Meeting+Minutes+2010-11

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**8:00-8:40**

 * __Attendance__**: Karen Newcomb, Debbie Mahair, Marnie Devereaux, June Rich, Karen Landsman, Annie White (left @ 8:20), Hayley Whittum, Danette Noboa, Nancy Dupont, Karen Murray, Sara McQuade, Ralene St. Pierre(Arrived @8:25)

__New PTA Representative__ PTA mom Sara McQuade joined the committee as a representative.

__Discussion about Dr. Seuss’ birthday__: Next year we should include Kindergarten in the cake celebration. Karen Landsman will set aside a budget for the Cat and the Hat celebration: cake, Cat in the Hat makeup, etc. We can revisit this idea next year.

__Strega Nona Performance__: The performance is only available in the AM so the PM Kindergarten was left out. Bill suggested next year we could invite the PM session to come to school in the AM to enjoy the performance. We can revisit next year.

We are all set for the performance tomorrow. Karen Landsman will introduce them. The show starts at 9:30. Classes will be called down starting at 9:15. Funding comes from Library Book Fair money.

__Kelly Doremus/Artist in Residence__: She will meet with them twice. The focus is on three different areas of the world. Karen meets on Thursday with second grade teachers to review. Assembly is on the 18th. = = Karen L. is working on another grant to fund a full Artist in Residence to work with children on how to author and illustrate comic strips for March 2012.

When funded by a grant you identify a core group (hence 2nd graders) rather than the entire school. However, the entire school gets to enjoy the performance. Should every grade level have the opportunity to be the core group? As the program builds we can provide opportunities for other grade levels.

__Kathy Deady__: Kathy delivered books yesterday and Karen M and Karen L met with her to finalize plans. Kindergarten teachers who do not currently have library should see Karen L. for Kathy Deady books to share with their students.

Luncheon: Hayley will take lunch orders. Teachers will donate desserts. Angela Chaisson is a great baker. Could she make cupcakes? Karen L. will pay using book fair money. Sara will round up volunteers if we need them.

__Guest Readers:__ Hooksettites have been scheduled. The will read to 2 classes. In the AM the times are 10:35-10:55 and 11:00-11:25. In the PM the times are 1:35-1:55 and 2:05- 2:25 Who should great them? Committee thought the students could have the opportunity to be escorts. K could buddy up with an older student. We still need an adult to oversee the gathering in the teacher’s room. Karen L and Ralene thought they may be available.

SNHU students need hours for reading aloud so we can use them if we need more readers.

If short Gina suggested teachers could swap rooms. She and Maryann did that last year and it worked out really well.

__Friday, April 8th__ Should we have an end of literacy month celebration? What could we schedule: DEAR Special snack (PTA needs 10 days notice)? Teachers are concerned about allergies and the mess.

= = = = = = = Minutes Literacy Activities Committee ~January 20, 2011 =

= 8:10-8:40 =

__Attendance__: Annie White, Karen Murray, Nancy Dupont, Karen Landsman, June Rich

Karen and Nancy will write a memo with important dates to remember.
 * Literacy Activities Night is Wednesday, April 6, 2011 **

The Grades 1-2 “At Home Connection” will be to write kind words /sentences about their classmates. These will be glued onto hearts that Annie White will cut out and distribute to the teachers.

The Kindergarten “At Home Connection” will be to collect canned goods with a goal to reach 100. They will be donated to the soup kitchen. They sort and count to tie into the math GLE’s. It is also a kind act. Kindergarten will perform in May. They think they will do the rainbow song along with movement. Karen Landsman offered to teach them that in library because she can easily tie that into literacy.

There is concern that many children will not bring in sentences. Should this be optional? Karen and Nancy volunteered to go around during their planning time to work with children who may not have completed their sentences.

Since there seems to be more parent buy in when letters home are signed by the classroom teacher, when the “At Home Connection” Project goes home it will be each individual teacher. This letter needs to go home next week in the Wednesday envelopes.

Guest Readers for March 11th. Suggestions were made for the end of the day (2:30) so that instructional time is not impacted.

Karen Murray shared information on Kathy Deady. She is a local author who writes mostly non-fiction. She has presented in Boscawen, Manchester, Nasua and Northwood. Karen Landsman and Karen Murray will follow up to check her references. She is open for many dates in April to visit.

Karen Landsman shared information on a Strega Nona performance for March or April to be funded with book fair money ($400.00). It is a UNH theatre performing group. Karen will book ASAP.

Karen Landsman shared information on Kelly Doremus Stuart. Kelly Doremus Stuart would visit to work with 2nd graders to choreograph 3 dances based on folktales. Each class would choreograph a part to one folk tale. This will take place in March or April. Gym class time will be used to avoid impact of teaching time. Funded through a grant and if needed supplement with book fair money.

Minutes Literacy Activities Committee December 8, 2010 __Present__:

Karen Murray, Nancy Dupont, Hayley Whhittum, Debbie Mahair, MaryLou Donohoe, Caryl Pawlusiak, June Rich, Karen Landsman, Ralene St. Pierre, Danette Noboa, Kim Newcomb (8:25)

Karen M. shared books by Kathy Deady. She writes non-fiction. Karenw ill get int ouch with some references and follow up.
===June R. spoke with a Karen Creed, a representitive from Barnes and Nobles and she is free. She can work in conjunction with an author or as a resource. ===

June also has 6 Hooksettites who would like to be guest readers.
===MaryLou shared that a parent from Moracco could come visit to read to our students. She also has other parents in mind who may be able to share. She has a total of 3 parents in mind who may be able to come an share. ===

~ Assemblies:__﻿____﻿____﻿____﻿__
===The November sharing assembly went well. The kids had a good time preparing for it. Teachers agree that the Readers Theatre productions at the CARES assemblies are great. ===

===The next assembly is December 17th in the PM. Pavlenkov, Mahair, Fox and Dubisz are all presenting. Next time try and allow more space for the performance. We could try painters tape to define an actual line. ===

===Discussed setting the stage for the chldren prior to the presentations so childrne understand this theme of cultures is a school wide celebration. ===

~ Coming Up:
===Kim shared a Valentine suggestion of sharing compliments. It could be the at-home connection. KIm will share with the staff at the January teachers' meeting. ===

__Next Meeting__: Wednesday, January 12th
Minutes Literacy Activities Committee  Nov. 16, 2010 8:00-8:40

We would like to schedule the Literacy Exhibition Night for March 31, 2011. Karen M. will check with Bill as well as Karen L. and Diane so they can plan for the book fair.
Grade 2 Danette is the only one who signed up for Nov. during the PBIS assembly. Karen will ask Bill to say something to kick off the literacy sharing events.
 * __Feedback from grade level teams__: **

Teachers on the committee will encourage other teachers to choose a topic and sign-up for a sharing date.

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Guest Readers **__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Guest readers will be invited on Friday March 11. We will have some readers in the morning and some in the afternoon. The Teachers’ Room will be used to gather readers and serve snacks. Karen will check if Janet or Maryann has a letter to invite readers. We will invite school board members, SAU administrators, retired teachers, Hooksettites, staff from police, fire, doctors, dentists, local newspapers, SNHU athletes. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">We will purchase books that go with our theme. Guest readers will read and present a book to each class. We will have to get these books to the readers in advance. We will ask them to write a personal message in the book. Karen L. said there is money available from the book fair to purchase these books. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Annie will check if the kitchen will provide coffee and snacks for readers. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">A player from the Monarchs will be scheduled for a school-wide reader at a different date. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Visiting Author <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Karen L. shared that Jennifer Ericson is available. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Next Meeting: Wed., Dec. 8th at 8:00 am in the library. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Agenda Items and Things to do prior to next meeting: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> Karen L. and Karen M. will share information regarding possible visiting authors

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Kim will bring a sample of an activity that we will use for our at home connection

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> Minutes Literacy Activities Committee <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> Nov. 2, 2010 8:00-8:30 Attendance: H. Whittum, J. Rich, C Pawlusiak, D. Mahair, Annie White, N. Dupont, K. Murray

** Feedback from grade level teams: ** ** Grade 2 ** There hasn’t been time to talk to all gr. 2 teachers. There is still a possibility that some people will be willing to present at a Nov. assembly. We don’t want people to feel rushed or they have to undertake extra work, but the unified arts team has offered to help.

** Discussion of theme and events: ** <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> We will share information at Nov. Teachers’ Meeting. Hayley has created a sign-up a sheet to pass-out at the meeting.

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> We would like to schedule literacy sharing presentations at PBIS assemblies. For K presentations, we will need to schedule 2 assemblies (am and pm). One can be during a PBIS Assembly and another time will be for smaller group which should include preschool.

** Visiting Author and Guest Readers ** <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> Kim received a reply from Ted Arnold. He is currently booking for 2012. His fee is $1800 plus expenses which will cost approximately an additional $300. The committee voted to schedule Ted to visit Underhill in the spring of 2012. Kim will email him.

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> Karen M. received a reply from local author Kathy Deady. She is available in the spring. Her charge is $700 for 4 presentations in one day an additional $600 for a second day.

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> Karen M. is still waiting to hear from the PTA to find out if funds are available for this year. She will explain that we would like $2500 for next year and find out if we will need to pool our money from this year.

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> Karen M. heard from the Monarchs and we are on the list to schedule a Monarchs guest reader in March or April.

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> June told us about onsite field trips from Barnes and Noble about books and authors that is free. Karen Creed, Community Relations, is the contact.

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> Nancy contacted the Fisher Cats. They do not have players visit schools for guest readers but they have a reading motivation program. The following information from an email describes the program: <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> The Reading Challenge Program the Fisher Cats have is to encourage students to read books outside of their regular classroom required reading. They will soon be setting up assemblies with schools throughout the state where a member of their staff and mascots Fungo or Slider come out and get the students excited about reading. The program is set up so if a student reads five books outside of their school curriculum then that child will get two free tickets to select 2011 Fisher Cats home games (our “Reading Challenge Nights”). During the Reading Challenge Nights they recognize the participants of the Reading Challenge and they have the opportunity to go down on the field and participate in a parade before the game. The students who complete the Reading Challenge also receive a certificate of achievement from the Fisher Cats. For more information about the reading challenge: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/team3/page.jsp?ymd=20100426&content_id=9586278&vkey=team3_t463&fext=.jsp&sid=t463.

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> We began discussing inviting guest readers to read in classrooms. This could be done in one day or monthly. Possible readers may be SNHU sports players, Hooksettites, community members, etc. It was suggested that they read about the different cultures, which will fit into our Reading Around the World theme. Kim shared a scenario from a previous school she worked in but we ran out of time. Discussion on this topic will continue at our next meeting.

** Next Meeting: Tues., Nov. 16th at 8:00 am in the library. **

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;"> Minutes Literacy Activities Committee <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">Oct. 26, 2010 8:00-8:40 Attendance: H. Whittum, M. Devereaux, C Pawlusiak, D. Mahair, D. Noboa, K. Newcomb, N. Latham, K. Landsman, A. White, N. Dupont, K. Murray

Discussed generating a wikki page for minutes and updates to the committee happenings. Minutes will still be given to those on the committee. A wikki page will be generated so all staff will be able to make comments. Karen L. will give an overview of this at our teachers’ meeting.

Shannon and Kim would like to do Chinese New Year, which will be celebrated Feb. 3rd.
 * Feedback from grade level teams: **
 * Gr. 1 ** teachers are receptive, but would prefer to work with teams that are not data team members. Some think it would be easier to work in groups of two.


 * Grade 2 ** hasn’t had a chance to share with all team members yet. Janet, Sandy, and Danette are currently researching Native Americans so Karen L, Natalie, and Annie will attend grade 2 meeting on Thurs. to discuss how they can be involved in the planning a short sharing time in Nov. Marnie, Debbie M., and Maura will be researching holiday traditions in Dec.


 * Kindergarten ** (from minutes of team meeting) is considering doing something on friendship. It was suggested that this may be combined with Friendship Day and/or Valentine’s Day.

The theme will be Reading Around the World and we will be recognizing different cultures. The events from the sharing assembly should be a natural extension of work that is already going on in the classroom. It doesn’t have to be their research piece. It should be whatever is important in their classroom. This will be supported through music, art, physical education and the library so there won’t be much extra work for classroom teachers.
 * Discussion of theme and events **

It was suggested we do a passport again. Guest readers would be invited to share a book on a particular culture. A page in the passport will be stamped after the reading.

Kim shared a school-wide sharing activity for Valentine’s Day, which could become a school kindness activity as well as an at-home literacy connection. Each student and staff member will write compliments, with descriptive details, of other classmates/colleagues. An example will be shared at the next meeting. Annie will order paper for this. Volunteers will be needed for this activity so we should contact Sue Keane.

We should investigate video taping portions of sharing assemblies and guest readers. This video can be shown at culminating assembly and literacy night.

We will share information at Nov. Teachers’ Meeting. Hailey will create a sign-up a sheet to pass-out at the meeting.

Kim emailed the author Ted Arnold. No response yet.
 * Visiting Author and Guest Readers **

Karen L. will contact authors Jennifer Ericson and Alexis O’Neill.

Karen M. contacted the PTA to find out if funds are available for this year. She also contacted the Manchester Monarchs about a guest reader. No responses yet. She will contact author Kathy Deady and the Fisher Cats about guest readers.


 * Next Meeting: Wed., Nov. 3rd at 8:00 am in the library **

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">Minutes Literacy Activities Committee <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Century Gothic'; font-size: 14pt; text-align: center;">Oct. 19, 2010 8:00-8:40 Attendance: H. Whittum, M. Devereaux, C Pawlusiak, D. Mahair, J. Rich, D. Noboa, K. Newcomb, N. Latham, K. Landsman, N. Dupont, K. Murray

Karen L. shared the idea of working on integrating the arts into traditions found around the world and recognizing different cultures. This will be supported through music, art, physical education and the library. Classes will share their learning at school-wide assemblies. The theme can be Reading Around the World.

It was suggested one grade or team be spotlighted and perform in a school-wide assembly throughout the year. This will allow more time for classrooms to do a thorough job of researching their topic. Classes can work in teams. These teams can be made up of a few classes at a grade level or can be cross-grade level. Maybe we can videotape the different performances and show at our culminating assembly and evening event.

It was suggested we invite parents to each of the assemblies instead of having our evening literacy event. The library has a book fair during the evening event that we want to continue so the keeping evening event is important.

We discussed that it might be nice to have 3 different literacy themes that can be reused every 3 years.

Do we want our School-Wide Literacy Celebration to be moved later in April so there will be more time for classes to perform before our culminating evening?

We would like to go back to having an author visit each year. Karen M. will contact the PTA to find out if funds are available for this year. Karen L. would like to write some grants for an artist in residence. She would like a subcommittee to work on this. One grant is due in Jan. and can be used for an artist in the spring. NH Council on the Arts is another resource.
 * Visiting Author **

Kim will find out info. on the author, Ted Arnold who teaches students about the importance of illustrations and using different voices for reading.

Some local authors to check out are Jennifer Ericson and Kathy Deady. Alexis O’Neill is another author.

It was suggested we tap into our own entertainer Karen G. for some events.

Karen M. will contact the Manchester Monarchs about a guest reader.

Kim suggested inviting other guest readers to read in different languages.


 * Members of the committee will share ideas from this meeting with their grade level teams. We want feedback regarding starting literacy sharing assemblies in Nov. and continuing monthly or bimonthly until our Literacy Night. Research topic should address GLE’s and tie into our theme of recognizing different cultures. **


 * Next Meeting: Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 8:00 am in the library **