As PTA president this school year, I've had a few "pet projects". We brought in the Great Artist program, had the Choose Today concert in the fall, and then we applied for the National PTA's grant for Take Your Family to School Week and WE WON $1000 in grant money! Each day we have some type of activity planned, with the hope that every parent will make the effort to attend at least 1 thing.
Today's activity was a free continental breakfast in the gym. We had bagels, muffins, Mexican pastries, strawberries, bananas, grapes, juice, and hot chocolate. While people sat and ate, we had a slideshow playing that highlighted all of the wonderful opportunities for our students at Provost.
My cart at Sam's Club was FULL! It took us quite a while at 6am to prep all of the fruit :)
I was so relieved that we did not run out of food!
After breakfast, parents and their children could work on a hallway scavenger hunt. They hopefully learned a few things about the school and about our achievement awards, and our student programs as they filled out the scavenger hunt. At the end of the week we will have prize drawings for those who turn in their papers! One of my favorite parts of the morning was when I was walking through the hall and I saw some fathers working on the scavenger hunt with their kids. They were interacting and happy, and I thought, "This is what it is all about. This is why we are having Take Your Family to School Week!"
The table for getting the scavenger hunt
We had a wonderful turnout! All of the tables were filled and we had to set up a few more . . . we still had people eating on the stage stairs! I loved the reaction on the principal's face when he walked in the gym and saw so many people -- he was shocked in a good way!
The gym is full!
If you look closely, you can see our kids on the left side of the table
A representative from AXA Financial, who is a sponsor of the national Take Your Family to School Week grants, came and presented us with our "check" for $1000! It was wonderful that he took the time to come, and that we could celebrate winning the grant with all of our parents, but I have to say I was disappointed that it wasn't a real mock check like you see on TV!
My wonderful PTA sidekick Kami and I receiving the "check"
Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, we had parents fill out paper hearts at parent/teacher conferences last week with kind words for the teachers. The teachers will arrive at school to find that they have been "heart attacked"!
On Wednesday parents will be able to come eat lunch with their children if they would like. We kept that one pretty low-key from an organizing perspective!
I'm really excited for Thursday's School Spirit Showcase night. All week long, we're trying to inform parents about all of the reasons why Provost is a great school, and about all of the opportunities their children receive. At Thursday's activity, we will have mini-classes that families can go to together, and they can experience some of the things the students get to do at school. They will be able to have a Great Artist lesson and learn to draw the Mona Lisa! They can have a violin lesson just like all 4th graders do daily. There will classes to do science experiments, listen to a storyteller, learn about how to help children prepare for going to college (our school theme this year), and to play a game "Are You Smarter than an Upper-Grader?" where parents and kids compete against each other.
And on Friday, we are going to do prize drawings from those who participated in the scavenger hunt and the Showcase Night!
Elizabeth, friend Tyler, and Joshua having fun at the end of the breakfast, getting in the way of the slideshow!
I am so thankful that we were able to win the grant money to be able to have such a detailed and exciting Take Your Family to School Week! I hope the parents find it as enjoyable as we envision it to be! Based on our breakfast this morning, it looks like it will be a great week!
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