PIE
October 3, 2011
- Grade Level and Administration Check-Ins
· Administration Update:
o Viking newsletter has been offered on a weekly basis. Recently Jeff proposed going to an every-other week publication, which has met with mixed responses.
o Steve discussed the benefit of having it weekly to keep announcements and events posted on a regular basis.
o Keeping to the first page, announcements, and then new announcements (to keep the length far less than 15 pages!)
o Question about the overall participation level (use) of Viking.
o Suggestion of updated website that you can sign on via a subscription to get daily updates.
o Wanting to keep options open to having opportunities for students to write articles and to become more interactive
o Grade level updates, sports updates, extracurricular activities are things people would like to read about in the Viking
o Wondered about the potential of getting a college communications intern to help get these ideas organized and to initiate a format and develop it
· K-2 Level updates:
o Kim Gordon and Alyssa Lasher introduced themselves as the grade level rep.
o Diane Barber and Sue Hoeppner are developing a math website http://hcskindergartenmath.blogspot.com/ Stay tuned for more!
o K and 1st grades had a visit from the fire department this past week.
o 1st grade’s themes are community helpers and continuing on teaching on “how to develop being a reader” (and reading coach) and they are studying insects/bugs. Writing samples and posters were passed around to share with the group.
o Preparing for first visits from Four Winds..so talking about what it means to be a scientist.
o 2nd grade is studying Hinesburg long ago (Looking for volunteers to come and talk to the children about the history of Hinesburg).
· 3-5 Grade Level updates:
o Gr. 5 has gone to the Audubon Center for Ecology
o Gr. 5 has gone to the Maritime Musuem, Mount Independence & Fort Ticonderoga for the Revolutionary War
o Gr. 3-5 went to Stowe to see Bully Be Gone musical performance
o 3rd grade is starting to learn about Native Americans.
o Curriculum night was last week for 3rd grade parents to walk through the year’s plan and how things will shift in a “straight grade” versus a “looped grade levels”.
o 5th grade is no longer staying with an individual teacher and now switching between the 3 teachers throughout the day.
o 3rd, 4th, 5th grades are preparing for NECAPS next week.
· 6-8 and Unified Arts update
o 6th graders worked with the student teacher from China about her country and their culture.
o 7th -8th grades are preparing for NECAPS and doing additional assessments
o Team building field trips were done in both 7th and 8th grades
o VCAT (Vermont Kids Against Tobacco) had its first meeting last week.
o Grades 7-8 will have fitness testing next week.
o Library asked to announce that they are looking for volunteer sewers to repair stuffed animals. Contact Corinna Stanley if you’re wanting to help.
o Gina talked to Steve about the potential of hosting a parenting group based on coaching parents through. Students have divided education as part of health class. A parent group to further supporting teaching to their kids about these topics has happened in the past. This has now been divided into “boy world” and “girl world”.
- School House Saving Program
· Margaret Spivack and Mrs. Branch spoke about the program sponsored by the National Bank of Middlebury.
· Last year Mrs. Barber’s and Mrs. Branch’s classrooms piloted this program with parent volunteers supporting the process.
· Would like to open this to grades k-3 this year, and ideally the entire school in the future.
· This is a school initiative supported through the Bank of Middlebury, so needs support from parents.
· When money is deposited (adults help children count money and fill out a pre-printed form and account numbers are never revealed at school) children’s receive small tokens/prizes for their participation/deposit.
· The hope for this year would be to have 1 banking day for the lower grades and 1 banking day for the older kids. (If this is opened to the entire school).
· Margaret would be the coordinator for volunteers and help to set a schedule.
· Teachers may be asked to participate. This would involve getting paperwork to parents and allowing the class time for children to do their banking. There is a potential to make the banking day “office hours” available before school.
· At the end of the year, each grade may be able to tour the bank for a field trip to see where their money goes.
· Jeff asked Margaret to make a pitch at the next staff meeting to present the program, talk about what this could look like, and get feedback from the teachers before implementing the program.
- Open House:
· October 13th is the Open House 6pm -7pm (dinner starts at 5 pm)
· Harvest dinner provided (by donation to support the playground fund raising) and then the school is open for children/parents to meet and greet the teachers.
· A PIE table has been hosted in the past; all PIE members should wear (or buy) their PIE t-shirt that night to make themselves visible.
· Kelli shared the
o Vegetable Pot Pies made with vegetables donated by Hinesburg farmers
o Parents are being sought 8-10:30 on October 12th
o Shelburne Apples are allowing apples to be picked Oct 10 and 11th. $9 per bushel to make apple desserts for the Open House. PIE will reimburse those who pick. Contact Kelli if you plan to pick them for more information and how/when to get the apples to school to Deb.
o Elisabeth, Jen, Kate, Lindsay, Kelli, Steve, Maria, and Ali have all volunteered to help clear tables the night of the Open House (please wear/buy your PIE t-shirt)
o Volunteers should be there right when the doors open.
o Deb Bisonnette is making dinner. Kelli will double check with Deb to make sure that she has adequate staffing to serve and clean dishes.
o Kelli will help finalize the details for volunteers. E-mail Kelli if you are interested in helping.
- NECAP
- · State assessment 3-5 math, 6-8 reading/writing are happening next week.
- · Healthy snacks and rest have been demonstrated to show improved results on testing.
- · Middle school team is organizing snacks to be provided on the 11th, 12th, 13th of October
- · Looking for parents to help distribute snacks during the testing day.
- · Third and Fourth grades have arranged snacks in-house.
- · Trying to get more healthy snacks available to kids during testing (more apples, less donuts).
- · If parents of these children can e-mail and ask if they can help, it would be appreciated.
- Mini Fund raising group:
· Kim has created a one-page document to outline how the school can make money through box tops programs, etc. Kim will send out this document to those on the PIE list-serve, please contact her if you’d like this information. It is hoped that after review and collaboration, a final draft will be shared with the entire HCS community.
- Safe Routes to School:
- New sign for cross walk has been received.
- Walking school bus is now back…check Viking for details
- Some conversation held about how to support kids walking to school from Lyman Meadows
- 12 kids now live at Lyman Meadows; so planning a safe route (before the snow flies) would be greatly appreciated.
- Crosswalks have to be sidewalk to sidewalk; this has historically been the difficulty with getting a crosswalk in place for those coming to school south of the school on Route 116.
- Volunteer and Staff Appreciation:
- Ali shared that the sub-committee for Staff Appreciation met last week. The hopes for the immediate future is to coordinate a monthly pie raffle for staff, create a teacher-friendly volunteer connection source (bulletin board, website link, volunteer data base, etc), and to have some kind of sweet treat at all staff in-service days.
- Golf Tournament:
- Despite being a cold and near-rainy weather day, the tournament went off without a hitch!
- 46 golfers participated, raising over $3200 for the playground!
- Thanks to all the sponsors, golfers, and volunteers who participated.
- Looking forward to hosting another tournament in the future.
- Accessing raised funds:
- A process needs to be established very soon to talk about distributing funds raised.
- Kelli shared that Deb Bisonette asked for $200 for sending staff to a workshop of nutrition.
- After the PIE meeting ended, the fund raising sub-committee met and approved the $200 grant for Deb’s staff. They will be looking at how to create a process (form, set expectations for fund use, and distribution) to present to the group in the near future.
- Action Items: (To be done before the next PIE meeting)
· Kelli: Will confirm with Deb about help needed at Open House. Those interested in helping at the Open House should contact Kelli Brown.
· PIE T-shirts: PIE t-shirts (as modeled at the Ice Cream Social) are available for $12 in the main office. Those who volunteer (or are wanting to do so in the future) are encouraged to add a PIE t-shirt to their wardrobes as soon as possible!
· Margaret: Will connect with Jeff O’Hara about when she can pitch the school-banking program at a staff meeting. Those interested in volunteering should contact Margaret Spivack.
PIE Meetings to be held on the first Monday of the month at 6 pm
(Next meeting November 7th)
PIE roles & volunteers
K-2 representation:
Parent: Kim Gordon
Staff: Alyssa Lasher
Grades 3-5 representation:
Parent Carla Wuthrich and Renee Durochia
Staff: Joyce Wright
Grades 6-8 representation:
Parent: Pam Mathews and Patti Drew
Staff: Steve Hyde
Co-Chairs: Jen Prue and Staff (to me named later)
Facilitator: Carla Wuthrich
Treasurer: Heather Way
Communication/PR: Kate Dodge, Sue Hopeener, Kim Gordon
Secretary: Ali Douglas
HCS School Board representative: TBA
Unified Arts Representative: TBA
Administration Representative: Bob/Jeff
K-4 Play: Joy O’Neil and Kate Peterson
Staff Appreciation: Ali Douglas, Sue Hoeppner, Jamie Cudney
Funds Planning: Kim Gordon, Calen King, Alyssa Lasher, Jaime Cuden, Alesia Depot
Process Improvement Team (PIT Crew): Patti Drew, Jen Prue, Ali Douglas
