Date: November 27, 2017

Time: 7:00pm-8:45pm

Parent Council Attendees: 

Parent Attendees: Heidi Riley

Staff Attendees: Scott Chin, Nadia MacKinnon

1)     Welcome & Acceptance of current agenda (Amanda)

-Haafid approved the agenda, Chris second the motion

2)     Acceptance of September’s minutes (Amanda)  

-Chris accepted the minutes, Haafid second the motion

3)     Update from School (Scott)

-Me to We is underway

-collecting gently used clothing donations

-fundraisers such as selling cookies; Me to We team will decide where to distribute the funds

-school has Spirit Days

-different sporting teams are competing

-Duffle Bag Theatre is an upcoming event next Thursday; $3.00 per person

-parent teacher interview night occurred last week; very good turn out

-December 20^th holiday concert at 6:30pm; communication will be sent out to the parents soon

-December 21^st will be a kindergarten holiday concert during day

-the grade 8’s will visit the new high school Bill Hogarth on December 13

-math night on January 18, 2018 for the school community

-admin requested funds from parent council to purchase resources that can be taken home by parents for the math night (cards, board games, etc.)

-will also have a raffle for math related items/ games

-there will be a theme for math night which is ‘The Amazing Math Race’ with prizes that are tied to games that can engage the children in math at home

-school will need assistance/volunteers for the day of the math night event

-Chris to make t-shirts for the math night

-Nadia explained that people will leave with resources/ handout; from a goal perspective the school wants to give the parents the tools to support their child and to give the parents insight

into the learning involved in a comprehensive math curriculum

-members voted to use pro-grant funds in the amount $900 to be used towards the math night; vote was unanimous and all agreed

-there will be a follow up math curriculum night for parents to explain the math program being taught in school; this will take place in the new year possibly closer to April 2018

-Scott spoke about possibly having another short survey for parents (for Parent Engagement Committee to look at)

-will start a green bin program and stations; bins/stations will be supplied to the school for free

-this Thursday the school will be educated by the Town of Markham about compost and

recycling

-eco-team will monitor this initiative throughout the year

-goal is to have waste placed in proper bins

-this will assist with increasing the eco-rating of the school

-there will be different campaigns throughout the year

-Ms Stewart and Ms,Hang will lead this initiative

-cost-sharing funds for technology have been utilized

-Macbook Pro was purchased

-49 chromebooks were purchased

-2 smart tables were purchased and it’s self-projecting – currently used in 2 Kindergarten classes

-will communicate the technology purchases to the school community

-school is discussing ways to engage more boys in school activities and in school

-there will be increased attention and strategies in place to focus on mental health and a sense of belonging for boys (girls will also benefit)

Math- Understanding Comprehensive Math (Scott & Nadia)     

-review of the math program

-program has 5 components:

·        procedural fluency (how quickly you can compute math questions)

·        productive disposition (attitude towards math)

·        conceptual understanding (understanding the material)

·        strategic competence (using the best method or most efficient strategy to solve questions)

·        adaptive reasoning (ability to reason through something and explain why)

-tasks in classrooms include games, puzzles and purposeful practice, guided lessons,

problem solving

-components include learning, an environment to support learning and understanding the

Learners

-shared what the comprehensive math program is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjmoqMpsrEA

     4b) Questions & Answers (All)

          -discussion took place about communicating the math program to parents

            -possibly explore short presentations about math

            -possibly explore Go Animate for presentations

            -discussion about how math is taught in different countries

      -questions about why EQOA results are not as good; there is a thought that maybe

 students don’t put as much effort towards questions that they may find difficult

      -this curriculum will be implemented in full in 3-5 years at the school

-there are dedicated funds towards teaching math curriculum to teachers

4)     Committee Updates                                                                        

a)     Fundraising Update & Event Dates  (Katherine, Amanda)

-money raised from Gingerbread House sales to be discussed at next meeting or an email will be sent out to council; this is due to not being able to access the orders, however, Judi will be in the office tomorrow and Katherine will follow up with her

-Duffle Bag Theatre presenting Peter Pan will be in December 7th and there will be a movie in the library; it should be communicated that parents need to attend with their children

-popcorn will be sold at the Peter Pan play

-Spirit Wear; Katherine showed different designs for the school logo/ brand and council along with admin gave feedback

-Dance-a-thon is Feburary 23, 2018

-fun fair is June 20

-discussion about gathering prizes for the Dance-a-thon and for the fun fair silent auction – Letter needs to be written and can be used to secure prizes/donations (Fund Raising Committee)

b)     Parent Engagement  (Susan)

-$900 of pro-grant funds will be used towards math night

-$100 will be used towards a coffee morning for parents

c)     Healthy Schools  (Amanda)

-students have completed their training

-review recess structure

-gym programs where the older students lead younger children in learning/playing games

d)     Staff Appreciation 

-Nadia thanked parent council for complimenting the teachers dinner with salads and

 desserts

e)     Yearbook Committee (Chris)

-Chris stated that the yearbook should be approximately 100 pages    

-explore dedicating page(s) to ads for businesses to generate funds

f)       Communication (Scott)

-Rick will ask a parent who works in the communication field if she is interested in chairing

      or taking part by providing feedback/ tips in this committee

5)    Treasurer’s Report (Kelly)

-no update as reports could not be accessed

-reports will be distributed at a later date

6)    New Business

a.  Principal’s Profile

      -this was not discussed

b.     Other items

-discussion about how teachers communicate with parents as it isn’t consistent

-Scott suggested that parents speak to the teacher first

-teachers may choose different tools to communicate

-admin will speak to teachers about communicating with parents

-Chris stated that the parent survey did reflect that parents want digital communication

7)    Motion to adjourn

- Haafid accepted motion to adjourn, Rick second the motion

If any discrepancies in these minutes please contact:

Sabina Khandaker

sabina_email@yahoo.com​