I was asked to clean up the PTA storage that is taking over the teacher workroom. I tackled it with help from my trusty first vice president in about 45 minutes last week.
We went through all of the posters and large items that were stacked on countertops and THREW IT ALL AWAY! Folks had saved posters from events long gone with dates on them. Posters made with photos of children that are now in high school. Wrinkled things, ugly things. We recycled it all.
After getting rid of the garbage we found that we had a ton of supplies in there. So many decorations for our 2 big family events that can be reused. It is budget friendly to be organized!
Now that the garbage is gone we intend to have a parent who enjoys organizing to come in and label and store items for us neatly.
Keeping our PTA items neat and put away is a way for us to show respect for the staff at our school. They need room to work!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Budgeting meeting.
Our PTA budgeting meeting was last Thursday. It was a great meeting! Our executive board met in the teachers lounge at the school and looked at how much money we have, how much we plan to spend and how we can better allocate our funds for next school year.
The most exciting thing that came out of the meeting is a new scholarship for a graduating senior who attended our elementary school for at least 3 years. We will award $500 to the student who writes the favorite essay as judged by our committee of three people. Such a wonderful legacy for our PTA to leave!
After all of the numbers were added up, we adjourned the meeting. It took about 2 hours. Once the meeting was over our treasurer took everything we planned and put it into a spreadsheet. We will present this to the PTA meeting in September for approval.
The most exciting thing that came out of the meeting is a new scholarship for a graduating senior who attended our elementary school for at least 3 years. We will award $500 to the student who writes the favorite essay as judged by our committee of three people. Such a wonderful legacy for our PTA to leave!
After all of the numbers were added up, we adjourned the meeting. It took about 2 hours. Once the meeting was over our treasurer took everything we planned and put it into a spreadsheet. We will present this to the PTA meeting in September for approval.
Mission accomplished!
The library at our elementary school was fairly dreary when Kat started first grade. White walls with dark grey accents, white blinds that were mostly broken. Gray carpet with burgundy office chairs. Lots and lots of books in blonde wood bookshelves. Drab.
Sitting through several PTA meetings the year before last I dreamed up the idea of painting blue sky and clouds on the 65 foot long wall in the back of the library. We gathered a team of parents and got the job done.
The students and teachers loved the update, it brought both beauty and science to the room. The clouds were accurate renditions of the 6 types of clouds and were labeled by one of our parents. Lovely!
This year I decided that I wanted to paint the portal hallway into the library. It is about 20 feet long and 10 feet wide at its narrowest spot. First we taped sections off for each color of the rainbow. With gifted children you had better make sure that you do Roy G Biv and you do it right! You will never hear the end of it if you mess it up!
After taping we painted every other stripe. Red, Yellow, blue, and violet. Once they dried we went back and painted in the orange, green and indigo stripes.
Very inviting! The entire project cost us about $300 and we used 5 volunteers.
Sitting through several PTA meetings the year before last I dreamed up the idea of painting blue sky and clouds on the 65 foot long wall in the back of the library. We gathered a team of parents and got the job done.
The students and teachers loved the update, it brought both beauty and science to the room. The clouds were accurate renditions of the 6 types of clouds and were labeled by one of our parents. Lovely!
This year I decided that I wanted to paint the portal hallway into the library. It is about 20 feet long and 10 feet wide at its narrowest spot. First we taped sections off for each color of the rainbow. With gifted children you had better make sure that you do Roy G Biv and you do it right! You will never hear the end of it if you mess it up!
After taping we painted every other stripe. Red, Yellow, blue, and violet. Once they dried we went back and painted in the orange, green and indigo stripes.
Very inviting! The entire project cost us about $300 and we used 5 volunteers.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Since last Tuesday I have painted more of the library, we now have a yellow stripe and a blue stripe. Just 5 more to go! Unfortunately, I re-injured my arm painting today and am benched from painting. Hopefully, the volunteers I enlisted today will come through and we will start the school year with freshly painted walls that are complete!
We also had another new student play date this morning. Over 20 children came with many complaining that they did not hear about the play dates easily. We have to rethink our method of contacting new families for next year. As I don't have their names or addresses, this makes it difficult!
I also had a meeting with the principal of our school, the secretary, the PTA VP2, and one of the teachers. We went over our calendars for the year and double checked dates. We added an event of Mathlete Day. Our school serves two populations and everything the PTA needs to be inclusive of both the exceptionally gifted children and the children with moderate cognitive impairments. Because of this, our school has never had a field day. Many families are disappointed by this but I think that we found a way to host a field day for everyone. Mathelete Day will combine math with sports activities and physics. We will customize a roster for each class with activities appropriate for everybody's capabilities.
I was also asked to clean up the workroom in the school. ACK! Eight years of leftovers from eight years worth of activities. I need to sort, organize, store and toss many, many items.
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend PTA training put on by our state PTA council. It went from 8 am to 4:30 pm. It lasted about 3 hours too long if you ask me. Very interesting topics were covered but maybe in too drawn out a fashion. They spoke about membership for 2 hours. How we can get more members. You could practically see the dollar signs in their eyes. More members = more money! ACK! That was so not for me!
One more meeting this week. On Thursday I meet with the PTA board and we will run through our budget for next year. We plan to add a line item for a new scholarship and a line item to pay the office back for the office supplies we use throughout the year. During the first PTA meeting we will vote to approve or amend the budget.
We also had another new student play date this morning. Over 20 children came with many complaining that they did not hear about the play dates easily. We have to rethink our method of contacting new families for next year. As I don't have their names or addresses, this makes it difficult!
I also had a meeting with the principal of our school, the secretary, the PTA VP2, and one of the teachers. We went over our calendars for the year and double checked dates. We added an event of Mathlete Day. Our school serves two populations and everything the PTA needs to be inclusive of both the exceptionally gifted children and the children with moderate cognitive impairments. Because of this, our school has never had a field day. Many families are disappointed by this but I think that we found a way to host a field day for everyone. Mathelete Day will combine math with sports activities and physics. We will customize a roster for each class with activities appropriate for everybody's capabilities.
I was also asked to clean up the workroom in the school. ACK! Eight years of leftovers from eight years worth of activities. I need to sort, organize, store and toss many, many items.
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend PTA training put on by our state PTA council. It went from 8 am to 4:30 pm. It lasted about 3 hours too long if you ask me. Very interesting topics were covered but maybe in too drawn out a fashion. They spoke about membership for 2 hours. How we can get more members. You could practically see the dollar signs in their eyes. More members = more money! ACK! That was so not for me!
One more meeting this week. On Thursday I meet with the PTA board and we will run through our budget for next year. We plan to add a line item for a new scholarship and a line item to pay the office back for the office supplies we use throughout the year. During the first PTA meeting we will vote to approve or amend the budget.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Behind the scenes.
I've done a bit more PTA work this week. Yesterday, I printed out 20 fundraiser letters for our Walkathon, bought 20 Red Delicious apples and my daughter and I went around to local businesses to ask for their support. Kat did most of the talking and I supported her as needed. She explained who she was, where she was from, what she wanted and how each business could help. Kat was able to get one $250 check and two promises from the 6 places we stopped.
This was such a victory over last year. Last year we were only able to obtain 1 sponsor for our Walkathon. I think this is because I emailed businesses last year and this year had my sweet little girl hand over an apple and a smile to each representative. It is really hard to tell an 8 year old that you won't support her school!
Tomorrow we will drive to a few more businesses and ask for their support.
I also swung into the district printing office and asked them to make us 250 envelopes for our PTA membership drive. The past president printed the envelopes on her own and paid for all of the costs, that is not my cup of tea so I opted to have it done for us for $30. I prefer to use my time and money in other ways such as painting the school library...
Today, I woke early and threw on work clothes. I hit the school where I taped lines on the wall of the library. Our school library has a short hall that leads from the main hallway of the school into the main reading room of the library. The hall is low ceiling-ed and ugly. We decided to paint it as a rainbow, up the walls and across the ceiling for each color of the rainbow. I had to get the tape straight so that the paint lines would look nice. Now that the tape is up I am ready to paint and will start that job later this week.
After taping, I grabbed 600 feet of hose and watered our new trees. We have about 10 trees with Gator Bags to hold water and they need to be refilled once a week. This was my first stint with the hose, it was messy but it was a pleasant morning so I was happy to be outside!
I got home about noon, cleaned house for an hour and ran to work.
This was such a victory over last year. Last year we were only able to obtain 1 sponsor for our Walkathon. I think this is because I emailed businesses last year and this year had my sweet little girl hand over an apple and a smile to each representative. It is really hard to tell an 8 year old that you won't support her school!
Tomorrow we will drive to a few more businesses and ask for their support.
I also swung into the district printing office and asked them to make us 250 envelopes for our PTA membership drive. The past president printed the envelopes on her own and paid for all of the costs, that is not my cup of tea so I opted to have it done for us for $30. I prefer to use my time and money in other ways such as painting the school library...
Today, I woke early and threw on work clothes. I hit the school where I taped lines on the wall of the library. Our school library has a short hall that leads from the main hallway of the school into the main reading room of the library. The hall is low ceiling-ed and ugly. We decided to paint it as a rainbow, up the walls and across the ceiling for each color of the rainbow. I had to get the tape straight so that the paint lines would look nice. Now that the tape is up I am ready to paint and will start that job later this week.
After taping, I grabbed 600 feet of hose and watered our new trees. We have about 10 trees with Gator Bags to hold water and they need to be refilled once a week. This was my first stint with the hose, it was messy but it was a pleasant morning so I was happy to be outside!
I got home about noon, cleaned house for an hour and ran to work.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Summertime play dates.
Our school is a special place. We have two distinct programs that work together to create one, big happy school. Our ACT 18 program serves children in K-6th grade with moderate cognitive impairments and/or autism and our TAG program serves children who are gifted learners.
No one at our school is there by chance, and the kids are bussed in from all over the county. Because of this unique set up our school hosts play dates in the summer for students to come and make friends before the first day of school.
I've mentioned before that Kat is in the TAG program. This will be her 3rd year and her classes have been almost entirely new children each year. There is a lot of turn over and a lot of new students that come in each year. Hosting these play dates is an important service our school provides to families.
We had our first play date this week and had 5 returning students and 16 new students attend with their families. The students spent time playing while the adults chatted. Students were able to exchange numbers with others and to make connections with other families. Friends were made.
These play dates are free to the PTA. The only cost incurred is printing up tags for the students to write their name and number on to share with new friends they meet. We made a stack last year and still have enough for the other two play dates to be held this summer.
We invite families to come to our school playground, for parents to bring lawn chairs and a picnic and for students to come ready to play. Play dates last about 2 hours and we host 3 each summer before school begins. One person is needed to coordinate the play dates. They decide the place and time and advertise using our school website, Facebook page, and email. On the day of the play date they bring pens, the tags I spoke about, and a willingness to mingle.
Sample Tags:
We just printed these up on regular paper about 8 to a page and cut them into small rectangles. We keep them where kids can get to them to exchange numbers. It is a very little thing and it makes the kids so very happy!
No one at our school is there by chance, and the kids are bussed in from all over the county. Because of this unique set up our school hosts play dates in the summer for students to come and make friends before the first day of school.
I've mentioned before that Kat is in the TAG program. This will be her 3rd year and her classes have been almost entirely new children each year. There is a lot of turn over and a lot of new students that come in each year. Hosting these play dates is an important service our school provides to families.
We had our first play date this week and had 5 returning students and 16 new students attend with their families. The students spent time playing while the adults chatted. Students were able to exchange numbers with others and to make connections with other families. Friends were made.
These play dates are free to the PTA. The only cost incurred is printing up tags for the students to write their name and number on to share with new friends they meet. We made a stack last year and still have enough for the other two play dates to be held this summer.
We invite families to come to our school playground, for parents to bring lawn chairs and a picnic and for students to come ready to play. Play dates last about 2 hours and we host 3 each summer before school begins. One person is needed to coordinate the play dates. They decide the place and time and advertise using our school website, Facebook page, and email. On the day of the play date they bring pens, the tags I spoke about, and a willingness to mingle.
Sample Tags:
NAME OF SCHOOLNamePhoneLet's be friends!
We just printed these up on regular paper about 8 to a page and cut them into small rectangles. We keep them where kids can get to them to exchange numbers. It is a very little thing and it makes the kids so very happy!
Just to be clear...
I have never been president of ANYTHING! I have no idea what I am doing as PTA president and feel like I must be dropping balls left and right. Invisible balls that I have no idea where or what they are.
Hopefully, I don't mess it up too badly!
Hopefully, I don't mess it up too badly!
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