Forum Meeting, May 11, 2011

Attendance:

K-2:  Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: Kathy Manders

Wellness: Mary Ahnert

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel

English:  absent

Math:  Josh Feller

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Intervention (High School):  Clara Clark

Social Studies:  Stormy Taylor

Science:  Vicki Heupel

Art:  Sarah Taylor

Administration:  Jackie Boshka

Good News:

Stormy Taylor’s classes are having a cultural week.  Highlights include dances, songs, Japanese culture, and the Salish and Kootenai tribes.

Art club received a thank letter from the Food Bank for the 20 bowls they made and donated to the Empty Bowls project.

Jackie commended the last school board presentations from the teams.

Wellness team went on a field trip to Peaceful Gardens.  They are willing to do field trips next year for classes.

Teacher Appreciation Week—great lunch at elementary school.

Agate conference—several attendees from both schools, great information.

Grades 3 and 4 are working on musicals—The Solar System and The Lewis and Clark Expedition

High School Intervention is two years into their five year plan already.

Reports on HPT meetings

PIR ideas:

·          Agate—specifically how to include enrichment activities in the curriculum, Eliza Sorte is a great speaker

·          Intervention time to develop more consistency in grading

·          Life coach training with Gina Lyons

·          Creating literacy and math activity centers

·          Curriculum Compacting

·          Web 2.0 tools

·          Creating my view for school website

·          Refresher on Step up to Writing

·          Focus on the direction of grading and grading practices

·          Time for new department members

·          Policies and procedures, especially for new teachers

·          Refresher for school website

·          Gradebook

·          Interwrite and Smartboard

·          Blogs

·          Brain Processing and Stress with Bridget

·          Dr. Ruby Payne—Framework for Understanding Poverty

·          Nutrition education in the classroom

·          Yoga

·          Yoga in the classroom

·          School Gardens in the curriculum

·          Junior Great Books training

·          Share Agate information from workshop

·          www.bigforkschools.org advanced training

·          Clickers

·          Basic Computer Troubleshooting

·          Copy Machine-scanning, email

RECOMMENDATION WAS MADE AND UNANAMOUSLY AGREED NOT HAVE IT IN THE CAFETERIA FOR ALL DAY, SUGGESTION TO HAVE IT AT CROSSROADS WITH THAT GREAT SOUP WE HAD LAST TIME!

Forum Meeting, April 27, 2011

Attendance:

K-2:  Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: absent but sent report

Wellness: Mary Ahnert

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel

English:  Charlie Ball

Math:  Josh Feller

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Intervention (High School):  Clara Clark

Social Studies:  Stormy Taylor

Science:  Vicki Heupel

Art:  Sarah Taylor

Administration:  Jackie Boshka

Good News:

Student Council elections this week at the high school.

Stormy Taylor has had Mike Bennett, a Vietnam Vet, as a guest speaker in her classroom.

Assembly at the elementary school on Wednesday.

Wellness Committee has received a grant to teach health and yoga and to pay the wellness chair a stipend.  There will also be two PIRs offered next year for teachers.

Jesse Venteicher won a national photography contest.

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2: worked on end of the year assessments and how to put them in a report card style

3-4:  worked on teacher/student numbers for next year, combining classes and departmentalizing content areas; 4^th grade is getting ready for the Lewis and Clark play

5-6:   worked on assessments and the board report

Wellness:  three high school students have joined the committee, the school board requested a prioritized list which includes—fresh produce for school meals, Farm to School speaker, field trip to Peaceful Garden, nutritional education at all grade levels, yoga for 8^th grade, webinar on school garden, lunch time for high school, vending machines, student store

Intervention:  evaluated what is and is not working, what should be contained in the files from grade to grade

Tech team: worked on board report

Intervention (High School):  looked at elementary data room and what can come across with 8^th graders and Swan River students

English:  worked on board report, looked at how Science was using assessments on a quarter basis, checked out the national standards, and looked at aligning semester finals

Science:  discussed the Science department changes

Social Studies:  worked on board report

Math:  worked on board report, continued on the assessment database for PreAlg            

Art: worked on board report

HPT meetings—please discuss with teams PIR ideas for next year.  What are you willing to present and what would you like to see presented.  Speaker for HPT work????

Insurance

Let's use this area to have a threaded disscussion regarding insurance. The BLOG is a great way to have this disscussion so that everyone can see the discussion and therefore will know what's going on.


Yesterday I sent out an email to the staff seeing how many people would like to shop around for insurance. So far, i've had 45 emails with a big fat YES! Feel free to post any comments and concerns. You can also use this area to let me know you would like to be involved!!!

Forum Minutes 3/16/2011

Attendance:

K-2:  Celie Perleberg

3-4: absent

5-6: Kathy Manders

Wellness: Sue McGregor

Intervention (Elementary): absent

English:  Charlie Ball

Math:  Marya Dolezal

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Intervention (High School):  Clara Clark

Social Studies:  Stormy Taylor

Science:  Vicki Heupel

Administration:  Matt Jensen, Jackie Boshka, Cory Pierce

Good News:

CRTs are going well at both schools with students taking them seriously.  iPod touch incentive seems to be a motivator.

Cowabunga is this weekend.

Blood Drive went well on Wednesday.

Missoula math contest results are back.  Eight students received a superior and several received honorable mention.

Wellness team is almost done with their checklist and eager to move on to the recommendations.

Two high school students are back to complete the rest of the year.

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2: Checked out Kalispell’s rubric and were pleased to find that Bigfork’s is more extensive.

3-4: 

5-6:   Continued working on writing assessment prompts.  Planning to have at least one writing assessment after Spring Break.

Wellness:  Prepping for the board presentation, after checklist is completed they will work on recommendations and improvements with the help of surveys.  Mary has applied for a grant but have yet to hear back about it.

Intervention: 

Tech team:  rschooltoday online worksheets and trails9.org assessment.

Intervention (High School):  will be presenting workshop information at a staff meeting.

English:  Discussed formative assessments, how they utilize discussions for comprehension and dealing with absences.

Science:  Worked on essential learnings and the overlap between courses/grade levels. Vicki has been working with the online worksheets at rschooltoday and how to use them for assessments and remediation.

Social Studies:  Continued working on assessments and the board presentation.

Math:  Working on PreAlg assessment banks for each quarter, formative assessments, daily quizzes, techniques for checking for understanding, and nongraded versus graded assessment.

Art: Worked on assessments, Sarah is working on a blended classroom.

Board Presentations: Showcase alignment and assessments, website work and other trainings and technology you have used this year.

Calendar is narrowed down to four.  Staff will receive the choices soon to vote on.

Next meeting  is April 13, 2011.

Forum Minutes 2/16/2011

Attendance:

K-2:  Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: Julie Bonner

Wellness:  Mary Ahnert

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

English:  Charlie Ball

Science: Vicki Heupel

Social Studies: Stormy Taylor

Math: Jessica Johnson

Intervention (High School):  Clara Clark

Administration:  Jackie Boshka

Good News

Cynthia Wilondek is the new recipient of the High School teacher of the month trophy.

The 7^th graders went to the MATH COUNTS competition and took 3^rd place, competing against mostly 8^th graders.

Valentine’s Day dance featured student artists.

Science Fair had more projects than ever before.  Assembly will be held on Thursday for presentation of the awards.  The winners will compete at the county level.

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2:  Celie Perleberg—Continued working on common assessments for Math.  Terry Gross was volunteered to be on the calendar committee.

3-4: Michelle Kaney—Continued their work on common assessments for Math.

5-6: Julie Bonner—Came up with a calendar for the calendar committee.  Joe Pitts volunteered to be on the committee.  The team focused on writing assessment and came up with three writing prompts for assessments to be used throughout the school year to obtain measurable results.

Wellness:  Mary Ahnert—Email was sent to staff about the wellness committee.  They are seeking a student and parent representative to attend their meetings.  Currently working on grants available and the application process.

Intervention (Elementary): Bridget Martel—The team needed a more efficient way to look at students needing intervention.  They created an academic profile form that lists the assessments currently given as well as the student’s prior test history.  The form includes a recommendation section.  The profile can following the student from elementary to high school and be transferred with a student who changes school districts. Started out for students with difficulties but certainly could be used for all students. 

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski—Will be working on the Information Literacy Assessment at trails9.org.

English:  Charlie Ball—Worked on the various assessments that are given at specific grade levels.  Will be used for entrance and exit information.

Science: Vicki Heupel –Currently no placement test,   summative assessments are by individual teacher.  They are currently going through the year and aligning the essential learnings with the tests.  Also discussed the transition from eighth to ninth grade and created a form for essential learnings that will be used for each student for intervention.

Social Studies: Stormy Taylor—Looked at what is currently in place, how they assess, and their expectations of what students should know.  More release time would be beneficial, as well as plagiarism software and maps.  Also discussed the gap in social studies from 8^th grade to Junior year. (Perhaps a freshman elective for Geography?)

Math: Jessica Johnson—Marya volunteered to be on the calendar committee and will present the calendar that they created.  They are working on math assessments to be given three times a year.  Next meeting will be to work on PreAlgebra  test bank.

Intervention (High School):  Clara Clark—Has not met, will be attending an intervention conference next month.

Reminder for teams to sign up for the board presentations.

Next forum meeting will be March 16.

Forum Minutes 1/19/2011

Attendance:

K-2:  Celie Perleberg

3-4: Michelle Kaney

5-6: Kathy Manders

Wellness: Mary Ahnert

Intervention (Elementary): Heidi Raab

English:  Charlie Ball

Math:  Marya Dolezal

Tech Team: Sue Zielanski

Intervention (High School):  Clara Clark

Social Studies:  Cynthia Wilondek

Science:  Vicki Heupel

Administration:  Matt Jensen, Jackie Boshka

Good News:

Semester tests.  Student Council will again be providing juice and bagels on Thursday.

Reflections reception and show is excellent.

7^th and 8^th graders went skiing.

Senior class is sponsoring parent’s night out on January 28^th. Free babysitting from 6 to 10.

No drop outs first semester.

Three seniors are graduating early.

Vicki Heupel is high school teacher of the month.

Reports on HPT meetings

K-2: Aligning report cards with the Everyday Math program.

3-4:  Looked at the calendar and would like a half day HPT time but the lunchtime schedule is a problem for the elementary.  Working on math assessments and are now using the IXL Math program.

5-6:  Focused on the scientific method and were pleased with the classroom results.

Wellness:  Following the OPI guidelines.   Sue McGregor is the chair.  They will be seeking student and parent input and are working on assessing the school environment.

Intervention:  Implementing the intervention process at the Elementary.  Created a data room for all assessments K-8. 

Tech team:  rschooltoday training

Intervention (High School):  Six people will be going to a Pyramid Response to Intervention Workshop in March.  Are anxious to see how it will work at the high school level.

English:  Talked about the calendar.

Science:  No common assessments for Science so looked at individual assessments to be edited.

Social Studies:  Each brought an assessment to check with state standards.

Math:  Each brought an assessment to align with the state standards.  Discussed the calendar to adjust for more HPT time.

****HPTS should propose a calendar for recommendation next year.  Volunteers for the calendar committee are needed.

Next forum meeting is February 16,  2011.