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Calvin Coolidge School
P.T.O. Minutes
January 2, 2008
www.wyckoffschools.org/coolidge/pto/pto2002/ptohome.html
The meeting was opened with the flag salute and Marni Scanlon welcomed the membership at 9:20am.
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Upcoming Events for January |
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Looking Ahead to February |
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2nd
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PTO meeting 9:15 am |
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1st
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Kids Night Grades 4 & 5 |
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9th
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Mathletes |
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6th
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PTO meeting at 9:15 am |
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10th
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5th Grade Band Concert |
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8th
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Kids Night Grades 4 & 5 |
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16th
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Hockey Game Devils vs. Islanders at Prudential Center |
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13th
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Mathletes |
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17th
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Military Bridge |
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14th
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Flower Day |
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18th
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Kids Night Grades K & 2 |
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23rd
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Mathletes |
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24th
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Military Bridge |
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25th
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Kids Night Grades 1 & 3 |
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29th
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Blood Drive for Books |
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PRESIDENT'S REPORT: MARNI SCANLON
Upcoming Meetings:
Next Board of Education Meeting is on January 21st, 8:00 pm at Eisenhower.
There is a Parent Workshop with Shelly Klein-Grades K-2 at Eisenhower on January 30th.
Coordinating Council Meeting is January 31st, at the Larkin House.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:00 pm, in the Coolidge Gym Ð Blood Drive for Books, a sign up sheet was passed around, during the meeting. If you have read the papers lately the local blood centers are in dire need of blood donations. Coolidge will receive books for each person that donates. We need a 25 person minimum to receive the books. Anyone wishing to donate blood, or have their child participate in hanging flyers and getting the word out, please contact Marni Hess, by emailing coolidgePTO@wyckoffschools.org.
Newsletter:
You should be receiving the newsletter if you have signed up. If you have not
signed up to receive it, you may do so on the Coolidge school website at http://www.wyckoffschools.org/coolidge/index.html.
Please, also sign up your spouses’ work email address as well. If you have signed up and have not received it, it may be due to it going to your bulk mail or spam folder. Please check this out before contacting us. If you need to contact us, please email Cara Goodrich at coolidgePTO@wyckoffschools.org.
Budget Awareness Committee:
A flyer has been sent home, explaining the actual facts in determining the school budget for next year. Please read it.
PLEASE REGISTER TO VOTE:
It is important that each election is well attended to represent the needs of the citizens of our town. If you are new to the community or still need to register, please go to http://www.nj.gov/oag/elections/voter-registration-application.html to download an application.
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT'S REPORT: MEGAN ALYWARD
Coolidge Directory:
Directories are still available for $3.00 each.
There are still opportunities to volunteer, please contact me if you are interested in volunteering.
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT: VALERIE STEINER AND JILL SUSSMAN
Innisbrook:
You may still participate in helping our school raise more money throughout the year by purchasing from the Innisbrook website at http://www.innisbrook.com/NewIcom/homepage.cfm our school number is 101301. Our school receives 50% profit. Chairs: We still need committee
chairs for the following committees.
THIRD PRESIDENT’S REPORT: MICHAEL ANDRULLI
Mr. Adriulli introduced several 5th grade students to read essays, on the “Perfect Gift”. The students wrote using descriptive writing. They were all very different, one student wrote that his family was his perfect gift. Other students wrote that their perfect gifts were, a scooter, a self designed house and a good friend.
Also Mr. Andriulli highly recommended the “Coolidge Cuisine Cook Book”.
TREASURER’S REPORT: NANCY ZANKI
Financial Report from November 9, - November 30, 2007 was approved by the PTO. If you would like to view the reports they will be in the PTO box in the school office.
Reimbursement:
If you apply for reimbursement, your check will be left in the PTO box in the front office.
SECRETARY’S REPORT: MARNI HESS
December minutes were circulated and approved.
When attending a PTO meeting please sign yourself in on the attendance list. The minutes from the previous month will be circulated, please initial any area that might quote you. * From now on the PTO Minutes will only be electronically posted. We will let you know through the newsletter when they are posted. Please also check the PTO WEB site.
CO-TREASURER’S REPORT: MARY ALLAIN & BERNADETTE RAGUSEO
If you cosigned any holiday merchandise that did not sell please pick it up. The Economy Shop is ending this quarter. Checks should be ready at the beginning of February. Please continue to cosign shop and donate. Also please volunteer for one of the shifts. See our website to learn more about the Economy Shop.
http://www.wyckoffschools.org/coolidge/pto/pto2002/HDIGIexp/eEconShop.html.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Playground Committee: Christina Gori & Stephanie Raccioppi
The patio has been installed and looks great. We want to still build the natural seating area and stage. This can be used during class instruction. Engraved bricks are still for sale. Forms for this are online at http://www.wyckoffschools.org/coolidge/pto/pto2002/ptohome.html scroll down the bottom of the page where you see the playground and download the pdf file. Please see Christina or Stephanie if you have any questions. We would like to place another brick order this spring. Thank you, to Horizon Landscaping for giving us a great price and doing such a professional job.
Payground Partners : Mary Coughlin
Thank you to all who volunteered for the fall. The spring sessions will be starting in April. Please let me know if you are interested in volunteering.
Theme Day: Melissa Milbank
This years' theme is “World Festival 2008”. Each classroom will be transformed into another country or culture. So far we have 19 workshops, but could always use more. Some of the workshops include India, Mexico, Costa Rico, Ireland, Sweden, Korea, Egypt, Mexico and Olympic Games. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me.
Fifth Grade Reps: Lynn Bruggemann, Jeanine Rossi & Maria Russo
We are in need of moms to serve pizza lunch. Please contact us if you are interested.
Fifth Grade Moms: We need baby pictures, pictures of your child and group photos from this year for the yearbook. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Kids Night: Anna Manfredi & Jen Manteau
We will be sending out the invitations soon. This year 4th & 5th grades Kid Night will be held at “In the Swing”.
Military Bridge: Stephanie Racioppi & Daniella Rubinetti
This event will be taking place January 17th, 2008 at the Eisenhower School. $6.00 per person. Please come and have a fun night out. There will be baskets to win and desserts to eat. You do not need to know how to play. Anybody wishing to donate a basket, bake a dessert or volunteer please contact us. Please download the flyer from our website.
Cookbook: Diane Clarke & Stacey Frenkel
We are still selling cookbooks. They are $10 each. If you have not seen them they came out beautiful. Please contact us with any questions. You can access the order form on our website at http://www.wyckoffschools.org/coolidge/pto/pto2002/forms/cuisine.htm
PRINCIPAL'S REPORT: MR. FAMULARO
Mark your calendars
January 10th- 5th grade band concert 2pm
January 15th- 2nd grade book club
January 23rd- Coffee with the Principal 9:30 am (“Mastering Mathematics”)
January 30th- Shelly Klein Parent Presentation (“Balanced Literacy”) 7pm@EMS
Thank you to the numerous parents who helped organize and coordinate the fifth grade holiday luncheon. The gymnasium looked festive and the food was delicious. Best of all, however, was the fact that the children had a wonderful time and created memories that will last a lifetime.
All parents are encouraged to attend the Shelly Klein “Balanced Literacy” workshop on January 30th at Eisenhower Middle School from 7:00-8:30pm. Shelly serves as a literacy consultant for the Wyckoff Schools, and in this presentation will discuss the changes in literacy instruction taking place in the schools. Although this workshop is geared towards parents of grades K-2, I am sure it would be a worthwhile experience for all.
All parents are encouraged to attend Board of Education meetings to be part of the discussion regarding the formation of the upcoming budget. The next BOE meeting will take place at Eisenhower Middle School at 8pm. A reminder that the School Board and Budget elections take place on April 15th and it is important to be an informed voter. Dr. Razze welcomes questions and comments regarding the school budget.
As you know, the Coolidge School theme this year is Manners Matter. Each month the staff to reinforce this theme stresses a different point of emphasis. During the month of January we will reinforce the notion that Manners Matter when there is a conflict (problem) with a classmate. During classroom discussions and lessons teachers will review positive means of conflict resolution. This theme will be integrated with Dr. Martin Luther King's message of unity and non-violent protest.
All students are to be commended for their wonderful performances during our holiday shows last month. A huge thank you goes out to Mrs. Allen and Ms. DiTursi for their talents and work with our children. Just before the break, students took part in our holiday sing-along that has become a tradition at Coolidge School. In addition to the many holiday favorites, students enjoyed singing and clapping along to our "Cougar Pride" song.
Our fourth and fifth grade students are competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Classroom level competitions have already been held with finalists advancing to the school-level final spelling bee on Friday, January 11th at 9:30 am in the Coolidge School gymnasium. Our school champion will advance to regional competitions competing against students from other towns. Congratulations and best of luck to all participants. Please note, all parents and students are encouraged to log onto www.myspellit.com for valuable spelling resources and activities.
Our next Coffee with the Principal will take place on Wednesday, January 23rd at 9:30 am in the Coolidge School Media Center. Please join Mr. Famularo and Mrs. Perry, Coolidge School Math Specialist, for an interactive discussion titled "Mastering Mathematics".
Attention Second Graders! It is not too late to sign up for the Principal's Book Club to be held on the evening of January 15th. We will be discussing the book Song Lee and the 'I Hate You' Note by Suzy Kline.
Respectfully
Submitted,
Marni Hess
Meeting Adjourned 10:22am
Attendance: 33
TEACHERS REPORTS FROM DECEMBER
December was an exciting time as the Kindergarten classes got to perform with Pre K and first grade in a wonderful holiday show. Our thanks to Mrs. Allen for teaching the classes such fun festive songs. The students continued the experience as they learned about the different December holidays and traditions. Each Kindergarten family worked on a project of decorating an oak tag “Gingerbread Person” and those creative characters brightened our hallways through the month.
In the world of phonics, the students continued to work with the vowel /a/ and creating words using the “at”, “an” and “ap” families; like mat, man, and map. A new letter person joined us, Ms. P and her Pointy Patches. The children learned about animals that live on farms and ranches since Ms. P lives on the Pointy Patch Ranch! The best part had to be when we had a Pajama Party in Ms. P’s honor which included dressing in our pajamas (teachers, too) snacking on pretzels, popcorn and hot chocolate while taking an imaginary train ride on the Polar Express! Happy New Year!
We can’t believe 2007 is coming to a close! We have a lot to celebrate. We have become great readers, writers, problem solvers and thinkers. We are looking forward to putting our best foot forward in 2008!
During our reader’s workshop we have continued making self connections and will begin making text to text connections. We continue to actively read our “just right” books and respond in our reading journals.
We have read many books during our writer’s workshop that are used as models for our own writing. This month we focused on different kinds of pattern books such as, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Have You Seen My Cat? and A House Is a House For Me. We wrote many creative pattern books of our own.
In math, we completed our chapter on subtraction strategies. We now know many different ways to add or subtract. We have been doing a great job on our math drills. We will begin answers to 10 when we get back from the break.
Lastly, we completed a unit on families in social studies. We discussed different kinds of families and how each family is special. We read many books about families and created a family graph. We completed the unit by writing about special traditions that our families do for the holidays.
The first graders wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season and a Happy New Year!
The month of December was filled with much excitement! The Second Graders enjoyed participating in the Holiday Concert. They did a wonderful job of sharing their songs and they also had fun performing with the Third Graders!
Our Science work with liquids and solids culminated in a special activity which involved the Dr. Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. After reading the story, the boys and girls created their own oobleck and then we discussed whether this mystery substance was a liquid or a solid. It was a lively debate and the experience also provided us with a way to connect literature with another subject area.
Reader’s Workshop time has been used to introduce new literature and to practice making predictions about the stories we have read. The boys and girls have seen how their comprehension skills improve when they are able to predict, confirm and revise their predictions as they read.
During our math work with money, each second grader constructed a robot made from various components. Our students went Shopping for the robot parts. They consulted a price list and had to stay within a set spending limit. Everyone quickly learned that they had to shop wisely in order to buy the parts which were needed!
January is here and to our students that means we can begin to learn cursive writing! They are eager to begin and it is great to see their enthusiasm.
We wish you all a year filled with health and happiness!
Third Grade News
Happy New Year one and all! We hope that you all experienced a much needed rest and will look to the future as the beginning of new things.
People all over the world celebrate the new year in different ways. In third grade we brought in the new year with a traditional New Year’s Punch from England. Our punch was served in a wassail bowl. Wassail is an old English word meaning “good health.” Students were allowed to ladle their own fortunes: a red cherry meant wealth, a green cherry meant happiness, an orange slice meant a surprise in the new year.
Setting goals is always a tradition of beginnings of new things. Each child will be establishing personal and academic goals for the year 2008. They will be written on “Keys to Success” templates, and displayed in our hallways to share with everyone.
A new calendar year also means reintroducing multiplication and division facts. In third grade, these facts are taught as a fact family and students will be keeping individual progress charts to monitor their growth. As always, mastery of these facts is required with automaticity and speed. Regular tests will stress the importance of staying on task to learn these facts. Substantial additional drill and practice of the facts are needed at home using the flash cards that were included in students’ September supply order.
We are also ushering the new year in with the introduction of the questioning strategy technique for reading. We are hoping to incorporate these strategies by reading My Great Aunt Arizona, Going Someplace Special, Nettie’s Trip South, and the Rag Coat. All students are now enthusiastically reading in the Reading Counts program and enjoying assessing their learning on the computer tests.
In health, our new year travels take us to the another body system entitled “The Urinary System”. Through internet sites, books and other material, students will learn why this system is important to their growth and function.
Our study of Earth Materials is coming to an end and will culminate in an assessment both in written and multiple choice form.
In Social Studies we are also coming to an end of the unit and be will assessing in the up-coming weeks.
We look forward to the beginning of all of these new things in the new year!
December was a busy month for the fourth graders! In reading we applied the strategy of Making Predictions while reading, using several short stories by Cynthia Rylant.
In the area of writing, students wrote essays about the people they admire. Our mathematicians are learning about time, data and graphs. They especially love using the Smart Board to play Stop The Clock.
In Social Studies, we learned how our local government helps the citizens of New Jersey. We also learned about the three branches of our state and national government.
Our scientists are learning about our planet Earth and the entire Solar System. We also studied the moon and its many phases.
Congratulations to the Chorus students who put on a wonderful holiday show for our school. The fourth grade teachers would like to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year!
Fifth Grade News
Happy New Year! We would like to take this time to thank you for all of the wonderful books that were donated to our classrooms by the PTO. We also appreciate the family donations that were made to our classroom libraries.
Thank you to all of the parents who made our holiday luncheon such a huge success. The food was delicious and the children had an amazing time.
At the start of the New Year, we are beginning preparations for our mission to the moon at Buehler Challenger Center on February 1st. As training for this, the fifth graders will be engaged in many teamwork activities.
We are looking forward to a bright, happy, and healthy New Year!
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