Boyden PAC Meeting Minutes

September 16, 2009

6:30-7:00 – Meet with Mr. Stanton

Meeting commenced at 7:00

PAC Co-Chairs Lori Wilson and Michele Alexander welcomed all in attendance and introduced Mrs. Judy Connor as the teacher representative.

Treasure Laura Devlin and Secretary Alex Kearns introduced themselves.

Teacher Representative – Mrs. Judy Connor, Grade 2

Kindergarten:

  • Students are making new friends and saying hello to old ones.
  • Reviewing school rules and learning their way around the building. Students went on the Gingerbread Man Hunt to acclimate them to Boyden which they greatly enjoyed.
  • Students have met all their “Specials Teachers”- Art, Music, PE, Library, etc.
  • Students have learned the Pledge of Allegiance.

Grade 1:

  • Reviewing consonants and reading stories like “The Giving Tree”, to connect to the science curriculum.
  • Math: Reviewing counting to twenty, learning new vocabulary like “more” and “fewer”, and creating and reading bars and graphs.
  • Science/Social Studies: In Science- Trees are the focus for fall, the students will pick and draw a class tree and watch how it changes throughout the seasons. In Socials Studies students are focusing on friendship and what it means to be a good friend

Grade 2:

  • ELA: Working on Iris and Water skills including short vowels, sentence structure, word blending, identifying character and setting story elements and incorporating urban and rural regions.
  • Math: Working on number sense and operations, ordering numbers from 0-100, looking a pattern on the hundred chart. We began introducing the first Number Family of the year- the 5’s. Instruction includes teaching students all the combinations of numbers which add up to 5, and the corresponding subtraction facts. Students incorporate fun and effective games to enhance their learning.
  • Science/Social Studies: In Science: Students are beginning to study, through cross-curricular connections in Scott Foseman Rdg. Street, the Forest, Space, and the Desert.
  • Other: Students are adjusting very well! We are full speed ahead into our new school year!

Grade 3:

  • ELA: We have introduced spelling pattern CVCC words with short vowels. Students continue to complete spelling sorts and have been playing “Hangmouse” on spellingcity.com on the Smartboard. We have started our centers which focus on skills for each the week and we read our first story called “Boom Town” about the California gold rush.
  • Math: Students are exploring place value through a variety of hands on activities. Each day we complete a “Math Minute” which is a warm up and spirals all of our concepts throughout the year.
  • Science/Social Studies: Some topics explored this year will include, Massachusetts, the colonies, Wampanoag’s, the Revolutionary War which will be experience through multi-sensory activities.

Grade 4:

  • ELA: Students jumped right into our first story: Mandy Sue Day. We have read the story and are working on several accompanying activities which have to do with the five senses (as Mandy Sue can not see.) We are starting off the year with a Writing Sample about our summer vacations. We have explored Genre and the 3 types of writing with our new writing program- Empowering Writers.
  • Math: We are working on a graphing unit, learning about all different kinds of graphs- barm pictographs, line graphs, line plots and stem and leaf plots.
  • Science/Social Studies: We are working on mapping skills and exploring the 5 senses which goes along with our reading story.
  • Other: Great start to the year!

Grade 5

  • ELA: Classes are learning to identify the different parts of and different types of sentences. We are also developing our vocabulary through the use of Wordly Wise. All three classes have started the year reading trade books and have worked on writing summaries to go along with the trade books. We will be next reading “In and Out of School” in the HBJ Signature Book.
  • Math: We have started the year reviewing how to read graphs and investigating how to record date on various types of graphs.
  • Social Studies: We are currently working on maps and globes. Next we will create timelines and working toward the study of early America.
  • Science: Classes will be working on the study of cells and plants. Students will begin their investigation by examining the various parts of plants and their functions.
  • WRAC: Students are writing introduction letters using research skills and reference books. .
  • Other: We had a Wonderful start to the school year and are looking forward to an exciting year in fifth grade.

Specials:

 The Reading Team has had the opportunity to read with each and every child at.

Boyden. This process made it possible to assess students and will help design the reading

support programs to strengthen our community of fluent readers.

 Music: Grades 4 &5 are looking at the connections between Music and all other school

Projects; Grade 3 just got their recorders are all learning notes B, A and G; Grade 2 will

be creating their first independent rhythm compositions and have learned songs from

Ireland and Mexico; Grade 1 started following their own instrumental parts with

xylophones and are playing games to get reacquainted with steady beat; Kindergarten is learning about the steady beat and finding their singing voices.

 Physical Education: The fire alarm process was reviewed with all students

Chairpersons Topics – Michele Alexander and Lori Wilson

 Lori Wilson gave an overview of PAC as an organization that encourages parental involvement and fundraising in order to provide supplemental activities at Boyden School. Open House is September 29th and is an opportunity to see your child’s classroom and meet teachers that interact with your child on a daily basis. PAC will have a presence that evening and will be supporting fundraising efforts through the sale of mums, True Town Wear Apparel and Humble Pies.

 This year’s fundraising highlights will include the direct donation campaign, SCRIPTS

and events like the Spaghetti Dinner and Fun Run, Lisa Hull Portraits, and the Scholastic

Book Fair, etc.

 May Minutes were approved.

 Treasurer Report - Budget was reviewed and approved. Laure Devlin reviewed last year’s fundraising efforts and benefits. As a result of last years fundraising new sound fields were approved for all classrooms. Sound field technology has shown to benefit learning by equally distributing teacher’s voice throughout the classroom.

Government Affairs

 Joanne Mulligan gave updates from the last school committee meeting where it was reported that all schools had successful openings. Updates regarding ongoing school committee activities, meetings and other important information can be found on the Walpole Schools Website or by visiting Boyden School Home Page.

Docent

 Lori Morrier reviewed the role of Docent in the classroom. Students learn about art and art concepts through the school docents in the classroom or on field trips. Volunteers are need for this program. Volunteers meet once per month and the times are flexible to meet the needs of the volunteers. Teachers and students greatly enjoy and appreciate the activities supported by Docents. Some of the past activities have included: Learning about sculpture and mediums, field trips to Decordova Museum and the MFA, discovering the Old Masters, Artists and their subject matter.

Principal’s Talk – Mr. Michael Stanton, Principal

  • Thanked all in attendance for the great turnout.
  • Thanked parents and teachers for the smooth start to the school year.
  • Reported on the various new staff at Boyden school
  • Reported class size in each of the grades and reported that Boyden has increased enrollment and has a total of 470 students currently
  • MCAS results have been published and are available at Boston.com and the DOE website. Boyden students progressed in some areas and he and the teachers are looking at areas to gain improvements.
  • Boyden Website: Updates, Newsletters, Lunch Menus and other helpful information is posted at in an effort to cut down on paper being sent home.
  • Monthly Assembly: 1st school assembly is Friday September 18th. This assembly will welcome students back and teachers will be performing skits to address the issue of bullying. Throughout the year, each student will have the opportunity to present to peers and teachers, beginning in Kindergarten.
  • Construction Update: Walpole received federal funding to build new sidewalks. This will impact school grounds, updates will be provided as they become available.
  • Playground: The school has grown as such maintenance and improvements such as repainting of hard top and capping of playground poles. Mulch is also needed for additional safety.

Meeting closed at 8:40 p.m.