Island Avenue School PTO Minutes
General Meeting held Thursday, March 29, 2007
In attendance: Laura Anderson, Shannon Baker, Christine Beirne, Ralph and Jennifer Carlo, Alexis Christina, Tina Edwards, Juliette Fumex, Harriet Gowanlock, Hilary Griffin, Kim Hastings, Pam Kezer Heflin, Ann Marino, Jamie McKeon, Debbie Orlando, Julie Ovian, Lisa P. Rollins, Melanie Sampson, Jennifer Swenson
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Junior Achievement
Pam Kezer Heflin, former IAS parent and present district manager of Junior Achievement, opened our meeting by introducing JA, a curriculum-related program designed to teach children about economics and entrepreneurship. JA is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven effort, which brings the business community into schools. JA has been in existence since 1919, and runs programs worldwide. On Friday, May 25, a special “JA in a Day” event will be held in Madison for grades 1-4. To launch the program in our town this year, parent volunteers are needed to serve as “company representatives” in the classrooms. Five activities—doughnut-making as a means of learning mass production, for example!—will be offered to each grade. Teachers remain in the classrooms throughout, and all volunteers, in addition to inspiring our youth, are rewarded with a catered luncheon. Comprehensive guidelines and a brief training session are part of the program. If you are interested in participating, please contact Pam at pkezer@jaconn.
Business
Several positions are open on next year’s PTO executive board. Any parent interested in serving should contact one of the Nominating Committee members: Alexis Christina, Lisa Rollins, Julie Ovian, Shannon Baker, and Melissa Whelahan. Nominations are due by April 10.
Fundraising for Ronald McDonald House is taking place in classrooms now. The PTO will donate a book to the class in each grade that raises the most money. Students may decide to donate the prize book to the Ronald McDonald House or to the library, or they may keep it as part of the classroom collection.
Movie Night, which was postponed owing to poor weather conditions, has been rescheduled for Friday, April 27. The movie shown will be “Cars,” as planned. Popcorn, gummy candy, and bottled water will be available for purchase throughout the show.
This year, the PTO has made arrangements to extend Teacher Appreciation Day to the entire week of May 7. The Hospitality Committee will host a special luncheon on Wednesday, May 9, per school tradition; the other four days, volunteers will distribute PTO-funded tokens symbolic of our appreciation for our teachers’ dedication.
Box Tops are still coming in. One more collection is slated for May; we hope to reach our goal of 10,000 tops collected! The winning class will choose a Theme Day, to be observed May 25.
This year’s annual Baseball Game will be on June 1 with the Norwich Navigators. Although the game itself was rained out last year, families who went enjoyed the night out: they met the team, had a tour of the stadium, and received many souvenirs! All are encouraged to attend.
The IAS Family Picnic has been tentatively set for June 8 and will feature a DJ as well as a special hat theme. Anyone interested in volunteering to help out should contact committee chair Hilary Griffin.
As a thank you to all parents who have helped out with school events throughout the year, the PTO will this year be holding a Volunteer Appreciation Brunch at the Surf Club with Jeffrey School on June 15. Mark your calendars—and please join us there!
In recognition of Arbor Day and fourth-grade graduation this year, each graduating student will receive a small cellophane-wrapped tree. These will be distributed at the family picnic so parents can assist in the selection and transport home.
Although it’s not quite the end of the year, the PTO is welcoming gift ideas for the school. At the teachers’ request, we will be purchasing a significant number of educational board games to replace those that have lost pieces and suffered wear and tear from extended classroom use. A DVD movie recorder—to record cultural arts programs and to be incorporated into classroom instruction—has also been proposed. Parents with additional suggestions should email one of the PTO executive board members.
The last day of school will be June 21, with early dismissal at 1 p.m.
Letters requesting classroom placement input for next year will be sent home shortly.
Treasurer’s Report
Our current cash balance is $3,566.55. We have contributed $6,000 toward field trips thus far! Preliminary numbers show Winter Workshops to have been a great success; profits will be approximately $4,000. These, along with proceeds from the upcoming Movie Night, sale of remaining Stop & Shop cards, and another Box Tops check, should enable the PTO to fund the final items in our budget, including the Family Picnic, Summer Workbooks, Community Donations, Book Publishing, End-of-Year Gift(s) to the school, and Teacher Appreciation.
Making Math Fun
This evening’s special guest, elementary-school math coordinator Jocelyn Poglitsch, joined us to explain how the spiraling “Growing with Mathematics” program works and how she offers support to both teachers and groups of students. Synthesis of basic information and periodic reintroduction of skills are key to building on knowledge acquired and mastering math facts over time. Demonstrating how children are taught to conceptually understand how numbers are put together—how math works as a language—Jocelyn had attendees build cube trains based on the number of letters in their names. A fun learning experience for us all!
Reminder
The next PTO meeting will be held May 25 at 1 p.m. in the school gym. The slate of 2007-08 officers will be voted in at that time.
Submitted by Kim Hastings, 4/5/07
