Picture Day at Flynn and St. Joe's had lovely Fall weather. If your child was absent, there will be picture retakes. It is not too late to order a picture package - there are forms in the office at both Flynn and St. Joe's.
Room Parent Orientation this Tuesday at 6:30. There will be childcare provided if you need to bring your kiddoes. You can still sign up to be a room parent for your child's classroom - most classrooms have 2-3 room parents to help.
Calendar 2.0 Meeting Wednesday, October 9, 6:30 p.m. - Burlington High School The meeting is designed to provide an opportunity for families and educators to connect directly about how time could be used to further the quality of education in this region of Vermont.
Minutes from the PTO meeting last week and the approved budget can be found at the end of this post.
Parent Teacher Conferences coming up Oct 17/18 - all families can register on Monday at http://ptcfast.com/schools/John_J_Flynn_Elementary_School
Burlington/Winooski Partnership for Change monthly team meetings this Thursday from 6:00-7:30 at BHS. It is never too late to join a team of teachers, students, parents and community members. For more information about the different teams, click the link http://partnershipvt.org/approach/implementation-teams/ The opportunity for serious educational change at the high school level is in our hands - and in your child's near future. Consider being part of this exciting shift that will have a profound impact on your child's high school experience.
Enrichment at Flynn school A large portion of the money the PTO raises each year goes directly into enrichment opportunities at Flynn school. It breaks down to about $2500 for grades K-2, $2500 for grades 3-5 and an additional $1500 earmarked for the 3rd grade Camp Abnaki overnight (3rd grade gets the extra as their role in the Flynn play is much smaller the first year)
Below is a breakdown of existing projects and a list of ideas for additional opportunities at Flynn. The Enrichment committee is soliciting your feedback on the ideas generated, would like to hear YOUR ideas and is looking for parents/guardians that might have a special interest in getting one or more of these ideas off the ground.
What opportunities do you want for you child? How can you help? To inquire, contact Kate Belluche at flynnschoolpto@gmail.com
Current Enrichment Projects:
Project
|
Organizers/Info
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JJ Flynn Theatre
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Kate Belluche, Kim Hunt
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K-2 Enrichment
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Kate B./teachers - K all set with trip to Flynn theatre and buses ordered, ½ still deciding on their enrichment
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Chess Club
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Shanta Eastman, Jon Kuypers
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Flynn Family Nights
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Christine Leithied
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Spelling Bee
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Ms. Burdick, PTO Money
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Geography Bee
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Mr. Brown, PTO Money
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Ideas for additional enrichment opportunities:
Idea
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Potential Partners
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VSO (Vermont Sym Orchestra) Petting Zoo
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Mr. Reynolds? Kate contacted - this year Burlington schools get 1 free visit - we would need two for all students and would have to pay the 2nd day. Proposed dates in January to Graham - waiting on him
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STEM/Science Night
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STEM committee/Mrs. Dee? Mrs Noble?
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Afterschool Science Club/Lego robotics
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Shanta looking into, Flynn owns 14 sets of WeDo Legos (younger grades), Middle school might have more advanced sets
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Mindfulness
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Teachers - Tenenbaum, Hodgson, Brown, Noble, Brooks, Lessard, Fitzpatrick, Cronin, Bloomberg and possibly more! Do they need any support now or in the future?
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Service Learning- tacked onto other projects/activities (like welcome back potluck, Springfest, Martin Luther King Day)
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Girls on the Run (grades 3-5)
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Tech Club (produce for Flynn TV, learn different applications like SCRATCH, Google Sketch up, Glogger, video production)
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Literary Journal
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Geography Club
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Spelling club/team
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Project Based Learning on a regular basis (one afternoon a week during a session - kids are offered exploratory classes and meet with their multi class, multi age/grade group to explore deeper (like SchoolHouse)
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Teachers, Paras and parents
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Sibling Rivalry: A Parent’s Role advice from parent educator, Vickie Hoefle.
Many parents suspect that they have something to do with all the fighting, but they simply can’t figure out what that something is. If they knew, they’d avoid it all together.Well, here’s the deal. Your kids are often fighting for you. Hard to believe, but true. Think about it – how many times have you left the room when the kids were fighting and they were kind enough to bring the fight to you? Exactly. They fight for you.
And as they follow us around the house, the fighting escalates, and as a reaction to the rising level of agitation, our (likely unconscious) idea of the “right” parenting strategy is to start talking to them about stopping. And because they generally ignore us, we start to get frustrated and then angry and then downright ticked off at them and before long, our voices have escalated into a scream (and, huh, that sounds just like their fighting, doesn’t it?). Exactly. They wanted us to join the party. And here we are wearing a party hat, waving our hands at the tiny little hosts.
And so we go from wanting nothing to do with this little shindig to dressing up and responding, YES! When we join in like this (even though we didn’t want to), we say “I will give you my undivided attention when you fight. I will stop what I am doing, start yelling at you to stop and even allow my emotions to get the best of me.”
What kid wouldn’t fight for the chance to control mom or dad— not only into attending but becoming the entertainment? Silly right? Ready to RSVP “No” to the next invitation?
| Save the date... |
October 8 - Room Parent Orientation - 6:30
October 9 - Calendar 2.0 meeting at BHS - 6:30pm
October 10 - Partnership for Change team meetings - 6:00pm
October 22 - Book Fair Dinner 5:30-7
November 2- Flynn Bottle drive at Merola's!
November 3 - Daylight Savings - set those clocks back an hour!
MINUTES
Flynn School PTO
Learning Center
October 3, 2013 - 6:30-8:00 pm
Free Pizza and Childcare were provided
Meeting called to order at 6:45pm
WELCOME – Jessica Hook, PTO President
Principal’s Corner- Graham Clark
- Caution tape removed from new playground!
- Cameras in the front of school have been installed- once each school has completed this then the additional playground cameras will be installed (possibly end of Oct)
- Conference sign-up available online
- Oct 16 – UVM Landscape design students will be at Flynn- parents are welcome to attend
Treasurer’s Report- Betsy Ward
- 2013-2014 Budget passed by vote- see bottom of document for details
Spending Requests The Finance Committee has advised to table the following request until more funds have been raised and alternative funding vetted (grants):
- Library request for seating to make new space cozy (pee-proof couch, bean bag chairs, area rug for story time, coffee table)
- Replacement dimmer for stage gym was removed from the spending request list be Graham
Fundraising- Tammy Kuypers
- School Pictures- estimated this year’s revenue will surpass last year!
- Wrapping Paper- initial estimate is $3,800!
- Pay It Forward already at $780
- Pasta dinner needs volunteers- this year it will be “suggested donation” $5 per person, $15 per family
- Bottle Drive on Nov. 3rd- last year brought in $250
Enrichment- Kate Belluche
- K-2 will be going to 2 Flynn performances
- First grade has asked for assistance with transportation
- Beth Bloomberg is researching possible grant to assist with funding
- Chess Club- was a huge success last year- Shanta Eastman and Jon Kuypers have volunteered to run it this year- more info to come
- Additional ideas discussed: MLK give back day, Tech Club, Science Club, Girls on the Run, Maker fair, Lego robotics club, VSO “petting Zoo” where children get to explore instruments
Landscape/Garden- Sarah DeShaw
- Sarah will connect with the newly formed staff “Partnerships for outdoor learning” committee and will reach out to the parents who have expressed interest
Flynn School/Family Partnership- Shanta Eastman
- 5 staff members have joined the FSP committee
Room Parents- Lisa Tulkop
- Meeting for all room parents on Tuesday Oct. 8th
STEM- Tracy Truzansky
- This committee and the Partnerships for outdoor learning committee will join together and work towards providing stem related learning through the evolving outdoor environment at Flynn
Teacher Suggestion Box – Christine Leithead
- The box will be set up soon
OPEN FORUM
- Walk to school day is Oct. 9th – John Dorwart expressed interest but it was also discussed that it might happen at a later date- more info to come!
- Volunteers needed for message board outside the school
FLYNN PTO 2013-2014 BUDGET SUMMARY (approved)
Total Budget $17,500.00
Budget Breakdown Amount % of Budget Examples
Operating Expenses $1,300.00 10%
Copies, materials, food for PTO meetings $650.00 5%
Reserve (for Maintenance) $650.00 5%
Future playground or garden maintenance
Activities* $10,400.00 80% (See breakout below)
Earmarked Funds
Garden $2,000.00
Security Cameras $2,500.00
Available Funds (as of 9/29/13)
Checking $2,178.63
Savings $3,253.59
* Activity Sub-Categories Amount Examples
Enrichment $7,500.00
Teacher Mini-Grants $1,500.00 Educational support/enhancement
Community Building Events $800.00 Back-to-school potluck, Spring Fest, family nights, etc.
Educational Support $400.00
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