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| Pasta w/lean beef meatballs & tomato sauce, raosted sweet peas, fresh fruit. Vegetarian: Pasta w/veggie crumble meatballs & tomato sauce, roasted sweet peas, fresh fruit. Pick-up: Pasta w/lean beef meatballs, roasted sweet peas, fresh fruit. Date: Tomorrow |
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Taking orders for School District Directory $10 With the Pandemic, PTO school activities will be virtual in 2020.
Pto Meeting Tonight Teach To Be Happy Birthday
Jan 6, 2015 - A PTO flush with money is in a great position to accomplish its goals. Without a proper spending plan, however, those goals might be undefined or unreachable. One of the first things any parent group should do is set up a budget so that everyone is on the same page about how funds will be spent. Don't just ask all employees to enter their PTO requests through the end of 2020 into the company's absence management tool (i.e. BambooHR, Absence.io, etc.). Make it mandatory and set a deadline. Make Meetings More Fun 'I've been told PTO meetings are boring,' says Katie Jones, PTO president at Marengo Elementary in Marengo, Ind. One suggestion she's considering to change that perception is a 'Bunko night' instead of a regular meeting. Half the parents would come at 4 p.m. And half at 6 p.m. To play Bunko, a lively game involving dice.
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Information
| We Have Been Selected to Participate in the Winn Dixie Community Bag Program If you purchase a community bag from the Winn Dixie located at 901 N. Nob Hill Rd, Plantation, we will receive a donation from the store! Thank you for your participation! |
| Presentation from our Title 1 Annual Public Meeting |
| Communication is Vital for Remote Learning! |
| How to Access I-Ready on a Samsung Tablet |
| How to Access Colegia |
| A note about Immunizations: Florida Statute 1003.22 states that before entering or attending a Broward County Public School, students must provide a Florida Certificate of Immunizations (DH 680 form) documenting that all immunizations are current and up to date or exemption requirements are met. The Florida Department of Health has not issued a waiver due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. The State immunization requirements remain the same. |
| Get Your Uniforms Early! In order to keep your school shopping safe, All Uniform Wear is giving you two convenient ways to shop for back to school. You can go online and order your uniforms for delivery or curbside pickup, or you can make an appointment to shop in store. Don't Wait! See inside for more information. |
| WONDER For those of you who were following along with the read-along of Wonder, here is a text version so you can finish reading it. You were on page 144 of this version. |
| We miss you! |
| Join us on Instagram! |
| Have you seen our January/February newsletter? |
| PTO Facebook page is 'Ben Gamla Charter South PTO' |
| FortifyFL FortifyFL is a suspicious activity reporting tool that allows you to instantly relay information to appropriate law enforcement agencies and school officials. |
| Your FEBRUARY CALENDAR is Available! |
| Our November Calendar is Now Available Lots of important dates to check out, and we now have the A-B-C days directly on it in case you want to print it out! |
| Our October Calendar is Available to View |
| All Uniform Wear is Having a Pre-Winter Sale! Take a picture of the coupon or scan the QR code to take advantage of the savings. |
| Shop at Fresco y Mas in November and we will receive a donation! The Lauderhill Fresco y Mas, at 1531 NW 40 Ave, has chosen Ben Gamla for their Community Bag program in November. If you shop there and purchase a community bag, we will receive a donation. |
| Clarification on Dress Down/Spirit Days Students can wear spirit shirts with regular uniform bottoms on Fridays. If they would like to wear their spirit shirt with jeans, it is $1.00. The last Friday of each month students may do a full dress down for $2.00 - again, this is ONLY the last Friday of each month. The following dates are full dress down days: 9/27; 10/25; 11/22; 12/20; 1/31; 2/28; 4/24; 5/29 |
| PTO One Day Pop Up Sale - Oct. 21st Help the PTO raise money and clear up some space by purchasing some of the costumes they have received. Great for dress up or anything else you may want to celebrate. |
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Our School at a Glance
News & Announcements
| Kick off Literacy & School Choice Week with STORY TIME! Join some of your favorite teachers as they read a story to kick off literacy week on Thursday, January 21st. If you are remote learning, please stop by the school on Wednesday, January 20th to pick up your PTO Storytime Snack Pack. |
| Virtual Information Meetings Join us for a virtual information session to learn all about our school and what you need to register for the 2021/2022 school year! |
| Check Our January's Calendar! Everybody have a safe and healthy Winter Break and we'll see you in January! |
| Join us at Sunrise Pita on Wednesday, January 20th! Dine In or Take Out at either location and Ben Gamla Plantation will receive a portion of your purchase! |
| EARLY RELEASE TUESDAY, JAN. 12th - All students released at 11:45 |
| Change in January School Calendar Broward County Schools has revised the school calendar. January 7th is no longer an Early Release Day; it is changed to Tuesday, January 12, 2021. Our 3rd Quarter will now begin on Wednesday, January 13th. |
| Be Sure to Fill Out Your 2nd Semester Questionnaire Today! Link inside. |
| Happy December! Here's the Month's Calendar |
| We Are Closed for Thanksgiving Week! Please have a safe and healthy holiday! We'll see you back on November 30th. |
| Spirit Week Nov. 16- 20 - Join in the Fun! This is a paid Spirit Week fundraiser, and must be paid online, in advance. Please see flyer for more details. |
| Check Out Everything Going on in November! See our just published November calendar. |
| Don't Miss Our 2nd PTO's Virtual BINGO Night Everyone had a great time at our PTO's 1st Virtual Bingo Night! In fact, it was so much fun that we're going to do it again November 18th! One lucky winner will again walk away with two Disney Park Hopper passes. |
| Student & Parent Reopening Guide As we get ready to welcome some students back into the building, please be sure you are very familiar with everything in this guide. We look forward to a smooth reopening! |
| Virtual SAC & PTO Meetings Tonight Everyone is welcome to attend! Log onto Ms. Rosenstein's Zoom Room at 5:30 for SAC (School Advisory Council) and 6:00 for PTO (Parent Teacher Organization). You will receive one volunteer hour for attending. |
| Hurry! Our Online Book Fair ends November 4th! Discover new books sure to keep kids reading. Every purchase supports our school Shop now! Go to tinyurl.com/bgbookfair |
| Join Us for Virtual Open House/Curriculum Night Wednesday, Oct. 28 |
| Help Us Celebrate Red Ribbon Week October 26-30 Each day is a different dress down to remind us to Be Happy - Be Brave - Be Drug Free! |
| Virtual PTO Meeting, Thursday October 15 - 8:15 AM Please use your child's Colegia credentials and log on to Ms. Rosenstein's classroom to Zoom into the meeting! Learn about all the exciting things coming up! |
| Don't Forget to Get Your Burrito On! Spirit Night at Chipotle - Wednesday, October 14th Join us for Spirit Night at Chipotle! Please see flyer and be prepared to show it to the cashier so we get credit! You can even order online and just pick up! Thanks so much! |
| Be sure to check our October Calendar! Broward County finalized plans and there are a lot of changes to the calendar. |
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Chances are not many parent group leaders or volunteers would list meetings as a favorite part of their involvement. But they’ll always be important in the big picture of what a PTO or PTA does. If you run your meetings in ways that are more efficient, inclusive, fun, and creative, you’ll be more likely to keep people coming back and contributing to the important work you do for your school.
Choose a few ideas off the “meetings menu” that follows (and read how groups like yours achieved better results), and you’ll be on your way to having meetings that parents won’t mind attending.
Be More Efficient
Limit meetings to an hour. You’ve probably heard it before, and there’s a reason for the “one-hour max” rule: If people know for sure that they’ll be home by 8 p.m., they’ll be more likely to show up. If conversations or agenda items are taking longer than expected, make a note to follow up later with people electronically, by phone, or in person. The Kyrene de la Mirada Leadership Academy PTO in Chandler, Ariz., made the process of nudging people along humorous by appointing its secretary the meeting “taskmaster”—each agenda has a time limit next to it, and if a speaker goes over, she gets buzzed by the secretary/taskmaster.
We meet once monthly and never go over an hour. We hit most important topics first so if we can't fit everything in we at least hit what we needed to and table the rest. —Melissa L.
Provide handouts of what you’ll be discussing (agenda, budgets, details of projects, etc.). Giving attendees the chance to scan (and keep) this information can help you keep to your time limit.
Eliminate the hassle of attendees having to rush through dinner by providing pizza or having a simple potluck. The Cedar Grove Elementary PTO in Smyrna, Tenn., has themed potluck dinners where the first 30 minutes are spent with attendees eating and mingling, and it has created a noticeable uptick in attendance: “The potlucks have been a true game-changer for us in getting people to come to meetings,” president Tonya Ingram says.
Create a schedule to send reminders (via Facebook, email, etc.) at set times, such as a few days before and then again a few hours before each meeting.
I’m making a quarterly flyer with the days and times of our meetings along with what events are happening that month and if we’ll need volunteers. —Stephanie H.
Be More Inclusive
Ditch the head table setup. Regardless of whether it’s your intention, it can set a more authoritative mood than your group really wants. Arrange chairs in a circle or in another way that suggests a “we’re in this together” vibe.
Use name tags for everyone so no one feels uncomfortable about forgetting names or that she’s walking into a situation where everyone else knows each other.
Consider enlisting an interpreter if a significant portion of your school community primarily speaks another language.
We have a significant number of Hispanic families as well so we asked one of our teachers who speaks Spanish to translate since she’d be attending anyway and she did. It was super helpful! —Catherine D.
Use some icebreakers to establish common ground and get the conversation going. Come up with your own questions, or download our printable conversation-starters.
These days, it’s easy to try basic technologies like Skype and Facebook Live to include parents who are at home or work.
Think outside the box for child care. You can improve attendance by solving the child care issue for parents. Most middle and high schools require students to do community service, so older middle schoolers and younger high schoolers are good options to start with—some groups have had trouble getting older high schoolers to commit. Another option is having a few parents take turns babysitting.
Reach out to community like Girl Scouts. Or other people needing volunteer hours. —Stephanie B.
Try different times or locations. If you’ve done what you can and people still aren’t showing up, do a survey to see if more parents would be apt to come at a different time or day. Likewise, a more casual setting like a coffee shop can encourage people to be more free with their conversation and ideas.
Be More Fun
If you’re not serving a meal, provide fun snacks like an assortment of popcorn flavors or simple desserts like brownies or cookies.
Our theme for our 1st one is “Nacho” Average PTA Meeting! We’ll have chips & salsa & whatever else anyone wants to bring. —Amy G.
Bring in a guest speaker. This could be a parent with a particular area of expertise, or someone at the school or in the community who can speak about a particular trend (like an app, video game, TV show) that you know parents are talking about.
Get a little silly. Break the ice by asking everyone a funny question like the food they hate most or the song they’re most embarrassed to have on repeat.
Offer an incentive. The Sequoyah Elementary PTO in Macomb, Mich., does a prize drawing of four front-row seats to a school event of the winner’s choice and free admission to a PTO event. Those who attend all five yearly meetings have a chance to win a gift card. “In a school of 700-plus kids, the front-row seats are pretty popular,” president Kelly Gebby says.
While the meeting itself should be limited to an hour, add social time afterward for people who want to stay and get to know each other.
Be More Communicative
Get teachers on your side. Many groups find it easier to spread the word with teachers' help. Ask them to talk up your events and activities.
Be an active listener. Show that you take a genuine interest in answering questions and considering new ideas by taking notes and asking follow-up questions.
Keep on top of events in the school and community so you can use those as topics, or tie the meetings to those nights.
Next year I hope to have an administrator at each meeting to give an update on what’s going on in the school. I think that will encourage more parents to come to meetings which will hopefully lead to more involvement. —Christina B.
Coordinate with the school where possible. We did ours after family science and family math nights. —Liz D.
Spread the word! Don't assume people know what's going on, including meetings.
I just ask. I have been very vocal about how it takes a team. —Maria B.
Be More Creative
Give students a role. Invite kids to give short presentations of school goings-on, such as assemblies, musical performances, school plays, etc.
We’ve found having grades come sing a song at the general meetings really increases numbers. —Alexa T.
Add a bit of whimsy. Calling itself a “fun group of wonder women (and men),” the leaders of the Holy Family School PTO in East Tawas, Mich., wear capes and tutus to meetings—as well as to other PTO functions—so they can be spotted easily.
Hold a themed meeting around a holiday, upcoming school event, or other occasion to create a buzz that increases attendance. (Careful not to get too elaborate, though—you don’t want to create too much work before the meeting even starts. A few decorations and a suggestion to wear something festive should be enough.
Originally posted in 2017 and updated regularly.
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