Gandatsetiagon School Community Council Meeting Minutes

Gandatsetiagon School Community Council Meeting Minutes
Date: February 4th, 2013
Attendees:
Mr. Savard, Mrs. Morgenstern, Mrs. Arieb, Tracy Miller, Karen Zecha, Georgina Mangos, Faiza Usman, Julee
Cardle, Pam Fabisiak-Dans, Sarah Lather and Linda McDade
The meeting was called to order by Tracy Miller at 6:30pm.
Discussion and Adoption of the December Minutes
The December minutes were adopted.
Student’s Report:
Max B - So in January, we had the Cake Auction, but that will be covered by 1 or 2 of my fellow SCC reps, so I am
going to talk about all the things that happened in this past month, except for the Cake Auction. The grade fours
went to Medieval Time, as a reward for doing a unit on medieval studies. Also, we had another movie night,
where we showed Despicable Me Two. We’ve had a lot of basketball games this past month, and a lot of indoor
recesses. We’ve had two Ski Days, and planning for more. So, to add an interesting perspective to this last
month, I interviewed my little brother, Torsten, who is in grade 3. I asked him three simple questions, about
what life has been like for grade 3’s.
Question #1: How has the cold weather affected your recess?
Answer #1: “We stayed inside for a lot of recesses, but yesterday we went outside and the grade threes built a
snow fort. It’s a lot colder, and because of that, everyone had to bring in lots more snow gear than they did
before.”
Question #2: How did you like the fundraiser we did last month?
Answer #2: “the Cake Auction was fun because our class got cool Minecraft cupcakes, and we all laughed at the
funny looking pig ones, and the movie night was enjoyable because a lot of people in our grade like Despicable
Me 2 because it’s funny, silly, and made us laugh.”
Question #3: What would you say was the most fun part of January?
Answer #3: “Probably the Cake Auction, because it was fun, crazy and we got to look at lots of fun cakes, like the
mincraft cupcakes that our class won, and most people really enjoyed the minecraft cupcakes, but there were
still some party poopers that didn’t want any of it.”
So there it is the opinion of how January went from the perspective of a Third Grader. Sorry for intruding about
the Cake Auction, but Torsten thought it was the crown jewel of January, and I would agree because we got to
miss a whole afternoon of school, and I event bought a cake with one of my classmates. So, I thought January
was a successful way to usher in the New Year.
Greg C – The ski club this year took one day at Mt Saint Louis Moonstone and is currently in the stage of going to
4 nights at dagmar. This is a way for kids, like me, to go skiing and to show the other people there what we are
made of. For the Mt. St Louis trip it was a good day (even though it was cold) to get out there and do a bigger hill
for once, instead of being stuck with just dagmar and Lakeridge to ski all the time. It was a lot of fun. And we’ve
gone to Dagmar once and we still have three more to go, so the fun is still on its way.
Also, this year Mr. Steele, Mrs. Maxwell and the Grade 8s have introduced the cake auction to Gandy. This is
when we all or most of the grade 8s who can make a cake to be sold in an auction. To get bids you have to try
and make the cake as creative as possible. For example, my mom and I made an electric guitar and drum cake
and we sold it. Stuart has more details on how the auction went.
Stuart M – The first annual Gandy Cake Auction went quite well in my opinion. About 30 cakes were brought in
for the primaries and juniors to look at and bid on. The actual auction was riveting and suspenseful as the grade
8 helpers lead their assigned classes to victory. One gesture that caught my attention was the realism to an
auction. Everybody had certain roles that had to play part in a real auction. For example, Mr. Steele was the
great auctioneer and the money counters were the people who made sure the buyers handed in their money.
All help was greatly appreciated during and after the auctions with the deliveries of the cakes and the taking
down of chairs and tables. One thing I would like changed if this were to happen again next year would be to fix
the confusion between non-working grade 8s and the teachers. During the primary auction, grade 8s who
weren’t helping a class believed they weren’t allowed to bid. But, it turns out they had been allowed all along
and had missed their chance to bid on some of the cakes the possibly could have wanted. I would also put more
advertising to the students like a flyer to be handed out and brought home for parents to read or an
announcement that could be read over the intercom in the morning for a week before the actual auction. Other
than these simple adjustments, I think the First Annual Gandy cake auction was a blast for the students and a
real money-maker towards the grade 8 graduation trip. Thank you.
Fundraising Committee Report
Movie night was January 22nd and there was another great turn out for the viewing of Despicable Me 2. Popcorn
and refreshments were available and approximately $350 was raised. Another movie night is currently being
scheduled. Watch for the Gandy Newsletter to announce the date of the next movie night. All are welcome to
attend and we hope to see you there.
The SCC is currently planning a Spring Yard Sale.
Little Caesar Orders are due on February 8th with the Pizza Kits being delivered on Feb 18th.
Treasurer’s Report:
The current status of remaining funds is approximately $5200.
One Request for funding was received:
Request for $50 to support the Racing Against Drugs Program. This will add Gandy’s name to the shirts being
provided as part of this initiative.
Principal and Vice Principal Reports:
Congratulations to Reya R who won an essay writing contest and became Mayor of Pickering for a Day. The
contest was open to all Grade 5 students in Pickering and Reya’s essay was chosen as the winner.
‘Forrest of Reading’ books and the ‘Battle of the Books’ books have arrived and are in the process of being
added to the Gandy Library.
The plans for the addition to the school were shown during the meeting. The addition is to support the Full Day
Kindergarten program that is starting in September at Gandy. The new Kindergarten area will be on the grassy
area between the school and the parking lot where the path is. The addition will not result in the loss of any
parking. The addition will result in slight changes to the office and the addition of two adult washrooms.
February is Black History Month. A display has been set up at the front of the school. A competition is being held
for the junior and intermediate students. Clues will be read during the morning announcements to assist in
identifying people being recognized during Black History Month.
Report Cards will be sent home on February 20th.
A new Gandy School website has been launched and some pages are still under construction. A great deal of
work has been done to set up the new site and it looks very user friendly.
Parent Engagement Team is coordinating another Careers Days event. A Survey was sent home to parents
looking for participation.
This month’s Character Ed theme is perseverance and work is being done to tie these into the Olympics. A
number of classes are choosing countries to support and tracking the results of the athletes from that country.
Gandy as a school is cheering for Canada!
The next Gator Assembly will be February 26th to coincide with Pink Shirt Day in recognition of Anti-Bullying day.
Gandy will be participating in the ‘Racing Against Drugs’ program developed by the Police. As mentioned in the
Treasurer’s Report, a $50 donation was approved to add Gandy’s name to the list of schools supporting the
initiative.
Bump It Up Walls – Several visual examples from the classrooms at Gandy were shown to demonstrate the
Bump It Up concept. The Walls, provide students with examples of what is expected of them as well as ideas on
how to improve their own work. The Bump It Up Walls provide examples of Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4
work. This is a great learning tool and enables the students to see how they can improve. The concepts of Glow
(a job well done) and Grow (a way to improve) are used to support the children’s work.
Staff Report:
A continuation of the ‘Bump It Up Wall’ concept was provided to show how this concept is being used to
prepare for the upcoming EQAO testing. Examples of each level of work are provided so the students can
evaluate their work and gain awareness of what is missing.
Several classrooms have been decorated in the spirit of the Olympics. There are different ways results are being
tracked and celebrating the success of many nations as well as Canada.
The Kindergarten classes recently had their Scientists in the School program and it was a big hit with the
students.
Upcoming SCC 2013-2014 Meeting Schedule:
Tuesday April 1st at 6:30 pm.
Tuesday May 6th at 6:30 pm.
Tuesday June 3rd at 6:30 pm.