Room Parent Resources

 

Your contributions to our Lakeridge PTA and PTA volunteers help support this program for our students. (Learn more about your impact here.)

 

 

  

about volunteering as a room parent

 

We’re so glad you’ve volunteered for Room Parent. Once all hands are raised, we will work with teachers to finalize the room parents. Be warned – some classes will have many parents wanting to take on the role. If that’s the case for your class, then it’s possible the teacher might do a lottery to choose just a few room parents for the job. And some classes might just have one or two raised hands. If that’s the case for your class, then get ready to jump in!!

 

Stay tuned for information about the Room Parent informational meeting after school starts. If your dreams come true and you are a room parent, you’ll want to be at this meeting.

 

Holler if you have any questions – I am here to help!!
 
Samantha McMichael, Room Parent Coordinator

 

  1. Roles & Responsibilities
  2. Lead Room Parent
  3. Event Coordinator
  4. PTA Liaison
  5. Green Schools Guidelines

 

  

Roles & Responsibilities

  • Establish initial communication with teacher to identify how the teacher likes to work with parents, communicate with parents, and use parent volunteers in the classroom

  • Establish initial communication for the class, provide class roster, phone numbers along with e-mail addresses etc.

  • Coordinate classroom volunteers (according to teacher wishes)

  • Coordinate chaperones for field trips throughout the year (according to teacher wishes)

  • Organize class parties (Generally, this includes a minimum of parties for Halloween, Valentine’s Day and the End of the School Year)

  • Coordinate teacher gifts for birthdays and year end

  • Work with Staff Appreciation Committee to assist with coordinated events throughout the year.

The above are intended as general guidelines. Please remember that each classroom varies and that your responsibilities may vary as well. 

 

 

  

lead room parent 

Before Curriculum Night

Please contact your teacher prior to the scheduled curriculum night to discuss his/her expectations for curriculum night and your responsibilities during the school year. Room Parent responsibilities vary from class to class so it is important to communicate with your teacher at the beginning of the year as to his/her needs.

 

Please check out SignUp Genius to assist with moving parent sign-ups online. Your Room Parent Coordinator is happy to help with training on the site if needed.

 

At Curriculum Night

Again, your teacher will provide input as to what is needed from you at Curriculum Night. Room Parent introductions and verbal requests take place after the teacher’s presentation.

 

Use Curriculum Night as your opportunity to introduce yourself to the parents. If additional volunteers are still needed to support the room parent responsibilities, this would be a good opportunity to ask. Ask parents to provide contact information so that it can be used for the class list until the formal directory is published.

 

Throughout the Year

Your specific responsibilities throughout the year will depend on the needs of your teacher but may generally fall under those previously described in the Room Parent Roles and Responsibilities. You will also receive information and directions from the Room Parent Coordinator throughout the year. You should feel free to email the Room Parent Coordinator with any questions.

 

Communication is a large part of your role and every effort such be made to ensure that it is effective.  Emails should be used as necessary to communicate vital information to your parent email list. Please do not send any personal emails (i.e. jokes, articles etc.) and avoid using “reply all” unless necessary. An overabundance of emails may discourage parents from reading important communications.

Please do take it online when appropriate. Consider using SignUp Genius to avoid email overload.

 

Teacher Gifts & Staff Appreciation

It is customary at Lakeridge for the teachers to receive a year-end-gift from the entire class and that the gift is presented at the end of the year party.

 

The Lakeridge PTA will reimburse up to $50 total for teacher gifts throughout the year. The PTA cannot reimburse for gift certificates in ANY denomination. As a room parent, we encourage you to coordinate a gift for your classroom teacher based on their list of “Favorite Things.” For example, if your teacher loves Starbucks, the room parent can purchase a Starbucks mug or Starbucks gift basket for under $50 (which can be reimbursed with receipt) and then offer to collect parent-purchased Starbucks gift cards, in any denomination, from families that choose to participate.

 

Room parents should coordinate recognition of the teacher’s birthday. You will receive information from the Room Parent Coordinator as to the teacher’s birth date. The PTA does not have specific guidelines on how to celebrate a teacher’s birthday. Based on teacher feedback, it is recommended, however, that it is done in a very simple and modest way. Room parents may bring in a bouquet of flowers (or have each student bring a flower) or coordinate handmade cards from the kids or remind parents about your teacher’s “Favorite Things” to bring in on their special day. One presentation should be made and kept short and sweet.

 

Holiday Gifts?

While on the topic of teacher gifts, you may be asked questions regarding a holiday gift for your teacher. Gifts around the holidays should be given on an individual basis and not from the class. Your role is to coordinate the class parties, teacher birthday gifts, and the teacher year-end gift.

 

 

  

event coordinator

Classroom parties are a break from the normal routine and a chance for the students to socialize. Extravagant treats and elaborate parties are not necessary to meet this purpose. Organization is, however, key.

 

To do before Curriculum Night

At the beginning of the year, before the scheduled curriculum night, please contact your teacher (in conjunction with the Lead Room Parent) with regards to his/her policies with respect to classroom parties. You will find that some teachers have tried and true guidelines while others leave much of the planning up to the parents. When contacting your teacher:

  • Confirm what parties will take place during the year. Generally, there is a Halloween party, Valentine’s Day party and end of the school year party. Some classes have additional parties such as the 100 day party etc. Other causes for celebration may arise during the year.
  • Some grades or classes may have certain traditions for certain holidays or events. Again, please confirm with your teacher whether there are any traditions that he/she would like to see continue.
  • Please check out SignUp Genius to assist with moving parent party sign ups online. Your Room Parent Coordinator is happy to help with training on the site if needed.
  • Provide sign-up sheets seeking volunteers for each party. Or do this online via SignUp Genius.
  • Your presentation should come after the teacher’s presentation.

At Curriculum Night

Be there to assist the teacher, encourage volunteers to sign up, and try to fill any empty volunteer slots!

 

GENERAL PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS

Contact your teacher

Roughly one month prior to the event, you should contact your teacher as to the date and time of the party.  Confirm any guidelines and preferences of your teacher for the party.

 

Seek volunteers

Weeks before the event, the event coordinator should send out an email to the parents advising them of the date and reminding the parents who agreed to volunteer at curriculum night. Needless to say, volunteers plans may change and you may want to seek additional parents to help with the upcoming party.

 

It is essentially up to the event coordinator as to how you would like to organize the planning. Generally, there seems to be two schools of thought. Some parents seek input on ideas for the party from all the class parents via an invitation to a meeting or by email. Other parents prefer to organize the ideas for the party and then email the class parents asking for volunteers to bring and coordinate certain snacks, games, crafts etc. Either way, please remember to follow your teacher’s guidelines and policies.

 

Allergies

Included within your teacher’s guidelines should be a summary of the allergies in your classroom and the types of food that may be served. Every precaution must be taken to avoid a life threatening situation.  When requesting any food items from volunteers, please always remind the parents of the allergies in the class.

 

Teacher Gifts: The PTA budget can support up to $50 in reimbursements total for teacher gifts throughout the year (birthday recognition and year-end gift). The PTA can no longer reimburse for gift certificates in any denomination.

 

Green Guidelines
Lakeridge is a Level 4 Certified King County Green school. Please make every effort to have your volunteers follow these guidelines.

 

Questions

During the school year, you will receive reminders and additional information from the Room Parent Coordinator with respect to events. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Room Parent Coordinator. 

 

 

  

PTA liaison 

The vision for the evolving role of the PTA Liaison is to have a parent whose function it is to highlight the importance of PTA membership and the many services that are provided through the PTA. The PTA Liaison will forward information from the PTA Board to the class parents and answer or forward questions from parents to the PTA Board.

 

PTA Overview of Activities

The Lakeridge PTA has three main areas of concentration that drive its activities, budget and volunteer hours:

  • Curriculum Support: Provide additional resources and programs for the school and teachers to broaden core curriculum.
  • Enrichment: Provide programs, activities and resources that encourage alternative learning opportunities, community and social development.
  • Learning Support: Provides additional instruction for students who need 1:1 / small group assistance to progress towards meeting standards for grade level. Long term, this will be expanded to provide individual support for kids meeting & exceeding standard.

Joining the Lakeridge PTA
One function of the PTA Liaison is to remind and encourage parents to join the PTA. This should be done at Curriculum Night after the teacher’s presentation. The message should not be that PTA membership or donations are mandatory. However, emphasis should be placed on educating parents on the function of the PTA and how PTA funds are used to benefit every child. Also remind them that the only way for them to obtain access to the password-protected online directory is to join the Lakeridge PTA!

 

Parents should be reminded to go on line to www.LakeridgePTA.org to register for the PTA. 

 

The Mercer Island Schools Foundation

Additionally, Lakeridge PTA works hand in hand with the Mercer Island Schools Foundation on the two fundraising drives for the school district. As PTA Liaison, you will be asked to forward information on about events, activities and news related to the drives. We’re not asking you to fundraise personally, but rather to deliver key information at a few points during the school year. 

 

 

  

guidelines for sustainable classroom parties 

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is the mindset behind parties at Lakeridge. We have worked hard for many years to get the Level 4 certification through the King County Green Schools Program. The measure of our success is in the support we receive from our parents and teachers and in turn imparting this knowledge to our students. It is the parents responsibility to help remind and educate our students about how and why we are being environmental.

 

We have moved to reusable party supplies! Cups, plates, and utensils are all now reusable and simply need to be hand washed and dried or run through your dishwasher and returned to school. We are eliminating all one-time use plates, cups and utensils. This will save hundreds of dollars by not having to purchase compostable supplies. Simply add a line item to your class party sign-ups “Wash re-usable cups, plates and utensils and return to classroom” for each class party. Parents can take them home and run them through their dishwasher. The items fill half a paper grocery bag. Parents are also welcome to wash and dry them at school and return them to the box.

 

Please make use of the classroom’s recycling bin to recycle any paper used for the party, empty juice boxes, and so on. Consider bringing paper bags to collect any leftover food. On your way out, put compost bags into the yellow compost bins in the lunchroom  

 

About Compost:

Everything that goes into your mouth is compostable (literally except gum – who knew!). This include melon rinds, coffee grounds, chicken bones, egg shells and wax cheese rind.  Additionally, pizza boxes, paper plates, paper cups or wax lined cups like Dixie, cardboard boxes, egg and berry cardboard cartons, plain paper, napkins etc. can also be composted. If something is wax lined it is compostable, if it has a plastic film, it is not. You can tell the difference by scraping your nail across the cup, for example, and if it is wax lined some of the wax will come up under your nail. Check link for Mercer Island specific guidelines on composting: http://www.mercergov.org/files/Republic_YardWaste_Flyer_2013.pdf

 

About Recycling:

All of these just need to be cleaned out and emptied to recycle: Aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles, milk and juice boxes, clean paper, plastic cups with the recycle triangle on the bottom, tin cans, yogurt and apple sauce cups and even the aluminum foil pull off top!

Not recyclable: Capri sun (boo!), tiny little plastic wraps around straws, granola bar wrappers or any bar wrappers, little plastic fruit chew pouches, aluminum or plastic cookie, chip pouches, most tiny plastic things that hold something together to something else are not. Bottle caps are not (but reusable for art!)

Check the link for Mercer Island specific guidelines: http://www.mercergov.org/files/Republic_Recycling_Flyer_2013.pdf

 

Decorations & Party Favors: 

Most decorations have a plastic film on them which make them non-recyclable. Find paper or cloth tablecloths and use natural decorations (flowers, plants, colorful fruits, stones, bare branches decorated with ornaments or ribbon, etc.) that are biodegradable or reusable. Party favors can be snacks without plastic wrapping.  If you want to bring in colorful decorations, have kids cut out hearts, rainbows, swirls, color themed designs from construction paper and either save them for next year or recycle. Balloons are not environmental at all and the district has a latex-free policy, so just skip them all together.

 

Beverages

Avoid plastics and non-recyclables: Skip individual plastic water bottles and juice boxes. No more juice boxes!  We can do it! Juice boxes and milk cartons are recyclable and therefore ZERO WASTE and allowed. BUT… so much less wasteful to do the following:  use large reusable water dispensers (pitchers) for water or to mix frozen juices you can buy at the grocery store. Use cups that are made from paper or have a recycle symbol on the bottom. Drinks in aluminum, glass or plastic containers are recyclable.   ***Best option would be to use the reusable cups provided by the PTA


Food

  • To avoid waste, be careful not to overbuy.
  • At the same time, buying in bulk (like goldfish) eliminates individual wrappings and keeps you at zero waste.
  • No individual, single-serving snacks of any kind.  None of these wrappers are recyclable and are very wasteful.
  • Pay attention to the little things: for example, paper cupcake wrappers are compostable, but the aluminum ones are trash.
  • Send food home with families or teachers!  Even consider arranging with a local food bank to pick up leftovers at the end of the event
  • Serve local and organic food when possible, and offer a vegetarian option.

 

  

additional resources