PTA Reflections

I want to give this public school thing a good go. Kindergarten is our “trial period” when I think we will decide which way to go for our kids in the education department. I knew I needed to become involved with the PTA to get a good feel for the school, teachers, parents and staff. So when my friend from down the street was talking to me about the project she was doing — Reflections — it sounded wonderful! I signed myself up to do it with her, and it has been a fun project.  It’s also really helping me get to know the school.

So Reflections is a nationwide program that helps the kids explore their artistic side. Every year it goes along with a theme, and you can show off the theme in different categories. In Utah they are: Film, 3-D Art, Visual Arts, Photography, Dance, Literature, Music and Theatre. There is a new theme every year, and this year they have to complete this sentence….

Diversity Means….

My friend took the role of all the paperwork and jumping through all the hoops with the PTA President, front desk staff and principal. We both worked on finding the judges, setting up the gallery stroll and collecting all the projects from the kids.

I had fun doing the MARKETING for the event! I tried to make it clever and appeal to all the different ages in the elementary school (such a wide range!).

I wanted to show you what I came up with so it can maybe help you if you’re in charge of promoting Reflections one year. I just sketched the design and words for the posters, and sent it over to a wonderful graphic designer:

Graphic by Persnickety Graphics and you may NOT use it!!

As you can see, our theme was a talking dog! When my friend and I did the 8 assemblies for all the different grades, every kid — from the kindergartners to the old 6th graders — thought it was funny.

We did the assemblies by grade (wow — so much better — can’t even imagine doing them all together), and gave an introduction explaining what diversity means and what Reflections is. Then we showed a video. Let me tell you about that — it was fun to make.

I cut a piece of cardboard to look like a speech bubble and painted it with cardboard paint. I then wrote the different categories you could submit a project under (film, theatre, etc.). Then I bribed kids in the neighborhood with boxes of candy (and parent’s permission of course) to answer the question Diversity to Me Means…and a project they were planning to do in a category. I covered all 8 categories and put everything into a video. The video was very short — 4 minutes long — and had a Selena Gomez video playing softly in the background. (I know! But it got the kids’ attention).

I wish I could post the video (cause I am super proud of it), but I would have to get permission from all the parents. So as I am trying to explain…the chalkboard speech bubble opened each “scene,” which covered each category. A different kid followed with their contribution. The video began with…”Sonya Says…” Then my dog Honey would BARK (like she was talking) with the speech bubble by her mouth. Then the video ended with “Sonya Says….BARK!….Participate in Reflections” Oh my goodness. The kids all giggled at the end. They thought it was so clever. We ended the presentation by bribing the kids to help more of them want to participate in Reflections. The class with the most entries wins a Cupcake Party and the winners (there are 30 to 40 winners) get a pair of movie tickets.

Hopefully that explanation helps! The video was great. It put less stress on the assemblies because we knew the work was already done and we just had to press PLAY.

Phew, but now it is done. See I told you guys I had TOO MUCH going on this month! Running around like a crazy woman, I tell ya….

Tags: PTA Reflections

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