Tag: Safer Internet Day

Promote Safer Internet Day & Start Planning Future Membership Drives

Posted on by Ray Kinyon

by Membership Services Commission

MEMBERSHIP TIP:  HOW TO PROMOTE SAFER INTERNET USAGE

The pandemic has forced students and educators across all levels of education to rapidly adapt to online learning. Safer Internet Day is February 9th and PTAs can build awareness and support schools and families by sharing National PTA resources. Help members  BE INTERNET AWESOME!  Use the following tools to encourage your students and communities to be good digital citizens, to prevent cyberbullying, and to teach best practices for their safety as they grow up in this digital world.

Check out the Google + National PTA Workshops

YouTube Kids Digital Parenting Workshop

Learn how to set up and download the YouTube Kids app, activate the parent tools, and discover examples of unique programming available.

#ItsCoolToBeKind Workshop

National PTA and Google teamed up for National Bullying Prevention Month to share tools and resources for families to help teach kids to be safer, smart, and kind online with the Be Internet Awesome program.

Google Kids Space Workshop

As we spend more time at home, Google created this workshop to share tools for PTA parents that help manage kids’ screen time, from Family Link parental controls to finding quality content on the new Google Kids Space tablets. 

START PLANNING FUTURE MEMBERSHIP DRIVES

As we start thinking about elections and transition, remember you can still make a big impact this school year.  Because this has been such an unusual year, parents and families may have forgotten to join the PTA– February is the perfect time to send out a reminder note!

And it’s never too early to start looking ahead to next fall and your efforts to increase membership in the coming school year. Here are a couple of things you may want to consider: 

  • Evaluate what worked well for you this year and what might need some fine tuning:  Maybe there’s something that you and your team found really successful that can be used for next year or during the rest of this year. Was there something you tried that didn’t quite deliver the results you wanted? Now is a great time to evaluate.
  • Plan early: Whether you’re a returning leader of your local PTA, or a newly elected officer, it’s not too early to start thinking about the upcoming year. There will be multiple training opportunities available at the council, district, and state levels. Take advantage of these opportunities to get a jump start on next year’s membership campaign. 
  • Make a plan to reach out to everyone: Everyone belongs in PTA. Take a good hard look at the current makeup of your PTA board and members to see if there’s anyone from your school community that isn’t represented and develop a plan to reach out to those potential members.

GET EXCITED AND START PLANNING & BUDGETING FOR FOUNDERS’ DAY

If you have plans for Founders’ Day 2022– We would love to hear about them.  Please share your success on social media and tag us.  We want to celebrate with you.  If you haven’t started planning a PTA Founders’ Day event–feel free to hold your celebration later in the year.  Yes, PTA was founded on February 17, 1897, but we can celebrate all year. Take the time now to form a committee to start planning. You can even start planning for next year. 

Why PTA? We’re so glad you asked. Share this flier with your parents and community in six languages!

WE STAND FOR ALL CHILDREN! PTA is part of the fabric of the United States’ public-education system and a trusted partner to millions of parents, families, educators and community members, as it advocates for the education, welfare, health and safety of all children. PTA has been instrumental in establishing programs and services to improve children’s lives.

More from the California State PTA

FIND LOW-COST (OR FREE) INTERNET AND COMPUTERS THROUGH CETF

Get Connected ImageCalifornia State PTA has partnered with the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) to help those in need access the technology that can help their children succeed.

CETF is a non-profit organization that can connect you with a wide range of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and device providers that feature affordable computers and internet solutions, and now, they can even help connect you with internet providers offering free service (for a limited time).  Click here to read CETF’s flier in English or Spanish to get more information about how to qualify, and who to contact. Click here to visit CETF’s website to find providers in your area.

Celebrating February Holidays and Events as a Family

Posted on by CAPTA IT

By: Family Engagement Commission

It’s almost February! Get ready for a month full of important holidays and events including Black History Month, Presidents’ Day, Safer Internet Day and Valentine’s Day. Schools will be focused on these events in a variety of ways. Here are some things you can do as a family to learn more about these events and acknowledge them at home. 

  • Black History Month- February 1-March 1, 2022. The theme this year is “Black Health and Wellness”
      • Attend local events celebrating Black History Month — there are often concerts, parades, exhibits at museums, or book readings at your local library that highlight the contributions of African Americans.
      • Read books about important African Americans including Mae Jemison, Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson. We can also read about important African Americans in the field of science and medicine like Dr. Patricia Bath an ophthalmologist who has done remarkable research around cataracts and blindness (The Doctor with an Eye for Eyes: The Story of Dr. Patricia Bath), learn more about biologist Ernest Everett Just (The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just), or read about George Washington Carver (there are loads of great children’s books about his fascinating life). 
  • Safer Internet Day Celebrations – February 7-11, 2022
  • Valentine’s Day- February 14, 2022
      • Cut out a batch of paper hearts — 14 for each family member.  Each day of February leading up to Valentine’s Day write down one thing you love about each person in your family. You can either read these to each other at dinner or tape them to their bedroom door.  
      • Work together to create a family meal with heart-shaped foods. Cut your sandwiches into hearts, or make heart-shaped pizza or cookies. Not only will this be yummy, but cooking together is a great way to reinforce math skills.
  • PTA Founders’ Day- February 17, 2022
  • Presidents’ Day- February 21, 2022
      • Write a letter to the President or send them a picture your child has drawn. You can find the address at WhiteHouse.gov and sometimes you will get a response.  Here are some tips for writing your letter. 
      • Begin to memorize the order of the presidents. There are lots of fun ways to do this — there are songs with the order, videos on YouTube, or mnemonic devices to help you learn different chunks of information about our presidential leaders. Not only is this important information for our civic education, but it can help you in trivia competitions. 

As always, you can find more activities to do at home by searching the California State PTA’s Resource Library. You can search by the age of your child, around a specific topic (including but not limited to: “Activities you can do at home”, “Early Childhood” or “Family Engagement”), or just use a keyword in the search bar.