Encouraging Parent Involvement with a Christmas Twist!

Happy Holidays, from Brittany at Precious Steps Preschool!

Is everyone finished with their Christmas preparations yet?  I'm sad to say that I'm slightly slacking this year!  We just got the tree picked out and put up tonight!  I became a ballet mom this year with my oldest (7) joining the cast and crew of The Nutcracker, which took up a lot of our time in December with dress rehearsals, pictures, fundraising, and endless hours at the non-pampering end of a curling iron!  Whew!  It was so beautiful and perfect for getting me into the holiday season, but I'm ready for a break!

And that means, back to blogging!  Our followers here at The Primary Pack are really so lucky to have such a creative group of educators bringing you the best of the best all in one festively decorated blogspace, amirite?!?  I say this because I had SUCH a hard time coming up with a topic to blog about today!  We've had so many great ideas brought to life on this blog that I was (almost) fresh out of ideas!  Perhaps to my advantage, though, I am in a bit of a different position than our other Teacher-Bloggers -- in that I don't actively teach at the current moment.

I am a former daycare owner/director who has spent many years teaching children, but for the past two years I've been working as a medical secretary.  I dedicate the bulk of my time to my four littles at home, ages 7, 6, 5, & 4.  By doing so, it has freed up my schedule to allow me to be actively involved in our Elementary School's PTO!

I always think about teacher gifts, bus driver gifts, secretary gifts, school nurse gifts, etc. at this time of year to show my appreciation for how much they do for my kiddos, but Lauren's post from A Teachable Teacher yesterday got my wheels turning.  She showed a beautiful example of a gift for TEACHERS to give their PARENT VOLUNTEERS!  I was blown away because I truly would have never thought of that as a teacher  (and I LOVE giving gifts)!  What it also did was instantly make me think about the hard working parents on our school's PTO and how I constantly hear from other schools how they wish their PTO were as successful and active as ours.

So, being that we had just finished listening to Christmas carols, drinking hot cocoa, and decorating our tree tonight, I had the song "Let It Snow" stuck in my head.  Which brought me to this clever little freebie-parody, "Join PTO"!

This freebie will surely get your parents into the holiday spirit and hopefully bring to their mind that the PTO can always use helpers and volunteers!  You could fold it up and include it in a simple Christmas card, slip it into your students' folders, attach it to a gift, etc.

To download this freebie and more, visit my TPT Store here.


Keep checking The Primary Pack everyday for more amazing holiday tips in December and the best collection of education resources throughout the year!

Love & Smiles,