Being a Room Parent is one of the best volunteer jobs you can have
Not only do you help your teacher stay focused on the business of teaching, but you get to spend extra time with your kid’s teacher, plan parties & coordinate gifts! You also build relationships with all the kids’ parents and are one of the first to know all the classroom news.
As room parent, your primary purpose is to serve as the liaison between your teacher and all of your classroom parents. It’s also important to keep your parents abreast of PTO/PTA initiatives or events which means regularly attending your school PTO/PTA meetings.
Here’s a step by step guide on how to be a successful Room Parent:
- Recruit a friend or friends depending on the size of your class to help you with your room parent duties. Dividing the work will keep your work load manageable.
- Set up a meeting with your classroom teacher. Your teacher will be your best guide as to your ‘duties’ and will define what is needed.
- Possible duties could include:
- secure chaperones for field trips
- coordinate birthday and classroom celebrations
- communicate any classroom initiatives that include parent involvement and/or item donations
- coordinate a collective or share ideas for teacher gifts during the holidays and/or at the end of year. We all know how hard our teachers work and it’s during the holidays and at the end of year that we can provide that extra support. Be a helpful guide for your parents and your teacher will appreciate it.
- Once you know what your teacher needs, meeting with your co-room parent(s) to divide and conquer.
- Collect emails from all of your class parents and identify any parents that need to receive messaging in an alternative way. (Mitsy’s directory works great for this!) Send an email to your class parents and introduce yourself.
- Set up a bi-weekly or monthly ‘Room Parent’ email to keep parents informed – keep it brief and relevant so parents see the value in your message.
It doesn’t take much of your time to be a room parent especially if you can recruit a couple of friends to help you. Take pride in being the communicator and keep your parents informed and engaged -your teacher will love you for it!