There are many ways for parents to stay informed and be involved at John Muir School. This brief guide describes resources and ongoing projects in order to help you be as informed and involved as you wish. Please take advantage of at least some of these to help create an informed, mutually supportive community that benefits all families.

STAYING INFORMED

Staying informed of JM activities requires pro-activity on our (the parents’) part. Here are some resources you can use to seek out information on what is coming up. Think of “4 P’s”:

1. People to talk to

• Teachers and staff, your first stop for the real scoop on what’s happening and who’s doing what

• Other parents. Reach out to one another in the spirit of inclusiveness!

• Meetings of the Parent Teacher Collective (PTC), in which all parents are invited to participate

• Classroom liaisons, parents who help relay information to/from teachers

2. Places to look

• The office (the room you enter from the courtyard/garden):

• Easels, e.g., with sign-ups for parent-teacher conferences, upcoming events, calls for volunteers, etc.

• Postings near the doorway that leads to the hallway. This is the “parents’ corner.”

• The white board above the desk as you enter on the right

• Postings on or near classroom doors

• Signs on the sidewalk outside of the school, e.g., when to buy Scrip (see below for more info)

3. Paper to read

• The John Muir School handbook

• Handouts from class. Remember to ask your child or check his/her backpack.

• Handouts about extracurricular activities on top of the kindergartners' cubicles in the office

• The school directory, so that you know how to contact other families over phone or e-mail. The information comes from the school database, so if there is an inaccuracy, please contact Noreen.

• The phone tree, which is used when the staff needs to make quick contact with all parents, for example to announce school closures due to weather. There is a phone tree for each class. The school staff activates each phone tree by calling the first parents on it, who then call the next set of parents and so on. If you cannot reach the next parent(s) on the list, please leave a message for them if possible and then call their next contacts. This will ensure that the calls continue.

4. PC’s to use

• E-mails. Please make sure that messages about the school are not caught by your spam filters. (Classroom liaisons will contact parents without e-mail.)

• The Ashland School District website is http://www.ashland.k12.or.us. Note that school closures are also announced here.

• To find John Muir’s web page, go to the school district’s website, click on “Schools” at the top of the page, then click on “John Muir School”.

• The John Muir School PTC has its own website. Go to http://www.thejohnmuirschool.com.

Please try to come into the school at least once a week so that you have a chance to say “Hi” to the staff and other parents and to see what's going on.

GETTING INVOLVED

The philosophical approach of the John Muir School encourages a partnering between parents and staff. To this end, parents are encouraged to make time to participate as much as they are able to in school activities. In this way the children can experience a cooperatively created learning environment and see parent involvement as a role model.

Below are some of the ongoing activities and projects that you may want to be aware of or even participate in. If you have an idea for a new project, for example after identifying a particular need, feel free to take the initiative. Please consult with a teacher or other staff member to scope it out. This will also avoid redundancy in case somebody else has had the same idea.

Helping in the classroom

If you have the time, this is a great way to be a part of your child’s education and to assist the teachers. How wonderful it is for your child and other children to see you present in the classroom during the day. This sends the message that we are all a part of the learning process for our children and allows the kids' a broader exposure to people from which to learn. Your unique style of communicating may be just what one child needs to understand a concept. Never underestimate the positive impact you may have on these children. Please contact your child’s teacher about opportunities in the classroom.

Musical/singing gatherings

All parents are invited to attend gatherings in the music room first thing Monday through Wednesday mornings. This is a great chance to hang out with other parents and learn some of the songs your child sings. Wednesday gatherings are longer and include sharing, where children are asked to lead the activities and singing and to share their work.

Parent Teacher Collective (PTC) meetings

These monthly meetings are open to all parents. For the convenience of the staff, they are held after school, usually on Tuesdays. Meetings include discussions of school status, new ideas, events and activities. Attendees sometimes form committees to meet particular objectives. This is a great way to stay informed and be involved. Check the “4 P’s” for announcements and for meeting agendas and minutes.

Parent nights

These are held periodically so that children can share what they’ve been working on. It’s a great way to celebrate their learning process, as well as the community at John Muir School.

Scrip

This is an easy way to support the school and reduce the need for other fundraising methods. If you shop at Shop’n Kart, you can purchase Scrip coupons to use as money there. You can also register your credit and/or debit cards that you use at other local stores. (To do this, please visit http://escrip.com.) Certain percentages of your purchases will go toward the school, depending on the store. Scrip is usually sold before and after school Tuesdays through Thursdays, and you can ask the parent who is selling the Scrip for more information.

Community garden

Created in the summer of 2008, this garden is located in the southeast corner of the Ashland Middle School grounds, between the upper soccer field and the bicycle path. Parents are invited to participate in planting, maintaining and harvesting year round, as well as distributing the bounty to families and teachers. Some garden beds are available for parents to grow crops for their own use or to share. TID water is used for irrigation.

Being green

There are several efforts afoot to help teach our children the principles and practices of environmental responsibility and sustainability. Examples include bicycling to/from school (including some outings and Lithia Park days), recycling, composting, and re-using plastic containers for lunches to decrease waste.