Minutes of the Regular Meeting s1

March 14, 2016

Gifford, Illinois

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING

OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION

OF GIFFORD COMMUNITY CONSOLIDATED

GRADE SCHOOL DISTRICT #188

The regular meeting of the Board of Education, Gifford Community Consolidated School District #188, Gifford, Illinois was held on Monday, March 14, 2016 at 6 p.m. in the Gifford School Board Room.

Pledge of Allegiance & Roll Call

The meeting was called to order by President Michael Schluter at 6:00 p.m. The following members answered present to roll call: Neil Baker, Angela Crawford, Jennifer Frerichs, Brandie Hedrick, Travis Huls, Matt Lomax and Michael Schluter.

Also present were Mr. Rod Grimsley, Superintendent and Diane Baker, Office Manager.

Public Hearings and Petitions - None

Board Correspondence- None

Report of the Superintendent

Junior High: Ms. Jen Nugent, Seventh Grade

Student Council News

Student Council members enjoyed an evening of games and snacks in January. Dr. Seuss Day gave members the opportunity to read to students in the younger grades. We are planning to assist No Child Unloved assemble Easter baskets for children in need this week. Upcoming events include making and distributing May Day baskets, volunteering for the Special Olympics and decorating the nursing home.

Scholastic Bowl News

Scholastic Bowl is comprised of a 5/6th team coached by Casey Flesner with eight participants and a 7/8th team coached by Jennifer Nugent with nine participants. Practices are held twice a week. The teams will compete in eight meets during the regular season and participate in regional play for the first time this year. Gifford will host two meets year.

Seventh Grade News

I am happy to report that all seventh grade students passed the US and Illinois Constitution tests. The current political climate in the country has made for many interesting class discussions. I'm pleased that so many students are taking an interest in the coming elections.

With the completion of the Constitution units, we have moved on to the Jefferson era and the War of 1812. We should end the school year pre- Civil War, so we can start eighth grade with the Civil War. Our field trip to Springfield in May will provide the class with background information that will enhance our studies in the fall.

In Reading we continue to read short stories from the textbook. When we return from spring break, we will review for the upcoming PARCC testing. Students have been sharing their book reports with me through one on one book talks. They have chosen some great books.

Our writing project this quarter has been research papers. The students are sharing their papers with me on Google Docs and will then create slide shows to present to the class.

Eighth grade Social Studies has focused on the early part of the twentieth century. We have studied women's rights, prohibition, the Great Depression and the Roaring Twenties. This is my all-time favorite era in history! The class has enjoyed videos, primary sources, and personal stories and even attempted to dance the Charleston. We also spend time discussing current events and politics.

Upper Elementary Update: Mrs. Cec Vermillion, Fifth Grade

The fifth graders have been working on some interesting projects. In reading they have been writing their own stories. The finished piece will be placed in a Bare Book, and students will then illustrate them. I am including a sample. The study of the Revolutionary War is the subject matter for the culminating project. Students chose a theme related to the chapter then organized information and a timeline that was placed in a foldable. I have included a sample of these as well.

In math, students are working to understand what it means to take a part of a part... in other words what does it mean when one multiples fraction. The calculations are the easy part, showing models of what is happening are the challenge. I am happy to report that they are improving at this and showing an improved understanding.

Language focus had been on the use of figure of speech in their written work. This flowed nicely into implementing this into the stories they wrote in Reading. We looked at such things as alliteration (repeated first sounds), onomatopoeia (ex. Wow), idioms (ex.You drive me up the wall.) similes, and metaphors. They also used Google Classroom online to view an informational piece of using quotations and then submit an assignment online.

In Science we finished a chapter on Growth and Development and are currently working on a unit on Matter.

Students in 4th and 5th grades will be attending 4 days of Outdoor SchoolMay 9-12. This is a great experience for the students and I encourage any of you that are interested to stop by and check it out. they do make an effort to align the curriculum covered with the state standards. It is hosted a Kennekuk County Park.

Lower Elementary Update: Mrs. Lori Miller

The first graders are all reading and writing and doing well. We just completed a weather unit in reading and social studies. We went outside and looked at clouds and made a few of our own in the classroom. Our classroom just got a new incubator, and Mrs. Pollard will be providing us some eggs in April, that will hopefully hatch at the end of that month. Some of the students have moved on to reading chapter books, and are working on summarizing, characters, plot, etc. In math the students have been working on tens and ones place, greater than and less than, and adding or subtracting 10 from a number. We celebrated Dr. Seuss day on March 2, which included eating green eggs and ham, of course! Next up the students will be working on doing research on an animal and writing a paragraph about it.

Items from Board Members-None

Non Action Items

· We previewed the proposed dates for the 2016-17 school board meetings. Our regular meetings are on the third Monday of the Month unless there is a holiday or spring break. There was on Month, February, that we needed to decide which day to have our meeting. The two choices were Monday, February 13 or Wednesday, February 22. After some calendar dissection it was decided to use Monday, February 13 for the meeting.

· The board reviewed 2016-17 school calendar one more time before officially approving later in the meeting. .

Approve Consent Agenda Items

*IT WAS MOVED by Member Huls and seconded by Vice-President Lomax to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Education of Gifford Community Consolidated School District #188 of February 22, 2016, the Treasurer’s report dated February 29, 2015, the payment of bills dated March 14, 2016, the Imprest Fund and Petty Cash Reports of February, 2016. The destruction of audio tapes older than eighteen months.

Roll call vote was taken as follows: