Tavelli PTO meeting
April 6, 2007
The PTO meeting was called to
order at 7:02 p.m. Paula Metcalf, President of the Tavelli
Parent Teacher Organization. A sign-in
sheet was passed around.
I. Approval of Minutes: Kristen Draper
approved. Dawn Dorsh
seconded.
II. Treasurer’s Report: Given by
Crystal Long, Treasurer of the Tavelli PTO.
The
budget looks really good. The PTO
received a rebate of $178.44 from Target.
The Read-a-thon grossed $5064.61, spent $780, and made $4275.55; a
“great job”. We are getting ready for
next year, so if any teachers need extra money they need to fill out a form for
that soon. A note will be given to
teachers in Friday’s mail.
III. Committee
Update:
Read-a-thon: Kristen said “Thanks for the Read-a-thon”, which
raised over $5000 this year, and which exceeded our goal. The expenses this year were $500 for the
author, $210 for the banner, plus paid for the wigs for Thing One and Thing Two
this year, which are reusable. In the
past $5-600 has been spent. “A special
thanks to the parents and teachers for making this possible.”
Barnes & Noble Book Fair: This was set
up in mid to late January. The
students/parents would bring in a voucher on April 13, 14, and 15th,
Friday through Sunday, make purchases, and that a percentage received would go
to Tavelli.
The school would receive 10% cash or a 15% gift card. The date was picked because it coincided with
a costumed “Bisquit” dog at 10:00 and 2:00 on
Saturday. The Scholastic Book fair is
running the next Tuesday through Friday.
A form would be sent home on Thursday and the following Thursday for
advertising. At first Kristen thought it
would be pushing too much with the Scholastic book fair and she turned down
this idea. But then with Bisquit being there she
thought it would be good, and if it was done in the Spring,
it would open the door for the Fall- which would be near Christmas, so she
asked the group for any input. Paula
said that she was right about it being too much, and to maybe wait, but another
parent said it would be O.K., but just make it low key since some parents might
not be able to come. Kristen then said
that there is no loss to Barnes & Noble, so could leave it up to the
parents. Another parent (Margaret Long)
said to tie it in with summer reading that is recommended with 2nd
graders. Dawn said it is good to do it
with B&N since it is “anonymous”.
Amy said that the main public library has a list of the best of 2006
reading for all grades that might be a good idea to accompany the flyer. This is at the front desk in the Children’s
area of the library. Another woman noted
that this benefit would make some money on all books sold, adult or otherwise
and not just Children’s like the Scholastic Book Fair is mostly. Kristen said that B&N said books only and
not consumables. Like a pound of coffee
is o.k., (but a latte is not). The same
woman noted that at Centerra she saw a person giving
out the coupons, so that anybody walking in the store could get a coupon and
make money for the school. After a couple
comments on this, Kristen said we could go ahead and do the fundraiser at
B&N and make some money for Tavelli. This was then motioned by Lynn Knoeble and seconded by Crystal Long and thus
approved. Again Bisquit,
the dog will be
there on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for the children.
Book Fair: Lynn Knoeble said that a possible author could come to the Book
Fair and give back some proceeds. The
author is the one that writes “Your Song” books, and is local. She was wondering if he could come for the
pancake supper. He writes books on good
character with messages all about and for kids.
There would be no fee, she would just ask the
author. She also said it goes well with
the Character Ed program. Everyone
agreed to “go for it”, and it was approved for the night of the pancake
supper. The contact is Sheila Johnson of
a 4th grader.
Paula
said that the Pancake dinner is tied in with the Book Fair that runs from April
17th through the 20th.
Volunteers are needed for this as well.
Wellness Fair: Paula said that the Wellness fair is on the 25th
from 5:30 to 8. Volunteers are needed,
please contact Jane Harvey, or make a donation.
Box Tops: Kristy Jenicky said to keep
collecting. We are still in
competition. A new method of collecting
and counting is needed. Paula said that
Team Tavelli could help.
IV. Special Guest
A. 1st and 2nd
Grade Teachers
1)
1st Grade
Kelly Kerr said “thanks for coming!” and talked about the
subject of Math and preparation for 1st graders to go into 2nd
grade. This summer do flash cards. Get them excited in knowing “math facts”,
especially doubles like 2+2 and 4+4, etc.
Do time games or anything with both kinds of clocks. Be thinking about and telling time. Also working with money. Search for coupons to come up with the right
dollar amount. Do coin
identification. Count by 2’s and
10’s. Just help get their number sense
down.
Colleen Phiffer said “thank
you for the money we get from PTO”. They
used the money for books that went to each student in a plastic bag and they
needed to know author, title, illustrator, and summary. Kids then go in the “sharing chair”, and tell
about their stories. They would like to
use the money from PTO for more books.
They are building up as a team, social studies in the curriculum, and
doing some news magazines, like Time magazine.
Jill Hinton added that they are
looking at social studies and that even though the focus is on reading,
writing, and math, the subject of social studies is important. Especially timelines which have things
connected to the real world.. “PTO helps us” in this area.
Melanie added that they meet
once a week, every week. Helpful areas
are reading, nonfiction and again social studies. PTO money is spent on getting multiple copies
of books through the Scholastic book fair.
Any science or social studies is important. Being ready for 2nd grade means to
look at areas of S, E’s versus areas of need.
Find out the need areas by communicating with the child’s teacher and
getting suggestions and such. “Encourage
anything over the summer”. Some examples
that she stated were exchanging money at the dollar store, little journals, making up songs,
doing experiments, creating a recipe, etc.
“Thank You!?
2) 2nd Grade Deb H. said that they used the PTO money for field
trips. This month to
the Butterfly Museum where they learn about the science of metamorphosis and
vertebrates versus invertebrates.
In May, they are going to he Environmental
Learning Center with Program Energy.
Nancy McGill encouraged the use
of the student’s library cards over the course of transitioning from 2nd
to 3rd grade. She noted that
the public library doesn’t have the books labeled the same way, but that the
list is online on the web site. She
encouraged reading as much as possible, and that the library has excellent
summer activities for the children.
Learn high frequency words with games like journaling, reading under a
tent or table with a flashlight, taking trips, discovering Fort Collins, keep
practicing sums with made up games, and limit tv/video
games. “Enjoy the freedom of summer”.
Karen Iverson gave a smart board
demonstration showing sites such as the national library of virtual
manipulations or nlvm.org which has
things like placing $.25 in a box and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
which is an excellent source for information on dinosaurs and fossils. Search or dinosphere
or go to childrensmuseum.org/dinosphere. Every pod has one, and they are integrated
into our daily lessons.
Someone
said that these should be put on the Tavelli website,
and it was thought that they might already be on the website since the curriculum’s are added to the website. She pointed out that there is a new feature
on the math program that every 2nd grader needs to know. Lastly, Friday afternoon is the math club.
B.
Dr. Lawler
1) Tavelli “It’s amazing to watch teams work
together”. Dr. Lawler noted that this
was a great place for staff. Their
presentations showed how well and hard they work together. It was impressive, and he was proud. “Fundamentally this gives us a great school,
which translates into a great place for the kids.”
2)
Grade Configuration The grade configuration changes that 6th
graders would move to junior high and 9th graders would move to high
school is going to the board soon. There
have been lots of community forums and lots of discussion. The decision will be confidential, but should
be reported by the Coloradoan when released.
Dr. Lawler’s preference is for the 6th graders to stay in
elementary school as they grow up so fast anyway.
Next months guests are the 5th grade
teachers.
8:02p.m. Meeting Adjourned
PTO Meeting notes
Jill Williams PTO Secretary