Site Council Minutes

January 22, 2008

In attendance: Erika Taylor, Becky Rappin, Debi Courage, Anne Coxon, Erica Davis, Barbara Walton, Amy Ciszewski, Cathy Wilson, Natalie Ootkin. Not in attendance: Kathy Juhn, Jill Ward

Public comment: None

Called to Order: 4:32 p.m.

November minutes: Approved as written

New Business

Boundary Committee: The site council received one application to fill Grand Ridge’s representative to the boundary review committee. Barb Walton provided the council with metrics for evaluating the application (searching for green flags and red flags). The council reviewed the application and then discussed the candidate’s strengths. Motion #1: Erica Davis moved that Theora Dalupan represent Grand Ridge Elementary on the Boundary Review Committee. Motion seconded. Approved. Motion carried.

Grade Level Updates:

In Kindergarten we have been learning about the four seasons, different kinds of weather and we have also had fun creating snowman-inspired art projects. We have been writing a lot in our journals, too. Lately, we have been focusing on concepts of print such as: capitalization, spacing between words and "ending" punctuation--periods, exclamation marks, etc. In math, we have been working on creating bar graphs, counting by ones, fives and tens and using pan balances.

First grade students are studying water in science.  Map skills plus the continents and oceans are the focus in social studies.  The first grade teachers all attended an ISD training in Everyday Math last Wednesday.  We are working in Unit 4 – Measurement and Unit 5 – Place Value and will be giving our mid-year assessment in early February. 

Second grade is studying the rainforest and will attend a field trip on January 31 to the Woodland Park Zoo. This trip is only put on by the zoo for school groups. The second graders participate in a special program in which they help build the layers of the rainforest (they actually become part of the layer with the assistance of props). This hands-on approach to compare the layers of the tropical and temperate rainforest is followed by a tour for each class with a zoo docent focused on the rainforest.

Third grade finished up with a math unit learning about whole numbers up to the millions and being able to compare large numbers. They continue to practice basic fact extensions and use their knowledge of place value to describe relationships between numbers. Decimals were introduced to the thousandths place and they played Number Top It to learn which decimal was the largest. They have just begun learning about Geometry by learning about different kinds of lines, and angles.

The Third Grade is using a program called Storypath to study about Pacific Northwest Native American Tribes. The essential questions relate to the unit as students take on roles within a clan to learn the importance of the extended family to their way of life. They also learn why where people live affects how they live and why natural resources would be important to their very existence. As a culminating project, all third grade classes will meet to have a Potlatch celebration with each classroom representing a Coastal Tribe from the Pacific Northwest region. They finally learn the affects of the European influence when they are visited by a Trader who takes their art work and precious goods in exchange for beads, metal and other lower value items. We have even had an invited artist, Anne Bruns teach each child how to make a clay mask representing the different Native American symbols. We continue to learn the elements and traits of good writing habits while writing Native American legends.  Reading continues to emphasize skills important to third grade comprehension and reading from different selections of literature.

Fourth grade is finishing Unit 6 of Everyday Math and preparing for the mid-term. After Unit 6, students will have completed Volume 1 Math Journal and will move on to Volume 2.  It is amazing how much math we have covered so far. In the past two units, students were introduced to new strategies for solving multi-digit multiplication and division, the partial-products and lattice algorithms for multiplication and the partial-quotient algorithm for division. The lattice algorithm was by far the favorite, however, as teachers we were impressed at the ease students could solve division problems using the new method.

Fourth graders are participating in the Junior Achievement program again this year. Parent and student volunteers have been trained and lessons started for some classes last week. The “Our Region” program incorporates skills and concepts that align with our fourth grade “Economics 101” unit and will be important for our Junior Achievement “Biz-Town” field trip scheduled for later this year.

Fifth grade at Grand Ridge is getting ready for environmental science camp at Camp Colman March 17, 18, and 19. Also, in the area of science we are right in the middle of 7 science labs about human body systems with Science To Go. At the same time, we are studying force and motion and simple machines. The simple machines unit will culminate with our toy lab with the Toyman on February 12^th. In social studies, we are learning about Colonial American regions, culture, and government. We will be starting an interactive unit called "The Struggle for Independence" which will lead our students from Colonial America to the Revolutionary War and the start of our nation. We are all enjoying Everyday math and will be concluding Unit 6: Data, Addition and Subtraction of Fractions this week and starting Unit 7: Exponents and Negative Numbers the week of January 22.

Old Business

Parent Handbook: Barb Walton said that during a meeting of the district’s secretaries, everyone commented about how much they liked the Site Council’s parent handbook. They felt it was useful, informative and well done.

PTSA Updates

• General Membership meeting tomorrow (January 23) at 7:45 p.m., following the “Resources for Everyday Math” parent education seminar.
• Castle Ice social had a pretty good turnout, despite the snowy weather.
• The Science Fair is coming up on Friday, February 1. There will be boxed lunches offered. Sixteen activities are planned, including germ glow, airplane alley, teacher presentations and more.
• There is approximately $18,000 in surplus in the PTSA budget. The PTSA would like to use that money this year in the areas of greatest need (for example, voting eggs, teacher grants, etc.)
• It was brought up that there is a “Family Kit” for Everyday Math available. It includes family games and other resources to use at home. It is $39 for the kit. Will get the word out to parents about this kit.
• New officers will be elected in March 2008. The nominating committee has met and is beginning to develop a slate for the board.

Principals Report

• Judy Bowlby is taking a leave of absence for the rest of the year, and Cathy Wilson is now full time. We hope to have a replacement for Judy on the site council by next meeting.
• Stanford Achievement Testing begins in February. We need kids to be on time to school. If they are tardy, and testing has begun, they will be required to do a make-up test. It has been shown that kids do not do as well on make-up tests. Scores will not be mailed out this year.  Instead scores will be uploaded into Family Access sometime in April.
• Newcomer’s Coffee held in January. We have approximately 20 new students to Grand Ridge, bringing the total to 778 kids.
• Staff is doing the second round of intensive learning on Everyday Math.
• Additional professional learning during staff meetings is focused on the Love & Logic approach.
• Briefly discussed the boundary review process and that it is likely that the boundary changes for the elementary schools will be implemented to coincide with the opening of Elementary #15.
• There are two additional portables planned for next year at Grand Ridge. Whether or not full day kindergarten will be offered depends on the number of kindergarteners who register this spring.

Adjourned at 5:09 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Erika Taylor