November 2008 |
|
|
In This Issue Take Your Family to School and Join PTA! PTA Video Gift Cards Are Great Gifts That Give Twice! Promote PTA’s Family-School Partnership Awards Get Creative with Healthy Lifestyles Month Common Sense Strategies for Media Use
Imagine local PTAs having a chance to sign up all family members as PTA members—right in the school halls. Imagine PTAs being able to showcase Well, you don’t have to imagine it. PTA Take Your Family to School Week—already designed to bring every family into the school—is the perfect venue for local units to demonstrate the value of PTA and sign up new members. The event also includes a statewide campaign to promote PTA Take Your Family to School Week to all schools—whether they have a PTA or not. Take advantage of this opportunity to introduce this PTA campaign into every community and open doors for creating new units. Each and every initiative the national office rolls out can be used as part of a membership campaign strategy. As these initiatives engage communities through their schools, they provide an opportunity to promote the mission and vision of PTA, as well as the benefits. Fight Flu in Your State this Winter December 7-12 is National Influenza Vaccination Week – how is your state observing this week? Consider hosting a flu clinic in your office building, at a nearby school, or at a community center on Tuesday, December 9 in honor of National Children Vaccination Day. Invite local businesses and organizations to participate in your event. Use this opportunity to draw media attention to your event and PTA! Resources are available on the Let’s Fight Flu Together! CD-ROM to aid you in working with the media. For more information, go to pta.org/flushotclinics or call Annie Krysl, PTA Outreach Manager, at (800) 307-4782 ext. 329. Last Call for OMDR Plus Early Adopters OMDR Plus powered by Just Between Friends is almost ready to debut as the new system to help units run their PTA. Presently, we have completed the development of version 1 of the system; state PTAs will now be able to approve councils and units into the system. Once approved by the state, unit and council presidents who have gone through the Group Start-up Wizard and taken training through the webinars will receive an e-mail with their login credentials so that they can begin using the full system. Currently, we have 12 states that have been highly engaged with OMDR Plus and will be on the leading edge of the first wave of this rollout. A special thanks to this group of twelve states (list states) for being our early adopters. Regardless of when your state becomes active with OMDR Plus, it is important to note that no one will be turned away. Any unit or council that wants to participate at any time will be given full training and support, the same as everyone else. If your state has not yet made specific plans on how to proceed with OMDR Plus it is not too late. Contact the PTA national office or Just Between Friends to become part of the early adoption period.PTA Three for Me for the New Year Are your units equipped to increase parent involvement in schools? Make sure they know about PTA Three for Me, a proven family involvement program. For many, January is a fresh start, and it is a great time to launch—or relaunch—PTA Three for Me. With this easy-to-use program, units can not only increase involvement by asking for a specific commitment but also get needed volunteers for spring semester projects. Pair Three for Me with a January membership campaign to show new and potential members how simple involvement in PTA (and their children’s education) can be and to increase membership. Promote Three for Me in communications this winter, encouraging your units to take advantage of its resources in the second semester. All the tools units need to run the program are at three4me.com. PTA Video Gift Cards Are Great Gifts That Give Twice!
Give A Holiday Gift And Make A Difference PTA Video Gift Cards may be purchased online through http://www.ptavideostore.com/, at your local unit PTA Movie Night Live, and also at more than 17,000 retailers nationwide, including Walgreens, Office Depot, Dollar General, Valero Corner Stores, and Kinney Drug. If your local unit is hosting PTA Movie Night Live, we have extended the gift card purchasing period from 3 days to 1 week after your event. PTA Video Gift Cards are gifts that the whole family can enjoy! PTA Video Store allows families to browse and purchase thousands of age-appropriate, kid-friendly movies and TV shows in a safe and secure online environment. Not only do these gift cards make great stocking stuffers and gifts for kids, with every purchase made, proceeds benefit PTA. PTA Video Store is your new online destination for your favorite new releases, classics, and holiday movies. PTA Video Gift Cards are the perfect holiday gift! Promote PTA’s Family-School Partnership Awards Help us spread the word about the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Family-School Partnership Awards, which celebrate PTAs that are working to achieve the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships. There are three levels of recognition:
All local, council, district, and region PTAs in good standing are eligible to apply. Direct PTAs to www.pta.org/hearst for the application and details. The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. EST, March 1, 2009. Special recognition will be given at the 2009 PTA National Convention to the state that has the highest percentage of PTAs apply. December 31 Deadline: Parent Involvement Schools of Excellence Applications Please remind schools and local units that after December 31, 2008, PTA will no longer accept applications for Parent Involvement Schools of Excellence Certification. Any school that has already begun or would like to begin the certification process has until December 31, 2008, to submit its application. The complete application packet must be postmarked by December 31, 2008 to be considered. There will be no exceptions. Schools currently certified as Schools of Excellence will retain that honor through their original three-year term. PTAs Get Creative with November’s Healthy Lifestyles Month Much like the United States presidential election, there was a record voter turnout in the Carrots versus Cherries election at Memorial PTA’s Harvest Fair in McMinnville, Oregon. The Fruit Party candidate won by such an unbelievably wide margin that the PTA suspected ballot tampering and demanded a recount, to no avail. Memorial PTA is just one of many PTA schools across the country conducting activities to promote PTA Healthy Lifestyles Month. Knowing that a healthy child can achieve and learn more, PTAs are encouraging families to increase their physical activity and learn to eat healthier with events like walkathons, health fairs, bike-to-school programs, and family fit nights. Share the press release about this year’s PTA Healthy Lifestyles Month. How are PTAs in your state participating? Let us know by sending an e-mail to HealthyLifestyles@pta.org. PTA Families "Get Game Smart" 
Tired of arguing about how much time your child spends online and playing video games? PTA members are the first to get a sneak peek at a new resource for families—GetGameSmart.com. The site provides quick tips that put you in control, need-to-know information about the Internet and gaming safety, plus advice from experts to help you make the right decisions about media use in your home. The official site launches in December, but PTA members can check it out now. Don't miss out—visit GetGameSmart.com! Common Sense Strategies for Media Use Young people today spend an average of 44 hours each week watching, playing, and using media, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. To help educators and PTA leaders partner with parents to teach kids how to be safe and smart in today’s 24/7 media world, Common Sense Media has created the Common Sense Schools Parent Media Education Program. Local units can register at www.commonsensemedia.org/schools for free access to the program, including videos, downloadable tip sheets, and discussion materials. PTA Supports My Wonderful World Campaign PTA is happy to support the My Wonderful World campaign, led by National Geographic, in promoting geographic learning in and out of schools. Jan Harp Domene expressed PTA’s commitment in a recent guest blog post, and this week PTAs across the country have been invited to celebrate Geography Awareness Week—November 16-22 through MyWonderfulWorld.org. Through this interactive site, you can help send families on a whirlwind tour of the world with a range of fun geo-activities designed to engage learners of all ages in global exploration. On MyWonderfulWorld.org, students and their families can explore the world’s geography in fun, engaging ways:
Encourage local leaders to sign up for the campaign and join more than 80,000 supporters of global, geographic learning at MyWonderfulWorld.org. The campaign’s monthly newsletter features games, tools and ideas for expanding students’ geographic learning at school, at home, and in communities. PTA and My Wonderful World have also developed a special kit for parents and teachers to help put ideas for a “geography ready” school into action. Join us to help your local units—and their families—see the world in new ways! AXA Achievementsm Scholarships 
The AXA Foundation, a Proud National Sponsor of PTA, offers a signature program, AXA Achievementsm, which provides resources that help make college possible: access and advice.
Two scholarship programs are currently underway: AXA Achievementsm Scholarship in association with U.S. News & World Report
AXA Achievementsm Community Scholarship
The winners, known as AXA Achievers, are ethnically and economically diverse, but share these qualities:
Encourage graduating high school seniors to apply. Direct students, parents, and educators to axa-achievement.com, where they can find more information and downloadable applications which can be filled out online. As part of AXA's partnership with PTA, AXA offers free workshops to PTA units on topics such as planning for college and other financial issues facing families. Visit the AXA website designed exclusively for PTA leaders, axa-achievement.com/PTA, for more information about the wide range of workshops that can be presented to your PTA unit. The AXA Foundation is also the exclusive awards sponsor of the PTA's Take Your Family to School Week program, a nationwide initiative designed to increase parent involvement and participation in the schools.
|
their work to the entire school and have volunteer leaders discuss one-on-one with potential new members the positive impact of PTA in their school district and state. 
