Bird Elementary School PTO Chair Descriptions

Art Parent Description: Present art history lessons to your child's classroom with materials from the Plymouth Community Arts Council Art Parent Program. The committee chair must get volunteers from each classroom, aid the volunteers with ideas, and be available as needed to help facilitate the program with classroom teachers.

Number of Volunteers Needed: 1-2 parents per classroom

Volunteer Commitment: 4-5 lessons per year Average 1 hour planning and a 30-45 minute lessons Supplies: Shelf in the PTO Storage Room; PTO File Cabinet; PCAC

Suppliers: Plymouth Community Arts Council Miscellaneous: Coordinate Art Parents for each classroom within the first 2 weeks of school. Attend the kick-off meeting at the PCAC in September. This meeting gives you program details and allows you to sign-up for high-demand culture boxes. Make all Art Parents are aware of the initial meeting at the PCAC. They are strongly encouraged to attend to learn about the program.

Back To School Student Support Description: The Kindergarteners and First Graders need some extra help the first days of school. This coming year even more so, since the Kindergarteners will be starting full-day. The Morning Volunteers will help the students get off the bus (and remember their bus number and color for later), and get them into the proper line in the gym. The Lunchtime Volunteers will help the students navigate the lunch line, milk line and find their assigned table in the lunch room. The Dismissal Volunteers will help the students get into their proper bus line in the gym and lead them to their buses. Help is greatly appreciated in making this less intimidating to them.

Number of Volunteers Needed: 4 to 5 parents per time period (Morning, Lunch, Dismissal)

Volunteer Commitment: First Week of School: 30 minutes at bus arrival, 30 minutes at lunch, 30 minutes at dismissal Miscellaneous: Volunteer email and schedule need to go out in August.

Book Club

1 Bird Elementary School PTO Chair Descriptions

Description: Lunchtime book discussion program for grades 2-5. This committee is responsible for recruiting parent leaders to work with students, ordering books, leading discussions and preparing correspondence for students/families.

Venue: Media Center

Volunteer Commitment: 1 day per week for 6 weeks 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Supplies: Shelf in the PTO Storage Room; PTO File Cabinet

Community Council

Description: Representatives would attend a monthly meeting at the Board of Education office as the Bird School Representative for the Plymouth Canton Community Council. The representatives would then report the information at the monthly PTO meeting. Venue: Board of Education Volunteer Commitment: 1 night per month

Fall Book Fair

Description: Scholastic Book Fair open to all students and their families. This committee is responsible for communication with the Media Specialist, all correspondence to students/staff regarding the Book Fair, set-up and take down in the Media Center, and coordinating any volunteer workers.

Venue: Media Center

Volunteer Commitment: 2-3 hour time slots during the day and evening 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (times and days will vary)

Fall Fundraiser- Raffle Description: This committee is responsible for obtaining a raffle license, coordinating the printing of tickets, set up/tracking of family envelops, and organizing incentives.

Venue: Home

Miscellaneous: Obtain the raffle license in the Spring before the fall event.

Fall Fundraiser- Event Description: A family event to celebrate the completion of the Fall Fundraiser. This committee is responsible for selecting a venue/theme, planning, organizing and securing volunteers for this event. Bird Elementary School PTO Chair Descriptions

Venue: Plaza Lanes. You MUST select and reserve a venue in the Spring once the raffle ticket license has been purchased for the Fall Raffle. Coordinate with Fall Fundraiser Chair.

Field Day Description: A fun field day for all students planned and organized by the Bird School P.E. teachers. Primary responsibilities are to organize volunteers, purchase snacks and water, and prepare a prize for the students.

Venue: Playground

Volunteer Commitment: 2-3 hour time slots available during the day 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (times and days will vary)

Fifth Grade Breakfast Description: Run exclusively by 4th grade parents this memorable event is a sort of graduation ceremony for 5th grade students and their parents. This committee must plan, organize, decorate and staff the 5th Grade Breakfast which is held the last Tuesday of the school year for 5th grade students and their parents.

Venue: Cafeteria

Volunteer Commitment: 3 hours 7:00 to 10:00 a.m. Supplies: PTO Storage Room

Fifth Grade Gift Description: A memorable gift is selected and created for all 5th grade students and is presented to them at the 5th Grade Breakfast.

Venue: Classroom. Home.

Fun Fair Event Description: A fun, themed spring event for students and their families to enjoy carnival games, food, raffle baskets and community. This event provides funds for teachers to use on classroom consumables in the fall. Primary duties include correspondence to students, parents, and teachers. Establish a theme for the event. Organize and ordering games, prizes, food, decorations, donations and volunteers.

Venue: School

Supplies: Shelves in the PTO Storage Room; PTO File Cabinet

Fun Fair Raffle Baskets Description: This committee works closely with room parents to select a basket theme for each classroom to be raffled off at Fun Fair in the spring. Generally the room parent will secure a parent to coordinate all donations and presentation of the basket for Fun Fair.

Gift of Books

Description: Strongly encouraged by faculty in lieu of holiday gift giving, students give new books to classroom teachers and staff which are donated to local Plymouth charities in their name.

Venue: School

Volunteer Commitment: 6 hours

Supplies: PTO Storage Room; Gather boxes for books throughout the fall; Wrap in holiday paper; PTO File Cabinet

Grounds Description: Following a professionally designed mater plan and assessing the needs of the school grounds. This committee is responsible for organizing a work date(s) and getting volunteers to accomplish the task.

Venue: School Grounds

Hospitality Description: Planning special events and recognizing faculty on behalf of the PTO. Events include Thanksgiving Bread, Administrative Professional Day, Wednesday, April 24, 2013; National Teacher Week, May 6-10 2013.

Venue: School

Volunteer Commitment: 2-3 hours during events Dates and times will vary Supplies: PTO Storage Room Bird Elementary School PTO Chair Descriptions

March Madness Reading Event Description: Evening reading event in celebration of March is Reading Month. Date(s): March, usually culminating March is Reading events.

Supplies: Shelf in the PTO Storage Room; PTO File Cabinet

Math Puzzlers

Description: A lunchtime math program for grades 1-5 that encourages non-traditional problem- solving through games and activities. This committee is responsible for recruiting parent leaders to work with students, planning and leading games and preparing correspondence for students/families. Problems will be grade appropriate and all levels of difficulty. This is a very popular program for kids of all skill levels.

Date(s): January, February, March

Venue: Media Center

Volunteer Commitment: 1 hour per week for 4 weeks 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Supplies: Shelf in the PTO Storage Room; PTO File Cabinet

Motor Moms Description: A program welcomed by teachers to add movement to the classroom which enhances brain activity leading to a better learning environment. The chair would coordinate the volunteers to make sure each classroom had one and give sample lesson plans to the volunteers.

Date(s): October - May

Venue: Each Classroom

Volunteer Commitment: 1 hour per week, per volunteer. Chair: 1 hour in October Varied times Supplies: Shelf in the PTO Storage Room; PTO File Cabinet

Movie Night Description: A popular Friday evening movie night for students. This committee is responsible for selecting age appropriate movies to be shown on 7 movie night dates throughout the year, sending out registration forms, collecting money, purchasing snacks, setting up video equipment, and arrange volunteers for the evening.

Venue: Gym

Volunteer Commitment: 3 hours per month 5:45 to 8:45 p.m. Supplies: Shelf in the PTO Storage Room; PTO File Cabinet

Miscellaneous: kids-in-mind.com is a great source for movie ratings.

Description: Movie Night Chair shall also organize popcorn for Movie Night.

Venue: Kitchen

Volunteer Commitment: 2-3 hours per Movie Night Begin anytime between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Supplies: Shelf in the PTO Storage Room; Popcorn popper in PTO Storage Room; Popper cabinet key in front office. Boxes to hold bags of popcorn are free from IKEA in their main floor restaurant.

Suppliers: Detroit Popcorn Company

Miscellaneous: Keep popper clean and well maintained after each use. Wash removable parts with soap and water in the kitchen. Clean inside of popper with mild cleaner and paper towel. Only order enough popcorn for a few months at a time. Try not to have extra over the summer.

Non-Fiction Book Bags Description: A program that emphasizes literacy and comprehension of non-fiction books. Grade appropriate books are typically sent home once a week with a journal to increase exposure to non-fiction topics and their structure.

Venue: Classroom

Volunteer Commitment: 1 day a week, organizing books into bags, 30 minutes

Miscellaneous: Chair will work with faculty members to organize book bags

Bird Elementary School PTO Chair Descriptions

Playground Description: Long-term planning committee responsible for reviewing the needs of the playground and making purchasing suggestions. This committee will present all recommendations and suggestions to the PTO membership for discussion/approval.

Venue: Playground

Room Parent Description: This committee is responsible for organizing and designating a Head Room Parent(s) for each classroom. There will be a detailed meeting with all Room Parents in September to explain responsibilities. Each teacher typically defines the role of their Head Room Parent, however, most Head Room Parent(s) responsibilities include working with the teacher to plan parties and other special events; recruiting parent volunteers to work at parties and Fun Fair; and providing 15-20 high quality digital photos of your class taken throughout the year for the yearbook.

Scholarship Description: Selecting high school student applicants for a Bird Elementary School Scholarship. During the month of April this committee selects former Bird students who are now high school seniors for a Bird School scholarship. Responsibilities include updating the application form, communicating with high school counselors, correspondance with local media, reviewing and selecting winners, and setting up an assembly at Bird for the recipients to speak with the elementary students.

Venue: Home; Gym for presentation assembly

Volunteer Commitment: 20 hours reading applications, selecting a recipient(s), planning assembly

School Directory Description: Student and Business Directory for all Bird School families. This is a directory of Bird School students organized by grade level as well as alphabetically. The directory is distributed in late October. This committee is responsible for

correspondence to students/families, collection of information, organization of information, working with the district prints shop, and distributing the directories. The Business Directory is for Bird School families who would like to advertise their business. This committee will solicit families for advertisements. It is done in conjunction with the student directory and the proceeds raised offset directory printing costs.

Venue: Home

Volunteer Commitment: September to October

Miscellaneous: The current directory is formated in Adobe InDesign. Obtain a master list of students from the building secretary and use this instead of typing all the information in yourself. You will have to delete information that parents do not want published and make some minor corrections based on the forms filled out by parents.

School Sign Description: Changing the messages on the marquee in front of the school. This committee will coordinate closely with the office staff as to what messages will be posted.

Sign changes are generally weekly or bi-weekly.

Venue: School Sign

Volunteer Commitment: 15 minutes 1 day per week

Silent Fundraisers Description: Maintaining individual incentive programs offered by local and national organizations. Communicate to Bird families about monetary incentive offers through Campbell’s labels, General Mills Box Tops for Education, Tyson’s A+ Project, Cell Phones, Printer Cartridges, etc. Prepare and mail items according to individual program requirements and due dates.

Venue: Home

Supplies: Drop boxes are located in the front vestibule at school. Mailing labels are in the PTO File Cabinet.

Spirit Wear Description: This committee works closely with the PTO board to select a design(s) for Bird School spirit wear. Work is done during the summer months to create the design, select a vendor and prepare samples for Open House when orders can be placed. Upon receipt of the orders, this committee will distribute the spirit wear to all students/families who placed orders. Bird Elementary School PTO Chair Descriptions

Volunteer Commitment: Summer and early Fall.

Spring Book Fair Description: Scholastic Book Fair open to all students and their families. This committee is responsible for communication with the Media Specialist, all correspondence to students/staff regarding the Book Fair, set-up and take down in the Media Center, and coordinating any volunteer workers.

Venue: Media Center

Volunteer Commitment: 2-3 hour time slots during the day and evening 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (times and days will vary).

Student of the Week Description: Students create posters about themselves that are displayed in the hallway for 1 week on a rotating schedule. Student of the Week posters are created by the students/families themselves and are hung in the main hallway across from the gym. This committee will create a schedule for each student to participate, distribute a letter to all students letting them know their scheduled week, placing the poster in the frames each Monday and returning the posters when complete.

Venue: School, hallway across from gym.

Volunteer Commitment: 30 minutes 1 day per week Times and days will vary Supplies: Shelf in the PTO Storage Room; PTO File Cabinet

Webmaster Description: Design and maintain the PTO website.

Venue: Home

Volunteer Commitment: 30 minutes 1 day per week Times and days will vary Yearbook Description: Bird School Yearbook created with memories and photos from the school year. Available for purchase by all students. Specific duties include correspondence, marketing & sales, proofreading, photography and distribution.

Venue: Home; Pictures taken at school