Class Parent Info
Being a class parent is a great way to get to know your child’s teacher, classmates and families, as well as learn more about Oak Street School and connect with the PTO. Most class parent responsibilities involve contacting class families (typically via email) to participate in events and can be handled on nights and weekends, making it manageable for a working parent. While there are some events where class parents are asked to be present in the classroom, you can ask others to help out if you’re not available to attend. You’ll find that many parents are eager to get involved.
Here’s what you can expect to do as a class parent throughout the school year.
Serve as a conduit between the PTO and class families
Organize class parties
Request contributions of food, decorations, craft supplies, etc. from class families as well as parent volunteers to help on the day of the party, if necessary. A class typically will have parties for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter holiday, Valentine's Day and End of school year.
Chaperone class trips and Field Day
As a class parent, you get first dibs on accompanying the class on field trips. If you cannot make it, you can ask other parents to help out. Also, you can join the class during Field Day in June, helping students get to their events, cheering them on and taking them to the restroom.
Family Dining
Class parents are asked to help manage the family dining dates for their classes. They will create a master list and serve as the first point of contact for families that need to reschedule.
Help out with holiday charity gift shopping
During holiday time, each class adopts a child and collects money to buy holiday gifts. This is organized by the school. The teacher will ask you to shop for the gifts with the collected funds and bring the gifts to class for the children to wrap.
Collect money from class families
Tips for making this easy
Kindergarten parents may be asked to create a learning center volunteer schedule. Learning centers cover math, writing, science, art and technology, and typically take place in the morning from 9:30 to 10:00 am. Parent volunteers work with students in one of the centers, while the teacher helps a group of students with reading.
Class parents are chosen randomly with oversight from the administration. Preference is given to those who have not yet been a class parent for their child's class. If you are chosen as class parent for one child, your name will be pulled from the selection process for your other children as you may represent only one classroom per year.
Being a class parent is a great way to get to know your child’s teacher, classmates and families, as well as learn more about Oak Street School and connect with the PTO. Most class parent responsibilities involve contacting class families (typically via email) to participate in events and can be handled on nights and weekends, making it manageable for a working parent. While there are some events where class parents are asked to be present in the classroom, you can ask others to help out if you’re not available to attend. You’ll find that many parents are eager to get involved.
Here’s what you can expect to do as a class parent throughout the school year.
Serve as a conduit between the PTO and class families
- You will need to attend PTO meetings. There are four of these in a school year, held from 9:00 to 10:00 am. If you are not able to attend all four meetings, you can work it out with your class parent partner so that at least one of you attends a meeting.
- You’ll be asked to cascade PTO information to class families to make sure they’re aware of what’s happening. This is easy to do via email.
Organize class parties
Request contributions of food, decorations, craft supplies, etc. from class families as well as parent volunteers to help on the day of the party, if necessary. A class typically will have parties for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Winter holiday, Valentine's Day and End of school year.
Chaperone class trips and Field Day
As a class parent, you get first dibs on accompanying the class on field trips. If you cannot make it, you can ask other parents to help out. Also, you can join the class during Field Day in June, helping students get to their events, cheering them on and taking them to the restroom.
Family Dining
Class parents are asked to help manage the family dining dates for their classes. They will create a master list and serve as the first point of contact for families that need to reschedule.
Help out with holiday charity gift shopping
During holiday time, each class adopts a child and collects money to buy holiday gifts. This is organized by the school. The teacher will ask you to shop for the gifts with the collected funds and bring the gifts to class for the children to wrap.
Collect money from class families
- For teacher gifts -- $10 is the limit a family may contribute toward a gift for the teacher for the year.
- It’s best to ask for this money early in the school year so you have the funds. It can take a while to collect from every family.
- You can ask parents to mail checks to your home or they can put an envelope with your name on it in their child’s backpack and the teacher will put it in your child’s backpack to bring home.
- Consider giving the teacher two gifts -- December and June -- with the collected funds. As part of these gifts, you may wish to organize some kind of personal thank you from the children, such as notes, drawings, photos, etc.
- Also, you may wish to set aside some money to recognize National Teacher Day in May with a small gift, such as a plant or candy, and a note of appreciation from the families.
- For the PTO fundraiser – The PTO may ask you to collect money for a class donation to the annual PTO fundraising event.
Tips for making this easy
- Introduce yourself to parents during Back to School night and try to recruit volunteers for events. The teacher may have signup sheets for parties and centers at Back to School night, which you can collect at the end of the night. You’ll need to remind parents what they signed up for throughout the year.
- Talk to the teacher right away to understand his/her expectations and stay in touch with the teacher throughout the year. Regular check-ins via email are a great way to do this.
- Build a class contact list of names, email addresses and cell phone numbers. The teacher will provide you with the names of the students. You can use the PTO directory to find parents names and contact information.
- Encourage as parents to complete the volunteer training run by Dr. Costa in September even if they’re not sure they’ll have time to volunteer. Since you can only tap into trained volunteers for center time, the more people who are trained, the easier it will be for you to do the schedule.
- Ask parents for help. Many are eager to get involved and can help you send out emails, organize parties, etc.
Kindergarten parents may be asked to create a learning center volunteer schedule. Learning centers cover math, writing, science, art and technology, and typically take place in the morning from 9:30 to 10:00 am. Parent volunteers work with students in one of the centers, while the teacher helps a group of students with reading.
- Teachers may ask for up to 3 volunteers a day.
- Parent volunteers must have completed volunteer training run by Dr. Costa in September in order to participate in the classroom.
- To make the scheduling manageable, consider making a schedule for 3 months at a time (click here for a sample).
- Talk to the teacher about when centers will start and end, how centers will be handled on half days, and any days that centers will not be offered.
- Work with the teacher to determine how to handle parent volunteers who cannot make their assigned day. A suggestion: parents are responsible for finding a substitute and notifying the teacher of the change via email. It’s easier for you if you don’t get involved in trying to find substitutes.
Class parents are chosen randomly with oversight from the administration. Preference is given to those who have not yet been a class parent for their child's class. If you are chosen as class parent for one child, your name will be pulled from the selection process for your other children as you may represent only one classroom per year.