Pelham School Press

SAFETY FIRST!! Families, we need your help! The most dangerous times of day at Pelham School are arrival and dismissal times, and in order to keep everyone safe, please follow the following procedures:

Dropping Off Students: Parents, please note that there is NO PARKING in the parent drop off lane near the Kindergarten and 1^st Grade Entrance. If you must park and come into the building, please park in a designated parking space in the school parking lot, the library parking lot, or the fire station parking lot. Parking spaces will be at a premium during the two parent conference days, so please leave some extra time to find a designated parking space. Also, if you are parking and walking into the building with your child, please make sure that your child walks carefully and safely with you.

Pick Up Time: Please be on time to pick up students at the end of the day. Mrs. Glucksman is usually in the cafeteria for parent check out a little after 3 PM (1:20 on Wednesday), and she brings students who have not been picked up to the school office by 3:15 PM (1:30 on Wednesday). There may be no one to answer the phone in the school office during dismissal time, so please leave a message if you are stuck in traffic or have some other emergency.

AGENDA FOR REGULAR Meeting of PELHAM School Committee

7:00 PM, THURSDAY, October 1, 2009 in the Community Room

1. WELCOME: Call to Order and Minutes

2. Announcements and Public Comment

3. Principal & Superintendent Update

4. Unfinished/Continuing Business

5. New Business – FY09 Budget

6. Reports – None

7. School Committee Planning Calendar Review; Items for Upcoming Meetings; Sub-committee reports

8. Adjournment This is an open meeting; all parents and community members are invited to attend.

REMINDER: Parents, please note that students will be dismissed at 1:20 PM on October 22 and October 27, so teachers can hold their fall parent-teacher conferences. If you did not sign up for a conference at Curriculum Night, please call or send a note to your child’s teacher to schedule one.

Pelham Elementary PTO Meeting

Monday October 5^th

7:00 pm Pelham Library - Community Room

Help us organize fun activities for the year

Connect with other parents

Support your school

Have fun! Eat Cake!

Everyone welcome!!

The Amherst A Better Chance Fall Foliage Walk will return this year on Saturday, October 17h with all of the fitness fun it has provided for over 40 years. A tradition in Amherst, the Walk is the ABC program’s most important fundraiser. People of all ages and from all parts of the community come out to support the scholars who are seeking better educational opportunities at Amherst Regional High School. Registration will begin at the Mill Amherst Town Common at 10 AM. It’s OK if you don’t do the whole Walk; even if you can’t walk at ALL on that day you CAN still participate by seeking pledges for an alternative activity. Pledge forms will be available to Pelham students and families from Meg Gallagher after permission slips go home. To learn more about the A.B.C. Program, go to amherstabetterchance.org or to the national website, abetterchance.org.

Enchanted Forest

Animals in Disguise

Don’t miss the Hitchcock Center’s Enchanted Forest! This non-scary Halloween family event takes place Friday, October 23 and Saturday, October 24 from 5-8:30p.m. Adults and children of all ages will enjoy meeting our magical “Animals in Disguise” as you are guided along the pumpkin-lit trail. Walks leave the Center every 15 minutes and last 45 minutes. Enjoy crafts, games, and snacks for sale. Pre-registration required. Register early as this event fills fast! Call 413-256-6006.

Box Tops for Education	Campbell Soup Labels	Printer Cartridges	A+Bonus Bucks at Stop and Shop	BIG Y Education Express
Found on General Mills products, please cut and send to Pelham School	Please cut and send to Pelham School office	Send your used cartridges to the Pelham School office.	Our School ID is 05202	Our school ID is 6258

September has seemed to fly by. We finished our bubble unit with a fun Bubble Extravaganza Day. A big thanks to all the parents who helped, and it was nice to see all the parents at Curriculum Night.

Social Studies: We began our next unit, the study of forest and wetlands. We started our unit by taking a walk to look at the two ecosystems by our school, a forest and wetlands and brainstorming the animals that make these their habitat. Our next activity was to collect data on our stream. However, our stream study was cut short by some unfriendly bees. We will continue our stream study unit from the safety of our classroom. Our big ideas for this unit are that many animals coexist in the same habitat, that streams and rivers are created as the water sheds from the land, that what we do on land effects the health of the rivers, and that streams are a part of the water cycle.

Reading: We have spent the first month reading books on our level, reviewing some sound patterns and learning about the story structure—the characters, setting, problem, events, and ending of a story. This week will begin assigned reading books with small group instruction.

Math: We have started up some new classroom routines which use the clock, number lines, and the hundreds chart. Our main focus has been to develop strategies for accurately counting a set of objects by ones and in groups and to develop an understanding of the sequence of numbers to 100. During the last two weeks we have done several activities to help children learn the combinations to make 10. This week math combination cards went home for your child to study. I will test them on their ability to recall the sums quickly in the next few weeks.

Writing: We have done a combination of creative writing with our bubble adventures as well as work on learning the different parts of a sentence. We are learning that a sentence only needs a subject and the action of the subject. We are practicing finding interesting and vivid words to use as nouns and verbs. Cynthia Corey

Curriculum Night Every child was represented by one or more parents at curriculum night! I would like to thank each and every family for putting aside an evening to come listen to me ramble on about your child’s school day. I truly enjoy sharing all that we do and hope that your child is enjoying his/her first grade year. Your commitment of time is an example of the strength of our school community and a statement of your support for your child’s education. It’s just one more reason that I am proud to teach at Pelham School.

Pizza My final sharing as “Star of the Week” was to cook with the children, something that I enjoy doing. I have always said that if a class of children can create a pizza together that is edible then we have the makings of a cohesive group that will be able to work cooperatively throughout the year. Well, the pizza went together flawlessly and some said that it was the best pizza they had ever tasted. I am pleased to step down as “Star” and watch Calvin take over. I can’t wait to see what he and his family have cooked up.

Homework Last Thursday was the first night that Homework folders went home and almost all of them came back the next day to be emptied and then filled again with new books. The response has been very positive (only one child groaned when I said homework!) and the children were eager to bring more books home. It is important for this first homework experience to be successful so please read the letter in the homework folder carefully and call me right away if you have any questions or concerns. I would not want this experience to become a negative one since learning to read is fundamental to a child’s success in school.

The Snoops The first graders have snuck into each and every classroom at Pelham School in order to collect data to help guess the number of students in each class. We have counted chairs, backpacks, notebooks, artwork, desks, photos, etc. to get an idea of how many cookies to deliver as our way of saying “Thank You” for letting us snoop. We then returned with our “Guestimate” of class size along with a graph representing our data and a plate of cookies including enough for teacher, as well. Our “Investigations” curriculum is filled with meaningful and fun ways for children to count, analyze and express number.

Parent Conferences Parent conferences will be coming up soon. This is an important time for us to share information about your child, which will help me to know him/her better and help you to know more about your child’s social and academic success. Please contact me if you need to reschedule an appointment. Paul Lipman

IN ATTENDANCE: Rena Moore, Paul Lipman, Ruth Carolan, Diana Zahradnik, CherylNina Choquette, Amy Wasserman, Elise Stromgren, Sharrie Reydak, Lynn Smith, David Shanabrook, Tracy Farnham, Karen Ribeiro, Annie Foley, Barry Parker, Kristen Maddox.

INTRODUCTIONS: PTO President Ruth Carolan opened the meeting at 7:08, welcoming the new parents in attendance and introducing Lynn Smith, PTO Treasurer, who provided the new members in attendance a bit of background on the philosophy and mission of the Pelham PTO.

Principal’s Report Rena Moore	Rena reports that school is off to a smooth start, students are enthusiastic and very excited to be back. We have a new band teacher, Bob Castellano; Ms. Sansoucy got a full time job at the college level. We also have a long term substitute teacher from the Middle School who will assist as computer and Spanish teacher; Margo Russell. On Tuesday and Wednesday she is at the high School in the morning, comes to Pelham mid-day, and then returns to the high school in the afternoon. Rena also reports that there were deep cuts to the Library totaling $1800; we received an Amherst Education Fund grant of $735. Suggestion made that if PTO sponsored a “Buy a Book” promotion for families that are able to donate $15-$20 to the library, we might be able to raise the remaining $1100-$1200 to cover the cuts made.
School Committee Report Tracy Farnham	Tracy began the School Committee report by encouraging parents to come to the school committee meetings. Tracy said there is space set aside for Public Comment (but noted that the superintendent and school committee are not required to respond to public comments). Pelham School Committee is Tracy, Kathy Weilerstein (chair) and Deb Shepard. Tracy and Kathy are also part of the Amherst Regional School Committee. New superintendent of Amherst Schools, Alberto Rodriguez, came to our Ice Cream Social. The Amherst Regional Middle School got off to a rocky start; Glena Cresto, the principal, resigned for unspecified reasons. Tracy said that people came to the school committee meeting seeking answers and reasons why, but the school committee is not involved with employment decisions. Tracy did note that the outgoing middle school principal received many letter of support from parents. Mark Jackson is now principal of both the middle school and high school, it is unlikely that a replacement will be found this fall, but with a principal back in place (albeit part-time) things are settling down. There was much discussion about the idea of the 6^th Grade moving to the middle school; Tracy explained that many teachers and parents have been commenting to Dr. Rodriguez, providing more information about studies and general funding of the middle school (and elementary school funding from the regional towns). Dr. Rodriguez was surprised by the response, but heard the comments and input – for each potential gain in moving the 6^th grade, there was a potential negative result. Idea has been set aside for now.
Treasurer’s Report Diana Zahradnik/Lynn Smith	Diana reports that the new treasurer (Lynn Smith) is transitioning into the role, they need to meet to go over accounts and make transition. This will happen soon. Current balance is $12,963.73. $67.30 to Amy Wasserman in reimbursement for Back to School Packets, $147.00 to Cook’s Farm for the ice cream (Ice Cream Social)

Welcome Packets for New Families *Amy & Ruth*	Thank You to Amy Wasserman, Ellen Leuchs, and Ruth Carolan for coordinating the Back to School Packets for the new families.
Archive of PTO Events Diana Z	Diana is working on a basic sheet for the PTO activity chairs to fill out, containing the critical information so that we may track events and supplies needed, instructions, etc., from year to year. Paul L notes that there is an old PTO binder (in Rena’s office) that may help to fill in some detail of events.
Postcard Invitations to PTO Meetings for New Families *Sharrie* R	Sharrie sent home postcards the first full week of school in new children’s back packs, with the date and time for the PTO meeting and specifically inviting new parents to come and participate, if they are able.
Ice Cream Social Cheryl	Ice cream social was a success, everybody had a great time. Tracy counted 130-135 bowls of ice cream served, we collected $208. Cost of ice cream was $150.
PTO Sign Ruth	Last spring the PTO purchased a sign very similar to the Library’s sign, has removable letters and is easily moved. We need a volunteer to take charge of posting upcoming PTO and school fundraising and other events on the sign, setting the sign out by the Pelham School sign and taking it in when event is over. Karen Ribeiro volunteers to take care of the sign.

Book Fair (Ellen Leuchs)	Ellen could not attend but background on the book fair is that Scholastic sends books for purchase, classrooms go through the fair with their teacher, and student completes and brings home a wish list. The Library gets a percentage of the money raised to buy books. The book fair will be available during Curriculum night so that parents and students may purchase books.
Organizing college and parent volunteers	UMass has a freshmen level, general education class where each student needs to volunteer 8 hours in the community. A PTO representative goes to the class and gets student volunteers for PTO events. We are seeking someone to coordinate the volunteers.
Classroom Reps (Leanne Hasbrouck)	Leanne Hasbrouck organized the room reps (parent representative in each class); she will provide the list to Ruth. Room reps plan to speak at Curriculum night, introduce the major PTO events and other major school activities like Savings Makes Sense, etc.
Computer Club David	David Shanabrook presented information about the computer club; the mission of the club is to have the children do something different on the computer (other than games). There are LEGO kits that can be purchased for computers that children can use to build an object and then program it. David noted that the LEGO kits tend to be more appealing to the boys, there are also Arts kits that are more craft-like which more girls seem to favor. David says the kits are great and fit with the mission of the club; however, it is difficult to facilitate the children using the kits (3-4 students at a time) and coordinate the rest of the club. It would be helpful to have another parent volunteer to assist with the club using the kits. David is already considering splitting the club into two groups, older grades and younger grades, which will meet separately every other week to allow more focus on the age-oriented activities.
“Original Works” Art Fundraiser *Amy Wasserman*	Amy has contacted the Art teacher and classes are all set to create items to be the base for the Original Works fundraiser. This is a fundraiser where the children create a piece of artwork (under the guidance of the art teacher) specifically to be put on different items by Original Works (calendars, mugs, photo albums, magnets, etc.) This is a popular fundraiser. Packets with order forms will come home with the students on October 16, and need to be returned to Original Works by October 23. Amy seeks another parent to assist in coordinating the distribution and collection of the packets and submission to Original Works.
Savings Makes Sense *Cheryl/Diana*	Cheryl and Diana provided information about this program. Florence Savings Bank folks are coming to the school September 30 (and on Curriculum Night). Information will be available to encourage students to open a savings account. Students may then make deposits into their accounts weekly, at school, on Wednesday mornings just before the opening of the school day. This is a very easy (convenient) way to encourage the students to put money in a savings account. Students get statements and may watch their money grow.
Big Y and Stop & Shop school programs	Parents, relatives, friends may register their Big Y or Stop & Shop cards to accrue credits (money) that is then used for the school. Lynn Smith noted that last year the Stop & Shop fund totaled over $800. Right now we’ve got 35 families enrolled. Forms were available at the picnic, will go home with the Pelham Press, may be picked up at the stores or parents and friends may register their card online.
Snack Taxi Ruth	New fundraising idea discussed at the summer PTO meeting. These are washable packets that may be used for lunch snacks; they come in different sizes (sandwich and snack size) and are reusable (and attractive). The order form doesn’t really show the packets and their designs very well, and it is agreed that if there are samples available at the Book Fair and curriculum night, folks would be more inclined to order the items. Ruth will check with the owner to see if we can either get more samples or we will purchase several, have them to show and sell.
Next Meeting	Monday October5 – Elise will check with Adam Novitt (librarian) to reserve the Community Room