General Nash H&S Meeting Minutes
October 9, 2014
Thanks to Aiden Copestick and Sean Corman for babysitting!
The meeting was opened at 7:05pm.
September minutes were approved.
Upcoming Dates were reviewed: We are having a dining night out once per month at various restaurants through the area. Our first night is October 15th at Dairy Queen from 6-9pm. Other dining night outs will take place at Wendy's, Chipotle, Yo-Fresh, and Chick-Fil-A..
New Business:
1. Jeff Kinney, Author Visit - Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series will be visiting Nash on November 6th from 12 - 1. Ours is one of the few schools he will be visiting to kick off his tour for his new book The Long Haul. You can pre-order your autographed copy of this book through the Harleysville Book Store website or via our order form which you can find on e-communication and which went home in bi-monthly envelopes. Many thanks to Harleysville Book Store for sponsoring this visit!!! All Nash parents and students are welcome to attend the assembly. Pre-Registration sheets will be coming home for this event.
2. March-a-thon - We have received about $3000 in donations so far. Our goal is 100% participation! You can donate through Paypal on our website as well - just remember to include your child's name and teacher on the comment section! So far we have about 18% participation. We have some great incentives to get the kids excited including: at 60% participation, Mr. Martiello will dye his hair for the day, at 70% Mr. Martiello will ride a tricycle for the day, at 80% Mr. Martiello will ride a tricycle dressed like Francis, at 90% we will make a "Principal Sundae", and at 100% Mr. Martiello will work from the roof for the day! Once you make your donation, don't forget to have your student color his sneaker (form can be found on the website), which we are hanging in the cafeteria. Every sneaker brings us a step closer to our goal!!
3. Budget - No great changes from last month. We put together a pie chart to show how our H&S funds are used. Almost every dollar goes directly back to our students, through classroom support, assemblies, field trips, etc.
4. Fruit Fundraiser - This year we are trying a new fundraiser. We are running this for 5 months. Each month you can order either 1/2 cases or cases of the designated fruit of the month (oranges, apples, grapefruit, etc.). You can pick and choose which months you want to order. The flyers will be going home on 10/20 with the order due back to Nash by 10/30 and delivery 10 days later. We are doing this with Pennfield, Walton Farm, and Inglewood.
Teacher Representative - Miss Catto
Thanks to Home & School for funding BrainPop again this year! Miss Catto demonstrated how BrainPop is used in the classroom and showed some ways to use it at home as well. Most grade levels use it throughout the year and this year included in our subscription is access to BrainPop, BrainPop Jr. , and BrainPop ESL at home 24/7. There is also an app, which is more limited than the computer version, but also included. Second grade uses Brain Pop Jr. three to four times per week and the kids also use it during independent working times. Basically, BrainPop has little video lessons on a variety of topics. Each video is around 4 to 6 minutes long. If you are working at home, Miss Catto suggests using the Closed Caption option so kids are hearing and seeing the words at the same time. Each video has quizzes the kids can take. There is also a section for Word Wall which has vocabulary words for each video. There are also activities, which sometimes can be used in the classroom on the smart boards, or they can be printed out. There is also a section for games which are educational games linked to the lesson. You can use the lesson plan button to help you figure out what is appropriate for your child's level. Brain Pop Jr. is for grades K-3 and BrainPop is for grades 4-6.
To use brain pop, go to www.brainpop.com and login. Our username and password were passed out on Back to School night. They are also on your child's bi-monthly envelopes.
Principal's Report: Mr. Martiello
1. Go Math Information Nights - The district is holding informational nights on the new math program (called "Go Math") for each grade level. The schedule for the nights is on the Nash website. Also, Go Math has a "Think Central" website. Your child's username and password is his or her lunch number. There are a number of resources on that website to help you support math at home. Mr. Martiello is also going to rebuild the "Support of Home Learning" page on the Nash website. Look for info to come out when that site is back up and running.
2. Halloween Parade - We are having our Halloween Parade during school hours again! The parade will start at 2pm and end around 2:45 at which time class rooms may have their parties. Parent volunteers will have badges from the office. Look for pre-registration forms to come home the week of 10/13. Working on a plan to allow AM Kindergarten students who wish to come back to school that day to participate - maybe have a parent volunteer group walk with their class. New parents or parents who have not had their ID raptored, may stop by the office at any time to have their ID processed through the raptor system.
3. October = Anti-Bully + Fire Prevention Week + Red Ribbon Week + Apple Crunch Day. - October is a busy month! The fire department will be at Nash with their fire truck on October 10th - all grades will go out. Red Ribbon week takes place from October 23rd to October 31st. This is an anti-drug, pro healthy living week. This year's theme is "Love Yourself, Be Drug Free". We are having a wear red day in support of this on Monday, October 27th. Mr. Martiello will send out a reminder in his weekly newsletter.
Events Update
1. Clothing Drive - We will be holding a clothing drive from October 27th to November 4th, with pick up on November 5th. There will be carts outside the building to drop off your gently used clothes in. Also accept stuffed animals.
2. Directory - We have all but 30 families info for the directory. The on-line version will go live early next week. The link is not viewable on the website due to security purposes, but we will have a directory info page with directions on how to get the information you need. Everyone will receive an email with the link and password - save your e-mail! There will also be a paper version this year only, which will be printed in the next couple of weeks. The on-line version will be the most up-to-date as new families can be added and information will be edited throughout the year.
3. Holiday Shop - We will be holding the Holiday Shop again during school hours. The shop will be open on Thursday, December 4th and Friday, December 5th. It will also be open during Breakfast with Frosty on Saturday, December 6th.
4. Wendy's Night - We will be holding our 2nd dining night out on November 11th from 5-8pm at the newly renovated Wendy's on Forty Foot & Allentown Rd. We have 370 coupons for a free Jr. Frosty, which we will hand out at the door to the first 370 Nash students! Drive through also counts towards our fundraiser, but you must come in to get your coupon!
5. Spirit Days - A couple of our spirit days are changing this year. The December spirit day (usually Blast from the Past) will be changing - still working on the theme; a couple of suggestions were "Rock the reading" and a rainbow theme with each grade level having a color to dress in for the day. The May spirit day will be changing to crazy sock day. Also, the international spirit day in April will be more classroom based this year. Student Council will be helping out this year by making posters. Announcements will be made once the days are finalized.
Coordinator Reports/Open Forum:
1. Pretzel Sales - 6th grade is holding a pretzel sale - you should have received an order form in your bi-monthly envelope. It is also available on line. There is a change this year; due to federal guidelines, we can only sell products that are distributed during the school day that are 51% whole grain. A taste test was held during school lunch and the majority of students liked the new pretzels. They are individually wrapped and un-salted. Weekly pretzel deliveries will start on 10/22.
2. Coupon Cards - also a 6th grade fundraiser. Each coupon card is $10 and is good for 1 year. Has coupons for Corropolese, Dunkin Donuts, YoFresh, DQ, McDonalds and some others. Contact Karen Copestick for more information!
3. Kid Stuff Books - Also a 6th grade fundraiser - Kid Stuff books or orders were due back Monday, October 6th. If you have not returned your book or your order, please do so as soon as possible.
4. Pictures - Pictures should be out no later than October 17th. Re-takes are on October 24.
5. Box Tops - Our first drive is ending on October 22nd. You can either send in the form with your box tops glued or taped to it, or if you don't want to use the form, send them in a baggie with your child's name and teacher. Forms are located on the website and on e-communications.
6. Campbell's labels - keep sending them in with your child's name and teacher. They do not have deadlines like Boxtops.
7. Tabs - still collecting aluminum tabs in an effort to reach 1million this year!! Student Council will help with counting. Some classrooms have also helped out with counting by tying the counting into the 100 days of school. You can also count at home if you want to and send them in labeled with the number and your child's name and teacher.
Our next meeting will be held on November 13, 2014 in the Nash Library at 7pm!!