I would love information about Trivia Night! Perhaps you could post a summary here.

We are a middle school PTO, grades 6 to 8. We are what you would call an informal group. The principal leads the meetings, one teacher is president and there is a parent who is secretary. The principal takes care of the money. He is really a great guy. Having him there and leading us saves a lot of time, because he can steer us in the right direction as far as available dates, what he thinks is appropriate and approves of, plus he and this one teacher always have great ideas. We have a membership of about 20-25, with 6 or 7 people showing up at meetings, sometimes less than that. We use parents at this level, who seem to be busier than elementary parents, to call and ask for chips/soda for our activities. We also ask them to come and help with some activities, but very few do. Our teachers staff our evening events mainly. I love our school and staff - they seem to love what they do and love the kids and all are willing to go the extra mile.
Here's some of what we did last year:
-7th & 8th Grade Dances (principal doesn't approve of 6th graders at dances)
-Activity Nights (Once a month on a Friday for 2 hours or so. Ping pong table in the cafeteria, basketball and vollyball in the gym and teachers join in, Monopoly tournaments, video games, movies, parent-donated pop and chips.)
-6th grade Halloween party (Since they don't get dances they get other stuff. Had an older student DJ and did participation dances, ie. Macarena, Electric Slide etc., Limbo and various games, snacks)
-6th grade rollerskating party (Principal set up buses, teachers and some parents went along, held on a Saturday afternoon)
-Holiday Classroom Door Decorating Contest (each teacher is supplied with a bag full of the exact same things so they are all working with the same raw material - dollar store stuff. The classes decorate the doors, winning room gets to keep the trophy that travels around to the winner year to year)

As far as fundraising, we don't ask the kids to sell at this level. Some things we did:
-Foam Fingers (Printed with scool colors and parent sold them at all sporting events)
-Autographed Graduating year t-shirts (kids loved it. Local store supplied us with template of blank numbers ("class of 06")and kids signed it and it was printed on the shirts, then kids bought the shirts)
-Hoop Shoot Booth at Elementary PTO's Family Night Carnival (3 shots for $1.00, if you made a basket you got an entry in the silent auction items we supplied. Kids signed name and homeroom teacher and we distributed prizes that way. Everyone who played got a candy stick just for playing)
-Candy Stick sale on remediation days (teacher president took care of this. 50 cents for a candy stick. remediation days at our school are half days for those with good grades and no troubles, those who need extra help stay the whole day.)

Also, we charge admission for dances, activity nights and parties. It's $2.00, but reduced to $1.00 if you're on the honor roll and we don't turn anyone away who doesn't have money or forgets it.

This year we are going to try to put together a cookbook to sell, again something the kids don't have to sell themselves.

According to the principal, at this level the problem is getting the info out to the parents. The kids are notorious for not taking notices home. We are going to work on getting more stuff in the local paper this year.

Sorry I wrote a book. I'm really proud of our group and think it's a great one.

I would also love more info on the Trivia Night. Sounds like fun!! Thanks

I would also like information on the Trivia Night! Please forward it sounds neat!

I am always on the look out for a new idea! Can you tell me more about your Trivia Night? Thanks!

There is lot's you can do at a middle school. This is my 2nd year as PTO president. We do not ask our parents to sell things(as in elementary). We so small fund-raisers like: Sell Kool-cans(things that hold drinks) We run the concession stand during volleyball and basketball season. This year we made a school calendar, which seems to be going over really good.

We have about 10 volunteers that actually come into the school and help out...running papers, grading papers, special projects and so forth. Our enrollment is 900 and membership 350. For your membership we mail home a newsletter every 2 months(very informative)

1) We have a Triva Night(parents, teachers and family participate) Lots of fun! Evening event

2) We sponsor Dr. Seuss day in our library and invite elementary students to hear community read to them(give the students a free book when they leave)
3) We give a staff luncheon during the Christmas hollidays.
4) We support the staff all week during teacher apprecation week.(food and goodies)
5) We supply the students and teachers with snacks during the very stressfull time of TAAS testing.

We are building lots of support both from parents and staff. There's so much more, but this is getting long. please contact me if you want. Carla PTO pres.

Middle School Voluneers

Is there any one out there that knows of a middle school that actually uses parent volunteers. I was talking to our Vice Principal a couple of weeks back and mentioned about doing somesort of volunteer worksheet for both the teachers and the parents. She thought it would be a good idea but was not sure if it would work. So I guess what I am asking is anyone elses feelings on what they think. Should I go ahead and bring this to my board and see what they say - we do have teachers that show up to our meeting our choir teacher and
her husband who is a 7th grade teacher. I am the president of the PTO this year for the middleschool and would like to try something different for a change. It really seems to me that even though the kids in our middle school are 5th thru 7th I still think that teachers could really use a hand on certain things and that it would make their lives a little easier when you have 25 to 30 kids in a class. Would love to hear others opinions
Thanks
Robin Ciciarelli -