March 5th Meeting Notes

In attendance:  Kate Dodge, Heidi Bouchard, Doug Stewart, Jim Goldsmith, Kelli Brown, Barbara Galgon, Allan Monniere, Kristin Miskavage, Frank Twarog, Sally Feussner, Aaron Kimball, Ali Douglas, Kim Gordon, Alyssa Lasher.

Unified Arts

Presented by Bob Goudreau

·      A copy of the Vermont School Quality Standards was shared with the group; focusing on the Unified Arts class. Unified Arts (UA) includes, foreign language, art, music, library, physical education, media/technology, family consumer science, and health education.

 

·      Currently HCS has the following framework for UA subjects: 

o   Physical education is offered in 2 forty-minute blocks (K-8).

o   Art Class is offered for one forty-minute art block per week for all students. (K-8)

o   Foreign Language:

§  Grades K-2, students have one forty minute block per week.

§  Grades 3-4, students have two forty-minute blocks per week.

§  Grades 5-6, students have three forty-minute blocks per week.

§  Grades 7-8, students have four forty-minute blocks per week.

§  Primary grades K-5 get half a year of French and half a year of Spanish. This includes cultural education as well as language/vocabulary.

§  Grades 6-8 students elect which language they want to take; French or Spanish. When students go to CVU, they will enter directly into French 2 or Spanish 2.

o   Family Consumer Science (formerly Home Economics) is primarily for middle school students and offered in 12-week sessions.

o   Health Education is also primarily offered to middle school students.

o   Technology Education is computer based.

o   Music Class is offered twice a week in forty-minute blocks per week for all students K-6. In grades 7-8, there is not enough time in the school day to have a compulsory music class, but students often continue in chorus and band within the music program.

§  Classroom music program is teaching kids about various types of music, music notation, keyboarding.

§  Choral music and band programs are also offered, but are voluntary. These programs begin in the fifth grade.

§  Lesson times are alternated week to week to minimize the amount of time a student might miss from any one class to participate in band/chorus.

§  There is discussion happening about extending the school day to accommodate these programs.

o   There is some talk about having a separate unified arts open house or community night for students to share what they’re working on with their parents and families.  The group met this idea with positive feedback!

o   In the past there was an enrichment teacher. In the past 4 years, HCS has not had a teacher filling this position.

§  Parent volunteers have risen to the occasion with curriculum such as Four Winds to fill some of the void left by the dissolving of this teacher position.

§  Bob suggested that if PIE is interested in helping take on some of this work with staff to create bridges and be on the same page regarding needs, wishes, and priorities.

PIE Committee Updates:

·      K-2 (Primary Grades): 

o   Kindergarten is easing back into school from the February break.

o   First graders were writing about “What would you do if you were President?” and doing video presentations with their results.

o   Before break it was the 100^th day of school. Each class did projects and celebrated.

o   The kids are getting excited about composting. Before break, there was 60 pounds of landfill waste per day. Yesterday there was only 19.

·      Grades 3-5 (Intermediate Grades):

o   Third grade is studying explorers, magnets, and electricity.

o   The third grade has a volunteer who is a retired math teacher from CVU. The students enjoy his enthusiasm and support.

o   Before the vacation, all the students in third grade chose a president and made a power point presentation about them. They are learning how to do research and how to use Power Point. They have had fun sharing them with classmates.

·      Middle School:

o   Before the break, the science fair was held. It was a successful night.

o   Paul Lasher’s class has made contact will a local author Chris ____. As part of this, students were able to Skype with the host of the show Survivor (who supported the book the author wrote).

·      Fundraising Committee:

o   This weekend (March 9^th) is the PIE Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser. Thanks to the many volunteers who are already helping this event happen from behind the scenes. Details here: http://hcspiefundraising.blogspot.com/

o   There are 34 baskets and 3 Burton jackets to support the fundraising efforts at the breakfast.

o   Box Tops last round made a new record. 5,800 tops were collected! So far this year $1200 has been raised for HCS…well done!

·      Wellness Committee:

o   HCS is part of the Nutrition Education Institute (we’re one of ten schools who received training and continued support for improving nutrition and food services). As part of this, we received a mentor and many improvements have been made.

o   Composting started this week. Parent volunteers are helping children in sorting their waste into the appropriate bins. (E-mail Kelli Brown if you’re interested in helping out).

§  Currently, waste compost scraps are going to a local chicken farmer. This spring, there will be composters and food scraps will help support the garden.

o   Area schools have been identified to look at their models and to see how parts of their systems might work within HCS.

o   The school’s Wellness Policy is being re-worked and improved to help guide and support future goals and work. The policy draft will be reviewed by the nurse, administration of the SU, made available for public comment, and then approved by school board. Ideally, this would then be reviewed or incorporated into a more global policy by the SU.

o   HCS won the Fuel Up to Play 60 grant! This grant gave $1000 that will be split between nutrition (healthy snacks for all) and the physical education program (materials to support classes).

o   Applying for the Healthy US Kids Challenge at the bronze level. If this is awarded to us, HCS will get further money and nutritional support. Increased education to staff about this from the Wellness Committee was requested. Kelli will follow up on this for the next school staff meeting.

·      Staff Appreciation:

o   In May, teacher appreciation day will be celebrated the entire week.  Each day the HCS community will honor a different segment of the staff. Stay tuned for more details and requests for help in making this event a success in the near future!

Upcoming Events:

·      PANCAKE BREAKFAST  - Saturday, March 9 from 8:00-11:00am

·      March 11^th at 7 pm will be the school budget meeting. Please come, join in the conversation and be part of the process.  Reminders will go out to parents in the Viking and as an Alert Now.

PIE Meetings to be held on the first Monday of the month at 6 pm   (Next meeting April 1^st)

February 4th Meeting Notes

In attendance:  Carla Wuthrich, Heidi Bouchard, Jim Goldsmith, Ali Douglas, Kate Dodge, Sean Pelkey, Tom Darling, Barb Spaulding, Sarah Murphy, Alyssa Lasher, Bob Goudreau, Nancy Wood

Presentation: Adolescence 101

Tom Darling and Barb Spaulding

This year at HCS:

·      Middle school integrates literacy, vocabulary, and writing combined into a block called “language arts”.

·      Current 8^th graders were identified early in their academic career as a diverse group with various learning needs.  As a result, they’ve had added attention and academic tracking. 92% have met the standard for reading on this round of NECAPS…a success story of hard work by both teachers and students alike!

·      Talked about how Common Core links to curriculum and how it supports children with work/college readiness. Being able to read text for information and context are introduced.

Adolescence 101:

·      Tom and Barb shared a great hour about adolescent development on many levels (academic, physical, emotional, intellectual).

·      A PDF file will be made available on line (check the PIE page for your copy!)

PIE Committee Updates:

·      Celebrations:

o   Barb shared that middle school students have recently completed a project around the book, The Giver.

o   The sixth grade team raised $10,000 for the Penguin Plunge.  There was great participation and sense of community for the 6^th grade team… well done!

·      K-2 (Primary Grades): 

o   1st grade is doing the penguin unit.

o   Kindergarten has finished assessments and they are starting to study oceans.

·      Grades 3-5 (Intermediate Grades):

o   The Greek plays went well and ended their learning unit on Ancient Greece and myths.

o   The beginner band and choral concert went very well. Beginner band is typically 5^th graders.

·      Fundraising Committee:

o   A basket auction will be held at the pancake breakfast on Saturday, March 9^th  from 8:00-11:00am.  We need donations of maple syrup, please contact Kate Dodge if you can help: dodgeopton@gmavt.net. Look for a Sign Up Genius to volunteer to help at this event.

o   August 11^th there will be a HCS night at Centennial Field (Lake Monsters). Mark your calendars.

o   Box Tops/Labels for Education – class vs. class competition is in full swing, send in your box tops today.

o   We discussed and decided against a bake sale at Town Hall on voting day (Girl Scouts will be selling cookies).

·      Wellness Committee:

o   Composting is coming to the cafeteria!  The concept will get introduced to staff Feb 5^th.  CSWD will send representatives to talk to the kids.  In March kids will be able to recycle and compost everyday in the cafeteria.

·      Staff Appreciation:

o   The committee met today with Jeff O’Hara. The focus of the meeting was to start outlining plans for Teacher Appreciation Week (May 6-10).

o   Seeking feedback from teachers about if there is a want/need for volunteer coordination or collaboration.

Upcoming Events:

·      Tuesday, February 19^th is the science fair (upstairs in the 6-8 wing)…come check it out!

·      March 9^th is the pancake breakfast (the next PIE fundraiser). This will include a basket auction in which each classroom will sponsor a basket.

·      March 11^th is the town school budget meeting.

·      April 12 and 13 will be the school’s production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

·      May 6-10 Teacher Appreciation Week.

·      May 19^th will be the annual golf tournament.

Help Wanted:

·      Barb Spaulding could use parent help for the upcoming GeoBee Team. Ideally, the time requirement would be 2 days after school for the 4 weeks in March.  Please contact her if you are interested.

·      Approximately 3 gallons of maple syrup will be needed for the upcoming pancake breakfast; please let Kate know if anyone has maple sugaring connections.

PIE Meetings to be held on the first Monday of the month at 6 pm   (Next meeting March 4^th)

January 7th Meeting Notes

In attendance:  Jen Prue, Kate Dodge, Frank Twarog, Ali Douglas, Kim Gordon, Carla Wuthrich, Aaron Kimball, Renee Durochia, Jim Goldsmith, Keith Roberts, Sarah Murphy, Alicia Veit, Heidi Bouchard, Alyssa Lasher, Bob Goudreau.

School Board Presentation

·      Keith Roberts is a member of the HCS school board and an HCS parent.

·      The HCS school board oversees policy and establishes the budget presented to voters in March.  There are 5 board members and they work with the administrators from HCS and at CSSU.  One member of the SU (if not more) attends school board meetings along with HCS administration.

·      Budget process begins in the fall (November) for the board.   They meet twice monthly until January (at which point they have a draft budget to print and begin sharing).

·      January 27^th the budget will be finalized for this year. Meetings start at 6 pm and meet in the Wainer room (next to the library). Meetings are posted on the school’s website.

·      For the last several years, the board has utilized “budget buddies” to help review and participate in the budget making process. To be a budget buddy, you must be a Hinesburg resident and able to attend all board meetings. This year there are 5 budget buddies.

·      Anyone is welcome (and encouraged) to attend from the community.

·      A handout was shared from the budget forum (and will be posted on the website).

·      Things to look at: School Quality Standards (Dept of Ed’s standard for number of teachers per class). Links to the board’s website and at the DOE website.

·      Baseline budget is a budget that forecasts the needs and services for the school for the next year (based on the current year’s information).

·      Function Summary and Object Summary budgets shared (see handout for more information).

·      Overall town tax rates are only minimally impacted by the local level (school board, etc) and are more impacted by the state level.  The property values (collectively) in Hinesburg are closer to the appraisal rate done in 2006; which is beneficial for supporting a school budget based on the state’s tax distribution.

January 29^th at 7 pm is the final budget meeting. The more people that can come to the HCS budget meeting March 11^th at 7 pm in the gym, the better.

The process is unique in Hinesburg in that it is an individual vote and not an Australian ballot.

PIE Committee Updates:

·      Fundraising Committee:

o   The second spring disbursement of PIE funds to teachers will go out January 15^th.  $4,200 will be split between all 23 teachers (they can use the money as they see fit to support their classroom).

o   Fundraising committee would like to use PIE funds to purchase a sandwich board to help with advertising events in front of the school.  The cost is $350. Those in attendance agreed to this purchase.

o   Agreed that Staff Appreciation will buy a new Keurig machine in the near future and Jim will follow up with Deb Bisonnette about also buying a larger coffee maker for use at bigger events.

o   We are busily planning a pancake breakfast and basket raffle fundraiser. Save the date, March 9^th!

o   The Hinesburg Community Resource Center has shared that they are no longer able to fund the lunch program for the summer school program. Kate will contact Laura to find out more.

o   Current Box Top challenge is class vs.- class for a pizza party and hat day…send in those Box Tops and stay tuned for winners to be announced!

·      K-2 (Primary Grades): 

o   The second grade did “Where the Wild Things Are” which was a grand success.

o   Kindergarten has received the 5 iPads from the PIE grant.

o   Kindergarten is going to Skippy John Jones at the end of the month at the Flynn Theatre.

o   The Kindergarten teachers have published a digital wish list in order to raise money for I-Pad covers and various apps.  Digital wish list can be found on their blogs.

·      Grades 3-5 (Intermediate Grades):

o   Media unit beginning in 5^th grade.

o   January 15^th there will be multiple 4^th grade performances around the various Greek Gods.  The plays will start at 6 pm in the gym.

o   The band will have a performance at the end of the month.

·      Grades 6-8:

o   Young Writers Project is happening in middle school.   This allows same aged peers from across the state to comment on the written work done by HCS students.

o   Play practice started today for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The play is April 12 and 13^th.

·      Staff Appreciation:

o   The staff appreciation day was well received (a thank you card was passed around). Thank you again to Joy Madden (a HCS parent who works at Cynthia’s Day Spa) for donating her time to provide chair massages to teachers throughout the day.

Upcoming Events:

·      January 10^th (Thursday), Bob is hosting a community coffee hour to talk about security precautions in the wake of the school shooting in CT. There will be one 8:30-9:30 am and 6-7 pm at night in the flex space.

·      March 9^th is the date slated for the pancake breakfast (the next PIE fundraiser).

·      Jan. 14 and 29 are upcoming school budget meetings.

·      March 11^th is the school budget meeting where we vote.

·      April 12 and 13 will be the school’s production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Help Wanted:

·      Cafeteria needs help on Tuesdays in the morning chopping vegetables.

·      Pat O’Brien needs help with typing student work. pobrien@cssu.org

·      Betsy Knox (bknox@cssu.org) has a one-time project that’ll take about 2 hrs. on a Friday afternoon.  She would be able to work with/be nearby so you wouldn’t be alone doing it….

Task includes:

·      Making nice neat posters from my messy work with children

·      Creating labels on sentence strips.

·      Hanging posters on wall in my room.

·      Sorting books and returning to folders

·      Organization of materials.

PIE Meetings to be held on the first Monday of the month at 6 pm  
(Next meeting February 4^th)

December 3rd Meeting Notes

In attendance:  Kate Dodge, Frank Twarog, Doug Stewart, Carla Wuthrich, Ali Douglas, Sally Fuessner, Heidi Bouchard, Kim Gordon,  Aaron Kimball, Alicia Viet

Common Core Presentation

·       Betsy Knox and Nancy Pollack presented an overview of what the Common Core is and how this is being applied at HCS.  A Power Point will be made available and posted on the website.

The parents present discussed how valuable the 6-7pm presentation was (again) for feeling connected to the school, more knowledgable and enabled to communicate and support their children.  And discussed methods for exposing more parents to this opportunity.  "Bring a friend", "math night", etc.

·      Parent tip: when coaching your children with math (regardless of when the problem is right or wrong) ask them to prove their thinking.

·      Talked about how shared language helps generalize concepts between grade levels.  Teaching parents some of the “catch phrases” or Common Core vocabulary can help parents in talking with their children using a common language.

Grade Level Celebrations/Committee Updates:

·      K-2 (Primary Grades): 

o   2^nd grade is doing a play of Where the Wild Things Are Thursday night (12/6/12) at 6 pm.  Bake sale and donations being collected to support schools impacted by Super Storm Sandy.

·      Grades 3-5 (Intermediate Grades):

o   3^rd graders starting to work on persuasive writing (“Should kids have homework?”).  Working on Reader’s Theater; will soon be presenting their plays to kindergarten classes. This is helping them becoming aware of their audience.

o   4^th graders are getting introduced to Greek myths/Gods and are planning a play for January.  They are working on persuasive writing as well.

o   5^th grade:  Mrs. Wallace has been phasing back into school.  They are also working on condensing their research paper into a one-page paper.  King Arthur kits came home and bread was made (one loaf went home, one went back to school and shared within the community).  Loaves that came back into school went to the Food Shelf.

o   If you use Google Chrome as your web browser, it constantly updates your Flash player. If you’re getting stuck or having technical difficulties using Fast Math, try accessing it through Google Chrome.

§  Goal for 2-5^th graders is to be on Fast Math 4 times a week.

·      Grades 6-8:

o   6^th grade continues to explore the uses of technology and iPads specifically. They are able to share their work from their iPad onto the Smart Board for group sharing.

o   Science fair is starting in the initial preparations.

·      Fundraising Committee:

o   Election day bake sale brought in just over $200.

o   Book fair started Monday (and goes through Thursday).  There are still some slots available; www.SignUpGenius.com/go/8050B4CAFA7238-hcsscholastic

o   Online Book Fair link: http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/hcs2011bookfair

o   Tyson frozen products have started their own equivalent of Box Tops and we are signed up to receive them.

o   Next round of Box Tops will be class versus class; vying for a pizza party and a hat day.

·      Staff Appreciation:

o   A Staff Appreciation event is scheduled for December 17^th. Will be looking for volunteers to help staff that…stay tuned for more.

o   Working on “Star Catcher” program for teacher appreciation/recognition.  Hopefully this program will officially begin in the new year.

o   Working with Jessica Wilson on creating a school-wide database for posting and eliciting volunteer help.

Help Wanted:

·      Cafeteria needs help on Tuesdays in the morning chopping vegetables.

·      Odyssey of the Mind needs a parent volunteer to coach the team. Coach training might have passed, but if anyone is interested they need to make themselves known sooner than later.

PIE Meetings to be held on the first Monday of the month at 6 pm   (Next meeting January 7^th )