Dear Room Parents,

The 2020-2021 school year is an exceptional one for sure. Thank you for stepping up and taking on the challenge by being a Room Parent for your child’s class!

Goals of the Room Parent Program this year:

  1. Bring some additional normalcy/social interaction for kids during Remote Learning (for example, to do a virtual version of the typical 3 Class Parties organized by the Room Parents (Harvest Party, Valentine’s Day Party, Year End Party).
  2. Continue class teacher appreciation during Remote Learning (normally funded through Parent contributions to the Classroom Fund). For example, teacher birthday recognition, holiday gifts and Teacher Appreciation Week.
  3. Be set up with a Room Parent for each class if/when we do return to in-person model this school year.

 What’s Different During Remote Learning:

  • It is especially important this year that we are not adding additional work to the teachers as they already have a lot of additional work on their plates managing Remote Learning.  Hence it is important for Room parents to talk to their teachers about what they need and how they want parent help before any plans are made.
  • We do not want this effort to be a burden on parents either. Hence we have decided not to collect any Classroom Funds for the parties or Teacher Appreciation. Parents are free to choose their own way of appreciating teachers (e-gift card to teacher based on the Teacher's Favorite Things Form, etc.) 
  • Any virtual class parties planned by the Room Parent need to occur during the school day on Classroom Team, and be teacher approved. 
    • Meeting invite must be sent by the teacher on the Class Team site, and be monitored by the teacher per LWSD policy (similar to if we were in person, the teacher would be in the classroom for any class party)
  • Communication to parents to be discussed with Teacher first. Some teachers might want all mails to go through them and some might let Room parents handle it.

Guidelines for Room Parents during Remote Learning (and when back in person)

Based on the above considerations and concerns, we have outlined a process to be followed by all Room Parents-

  1. All volunteers must be on the approved list of LWSD volunteers to volunteer virtually and/or when in person volunteering resumes. Please refer to the Volunteering in LWSD page.
  2. Next, meet with your teacher and ask them to fill out the Teacher's Favorite Things Form.
  3. Also ascertain the communication protocols teachers want you to follow. Ask your teacher if they would like you to create an email contact list for the class that would be shareable to parents. Else they might like you to communicate with parents through them.  
  4. in any case, make sure to take a Classroom List of all students to mark off students in case the need arises.
  5. Whether communicating with your class parents through the teacher or yourself, send out this Room Parent Introduction Letter to them. 
  6. Organize the Classroom parties virtually based on the permissions given by your teacher and all other rules of hosting a virtual event mentioned above.
  7. As for Teacher Appreciation, teacher birthday, and end of the year appreciation gifts, you can share the Teacher's Favorite Things document after it is filled by your teacher. An idea might be virtual gift cards to teachers’ emails for the parents if they want to show their appreciation that way.
  8. Some other ideas that can be pursued virtually-

    • Create a classroom interaction list to enable parents/kids outside of the classroom

    • TeachersPayTeachers has great resources and free downloads as well that can be used as enrichment options
    • In a typical school year, each class has some sort of a theme. If your class has a theme, kids may make some art along that theme and these may be turned into a collage and the end-product can be shared by the teacher on Teams. Please remember that anything that includes the face of a student has to have parental approval.
    • There are some virtual Escape Room ideas that are incorporated into lessons -learning your multiplications, fractions etc. These can be used as part of optional enrichment or optional social time
    • In the meantime please join the Facebook Group Samantha Smith Volunteers if you haven’t done so to share ideas and learn from each other.

If you are interested in being the Room Parent or a Co-Room Parent for your child’s class, please sign up HERE and more detailed information will be sent to you to set you up for success.  Thank you in advance for making an impact for our students and teachers!

Questions?  Please contact rmparents@smithptsa.org