Chagrin Falls PTO

Art by Julia Englehart, Grade 8. Presented at the 2010 Art Show.

The Middle School report was read by Gwenn Klose.

• Art Show Winners – Congratulations to the high school and middle school art departments for organizing the art show at Hamlet.  Our students had amazing pieces in that show.  Congratulations to Dana Savakis, our middle school purchase award winner, and Devon Riegel, our honorable mention.

• Power of the Pen– Congratulations to Devon Riegel and Samantha Spear who will be representing Chagrin Falls Middle School in state Power of the Pen competition.  Larry Richmond has served as their coach this year and the students have done a great job.

• Achievement testing – Middle school students participated in statewide testing during the last week of April.  All our students worked very hard.  Thank you to the PTO and the board of education for providing ice cream sundaes as a reward for the students’ hard work.  The middle school also sponsored a skating party as a celebration for completing the week of testing.

• Class trips – Our eighth graders traveled to Washington, DC on May 10-12.  The trip was a great experience for all the students and the behavior was exceptional.  Seventh grade students traveled to Cleveland on May 13 for an extended day trip.  We visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, science museum, took a tour on Lolley the Trolley, and spent the evening at the playhouse watching “Grease”.

• Rolling Thunder – A group of Vietnam Veterans visited our eighth grade classes on May 14 to discuss the war in Vietnam and their experiences as soldiers and veterans.  This was a follow up activity of our trip to DC.

• New Staff Members – Welcome to Mr. Curtis Howell who will be moving from Gurney to the middle school next year.  He will be teaching science and math.  We are currently interviewing for a new Algebra I teacher who will be splitting their time between the high school and the middle school.  We are so excited about the new additions to our already great staff!!

• Literacy Day – We are looking forward to our Literacy Day on May 25.  We have two visiting authors presenting that day.  The students are currently working on books to present to Gurney book buddies.  Gurney 2^nd and 3^rd graders will be traveling to the middle school in the morning.  Each of our students will read their book to the elementary students and the elementary students will read their favorite book to our middle school students.

• Congratulations to Mr. Todd Thombs who has been given the Outstanding Mathematics Professional Award by the Greater Cleveland Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

• A big thank you to the PTO for the great luncheon during Teacher Appreciation Week.

• A huge thank you to Mary Donley, Laura Fricke, and Becky Borden for being the middle school PTO reps this year.  They have done an outstanding job and we have all benefited from their work!!

The Middle School report was presented by Laura Fricke.

• We held an after- OAT Sundae Celebration this month.
  • Held on Wed., April 28^th
  • Thanks to our guest scoopers Board of Education members Mary Kay O’Toole, Anne Thomas, Karen Wise &  Liz O’ Neil

• Teacher Appreciation
  • MS Hospitality provided a Fiesta lunch on Friday, May 7^th
  • Many thanks to our AWESOME Hospitality co-chairs Karen Ostanek & Jill Andrews and their committee members for a great year!

• Internet Safety Presentation/Discussion
  • Thursday May 20^th, 7:00pm in the MS library
  • Encore presentation to the parents of what their MS student recently learned
  • Open to all Chagrin parents

• MS Literacy Day
  • Tuesday May 25, 2010
    • 8:20-10:50 am
    • Gurney 2^nd & 3^rd graders will visit the MS and share a book & snack with a 7^th/8^th grader
  • Organized by the MS Library Staff, Lori & Amy
  • Volunteer support provided by PTO

• 8^th Grade Promotion
  • Ice Cream Social, DVD and Dance Committees are hard at work
  • Large photos featuring 8^th grade students will be for sale by silent auction at promotion. You can preview these photos here on the PTO website.

Sheri Halagan had interesting news about iPod Touch applications in the classroom. Gurney recently received a grant from an independent foundation for a classroom set. They will start using them soon.

The Gurney School report was presented by Sherrie Halagan.

Thank you for the lovely luncheon and plants on Staff Appreciation Day!

• THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO MADE KINDERGARTEN SCREENING RUN SO SMOOTHLY!
• THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO HELPED WITH LUNCH TIME ON ELECTION DAY!
• THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO HELPED US SO MUCH TO MAKE THIS SUCH A SUCCESSFUL YEAR!

• Rotary Teacher of the Year nominee:  Congratulations to Jillian Langer, 2^nd grade teacher, who has been nominated as the Rotary Teacher of the Year!  Good luck to her as she heads in for her interview!

• Kindergarten Screening:  It went incredibly smoothly!  We have 115  Kindergarten students registered for next year and it looks like we will have 4 full day kindergarten classes, 1 morning class and 1 afternoon class in 2010-2011.

• Open Houses:   When the calendars come out for next year, you will notice no Open House for kindergarten.  This is because Kindergarten Kick-Off Night is considered their Open House and they have an Orientation Day.  After all of that, there isn’t much left to tell the parents.  Also, by contract, we can only ask the teachers to do one Open House per year and Kindergarten Kick Off Night is more valuable than Open House in the fall after an Orientation.

• Field Day/Clap-Out:  June 8^th is Field Day and we have a lot going on!  Third Graders will have their Field Day activities at the High School stadium!  Second and First Graders will rotate around our own campus for fun activities and Kindergarten Classes each have their own schedule planned for the short day.  Thanks to PTO we will all enjoy a pizza lunch!  And finally, at 12:45pm, we will clap-out our 3^rd graders.  The day ends with early dismissal at 1pm.

• Report Cards:  Report Cards will be mailed home by June 16^th.

• iPod Touch Project:  Mrs. Halagan presented our new iPod Touches, applications we are starting to use with them, and the foundation that graciously granted us the money for them.

Gurney PTO Report

The Gurney School PTO report was presented by Karen Ostanek.

• Recent Events and Updates from Gurney:
  • Teacher Appreciation Day went well. Hospitality chose to purchase the food form Costco.  The menu consisted of shrimp, sandwiches, salad, fruit and cake.  It was very much appreciated as were the gift plants received by both the teachers and the bus drivers.
  • All Room Parents provided cards for their teacher, a staff member and a bus driver.
  • Kindergarten Screening went well.  About 105 children were screened with the help of 30 PTO volunteers over a two day period.
  • The May election went smoothly as well.  It is suggested that at least one parent per room (two would be ideal) to help the children who are buying their lunch and manage the classroom for the lunch period.
  • 3rd grade testing was fine.  Room Parents provided snack and water for the testing days.

• Thank You To:
  • The Hospitality Committee for providing lunch for Teacher Appreciation Day
  • The Kindergarten Screening Committee
  • Kathy LaMonica and the room parents for providing the lovely cards for their teachers, staff members and bus drivers
  • The last minute helpers for Election Day
  • The yearbook committee for all of their diligent work that began with Picture Day in October and will end with the distribution of the beautiful Yearbooks

• Upcoming PTO Related Events
  • Tiger Trek – May 27 – t-shirts are ordered, Sponsorship sheets due Friday May 21.  Each class is responsible for their own water bottles and PTO will supply the popsicles.
  • Field Day – June 8^th – providing 3 half sheets of pizza per room.  Lunch will begin at 11am or 11:30 and should end by 12:30.  Clap-out is scheduled for 12:45.

• Approved Grant Requests from Gurney Building Fund
  • Approved a $313 request by Pam Fox for playground balls, jump ropes and hula hoops.

• Miscellaneous
  • 2010-2011 Committee Chair forms and First of the Year help forms are distributed to teachers for take-home folders this week and will appear in the May newsletter (or download   and send in with your child)
  • Kindergarten for next year will consist of 4 full days and 1 morning and 1 afternoon class
  • Jason Wise will move to First Grade
  • Michelle Edwards will stay in  2^nd grade for Mrs. Greene who is taking next year off.
  • Walk-through for August is scheduled for the afternoon of the 19^th for 1st grade  and for the morning of the 20^th for 2nd/3rd grade.