Class Parents - ?

Hello! I'm a teacher and I'll have a designated class parent this year provided by my Parent Association. I've had class parents in the past, but I don't think I utilized them as well as I could. If you have hand any experience as a class parent, can you share what your child's teacher asked you to help with? Would you also be able to share if you think that it was a fair request or if you'd rather have not been asked to help for that particular project/request?

I don't want to overwhelm the parent, nor do I want her to feel that I am not allowing her to fully participate as a room parent would.

Thanks in advance!

Re: Class Parents - ?

As a class parent I was responsible for either going on trips or finding parents to go ( in younger grades. In 4th and 5th grade no parents went on trips...don't get me started on that!). I also was responsible for planning holiday parties, and or finding parents to help with them. Some teachers wanted only class parents for parties, others let us do 1 class parent along with 2 or 3 other parents. I would have loved to help more, but my dd's school didn't allow much :(

Re: Class Parents - ?

Thanks - that's what I am afraid of, I don't want my parent to think I underutilized her & her talents, but I also don't want to overwhelm her with responsibilities.

We have a few field trips scheduled for the year, so I think I can hand over that responsibility to her.

If you don't mind, how often did you communicate with the teacher about your class parent duties and do you think it was enough?

Class Parents - ?

I am class mom...I had total access to classroom.
I went in every Wednesday for 4 hours to volunteer...I was worked into lesson plans.
All field trips. All parties, I collected money and found food sponsors.
This like Chinese New Year, teacher gave me money to pick up Chinese for kids and bring it in afternoon.

Re: Class Parents - ?

The lead mom handled the communicationwith the teacher. The one time I was lead class mom wass when my dd was in Kindergarten. Her teacher was burnt out and not thrilled with having parents around. She communicated withme only when absolutely necessary :(

Re: Class Parents - ?

I've been a class parent for a few years now. Each time there has been a head class parent and 3 or 4 other class parents. The head class parent sends the letters to the class (about holiday teacher gift, etc) and communicates with the teacher making a schedule for class parties. Usually there are Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring and an end of the year "picnic"....this was for K,1st and 2nd...in 3rd now so not sure. We would have a meeting at the beginning of the year to see which class parent would take which party. Those class parents would call each of the parents in their list (usually 3 or 4)to ask if they'd like to come to the party and ask them to bring things (cups, napkins etc). For the actual party day there would be snacks, drinks and a craft....and a book if time allowed. We usually on have about 1/2 hr and it goes QUICK! Being a class parent is volunteer so I would say utilize them! If they weren't willing to do it they wouldn't volunteer to be a class parent......many parents don't.

Re: Class Parents - ?

Thanks for your input. We don't have many celebrations at school, though I believe we'll have a character parade this year (didn't have one last year due to Sandy) so maybe I can have her help the kids with their costumes. I may have to be creative with having her help as there isn't much I can think of that I wouldn't prefer to do myself - i.e. communicate with other parents. I like the idea of having her come in 1x a week to help with centers, I have to see if that is something she would be interested in.

Thank you for your time!

Class Parents - ?

I was class mom 2 years for pre-K. Our school always had 2 class moms so that you always had someone. The teachers looked to us to help with parties - get the food, paper goods and a craft or type of goodie basket. One year we had many parties, the next year there were less. We were happy to do it and had good relationships with both teachers. We also sent out the letters re class gifts for teachers and assistants and organized class contributions for fund raisers. At my child's school the class mom got a call from the school when it was closed due to snow and so made all those calls as well. With Sandy there was obviously more to it since we also were looking to see if anyone needed anything, etc. I loved it.

Re: Class Parents - ?

It would be good if you can talk to the parent and see their availability. At my school there are 2 or more class parents per class. They help with the field trips (not going but arranging volunteers), communicating with parents when the teacher needs money, books, stuff; helping organizing extra events as a picnic, class playdate, etc; giving input to the teacher about things that parents want to during class events, organizing forms, etc. Many parents can help but at home, not going to the school, by sending e-mails, etc. Others can volunteer at the school... For that reason would be good to know when and how the parents can help.