Are you encouraged to volunteer at school?

[KrisM]

I've been helping in the lunchroom once a week, when DD is in PM preschool. But, I emailed DS's teacher asking if I could help in the classroom sometime and asked if there was a regular time of the week/day that she wants volunteers. She said she only uses volunteers once a week for stapling papers together.

DS is in kindergarten, in a class of 25 kids and 1 teacher with no aide. I had thought she'd welcome volunteers to help in the class, but maybe it's too much work to have strange moms in there?

What's the norm?

[egoldber]

At the school itself, yes. They BEG for volunteers of all sorts.

My experience has varied in the classroom though. Her first grade teacher wanted volunteers. Her second grade teacher was VERY organized, had a system, and really didn't want anyone messing with her stuff. Her third grade teacher would like volunteers. So I think that just depends on the teacher.

[bubbaray]

Not really -- but DD#1 is in French Immersion, so the focus is on 100% French in the classroom. The teacher sent a letter home in September saying she d/n really need volunteers unless she asks for them during special events. She asked for some for next week for a Halloween craft session. I won't be going as I'm in court that day. Kinda sucks but oh well. DH might go, but I kinda doubt it.

ETA the PTA is always asking for volunteers for various things.

[SnuggleBuggles]

If I am doing my job right (PTA chair of our parent involvement committee) then they are feeling encouraged to volunteer. :) I encourage people to help at events, in the classroom, at home by doing little chores for the teacher (cutting out decorations, ripping out workbook pages...). I direct the room parents to work with the teachers to find volunteer roles in the classes.

In K ds1 went to a private school. He had 22 kids in his class with 2 head teachers and one aide. They had things very well covered. They sometimes wanted lunch and recess help so I did that.

In 1st grade I did clerical stuff for my teacher but also helped the kids with their computer center (getting them logged in and on task) and reading centers (I'd run a center or 2 while the teacher worked wth small groups).

This year I am helping with reading centers again. This teacher is more organized than last year but she seems to work to come up with ways parents can volunteer, even if she could easily do it by herself.

Beth

[jenmcadams]

At the school itself, yes. They BEG for volunteers of all sorts.

My experience has varied in the classroom though. Her first grade teacher wanted volunteers. Her second grade teacher was VERY organized, had a system, and really didn't want anyone messing with her stuff. Her third grade teacher would like volunteers. So I think that just depends on the teacher.

This is how it is for us too...tons of stuff to do within the school, but each teacher is different. We've been lucky that every teacher my DD has had has welcome parents, but I know other teachers in the same grade won't take parent volunteers except for parties.

[alexsmommy]

So far, it's been pretty good. Kindergarten I read every other week - I alternated with another mom who also worked part time. It could have been weekly. The teacher had at least one parent who worked on reading with all the kids daily. Also parties etc. This year I thought I may not be able to get into the classroom as much because of the pregnancy (didn't want to take a regular slot only to leave the teacher in a lurch come Feb) only to find out yesterday that I was selected as one of the room parents (and the meeting was that afternoon). Also the teacher already sent out information regarding field trips and basically said if a parent wants to come and can get themselves there they are welcome. The meeting yesterday was really nice - the teacher made it clear that she wanted all the parents to feel included and to extend offers to working parents to participate in any way that they could (sending food, cutting out things for the holiday party crafts) etc. I really like her philosophy. I like getting in the classroom and getting a sense of how things run, who the kids are etc. DS1 is in Spanish Immersion so he'll be with the same kids through fifth grade so I really do want to get to know them. I also figure that by fifth grade I won't be much help because the kids will know waaaaay more Spanish than me.

[niccig]

Our school has a 20 hour per year requirement from all families. How you volunteer depends on you and on the teacher. I'm room parent, so I was told that my 20 hours is done, as in I don't have to keep track of it becasue I will do more than 20 hours.

DS is in pre-K at the school. Parents volunteer to go on the weekly field trip - often it's a walk to fire station, park, farm etc. The teacher also has a list of reading times when parents can come in for story-time. We're also coming in to help with making crafts for the school World Market fundraiser. In older class, parents will also help out with reading groups, some parents have skills and help with classes. Eg. one parent teaches Italian at college, and she is giving Italian lessons, another person is a mathematician and is working with the senior math teacher. I taught 1st year college students research skills, so I'm going to see if the highschool wants to offer that to their seniors as part of their prep. for college. The PTO has lots of activities to volunteer with - Halloween Party, Jogathon etc.

[kayte]

Well we are required to volunteer a certain number of hours per month or we have to pay $15 per hour skipped. The number required varies by grade level.

But in my sister's children's school no parents are allowed on campus during school hours. None. Last year they allowed parents with a background check to volunteer. But apparently there was an incident at another school in the district and the quick fix was no parents at all. As a former teacher I feel very badly for the teachers.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

My son is in a K class with 28 students and 1 teacher, no general aide.

His teacher likes to have 3 volunteers every day. 2 stay for the full 4 hours and the 3rd comes just for "table time" - 1-1/2 hours before snack.

I do it once a month (I WOH).

[rlu]

Yes, 20 kids 1 teacher in DS's K class. Every morning a parent does the in-class library book exchange and another does the morning group activity. They have a volunteer for cooking on Wed. DH does the Friday afternoon outside art. There are other daily volunteer spots as well. Plus the teacher as "at home" help people can do overnight and have their child return in the morning.

Field trips have "official chapereons" who get to ride on the bus and then if the location is public (this week's pumpkin patch for example) other parents are encouraged to drive themselves and join the fun.

PTA events also request volunteers. For our recent Country Fair the PTA needed volunteers and the individual classrooms need volunteers to run the classroom booth.

[kristenk]

DD is in K in our local public school. ALL of the kindergarten teachers definitely encourage parent participation in the classroom.

Each day for about an hour, the kids have different literacy tasks that they're supposed to do independently. A parent volunteer is responsible for checking each child's work. During this time, the teacher pulls different small groups of kids to her table to work on reading with them.

The teachers also requested parent volunteers to read with individual children who need a little extra help. That's only about 15 minutes per day, one day per week for each parent.

The K teachers (and most of the others, I think) also have little bins outside of their classrooms. They'll put different things in the bin that they need help with - like stapling, cutting out laminated cards, etc. Parents can work on those things at home.

I think that later in the year the teachers will ask for volunteers to help with math, too. I know that one (a few?) parents go into the classroom when the kids aren't there and use disinfectant on the tables/handles/light switches.

DD had her first field trip last week. There were 9 parent chaperones for DD's class of 20.

It's amazing how many parents are up there during the day. (Everyone checks in through the office and wears a name tag when volunteering.)

[LBW]

It varies. DS1's first grade teacher had sign ups at the start of the year for volunteer slots. I missed it, so couldn't be a part of the regular crew of volunteers. But, I was able to come in a few times during special activities.

This year, in second grade, the teacher doesn't use any volunteers.

The PTA is always asking for volunteers in other parts of the school - library, general aides, art class, music class, etc, etc.

[american_mama]

DD is in 2nd grade at a public school. There is not much classroom volunteering, partly due to teacher prefernce, partly due to limited parental willingness and/or availability. Many parents at the school work full-time. I felt very rebuffed when I volunteered several times in kindergarten, once for a classroom that my child wasn't even in, and got consistent no's. On the upside, the class sizes are small (16 kids often), and K and 1st at this school have a full-time teacher and aide, plus a strong after-school tutoring program with college volunteers. So more hands might really be just too many cooks in the soup.

For the first time, the PTO this year is asking for volutneers for a lot of special event school-wide stuff... serving food, organizing Boxtops for Education, prepping food for a Fresh Fruit and Veggie snack program. Also, the ESL teacher has a special request to tutor parents of students during a special family ESL evening academy program.

I've been active in the PTO and the past presidents ahve been friends, but they only had a tiny core of parents for many years and came to rely solely on them to do stuff. I think teachers at the school did the same: they had so few active parents for so long, they got used to do everyhting themselves. The group of active parents is broadening, and both teachers and PTO are slowly responding to that.