Room Parents

1.  Communication Between the Teacher, School and Parents

• Find out teacher expectations. Meet with your child’s teacher at the beginning of the school year to discuss how best you can be leveraged in the classroom and with the other classroom parents. Ask the teacher about all parent volunteer opportunities in the room so you can help other parents get involved.
• Create a list of parents/students. At the Open House, be sure there is a sign up sheet where parents can provide contact information. Email addresses are particularly helpful to gather so you can create an email distribution list to more efficiently share class information.
• Introduce yourself. Send an email to the parents to introduce you and other room parents in your class.  Include volunteer opportunities and how room parents should be contacted: email and/or phone numbers.
• Communicate regularly with parents. Remind parents of important dates and upcoming events. Forward information to the parents as requested by the teacher, school, PTO Board or PTO committee chairpersons.

2.  Secure Parent Volunteers

• Parent volunteers are needed throughout the year for field trips, class parties and activities as directed by the teacher. Parties may include Halloween, Winter Holiday, Valentine’s Day, End-of-Year, etc. There may be coordination required among the other classrooms in the grade level. Volunteers are also needed for PTO sponsored events such as Fall Carnival and Field Day. For younger grades, parents may be asked to come read to the class and stuff the weekly Wednesday folders. Consider making a sign up on signupgenius.com for these duties.

3.  Encourage Relationships Between the Class Parents

• If you have a new family to Condit in your class, please make an effort to encourage involvement.
• Consider hosting a coffee after drop off one morning or even a casual, parents-only dinner at the home of one of the classroom families.
• If you have a parent who could use additional support to learn the ropes of Condit, consider asking another parent to “buddy” with the new parent.

4.  Coordinate Teacher Gifts

• Although this is strictly voluntary, a class group gift is usually given for the winter holiday. The room parent organizes the financial collection, acquisition, and distribution of the gift. The collections are put together with the other classes in the grade and divided equally among that grade’s teachers. The end of year gift is also voluntary and done on an individual basis.

5.  Other

• There may be a need to replenish classroom supplies throughout the year, as determined by the teacher. You may be asked to help find volunteers to donate these items.
• Remember, this is a privilege for us to be welcomed into the teachers’ classrooms.  Please do not gossip or pass along insider information you may learn.

6.  Room Parent Structure

• Pre-K and Kinder: The room parent based on the teacher.
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade: The room parent is for the first period class.
• 5th grade: There is 1 grade-level “coordinator” room parent and then a parent committee. The committee will all work together as most activities are done at the grade level.

If you have any questions, please contact Kori Long, Condit PTO VP of Volunteering, at conditptovolunteer@gmail.com.