Chagrin Falls PTO

Intermediate School

Administrative-Heather Heartz

• Thank you for Teacher Appreciation Lunch.

End of Year Activities

• We will have our annual awards assembly, cookout, talent show and clap out on the last day of school.
• We will have our annual field day and end of year picture movie on the day before the last day of school.
• Thank you in advance to all the parents that help to make these two days memorable.

One Book One School

• It is up and running
• The book we are reading is the Indian in the Cupboard.
• We have many activities planned throughout the month of May.
• Our culminating assembly will be May 26.
• Our opening assembly was a big hit.  We had an outstanding guest speaker who is a Native American.

Early Release Days

• We worked on goal setting for next year.
• The staff generated several ideas for next year after reviewing this year’s goals.
• The grade level chairs will work with Chuck to pare down the ideas.

Concerts

• We had a band concert on May 17, and will have an orchestra and select choir concert tomorrow night.
• Susan Smith will be doing a “Drum with Me concert” throughout the day on May 20. 

Third Grade Parent Orientation

• The Third Grade Parent Orientation is May 24 at 7:00 in the IS auditorium.

Sixth Grade Dance

• We will have our annual sixth grade dance Friday, June 3.
• Silent cake auction before concerts since car washes have been rained out.

Other

• Paws raised $4200 for Harvest for Hunger, Leukema Lymphoma Society, Tsunami Relief
• Art in 4^th grade – making puppets from recycling.
• 5^th grade rockets to launch on Saturday.

PTO- Maggie Kwasny

• In addition to the ongoing volunteers working at the clinic, libary and on the playground thethe art/decorating, 6th grade talent show, hospitality and field day committees have been very busy this past month.  Since our last PTO meeting 193 Intermediate School parents have volunteered a total of 364 hours to the school!

• Since we will not be having a June meeting and these committees will be continuing their efforts through the end of the school year we have estimated that an additional 128 parents will be volunteering 352 hours between now and the end of school.

Intermediate School

The Administrative Report was presented by

Sixth Grade Fundraiser

• The fifth grade movie day was a big success.
• The sixth grade movie day will be on April 12.
• The ticket sales will go on in the cafeteria with a prize basket that will be raffled off to drum up interest the week before the day.

Concert Season

• The concert season got off to a great start last night with our general music concert.
• Susan Smith and her students did a wonderful job.
• Our next concert is the fourth grade strings concerts on March 23 at 9:30.
• We will also have two more concerts in May; more information to follow.

Early Release Days

• We worked on creating another benchmark assessment in all grade levels and all subject areas.
• Mr. Murphy demonstrated the software program Testing Werks, which is where all of the data on students is stored including the results from the last benchmark assessment.
• Mrs. Patrizi demonstrated Brain Breaks, which is a program we are piloting at the Intermediate School.  It is a software program that teachers can show in their classrooms that will allow students to do a physical activity for five minutes.  Research shows that this activates the brain and therefore increases student achievement. 

Ohio Achievement Assessments

• The dates have been changed to May 3-5.

Thank You For:

• All the volunteers for COSI
• All the volunteers for the Book Fair
• All the recess volunteers
• All the clinic volunteers
• The wonderful dinners at conferences
• All you do

PTO- Christy Wynveen

• Miss Riley’s (Art Teacher) grant request for the TV and VCR/DVD player was approved and will be purchased through the Giant Eagle points that the school has earned through the community this year.
• The Fundraiser for the CFIS – the 5^th grade movie afternoon on March 8^th (Early Release Day) was a success with 107 students attending and generating a profit of $1280.
• In addition to the above mentioned items and during the period of February 17-March 16, the following recaps the number of volunteers and volunteer hours that have been given to the CFIS (through the PTO committees).   # of Volunteers – 252  # of Volunteer Hours – 535

The February administrative report for the Intermediate School was submitted to the PTO by Chuck Murphy.

Fifth Grade Fundraiser

• The fourth grade kicked- off the first of three Intermediate School fundraiser days by having a movie day after the January early release day.
• The fifth grade movie day will be on March 8 and the sixth grade movie day will be on April 12.
• The ticket sales will go on in the cafeteria with a prize basket that will be raffled off to drum up interest the week before the day.

Book Fair

• Our annual Book Fair will be the week of February 28.
• Thank you in advance to all of the parents who have volunteered to help us out.
• This is a great way to help encourage students to read and develop a love for books.

Conferences

• Our spring conferences will be February 22 and 24.
• We do them earlier so that we have more time to work with students after the conferences before Achievement Tests. 

COSI

• We will have our annual COSI assembly on March 4.
• Thank you in advance to all the parents who will be volunteering to help on that day.
• This is an Intermediate School favorite as far as assemblies go.  Students learn a lot with the hands-on science format.

Family Movie Night

• Our annual Family Movie Night is March 4.
• We hope that many families will come and watch the movie (title not determined yet) together.
• Student Council is organizing the event and will have a bake sale to raise money for a worthy cause.

The Intermediate School PTO report was submitted by Maggie Kwasny.

• The PTO for the Intermediate School approved a $233 grant to Mrs. Guan for the Chinese curriculum.  A grant for Mrs. Riley and the art department is awaiting additional information for approval.

• Since our last meeting 292 different parents volunteered 166 hours of time to various events at the Intermediate School.
• In addition to the parents who help every day in the clinic, lunch room, playground and library we’d also like to thank everyone who helped with: the 4^th grade day at the movies – 69 attended and $780 profit; meeting all the deadlines for yearbook;  all the Valentine Day parties
• Coming up this month are conference dinners, the book fair, the box tops “snowball fight” and COSI day!

The swings - damaged by vandalism this summer - are now repaired.

The administrative report was presented by Gary Dole.

• Thank You/Conferences – Thank you for the delicious dinners during conferences.  They were much appreciated.
• Multiplication Contest – We are currently having a staff multiplication contest to motivate students to learn their facts and will eventually have a student contest.  This is highly contagious and we have a very competitive staff.
• Mix-It Up Day Assembly – Mrs. Owen and her class organized their annual Mix-it Up Day assembly where they informed students about the dangers of bullying and how to deal with it and helped students to sit with someone else during lunch.
• Early Release Day – The staff will be working on short cycle assessments on November 23.  We have two short cycle assessments and will be making a third one.
• Jump Rope for Heart – Joanne Patrizi is working with the American Heart Association and the students to raise money for this worthy cause once again this year.
• Spirit Week - Student Council is organizing a spirit week for the students the week of November 1
• Winter Concerts - We will have our band concert on December 7^th and our orchestra and select choir concert on December 9^th.
• Sixth Grade Retreat - Our sixth grade retreat will be the week we return form winter break.  We are always looking for parent volunteers.  Please see Mrs. Kevern or Mrs. McNamara if you are interested.

The PTO report was presented by Christy Wynveen.

• The Student Math Clickers Grant (Digital Academy II) was approved and the items were purchased for the 6^th grade classrooms. This will include all 6^th grade students (Janson and Mitchell’s classrooms).  (Editorial note:  Read about the use of clickers in classrooms this article from the Dayton Daily News. )
• Halloween Parties happened on Friday, Oct 29, 2010 for all grade levels.
• PTO provided the donuts and cider for the 6^th grade classrooms as part of their Halloween party celebration.

• In addition to the above mentioned items and during the time period of October 20-November 17^th, the following recaps the number of volunteers and volunteer hours that have been given to the CFIS (through the PTO committees): # of Volunteers – 89 and  # of Volunteer Hours – 100

• The Welcoming committee (Membership) had 9 volunteers  welcome 14 new families to the district with a total of 24 new students.

Students in all grades traveled to Severence Hall for a concert this month. This field trip is offered once every three years - so that all students can enjoy it during their time at CFIS.

• Cleveland Orchestra-The entire school went to Severance Hall last week to hear the Cleveland Orchestra.  It was a fabulous experience for everyone, staff and students alike.  We do this once every three years and Kathy Shoenfelt does a fabulous job with it.  We did many activities during morning announcements to prepare our students for this experience including playing musical clips from the concert.
• Report Cards-Report cards will be going home on Friday, November 5.  Don’t forget to continuously check Progress Book for updates on your child’s grades.  This is an extremely useful tool for parents and students.
• Professional Development Days-At our last professional development day we worked on creating plans for our intervention program.  By doing this during this time, our teachers were able to work with other teachers at that grade level that they would not normally be able to work with.  During our next professional development day we will be working on creating another short cycle assessment in each subject area.  Currently we have two for the year and we want to add a third.  The information we gain from these assessments helps to inform our instruction.
• One Book/One School-We will be doing the National Program called One Book, One School in May.  It will be a secret to our students until we start to unveil the program at an assembly.  Everyone in the school will be reading the same book and doing activities together at home and at school.  This program is designed to get students and parents reading and talking together about literature. Stay tuned for more information.
• Sixth Grade Retreat-We will be having our annual sixth grade retreat parent meeting tomorrow night at 7:00 in the IS auditorium.  We are always looking for parent chaperones to stay a day or night or the whole time.  Please contact Nancy Kevern or Cory McNamara if you are interested.  We will be going the first week we come back from Holiday Break.  This is the favorite tradition at the IS of most students.

• Student Led Conferences-We will once again be having student-led conferences at the IS.  The conference dates are November 4 and 9.  If you haven’t signed up for a conference please contact your child’s homeroom teacher right away.  If you would like to talk to your child’s teacher without your child present, please feel free to call them anytime. This is a great time to have your child feel like a partner in the education process and accountable for their part.
• PE Binders-Joanne Patrizi, our PE teacher, has been working very hard on binders for staff containing lots of information on how staff can get students physical activity throughout the day.  Our goal is to add more physical activity to morning meeting and provide students “brain breaks” throughout the day.  This is something Joanne is passionate about and she is doing a great job working wit

The Intermediate School Report was presented by Maggie Kwasny.

• All classroom fees have been collected and deposited.  Approximately 80% of families paid this fee.
• We are preparing for conference dinners on Nov 4th and 9th.
• All committees are up and running.
• Intermediate School fundraiser of each grade going to see a movie at Chagrin Cinemas on an early release day during the winter has been finalized and save-the-date notices will go out in November.
• Grants approved – $212 for Heidi Stepulionis’ 5th and 6th grade students to do a Spanish craft.  $1680 for Katie Gill’s tuition for trip to Israel.    We are waiting approval from the Technology Department for approval of a grant for clickers for Polly Mitchell’s classes.

Click to download the September 24th CFIS Building Newsletter.

The Intermediate School staff report was presented by Katie Gill.

• Safety Assemblies -The IS enjoyed two assemblies this year.  On opening day, Mr. Murphy spoke to the students about expectations and tips for success.  Officer Libbons also came to speak to the students about stranger danger and safe walking to and from school.  A couple of weeks ago, someone from the bicycle shop downtown came to speak to students on bicycle safety and to kick off a class being offered on the next two early release days.  Accent on Youth, made up of high school students and director Julia Kolibab also did a skit on bullying while walking to and from school.    They all did an outstanding job.
• Aims Web – Three times a year we give all of our students a short reading assessment that has students read three different passages aloud and we track the number of words read correctly in one minute.  This gives us benchmarks for each grade level and we re-administer these probes to students who are at-risk. We also give a short comprehension test and a math test for the same purpose.  We just finished the fall administration of these tests and will use this data to inform our instruction and help place students in certain intervention classes for RTI.  Intermediate School has had 2 good years of value added and working hard to maintain this record.
• Intervention Classes - Our students have intervention classes every other day.  At least one day a week our at-risk students will receive intervention in a small group setting as part of RTI and will use a specific program to help get them to grade level in reading and math.  One day a week all other students will be working with teachers to help stretch them academically.
• Netbooks – Nancy Kevern and Cory McNamara are piloting Netbooks in their classrooms for the district.  All students in sixth grade will use the Netbooks in science class and they are working with Abby Thacker from Smart Solutions on ways to use the Netbooks to support curriculum and instruction.  There is nothing more awesome than to walk in to a classroom and see every student on a Netbook.
• One Book/One School – National Program called One Book/One School  (check it out here ) where at some point during the year everyone in the school will be reading the same book and doing activities together at home and at school.  This program is designed to get students and parents reading and talking together about literature. Stay tuned for more information.
• Professional Development Days – We will be working on data analysis and training on the new language arts program.  We will be focusing on our Intervention Program and Short Cycle Assessments for the remainder of the year.
• Compass Learning – Teachers will be getting trained in Compass Learning which is a computer program that our students will be using primarily in reading and math in place of Study Island from last year. 

The Intermediate School PTO report was presented by Cindy Ellis.

1.     Teacher Luncheon – Thank you to Sandi Ferguson

2.     New Parent Tea – Thank you to Laura Fricke

3.     New Fundraiser for CFIS – on select early release days, grades will be bused to Chagrin Cinemas for a movie and snack. Proposed $20 per child. More information to come.