Parent
Helpers in Your Classroom
Research has
demonstrated that parent involvement in the educational
process impacts positively on the attitude and conduct of
children in school. One significant vehicle for parent
involvement is a structured volunteer program. Below you
will find my tips on starting a parent volunteer program
in your classroom. These are just some of the things that
work for me. Also, you will see some other tips from
other teachers. Read through this page a pick some of the
ideas that would work for your classroom.
My Parent Helper Tips For You!!!
I recall my first year teaching and
how I was so nervous about having parents in my room.
What will I do with them? Will they cause problems in my
routine? What is the best way to use their resources?
The first thing I did was create a
list of the things I could see parents doing in my
classroom:
- Assist
during our daily work time when the students are
involved in a variety of activities in their
classroom (Centers, Reading Group, and Daily
Jobs)
- Provide
assistance for individual students to meet
specific needs (Take a group of students to work
on a specific skill or to practice a specific
skill - sight words, time, money, math facts,
oral reading...)
- Compile
classroom work and projects; including imputing
data
- Give
short presentations of your choice (e.g. a
dentist talking bout care of teeth, a baking
demonstration, sharing information about a hobby
or something of interest.)
- Help
students with editing in writing workshop
- Listen
to students practicing oral reading
- Assist
in planning special days in the classroom (e.g.
Fall party)
- Book
Orders (Filling out Classroom Order Form)
- Technology
Docents - Scanning/saving student work,
organizing classroom pictures for website, etc
- Office
Helper - Make Copies, Check Daily Work, File
Items, Check Moose Books, Get crafts ready...
(If you can find yourself an awesome office
helper, then you are set! One year I had a
grandparent who loved doing these sort of things.
Due to her help I left school most nights before
dinner time.)
At the beginning of the year (Open
House/Parent Night), I pass out a form that asks if
parents are interested in helping out in the classroom.
It is important to ask parents what kind of things they
would like to do and what kind of things they would not
like to do. I had a parent helper that refused to make
copies and only wanted to work with kids. I had another
parent helper that did not want to work with children. It
is best to find all this information out before you start
making a schedule for your parent helpers. Also, I allow
Parents to choose times that are convenient to them and I
make up a schedule that works with these times.
Generally, I like to have a parent in the classroom
everyday for an hour or two, depending on our specialist
schedule. My favorite time to have a parent helpers (that
work with the kids) in my classroom is during Center.
Daily Job, and Reading Group Time. It is easy for the
parent to pull students at this time.
Once all the volunteer sheets are
turned in, I begin to work on a schedule and a job
description for each parent helper. Once this is done, I
call each parent helper to go over the schedule and what
I would like them to do in the classroom. I also invite
them to a parent volunteer night.
Parent Volunteer Night - I have a
short orientation meeting for parents who want to help in
the classroom. At this meeting I remind parents to
please remember that my priority is to use parents to
enhance the program for the students, and to assist me
with daily tasks so that I can focus on the instruction
of the students. This means that helpers may be asked to
do something that will seem very repetitious to them. For
example, parents may be doing the same activity for the
whole time they are in my classroom with different groups
of students; or they may have the same routine for
volunteering each time you come.
Also, at the meeting I handout
various handouts that will be helpful to a parent helper.
We discuss proper praise, how to read with children, some
simple tutoring techniques, basic do's and don't, and I
answer questions.
I have found that it is easier for
me and the parent helper if I make a little to do list of
the things I would like the parent to do while they are
in my classroom. The list may look something like this.
Give Sue her spelling Test
Have Joey read a chapter from his book to you.
Pull Sally, Chris, and Patrick to play sight word bingo
Make 40 copies of the attached sheet.
Place Homework in Students MOOSE books.
Thanks!!!
I have been lucky to have great
parent helpers through the years. I try my best to make
sure they know how much I appreciate them. I write them
little notes of thanks and once a quarter I get them a
little gift (Starbucks Gift Card, Flower, Book...)
Best of luck to you as you decide
on a parent volunteer plan that works for you! Colleen
 
Other Teachers Share Some Tips!!
I had a grandparent volunteer this year and
she was wonderful. She would take about four of my kids
at a time and work on reading skills with them. She
listened to them read and went over sight words using
flash cards. I had another parent who came in and worked
with some kids on AR by reading to them or sitting with
them at the computer to take the AR test. I liked for
them to take these kids to other areas of the school such
as the library (that is where the computers were) and
that way it was not a distracton in the room. This worked
well for us. Be sure to have a parent you can trust to do
what you ask her to do and one that is capable. My
volunteers came on Tuesday only. That way I always was
prepared and ready for them. But in your case, with so
many students you might need someone at least two days,
maybe only for an hour or two. My volunteers
stayed for one hour only. - Valerie
It's great to have
someone run off or get materials ready for
projects/assignments, especially if you have to teach
art. I wouldn't have them grade as somehow, at least
here, it gets out who does/n't do well. This year I am
having a Mom come in and story tell/read to them once a
month relating to what we are learning. She is also going
to try to come up with some kind of art project that will
tie in with this. She LOVES doing this kind of thing. In
the past I've had parents help with handwriting (correct
formation but that's kdg.) The idea of taking some kids
out and working in small groups is great. They've also
cut out laminating, made games or manipulatives at home
when they had time. - Sandy
Some of the things my grandparent helped
with:
read with small groups/individuals
help students with any make up work
work with students who need remedial work
work on the computer with 1-2 at a time
help out (especially at the beginning of year) by just
roaming the room as students are doing their assisgnment
help out during big art projects
helped out in a center
played board games with small groups (cut down on the
arguing)
and since my grandparent came at the same time/day..if
there was an assembly going on during her time, she would
help me by making paper books, getting art supplies
ready, laminating, etc... I hope this helps you :)
My buddy teacher and I
often have parent volunteers in the classroom to work
with individuals and small groups during math and
literacy center time. This year we had a little training
session. My buddy teacher took all of the kids while I
went over some guidelines for the volunteers. We talked
about how they should handle it if a child was stuck on a
word, asked for help spelling, misbehaved, etc. I also
gave a short handout and answered any questions they had.
We believe strongly in the strategies we're teaching the
kids and wanted to make sure they were being consistently
rein-forced. This seemed to help. - Lisa
At first I was totally at a loss as to what I
could have them do, but after awhile it was great! I
think that some of the
parents I worked with this year gave me such insight into
how parents see school/teachers. Anyway, here is what I
had them do, and they did it with a smile, nobody ever
complained or said they wouldn't do it. It's all stuff I
would do myself anyway if they weren't there:Make
playdough
Stuff folders with notices
Run copies (if they took a training from our assistant
first)
Laminate (same as above)
Clean tables
Use die-cut machine
Clean and stock art/writing center -clean glue bottles,
sharpen pencils, make sure markers had caps and were not
dried out and replace as necessary, throw out old broken
crayons and restock new ones, make little staple books
for the kids in writing center, make sure dry erase
markers were not dried out, clean little dry erase
boards, make journals on binding machine, clean scissors
if sticky from glue, sort and organize abc stamps, make
sure ink pads for stamps were not dried out, stock
writing paper-white and manilla, sort construction paper,
fill paint pots, clean brushes, clean easel, stock paper
at easel, fill glue bottles...Check Buddy Backpack (take
home backpacks) and make sure everything was returned.Put
up bulletin board displays/take down bulletin board
displays Stamp our daily reading logs Check
folders/backpacks for important notes Take students to
nurse/clinic Work at a center with small groups on
project Play a special board game with a small group- My
parents especially liked this bec. I made it something
special that the kids could only do when he/she was
there. For example, when Mrs. C would come on Mondays the
kids all knew she would play ABC bingo with them, and on
Tuesdays when Mrs. T came they knew she would play Memory
with them etc This really helped me when I was doing
guided reading and needed to have them occupied.Clean
manipulatives and toys on a rotating basis in bleach
water(play food from dramatic play, legos, etc) Work on
computers with individual childrenFeed/care for any class
pets Water plants Anyway, I hope this helps, this is only
a partial list of what I can remember right now. I love
having volunteers in my classroom. At first, I didn't
think I could give them so much to do, but then I slowly
started to give them more and more, until they didn't
need to even be told what to do anymore, they just came
in and started working.Good luck,vanna/tx
I think
involving parents in the classroom is the most beneficial
thing you can do as an early childhood educator. Studies
show that those who volunteer in the younger grades stay
involved throughout their child's education. I also had a
volunteer "drive" and orientation like the
previous poster. I mentioned that we needed volunteers at
our back to school orientation night. It worked like a
charm, all I had to do was
let them know that I really WANTED them to come into the
classroom. Many of them do not feel welcome so you have
to make it known that you really want them to come. After
that I started sending home flyers each week and then
started face to face "recruiting". As Mom's
started to sign up I would highlight them in our weekly
newsletter as "Star Parents". I would go up to
Mom's after school who I knew did not work or have babies
at home and I would ask them what they were doing
tomorrow or the next day. Usually they said
"nothing" and then I hit them with the hard
sell :)
Once I
rounded up my potential group of volunteers I wrote up a
volunteer "handbook" and organized a lunch time
orientation session. We all met and reviewed the handbook
and we showed them the copier, laminator, die-cutter, and
gave tours of the school. I signed them up for different
days, it worked out that I had a mom for every am and pm
class Mon-Fri!!! Sometimes I ended up with two. When one
couldn't come she would call another and they would
trade, it was absolutely amazing!!! I try to have a list
of things ready for the parents to do each day (that was
the hard part) in addition to their "regular"
duties like cleaning the tables, stocking the writing
center etc.. The AM volunteer would cross off anything
she did from the list and then the PM volunteer would
finish it off. The only problem I had was that sometimes
the AM parent was so energetic she would finish
everything I had. It got to a point where I had things
prepared for lessons I wasn't going to do for 2 or 3
weeks!
We have a
volunteer breakfast at the end of the year and we took
pictures of our classes holding a sign that read
"Thank You" and had them framed for each of the
volunteers. We also gave them flowers and a class made
book, it was really sweet. This year I will have a few of
last year's volunteers coming back to help out the first
few days/weeks of school bec. it's difficult in the
beginning to have the parents in the room until the kids
have become settled into the routine.Good
Luck!HTHvanna/tx
At the
beginning of the year I really took advantage of parents,
knowing that most only volunteer for a few weeks and then
quit.... I have a ton of student versions of books for
them to color and take home (for keeps). I have parents
making these. I also have them prepare art projects- most
especially TLC art projects and tear out pages from
workbooks and file them in hanging file folders. After
this is done, parents will work with children if they
come during teaching time (I have some that would come
during lunch or recess because that's the
only time they could)...read with students 1-on-1,
remedial work, make up activities, computers, and board
games. There has been the occassional time I have had to
pick a trusting worthy parent to help with some of the
easier testing such as having the child rote count or
retell a story or recite a nursery rhyme. But that is
rare and only done with a parent I trust to do it
correctly. - Terri F.
On curriculum
night I hand out volunteer sheets in our K info packet.
They can sign up to chaparone on a field trip, be a guest
reader, do something at home (eg make playdough), share
something unique(eg share career or other interest) or
work with small groups at one of our I Care centers. If
they've signed up for centers, they have noted their
available days by preference.
I don't
have parents volunteer until we've been in school a
month. At that time I have a training/orientation session
for center volunteers (mst. impt.!) and hand out a
schedule for the month. Some volunteers are in weekly,
others once a month or a quarter. I never have more than
one parent in at a time because they end up chatting to
one another. If centers are scheduled for 2:00, I have
them come at about 1:45 so they can sit in on my
explaination and /or modeling of that day's centers so
that I don't have to take time to explain their role for
that day.
Last
year was my first year in K. I had wonderful parents,at
least one a day and most days two, and an EA. The aide
was first time in K, not skilled, and could not learn (72
yrs old!!), so the parents became the mainstays of my
program. I wrote out directions for each parent, for each
day, for each group, for each activity. I put it on a
clipboard, along with the materials needed for their
particular activity. It took some time each morning, but
they were able to run reading groups, reinforce math
concepts, help with writing, do art projects, etc.
This year
(if I get some parents), I will have a parent training
time and a handbook on general procedures that I'd like
them to follow with reading groups, and on other routine
sorts of things. I will also have a new EA...unknown at
this point.
My best
advice...*know* what you want them to do, *spell it out*
for them, and let them know it's OK if they don't
"get it" and they needfurther explanation -
Robyn/OR
Last year I held
an early morning coffee for all of the parents who signed
up to help. I supplied coffee and assorted doughnuts.
After we ate, I had them fill out a short, simple sheet
to indicate what things they would like to do or not do
in the classroom. Some indicated that they loved to
cut/color, while others said they were not artistic and
would rather make copies. This made it easy to have
projects ready for each person. For some reason, I have
been blessed with awesome helpers. Some even return the
next year if I need them.
This year
I am going to have an incentive to work towards. If they
come at least 10 times during the year, they will get a
personalized coffee cup (we have a cheap ceramic shop in
my town), if they come 20 times, they will get a large
personalized canvas bad, and the yearlong helpers will
get a personalized sweatshirt.
Our school
also held an appreciation tea at the end of the year.
Anyone who had helped during the year was invited. The
teachers signed up to bring food, a committee was in
charge of decorations, entertainment, special
certificates,media.
I hope
these ideas help. Posted by Barbie on 7/27/02
 
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