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Ryan ElementaryRoom Parent Handbook2014-2015PTA Room Parent CoordinatorStevi Morales720.775.8000SteviNMorales@Dear Room Parents,Thank you so much for accepting the position as room parent for your child’s classroom. I do hope the parties will be enjoyable for you and all the children. Students seem to enjoy the refreshments as well as the down time the party gives them, so keep in mind that the classroom parties do not need to be costly or elaborate.This handbook is intended to provide Ryan Elementary Room Parent volunteers with party guidelines and suggestions. Your main responsibility as a Room Parent is to plan and participate in both classroom parties that occur during the school year. The parties are Fall Harvest and Winterfest. This year the party dates are as follows: Friday October 31st; and Friday, December 19th.The room party guidelines have been established by the Ryan PTA members and the Ryan staff as a result of past experience and suggestions. This document is meant to be updated as things change. Suggestions are always welcome to help us improve this handbook. The purpose of the guidelines is to ensure that the kids have parties that they will enjoy participating in and that everyone involved understands what to expect for successful parties.Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.PARTY GUIDELINES:COMMUNICATION:Teachers: Please contact your teacher and let him/her know who you areas soon as possible. They are also great resources for coordinating room parties, so please enlist their aid and ask if there are any additional guidelines that they have in their classroom. Remember to discuss your ideas with them as they may have some valuable input to give you, as well as helping to set timelines for activates and games.Parent Helpers: Coordinating class helpers who have volunteered to assist with the parties is very important. A list of others wanting to help in your classroom will be given to each person who has contacted the Room Parent Coordinator to help for that classroom. The party letter that is to go home prior to each party also asks for helpers. If you don’t get enough help, please contact the Room Parent Coordinator, as he/she is here to help you. Based on personal experience, 2 to 4 adult helpers is good. There is the possibility of enlisting classroom student helpers with passing out certain things like plates, napkins and cups.Other Room Parents: Please consider working with RP volunteers from other classrooms. This can help you reduce your workload by combining tasks. You can also save money and reduce leftovers/waste by pooling your food & supplies. VOLUNTEERS:Room parent volunteers should have an appropriate familial and/or legal relationship with a child in the classroom. Please ensure that disputes outside of the school are not brought into the classroom or made part of the school experience. As a room parent, it is imperative that you share party information with all classroom parents. Remember, we’re doing this for the kiddos! PARTY MONEY:Over the last several years, room parent volunteers have not been requesting reimbursement for parties, therefore, the PTA has discontinued budgeting for room parties. However, please do not let this discourage you from volunteering. If you need reimbursement for a party, please use the form in this packet and submit it to the PTA Treasurer. If necessary, you can only be reimbursed up to $1.00 per party/per student. So, if there are 20 children in the class, the most you will be reimbursed is $20.00 per party. * If you are combining funds from the three parties, that is fine too. Your classroom, with 20 children, may not exceed $40.00 in reimbursements for the school year. * Please complete the voucher within this packet and attach your receipt, one for each party. You can then place this in the treasurer’s box in the PTA cabinet, which is located just inside the Computer Lab. With this money it is suggested that you purchase items like plates, cups, bowls, napkins, utensils, crafts, paper/Ziploc bags etc. Please do not purchase any food items with this money. We are asking that the food items be donated by families in the classroom. It is up to you (and the committee of room parents if there is more than one volunteer) to decide what you would like to have donated.Most neighborhood stores (e.g. King Soopers, Target, K-Mart, Hobby Lobby, Fun Services, etc.) are more than willing to forego the sales tax if you make them aware and provide the tax exempt number (98-03264) prior to the purchase.? Keep in mind that most merchants require cash payment if using the tax exempt number, which means no checks, debit cards or credit cards.Some merchants are even willing to donate items or give price breaks, if asked.? When going this route please be asking for donations and/or price breaks as a parent, NOT on behalf of the Ryan PTA. Any donations the PTA asks for needs to benefit the entire school.PARENT NOTIFICATION:Attached are two different letter templates, one for each of the parties. If you choose, customize them and have the teacher email to parents or if necessary make copies and for distribution. If you want you can write in your name, phone and email under the “Thank you” line. I do this in case parents have questions. It has never been abused. Please see the ‘COPIES’ section for guidelines on distributing to the class. If the letter isn’t your style feel free to use . This is an online service frequently used by the PTA and teachers. If you need assistance using this site please contact me. Feel free to use both the letters and the online sign up combined. For example use the letter to notify parents about the online sign up so they may log on and participate. Your teacher may also distribute the link to your sign up via email to the parents. FOOD:No colored drinks can be served to avoid stains on the school carpet.The letters that go home state this as well so that we do not have to return drinks such as Hawaiian Punch or Sunny D. Please also consider the possibility of food allergies/sensitivities when asking for donations.A popular suggestion that has come up concerning food is to provide only 2 or 3 items at the party and then send the rest home in paper or Ziploc bags. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. You can even make a craft out of it by letting them decorate their own paper bags.As a Jeffco Healthy Schools participant, Ryan has adopted a healthy foods policy that states 80% of food offerings for any class party or celebration needs be healthy options. Please see the Ryan Room Parent Website for some great healthy food ideas. We recommend only having 3-4 food items, as much goes to waste if more is offered. The focus of the party should not be the food, but more about the activities and having fun outside of the daily class schedule.ACTIVITIES:Please limit your parties to one or two activities or games.Remember, you have one hour and that includes treats. A good rule of thumb would be to allow at least 15 to 20 minutes for treats and 40 to 45 minutes for activities. Keep in mind the ages of the children when planning. For example, Kindergarteners may take 20 minutes to complete a single craft that may take older students only 5 minutes.PARTY IDEAS:Within this packet is a list of party ideas by grade. Additionalideas for the list are always welcome.** Diversity can be an issue for class parties. Please make every effort to include all of the children in the classroom. If religion concerns arise, simple changes can include all of the children. For example, use winter holiday icons such as stockings, candy canes, etc., instead of Santa Claus.COSTUMES:No bloody, gory, scary, provocative or revealing costumes may be worn during parties. No weapons or toy weapons of any kind are allowed. Candles are not to be used. Parent costumes must also follow these rules. No part of the costume may be worn during the regular school day.COPIES:If you need to have copies made by the school, fill out a copy form located in the white wire basket by the door of the Media Room and then return to the basket for copying. Request that the copies be delivered to the teacher for distribution in Friday Folders. Copies will be paid for by the PTA only if done in the Media Room at the school. No reimbursements will be made if copies are done somewhere else. Information for Friday folders needs to be to the classrooms by Wednesday of that week.EXTRAS:If you have extra food, drinks or supplies see if you can send them home with the child/children who brought them. If it is something that can be saved for the next party, see if you, or someone else in the class, can hold onto them.CO-ROOM PARENTING:Here are a few ideas to help get you started in working together to have great parties: 1) Remember, we’re doing this for the kiddos! 2) Keep it fun. 3) Get together with your teacher and co-room parents to discover your teacher’s vision for the parties and to determine how each parent can best support that vision. There are several ways to share the party responsibilities. A few ideas are: 1) Each parent can take certain jobs for each party: (letter, coordinating donations, running party stations, creating goodie bags, etc). 2) Each parent can take one party to manage on their own. 3) If everyone agrees, one parent can be elected the ‘team leader’. REMEMBER TO KEEP THE PARTIES SIMPLE AND FUN!COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEACHERS AND HELPERS TOO!THESE ARE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL PARTY!Additional Duties:As a Room Parent, your primary job is to plan and conduct the three annual classroom parties in cooperation with your teacher and co-room parents. However, you may want to do more than that. You can coordinate any additional responsibilities with your teacher. For example, if you desire, you may organize providing a classroom gift for the teacher (or in the teacher’s name) such as during the Winterfest party or at the end of the year. This is entirely optional and is not expected! Timeline for Planning Classroom PartiesFall Harvest Party: Friday October 31st 2:15pm – 3:20pmMorning Kindergarten: Check with your teacher for party times!Special Considerations:The student body participates in an all school parade which consumes approximately 30 minutes of the one hour allowed for the classroom party. You will have 30 minutes of party time in the classroom, so please keep this party simple. Refreshments and simple games work well, otherwise you will run out of time. Please make note that NO bloody, gory, or provocative costumes may be worn by either students or parents during the party.Monday, September 29, 2014Turn in letters for approval by your classroom’s, if applicable. Turn in letter to Media Room for copies. Or send the link to your Sign-Up Genius to your teacher for approval.Monday, October 6, 2014Verify with the teacher this week that the letters have gone home or will be going home by Friday, October 10, 2014. You may ask your teacher to instead email the link to the sign up to parents!Monday, October 26, 2014Have reminder notices sent home this week if you have notreceived enough back from parents in your classroom.Winterfest Party: Friday, December 20, 2014 2:20pm – 3:20pmSpecial Considerations:Please remember to use winter icons such as stockings, candy canes, snowmen, etc, instead of Santa Claus.Monday, November 17, 2014Turn in letters for approval by your classroom’s teacher, if applicable. Turn in letter to Media Room for copies. Or send the link to your Sign-Up Genius to your teacher for approval.Monday, November 24, 2014Verify with the teacher this week that the letters have gonehome or will be going home by Friday, November 28, 2014. You may ask your teacher to instead email the link to the sign up to parents!Monday, December 8, 2014Have reminder notices sent home this week if you have notreceived enough back from parents in your classroom.Party IdeasKindergarten,Crafts: simple self-adhesive projectsFirst & SecondRelay gamesGradesRing tossBean bag tossBowlingDecorate cookiesPin the tail on the donkey, or a similar gameDecorate paper lunch bags with die cuts for a goodie bagThe fishing game (where the child fishes for prizes)Musical ChairsDoor knob decorationsJar guessing games – winner gets to keepDecorate blank cardsThird GradeCupcake walkBingoPictionaryCharadesPine cone bird feederFourth, Fifth &LimboSixth GradeBrownie mix in a jarFill or decorate glass ornamentsMake your own ice cream sundaesShrinky dinksBook exchange with Tommy Wright story (in this packet)Donut on a stickSpecial Considerations:Once an activity has been listed for a particular grade level it can work for any older grade level. Example: the jar guessing game is listed in Kindergarten, but can also be used as a game in fourth grade. Activities listed for sixth grade will work best for the older kids and may not work as well for a kindergartener.Kindergarten thru second grade: Activities work very well in centers. There can be one craft activity per table, with an adult to supervise. After ten to fifteen minutes the kids rotate to a new center. When possible, use self-adhesive craft projects. Glue can get very messy and take a long time to dry.If you have a lot of candy or other individually wrapped items, you can always save some for the teacher to use in the classroom throughout the year as special treats.PTA Treasurer - Room Party Reimbursement FormDate: _____________________For: Winterfest Teacher: __________________________Number of Students: __________________Room Parent Name: _____________________________________________________________Contact information in case there are questions about the attached receipt from our treasurer.Phone number: _________________________________________________________________Email: ________________________________________________________________________* Don’t forget to attach your receipt (s). Reimbursement Amount: _______________PTA Treasurer - Room Party Reimbursement FormDate: _____________________For: Fall Harvest Teacher: __________________________Number of Students: __________________Room Parent Name: _____________________________________________________________Contact information in case there are questions about the attached receipt from our treasurer.Phone number: _________________________________________________________________Email: ________________________________________________________________________* Don’t forget to attach your receipt (s). Reimbursement Amount: _______________Dear Parents of _______________________________ class, The Winterfest Party will be held on Friday, December 19th 2:30 pm to 3:35 pm. There are ______________ children in the class and there are __________________________ food allergies. 506476015875000The following items are needed to make the party a success:Apple Juice BoxesBottled WaterCupcakesFruitVeggiesCheese & CrackersGoodie bagsCookiesSqueezable YogurtsNapkinsPlatesParty Favors$5 wrapped book for gift exchange $5 to use as needed for the partyIf you would like to donate any of the above items, please complete the portion below and send it to your child’s teacher no later than Monday, December 6, 2014. This will help to avoid duplication and will ensure that we have what we need on the day of the party. All nonperishable items can be delivered to the classroom starting Monday, December 15, 2014.Parents are also needed as volunteers in the classroom the day of the party. Interested parents should plan to be at the school by 2:00 pm and stay until 3:30 pm to help set up, assist during the party and clean up at the end. Teacher’s name will also be emailing a link where you can sign up if you prefer. The link is: ______________.Thank you in advance for your help!Teacher: ___________________________________________________________Yes, I can bring ______________________________________________Yes, I can be there by 2:00 to help (come to the back door). Parent name(s): ___________________________________________________Student name(s): __________________________________________________Day Phone: __________________ Evening Phone: __________________________Email (optional): ________________________________________________________ -914400-45720000Dear Parents of _________________ class, The Fall Harvest Party will be held on Friday October 31st 2:30 pm to 3:35 pm. There are ______ children in the class and there are________________________ food allergies. 495998510033000The following items are needed to make the party a success:Apple Juice BoxesCupcakesFruitVeggiesCheese & CrackersCookiesSqueezable YogurtsNapkinsPlatesParty FavorsGoodie Bags$5 to use as needed for the party .Bottled WaterIf you would like to donate any of the above items, please complete the portion below and send it to your child’s teacher no later than Monday, October 20, 2012. This will help to avoid duplication and will ensure that we have what we need on the day of the party. All nonperishable items can be delivered to the classroom starting Monday, October 27, 2012.Parents are also needed as volunteers in the classroom the day of the party. Interested parents should plan to be at the school by 2:10 pm and stay until 3:40 pm to help set up, assist during the party and clean up at the end. Teacher’s name will also be emailing a link where you can sign up if you prefer. The link is: ______________.Thank you in advance for your help!Teacher: ___________________________________________________________Yes, I can bring ______________________________________________Yes, I can be there by 2:00 to help (SIGN IN AT FRONT DESK) Parent name(s): ___________________________________________________Student name(s): __________________________________________________Day Phone: __________________ Evening Phone: __________________________Email (optional): ________________________________________________________ ................
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