What events does your child's school conduct to get parents engaged?

[pbooker]

I'm working on a blog article about how schools get parents to be more involved and engaged. At our children's school we do this in a number of ways:

- watching movies on the school field (in summer)

- bingo nights

- pancake breakfasts after church on Sunday

What kind of events do the schools your children attend put on to get parents involve, raise funds and involve the community?

Thanks, 

Richard Hall
Founder, Parent Booker

www.parentbooker.com

[lauren]

Open house, movie night, lunch invitations for special meals, 'grandfriends tea' are some that come to mind.

[philomom]

Our schools do a "coffee with the principal" thing every couple of months. We also have special grandparents visitation days and spaghetti dinners for a low price and the profits go to different clubs each time.

[pbooker]

Originally Posted by lauren 

Open house, movie night, lunch invitations for special meals, 'grandfriends tea' are some that come to mind.

Can you elaborate on "grand friends tea" - sounds interesting?

[lauren]

Grandparents or other 'grandfriends' (for children whose gp's don't live close by or are deceased) are invited to tea and dessert and a visit to the classroom. The PTO sponsors and organizes it/staffs it, collects the goodies, etc.

[Ragana]

In my kid's elementary school we also have principal's coffees, where parents can come in and raise concerns. On Saturdays, we have Saturday school with stations to reinforce math and reading & tips for parents and guardians on how to help with homework. Sometimes this is coupled with parent/guardian programs, like computer skills for Spanish speakers. In addition to those, the PTA does fundraising (wrapping paper, various events at local businesses where the school gets a percentage of the take, etc.) and puts on events. This week is bingo night! (bingo is also a really popular one here!) Of course, parents are always invited to daytime and evening events - concerts, assemblies, etc. - and do show up en masse. We have a couple of special programs in the school, so some of these are culturally based - brotherhood assembly during Black History Month, a special mother's day program and Dia del Nino put on by the Spanish program, etc.

Edited to add: Just thought of another one. The PTA puts out invites (flyers) in the neighborhood in the summer and organizes a few new kindergarten parent meet-ups on the playground.

[JudiAU]

Coffee with the principal once a week (rotates morning and afternoon), weekly all school sing, monthly "green" event which is usually a hike of some sort, required parent volunteer hours (charter) that can be filled in person or some online things, several parents teach "extras" in the school, semi-annual fairs, and about 1,000 fundraising events.