Grandparents Day at school

[lillygator]

does the school do things for Mother's and Father's Day at the school as well?

 

[smfritz03]

does the school do things for Mother's and Father's Day at the school as well?

Not for Mothers/Fathers Day since Fathers Day is after school. Instead mid- year they do a lunch w/ parents. And then they have a breakfast w/ the parents another time. Not sure what that entails since this is first year w/ the PTO on the actual planning of things. I know I don't want to plan those! lol

 

[RadioNate]

I hate grandparents day too. My parents live 1200 miles away and my inlaws live more than 2500 miles away. So they aren't coming. Like a PP we have no relatives or special friends around. I generally would keep DS home from school that day.

That said, I really like the assembly idea. Why not do a play or something for the grandparents to watch. Then they aren't pal-ing around with a kid or sitting with one at lunch and it isn't so obvious who is left out.

If you only have 200 kids it shouldn't be a huge issue to do a k-2 program in the morning and a 3-5 program in the afternoon.

 

[Tink888]

We never had a Grandparent's Day at my sons' elementary school. It got to the point where the teachers frowned on having parents in the classrooms during holiday parties because you always had the same parents and they worried about kids who parents weren't (or couldn't be there) feeling bad.

However, I did participate in one when I was in 2nd grade (1976) and it remains one of my favorite elementary school memories.

Ours was done by grade. Grandparents came in the afternoon and the students put on a presentation about the bi-centennial. Afterwards we went to the cafeteria with our grandparents and had refreshments. At the end our grandparents could take us home with them. It was such an honor for me to have my Grandma come to my school and meet my teachers and friends.

I love the prior suggestion of bingo. Easy to play and everyone loves it. Also the kids sending out homemade invitations is a great idea. Refreshments as opposed to lunch is probably much easier logistically. I don't like the idea of the book fair being part of it as it just makes people feel obligated to stop by and buy books to fundraise which isn't what the day is supposed to be about. Maybe just mention that it's there if they would like to check it out but not feel obligated to make a purchase.

 

[aprilgail2]

I am very thankful that our school system does not do this. We briefly lived in an area that did, and we ended up checking our child out of school during this celebration, or whatever it was so as not to have hurt feelings or feeling left out. Many grandparents do not live in the area, or choose not to attend, etc.
There are many things to do in school and I feel that this one is a stretch. Good luck with this.

I agree! I would have hated this as a kid- my last grandparent died when I was 5- it would just have reminded me that I had no grandparents!

It got to the point where the teachers frowned on having parents in the classrooms during holiday parties because you always had the same parents and they worried about kids who parents weren't (or couldn't be there) feeling bad.

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Our schools do not let parents attend the class parties- the only parents there are the 2 class parents, no one else is permitted in the classrooms.

 

[Mkrop]

My kids' school is K-8, they do Grandparent's Day every year in January. It is in the afternoon. And many GPs have multiple kids in different grades. One Grandma had 6 kids to walk around with bc both of her sons had kids at the school.

We start out with an assembly where the kids sing songs. Then the bell rings and A-K go tour the classrooms, where the kids have special stuff like pictures and letters to give the GPs and attend the book fair. M-Z go to the cafeteria for cookies and lemonade. Then the bell rings and they switch.

Some GPs dues to mobility issues chose to stay in either the cafeteria or the gym.

Children could bring anyone special, many had aunts/uncles with them. We had parish memebers there to step in, but most kids just went with their best friend and the GPs were fine with it, the more the merrier. Most kids loved it bc they didnt have to do school work

My friend tried to get them not to have the book fair at the same time, and there was a huge uproar from the GPs and parents. The GPs loved buying the kids a book, she was the only one to complain, so the book fair has stayed.