Looking for ideas for your parent volunteers? There are many ideas that they can help out with and they don't even have to enter your classroom!
Over the years I have noticed that I have had many parent volunteers who would like to help but I often have not have tapped this potential just from being unaware of what they could do and not being prepared for when they enter the classroom.
At School
Art Master
If you have a creative parent who is available during your art period and would like to help out with art activities you can always have them come in. They can collect the art materials, cut out what is needed and even help supervise. They can clean up the art materials at the end of the day, after the activity or during your lunch period (when you may have other supervision duties).
Home Reading Helper
If you have a volunteer who is willing to come in daily, this is a huge support for classroom teachers. There are many ways it can be organized.
1. They supervise the primary students exchange of books, ensuring that cards are returned to the correct book and books are placed back properly into the cart.
2. They bring the cart to each class and quietly call students in small groups at a time in each class to exchange books so the cart is never overwhelmed by too many students.
3. If your volunteer can only come in weekly or once a month, have them sort through the books to make sure they have been returned to the bins properly (e.g., in the right bin, with the right card and facing forward for students to see the cover).
Homework Helper
Having someone to go through the homework bin to check off who has completed their work is a huge time saver. If desired, they could check through the work and make a list of names of students, who still needs support in learning the concepts that were covered in the activity, in order to plan next steps and small group instruction.
Pencil Patrol
When you have young students it can be very tedious time consuming task. A volunteer could come once a week or daily to sharpen your pencils and pencil crayons quickly for you!
Portfolio Patrol
Many classes have student driven or teacher driven portfolios. Often the items inside the portfolio are contained in sleeves which need to be stuffed. Items often need to be sorted and organized. If these items are not "graded" and thus not confidential, volunteers can help organize these!
Reading Buddy
Lots of families do not have time to support their child with reading their home reading nightly for various reasons. Having a volunteer who is willing to come into the school and sit down with your students and read their book daily is a huge support to students and families.
At Home
Home Reading Book Repair Service
Create an Ziplock bag filled with a laminated instruction page for how to repair books. Send a small number of books home to parents with all the tools they would need to repair the broken books once a week. Ask for them to be returned by the end of the week!
Lucky Librarian Repair Service
Just like with the home reading book repair service, send home classroom library books that need some TLC. Send the books home with the required supplies and detailed instructions for how to fix them.
Budding Photographer
Know a parent who is a photographer and is willing to come to events to use your school camera to capture events like class trips or special assemblies? It is extremely hard for many teachers to add this task to their duties during the day and the end result would be appreciated by many families!
Skilled Skyper
Know someone who would love to be read to by your students throughout the day but cannot come to school due to mobility reasons or because they live far away? As long as you have the ability to use Skype or a similar technology, children can take turns read to them live them during your language block!
Super Slideshow Maker
Know a volunteer who loves to make slideshows? Having someone do this for assemblies, special school events, and even end of the year gifts would be appreciated by many parents in the community!
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