40 Ways Parents Can Help Schools

1. Share information with a student or class about a hobby.

2. Share information with a student or a class about a career.

3. Share information with students about a country you visited or lived in.

4. Tutor one or a small group of students in reading, math, or other area.

5. Help coach an athletic team.

6. Help check a student’s written work.

7. Help put out a school or classroom newsletter (can also be done at home).

8. Help sew or paint a display.

9. Help answer the schools’ phone.

10. Help plan a new playground for the school.

11. Help plan a theme-based presentation for students.

12. Help present a theme-based program for students

13. Demonstrate cooking from a particular country or culture to students.

14. Share a particular expertise with faculty (such as use of computers, dealing with disruptive students).

15. Help students plan and build an outdoor garden or other project to beautify the outside of the school.

16. Help coach students competing in an academic competition (such as Odyssey of the Mind, Future Problem Solving, Math Masters).

17. Help set up an internship or apprenticeship for a student at your business, organization, or agency.

18. Host a one-day ‘shadow study’ for one or a small group of students about your career in business or some other organization.

19. Go on a local field trip with a teacher and a group of students.

20. Contact a particular local business or organization regarding possible cooperation.

21. Serve as an officer in the school’s PCO.

22. Help organize a parent organization for the school.

23. Help design a parent and or student survey for the school.

24. Help conduct and or tabulate results of a parent survey regarding the school.

25. Serve as a member of a ‘telephone tree’ to distribute information quickly.

26. Write a letter to legislators about the school.

27. Write a letter to school board members about the school.

28. Go to a school board meeting to advocate for the school.

29. Help design a brochure or booklet about the school.

30. Help translate information from the school into a language other than English.

31. Help translate at a parent-teacher conference for people who don’t speak English well.

32. Provide transportation to a parent-teacher conference for a parent who needs a ride.

33. Write an article for publication in a magazine about the school’s activities.

34. Help arrange for a political leader (mayor, city council, state representative, member of Congress) to visit the school.

35. Help write a proposal that would bring new resources to the school.

36. Donate materials to the school.

37. Arrange for a business or other organization to donate materials to the school.

38. Help with a fundraiser for the school.

39. Help teach a class for parents on ways they can be stronger parents.

40. Help write, publish, and distribute a list of parenting tips.