I agree with ptogranny. Anytime you do something new it usually takes a little time to get going. Patience, patience.
We always put reminders in our monthly newsletters and website.I would put our goal and how much we had receive from time to time. Also let people know in October and March that the box tops are going to be sent in for the checks, some parents save them until the end the year or until they get a large amount. Do you have morning announcements? (Our kids do ours). You can have it announced every so often there and get the kids to thinking about it. Personally I e-mail everyone (grandparents,friends with no children at our school etc.) and remind them that my boys collect them.
We haven't go any info sent home this year. Usaully there is a product list sent home every year. That will help.
This year there is a specail bulletin board up with each classroom and our vp is checking with the classes to see how many they have sent in each month and posts it on this bullentin board which every child can see. The teachers keep up with that anyway and they have their own chart with each childs name and how many box tops each has brought in. This is done because whichever class receives the most box tops gets a pizza party.
If you want an example to get people motivated; Our little rural KY school received over 12,000 Box Tops last year. We are a school of about 450 and we received a certificate for being a top 10 Box Top collector in our state. I didn't even know they did that!
[ 08-30-2003, 10:49 AM: Message edited by: C. Brooks ]
I've heard of the ziploc bag trick and heard it was a good one. I don't know if you have year around school. But do you expect alot this time of year, we haven't even sent out our volunteer request or parent letter yet.
One of the things we put in the letter is; which products you can find the box tops and offer incentives. We have a popcorn machine and every quarter the top class in each grade will get a popcorn and a movie party and at the end of the year the annual best collection class will get something like an ice cream social. The whole thing cost like $100 to make $1000.
Not sure if anyone else does this, but last year we bought gallon size ziplok bags. We then stapled a note INSIDE with everything we collect to the front (i.e., box tops [listed all box top products], campbells, grocery store receipts, ect.)
We then put a magnet on the back of each one. We asked each family to keep this on the side or front of their fridge and place the labels in when they get them. This way everything is kept in one place.
This is our first year for box tops and NO ONE is collecting it seems but me!!! If anyone here has box tops that they are not going to use (yeah right, but had to ask), please email me directly to discuss a trade or random act of kindness.....thanks in advance!!! Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. God Bless!!!!!
