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STEWART SCHOOL PTA MEETING
FEBRUARY 4, 2010
MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
Meeting Attendance 45+
Stewart School PTA Director, Laura Roukis, started the meeting with information about flyers and sign-up sheets that were available.
- PTA Dinner Flyer
- Garden City Coalition – “Raising a Responsive and Responsible Child Flyer
- Plant Sale Sign-up (Contact Sharon Mc Donald -742-8586 or Lora Cerrato 747-2002 if you are interested in helping.)
- Teacher/Staff Appreciation Luncheon Sign-up (Contact Kathy Martinus – 873-1717, Diana Campbell – 746-7153, or Tina Deignan 746-0420 if you are interested in helping.)
- Little Doctor’s Program Flyer (Alicia Marciano – 877-1502)
Nominating Report and Vote – Lisa Sutherland – Ballots were passed to vote for the two Stewart Reps and one Alternate. Today is the last day to make nominations for the following positions – President-Elect, 1st Vice President/Budget, 3rd Vice President Technology, High School Director, Homestead Director, Locust Director.
Laura gave some upcoming dates –
- 2/9 – First Budget Work Session – Overview of Superintendent’s Budget and Revenues and possibly a Guidance Program presentation – 8:15pm at the High School
- 2/11 and 2/12 – Book Swap
- 2/9 Budget Work Session #1-Overview of Superintendant’s Budget and Revenues-8:15pm HS Library. Additional Topic-Guidance Program update.
- 2/23 Buget Work Session #2 – All Non-Instructional areas/Administrative and Capital Components and Regular Work Session – 8:15pm at High School
- 2/25 Little Doctor’s Blood Drive – Marian Haberman, from Long Island Blood Servies, spoke briefly about the training the 5th graders will receive and how important it is to give blood.
- 2/25 Garden City Community Coalition presents guest speaker Dr. Richard Gallagher – Raising a Responsive and Responsible Child
Mrs Conforti gave a presentation on the 21st Century Classroom. She gave a similar presentation to Stewart School teachers. Parents in attendance were able to participate in several hands on activities including using Remote Student Response Clickers.
Laura made a motion to approve the grant request from the GC PTA to Stewart School in the amount of $4,186.95 for the purchase of the following items –document camera,student response system, whiteboard tablet, bluetooth connectors, and software. The vote passed 21 to 0. The PTA Treasurer will pass information on to administration to be put on the next BOE agenda.
Stewart School Principal, Ms. Norton, gave a brief report.
- A Social and Emotional Learning Committee has been created.
- Bully/Character Education – many programs
- Second Step Program
- Peaceful Bus
- Red Ribbon Week – Tulip Planting
- Book of Month – Bucket Filler
- Miss Bliss is back. Glad to have Miss Bliss back. Sad to see Mr. Malone go.
- CogATs
- Test results came out in January
- The CogAT is a normed test used to measure a student’s learned reasoning abilities in Verbal,Quantitative and Nonverbal areas. Although the data collected from this tool is not used for class placement purposes, it is another “piece in the puzzle”. The information collected can help determine students’ strengths and or possible weaknesses. For example, if a student is struggling, all assesment data(including CogAT) are reviewed by the instructional support team.
- Letter to parents was not clear. The letter has been revised.
- Criteria for 2009-2010
- 3rd grade – 130 and above on CogAT
- 5th grade – 130 on CogAT and scale score on Math and ELA 737
- There is only one Quest teacher
- Quest is only for students that meet the criteria. Anything else is not Quest or Quest extension. It is a class taught by Mrs. Volpe, who is our Quest teacher, but it is not Quest. It is a class that supports the teacher’s/grade’s curriculum.
- Presentation of examples of CogAT questions. (The presentation can be found on the Stewart School website on the Principal’s Page - http://stewart.gardencity.k12.ny.us/administration/principal_s_page/
- Questions
- Q-Once a child is in Quest can they be taken out if they do not meet the criteria? A – No – Once a child is in Quest they remain in Quest.
- Q-Have other district’s programs been looked at? A-Yes, there are many different approaches to how Quest is offered.
Sarah Kashetta (5th grade teacher) and Marissa Pollicino (3rd grade teacher) gave a presentation – Let’s Focus on Writing. This is a writing program currently being used in 3rd and 5th grade. Writers Workshop is used in conjunction with Write Traits, which is a K-12 initiative currently used in the district.
Committee Reports –
- Barbara Jean Kaczynski gave the curriculum report. (see below) Please see the PTA website – www.gardencitypta.org - to see curriculum report from other meetings and other schools.
Summary of the Stewart Curriculum Meeting held on January 21, 2010
1. The 21st Century Classroom
Stewart School is well on its way to preparing “21st Century” technology classrooms. At the next PTA meeting (scheduled for February 4, 2010), PTA members will be asked to vote on a grant proposal for PTA funds to be presented to Stewart. The school would like to purchase a “Document Image Camera (a/k/a “ELMO”) which is essentially “clickers” for Smartboards. A clicker system in conjunction with the Smartboard enables students to interact with the Smartboard and press clickers in response to directives, questions, etc. In addition to responding to a prompt with a, b or c answer, a student can also write on a tablet (similar to a hands free dry erase board). There is also a Bluetooth component which makes it wireless.
Stewart is also purchasing a “green screen” for use with students making videos and podcasts.
2. Ms. Conforti is the Garden City School District Spotlight Employee of the Month
Judith Conforti, computer specialist at Stewart School is the Garden City School District’s employee of the month.
Ms. Boyd has been selected as the Nassau County Physical Elementary Teacher of the year
Crystal Boyd, a physical education teacher at Stewart, has been chosen as the Nassau County Physical Elementary Teacher of the year.
The entire Stewart community is very proud of both Ms. Conforti and Ms. Boyd for their well deserved recognition.
3. Guided Reading Groups
Guided reading groups are well-defined and present in grades 2 and 3. These are the elementary grades which the District has determined best suit guided reading groups and where the District has focused its training and resources.
Grades 4 and 5 have some type of reading groups, such as book clubs or literacy circles but they are not as clearly defined as in the lower grades. However, although the titles of the groups are not as formal, literacy discussion is taking place in every classroom in every grade.
4. Differentiated math groups
There are not formal math groups in every classroom in every grade. Math instruction varies by classroom and teacher. Simply put there just is not enough time in the instructional day to have formalized math and guided reading groups in addition to other subject matter. In some classrooms there are math groups. Teachers often vary their style of math instruction to include learning tools, manipulatives, visuals, smartboard lessons, etc. Style of teaching is also dependent on the topic being taught, the make up of the class, how the lessons are received by the students, etc. Children who need additional help receive it.
5. Spelling Curriculum
In 2nd grade, there are no spelling workbooks. There is “word work”. The teachers generate a list of spelling words and plan out the principals for each class lesson. Although there are different phases of the spelling program, for the most part, each of the teachers are teaching the same thing. There are spelling activities to reinforce the principals being taught.
In 3rd grade, there are spelling workbooks. The editions of the workbooks may vary but the words are the same. Each classroom does the exact same spelling words but the extension activities may differ. Students may work on the spelling workbook in school or at home depending on the teacher.
In 4th grade, the students have the same workbooks. Most extension activities are done at home and usually completed by the Friday of every week. Some work may be done in class depending on the individual teacher.
In 5th grade, there are 2 different workbooks. Some teachers use one, other teachers use the other. The workbooks contain different words but the activities involving the words are the same. The 5th grade is moving towards using one uniform workbook.
6. Differentiation of assignments for those students who excel
Additional assignments, if any, depend upon the student and the teacher and should be addressed by the parent with the classroom teacher. As a whole, additional homework is not usually given as it is often looked upon by the student as punishment. Additional resources are available to those parents looking for more activities, such as the Pearson Success website for additional math. There are additional external links to other subject areas listed on the Stewart website.
The most important activity that teachers encourage the student looking for additional challenges, is reading.
7. COGAT scores and QUEST
Numerous questions have arisen in connection with the recently received COGAT scores. Due to the overwhelming number of questions posed to the PTA Director, the curriculum representatives and the grade representatives, Ms. Norton will provide a presentation about COGAT and Quest at the next PTA meeting on February 4, 2010.
8. Constitution Works for the 5th grade
Constitution works has been rescheduled to the end of May due to the change in the scheduling of NYS testing. The 5th graders will begin working on the program at the end of February and will visit the Courthouse sometime in May.
- PTA Dinner – Save the date – Thursday, March 18th. Dinner is being held at the Inn at New Hyde Park. Cost is $55.00 per person (cash bar). Wonderful favors for all who attend – Manicure and Pedicure donated by Salon Beyond. Great Grand Raffle prize – weekend for 2 Mandarin Oriental in NYC. Other prizes to be announced. Watch for sale of raffle tickets at upcoming PTA events. Invitations will be coming home in backpacks and also by PTA eblast.
- Plant Sale – Sign up to help at pickup on May 7th (Contact Sharon McDonald 742-8586 or Lora Cerrato 747-2002
- Health and Safety – Little Doctors Blood Drive on February 25th, Open Airways Program March 2nd and 9th for third grade and March refresher for fourth and fifth grade.
- Teacher/Staff Appreciation Luncheon Sign-up (Contact Kathy Martinus 873-1717, Diana Campbell 746-7153 or Tina Deignan 746-0420
- Box Tops – keep sending them in. Will be collected at end of February.
- Stop and Shop – if you haven’t signed up you still have time. See Stewart School website for instructions. Program continues through March. Money will be used towards 21st Century Classroom
- Capri Sun – collection container is in lunchroom. Money is received for each pouch that is collected and you are helping the environment!
- Arts in Education – Lou Del Bianco -
- SEPTA –
- February 11th Ray Cepeda – It’s IEP Season (rescheduled because of snow day to Thursday, February 25th)
- March 19th meeting – Interpreting State Tests
- April-Mother's Day Boutique
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