The Hurlbutt Scoop
The Hurlbutt Elementary School PTO Newsletter
December 1, 2011
CALENDAR SNAPSHOT
December
December
December
December
December
December
December
December
December
5
5
5-9
7
8
8
14
23
26-30
Scholastic Online Book Fair Deadline
Kindergarten Registration, 1:30-2:30pm
Community Service - Holiday Gift Basket Donations
2-HOUR DELAY (Professional Development)
Kindergarten Registration, 1:30-2:30pm
Re-scheduled Sip& Shop Fundraiser at J. McLaughlin
Coffee & Curriculum - 9:30am South House Cafeteria
EARLY DISMISSAL (Winter Recess)
NO SCHOOL (Winter Recess)
SCHOOL & PTO NEWS
A MESSAGE FROM DANA LINTELL, HURLBUTT PTO PRESIDENT
After all the stuffing, mashed potatoes and turkey - I realize I have a great
deal to be thankful for this holiday season. With that said, starting next
week is our community service project, Evergreen Baskets, for those less
fortunate. This project helps feed over 64 families that would otherwise go
hungry over the holiday break. If you can, please help out with this project
by donating goods and/or your time. If we lead by example, we can show
our children the rewards that come from giving and that every little bit
helps! Contact Cheryl Bryant-Komar (komar1@optonline.net) or Lynda
Brennan ( atlyndaabrennan@hotmail.co.uk) if questions or how to
donate.
Thank you to all that attended today's Full Day Kindergarten
Discussion. The minutes from the meeting will be posted on the website on
Friday for those that we unable to attend. There will be an additional
meeting on December 7 at 7:00PM in the Hurlbutt LRC.
Don't forget to RSVP for our 'sip and shop' at J.McLaughlin of Westport
on Thursday, December 8 for 6-8PM. I look forward seeing you all there
at this fun night of shopping! Do not forget 15% of your purchase will be
donated to the Hurlbutt PTO.
Mark your calendar for our next 'Coffee and Curriculum' on
Wednesday, December 14th at 9:30AM in the South House
Cafeteria. Tom Scarice, Weston Assistant Superintendent or Schools will be
presenting the District's outcome of the first phrase of the AIM Project. Your
questions and concerns are welcome and encouraged.
Happy December!
Dana Lintell
COMMUNITY SERVICE HOLIDAY GIFT BASKETS
Beginning next week, Hurlbutt Elementary and Weston Intermediate School
students and their families will be asked to donate a holiday gift and food
item for those who are less fortunate.
The donations will go to families from The Evergreen Network in Bridgeport
who have an income level that is 200 percent below the national poverty
level. The goal of the network and the Weston schools is to provide a gift
and ensure that the children get a breakfast and lunch when not in school
over the holiday break.
Last year, Hurlbutt and Weston Intermediate School helped 64 families by
collecting 120 bins of food and gifts. Donations are being collected at the
schools December 5th through 9th.
More information will be going home with your child via their backpack. If
you have any questions, please contact Cheryl Bryant-Komar
atkomar1@optonline.net or Lynda
Brennan atlyndaabrennan@hotmail.co.uk, Hurlbutt PTO Community
Service Co-Chairs.
KINDERGATEN REGISTRAION VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Amazingly, its already time for Hurlbutt to start Kindergarten registration for
the 2012-2013 (gulp!) school year. As you may remember, part of this
process is to invite parents to Hurlbutt to drop off and receive registration
packets and forms. This year, we will be holding these registration open
houses on Monday December 5th and Thursday December 8th from 1:30 2:30 and we are looking for parent volunteers to assist. Now that you are
all "veteran" parents, we need some volunteers to help out on either Monday
the 5th or Thursday the 8th from 1:15 until 2:30 to help guide parents as
they complete and return forms. Please contact Michelle
Albright, michelle.albright40@gmail.com, if you are able to volunteer.
And, if you can't help out in December, we will also be looking for volunteers
to lead parent tours during the April 30th Kindergarten orientation
meeting. As a bonus, if you volunteer you will be able to skip that long line
and pick up your child right from the office!
Thanks in advance for your help!
Michelle Albright, PTO Nursery School Rep
BOE UPDATE
Updated 2011-12 Calendar/proposed 2012-13 Calendar
Dr. Palmer presented updates to current 2011-12 school calendar. We are
currently in school through June 22nd. If additional snow days are required
they will be taken from April vacation first, followed by last week in June
then Easter and Memorial Day if deemed necessary. Let’s pray for warm
winter!
To be prepared for unpredictable weather and allow more time to prepare
students for standardized testing, a few changes are being proposed to the
2012-13 calendar. School would start on 8/27 instead of 30th. Students will
get a full week in earlier in calendar. School year would end June 17th with
ability to go through 24th if weather dictates. Also proposed was eliminating
early dismissal for Thanksgiving and now have off. Many students miss this
day due to family travel. It costs $250,000 for staff when 50% students are
out. May be state mandated as well. Talk of reducing days for February
break was discussed. The possibility of combining February/April break into a
March break is also being evaluated. A survey to parents will be sent out to
assess these options.
Statistical Report and Analysis of 2011 College Applications
191 students submitted college applications. 87% took SATs with a
statistically insignificant decrease of 9 points in overall score and 57.1% took
ACT test and met all 4 ACT benchmark standards. 87% sat for both exams.
In class of 2011, 215 students sat for 468 AP exams in 17 subjects. WHS
graduated 18 AP students, 11 AP with Honor, 30 AP with distinction and 3
National AP Scholars.
99% were accepted to higher education program 96% to 4 year colleges.
For 190 students, 1535 applications with an average of 8 applications per
student to 296 different schools were completed with 101 different schools
attended. 26% admitted to most competitive colleges and 49% to highly
competitive colleges. Higher enrollment in State Universities believed to be
related to economic climate.
Trends
Increase in college admission officers visiting College and Career Center
(CCC) at WHS which increases visibility of WHS students and chances to
form personal communication with those who may be reading applications.
Parents are starting college process much earlier. Students are opting to
take SAT vs PSAT in October of Junior year. School response to this trend
has been a Freshman Parent Evening to introduce parents to school
counseling staff. They also plan on updating website and producing podcast
of 4 Year Journey at WHS.
Annual NESDEC Enrollment and Projections Report
Review of Enrollment 2011-12
There was an increase of 21 students K-2 with a result of 496 actual vs 475
projected. This was a result of a much larger than projected Kindergarten
enrollment of 162 vs. 140 projected. This was a statistical anomaly though
deviations of this type have occurred in the past. Predicting Kindergarten
enrollment from prior births has proven difficult. School will continue to work
with demographers to consider additional data that may be helpful in
projecting Kindergarten enrollment with greater accuracy.
NESDEC’s 2012-13 Enrollment Projections
Indicate a decrease in student enrollment. Total PK-12 projected enrollment
is forecasted at 2437, a decrease of 50 students. Enrollment at HES is
projected to decrease by 41 students. This decrease is attributed to
projected decline in K enrollment. Again K enrollment remains difficult to
forecast and will need to be monitored. Thus, enrollment variance may
impact number of sections.
Efforts to gather accurate Kindergarten enrollment data:
•
Late fall registration
•
Continue to contact preschools to obtain updated numbers of children
enrolled in program.
•
Sending pre-registration packets to K age families. Post on web and
forum
•
Work with NESDEC to better identify 3-5 yr old children moving in to
community
•
Monitor home sales and leases.
AIM PRESENTATION
Dr. Colleen Palmer, Tom Scarice, teachers involved in the AIM pilot from
Grades 12, 8, 5 and 2 together with members from Columbia Teacher’s
College presented their work to the BOE and general public on Monday
11/28/2011 at WHS Auditorium. Session was televised and can be viewed on
Channel 78.
Why AIM?
Current state testing procedures (CMT and CPAP) acquire information on
basic learning skills not higher thinking skills required to compete globally in
21st century.
AIM is a transformational and collaborative learning approach with dual
accountability of teaching both necessary content and 21st century learning
skills. Goal is to prepare students for success not just in the classroom but
for life. Critical thinking skills taught to all students in Weston not just an
elite group. Real knowledge is earned instead of false knowledge simply
learned for a test.
Collaboration with Columbia Teacher’s College provides not only expertise
but and outside prospective which enhances reliability and validity.
Goal is to teach students to communicate information both verbally and
written more effectively and apply knowledge to generate new ideas,
products and processes. Teachers are using same content in new ways to
help teach new skills. The skills targeted work within context of content
presented.
The goal of Pilot Study is to develop outcomes and design a process that can
be instituted throughout district. Process includes choosing a unit of study,
choosing outcome criteria (cornerstones) and uses a pre/posttest design.
Teachers from all 4 schools presented their findings and were very
enthusiastic and invigorated by being part of this project. The students have
also been very excited to learn in this fashion and are actively involved in
the collaborative learning process.
The WHS staff has incorporated AIM into Science and Social Studies
curriculum. The Biology team shared how students once able to recognize
the sickle cell trait were able to identify similar traits in malaria cells. This
led to looking at DDT ban in Africa. Students needed to become experts in a
particular field for a panel discussion. They formed a panel of experts
including epidemiologists, oncologists, and African mothers to revisit the use
of DDT in prevention of malaria.
In Social Studies, skills incorporated collaboration and global prospective.
The problem was a national crisis, a hurricane. Each student became an
expert in a field and needed to contribute to a solution and develop plan to
present to President of United States.
An interesting observation in post testing was that students who are good at
regurgitating information struggle with this format. Students who may not
ordinarily shine are recognized for key contributions ie communication,
collaboration skills and IT abilities.
At WMS, Grade 8 team is developing cornerstones for science and world
language. World language instructor shared how a test question in past was
more of a recipe or prescriptive which often led to limited responses by
student. New format has a student read an article and asks student to take a
position and defend it. When student is architect of own response they say
more.
At WIS, Grade 5 is developing cornerstones using realistic fiction and
evaluating skills of synthesis and global prospective. They are realizing they
need more window books than mirror books in curriculum.
And finally at HES, what does critical thinking look like in second grade?
Using literature of Cynthia Rylant, they are asking students to read and
interpret author’s style. The student is then asked to apply what they
learned about writer and apply to their own writing . They are writing up a
storm in Writers Workshop!!
The overwhelming feeling is that all teachers and students want to
participate in this process and are very excited! The BOE and school
administration are very supportive of this effort and are committed to doing
what is necessary to bring it system wide as quickly as possible. Over the
next 2 years, our staff will be able to provide internal training of other staff
independent of Columbia. It will be instituted in a back step approach and
will be implemented in Grades 11,7,4 and 1 next year followed by Grades
10,6,3 and K.
Dr. Palmer is including funds for AIM in her budget proposal for 2012-13
school year. WEF and all school PTOs have provided financial support of this
effort as well. Budget discussions come January on this subject will be
interesting!
RESCHEDULED - SIP & SHOP FUNDRAISER
Thursday, December 8th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
J. McLaughlin Store
1026 Post Road East, Westport, CT
15% of your purchase is donated to the Hurlbutt PTO
SCHOLASTIC ONLINE BOOK FAIR
The Scholastic Online Book Fair is now active and will be open until
December 5, 2011. All book orders will be delivered to school. Each
order will be individually bagged, labeled by teacher and student, and sent
home via backpack. Click here to place your online order.
WALL CALENDAR
The Wall Calendar Coordinators are looking for some volunteers for their
committee. If you are interested in working on this great fundraiser please
contact Samantha Leuzzi at samhleuzzi@gmail.com.
NUTRITION NEWS - GETTING KIDS TO EAT HEALTHY AT HOME
Click here to read the Decemberr 2011 Nutrition News letter from Jill
Patterson, Resident Dietitian, Chartwell
FUNDRAISING MARKETPLACE
The Hurlbutt Elementary School PTO is dedicated to doing its very best to
work with local businesses, community members, friends, and family of
students, to organize and create opportunities for fundraising efforts to
ensure our kids get the very best they need for their education.
Click here to check out our Fundraising Marketplace for a few “no-cost”
programs in which you can help raise funds at HES for 2011-2012. Thank
you again in advance for your participation and support.
2012-2013 KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
Hurlbutt Elementary School kindergarten registration is right around the
corner. Children who will turn five years of age on or before January 1,
2013, are eligible to begin kindergarten next fall. Registration materials
have been sent to area preschools and are also available on the district
website, www.westonk12-ct.org, or in the Hurlbutt main office. We ask that
you bring completed registration packets to one of the scheduled walk-in
registration times.
Drop-in kindergarten registration will take place in Hurlbutt Elementary
School’s South House Cafeteria between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. on
Monday, December 5, 2011, for parents whose last names begin with A-L
and on Thursday, December 8, 2011, for parents whose last names begin
with M-Z. If you are unable to attend on either of these days, please
contact Laurie Eagle at 291-1446.
Although it seems early for kindergarten registration, the information we
collect will help us to begin planning for the next school year.
SOCIAL MEDIA/FACEBOOK
Click here to find us on Facebook. Like our page and get updated
information in your Facebook newsfeed.
AROUND TOWN
This information can now be found on our website; go to www.hurlbuttpto.org and click on the AROUND TOWN tab on the left side of the
homepage.
T-BALL FOR KINDERGARTENERS
Attention Kindergarten Parents! We are proud to announce that T-Ball is
now a part of Weston Little League. Stay tuned for more information on the
Spring 2012 program. In the meantime, be sure to check out our website
at www.westonll.com.
WESTON LITTLE LEAGUE
Weston Little League is running a Winter 2012 Workout Program. Click here
to learn more about the program and register online.
A MESSAGE FROM WESTON YOUTH SERVICES
Weston Youth Services is pleased to announce that our Winter 2012 WOW!
Catalogue is now online for preview. Registration opens on Tuesday,
December 13th at 12:01 a.m.
For those students who were wait listed in the fall, parents will receive a link
to register for that program. Registration for wait listed students will be held
on December 5th and 6th only!
Returning are many of our very popular programs for students in Grades K2! We are also excited about some of our new classes such as The Hurlbutt
WOW! Singers, taught by Jane Jessep, who taught music at Hurlbuttt for
over 20 years, Model Building with Mr. Klein, and Scrap Booking with Sarah
Holder!
Catalogues can be viewed at our website
at www.westonyouthservices.org. For more information, please contact
Charlene Monn at 203-222-2586 or email cmonn@westonct.gov.
HOLIDAY HELPERS!
It’s the time of year when many of us are overcome with gifts, guests, and
gratitude. What are good toys (i.e., developmentally appropriate,
educationally beneficial, and most importantly fun) for young children? How
can you maintain some level of routine and respect for rules when you are
traveling or hosting relatives? What can you do to help your children develop
empathy and appreciation? Join us for a discussion (and some great
giveaways!) on Thursday December 8th from 11:30 - 1 at the Weston Public
Library led by Michelle Albright, PhD. Open to parents of preschool through
5th graders. Pre-registration is recommended, but not required and drop
in's are welcome. This is part of "It's Elementary,"a series of interactive
workshops for parents of pre-K and early elementary students sponsored by
Weston Youth Services. To learn more please visit the Weston Youth
Services website at www.westonyouthservices.org.
WESTON PARKS & RECREATION
Click here to register online for Parks & Recreation programs.
FIREWOOD DELIVERED TO YOUR HOME!
The Kiwanis Club of Weston is once again spearheading the Wood Project to
benefit The Weston Warm-Up Fund! This is a win-win for our community!
The cost is $150 for a ½ cord of wood delivered to your home! Please note the wood is dumped where you tell us, but not stacked.
Please contact Dawn Egan at 221-9114 or jdweston@optonline.net to
place your order. Checks are payable to Kiwanis Club of Weston. There is a
limited supply so delivery and availability is first come, first served.
FREE SWAP & SHOP EXCHANGE PAGE
For Sale, For Free and Wanted Items for Sale. Have something to sell or
giveaway but can't deal with Craigs List or Ebay? Click here to view, click
here to advertise for free.
GINGERBREAD HOLIDAY BRUNCH/WESTON WOMEN’S LEAGUE
Tickets for this year’s Gingerbread Holiday Brunch, hosted by the Weston
Women’s League (WWL), are on sale. This annual Weston kickoff to the
holiday season is taking place at the Weston Intermediate School from 10am
to 1pm on Saturday, December 10, 2011.
Tickets for the Gingerbread Holiday Brunch may be purchased online
at www.westonwomensleague.org by contacting the League
atgingerbread@westonwomensleague.org. Family tickets are $25 in
advance, $30 at the door. Individual tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the
door. For sponsorship opportunities and more information visit
the www.westonwomensleague.org
If you have something for The Scoop please email your submission (in Word
format or PDF) to
hesptoscoop@gmail.com. Submissions should be
relevant to Hurlbutt or the Town of Weston (i.e., town sports programs,
Weston community events or outside sports programs taking place in the
Town of Weston). If there is any question regarding the relevance of a
submission, final approval will be determined by The Hurlbutt Scoop editor
and/or the Hurlbutt PTO President. Submission deadline is Tuesday –
The Hurlbutt Scoop publishes on Thursday!