Room Parent Responsibilities
- Have a meeting with your teacher as soon as possible to discuss:
- Class Roster & Marquez Directory: New this year, room parents are responsible for gathering information for the Marquez Directory. The beauty of this is that you can use the same information to create a nice class list to distribute to all of the kids and the teacher. Please note, if you use the children’s photos on the class list, you will need to request permission and a signature on your directory form. When the Marquez directories are available, please distribute them ASAP to the class. (Blank form on website under room parent resources.)
- Field Trips: Some teachers arrange and organize field trips themselves, while others will seek your assistance in arranging and/or organizing drivers and volunteers. Check with your teacher to see how they handle this. You may want to assign a volunteer to be responsible for field trips.
- Celebrations: Ask your teacher how she/he wishes to handle different celebrations throughout the year. Some teachers welcome any and all celebrations, others prefer to keep it simple. Keep track of what your teacher wants to celebrate and in what manner (special projects and foods? parties with games? etc.). (Blank form on website under room parent resources.)
- In-Class Volunteers: Some teachers want parent volunteers during instructional time; others do not. Many teachers who want volunteers organize times and days themselves, but some may want your assistance. Find out what kind of help they need. (Blank form on website under room parent resources.)
- Back to School Night: Remind your child’s teacher that you need a few minutes to speak.
- Have a “Get Acquainted Meeting” (coffee or cocktails!) with parents in your class:
- Send an invitation to your class parents for a meeting so people can get to know each other and learn about what will happen during the year. You could hold this meeting at school, in your home or any other convenient location. It would be great if you could do this as soon as possible. Invitations can be via backpack, Email, phone call or mail.
- This is the perfect time to get the parents to volunteer for the various celebrations and fundraisers (print out grade level celebration & fundraiser forms). When a parent volunteers for a celebration or party, it is their responsibility to either pay for the items needed or enlist people to bring them in. We recommend that you photocopy your volunteer and celebration sign-ups and give copies to your teacher and parents.(Blank form on website under room parent resources. Make sure to print out correct grade level celebration and fundraiser forms.)
- This is also the perfect time to collect money:
- School wide support:
- Friends of Marquez Circle of Giving: This is our school’s most important fundraiser, paying for class size reduction, classroom aides, Digital Edge Technology computer program, P.E., art, music and much more. The goal is 100% participation, whether it is $10 or $1500 and everything is appreciated (and tax deductible!).
- PTA Membership: Please help PTA reach its goal of 100% participation by reminding your parents to donate. It is only $25 per family to join and the money goes towards the health and safety of our students at school.
- Classroom Fund Requests:
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- Halloween Festival Booth Sponsorship
- Auction Class Fund
- Teacher & aide end-of-year gift
- Teacher Appreciation Luncheon
- End of Year Party
- Specific requests for your grade level.
- Send “We missed you at our Room – Get Together” flyer. Include money request flyers, copies of volunteer and Halloween booth signup sheets. Make sure you follow through on collecting these important forms from the parents who couldn’t attend your get together.
- Please speak to your parents at Back to School Night regarding:
- Where you need volunteers (put out copies of your volunteer forms in the classroom with pens!)
- Halloween Festival: thank families who have volunteered and remind those who still need to volunteer where you have gaps in your schedule.
- Circle of Giving (Annual Giving): thank specific families who have already given and encourage 100% participation. Please talk to your parents about this at Back to School Night. If it’s uncomfortable for you, please find someone who can do it.
- Forward Communications for Key Events:
- Halloween Festival (October 25)
- Alex’s Lemonade Stand
- Spirit Days
- Book Fair
- Read-a-Thon
- Community Service
- Candy Grams / Holiday Grams
- Spring Auction
- Walk-a-Thon
- Graduation (4th grade – brunch; 5th grade culmination
- Teacher/Staff Appreciation Luncheons:
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- We love our teachers and staff! It is a tradition at Marquez for every grade level to host a luncheon for the all the teachers, aides, staff and support personnel at Marquez. The Grade Level Champions will coordinate with you, or your class’s luncheon volunteer, regarding theme, food, decorations and coordinating set up and clean up.
- The luncheon dates are as follows:
- Grades 4 & 5: Wednesday, November 4, 2009
- Grades 2 & 3: Wednesday, January 20, 2010
- Kinder & Grade 1: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Ongoing Responsibilities
- Be positive and approachable. Please keep in mind that you are an ambassador for Marquez!
- Make a phone tree and an e-mail list! The Room Parents are the most organized way to reach everyone in our school community. You are responsible for forwarding emails from Friends of Marquez to your class parents. Please be available to disseminate information in a timely manner.
- Keep parents informed! Parents like to know what’s going on and like to help, so keep them involved.
- Follow up on your volunteers: A quick email or message goes a long way towards keeping things running smoothly! For example, please remind party volunteers to meet with teachers at least 3 weeks in advance to plan.
General Information
- Bernadette Westerberg in the front office would like a copy of all notices you send to your parents. She also requests that all notices have a contact person with a phone number. If the office gets calls or questions about a specific party or event, they want to be able to refer the caller to the appropriate contact.
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Please be delicate when requesting money from parents. All of these are requests only. Amounts are suggested; no one is required to give. It is our sincere hope that parents will want to help, but we cannot demand it.
Please call or email your Grade Level Champion if you have any questions!
- Kindergarten
- 1st Grade
- 2nd Grade
- 3rd Grade
- 4th Grade
- 5th Grade
