AMES COMMITTEES/EVENTS

The following is a list of events and their definitions for incoming Ames parents.  There is also information included about volunteer opportunities and how much time is involved:

Art Guides:  A program at Ames in all grade levels to bring a better understanding of famous artists to the children at their level.  Parents volunteer to present four artists per year to each grade level.  There are folders with information on the artists to help the parents come up with ideas.  A typical art guide presentation consists of a brief lesson on the artist, some samples of their work, and an activity for the children to produce some artwork in that chosen artist’s style.  Please let your room representative know if you’d like to volunteer to be an art guide.  See the Cultural Arts page on the Ames PTA website for a list of the artists by grade.

Auction (also known as “Fall Festival”):  A PTA-sponsored Fall event for the entire Ames community to come together and raise funds for the incredible Cultural Arts program our children so enjoy…and have a lot of fun together too!  The festival includes a silent auction, cash raffle, dinner and dancing and takes place here in Riverside at P.J. Klem’s on Ogden Avenue.  The event is held every other year as the funds raised cover two years each of our Cultural Arts curriculum:  a week-long artist-in-residence, an all-school assembly and one grade-level field trips per year.  The silent auction has three categories of items:  “class creations” like Faces-on-the-Table, a self-portrait painted children’s table and the popular 5th Grade Anthology; “teacher dates” like Lunch and a Movie with Mrs. Orlowski and Mrs. Stephens or Principal for a Day and the ever-popular In-School Slumber Party; and all kinds of “family donations” from vacation homes to Bears tickets, to landscaping and snow plowing.  The cash raffle tickets are sold prior to and at the event and awards three lucky winners cash totaling $1,600.  Raffle winners need not be present.  Event tickets are required to bid on silent auction items.  Ames Fall Festival 2009 is scheduled for Friday, November 13, 2009.  The success of the event depends on our tremendously committed parent volunteers.  Volunteers are needed for all committees:  Party, Program, Auction and Raffle.  To share your ideas, sign up for a committee or ask questions about the event, please contact one of your event chairpeople:  Debbie Alm, Susan Georgopulos, Victoria Manchen or Brooke Schwarz.

Bank at School:  A program in which Ames school children can make deposits at school which is coordinated with Riverside Bank on a monthly basis.  The older grades (largely 5th grade) in some instances get to be the tellers for the younger grades.  The program requires parent permission and an account at Riverside Bank. Forms are sent home at the beginning of the school year.

Be-Fit Fitness Program:  A monthly fitness incentive program for the students.  Various fitness activities are listed and turned in on a monthly basis with results posted in the hallway.  Classes with the highest percentage of students meeting their fitness goal earn a free day during their regular PE class each month.  At the end of the year raffle prizes are awarded to the students who have met fitness goals. Gail Goletz (physical education teacher) will coordinate along with two volunteers. Requires approximately 1-2 hours per month and an assembly to award raffle prizes at the end of the year.

Birthday Books:  Each child at Ames receives a paperback book that is signed by the principal on his/her birthday.

Book Fair:  A book fair in the gym that usually takes place for two days in February or March.  Children are able to view and purchase a variety of books spanning a number of grade levels.  Volunteers are needed to work at the book fair for an hour during the day or during the book fair’s evening event where a storyteller reads to the children.

Box Tops for Education:  A program that collects labels from various products, such as Ziplock bags and cereal.  Box Tops sends the PTA a check twice a year.  The school also collects Campbell Soup Labels. T hose are used to acquire learning aids and equipment for the school.  The collection bin is usually located right outside the library near the showcase located by the office.

Calendar:  Every family that joins the Ames PTA receives a school year calendar that has all the events for all of District 96 schools.  It quickly becomes a parents’ bible for the school year.

Cartridge Recycle Program:  Works to collect used cell phones and print cartridges for recycling to benefit worthy causes.

Donuts with Dads:  Program usually held in February or March to have students bring in their Dad or significant male model for a before-school breakfast and reading program in all grade levels.  Volunteers are needed to help set up and serve.

Family Geography:  A program that helps students appreciate all the vast places the Ames community draws from for its culture.  Children/families are encouraged to bring a snack representative of their ethnic background to share with the student body and various activities are planned to enhance ethnic appreciation throughout the classrooms and gymnasium.  Parent volunteers are needed for setup and various stations throughout the school.  Geography Night, Math Night and Science Night alternate years.  Georgraphy Night will be held during the 2009-2010 school year.

Family Math Night:  Math Night is a program held in the spring to help appreciate that math is everywhere.  Math games are held in each classroom by grade level and there will be a presentation in the Ames gym.  Parent volunteers will be needed to help with games in the classrooms.  Geography Night, Math Night and Science Night alternate years.

Fun Lunch:  Themed lunches at various times throughout the year where all children participating are eating the same thing.  Volunteers are needed for an hour to help with serving.

Grandparent’s Day:  A designated morning, usually in the fall, where grandparents come in to the school and visit the grandchild’s classroom and participate in various activities with the child and teacher.  Volunteers are needed to help with serving and directing grandparents to their grandchild’s classroom.

Gift Wrap:  A fundraiser for the school offering gift wrap and other related festive items that takes place within the first few months of school with delivery of items occurring before the holidays.  Chairperson distributes sale packets to the students at the beginning of the year.  During the sale, the committee makes announcements to the students and provides incentives to help motivate students to sell.  Also, the committee decorates the showcase outside the office with the items for sale.  When the sale is finished, the chair collects the forms and sends them to Innisbrook, the wrapping paper company.  When the wrapping paper is delivered before Thanksgiving, the committee distributes to students.  This is the most profitable fundraiser that the PTA does!

Green Wheel Days:  Designated days throughout the school year where the children are encouraged to walk to school to cultivate an appreciation for environmental awareness.  Parent volunteers are posted at various checkpoints to move the children along and enhance enthusiasm for the program.

Halloween Program:  Changes from year to year.  Usually is uniform throughout the grades each year.  The lunch hour is extended to allow children to change into costumes at lunchtime.  A Halloween parade takes place around the block of school weather permitting, or inside the gymnasium in inclement weather.  Younger siblings of school children are invited to attend.  There is usually a Halloween program and children are disbursed to their classrooms for individual activities and a snack for about 15-30 minutes.

Holiday Gift Shop:  Takes place in early December in the gymnasium and has inexpensive Holiday items for the whole family and friends available for purchase usually immediately after school.  Usually takes a great number of dedicated parents to staff all the various posts needed to make it successful.

Junior Great Books:  A grade-level book club for interested students usually held during the winter months once a week during the lunchtime.  It is taught by parent volunteers with a set curriculum designed to draw from the great works and great authors and encourages reading and discussion.  Totally volunteer both on student and teacher’s part.

Kids Art Note Cards:  An individual piece of artwork from each student is selected and transformed by a company into note cards, note pads or stickers.  Parents are made aware of the program via a flyer that goes home in folders and they can opt to purchase the goods or not.

Kindergarten Teddy Bear Picnic:  Held the day before school begins in August for new, incoming parents and students to be introduced to the Principal, PTA officers and the kindergarten teacher.

Library Volunteers:  Each class visits the library for book checkout at a set time once per week from mid-Sept. through mid-May. Each week, volunteer parents of children in grades K-3 read to their child’s class for 10 minutes.  Then, the volunteer helps students select books and reshelves the previous week’s books.  Parents of children in grades 4-5 help with book selection and reshelving during their child’s checkout time.  With multiple volunteers per class, each parent is usually needed only once every 2-4 weeks for 30 minutes at a time.  Parents who can come at other times are always needed for reshelving, book repair and shelf-reading (making sure that each book is in its proper place so children can find it).  Grandparents and babysitters are welcome, too!  There will be a library training orientation and a book-repair seminar in the Fall to welcome new volunteers and the Library Assistant is always available during checkout to provide guidance, too.  Being a library volunteer is a great way to get to know your child’s teacher and classmates!

Little Symphony:  This program provides three opportunities each year for all district students in grades 2-8 to attend professional music performances at Hauser Jr. High during the school day.  Each of the district’s five schools selects one representative to the committee, which is headed by a district music teacher.  The representatives attend the performances, then meet afterwards to provide feedback.  They also take turns providing refreshments to the performers.  Musical groups are carefully selected for their musical polish and ability to engage young learners.   Every other year, the Hauser musical is one of the three Little Symphony performances; other performances feature a rotation of classical music (like a chamber orchestra), American music (like a jazz combo) and dance and/or ethnic performers (like a klezmer or other folk music band).

Market Day:  Market Day is no longer offered thru Ames School PTA.  You can still get Market Day products (and register our school at checkout) at the Sara Lee Store on Harlem Avenue in Riverside.

Newsletter:  Also called “Ames Aims” this is a bi-monthly newsletter publication of items collected from the PTA board, members, teachers, and the principal.

Publicity:  Works with local newspapers to publicize Ames PTA activities.

Reflections:  A theme-based cultural arts competition for students coordinated by the PTA.

Room Representative:  Each classroom has two volunteer room representatives, one of whom serves as the “lead representative.”  The primary obligation of the room representative is to help their teacher throughout the school year with various activities.  These may include the Holiday party, the End-of-the-Year party, and any other activities for which the individual teacher asks for help.  The amount of assistance various in each classroom — some teachers ask for minimal help, while others may ask for more help.  For example, some teachers like parents’ help for the holiday ornament and the End-of-Year party only, while others would like parent volunteers in the classroom regularly.  Also, some teachers will expect the room rep to line up parent chaperones for field trips, and others like to ask the parents themselves.  Room reps also coordinate any collections for teacher holiday and/or end-of-year class gifts.  Finally, in the event of an emergency school closing (i.e., a snowstorm) it is the room reps’ responsibility to notify families concerning the school closing.  In that event, the room reps will receive notification of the school closure.

School Spirit Wear:  Various items of clothing available for sale with Ames’ name that can be worn anytime, but especially on School Spirit Days (usually the 3rd Friday of the month).

School Supplies:  A program offered to the parents to pre-purchase supply kits their child will need for the upcoming year.  Chairperson gets in touch with the teachers in February to revise the supply list for the next year.  This person works directly with the kit supplier, distributes the order forms, and collects them along with payment.  The purchase is made in April with the supplies delivered the last week of school.  The chairperson, committee and students help to distribute the kits to the students.  This is not a fundraiser for the school, but an extremely helpful service!

School Supply Store:  A designated area in the first floor hallway where student council students sell school supplies usually before the second bell rings.

Science Fair:  The science fair is open to students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades and is held in the spring.

Talent Show:  Students at all grade levels can put together an act and showcase their talents.  Performances take place in mid-May and are given during the school day and at night so parents and other family members can attend.  Volunteers are needed for rehearsals and performances.

Teacher Appreciation Lunch:  A luncheon on Friday of Teacher Appreciation Week. Parents and teachers are invited to participate.  Volunteers are needed for set up, serving and clean up.

Teacher Appreciation Week:  A week set apart to honor our teachers during National Teacher Appreciation Week which includes various activities school wide throughout the week.  Teacher Appreciation Week is the first full week of school in May.  Volunteers are needed to bring in goodies for the teachers’ lounge in the morning and at lunch.