Children may enjoy it when a guest reader presents a book to the students while the teacher tends to the needs of other children or organizational tasks to ready herself for the next lesson. Bring excitement to your vocal presentation of the book to engage the students in the moral, the content and the storyline of the book. Older children may not have a picture book session during class, but volunteer readers may assist in reading aloud a chapter from a novel.
The two most challenging subjects for elementary school students are reading and math due to the vast number of achievement levels contained in one classroom. Teachers have attempted to give students a more individualized teaching lesson by breaking up the students into smaller groups and gathering in another area of the classroom for learning centers. Volunteer to assist the teacher in facilitating a reading group that is somewhat self-sufficient so that teacher efforts can concentrate on those students who are struggling.
Classes often have holiday or seasonal celebrations during class time, but with teacher responsibilities, planning may be pushed to the back burner by teachers. Volunteer to plan and execute class parties for Valentine's Day, fall festivals, back-to-school celebrations and end-of-the-year parties by creating donation sign-up forms for parents, reminding them of the party and their obligations and ensuring that all goes well on the day of the event. Invite other parents to join in to help execute the celebration and cater to child needs.
Oftentimes, teachers are swamped with planning lessons, enforcing classroom policies and teaching the nation's youth effectively, which leaves little time for running necessary errands. Offer to play a part in your child's learning by volunteering to give the teacher a hand making photocopies of activities, taking a shift at recess or bus duty and die-cutting shapes for a decorative display. Organizing the class bulletin board, which consists of removing and replacing the decor and student project displays, may help your child's teacher tremendously.