Wahoo..I was able to cut and paste this letter. It's nothing earth-shattering but maybe it will help someone....


Room Mothers
2003-2004


Your job is to assist the teacher with the special, fun events that occur throughout the school year. Usually, this involves finding drivers for field trips, calling and reminding other parents about things they have signed up for (“I’m calling to remind you to bring a Halloween treat”), planning any class parties, such as a Christmas, Easter, end-of-year or back-to-school party (which we are hoping to get started). Your teacher can give you an idea of what has been done in prior years. Basically, you just need to:

1) Stay in touch with your teacher. Perhaps one of the two room mothers can make it her job to stay in touch with the teacher about any upcoming events. Ask her to notify you a week or more in advance of any field trips.

2) Stay in touch with other parents. Keep a copy of your sign-up sheet handy and make note to call and remind parents who have signed up for things. The teacher will not prompt you for some of this–you have to remember. Get a feel for who really wants to drive on field trips and please include them. Some people get their feelings hurt when they’re never called to drive. On the other hand, some never want to! Go figure!

3) Stay in touch with your other room mother. I always worked best with someone that I could e-mail with. It works well to split up the work (“You call half the class, I’ll call the other half”). I think it would be a great idea for one room mother to keep in close touch with the teacher and one to try and keep a tab on your room mother money*
*discussed below

Another nice thing that room mothers often do (though this is totally optional) is to remember the teacher on her birthday (maybe a cake?) or at Christmas (many times parents like to chip in on a gift or gift certificate)or for an end-of-the-year gift. This is TOTALLY optional and not an official duty of a room mother.

ON PARENT ORIENTATION DAY, FRIDAY, AUGUST 15TH:

There will be a sign-up sheet in your classroom on Parent Orientation Day. Please make sure it gets circulated to everyone. If you have new parents in your class, tell them:

1) WELCOME!! Please welcome and introduce any new parents, if your teacher has not already done so. Let them know you are there if they have any questions.
2) Let them know you can get a Kroger card from the office, which donates a % to the school.

3) We collect General Mills boxtops. Turn them in to the office.

4) Save your receipts from Pecan Park Mall and turn them in to our box at the mall or to the school office. We can (and usually do!) win $1,000 from Pecan Park Mall. The box is already set up in the mall by the fountain.

After Parent Orientation:
1) Take the sign-up sheet and tear off the colored sheets on the back and turn them into the office THAT DAY(this is for things like ice cream, lunch volunteers, etc.)

2) Make a copy of the white sheets and give one set to the teacher and keep a set for each room mother. Very efficient room mothers have been known to make a copy for every parent in the class! It’s a great way for them to remember what they signed up for.

3) Ask your teacher when your first field trip or event is. Also, find out NOW what your “big” events are for your grade for the whole year so that you can budget your room mother money..such as Young Author’s Night (2nd grade), Valentine, Easter and Christmas favors , etc. At this time, we are hoping to have end-of-the-year parties, probably at the school (think pizza and cookie cakes). Field Day will not be during the last week of school (don’t quote me on this!).


Room Mother Money

Each year, parents pay either $25 or $30 (depending on the grade) for “Room Mother Money”. It is $30 up to 5th Grade and $25 for grades 6, 7 and 8. So, you can multiply the number of children in your class by either $25 or $30 (depending on the grade) and figure out how much money is in your room mother fund for your class. If you lose a child mid-year, for example, you still have the money, as when you gain a child. I think it would be a great idea for one room mother to keep up with the balance in the fund yourself(a sheet is enclosed for that purpose). Before you submit a receipt for reimbursement, make a note of it in this folder. This way you won’t constantly have to be calling the school bookkeeper for your balance.

Room Mother money is for the following things:
1) any class parties (pizza, cookie cakes, anything having to do with a class party) You may want to have a craft and a game at your Christmas party, for example, and you may use it for that.
2) any kind of seasonal “favor” that the teacher asks for (usually younger grades). The teachers usually can tell you what they want or what has been done in prior years. Find out NOW which holidays will require favors and budget your money.
3) anything that benefits the children such as refreshments for a field trip (if you have the money available.) For example, a class takes a bus field trip out of town and you want to buy the same thing for the entire class to eat on the bus.
4) Please call and ask me if there is something that needs to be paid for and you have a question about it. I will find out!!

Room Mother money is NOT for the following things:
1) a gift for your teacher or the classroom
2) purchasing an item at the Auction for a teacher
3) buying supplies to create an auction item for the Auction.
4) using the money for Teacher Appreciation.

When you do have an expense, make sure you write it down in your notebook (keep up with your balance) and turn in the receipt attached to the yellow reimbursement form (in your notebook) to the office to the attention of the school bookkeeper. You will usually receive a check within a week.

Please do not ask parents for MORE money for expenses if you should spend all your Room Mother money (i.e. “We want to have 6 spacewalks, 4 clowns and 20 ponies at the end-of-the-year party” please no!) Keep up with your money so you won’t have to be running out at the end of the year in a panic trying to spend all your money on junk. Enjoy it during the year! Our goal is to spend the money wisely on things that benefit the children.

If you have any questions about an expense, please do not hesitate to call me and I will find out the answer. We have generally had money left over at the end of the year and there’s no reason we can’t use it and enjoy it during the school year.

Thank you so much for donating your time and energy. You are very much appreciated!!


THIS WAS THE END OF THE LETTER
(One more thing I'm going to add in the notebook this year is a sheet that has all the teachers' names and birthdays in it. I think it's nice for room mothers to know when the teacher's birthday is.)

Hello all--
I just realized everyone was asking for this Room Mother Notebook that I created last year...Since I don't have it in any kind of format that I can easily transmit..I'll try to describe it, page by page; it's very simple. I just got some cheap folders and printed labels for the front of them that says the school name, room mother, 2004-2005.

page 1: list of all room mothers for every grade(58 of them!)(I might try to add everyone's e-mail addresses this year)
page 2: a list of room mother "contacts" which is only one room mother per grade who serves as my contact for that grade
page 3,4,5: a letter from me with an idea of what your "job" is as a room mother (I'm going to try to cut and paste that on this thread, if I can)
page 6: a sheet on back to school parties (we started having these last year to develop some "fellowship" but mainly their purpose is to welcome new students to their grade. We even print the new students' names on the invitation. It went over well last year.

Also included in the pockets of this notebook are several reimbursement sheets and a photocopy of a ledger sheet so they can keep up with their room mother account.(each of our room mothers has a budget of $24 per child, which parents pay in an activity fee)

I pass these notebooks out at our Room mother meeting, which we hold a few days before school starts. I hope this helps someone...I will try to paste my letter.
Shelly

I would also like a copy of the information. Thanks so much!

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I'd love a copy! We have NO job descriptions at all and as new pres, I'm trying to develop a handbook.
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Originally posted by SHC:
As V.P. last year, I was the room mother coordinator, plus I've been a room mother for years. We do the usual stuff, plan the class parties, find drivers for field trips, etc. I think another good way to use room mothers is to help find volunteers. For example, we might say--the first grade is responsbile for staffing volunteers at the spaghetti dinner from 6-9 on Thursday night. I think it's an effective way to reach the entire school. We are a private school and actually have a "room mother fund" which is kind of an odd concept: every parent is required to pay an activity fee and out of that money comes about $25 worth of room mother money. It's used to pay for a back to school party, an end of the year party and various other little celebrations throughout the year. The schoool accountant oversees this money. We are a private school which probably explains this situation. It works OK for us because we aren't always trying to collect $5 worth of pizza money from 35 kids. We just pay for it out of room mother fund.

Also, we have a room mother orientation meeting right before school starts. We hand out a little notebook with all the info they need in it. I think it's really necessary for new parents, as they are clueless.

Good luck!
Shelly

I would love to receive a copy also of the room parent brochure!

Thanks for sharing.

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