Since we live in such a high transcient area alot of our families are here without families. We host a Special Persons lunch. Our school has approx. 950 students so we split the grades and do it on a Wed. for three consecutive weeks. We sell tickets in advance so that the cafeteria has a idea of about extra lunches we will need. You can also purchase a ticket at the door if nned be.
Our 3rd Grade holds a Grandparents Breakfast. We get the 3rd grade moms to set up and serve the food (coffee, Tea, Juice, bagels, crumb cake, fruit, Pastries). The children perform a concert and read poems.
We do not just invite Grandparents of children in the school. We invite all seniors in town to attend.
Oh boy, we're in the midst of Grandparents' Day planning right now. It is a HUGE success and a HUGE undertaking, too, as we have K3-8th, 370 students and everyone usually brings a grandparent/Grand friend.
One thing we decided to do this year (and we're copying other schools who do this) is to schedule Grandparents' Day at the same time as the Book Fair. So..this is how ours works: the children arrive at school at 8:00 a.m. (usually dropped off by parents). Our Grandparents' Day event starts at 8:30. All the Grandparents go into our Sanctuary (we are a religious school) and then at 8:30 the classes march in. Now, the grandparents know, in advance, where they are to sit (which child, which grade). So, the children sit with their grandparents and we have a chapel service. Then, the children leave the church first and go back to their classrooms with their teachers and the grandparents are then "dismissed" to go to their grandchildren's classrooms, visit the assembly room for refreshments, and then visit the gymnasium with their grandchild for the Book Fair. We will also have a professional photographer available there for anyone who wants to have a family photo taken(a small fundraiser for us). We have scheduled this as a 1/2 day of school so the children can then leave school with their grandparents and go to lunch. It takes alot of planning to pull off but it's a huge success.
Another school in town somehow manages to pull off a luncheon for children and grandparents. I don't think we have the room for that.
One more thing, because of the large numbers of grandparents this draws, this year we are renting a shuttle bus ($185) to help transport grandparents from a parking lot 1/2 block away).
