9 Tips for Asking Parents to Donate to the Classroom

This year I've taken on a role that is new for me. I'm one of the Room Parents for my first grader along with two other moms. I'm looking forward to being involved more this year. Last year I was teaching 3 days a week at a charter school and had my baby sign language classes and story time programs the other two days of the week so there really wasn't room in my schedule to dedicate to being a Room Mom last year... and before that I still had a preschooler and was balancing growing my business. So this year, I finally get to do it! Yay!

And then came all the responsibilities.... nah, it's really not that bad.

One of the roles of the Room Parent is to make donation requests of the parents. It can be one of the uncomfortable parts, but only if you make it that way!

I wanted the request to be colorful. There's something subliminal about having bright happy colors when making a request. PLUS if the envelope is a hot pink or bright orange, it is not going to get lost in the mix. I happened to find these at Michael's for a whopping $1.66 for a set of 25. Of course it had to be 5 shy of what I needed, but seriously for this bargain price I ended up buying all 6 packs in stock. I plan to see if my other two kids' classrooms want help with their donation requests.

We decided as a threesome that parents probably prefer to give their money up front and not be bombarded with donation request at every turn. I think if this message is conveyed in the donation request letter that parents will appreciate that sentiment. Plus as Room Parents, we don't really want to make multiple requests throughout the year! Here's the letter we came up with... it's nothing fancy.... I was going to do some searching online for something clever, but this totally sufficed.

We also thought it would be well received if the kids were making a request with a hand written note. So I did come up with a short rhyme for that. The bonus is that it was an extra writing practice for them, and they could pick out the rhyming words. Plus copying something off the board is good practice as well. Feel free to steal this idea and call it your own! I think the parents enjoyed reading these hand written cards from their kids.

I know my son was especially excited to give me the card and prompted me to put money in the envelope right away so he could bring it back to his teacher... which ironically would be put in his folder and delivered back to me... but that's beside the point.

This is helping our kids become part of the process. Today was just the first day that money started to be returned but I think with the two week time frame provided we might just get 100% participation. At the end of our time frame I will report back to share if we got all the families to participate.

UPDATE: We had $295 sent in from parents. That means we have classroom parties and teacher gifts covered for the entire year. The parents won't continue to get emails with requests for money and the kids will have a great 1st grade filled with memory making activities!

1. Make it direct - parents appreciate that
2. Make it short - all parents are busy
3. Explain what the money will be used for - parents want to know
4. Make it colorful - the envelope will be easy to spot & less likely to get lost
5. Make one request for the whole year - makes everyone's lives easier
6. Give a dollar range - everyone is on a different budget
7. Give a deadline - 1 to 2 weeks so the request does not get forgotten
8. Get the kids involved - pulls at parents heart strings
9. Thank the parents - I know - this goes without saying

Well, there you have it! I'd love to know if you borrow some of these ideas and how it goes for you.

If you've been a Room Parent before and you have some tried and true tips in regards to requesting monetary donations from parents please share in the comments. Just like with the money we're asking parents to donate, "every little bit helps"!

The teacher let the kids decorate their cards how they saw fit. Owen had been to an assembly where the guy did yo-yo tricks to tell a story giving kids advice on being successful. I thought it was kinda cool that he incorporated the assembly into his note.

(Psst! Pin this!)

Visiting Our Little Free Library

Our neighborhood has some wonderful families. It's the kind of place where you can ask someone to pick your kids up after school if you're running late or borrow a cup of milk from to make that recipe you already started and discover you're out of milk. Maybe it is because our neighborhood is somewhat secluded, but it feels warm and fuzzy. Maybe it is because we have an active facebook group. I feel lucky to be happy with our school and our community. Getting to know your neighbors is so important, especially when you have kids, don't you think?

We've lived here for over 3 years and it was just earlier this year that I learned of this cool "Little Free Library" that resides in our neighborhood.  The idea is that you take a book, return a book. It works on the honor system. Super Simple.

I'd been meaning to get the kids over to check it out for quite some time. You know how it goes though, school, work, sports schedules and all the rest of it. Even a week earlier I had my daughter pull some books from the book shelf to take and drop off in the Little Free Library.... but they sat by the front door for a full week! Finally, I just wanted to get this crossed off my bucket list.

It's only a 10 minute walk to get there. For the kids it was faster, they were on bikes.

We had a lot of books to donate. But, I knew this Little Free Library was small and wanted to get an idea first how much room was in there, so we started off small and brought 12 teeny level 1 reader books and 12 more toddler and preschool story books to leave for someone else to enjoy since my 3 munchkins had grown out of them.

Peering inside the Little Free Library for the first time.

The kids each chose a book to take home. One was a Spider Man sticker activity book from Comic Con! The kids were pretty stoked about that one.

When we got home we still had some more cleaning and organizing to do before grandma got into town, so we pulled even more books from out shelves to share with neighbors. It feels so good to pass books onto other people who can enjoy them once you're through with them.

Does your neighborhood have one of these Little Free Libraries? There's a cool search feature on this website if you're unsure. Learn more about setting one up in your neighborhood. This is a great way to prevent the summer slide that happens when kids don't have new books to keep reading. Even though I LOVE books, I don't always want to be buying new books to replenish the kids' stash. And to be honest, I have a hard time remembering to return books on time to the city library and wind up having fines to pay. I can't wait to make this a regular part of our weekly activities!

UPDATE: Our neighborhood is so cool that someone else put up another Free Little Library recently. I smile every time I drive by this one because it sits on this cool barrel and just begs you to stop and exchange a book. 

Creative Inspiration - Week 7

I find inspiration when I'm browsing my instagram feed all the time and re-post ones I like from time to time. Because staying motivated and inspired is something to work at, I will scroll through and looks for these in my posts too. While sometimes I have 2 or 3 inspirations to share, today I have just one.... yet it is filled with Simple Colorful Messages. And I plan to print this in a poster and have it put up in the kids' playroom when we create a book nook.

Sometimes when I'm telling the kids something, the words that come out of my mouth are words I even need to hear myself. Moms, am I the only one? Do you ever find yourself in that position? We don't cease needing life lessons or inspiration, just as we don't stop in our personal growth. Having these Simple Colorful Messages visible everyday will be even better than scrolling through my instagram feed to find inspiration.

Do you have any favorite quotes or inspiring messages you've put up on a wall? Has it made a difference?

15 Fun Ways to Read with your Small Child

Reading with kids is what I do several times a month at local libraries. I remember the first time I took my daughter to a baby story time, she was just 4 weeks old. We went to the library every single week for the scheduled program and then again to trade out books. It seemed inevitable though that I was always turning in a book or two past the due date and ran up fines. While I loved taking my daughter to the library to check out books, I found that it was equally valuable to build up our home library of favorites so we could keep them forever and not worry about fines. Watching the story teller, I used to think to myself "I would LOVE to do that!" Not too long after my second child was born I started Sign4Baby and began a Signing Story Time program. Soon enough I was brought on board at several San Diego libraries to share 2 of my passions, reading and signing with children.

Having attended my fair share of story times with my own children I have observed plenty of styles and learned what works well for children of young ages.

Here are 15 ways to make reading fun with your small child:

1. Choose books your child likes. Look for fun rhymes and captivating pictures like you find in Dr. Seuss books.

2. By the same token, pick books YOU enjoy so you'll stay engaged while reading with your child.

3. Make the animal sounds and watch your child light up!  Brown Bear, Brown Bear works especially well for this:

4. Let your child help turn the pages. This works best with board books if you have a baby or toddler.

5. Take a break from reading and do an activity like dance around to some kids tunes or grab some stickers that correspond to your baby's favorite books.

6. Ask your toddler to point out the ball or dog or car in the book. They LOVE being right and will be further engaged.

7. Oblige your child when they ask to read a book for the 2nd time or 50th time in the same day. All of that repetition is good for their growing brains.

8. Find books that have moving pieces like in "Go, Dog, Go!"  or lift the flap pages like "Where is Baby's Belly Button by Karen Katz. The tactile experience helps them with learning.

9. Read early. It is never too early to begin reading with your baby. Snuggling is great fun for you and baby!

10. Read often. Shoot for at least 20 minutes a day. It doesn't have to be all at once. Short books like Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? are a perfect place to start until your baby develops their own rhythm and love for reading and can work up to 20 minutes of sitting in one spot for story time.

11. Take your child to a local story time program at the library. Seeing other children engaged in story time helps our busy bodies learn about quiet time and circle time which is great pre school readiness skill.

12. If your child wants to skip pages, be flexible. You're still reading!

13. Use funny voices when reading aloud at home. They love when we are being silly. It's also age appropriate character development.

14. Take turns reading. Our children are taking it all in and want to be part of the story telling.

15. Learn the signs to go along with some of their favorite books. Signing while reading to your child is not only fun, it has all kinds of early literacy benefits and helps your child be able to communicate earlier.

BONUS: Here's a lesser known Dr. Seuss book My Many Colored Days

Are these tips helpful? Then remember to PIN THIS and spread the word!

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#Gratitude365 Day 30

#Gratitude365 January 17 2014

Kyle needed some help with spelling and I started to work with him on word families. Yesterday it was quite the chore to get it done. I was quite spent after spending probably 45 minutes with him to get these word families or word chunks completed. I spelled out a plan for the long 4 day weekend that we would visit 7 each day. Sometimes I dread having to follow through on something I throw down the gauntlet on, but today we probably only worked on it for 15 minutes! He had a much easier time with it. Part of it could have been that I motivated him by saying he had to complete this before his friend came over today.... but it worked. It worked so well that I offered him an option to review yesterday's word families really quickly for extra video game time, and he went for it! Today we went over 84 words and it was a breeze. In fact I really enjoyed that he sat in my lap to do these. He rarely wants to cuddle.

Here's a picture of a sample from the box so you get an idea of what this is:

Grateful that I spotted this word family set at Lakeshore Learning Store when we did our Christmas shopping. Wish I had started using them earlier and been more diligent when they had these homemade ones in Kindergarten because it is an effective tool. So effective in fact that Kyle was even coming up with additional letters to throw in and come up with more words that fit in the word family!

Has there been a time where an educational tool or practice really turned things around for your child? It is such a good feeling to help others, so by all means post below about what has worked for you.

#Gratitude365 Day 22

#Gratitude365 January 9 2014

1. People who can make you think differently.

2. The vast amounts of education available at our fingertips due to the internet. And especially now with Google+.

3. Having a moment to be real and push back a little bit with a public post to give people something to think about.

4. Witnessing a father be a good teacher to his son.

5. Songs that come on the radio that make you feel good.


I felt the need to list out the things I found gratitude for before I write about them in depth so I wouldn't forget them. It was a full day and I know there are more than the 5 I listed above, but I'm finding I can write on and on about ALL THINGS so I kind of have to cap it and eventually get to bed!

People who make you think differently. This stems from watching an amazing TED X talk by a 13 year old boy who is wise beyond his years, sharing what he wants to be when he grows up. He breaks down how his ambition will be realized because of the homeschooling experience that he's having. I know some people who homeschool, and I have sort of envied them on one side of the coin and on the flip side of the coin thought they were nuts to take that on. Well, now after watching this video I think if they have the same hackschooling philosophy that Logan and his mom do - then they are brilliant!

The vast amounts of education available at our fingertips due to the internet. And especially now with Google+.... We love learning, well, at least I do. Television is for entertaining and the internet is for connecting and researching and G+ seems to be ALL of it - but most of all inspiring learning. I just love how much I have learned by being on G+ -- and seriously being around people who share their ideas and their knowledge and express their creativity has rubbed off on me because I worked on a couple of infographs - which I'd never considered creating before. I'm still working on them, using the resources online to figure it out.

Now, number 3 above I'm not going to retype - I'm just going to copy straight from my Facebook page:

I have heard this comment on a handful of occasions in reference to what I do "it's not rocket science."

Yep.

You're right, it's not. And neither is what you do. But I offer far more than vocabulary in my classes. I make it fun! I offer you a chance to see what's in your blind spot. I save you a ton of time in tracking down the information online and present it in an organized, easy to learn fashion. Plus, I keep you committed to your goal. I even inspire you to adopt a new goal of why you're bothering to sign with your baby. I don't JUST teach ASL vocabulary. It's NOT rocket science. But, just like any rocket scientist, I have a passion for what I do, continue to hone my skill, and appreciate when someone recognizes my specialty.

Witnessing a father be a good teacher to his son. We were in the family restroom at the mall and a father and son came in, his son about 11 years old. The son looked around at the breastfeeding stalls and asked what it was. His father replied that it was an area for moms to breastfeed their babies. Now we were walking out of the family restroom and I could hear the son asking what that meant or something of the nature. Without skipping a beat the father said while looking directly over at his son "It's when a mother feeds milk to the baby from her breast." Having nursed 3 children over the span of 6 1/2 years I am a big breastfeeding advocate - and Nursing In Public advocate for that matter. I just thought this was such a win. A simple moment to realize that if a man can tell his prepubescent son with great ease what breastfeeding is, then we are making great strides in the stereotypes surrounding breastfeeding.

Oh, and the last one.... Blurred Lines came on the radio when we were driving home and I of course got my car dancing groove on. My kids hate the song, we certainly hate when they yell and scream in the car, but when this song comes on, I turn it up and sing along and the kids just have to wait it out.

Alright. It's your turn. Can you think of something really cool that happened that just made you go "Wow, I'm really grateful for that" --- comment below as I'd love to celebrate your gratitude journey as well.