy to Your PTO Events

    It's easy to liven up traditional activities by adding something new.

  • Ideas To Make Your PTO or PTA More Fun

    If parents have a good time, they’ll be more likely to keep coming back. Here's how to make volunteering more fun for everyone.

  • Tax Exemption and Nonprofit Status: What PTOs Should Know

    Our guide to the legal terms related to 501(c)(3) status and incorporation for school PTOs and PTAs.

  • 10 Ways To Be a Community Resource

    Try these community-building ideas like planning a service project and helping local businesses.

  • The Complete School Carnival Planning Guide for PTOs and PTAs

    At many schools, carnivals and fairs become a beloved annual event. One reason so many schools hold carnivals is that they can be easily customized, becoming as simple or as elaborate as you want. Whether you choose a traditional event or one that has a few more bells and whistles, pulling off a successful school fair is a big job that takes a lot of help and organization. This school carnival and fair planning guide includes everything you need to create a winning event for your school community. Read Free Guide Inside the Complete Guide to Planning a School Carnival: School Carnival Planning: What You Need To Know You’ll make planning your carnival more manageable by going one step at a time. Start with the logistics (location, time, permits, insurance), then move on to volunteers, budget and money management, and fnally food, games, and prizes. Classic Carnival Activities Whether you choose a theme for your school fair or stick to a more traditional setup, your choices for activities vary widely. Start by picking a few classics from our list (we include ones with and without prizes). Add a Twist to Your School Carnival One you’ve decided on the bulk of your activities, try some of these add-on ideas to give your carnival a fresh feel. Downloadable Tools Promote your event with flyers and clip art. Make it shine with photo booth props, price sheets, and more. How To Have an Amazing School Carnival Pulling off a successful carnival is a big job that takes a lot of help. What successful carnivals and festivals have in common are organizers who work hard to understand what will work best in their school community. With that knowledge, your parent group will put on a special event that students will talk about until next year—when you do it all over again. Assemble a committee. A carnival has a lot of different elements that need to be in sync. Look for creative, enthusiastic parents who are not already bogged down with other commitments. Recruit volunteer leaders to head up food, games, and logistics. Nail down your budget. This will drive your big decisions. Many parent groups have put on wonderful, well-attended carnivals with tight budgets. With a bigger budget, you may be able to afford rides, more elaborate games, and additional food options. Test some games. Interactive games are one of the hallmarks of a carnival. They can also cause anxiety among parents who fear kids will reject homemade games. Test-market new games on your children, and don’t be surprised if they’re just as happy throwing a ball in a hoop as playing an active video game. Standard go-to games include musical cakes, a ring toss, and a fishing activity. Plan other activities. Beyond games, carnivals often feature pony rides, face-painting, hayrides, and even amusement rides like a small Ferris wheel. Musical performances by students or local bands are a good way to draw a crowd. Contests such as a bake-off or a chili cook-off are also popular. Think about prizes. Kids like prizes. It doesn’t seem to matter what the prizes are; they can be small and inexpensive. Order enough to allow each child to win a prize at each game, plus at least 20 percent more. Extra prizes can be saved and used the next year, so it’s better to have too many than to risk running out. Read Free Guide Still have questions? Call us at 800-644-3561; we’re here to help. Share this page:

  • Guide to Supporting STEAM and STEM Learning for PTOs and PTAs

    Boosting student learning in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math—STEM—has long been a priority at many schools. More recently, educators and policymakers have stressed adding elements of art and design (a combined approach known as STEAM) to challenge students to think creatively to solve problems, as well as expanding STEM education opportunities at all grade levels. PTOs and PTAs can play a substantial role in promoting and supporting STEM and STEAM at their schools. This guide to supporting STEM learning for PTOs and PTAs is a must-read for parent groups that want to do just that. Read Free Guide What’s Covered in the Guide to Supporting STEM Learning Ways To Support STEAM Education In the push to improve skills in STEM subjects, many schools have added a new element—art and design—and have moved from STEM to STEAM. This relatively new initiative challenges students to use creative thinking and ingenuity to solve real-world problems. 5 Awesome STEAM Events Mini profiles of actual events from school parent groups, including an Earth Day celebration, a week of science demos, and a tech take-apart night. Teaching Gardens: Hands-on STEM Learning Teaching gardens not only provide hands-on learning in an outdoor setting but also offer a variety of other corresponding lessons like composting, gauging weather, plotting and graphing, and nutrition that span the entire curriculum. 18 Ideas for Science Enrichment Hands-on STEM events and science activities that groups can adapt to their schools. A Community STEM Effort When Weatherstone Elementary in Cary, N.C., was designated as a science, technology, engineering, and math school, the PTA organized monthly STEM Fridays and a STEM Expo. A Year of STEAM It’s always a good time to encourage kids’ interest in STEAM subjects! Consider scheduling your event during a national observance. PLUS: Tips for finding local STEAM experts, a roundup of STEM and STEAM children’s books, and downloadable instructions for a make-your-own-kaleidoscope activity. Why STEM and STEAM Learning Matter In the push to improve skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, many schools and educators have added the concept of art and design to the curriculum. This move from STEM to STEAM challenges students to use creative thinking and ingenuity to solve real-world problems. This is especially important because jobs of the future will increasingly rely on workers with a technical background plus creative thinking skills. Some STEAM advocates believe that the art component serves as an on-ramp to STEM subjects for underrepresented students (women and minorities) as well as students who don’t see themselves as mathematicians or engineers. The push to engage students in technical fields isn’t just a matter of learning the curriculum; it’s about preparing students for the job market they’ll face after graduation. Advocates say linking art education to these more technical fields teaches the type of risk-taking, ingenuity, and problem-solving that employers will need in the future. The United States already has an increased need for qualified employees for STEM jobs, and the trend is expected to continue. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, STEM job growth from 2005 to 2015 was six times faster than non-STEM job growth during the same time period. And the Education Commission of the States estimates that between 2017 and 2027, STEM jobs will grow by 13 percent, compared with only 9 percent for non-STEM roles. In addition, women are underrepresented in STEM fields. According to Million Women Mentors, an international initiative to connect women to science and technology fields, only 26 percent of STEM workers are female; and while 20 percent of engineering graduates are women, they make up only 11 percent of working engineering professionals. Researchers have also pointed out how important it is to engage students in scientific fields at an early age. A report in the journal Science suggested that exposing students to science topics in elementary or middle school could result in more students aspiring to earn a college degree in a STEM field. Read Free Guide Still have questions? Call us at 800-644-3561; we’re here to help. Share this page:

  • 54 Teacher Appreciation Ideas

    Finding new ideas for teacher appreciation can be a challenge, even for the most creative among us. Our collection of 50-plus teacher appreciation ideas has something for everyone, whether you consider yourself crafty or all thumbs! We’ve rounded up our favorite ideas, both grand and simple, for easy browsing. You’ll find links to lots of free printables, like certificates and gift tags, as well as tools to help you plan your teacher appreciation efforts, like a checklist for a staff breakfast or luncheon. Get Free Ideas Inside the Ultimate Teacher Appreciation Guide: Teacher Appreciation Planning Tools Forms for organizing your efforts: teacher and staff survey, staff appreciation supplies list, volunteer recruitment flyer, and meal checklist. Projects To Make With Students Ask students to help create gifts their teachers will treasure. Gifts for the Classroom Many teachers spend hundreds of dollars of their own money each year on classroom supplies, so these items are always welcome gifts. Add a heartfelt message and the gift will be appreciated even more. Free or Cheap Teacher Appreciation Ideas No-cost appreciation ideas and inspirational quotes about teaching to share online or post around the school. Gifts for Personal Use Make them feel pampered with gifts to use for themselves, either in the classroom or at home. Snack Ideas Both healthy snacks and sweet treats are well-loved for teacher appreciation. Our collection of printables includes the popular Candy Poem, as well as punny or touching gift tags that can be attached to small treats like cupcakes or crackers. Meal Ideas Work with the principal to arrange a teacher breakfast or an extended lunch break. (Hint: Use the meal checklist from the planning tools to help organize.) Help Teachers Out Give staff members more time by asking parent volunteers to cover school-day duties or to help with routine personal tasks. Gift Cards When you’re not sure what to get, a gift card is a safe bet. You can create a crafty gift card bouquet or print out one of our clever gift card holders. Say Thanks All Year Long Ways to show appreciation from August to June. Appreciating the “T” in “PTO” When it comes to showing teachers you care, it truly is the thought that counts. Showing appreciation throughout the school year can lift spirits and enhance your PTO’s relations with staff members. While a lot of parent groups plan the bulk of their appreciation efforts for Teacher Appreciation Week (the first full week of May), it’s even better to find smaller ways to appreciate staff members throughout the whole school year. If your PTO doesn’t have a committee chair overseeing teacher appreciation, recruit someone to take on that role specifically. Brainstorm ways you can recognize teachers’ efforts at different times of year. You might give them some classroom supplies before the first day of school, ask parents to bake cookies before the winter holidays, or present them with gifts to help relax during summer break. Teacher appreciation doesn’t have to be a big item in your budget; it just has to be a sincere expression of gratitude. Get Free Ideas Still have questions? Call us at 800-644-3561; we’re here to help. Share this page:

  • 6 Ideas for Memorable Events

    Create a tradition or two at your school with one of these event ideas.

  • More 2016 Parent Group of the Year Winners

    A look at the diverse category winners from our National Parent Group of the Year search.

  • Idea Gallery 2016

    Cool events and creative efforts from entries in the 2016 Parent Group of the Year search.

  • Ideas for Adult Social Events

    Have some fun with these parent group social events—just for grown-ups!
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