SIT Minutes
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Members Present (X denotes presence): _x_Miles , _x_Lilje, _x_Johnson, __Ray , _x_Naulty, _x_Buckingham,_x_Title I (Leonard), _x_Needham, __Hendrix, _x_Stephens, _x_Freeman, _x_(PRT Slate), _x_Lewis-Freeman, __M. Hamilton, _x_BJBrown, _x_Parker, _x_Kaluzne, __C. Hamilton (Parent)
The SIT meeting was called to order at 3:19pm by Chair, Elisabeth Stephens. D. Hendrix was not in attendance but sent the minutes from our Feb. 8 meeting for review. A motion to approve the minutes was made and passed unanimously.
Discussion Items
Information and Reminders:
Dates for Mock EOG:3rd Quarter Assessments for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders
Mon., 21 March – Science (5th grade only)
Tues., 22 March – Reading
Wed., 23 March – Math Calculator Active
Thurs., 24 March – Math Calculator Inactive
Fri., 25 March – Make Ups
Applebee’s Bookworm Club: Mrs. Needham announced that the school sold $6500 during the Scholastic Book Fair, of which Scholastic returns to us a $4,000 credit. Mrs. Needham is hoping to organize a group to go to Scholastic’s warehouse. She is getting suggestions from teachers of our needs and is hoping to have a date soon.
Applebee’s is starting a program whereby each child can receive a postcard about their Bookworm Club. When a child gets 10 checks for reading books, they can take the postcard to any Applebee’s and receive a free kid’s meal with the purchase of an adult meal. This program was very successful in New York, and Mrs. Needham hopes to get it kicked off soon for us here – details will follow from her as soon as they are settled. The program is expected to begin March 1, via the school broadcast.
Zone Visitation: takes place this week, Feb. 21 – 28. There is no strict visitation policy this year – if a parent comes in and wants a tour, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. Hendrix or Ms. Brown will work it into their schedules.
PTA Science Night: still scheduled for March 10, but there will be no “Specialist Night” on that date.
Old Business:
Grade-Level Plans for Blitz:
3rd Grade: Beginning 22 days from the EOG (April 11), they will have an afternoon blitz, with the amount of time spent left up to individual teacher’s schedule. They plan to review a math objective and complete a reading passage every day. They have a packet of math review sheets that needs to be copied, and they request purchase of the workbook “NC Practice and Mastery Reading” for all third grade students. They do not need additional staff at this point. The review time will take the place of their normal time for Social Studies, Science or Health, and they will make up the lost teaching time for these areas after the EOG.
4th Grade: The 4th grade, recognizing that Imagine It must be continued and the math standard course of study continues with new skills, report that they want to do a one week blitz in math only. Structured for one hour (8:30-9:30). They will use the Blitz math packets they put together last year (these will need to be copied), and do not need additional staff at this point.
5th Grade: The fifth grade will have a math blitz for one week (date to be determined based on the arrival date of the workbooks to be purchased), from 8:30 – 9:30 every morning. They will need the “Test Ready Plus Math” workbooks purchased for every student. They will continue to use these books after the blitz week by working it into their regular schedule. Fifth grade also plans a science blitz, taking place from 1:15 – 2:00 on that same week. Books have already been purchased for this use. Their reading review will be done as morning work and/or in small groups, using the workbook “Ready Reading”. They request four class sets be purchased of this book (Mrs. Halden wants to be exempted). Students will remain in their regular classrooms for all review.
Mrs. Parker requested written copies of plans with a separate list of what needs to be purchased be given to her by the SIT representative of each grade level, along with the dates for the blitz. She also requested that the originals of any sheets to be copied be given to her no later than March 8th.
Title 1 Funds/PRC Purchases: Some funds are available after the purchase of the Science and blitz materials. Discussion was held for possible purchase of trade books to support Imagine It, or guided reading books (although Mrs. Parker said these are very expensive).
Literacy Coach Update: Mrs. Parker shared our ideas/suggestions with Janie Costello. Hiring a coach could not feasibly begin until late April, so it was decided that it would be best to start this the beginning of next school year. Many suggestions were made to focus on Imagine It. Mrs. Parker wanted to remind everyone that a coach does not work with students – they work with teachers to develop lesson plans, do model lessons, devise strategies for using various programs, and give suggestions on organizing class schedules.
New Business:
Imagine It Consultant: We have Title 1 funds still available that are assigned to pay for staff development. It was discussed that this money could best be used to pay for an Imagine It consultant that would spend more extensive, quality time in our school from now until the end of this school year. It was requested that this person spend much more time modeling (possibly videotape so teachers and watch and discuss during PLC’s), and would be here for blocks of days at a time. Other ideas were for individual teachers to be able to sign up for time with the consultant. They could also work with the Intervention Team and ESL to prepare them to support the Imagine It program in the classroom beginning next year.
Any teachers with other suggestions or questions should email them to Mrs. Parker as soon as possible.
PLC Facilitator: Our current school PLC Facilitator needs to step down, so we are in need of a new volunteer! The responsibilities include attending the district-wide meeting once a month and bringing back information from the meeting and share with the school. Anyone interested, please contact Mrs. Parker by 3pm Friday, 2/25.
Star3 Core Team: A proposal was made and unanimously passed that the members of the SIT committee would also act as the school representatives for the Star3 Core Team. They will meet once a month (replacing a SIT meeting). Mrs. Needham volunteered to act as secretary for this team. Anyone who would like to volunteer to be the facilitator for this team should contact Mrs. Parker by Thursday, 2/24.
Standard Mode of Dress: A motion was passed to pursue starting the process to look into having SMOD at Griffith at the beginning of the next school year. SIT members are to inform new people about the process that began last year to get them up to date with the information. Bonnie Brown and Janet Freeman will work on a timeline and get the information ready for discussion at our next staff meeting, and to possibly resurvey teachers for interest. Mrs. Parker will talk to the PTA to inform them that we are re-looking at this issue.
Accelerated Reader/Accelerated Math: We will have a 30-day extension on our usage rights for these two programs. Mrs. Parker is working with administration to get the annual dues paid. Ignore the notices on Renaissance Place’s website.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:42 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Debbie Naulty, Substitute Secretary