Have you tried video games? There is a company that does video game tournaments at your school. No money up front which always a bonus. I met them at the NJ PTA convention. They raise somewhere around $3000 in one event. Thier website is www.gamefestusa.com. I am meeting with them just before Xmas break to see if I can get an event scheduled and all of the specifics.
Some parents at our school created and offered an afterschool program (6 weeks) that taught kids in grades 6-8 how to start their own businesses. At the end of the 6 weeks, there was a Marketplace where the kids actually got to set up a table and sell their products! It was really amazing. The kids loved coming up with an idea, developing a product, figuring out how to market it and sell it -- and of course, making money! I understand the parents who taught it have put together a "kit" so other schools can do it. I highly recommend it. It is called TREP$ and the website is www.trepsed.com.
Debbie Tryzbiak: We are a K3-8 school also and last year we had a Middle School Movie Night and it was not well attended (we required parents). This year, we're making it 1-8 but grades 6,7 and 8 do not have to have parents. It will be interesting to see what our attendance will be.
Our Middle School has alot of dances, which the kids love. We are a private school so we hook up with 4 or 5 other private schools. The dances are "lock-in" i.e.: they can't leave the dance once they get there. Students have to check in when they arrive and only students from these schools can attend. They get a DJ and sell snacks and the kids LOVE them. We get parent chaperones and they last from 7-9.
Our school is a K-8. For us it has been a bit of a battle to get middle school parents involved, but we have come up with some ideas for the middle school students. We're planning on a movie night. I was told by the middle school dean that if we ask that parents be there, the kids won't want to come so I'm thinking that a twist on that may be a "lock in" movie night. We could still show the movie in the cafeteria or gym, but lock all doors so we don't have to worry about students leaving once dropped off by parents - maybe do a double feature to keep them there for a while or serve a pizza dinner before the movie.
We're also talking about doing the 8th grade dance/prom. And we've scheduled a science night for the middle schoolers just before they take our state test. We also provide dinner for a reading strategies night that our school's reading specialist puts on each year (dinner helps get the parents to come too). Another idea is a canned food drive as entry to a dance instead of charging an entrance fee.
Just some ideas. I'd love to hear what others do. Because we have so many elementary parents involved in our PTO, we sometimes seem to neglect our middle schoolers in some of our plans.
Our middle school PTO is pretty small and much less active than elementary. In middle school, there are so many other groups (band parents, athletics boosters, student clubs) planning things and running fundraisers.
Ours primarily focuses on Teacher Appreciation and organizes 8th grade prom. The PTO used to buy/sell the PE uniforms but gave that back to the athletic department a couple years ago.
There are no dues and very small fundraisers. It stays well below the $5000 threshhold for annual revenue so have not filed as a 501(c)(3). The group has pretty good bylaws and well-intentioned officers, but it operates fairly informally.
I'm glad the PTO doesn't try to mimic the elementary school level of activity, but it would be nice if it had a little more support/visibility than it does.
I was appointed to run our Middle School Group last night! The group has been run by one person and hasn't been very active. There were 3 of us there last night and nobody else would step up!
I am excited and rearin' to go. Since I am new to middle school activities, I would love to hear some ideas of what you all are doing.
We already had a family fun night (300+ people attended!!)
We are planning a Survivor night
Penny Wars
What activities do you all do? Middle School is so different from Elementary.....parents seem to disappear!
