Petrova Parents' Club Meeting
January 9, 2012, 7pm
Elementary Library
Attendees: Zoe Smith, Kathleen Silvius, Sunita Halasz, Norma Woodruff, Bob Laba, Debi Yando, Cecily Dramm, Lori Mouranie, Jen Yousey, Jenn Small, Polly Kelting, Josh Dann
Treasurer's Report
Bob reported that Christmas tree sales had a final profit of $510. Red Storm Blankets had been selling well at all the retail locations and more have been taken to Ace. Others are on sale at the Civic Center and the Pack Basket Diner. Josh uses others as prizes for parents who report they have read the newsletter. It is not always easy to keep track of all the blankets at their different locations. Box Tops has earned $539 (fall collection) + $276 (last year's June collection) = $815.
The students' Holiday Giving event earned $450 which was split in half and donated to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Wilmington and to the Saranac Lake Interfaith Food Pantry. These gifts were extremely appreciated by these organizations.
Principal's Report
Josh said that the basketball hoops we received through the IronMan/Uihlein grant are up and they are great! We have some older extra hoops that we will be mounting so that there can be more stations when lots of kids are in the gym. The apparatus can be folded up toward the ceiling to keep them out of the way during other activities.
Josh presented to the School Board the recent mini-grant donations of the Parent's Club. At the meeting, it was noted that PPC is second to none in fundraising in the District and our group received applause. Other parents' groups are forming in the middle school and high school and are basing their organizational structure on ours.
Josh reported that he and Zoe have been working on the next phase of the new After School Program - we will be adding activities on Thursdays, with two four-week sessions. The kinds of offerings that Josh has been exploring, by contacting experts in these areas, are: music, foreign language, knitting, Zumba dance, and Lego Club.
The group agreed that these activities should be offered for grades 3-5, and not K-2. Though there are kids in the lower grades who will be interested, the skill level required for these Thursday activities, as well as a desire to keep group size more limited, warrants waiting until the students are older for their participation. The group talked about offering simpler activities for the younger grades.
If after school programs seem to be very popular, then Josh will explore the idea of hiring a Coordinator for after school programs who could help with organizing the kids into their various activities, making sure all permission slips are filled out, keeping the dismissal process very streamlined, etc. Josh said he spoke to Superintendent Goldman who suggested that perhaps a staff person could have a flex schedule and come in to work a little later, in order to stay after school longer to coordinate the program.
January's Family Night
January 26, 2012. Katie Laba is taking the lead in organizing this and came before the parents' club meeting to discuss her ideas and let parents' know how they could help. Her vision is that teachers will be creating different centers with math games and art projects, mostly in the cafeteria, but also in their classrooms, with the atmosphere of a fair. "Math snacks" will be served - trail mix that can be weighed and graphed. And activities will vary to accommodate the range of ages. One of the craft activities is to build a banner or hat for marching in the Winter Carnival parade. Parents are asked to help run the food station and assist with hands-on activities.
Mini Grants
Sunita noted that Friday, January 27 is the next mini-grant deadline. We will ask all applicants to come to the mini-grant committee meeting (open to any interested parents' club member), which will take place on Monday, February 6 at 6pm in the library, to make a short 3 to 5-minute presentation on their application. The committee will announce its decision on or about Friday, February 10. The applications (one for projects/supplies and another one for field trips) are on the Parents' Club website at: http://parentsclub.weebly.com/mini-grants.html. Josh says there is quite a bit of interest from teachers. During this discussion, Josh mentioned that he received a grant from Kiwianis to buy another smart board for a classroom in the school. This means that 7 more are needed for full coverage. PPC plans to buy two more this year. Smart boards are a separate budget item from the mini-grant program.
Winter Carnival
Bob discussed the idea of having a Petrova marching group in the Winter Carnival parade on February 11th. The group felt he should go ahead and secure a line-up number, even though we realize that participation may be low because of the weather.
Bob listed the things left to do for our Winter Carnival event at Petrova, February 4, 11am-2pm. Sunita working on flyers for area schools and businesses. Menu is getting finalized. Maria DeAngelo is running all the games with volunteers, and she will buy a few more outer space-themed prizes. We will sell hats made by Sheri Knapp, and also alien-theme hats that we purchase from a place such as Oriental Trading. Stations at the carnival: silent auction (will need a lot of space!), cake walk, hat sale, ticket booth, book sale. We are asking parents to donate volunteer time, books/DVDs, and baked goods for the bake sale.
Box Tops
The next deadline is in late February, not early February as previously thought. In any case, Lori noted that the bin in the office where box tops are collected on an ongoing basis, is full! Lori said we should all feel free to pick up a bunch anytime and clip and count them into bags of 50 (write "50" on the bag so there's no confusion), and pass the bags on Chrissy Hayden.
Grade Liaison Update
Cecily Dramm noted that she sent an email to all 1st grade teachers about activities to do when recess is stuck indoors. She attended a workshop for "JAM - Just A Minute" which tries to get more exercise into schools all over the country. The group discussed how it would be great to have a list of ideas for teachers for indoor activities on the days when recess is inside (rain, super-cold weather). The group brainstormed that PPC could purchase apparatus for rainy day physical activity, help organize recess dance parties in the auditorium, etc.
January 9, 2012, 7pm
Elementary Library
Attendees: Zoe Smith, Kathleen Silvius, Sunita Halasz, Norma Woodruff, Bob Laba, Debi Yando, Cecily Dramm, Lori Mouranie, Jen Yousey, Jenn Small, Polly Kelting, Josh Dann
Treasurer's Report
Bob reported that Christmas tree sales had a final profit of $510. Red Storm Blankets had been selling well at all the retail locations and more have been taken to Ace. Others are on sale at the Civic Center and the Pack Basket Diner. Josh uses others as prizes for parents who report they have read the newsletter. It is not always easy to keep track of all the blankets at their different locations. Box Tops has earned $539 (fall collection) + $276 (last year's June collection) = $815.
The students' Holiday Giving event earned $450 which was split in half and donated to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Wilmington and to the Saranac Lake Interfaith Food Pantry. These gifts were extremely appreciated by these organizations.
Principal's Report
Josh said that the basketball hoops we received through the IronMan/Uihlein grant are up and they are great! We have some older extra hoops that we will be mounting so that there can be more stations when lots of kids are in the gym. The apparatus can be folded up toward the ceiling to keep them out of the way during other activities.
Josh presented to the School Board the recent mini-grant donations of the Parent's Club. At the meeting, it was noted that PPC is second to none in fundraising in the District and our group received applause. Other parents' groups are forming in the middle school and high school and are basing their organizational structure on ours.
Josh reported that he and Zoe have been working on the next phase of the new After School Program - we will be adding activities on Thursdays, with two four-week sessions. The kinds of offerings that Josh has been exploring, by contacting experts in these areas, are: music, foreign language, knitting, Zumba dance, and Lego Club.
The group agreed that these activities should be offered for grades 3-5, and not K-2. Though there are kids in the lower grades who will be interested, the skill level required for these Thursday activities, as well as a desire to keep group size more limited, warrants waiting until the students are older for their participation. The group talked about offering simpler activities for the younger grades.
If after school programs seem to be very popular, then Josh will explore the idea of hiring a Coordinator for after school programs who could help with organizing the kids into their various activities, making sure all permission slips are filled out, keeping the dismissal process very streamlined, etc. Josh said he spoke to Superintendent Goldman who suggested that perhaps a staff person could have a flex schedule and come in to work a little later, in order to stay after school longer to coordinate the program.
January's Family Night
January 26, 2012. Katie Laba is taking the lead in organizing this and came before the parents' club meeting to discuss her ideas and let parents' know how they could help. Her vision is that teachers will be creating different centers with math games and art projects, mostly in the cafeteria, but also in their classrooms, with the atmosphere of a fair. "Math snacks" will be served - trail mix that can be weighed and graphed. And activities will vary to accommodate the range of ages. One of the craft activities is to build a banner or hat for marching in the Winter Carnival parade. Parents are asked to help run the food station and assist with hands-on activities.
Mini Grants
Sunita noted that Friday, January 27 is the next mini-grant deadline. We will ask all applicants to come to the mini-grant committee meeting (open to any interested parents' club member), which will take place on Monday, February 6 at 6pm in the library, to make a short 3 to 5-minute presentation on their application. The committee will announce its decision on or about Friday, February 10. The applications (one for projects/supplies and another one for field trips) are on the Parents' Club website at: http://parentsclub.weebly.com/mini-grants.html. Josh says there is quite a bit of interest from teachers. During this discussion, Josh mentioned that he received a grant from Kiwianis to buy another smart board for a classroom in the school. This means that 7 more are needed for full coverage. PPC plans to buy two more this year. Smart boards are a separate budget item from the mini-grant program.
Winter Carnival
Bob discussed the idea of having a Petrova marching group in the Winter Carnival parade on February 11th. The group felt he should go ahead and secure a line-up number, even though we realize that participation may be low because of the weather.
Bob listed the things left to do for our Winter Carnival event at Petrova, February 4, 11am-2pm. Sunita working on flyers for area schools and businesses. Menu is getting finalized. Maria DeAngelo is running all the games with volunteers, and she will buy a few more outer space-themed prizes. We will sell hats made by Sheri Knapp, and also alien-theme hats that we purchase from a place such as Oriental Trading. Stations at the carnival: silent auction (will need a lot of space!), cake walk, hat sale, ticket booth, book sale. We are asking parents to donate volunteer time, books/DVDs, and baked goods for the bake sale.
Box Tops
The next deadline is in late February, not early February as previously thought. In any case, Lori noted that the bin in the office where box tops are collected on an ongoing basis, is full! Lori said we should all feel free to pick up a bunch anytime and clip and count them into bags of 50 (write "50" on the bag so there's no confusion), and pass the bags on Chrissy Hayden.
Grade Liaison Update
Cecily Dramm noted that she sent an email to all 1st grade teachers about activities to do when recess is stuck indoors. She attended a workshop for "JAM - Just A Minute" which tries to get more exercise into schools all over the country. The group discussed how it would be great to have a list of ideas for teachers for indoor activities on the days when recess is inside (rain, super-cold weather). The group brainstormed that PPC could purchase apparatus for rainy day physical activity, help organize recess dance parties in the auditorium, etc.