Idea Bag

  • My Tip of the Week: PTO Today, Facebook, and You

    My tip for you this week is to join us on what is quickly becoming a very powerful new resource for PTO and PTA leaders -- our PTO Today Facebook page. I'm loving all the idea-sharing that's happening over there.

  • Parent Groups in the News: Weekly Round-up 5/7/10

    Happy Friday to all the PTO & PTA moms! Wishing you a fun and relaxing Mother's Day weekend! Here are a few articles that may spark some new ideas for your parent group.

  • My Tip of the Week: Think One-of-a-Kind Items for Your Next School Auction

    Does your group run a fundraising auction of some sort? Over the past several years, auction events -- silent auctions, full-blown gala auctions, online auctions -- have been one of the fastest-growing segments of the fundraising world.

  • My Tip of the Week: Protect Your Finances

    OK, guys, time for my annual plea -- please, please take these simple steps to protect your finances.

  • Creative Way to Promote a PTO Event

    Have to hand it to this Ohio PTO -- they came up with a really fun and original way to promote their walk-a-thon! This creative bunch came up with the idea of trying to break a world record in conjunction with their walk-a-thon day!

  • Parent Groups in the News: Weekly Round-up 5/21/10

    Is it me or are parent groups coming up with more unique family events and fundraising ideas? Check out the events I came across in the news this week.

  • My Tip of the Week: Steal a PTO Document or Flyer

    My tip this week is to steal and steal again. Have you checked out the File Exchange on ptotoday.com lately? We have a lot of web visitors who swear it's their favorite part of our site, or at least the most practical.

  • My Tip of the Week: Laugh a Little

    Yes, there is humor in the fact that we're crazy enough to get angry when we see a box top in someone's trash can. The horror!

  • How to Organize Your Digital Event Photos

    Are you the designated historian of your PTO or PTA? Or maybe, you are simply the person who happens to have a knack for photography and brings your camera to all the events. Either way, you are left with the task of organizing all those photos. And often (not always!) if you were blessed with the creative gene, you didn't get the organization gene. If you fit into that category, sorting through and organizing those digital photos can be down right daunting. Can you tell that I speak from experience? So, I recently did a little research on best ways to organize photos and thought I'd share what I learned.

  • My Tip of the Week: Create a Strong Volunteer Interest Form

    Starting to think about getting more volunteers next year? One important first step is how you ask parents to express their interest. A well-done "volunteer interest form" (here's a sample) is an important part of that process.

  • My Tip of the Week: Get Parents To Pledge 2 Hours of Help

    Starting to think about back to school and getting parents involved? One of the best approaches I know of for increasing involvement is our 2 Hour Power pledge program.

  • My Tip of the Week: Create Programs that Impact Student Achievement

    PTOs and PTAs build school community in many important ways. And research shows that this alone can help students and teachers succeed. But do you do anything that directly impacts student achievement?

  • My Tip of the Week: Grants for School Improvement Projects

    The involvement events, teacher/staff support, and student enrichment activities that your parent group makes happen are all vital to your school community. But sometimes -- bet we could even say often -- PTOs and PTAs are asked to help with larger projects to enhance learning at the school.

  • My Tip of the Week: Share How Your Group is Going Green

    No doubt about it -- green is growing. Over the past year or two, we've noticed a big increase in the number of groups going green. Groups are running recycling programs, holding walk/bike to school days, and setting up composting systems at school.

  • My Tip of the Week: Provide Parenting Resources to Your Community

    Besides providing great family activities and supporting your school with resources and volunteers, are you helping the parents at your school become better school parents? It's an often-overlooked role of the best parent groups around the country.

  • Parent Groups in the News Round-up - 8/28/10

    Hope everyone had a great week. Thanks to those who replied to my Facebook request and sent along article links! Here's the top-line of the most interesting articles of the week.

  • My Tip of the Week: Thank Volunteers Early

    Volunteer appreciation isn't just for spring. Not at all. Sure, a well-organized, larger volunteer thank-you effort is great, but it's actually way more important to build a year-round culture of thanks in your PTO or PTA.

  • PTO Today Rock Stars: Barb R & Rachel

    Woot! Excited to be putting up our very first "Rock Star" blog post. I will doing these periodically to feature the best content from PTO Today Rock Stars in our message boards. Here are two incredibly helpful posts from two terrific community members.

  • Parent Groups in the News Round-up -- 9/10/10

    Found a mish mash of interesting articles this week! Lots of things for you to ponder over the next week.

  • Trend Watch: Families Sprucing Up Schools

    Parent groups bring new ideas to the traditional school beautification day.
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