THE PTA NEEDS YOU

You do not need an art background to come on board.

Soul of a tinkerer? You’re welcome too!

https://www.overlandartdept.com/

Art Docents and Art Class Volunteers

An Art Docent is a parent volunteer who comes up with lessons and teaches them in the classroom. You are not alone: we have dozens of lessons and ideas you can tap into. The Art Docent communicates with the teacher (topics to the curriculum, ideas, etc.), organizes and procures the supplies, runs the lesson and cleans up.

Art Class Volunteers assist the art teacher during their child’s class time by setting up materials, helping students with the lesson, and preparing the room for the next class.

Speak with your Room Parents or teacher if interested in becoming an Art Docent or Art Class Volunteer for your child’s classroom.

The Art Committee
The Art Committee is comprised of Art Docents, Art Class Volunteers, and parents who support our children’s education in the Visual Arts. They create and share lesson plans, manage budgets and resources, and with our art teacher, identify a theme for our annual Art Show. The Art Committee runs an amazing student Art Show each year guided by a theme the Art Docents interpret with the children. This is an exciting opportunity for creativity galore and a wonderful event that brings our entire school community together to appreciate the artistic growth and talent of our students.

Supporting Square One Art

You surely have seeing these custom-made water bottles, or these personalized tiles!? Well, they come from Square One Art. In September, students draw something they like under the guidance of their teacher, parent or Art Docent. This drawing is collected by the PTA and sent to Square One Art Company. Parents can then enjoy precious keepsakes featuring their child(ren)’s artwork year after year: key chains, mugs, notebooks, etc. Square One Art Company donates a % of each transaction to Overland. These funds are key to purchase Art Supplies and support enrichment programs.

Interested in helping with the Overland Art programs or have questions?

Contact your room parent, our Lead Art Docent, or the PTA.

We are #BetterTogether

If Time is a rare supply in your life, there are still ways you can help our Eagles by squeezing in a few minutes here and there. Once a year or once a week, anything you can give helps and makes your kids happy & proud!

Here are some things you can do in about 30 minutes or less:

In the morning:

–Set-up or break-down the weekly SCRIP and Gear tables or monthly PTA tent

–Sell SCRIP cards or Overland Gear

–Display signs for upcoming programs

–Fill in at the Drop-off lane

Any time during the day:

–Update and decorate the Bulletin Boards

–Set-up for school events

–Lost & Found collection and organization

–Read with a student in our library through the Magic of Reading program

–Make copies of documents for PTA meetings, events, and assemblies

From Home:

Communication

–Coordinate your classroom communication

–Set-up Signup Genius forms

–Coordinate Career Day communication with speakers

–Place hospitality orders

With your kiddos

–Help your kiddos write and/or draw stories to contribute to Soaring High

–Help your kiddos clip or scan Box Tops

Research

–Find ideas for Assemblies

–Find ideas for programs and events that are in line with the PTA’s mission

–Find ideas for community service and charitable giving we can do on-campus

–Find a local restaurant for Family Fun Nights

eContribution

–Help with eNews and Website

–Help with the student newspaper Soaring High

–Help with the Yearbook

There are many ways to be involved and even a little bit goes a very long way. Contact the PTA today so we can get you started. #BetterTogether

The PTA organizes numerous events throughout the year. Large and small. For students. For families. For the entire Overland community.

Events cannot happen without volunteers. Unless otherwise noted, contact the PTA or stop by the monthly Friday PTA Tent to find out how you can support an event or join a planning committee.

Welcome Back Picnic (August)

The annual picnic welcomes everyone back to school: new and returning families. Grab a blanket, pack a snack, and join the festivities at the park. Contact the PTA to lend a helping hand.

Red Ribbon Week (October)

Red Ribbon Week is an annual national program to educate our youth about drug prevention. Visit the Red Ribbon Campaign to learn more about the organization and this year’s theme. Your ideas and your help are precious. Join our team of volunteers and teachers to bring this year’s campaign to Overland.

STEAM Day

A whole school day dedicated to all things Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) is a wonderful and wonder-full day for Overland students and their families. Ideas and volunteers for this fun day of learning are always welcome! This year’s STEAM Day timing is TBD but when we get STEAM Day up and running, we’ll need many volunteers at every grade level to identify vendors, recruit donated resources, collaborate on curriculum, communicate with teachers and families, purchase and organize supplies, design and print materials, assist in the classroom, and much more.

Contact Lindsay if you want to help out!

Career Day

Career Day is an event inviting parents, or friends of Overland, to speak to our 4th and 5th graders about their career and job. We are looking for about 10 speakers. If you have an occupation you think can interest children between 9 and 12 years old and can speak in front of a young crowd, or if you know someone who does, Contact Lindsay.

Art Show (March/April)

The annual student Art Show is held in conjunction with Overland’s Open House. Organized by our Art Committee and team of volunteers, families spend their evening strolling the Overland campus all while taking in the amazing creative and artistic talents of our students. Helping hands are needed for hospitality, displaying signs and posters, hanging art, and taking down displays. Contact our Lead Art Docent.

Teacher’s Brunch (Monthly)

Every month parents pull together to host a brunch in honor of their grade level teachers. A different grade is scheduled each month, and parents provide food and themed decor specifically honoring their teachers. It’s a wonderful way to show our teachers and staff appreciation and how much we support them. For more information contact your Room Parents or Grade Lead.

Assemblies (Quarterly)

Throughout the year, PTA coordinates assemblies for our children and parents free of charge. Past events have featured cyber safety workshops, cultural dance performances and musical events. For suggestions or information on how you can help, contact your Overland PTA.

Family Fun Night (Monthly)

Picture this: You are at a restaurant enjoying a nice dinner with your family and other Overland families. No need to worry about making dinner for that evening. And you are raising funds to benefit Overland at the same time! It’s definitely a win-win situation. This is what Family Fun Nights are all about. Stay tuned for upcoming Family Fun Nights!

Help us find a restaurant that would do a fundraising evening or join the Family Fun Nights team. The more the merrier!

You are a tech fan? Edit videos? You make video games? Or you play videogames?

You create websites?

Code for your Company or NASA?

You can:

Volunteer to assist in Computer Lab during your child’s class. Contact your Room Parents or teacher.

Edit photos, create videos, provide sound, and design content, graphics and more for our:

— Yearbook

— eNews

— PTA website and store

— School directory and domains

— Student assemblies and performances

— Parent presentations

— And many other PTA programs and events

Contact our PTA with your interests, talents, or ideas and we will point you in the right direction!

Are you: A Financial Advisor? An Accountant? Or simply related to the Leprechaun?
If you know how to convert 1 to 3 and more, if you can sell anything (not your kiddos though), come and help us!

Sell SCRIP

SCRIP is fundraising while you shop. Here’s how it works: a family will buy a SCRIP gift card through our school’s SCRIP program. They’ll pay the full-face value but Overland will earn an immediate rebate percentage. Visit the Giving Page to learn more about how it works.

Join our SCRIP gift card sales team at the weekly Friday morning table or jump in during the “busy seasons” (winter holidays, teacher appreciation week, and end-of-year). Interested in a behind-the-scenes type of role? Help us collect teacher and staff wish-lists, work with the SCRIP inventory, or set-up the sales table.

Contact our SCRIP team.

Sell Gear

Gear sales are a major source of income for the PTA and fund many of our student and community programs. Join the Gear team and help with procurement, inventory management, or design. Free on Friday mornings during drop-off? Join the Gear sales team.

Contact our Gear Team to learn more about how you can help.

Cut those boxes!

Although Box Tops has gone digital, the PTA continues to collect clipped Box Top tabs from Overland families and friends. Learn more here. A volunteer is responsible for mailing the donated tabs to Box Tops on behalf of Overland.

If interested in managing this money-maker, contact the PTA.

Grants, Donations, and Other Charitable Programs

There are many grant opportunities out there, and there are many businesses that want to support community schools through donations, discounts or other charitable programs (like the Ralphs Rewards and Amazon Services programs). We need help finding them, applying for them, advertising them, and/or running them.

Contact our VP of Ways & Means to get started.

Just a few minutes of your morning goes a long way.

8am to 8:10 AM

If you know how to open and close car doors, if you can say: Hi! Good morning! Buenos Dias! こんにちはBonjour! Hallo! Buongiorno! or any other language.

If you can help kids getting out of a car safely, and if you can’t volunteer more than a few minutes here and there, the Drop Off Lane is for you.

Each classroom is responsible for staffing the Drop Off Lane on Putney one week of the school year, and the schedules are communicated and coordinated through your Room Parents. That being said, we are always in need of extra hands during those last ten minutes before the final bell.

Contact Eric or simply show up, step in and start opening some doors if you see the car line is long!

Remember: the goal is to get our kids into school safely.

It can be overwhelming to be the Newbie, remember?

So, we narrowed it down to keep everyone’s cool.

New Eagles

The PTA created a team of volunteers who focus on transitioning our new students and families to Overland. They communicate with parents to keep them in-the-know, give tours to interested families, collaborate with Grade Leads, and facilitate programs specifically geared toward our newbies. Interested in joining our welcoming team or have some ideas? Contact our VP of New Eagles.

Host Program

To welcome new families to our wonderful school, the PTA established the “Host Family Program”.

Sweet!

Become a friendly ambassador to our new families. Help ease the transition by sharing information and answering questions over a coffee/tea-chat at the PTA tent, over emails or a friendly phone call.

• Teacher Meet & Greet for TK and Kinder families
• TK/Kinder Summer Picnic
• New Student Orientation for Grades 1-5
• PTA Tents on the first Friday of the month
• PTA Meetings on the third Thursday of the month
• Back To School Nights
• Kinder Connection Meetings

Sign-up to be (or to receive) a Host today by contacting our Host Family Coordinator, Katie.

Food is not allowed on campus. So how come foodies are welcome?!

Well people eat, it’s a fact, and lots of events require food.

If you are a baker-killer, a chef, a healthy diet guru, or can add some items to your grocery list, you can support these events:

Hospitality Committee

Nearly every event we organize has a hospitality component. Sometimes it’s just coffee, water or snacks. Other times its catered meals, pizza orders, bake sales or food trucks.

Many hands make light work. Join our Hospitality Committee to stay informed about our needs and opportunities to help.

Teacher and Staff Appreciation Meals

Every month parents pull together to host a Teacher Appreciation Brunch in honor of their grade level teachers. Beginning in September, and organized by Grade Leads, a different grade is recognized each month and parents provide food and décor. The PTA also organizes a Staff Appreciation Brunch at the end of the school year to recognize the many people working in and out of the classroom to help our students and the Overland community. There are other days throughout the year, like on Back to School Night and Open House, when teachers and staff must be on-campus for longer hours so the PTA tries to provide a hot dinner.

Hosting a meal is a beautiful way to show our teachers and staff how much we support them. To help with an appreciation meal, please contact contact us.

Fall Food/Toy Drives

Giving back to the community and those less fortunate is an important lesson we can bestow on our children. Overland is proud to partner with a few organizations that help out those in need, usually around the holidays. For more information, contact Yvonne

For more information contact Yvonne.

Green Hands? Hopefully not literally!

Gardening

If you love gardening, if you’re ecofriendly, if you like working outside, if you nurture a passion for the science of plants, or would like to promote healthy eating, add your green thumb to ours…or FIND it with the help of our treasure trove of lesson plans and of our supportive and collaborative team.

Classroom Gardening occurs bi-weekly and is led by a team of volunteers. Can’t make it to Gardening class but have a few extra minutes during drop-off or pick-up? Offer to water your classroom garden bed.

To learn more about being a Gardening volunteer for your child’s class or to help our Gardening team in other ways, please contact the Gardening Chairman, Hilah.

Green Team

The Overland Green Team is a parent-student organization committed to increasing environmental awareness and reducing school waste. The Green Team agenda includes Gardening as an enrichment program to the school curriculum and a Parent Committee that oversees several awareness activities. We believe that by helping our kids growing their classroom garden bed and by teaching them the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, we educate them on all the ways our natural world is important to our lives and encourage their community responsibility.

The Green Team plans and implements committee meetings, communicates its initiatives and efforts on their bulletin board, works with staff to coordinate awards assemblies and video presentations, collaborates with the Overland science teacher, seeks outside assistance from local colleges, universities and businesses, and organizes student and community programs to coincide with “green holidays” such as World Water Day and Earth Day.

To help with any green initiatives, plan our school celebration for Earth Day, suggest ideas, and facilitate Overland becoming the number one Eco Friendly LAUSD school,

Contact Green Team.

Exploring Eagles

Exploring Eagles is Overland’s literary magazine featuring interviews, stories, book or movie reviews, jokes, cartoons, comics, artwork, or anything printable by Overland students of all grades. Encourage your child to become an Exploring Eagles staffer today and have his or her work featured in upcoming issues of Exploring Eagles!

We are looking for a new parent lead to head up ‘Soaring Eagles’ and get this exciting literary opportunity back up and running. Contact the PTA Presidents for more information.

eNews

Let parents know weekly about Overland’s hot news: events coming up, To-do-list, etc. If you’d like to contribute, contact Chanel. Note that PTA Tuesday eNews are sent to parents who are registered in the School Directory.

Yearbook

The yearbook is one of the highlights of the end of year activities. It regroups the precious key school grade-level memories. Whether you have an eye for layout and page design or you are the parent, the “grade-level” memory keeper, who is always snapping pictures at various events… we can use your help! Join our committee and be a part of the process. Contact our PTA President.

PTA Website

We can always use the help of talented copywriters, or developers! Contact Justin.

Calling all book lovers!
There’s no wonder why Overland is always ranking amongst the top 10 highest-performing LAUSD schools in Common Core English. Overlanders LOVE reading!
Help and nurture this passion:

Magic of Reading

Our beloved Magic of Reading Program is a volunteer reading program where adults from our community partner with students for a half hour each week to foster a love of reading. This program happens within the school day and requires volunteers to give a weekly 30-minute commitment throughout the school year. We have many returning volunteers, but we would love to recruit some new folks as well. Parents, grandparents, neighbors, all are welcome! Note that because this volunteer program involves 1-on-1 time with students, all volunteers must be fingerprinted with LAUSD in addition to the standard school volunteer clearance requirements. Contact Stephanie Fraticelli, RSP Teacher, if you are interested.

Assist in the Library

The Overland Library is an active place to visit! Our library houses an extensive collection of books for stimulating the curious minds of our students and fueling their imaginations. The generous support of our parents in purchasing Special Occasion Books each year sees that our collection continues to grow, remain updated and offer the most popular titles to our students. Participating to monthly book clubs coupled with the importance our community places in supporting our library finds Overland joyously “Raising Readers.”

To sign up to be help at your child’s class library time, contact your room parents or teacher.

To assist our Librarian at other times during the school day or to help with Library programs such as Read-a-thon, Books on Parade, Book Club, book swaps, author visits and more, contact the PTA.

Have a knack for science? Maybe you are a scientist? Or perhaps even just wanted to become one?

We’ve got some opportunities for you:

STEAM Day

A whole school day dedicated to all things Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) is a wonderful and wonder-full day for Overland students and their families. Ideas and volunteers for this fun day of learning are always welcome! We need many volunteers at every grade level to identify vendors, recruit donated resources, collaborate on curriculum, communicate with teachers and families, purchase and organize supplies, design and print materials, assist in the classroom, and much more. Contact Lindsay.

Science Classroom Volunteer

Volunteer to assist in the Science Lab. Contact your Room Parents or your Teacher.