PTA Meeting Minutes 10.18.16

By Katherine Novello | January 29, 2017

Campbell PTA Meeting

October 18, 2016

6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Approximate # of
Attendees:  
25

I.     Welcome and Vote:
Nathan Zee, President 

  • Nathan
    introduced himself and then asked for nominations from the floor for the
    open PTA Executive Board position VP of Communications; no nominations
    offered from the floor

  • Ms. Nesselrode
    presented the candidate, Barbara Martinez, for a vote to the group; motion
    seconded; motion to elect Barbara Martinez as new VP Communications passed
    unanimously.  

 

II.    Updates on behalf
of Kelly Krug (VP of Programming): Nathan Zee, President 

  • Activities coming up this month:

o   Crazy
Sock Spirit Day (Socktober); kids wear “crazy” socks to school on Friday,
10/28, combined with a month-long sock drive for new socks to donate to a
shelter; sock collection bin located in cafeteria; donations will be taken
through November 1st

o   Outdoor
Movie Night: scheduled for Friday, 10/21, but rain is forecasted; alternate
rain date is Friday, 10/28, and the decision whether to postpone will be made
Wednesday, so stay tuned for an update on potential weather-related
postponement; please note the differences from last years’ Movie Night: this
year it will be held outside, no pre-orders of food (food served will be:
pizza, popcorn, snacks, and drinks; family special is $13 for a whole pizza,
four drinks, and a popcorn); remember to bring blankets, chairs, etc.;
playground will be closed after dark for safety; movie will be “Hotel
Transylvania II”  

 

III.   Turtle Tube: Ms.
Nicole Johnson, 5th Grade Teacher

  • Last year
    several Campbell teachers attended a training about how to increase
    participation and get more families involved in school by expanding ways
    in which families can see what is happening in the community without
    having to be physically present at the school, initiative is called FACE: www.apsva.us/face/; website can be translated in to multiple languages to
    increase outreach

  • Campbell’s FACE
    initiative is called “Turtle Tube” https://campbell.apsva.us/campbell-turtletube/

  • First video has
    already been posted; it’s called “Growth Mindset”

  • Future videos
    will be translated into Spanish so that they will be more accessible to
    the community

  • Ms. Johnson will
    “tweet” about her videos, too

  • Ms. Johnsons presented
    a survey to the PTA members present asking what we’d be most interested in
    seeing in the Turtle Tube videos

  • Ms. Nesslerode
    highlighted that out of all APS schools, Campbell sent the largest
    delegation of teachers and staff to the training on community engagement
    (teachers from each looping grade, counselor, and specialist from both
    reading and math teams were present)

 

III.   Fundraising Updates:
Kathy Cordon, VP Fundraising

  • Fill-the-Pond Pledge
    Drive: a reminder flyer will go home again tomorrow, 10/19; remember that
    to receive incentives, you must make your pledge by 10/31

  • Not yet at our
    goal of raising $5,000

o   What
do we do with this money? Author visits, Turtle Pond renovation, Turtle Tank
rebuild, fund Field Trips, etc.

o   This
is our second largest fundraiser (largest is Wetlands Festival)

o   Pledges
can be made by cash, check, PayPal

  • Questions from
    floor

o   Q:
Can you give individual targets, such as “if every family gave X amount, we’d
reach our goal?” A: Yes, great suggestion, we will do that.

 

IV.  Treasurer’s Report:
Jenny Morris, Treasurer

  • As of 9/30,
    we’ve had $11,000 of income and $13,000 of expenses

o   Included
in income was about $1,060 of payments from Amazon so make sure to keep using that link!
We've also been collecting for spirit wear which will be paid for soon. And
we've had lots of membership dues paid.

o   Included in expenses were the pond ($9,800) and turtle tank ($1,400). Other expenses included
supplies for garden work day, fixing the bridge in the courtyard, the bunny
cage, the upcoming author visit, and other various expenses.

  • Open floor to Q
    & A:

o   Q:
Did we lose money on Yearbook last year? A: (Nathan Zee) PTA does not fund
this; it’s a school expense. (Maureen Nesselrode) Not a concern, we break even.

  • Motion to
    approve funding request $135 for reading chairs made by Ms. Drabyk and Ms.
    Ammons (18 chairs total, 9 for each class), Seconded, and Approved
    Unanimously

 

V.    Latino Moms
Report: Claudia Cuellar Ramirez, Representative

o   Over
500 families, staff, and community members attended event on 10/14

o   Group
represented Campbell ES with a handmade banner and matching t-shirts

  • During future
    Thursday morning meetings, the group would like to meet with staff to
    discuss specific topics, such as tips on how to help children improve SOL
    scores

  • Nathan Zee: we
    hope to expand this group beyond the Latino community, so that we’re
    working as one Campbell team to support our school and students

  • Maureen
    Nesselrode: Latina Mothers group volunteered on school picture day, will
    assist with apple-tasting, assembling Thursday folders, etc.

  • Meetings are
    held on Thursday mornings 7:45-8:45 am, meeting conducted in Spanish but
    Monica Castillo Burgos will be in attendance providing English
    translation; fathers are welcome

 

 

VI.  Writer’s Workshop:
Maureen Nesselrode, Principal

  • APS adopted the
    Teacher’s College Writer’s workshop as part of curriculum

  • Goal of writer’s
    workshop is to increase stamina, choice & volume

  • Structure of
    writing curriculum:

o   Mini
lessons (8-10 minutes), contains specific point on strategy

o   Students
have work in their folders

o   Students
break off to work on their writing individually

o   Adults
conference with individual students to coach them on their writing

o   Reconvene
at the end of the session and teacher debriefs the class

  • Lessons from
    Teacher’s College are scripted, but Campbell teachers deviate from scripts
    based on their students

  • Maureen
    Nesselrode walked through two examples of a workshop lesson, one from
    Kindergarten and one from the 5th Grade curriculum

o   Kindergarten:
Maureen Nesselrode read attendees a passage as if she were the teacher and we
the students; prompted us to break off into pairs to discuss what we’d write
about based on prompt, then break to work independently on writing. Stamina:
how does this lesson encourage it? Through choice; the students select topics
that are of interest to them or that they have expertise in; volume is
addressed because the students are working on creating a book rather than a
short passage. In Kindergarten, the students differentiate for themselves:
those who are at the level where they are not writing independently can draw
pictures, and those who come in to K already writing are encouraged to write at
their level.

o   5th
Grade: Maureen Nesselrode read an example of a prompt where students are asked
to make a list of two or three locations that are special to them; teacher
models her list (teacher sharing personal stories encourages students to
share)l; the next day the teacher says they should to go back to their lists,
teacher adds more things to her list and asks students to do the same; then
prompts that today they will spend time sketching a map of their special places;
teacher makes her sketch and shares a story about it; teacher asks students to
mark and “X” on their maps and to pretend that there are buried stories hidden
there, like treasure; students will refer back to their list and map as they
develop their stories; 5th graders may write multiple short stories
a day, they will select the best ones and enter them into Google Docs

  • Ms. Hill shared
    that her students are so excited to write, they shared their stories with
    another class through a mini-showcase

  • Maureen
    Nesselrode: along the way, teachers are coaching their students to improve
    by persevering and taking pride in their work; younger students have two
    adults in class during this time (reading specialist and classroom
    teacher)

  • Opened floor to
    Q & A: 

o   Q:
How long is the writer’s workshop block? A: Grades K-3= 2 hours (1 hour
reading, 1 hour writing); Grades 4-5=1.5 hours (45 mins. reading, 45 mins.
writing)

o   Q:
Does this encompass different types of writing? A: Yes. Include poetry,
informational, fiction, how-to, etc. units

 

VII. Reminders/Notices/New
Business

  • Nathan Zee:
    reminders

o   Movie
Night this Friday, 10/21 (weather permitting, rain date 10/28)

o   “Socktober”
crazy sock day and sock drive, 10/28

o   Fill-the-Pond
Pledge Drive incentives end 10/31

o   Silver
Diner Restaurant Night, 11/3

o   Bake
Sale on Election Day, 11/8

  • New Business:

o   Jessica
Haney: looking for volunteers for apple tasting during lunchtime on 11/3, look
for sign-up genius and sign up if you can help

o   Maureen
Nesselrode: If you have something thing that you want announced or promoted at
Community Meeting, the team needs lead time; they meet on Mondays, so you need
to let them know prior to their meeting when set the agenda for that week’s
Community Meeting (Community Meeting is a schoolwide meeting held on Friday
mornings at 8:05 am that celebrate learning; typically 3-4 items are showcased,
such as music demonstrations, dance performances, by groups and individual
students; all parents are welcome to attend)

 

VIII.        Closing,
Nathan Zee, President

  • Dial-In for
    meetings is not working; we’re looking to find a solution, but you must attend
    meetings in person to cast a vote (required by our bylaws)

  • We will likely
    be serving less pizza at future meetings since we routinely have too much
    left over

  • Topic to be
    discussed at next meeting: Title 1- What is it?

 

Posted in Announcements