PTO Meeting Minutes-10/20/16
Officers present: Amy Pfingston, Erin Randall, Berit Sorenson, Julie Moore, Maria Brewer, Liz Kelly
Faculty present: Mrs. Thornton, Ms. Connolly
Previous Meeting’s minutes were approved.
Principal’s Report:
(Report was given by Mrs. Thornton, as Mrs. Killion was not present at meeting.)
PARCC Testing: Prescott did very well and is designated as a Level 1 school. The test scores improved as follows from 2015-2016:
o Grade 3 ELA from 72%-91%
o Grade 4 ELA remained at 83%-It was noted that the test at grade 4 is particularly challenging
o Grade 5 ELA from 74%-91%
o Grade 3 Math from 78%-98%
o Grade 4 Math from 65%-83%
o Grade 5 Math from 40%-75%
Mrs. Thornton spoke about the wonderful reading and writing activities the kids take part in each day. They are challenged and enjoy all the hard work they do.
It was also mentioned that the new Envision math program seems to be having a positive effect on test scores. The program is rigorous and students receive approximately 75 minutes of math instruction every day, 60 minutes being uninterrupted time.
The Prescott outperformed the District and the State and were the only school in Norwood to do online testing in grades 3-5.
On the Science MCAS from 2015-2016 Grade 5 improved from 50% to 61%. (Grade 5 is the only grade that takes the Science MCAS.)
This year’s test will be a combination of PARCC and MCAS. The testing window is typically from April to May.
School Council: There is a vacancy for a parent on School Council. The School Council helps to develop the School Improvement Plan. It’s comprised of parents, teachers and community members, as well as Mrs. Killion. If anyone’s interested they should e-mail Mrs. Killion.
NPA TV and Ernie Boch Visit: On October 28th, NPA TV will be at the Prescott to film for a new TV series that will showcase each of the elementary schools in Norwood. The series will do stories about what makes each of the elementary schools special. Fifth graders will be able to go onto the TV truck during the visit. It was noted that NPA TV provides a great many programs for the students of Norwood and were nominated by the NCTA for a Community service award. On the same day Ernie Boch will visit the Prescott to deliver science books he has purchased for the Norwood Schools. He purchased books for all the schools, but since he is a former Prescott student, he wanted to make a personal appearance here.
Picture Day: Picture Day was very successful. Sibling pictures were taken last week but will be sent home separate from the regular picture packages. Instructions will be sent home about how to order these sibling pictures.
October is Anti-Bullying Awareness Month: Prescott kicked off the month with a Walk-At-School Day where everyone wore blue. The kids have been watching Anti-Bullying videos during lunch time, students and teachers have signed pledges against bullying, and kids have been encouraged to make new friends and not to be bystanders if someone is being bullied. There is also a focus on being kind-the theme for “Always an All-Star” this month is kindness. Each grade has different activities they’ve been taking part in this month:
Grade 1 read two books called Did You Fill a Bucket? and Enemy Pie.
Grade 2 has been working on being “Bucket Fillers” (kind) rather than “Bucket Dippers” (unkind).
Grade 3 did a “Wrinkled Heart” activity showing that once you wrinkle a paper heart you can never get those wrinkles out so you need to be careful with your words.
Grades 4 and 5 have been reading books with anti-bullying themes and discussing them during Open Circle.
Mrs. Miller has been focusing on Cyber-Bullying in Library.
Mix-It-Up Lunch Day will be on October 25th and each table will have a Mystery Box. Students will try to guess character traits based on clues in the boxes. Parent volunteers will be solicited to help with this activity by helping to facilitate discussions. Orange Leaf has donated $1.00 coupons which will be given out when kids are caught being kind. Maura Belanger, fifth grade teacher, heads the Anti-Bullying initiatives at the Prescott School.
Approvals Needed:
After School Sports Scholarships: $120.00 was requested from Joe Conti to fund 2 children who can’t afford payment for this program. (Approved)
Playground Swings: First and Second Grade baby swings are broken. There was a quote of $560 to fix these. A suggestion was made to replace 2 of the baby swings with regular-sized swings. Since these swings were originally put in by the Reen family it was suggested that perhaps they could be notified of our intentions. $560 was approved by PTO members as long as Mrs. Killion okays this plan. A quote was also received for 6 swings to be put in on the third-fifth grade playground which was $10,000. This quote was from O’Brien and Sons who put in the original playground. It was questioned whether students would use these. Somebody suggested maybe a tire swing would be fun. The third-fifth grade teachers will be asked what they thought the kids might like. Vandalism of the playground at night was also discussed. Since the school is not close to a main road it’s difficult to monitor this problem. Custodians are at work until 9:30 but after that it was suggested that maybe a motion activated light could be installed, or fake security cameras.
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Treasurer’s Report-Berit Sorenson:
Many checks have been written for deposits for Enrichment expenses. Berit is currently working on adding more line items to the budget report to make it easier to understand. The Book Fair at Open House was successful-we did $4,700 in sales this year as compared to $4,000 last year. The profit was $916-slightly less than usual as we took $500 in Scholastic Dollars to purchase books for the school, so less cash was received. A second, smaller Book Fair will be held in the spring. Holding a second fair will get us extra incentives from Scholastic Books.
Enrichment Report-Maria Brewer:
Upcoming programs:
Wednesday October 26-Ill Style and Peace-ties in with Anti-Bullying Month-Old school Hip-Hop blended with modern music and skits in between.
Brain Challenge-Trivia Game-Kids will learn about voting and branches of government.
December 8th-Indian Dance Troupe-Chhandika
January-Ms. Money-a free program for first and second graders
Mad Science-during Math and Science Night (No date set yet)
Rich Sobol Author Visit-3 sessions during the day
Prismatic-Spring Theme
New England Aquarium Whale Day-the whole school will participate
Regina Sisk will be stepping down after this year so Maria will need someone to help her. If someone’s interested it would be good to shadow Maria and Regina this year. The enrichment grant has been submitted for the year.
Fundraising Report: Erin Randall:
Scheduled Fundraisers:
*Humble Pies-October-Deb Fitzsimmons. The final date for MCM orders is Friday October 21st. As of now it doesn’t look like we’ll make as much money as we did last year.
*Bricks-Ongoing-ends Dec. 1
*Prescott/Norwood Items-November 14-December 2-Paula Flanagan
(Zip-Up Fleece, Duffle Bags, Chair-in-a-Bag, Picnic Blanket, Can Cooler, Hats, Visors, Umbrellas, Champion Sweatshirts, Long-Sleeve T-Shirts, Lounge Pants) Some of these items will be labeled with Prescott, some with Norwood-items are from Printmaster, a Norwood company. A link will be put on Facebook so others can order these items as well. Sale will begin 11/14 and end 12/2 for a 12/16 delivery.
*Parents Night Out-Bowling Night (No date yet) It was noted that 5th grade may be doing a bowling night as a fundraiser, so that needs to be looked into.
*Teacher Flowers-March-Flyers will go out in February for delivery first day of spring. Families may buy bouquets of flowers for teachers and other staff-Willett has done this fundraiser in the past and made almost $1000. Flowers are given at cost by Ed Hickey.
*Calendar Fundraiser is being run by Katie Button and will be a March Madness theme.
*Color Fun Run- will be postponed until June 11th as a culminating activity after Family Fun Day. This decision was made after only 40-50 kids signed up for the activity.
*Family Fun Day-June 11th-expecting this to be a great fundraiser
*Restaurant Fundraisers will take place monthly throughout the year, run by Katie Button.
*Fifth Grade Election Day Bake Sale (For fifth grade expenses)
*Box Tops-these will be collected throughout the year-run by Harriet Bletzer. In order to encourage kids to bring in Box Tops, it was discussed that a goal or target will be set and if the goal is reached students will receive a special activity such as extra recess or a 30 minute dance party.
Upcoming Events:
Halloween Party: Third grade parents are running this event and expect to stay well-within the $200 budget. Many items are being used from PTO closet. There will be cupcake decorating, chocolate dipped apples, pillowcase decorating, crafts, Witches Hat Ring Toss, Mummy Wrap, Jack-O-Lantern Toss. Black lights are going to be set up in a classroom for some of these games. Many volunteers have signed up to help-great response. Spirit Sticks will be given out.
Spirit Sticks: The kids are loving these. They will be given out to students who make it into the Math Facts Hall of Fame and also at the Halloween Party. These are costly so the PTO is looking for a way to recoup some of the cost by doing something similar to the Silly Citations fundraiser done last year for April Fools Day. Families can get sticks delivered to their children on different holidays, such as Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day. It was suggested that perhaps some families could donate an extra spirit stick or two, in case some students don’t receive one.
Family Game Night: (aka Bingo Night) 11/10-We need first grade parents to organize and set a meeting date. Liz Kelly will see about borrowing bingo materials from Balch PTO.
Celtics Game: 1/16-this is open to all students and families-forms will be sent home 11/28 and are due back 12/9.
Providence Bruins Game: 3/19