Pillsbury Site Council Minutes 14 January 2014 Introductions Parents/Community: Viktoria Resig, parent 5th grader Nina Reichard, parent 5th grader Farhio Kahlif, parent 1st grader Joe Hazuka, Windom Park

Staff: Laura Cavender, Principal Jackie Raye, Assistant Principal Patti Amstrup, Phy-Ed Kathy O’Neill, Parent Liaison Suzy Palen, Special Ed Michelle Bove, First Grade Bob Lundquist, Third Grade

Welcome/Check-In, Norms/Roles, Pillsbury Mission & Values Statements/Vision Value Added Data Reports on student achievement data. This is a value added score, including demographics, and showed a graph of value added by schools, with Pillsbury at #1 for math. We are far above average. The reading value added score is lower, but we are in about the top 1/3 of all schools and above the median for the value added score. This graph and the value added scores is some very exciting information and there are lots of great things going on here at Pillsbury compared to other schools. Value added scores by grade level includes the inference that most grades far above, above, average and only third grade reading is below average. If you are interested in seeing the details, Ms. Cavender has these graphs as well as lots of other ways that we can look at and use this data.

Homework Policy Site Council and ILT (Instructional Leadership Team) have talked about developing a policy. The final document has the purpose, student responsibilities, teacher & parent responsibilities as well as time allotments to help families understand the homework policy and improve communication between parents and teachers. Wondering if there has been any feedback about the new policy, have not heard anything in response. See attached for more details.

Additional Support Plan We are one of the 13 schools chosen by the district to receive additional support and would be able to really make a difference in improving scores for our students. Shared the list of items that our staff came up with that would make a difference for the students who are in the yellow to get them to move to the green. What we do is open, we need to monitor and make sure it is working, and modify as needed. All plans were submitted to the Associate Superintendents and we should hear soon about how many teachers will be placed at Pillsbury. We asked for 6 and are likely to get 3. We have a list of students in grades 3-45 that we want to focus on and push up into the green. We have some staff that are interested in trying something different to help make this work. This should start in the next few weeks or sooner. See attached for more details.

Star Tribune Article Fabulous article about Pillsbury, what we are doing, the gains we are making and what the district is planning to take some of what we are doing and going to implement into the rest of the district. Lots of good things going on fun to watch.

Math Night Coming up Thursday, January 16, 2014. We will have math games by grade to make and take home as well as the ever popular, Estimation Station where students estimate the number of items in a container. The closest estimate wins the items in the container!

Coffee & Conversation Thursday, January 30, 2014, join staff and parents for conversation and questions you may have about the school. We will also have a session supported by Scholastic called Read & Rise.

Fundraising Our fundraising has suffered and we need to seek out other options to raise funds for our field trips. Carnival – one of our largest fundraisers with around $3,000. We would really like to do something but it is hard to get the planning done. Attending the meetings is a challenge for parents and community members. Talk to others and see if we can find someone to take the lead in continuing the carnival in some capacity. The community is planning to do more of a music festival in August, they are meeting the 2nd Tuesday of the month, 7 – 8 pm @ Windom Park, and anyone is invited to attend. Action: Think about what we want to do in the future let a Site Council representative know your ideas and we will continue the discussion on the future (if any) of the carnival at the next Site Council meeting. Parkway Pizza Now open! 2851 Johnson St. NE 612.788.1442 They want to do a fundraising night with us once a month where a percentage of sales that night will go towards Pillsbury. http://www.parkwaypizzamn.com/northeast/index.html

Windom Park Rec Plus has been going good, some days there are 15, up to 25 on some days. Basketball teams are going strong. Runs through early March. Warming house and skating rinks are seeing a lot of use.

Family Ice Skating Festival: January 29th, 6 – 8 pm, winter festival, including sledding, music, bonfire & s’mores, skating, hockey, chili and hot chocolate, all happening at the park. Carnival is moving to be more of a community event rather than a joint event with the school. Staff at Pillsbury are not able to commit to participating to the level we have in the past. Community member Rob is meeting 2nd Tuesday of the month and is moving towards more of an entertainment event with jazz music and a beer tent. There are many requirements to make a beer garden happen. Many people may be turned off due to the availability of alcohol. This is not something the school can be associated with due to the promotion of beer at the event. Open gym Friday’s are Family Gym Night from 7 – 9pm. The 2nd & 4th Friday’s of the month are Family Movie Night on the new TV in the large meeting room.

Teacher Representative Reports

Specialists – Phy-ed will soon be starting the roller skating unit. We always need additional skates to accompany the ones that we get from the district. Then we move into the archery unit. We put these two high motivation units together in the winter to keep kids motivated. Special Ed, 4 students are very close to getting into the green and we are getting additional support from the district for these students. A Social skills/friendship group with our new EA (Educational Assistant) has been started to facilitate this. First grade – working on reading assessments and what data will be used to complete report cards. Cathy, Emily & Michelle are concerned about parents crossing between bus 7 & 8. We will try to figure out a way to get the signs all the way down. Please leave them up on Mondays & Wednesdays for afterschool. Need to figure out a better way to move them because they are heavy & cumbersome. Maybe we can get some students to do this. Still working on fine-tuning this process. Second and Third Nothing to report from 2nd grade. 3rd grade is focusing on main idea and focusing on getting that firm. Working on multiplication through 12’s and are focusing on 8 & 9’s right now. Science we are working on moon & stars and getting a grasp on the direction. Students are studying the night sky at home. Field trip coming up in

Autism & CLASS working on AVMR (Advantage Math Recovery is a program where teachers use strategies, activities and games to reinforce math concepts and learning) in their PLC’s. Going to the humane society in February. We may possibly have new students, one student in first grade and one student in third as part of the Autism program.

Upcoming Dates

Thursday January 30th, Coffee & Conversation 7:00 – 8:30am and Student of the Month at 1:00 for selected students. The Tuesday, January 7th Meals for Minds grocery distribution was rescheduled to Tuesday, January 21st, 5:00 – 6:30 pm. ALL Pillsbury families are encouraged to stop by and get some groceries. This puts the February 4th distribution 2 weeks after the rescheduled distribution. NAAPID (National African American Parent Involvement Day) we invite all parents and families to join us on Monday, February 10th, watch for details. Conferences, Thursday evening, 2/13 and Friday morning, 2/14, watch for details from your child’s teacher.

Future Meetings Site Council meetings (Second Tuesday of the month) All meetings are in the media center from 5:00 – 6:30 pm and childcare is provided in room 133. January 14, 2014 October 8. 2013 February 11, 2014 November 12 March 11, 2014 December 10 April 15, 2014 May 13, 2014 (last meeting for this school year) Attachment #1 Additional Support Plan

The Purpose of Homework •

Attachment #2 Homework Policy Develop  responsibility,  

•

and  organizational   skills     Extend  learning  and/or   provide  practice       Provide  opportunities  

•

Pillsbury Elementary School

•

Homework Student Responsibilities Policy Set  aside  a  time  for  homework  each  day  

•

  Be  aware  of  homework  and  ask  for  help  if  needed  

Grade   Kindergarten   1st  Grade   2nd  Grade   3rd  Grade   4th  Grade   5th  Grade  

Time Allotments Reading     At  least  10  minutes   At  least  15  minutes   At  least  20  minutes   At  least  20  minutes   At  least  30  minutes   At  least  30  minutes  

Pencil-­‐Paper   About  10  minutes   About  10  minutes   About  10  minutes   About  20  minutes   About  20  minutes   About  30  minutes