ad2c4xWe did yard signs for our entire PreK - grade 4 students. We did one per family, therefore, it was a total of 177 signs. We made our sign on large paper (11 x 18?) that we colored with markers. We made copies at 8 cents apiece. The stakes were donated by two local lumber yards. We laminated each sign. Our cost was about 20 cents a sign. We divided them into areas and teachers each took 15 to 20 and off they went. The longest it took anyone was 2 hours. The families loved it!! We had our big open house/family picnic the next day so if we saw anyone while putting up the sign we reminded them of that! Great idea. Thanks!

Marne;134377 wrote: I think it will be a great way to introduce the new families to the Parent Club immediately and in a fun way that doesn't ask anything of them or cost us a penny. Hopefully this will become a great tradition.

This is our thought as well! The only difference is we call each new parent prior to school starting to wish them well and answer any questions. We are going to ask their permission to give them a sign for their child.

The sign will not have a name on it and the morning of the first day they can then place it in their yard.

Somebody asked for a website, I don't have a site but the company is Master Image at 205-871-8781, just remind them they make the yard signs for Shady Oaks Elementary.

We have had success making lawn signs using Avery large labels and their sign kits. (Avery.com) They can get expensive if you use many of them. So we purchased one main kit, then used the large labels on regular poster boards to make our own kits. These are good to set on the lawn of the schools (especially if your have safety issues regarding setting them up on home lawns.) We also use the signs on the school lawns to notify parents of social events coming up or last day to drop of fundraiser orders. We save the signs used annually (Bingo Night) in an artists poster case. Parents dropping off their children see the signs as they drive into the parking lot.

Our principal had t-shirts made up just for the kindergarteners. And she went to each house introduced herself and gave each child a new shirt to wear as a gift.
This will be our first year doing this, we'll see how well this goes over. The cost was approx. 4.00 each- with 100 kids receiving them.
I think water bottles would be good also. You can get them printed with something special and the cost would be under 1.00 each. This would be something the kids could use all year--
Lawn signs get used once and unless you feel you could go back and pick them up for each parent to use again, a fairly high expense each year.

I am torn on this whole thing!! If you do decide that this is what you want to do, you can get signs fairly cheap at www.signoutfitters.com . We had a Spring Carnival in March and I don't remember the exact amount, but it was something like, 100 18"x24" plastic corregated signs for something like $300. That included the stakes. Good luck with whatever you all decide to do, I think that we are going to stick with a post card or something. By the time you drive all of these signs around, look at how much you are spending in fuel, so while making them doesn't cost anything, driving them around would. Anyways, good luck!!

I loved this idea - I read about it in the email sent from PTOToday. Our Principal was very supportive. We have a simple design for our sign and will copy it onto 8-1/2x11 cardstock and stamp hearts onto it to add color. We have 4 K classes of 20 kids each. I had a local paint store donate 100 wooden stir sticks for us to attach the signs onto and a copy store gave us the cardstock. The sign says "George Washington School loves you! Welcome to Kindergarten! We can't wait to see you! Washington School Parent Teacher Club" No names are necessary and we figured that anyone watching the house for a short time would know where the children live anyway, so this is no true additional risk. Our four board members will "plant" the signs the week before school starts. I think it will be a great way to introduce the new families to the Parent Club immediately and in a fun way that doesn't ask anything of them or cost us a penny. Hopefully this will become a great tradition.