Classroom Celebration Tip and a Freebie

Do you celebrate holidays in your classroom with a celebration of some sort?  Do you have parents sign up to donate items or to volunteer their time at the party?  For years, I would put sign-up sheets out at Curriculum Night (early September) for parents to write their name and phone number if they could donate a food item or their time.  Then...when the holiday finally came, I was digging out those sign-up sheets, making tons of calls (I rarely come across a "room mom" that will help out with that kind of stuff), playing phone tag, and getting very frustrated!  A few years ago discovered a FABULOUS site that makes party planning so much easier!  WIKISPACES!  A week before the party is going to happen, I set up a wiki space and email the link to my parents.  They can sign up at their own leisure and I can check on the site to see the progress.  Click HERE to see an example from last year's Winter Celebration.  Next winter, I will just erase the kids' names and resend the link to my new set of parents.  So easy and it's free!  I use wikispaces for every celebration, for parent teacher conference sign up and more.

I was cleaning out my school files and came across my birthday note to parents.  Our school policy is that birthday treats be sent home.  This birthday note explains the rules and suggests what to send in with the birthday child.  If you are interested, click on the birthday girl for a free download.