Parent Volunteers

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Parent Volunteers
By Carol

At the school I am at parents love to volunteer. At the beginning of the year during the open house each teacher will set up a volunteer table. At this table sign-up sheets are placed for parents. You first need to think
about all of the different things you would like parents help with throughout the year. One sheet may be for parents to sign up if they would like to be a field trip volunteer, another would be for planning or helping with a specific classroom party. The parents are incouraged to sign up and many of them do. They can sign up for one thing or (for those more needy parents)they can sign

up for as many things as they like. You can find jobs that can be done at home, this is good for parents who work and don't have a lot of time to get into the classroom. These sheets are saved by either the teacher or the classroom mom and when the time comes to gather help you have a list of parents to call on. This works out great and I would suggest it to anyone.

Classroom Helper List:

*Field Trip Volunteers
*Holiday Parties (to plan/or come in to help)
*Cutting Letters or Bulletin Board Pieces
*Extracurricular Activities (To keep track of and provided sheets for Book-It, Math Super Stars)
*Snack of the Month (assign a parent a month to bake or buy a snack to reward the children)
*Read Aloud Visits
*Reading Buddies (For low readers who need more guided reading time.)
*Writing Editor (to conference with students about their writing)
*Read a book into a tape for listening centers
*Special helpers (needed during art activities or the use of centers)
*Scholastic-Arrow Volunteer (to call in ordeers, collect money, and distrubute books when they arrive)
*Computer Wiz (for those teachers who wish their students had more time on the computer but do not know how to give guidance in this area)
*Lunch Room Helper (parents come in to help monitor the lunch room, or can sit and have lunch with a student who has shown good behavior that month or week)

There are many many areas where parents could help you as a teacher especially if you are expected to teach without an assistant. The schedule which the parents are to follow should be set up by you, otherwise there could eventually be a parent who tries to step over the line and challenge you to show who is in charge. Parents love to feel like they are needed and that they have helped. It is also good for the children to see that teachers, parents and students work together as a team to achieve goals.