The PTA Needs You !!!
The
Westchester PTA is always in need of volunteers. Whether it’s
holding a board position, chairing or co-chairing a committee, helping
on a committee, or volunteering your time to help at a
function.
Listed below are the committees that the PTA sponsors as well as a
brief summary of what that committee does. Many times people
are
hesitant to get involved for various reasons. It may be
because
you have a kindergartner and feel that you’re not sure what you’d be
doing. It may be that you think that if you volunteer, you’ll
get
stuck doing way more than you want. Whatever your reason, we
do
have a job for you and want you to feel welcome!
If you think
you might want to chair an event in the future, you could co-chair the
event for a year to see how things work. You could volunteer
to
simply come up and make copies of fliers. You could make
phones
calls to coordinate volunteers from your home during the
evening!
You could simply come to the monthly PTA meetings (held the first
Tuesday of every month) and just listen to what is happening at our
school. Sometimes the PTA needs help with something that
isn’t
even “committee related” such as publishing our Phone Directory.
The
ICE CREAM SOCIAL is held before school starts and coincides with
Westchester’s Open House. During the afternoon students are
invited to come in and tour the school, find their classrooms, meet
their teacher and enjoy ice Cream. Volunteers are needed to
set
up, serve ice cream and clean up.
The FALL FUNDRAISER, which
involves the very successful Innisbrook Wrapping Paper sale, begins as
soon as school starts. Volunteers are needed to help organize
and
distribute the student’s orders for pick-up.
The FALL FESTIVAL
is a big day at Westchester. Held in October, the festival
features arts and crafts, games, a bake sale, music, entertainment,
food, a Haunted Hallway and much more. Many, many volunteers
are
needed for this fun-filled event.
BEACH NIGHT is held over the
winter and is an exciting night with music provided by the Catonsville
Steel Drum Band. This is a night to come to Westchester, eat
dinner with your friends and family than dance the night away.
The
BOOK FAIR is held for one week in the spring. Classes are
scheduled for times to preview and shop at the book fair.
Many
volunteers are needed to set-up the library, oversee the Book Fair
every day, and clean up. In conjunction with the Book Fair is
Book Night/Bedtime Story Night. This is a time for the
children
to come to school in their PJs, play some games, eat cookies, drink
milk, and read stories with their teachers.
The CULTURAL
COMMITTEE involves one person working over the summer with a school
staff member to coordinate cultural school assemblies. The
chairperson does not need to be present at the assemblies.
The
HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE has several activities throughout the school
year. They provide refreshments for Back to School Night,
American Education Week, and Kindergarten Registration.
Volunteers are needed to set up, serve and clean up after all events.
The
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE is very busy at the beginning of the school
year. They are in charge of promoting PTA membership by
sending
home fliers with membership envelopes. Once the envelopes are
returned there is money to count and membership totals to
tally.
They also organize a class and staff contest to encourage parents to
join.
The MENTORING COMMITTEE is a committee of Westchester
parents who are interested in welcoming and helping new families to our
school. New families can sign up for this service at
Kindergarten
Registration, Back To School Night or by calling the school
office. A “mentor” will be assigned to the new family and
will
make contact with them to answer any questions they might have about
the happenings around Westchester.
The STAFF APPRECIATION
COMMITTEE coordinates and delivers gifts for the school staff on
various recognition days (Nurse’s Day, Custodians’ Day, Secretary’s
Day, etc.). They also hold a luncheon for the teachers in the
spring during teacher Appreciation Week.
The SPIRIT COMMITTEE
coordinates the sale of Fall and Spring Spirit Wear as well as the
Special Dress Days throughout the year. While they only meet
2-3
times a year, many volunteers are needed to help with the distribution
of fliers, hand out special prizes on certain Special Dress Days, and
distribute the spirit wear. They are always looking for new
ideas
and suggestions to promote Westchester Spirit.
PICTURE PARENT
is a program that exposes children to art. Parent volunteers
are
needed during the school day to present information to the children in
their classrooms on various forms of art. The art and
information
to be presented is already developed and easy to follow.
The
FOURTH OF JULY FLOAT is a committee that coordinates the building and
presentation of the float in the Catonsville parade. Many
volunteers are needed to decorate the float as well as walk with the
float during the parade.
The COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE was
established to handle the distribution of the monthly school newsletter
and to handle all communications between the PTA and your
family.
The first Tuesday and Wednesday of every month many hands are needed to
help with copying and collating the newsletter. In addition,
we
help teachers once a week with copying. It is amazing how
many
things need to be copied for the students. The PTA is hoping
many
will volunteer to help with this committee.
MATH NIGHT is an
evening of math activities with students and teachers. The
Family
Math Night program provides time to explore mathematics using
literature activities appropriate for both adults and
children.
Students work on fun, math related activities in the classrooms with
their fellow students and teachers. Volunteers help
coordinate
the classroom activities.
The DESTINATION IMAGINATION Committee
works with the students in groups of 2-7 team members on Team
Challenges which encourage development of Creative Problem Solving
techniques, teamwork and creative process over a period of time (8-12
weeks). Challenges are fun, academically based, and include a
research component. This is a program that allows children to be
creative and enter into Regional and State competitions.
Parents
serve as facilitators for the team.
As you can see, there are many opportunities to volunteer and many jobs
to be done for every event at Westchester!!
If
you would like more information about the PTA, please don’t hesitate to
call any of the board members. If you would like to
volunteers
for a specific committee, please contact the committee chair.
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