The following is an example of what Room Parents may expect for the upcoming year:
September
- Meet with your Teacher, typically around or just after Back to School Night
- Meet with your fellow Room Parent volunteers to assign roles and get to know each other!
- Collect class contact information (names, email, phone numbers) typically at Back-To-School Night (and work with teacher to track down missing info) and distribute to classroom parents and teacher
- Send welcome/information letter from Room Parents to parents (see templates)
- Set up Scholastic monthly book orders (see templates) if desired by teacher, usually for younger grades
October
- Set up parent volunteer sign-up sheets to volunteer in the classroom
- Continue to receive class fund donations
December
- Use Class Funds to purchase Classroom “wish list” Holiday Gift (item/s that the teacher indicates are needed for the classroom/kids)
- Use Class Funds to purchase holiday gifts for teacher and aides/assistants
- Use Class Funds to host holiday craft if desired by teacher
January/February
- Send reminder email to parents about donations to class fund
April/May
- Recruit volunteers for Teacher Appreciation Lunch
- Send final reminder to parents about donations to class fund
- Coordinate Teacher Appreciation gifts and end-of-year teacher gifts
- Purchase additional “wish list” items for classroom should funds allow
June
- Present gifts to teacher and assistant teachers/aides (and specialists should funds allow) during last week/s of school
- Donate any unused funds to PTO
Throughout the Year:
- Initiate emails/phone requests for volunteers (in-class parties, field trips, school events, etc.)
- Organize class parties/crafts
- Keep Scholastic Book orders going monthly if desired by teacher.
- Keep track of budget (total donations received throughout year less all expenses). See templates for a sample budget.
- Keep class informed about school events by forwarding emails from PTO and teacher
- Keep class contact info updated and distributed as new students arrive or changes occur
- Track expenses so Room Parents aren’t funding activities/gifts out-of-pocket (and so that gift/craft expenses can be budgeted appropriately all the year)
We encourage all room parents to meet with their teacher in order to understand expectations for the school year, as each teacher is different! Refer to the Room Parent Templates to see a list of questions to ask the teacher during your initial meeting.
Please reach out to Room Parent co-chairs, Nagaraj Setty Holalkere (Raj) and Bindu N. Setty at roomparents@hastings-pto.org