Room Parent Meeting Minutes

2/6/26, Google Meet

Auction Project Check-in

Auction projects are underway. Due date is March 13th.

  • Camassia auction project looking for resource: if anyone has experience applying gold leaf, please contact Amy, lemur.amychen@gmail.com
  • Feel free to contact Mulberry room parent Andrew, andrewcoltrin@gmail.com, as a resource for your crafts
  • Luke proposed the idea of room parents starting a chat on Honeycomb to share photos/ideas/resources for auction projects

In the future I will send a meeting agenda so room parents know if they need to attend or if they can opt out. This meeting was simply a check in with no new information being disseminated. Check-in meetings are optional and that will be made clear in the future.

1/9/26, In-Person – Auction Projects

Winter Solstice De-Brief

Generally the winter solstice went smoothly with a couple of notes for next year:

  • Mulberry toddlers transitioned well when parents left, no crying.
  • Camassia got pretty crowded due to having 5 projects which kept the students in longer and other students came in before they were done so it felt extra busy. 3 projects max?
  • Trillium reported a very calm atmosphere around one sewing project that took a little longer and allowed children to sit and focus.

Auction Projects Due March 13th

Kat and Ashlee, co-chairs for the Gala and Auction, joined us for an overview of the auction projects and gave us some helpful tips and pointers with photos. If you weren’t at the meeting please take a look at Kat’s helpful notes and plans for parent viewing at the parent happy hour in April prior to the Gala.

  • Auction projects are due March 13th.
  • Please email your auction project ideas and/or questions to Kat and Ashlee at gala@sunstonemontessori.org
  • Each classroom has a reimbursable budget of $150. Save your receipts and turn them into the office with a reimbursement form. Any admin member can give you a reimbursement form.
  • Connect with your Guide soon, if you haven’t already, to get their input prior to planning a project and to set dates to come into the classroom to work with the children if needed.
  • Gala and Auction is at Castaway on May 2nd, 5:30-10:00pm.
  • Theme is Speakeasy Soiree – 1920’s era
  • Tickets are selling fast. Goal is 200 people. They’ve already sold 130 and need to leave space for staff. Purchase tickets now or soon.

Staff Appreciation

Honeybee has joined the team of Butterfly and Trillium to provide a staff appreciation Brunch in February.

Staff appreciation months can be found on the room parents page (Password: Roomparentsrock). What has been done or proposed has been added.

The staff never tires of having a spread of food available to them. It really makes their day in fact, so when in doubt about what to do for staff appreciation, stick with a potluck (themed or not).

Room Parents organize staff appreciation and ask parents to bring items to the office the morning of. Morning of, room parents set up the items in the office and come back around drop off time to clean up the remainder, put leftovers in fridge, and make sure any dishes get back to their owners.

To Do List

  • Please email your auction project ideas and/or questions to Kat and Ashlee at gala@sunstonemontessori.org just so we make sure there are no duplicates.
  • Please plug the Gala Tickets and the Silent Journey and Discovery on January 23&24 in your next communication to your parents.

Next Meeting Feb 6th at noon on Google Meet. Link in calendar invite or below:

10-3-25, Google Meet(s)

Technical Difficulties – Use Google Meet Link in Calendar Invite

Apparently the Google Meet link in the calendar invite was different than the meeting link on the Room Parent Page and Emails. So we had two separate meetings. Thank you all for pressing ahead and organizing yourselves. Please use the calendar invite link for all future online meetings. Thanks.

Auction Projects Due March 13th

  • Auction projects are due March 13th. They need to be completely finished, framed, lacquered, dried, etc. and to Kat no later than March 13th.

Winter Solstice: Dec 19

  • Discussing Winter Solstice crafting options for Toddler Classrooms & Hawthorn Room
  • In the past Toddler classrooms have had parents drop off child by 8:30 a.m. and then open the doors for parents to join for crafting from 9-9:45 a.m. When the parents leave it has caused a lot of distress for many of the Toddlers and causes a huge disruption for the day with meltdowns, difficulty napping, etc.
  • Feedback in Monica’s Google Meet is that Toddler parents had a difficult time seeing how hard it is on their children when they leave and would prefer not to come at all and let their child have a normal day.
  • Caitlin Sweeney will be discussing this with the Guides next Tuesday and I will update you as soon as we have a clear direction. Hawthorn classroom may not follow the same schedule as the Woodstock campus.
  • If any other Toddler room parents have feedback on this, please email Monica before Tuesday.

Next Meeting Friday, November 7

Our next meeting is in person at Woodstock in the Green House. Solstice Craft Supplies Will Be Available. We have a lot of craft supplies for you all to use. There will be ample time at next months meeting to browse and choose. If anyone is not able to attend next months meeting and would like to look at the craft supplies before then, please email me. You are welcome to come over anytime.

Upcoming Calendar

  • Oct 3-5: Family Camping Trip @ Milo McIver State Park
  • Oct 6-8: Upper Elementary Science Camp @ Camp Gray
  • Oct 8: Children’s House Parent Ed – Montessori in the Home from Dawn to Dusk, Details & RSVP
  • Oct 10: NO SCHOOL – In-Service & Professional Development Day
  • Oct 13: NO SCHOOL – Indigenous Peoples’ Day
  • Oct 14: School Photo Day @ Woodstock for Elementary & Staff
  • Oct 15: School Photo Day @ Woodstock for Toddler & Children’s House
  • Oct 16: School Photo Day @ Milwaukie for All Students & Staff
  • Oct 20: Staff Appreciation @ Milwaukie
  • Oct 23: Children’s House Parent/Child Classroom Sharing, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
  • Oct 29: Elementary Conferences @ Woodstock – School in Session as Usual
  • Oct 30: Conferences – NO SCHOOL for Woodstock Children’s House or Elementary Classrooms – All Toddler Classrooms & Milwaukie Classrooms in Session as Usual
  • Oct 31: Conferences – NO SCHOOL, All Programs Closed

Classroom Community Gatherings

  • First Thursdays: Lower Elementary Coffee at Heart, 8:30 a.m.
  • Fridays Erol Heights Park: Lower Elementary Standing Playdate, 3:30 p.m.
  • Oct 11: Hawthorn Community Gathering @ Dolan Creek Farm Pumpkin Patch, 10:30 a.m.
  • Oct 17: Camassia Community Dinner, 5:00 p.m. (Location TBD)
  • Oct 24: Trillium Community Halloween Craft Night @ Hey! Happy Makers Studio, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
  • Oct 25: Hummingbird Community Gathering, 10:00 a.m. (Location TBD)
  • Nov 16: Camassia/Trillium Playdate, 1:30-3:30 p.m. (Location TBD)

9-5-25 Kick-Off Meeting, Google Meet

Thank you so much for showing up online for our kick-off meeting. We had 100% attendance, which was both energizing and encouraging. I was genuinely touched to hear your reasons for stepping into the room parent role—your belief in what Sunstone stands for and your willingness to support it is truly heartening. It may sound a little cheesy, but Sunstone really is stronger because of your engagement, your attention, and the community you help us build. It means so much.

A special thank you to Allie and David for your tech support, and please know I’m open to any and all tips for coming across as at least semi-normal online! For those of us who don’t spend much time on Zoom or Google Meet, it can feel like a bit of an energy abyss without the usual physical feedback. If there’s any commonly known etiquette or tricks for making virtual meetings feel more natural, I’d love to hear them. Since our room parent group is all about fostering community, I’d really like our online meetings to reflect that same spirit as much as possible—and your ideas will help.

Here are a few updates from our meeting:

  • We confirmed monthly meetings (both online and in person) for First Fridays, as well as the Staff Appreciation dates. You can find all of these on the Room Parent Page (PASSWORD: Roomparentsrock).
  • Amy shared links to invite parents to Honeycomb—thank you, Amy! These are already being sent out, and I’ve also added them to the Room Parent Page for easy access when new families join.
  • Luke provided a link and QR code for the camping trip, which is now shared in Communications and on Honeycomb.

And finally, I’m excited to welcome a new room parent since our meeting—Jessica Raschio, mom to Rory in the Mahonia room in Milwaukie. We are still looking for a second parent to partner with Jessica, but in the meantime, I encourage the Milwaukie room parents to connect with her so you can all support one another.

That’s all for now! Our next meeting will be Thursday, October 3rd at noon on Google Meet.