When you volunteer in your child's kindy classroom...

Sunflower7777

are you working in the classroom with the teacher & kids, or off in the copy room doing busy/paper work for the teacher? 

 I volunteer about 2-3 times per month and every time it has been in the copy room, making copies, cutting paper projects out, etc, etc. At the beginning of the year, the teacher said they use parent volunteers that way because kindergarteners are getting acclimated to school and being independent, and if mom or dad is present in the classroom, it can throw the child off. 

Today I got my first chance to help out in the classroom for about an hour, so I guess the kids are getting acclimated enough.

The reason made sense to me, but it did make me wonder how other schools use parent volunteers. What has your experience been? 

superslug

Our school doesn't allow parents in the actual classroom, we have a parent work room. If you volunteer in the library or in the art or science class you are around the students, though. Most of the time the kids ignore me. DS will come give me a quick hug when he's done checking his book out, but he doesn't linger.

DandelionMom

Once a week I help with math games (in the classroom, small rotating groups), I also volunteer in the library during the kindergarten class' weekly time slot, and I've done the stuffing folders/laminating/copying/cutting type jobs too.  And I'm the room mom so I organize other volunteers and the parties/special events. 

DevonPow

DS is not in Kindergarten yet, but his pre-K is in the same school and the entire school (PreK-8) has the same rules. Parents do not volunteer in the classroom....you can help teachers outside of the classroom, work in the library, office, etc., but not in the actual classroom. The only exceptions are when a parent with some type of special skill/talent comes into the classroom to give a presentation or help run a lesson.

wildfloweragain

As a teacher, (not kindy, 2nd grade) I have parents who do both.  Most parents will do either, some prefer one over the other. It's great when I can have both, but sometimes what we need is to have support in the copying, cutting etc. department because that helps free us up to do more things with actual children and plan better lessons or focus on specific interventions to help a child who needs it. 

 

This year I have very few volunteers.  I had to choose between with the kids for a math game day, or the more clerical work.  We wouldn't have been able to have math game day if we didn't have at least 2 parents per week at that time, so that's what I chose.

Glendi428

I've always been in the classroom... our teacher runs a variety of work stations at different tables each morning, many of which require an adult's supervision and assistance..she dispatches the 2-3 volunteers she gets every day to cover one of the stations. It's so interesting to see the range of student skills in one classroom... makes me appreciate our teachers' efforts way more.

beanzer

I help every other week while the kids do centers.

summerbrideDC

I'm his class room every Friday & it's been a combination of both.  Friday is their non-academic day, when they work in "centers" doing gardening, cooking, arts & textiles.  I work w/ the teacher who does the gardening. Most of the time I am working w/ her (last week I helped the kids plant seeds in cups to take home), but often I end up running an errand to the hardware store (we were making stepping stones a few weeks ago & kept running out of mortar).  Every once in awhile I help with photocopying & other paper work type things. 

I also help monitor both morning and lunch recess when I'm working in the class room.   

The first  month of school there were no volunteers in the class room to help kids acclimate; after that, its a mandatory part of being in this school. 

hopanka

Im always in the classroom....correcting homework, during violin lessons, centers...etc.

birdnkaz

I volunteer once a week since the beginning of school (August), working in the classroom. I assist with 'center' time where the kids rotate tables working on various projects as well as collect the homework, staple, cut, glue, etc. Last week was actually the first time I had been to the copy room for any reason! The kids have been used to having parents volunteering since Day 1 and are fine with it. The volunteer hours are from 8:15 a.m. until 10:30 a.m., so only part of the day. My daughter's class has 25 kids in it (welcome to CA) and her teacher gets 1 assistant for 1 hour a day, during center time. Some classrooms have 2 or 3 parents at a time! Her school figures the more help, the better.

happy_momma

I don't volunteer that frequently due to work. When I have, it's been for a special activity - like for Thanksgiving, I went in and helped make cranberry sauce, I volunteered to help with field day, etc.

Next week I'm signed up to do something with reading groups.  From what I hear, there is a combination at our school - they definitely need help with copying, filing, etc. but they also use volunteers for the literacy block when students rotate through different stations/activities.