Paradise Canyon
Elementary School
A California Distinguished School

PTA Volunteer
Handbook
2008-2009

Volunteer Handbook 2008-2009
Welcome Letter | Committee Chairs | Classroom Volunteer Opportunities | Fundraising | Other | PTA Top Ten

Room Representative | Activity Center | Art | Computer | Library | Music | P.E. | Jr Great Books

The staff, students and parents of Paradise Canyon Elementary School are committed to working together to ensure that each student reaches his or her intellectual, social, ethical, emotional and physical potential.

Volunteer Health Testing Requirements

The La Canada School District requires that all volunteers who work directly with students must have a tuberculosis test (Mantoux Skin Test) every four years. Please contact your personal physician. Once the test is complete please file your results with our Health Clerk, Mrs. Dunlop.

Visitor/Volunteer Check-In

All visitors and volunteers are required to sign-in and out and wear a “Visitor” or “Volunteer” sticker while on campus. The logbook is kept in the school office. This book will assist the office staff in locating you on campus should the need arise. We also use the information to report the number of volunteer hours to the National PTA.

Welcome Letter From Maureen Borland, PTA President

Dear Parents, 
It is my pleasure to welcome you to our school. As current PTA President and a parent, I encourage you to become involved – I can assure you it is a tremendously rewarding experience!

As you may know, in Spring 2004 Paradise Canyon Elementary School was recognized as a “ California Distinguished School.” Many factors contributed to this honor: outstanding teachers, dedicated staff, amazing students, and an exceptional level of parental commitment and involvement. Over the years, the staff and community volunteers of PCY have developed a strong partnership with the goal of providing an outstanding educational program for our children. I invite you to join the partnership! 

This handbook briefly describes many of the volunteer opportunities at Paradise Canyon Elementary. Parents, grandparents, and our community are invited to participate.

Signups for most of the opportunities listed in this handbook occur the morning of the first day of school. They begin at 7:45 AM in the lunch shelter area, and will be available until after the PTA Meeting ends. If you are unable to sign up on the first day of school, please feel free to call the contact person listed below or in the Master Calendar. There will also be additional volunteer opportunities directly related to classroom involvement presented by your child’s teacher on Back-to-School Night.

This year we are pleased to announce the launch of our new website at www.pcypta.org. It is our hope that this will serve as yet another means of communication for the PTA to distribute information about our school and even more ways to get involved.

I look forward to a wonderful year at PCY, meeting our new families, and working with all our volunteers throughout the year. Please feel free to call me or Caren Colburn, VP of Volunteers, should you have any questions.
Maureen Borland
PCY PTA President 2005 – 2007
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Volunteer Committee Chairs
phone and email addresses are located in student directory

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PTA Sponsored Classroom Volunteer Opportunities

Room Representative
Room representatives are an important link between the classroom teachers and parents. The room rep will have a special opportunity to aid the teacher and promote communication between school and home. While each teacher’s needs are unique, each class will require the room rep’s assistance in coordinating their “Back-To-School Night,” ensuring that all PTA volunteers slots are filled and that all of the volunteers are reminded throughout the year of any upcoming responsibilities (ie. Disaster Prep Committee, Medieval Faire Booth Chair, Silent Auction Class Baskets Coordinator, etc.).
Contact: Ashley Gish, VP Room Reps
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Activity Center
This program was recently introduced by the PTA as an alternative for children that "don't like recess"---for whatever reason. Volunteers 'hang' at the Activity Center with the kids (3rd - 6th graders) and provide activities like board games, Legos, dry erase boards, etc. during noon recess (12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.). About twice a month, we also offer the ever-popular 'Craft Friday'. As a volunteer, you will supervise this area for (1) hour, either one day a week or every other week, and attend an orientation at the beginning of the school year. This is a perfect fit if you have signed up for other volunteer jobs that 'piggyback' onto noon recess and/or you have someone you would like to partner up with. The kids love this program and you will find it an enriching experience that is well worth your while.
Contact: Gayle Penrod, Niloufar Khankhanian
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Art Docent Program
You can help to make the arts thrive at PCY! If you have an appreciation for the visual arts and want to pass that along to our children, then volunteer to be an Art Docent. The goal of the program is to have children observe well known works of art, think about what they see and be able to freely express their opinions based on their observations. Then, the children are directed in the creation of a “masterpiece” of their own, reinforcing what they have learned. Information files on each artist, reproductions of their work and suggestions for related art lessons are available for reference. Working with the teacher, the docents coordinate lessons throughout the year.
Contact: Trina Mor or Karen Nichols
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Computer Lab Volunteer
Help prepare children for the 21 st Century: volunteer in the computer lab! Assist the children with their computer assignments and printing projects. NO COMPUTER EXPERIENCE IS REQUIRED-you can learn with your children. Time commitment is approximately 30-45 minutes per week during your child’s computer lab time. You may alternate weeks with other volunteers.
Contact: Sherise MacGregor & Scott Gordon
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Library Volunteer
Our library volunteers assist the librarian, Mrs. Knight, by checking books in and out, shelving books, and helping students locate books and other materials. Occasionally the volunteers will type labels and cards, mend books and collect resource books to fill teacher requests. Many parents elect to work during the time their child’s classroom visits the library. Time commitment averages 30-45 minutes per week, but could also be done alternating weeks with other volunteers.
Contact: Samantha Heer
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Music Docent
You can help the works of the great masters come to life for our students. The goal of the program is to expose our children to various composers and their works and discuss the evolution of the various genres of music. Information files on each composer, compilations of their works and guidllines for lessons are available for reference. Working with the teacher, the docents coordinate lessons throughout the year.
Contact: Sue Perry or Laura Campobasso (Dragna)
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P.E. Volunteer
P.E. classes are held daily for each grade level. During this time, three to four instructors are responsible for supervising many children. Parents can improve this ratio by volunteering and supervising a group of children in an activity or by helping the P.E. teacher do one-on-one testing of skills.
Contact: Pam Hermann
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Junior Great Books Program-“The Idea Exchange”
Folk tales and fables from diverse cultures, classic short stories and science fiction are among the literary nuggets that we read and discuss with the students in this program. As trained leaders working in pairs, we ask interpretive questions to guide the discussion and encourage students to share their ideas freely in discussion. This “shared inquiry” stimulates and renews our love of authentic literature as seen through the eyes of all of our children. Volunteers take a 2-day training course in the fall. Leaders hold a weekly hour discussion over four weeks with each class. Contact: Lois Rosen or Linda Kimball
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 Fundraising Volunteer Opportunities

 Gift Wrap – September
Our annual Gift-wrap fundraiser is certainly a favorite and PCY receives 45% of the sales. This has become PCY's second biggest fundraiser of the year. Red Apple Morley offers many gifts and delicious treats, as well as beautiful designs to wrap it in. There are great prizes and every child who participates has a chance to win! Volunteers are needed for preparing the student packets in September, staffing when orders are picked up and also distributing cookie orders in November.
Contact: Lenza Peterson
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Harvest Festival - October
Every fall the PTA sponsors a Pumpkin Patch and Harvest Festival. Kids enjoy crafts, face painting, hair painting, games, picking out pumpkins and dancing. Volunteers are needed to help coordinate crafts, oversee the food booth, assist with activities during the event and make posters and scarecrows.
Contact: Cissy Belcher
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 Book Fair – December
Get a jump on your holiday shopping at Mrs. Nelson’s Book Faire. You will find books for kids of all ages. Lend a hand by staffing the store, re-stocking or cashiering. You can even purchase books from your teacher’s “wish list”, all conveniently located in our own cafeteria. Volunteers are needed for staffing throughout the day.
Contact: Samantha Heer
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Medieval Faire, Silent Auction & Fun Run - May
The Medieval Faire is the PTA’s biggest fundraiser. Every May, children from PCY and the community enjoy rides, booths, food and entertainment at this anticipated event. Each class is responsible for setting up, staffing and tearing down their booth. A Booth Chairperson is needed from each class to oversee their class booth. Each family is expected to volunteer an hour per child manning the booths. In addition, the Medieval Faire Committee needs help with soliciting prizes, coordinating the food booth, publicizing the event and planning the booths. In addition to all of the fun activities for the kids, we also have a phenomenal Silent Auction. The Silent Auction committee needs your help and you don’t have to solicit a thing (unless you would like to!). They need help wrapping baskets, stuffing envelopes, picking-up items, writing press releases, cashiering and creating bid sheets. Each class donates a theme basket to the event and all families are encouraged to participate by donating an item or a cash donation. One Class Basket Coordinator is needed per class to help coordinate the collection of items, purchase items with the cash donations and wrap everything up. The day begins with a Family Fun Run, where parents and children walk, run or jog in a 1 or 5k race. The Medieval Faire is a day not to be missed! Volunteers ensure its success.

Contact: We are still looking for a committee chair to coordinate these events.
Please contact Mary Beth Eckerle at 952-0435 if you are interested.
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 Passive Fundraising - Continual
Throughout the year there are many ways to support the PTA without even lifting a finger. Register your debit card, credit card, gas card or department store card with Escrip. Every time you shop PCY gets a percentage back. Apply for a Target Visa and designate Paradise Canyon as your school of choice. There are many ways you can help. Watch the newsletter throughout the year for other opportunities to participate in this painless fundraising effort.
Contact: Lori Moody (Haxton) 
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Pizza Night – Quarterly
Take a night off from cooking and dine in or take out from Round Table Pizza. PCY gets 10% of all nightly sales. If you dine in your meal will be served by the featured grade level teachers. See “Cougar Tracks” for announcement of specific dates, paired grade levels and servers.
Contact: Jenny Sukys
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Other Volunteer Opportunities for the PTA

School Improvement/Site Council
School Improvement (S.I.) is a state-sponsored program that enables us to evaluate our school’s strengths and weaknesses throughout the curriculum. The S.I. program is administered through our School Site Council. The Site Council is made up of parents, teachers and administrators who meet each month to review the curriculum and are responsible for allocating certain state funds. No background in education is needed. All you need is a natural curiosity and an interest in what your children are learning and why. If you only have a limited amount of time to volunteer, the few hours each month spent serving on Site Council would be a great use of your time and provide valuable insight into your child’s education. Meetings are held the 4 th Tuesday of every month after school.
Contact: Diana Schulz
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Back-to-School Picnic
What a great way to get involved immediately with the PTA! Shortly after school begins all of the families look forward to coming to our annual Back-to-School Picnic. The committee needs help buying items in advance of the event, decorating, helping serve food and cleaning up. This year’s Picnic will feature a FREE movie at the first ever PCY Drive-In and an “Outdoor Marketplace”, where PCY parents and local vendors will pedal their wears and donate a portion of their proceeds to PCY PTA. This event is a great way to meet lots of new friends and show your enthusiasm for Paradise Canyon.
Contact: Caren Colburn or Ashley Gish 
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Done-in-a-Day Projects
The perfect opportunity for parents and students to assist in general facility maintenance issues that arise during the year, while enjoying some male bonding! We need dads (or moms and grandparents) who enjoy carpentry, assembling items, digging ditches, moving large items, and other “honey-do list” tasks.
Contact: Andrea Gorman or Suzanne Hughes
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What Does PTA Do All Day? If you were a member you would know…  
TOP TEN REASONS TO JOIN PCY PTA
10. Paradise Canyon PTA ROCKS, we have A LOT of fun while doing great work for OUR kids.
9. PCY PTA is as big as the sum of its parts; we grow stronger with every new member. Our goal is two memberships per household !
8. While we have great ideas, we are always looking for a better one! Do YOU have an idea to share?
7. As part of PTA I am an advocate for my child every day. Who is YOUR child’s advocate?
6. You will hear it here first – PTA is the best way to know what is happening and what is being planned for your child’s education.
5. Adding your voice makes us heard louder.
4. Joining is simple; there is no heavy lifting and no strings attached – be as active as your schedule allows.
3. We’ve been around for over 100 years and we’ve NEVER had a recall election.
2. We’re not your mother’s PTA!
1. If you don’t speak for your child, someone else will.   If you would like to see how much PCY PTA does, please come to one of our PTA monthly meetings. We hope to see you there!  
Questions? call Jill Sayre at 952-5495

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