April Fool's?
All right - whichever one of you out there thought it would be a great April Fools Day joke to play on me by sending snow yesterday - IN APRIL - you are officially off of the Lunden Christmas card list!
Hopefully we have now seen the end of it and things will start to warm up heading into an exciting and busy spring. This month for my Gator Bait blog entry I would like to share information on three related to three different areas:
Instruction: To keep you informed as a parent about some of the things we do in the classroom, I thought it might be beneficial to briefly share about what we refer to as the workshop model. In our district, we are seeing an huge increase in the number of teachers using this model for writing, reading, and most recently math instruction.
The workshop model is a framework for teachers to use that includes the following components;
Budget: It's that time of year when our district level administration works to finalize the budget proposal for next school year. Last night, this proposal was presented to the North Syracuse Board of Education. For specific details you can visit our district webpage where there are links to each updated version of the budget proposal to read through.
What is most important about this process is that you have the information necessary to make an informed decision - and that you take advantage of your opportunity to have a voice in the process by voting. Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Mr. Don Keegan, will visit our PTO meeting on April 9th at 6:00 to review the budget with any interested parents, and then the final vote will take place on May 21st. Specific details on registration and polling locations can also be found by clicking on the link embedded above.
Our School Community: For many years, our PTO held multiple fundraisers each year where items such as candles, cookie dough, salsa, chocolate, and more were sold to raise money for capital projects the PTO hoped to complete. Over the years our Parent Teacher Organization has been responsible for providing our students with drama assemblies, science guest speakers, a new rock climbing wall, an outdoor pavilion, technology equipment, and most impressively - our asphalt running track.
A few years ago, in response to parent feedback, we moved away from multiple fundraising campaigns, to holding a single event that would raise the bulk of both our operating costs and build up money to be used for a capital project. This fundraiser is Race For Education. Race For Education raises money from friends and family OUTSIDE of the Allen Road community to lessen the financial burden on our own parents. It also allows us to keep 100% of the profits, when we used to only receive approximately 30% for sales of items on outside vendors behalf.
This year we have an amazing opportunity to hit our objective earlier than expected. Recently, our district agreed to join with us in raising funds to replace a large portion of our playground by matching up to $25,00 of our PTO's fundraising efforts. This will accelerate the process a great deal, possibly enabling us to have the aging equipment replaced by the coming fall - or following fall at the very latest.
But we need your help. While we all cringe at the word fundraising when approached, this particular effort can be amazingly successful if everyone in the school community simply contributes address labels of friends and family. This fundraiser is a quantity game - meaning that we don't have to have large donations - but that we need to cast a 'wide net' and send out our student written fundraising mailers to as many people as possible. And this is where you come in...
Statistics show that the average return of flyers is 60-70%, with the average donation being $12.00 - $15.00. We have seen this come true almost every year we have held Race For Education at Allen Road. What it means though is that the overall number of flyers sent out is the key. If every student turns in 10 labels/addressed, we would mail out approximately 4,000 flyers. Sixty percent of that would be 2,400 - and even at a $12.00 donation average, that could add up to be just under $29,000.
The trick is participation...by everyone. So as you see the information come home this week with explanations, instructions, and label sheets - please consider committing to at least ten labels with addresses being sent back in. We are powerful as a fully engaged school community - able to do great things for today's students, and build great opportunities for those students yet to come.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this far - and have an absolutely fantastic April!
-Mr. Lunden
Hopefully we have now seen the end of it and things will start to warm up heading into an exciting and busy spring. This month for my Gator Bait blog entry I would like to share information on three related to three different areas:
- Instruction: Looking closer at the 'Workshop model'
- Finance: Talking about the district budget process
- School Community: Sharing and explaining Race For Education
Instruction: To keep you informed as a parent about some of the things we do in the classroom, I thought it might be beneficial to briefly share about what we refer to as the workshop model. In our district, we are seeing an huge increase in the number of teachers using this model for writing, reading, and most recently math instruction.
The workshop model is a framework for teachers to use that includes the following components;
- A mini-lesson with an explicit teaching point, typically includes active engagement with student to student interaction to practice, solidify, or model the teaching point, and then a release to independent time.
- Independent work time which typically includes some students having additional small group work with the teacher, independent writing or math activities, conferencing with the teacher, and a break midway through this time for the teacher to remind students of the learning objective or what they are hoping to see in student work.
- 'The Share' - a final part of the workshop where students regroup as a class and in different ways, have the opportunity to share what they accomplished during the independent work time. This provides the student with an opportunity to celebrate and show pride in their work, while the teacher can informally assess progress.
We have found that the workshop model has produced some amazing results, as it focused less on the teacher taking up all of the instructional time sharing information out and hoping students get 'filled up' with the information, and more on the teacher facilitating students becoming independent authors, thinkers, problem solvers, and more. In short, the workshop model brings to life the old saying that the teacher should be the 'guide on the side', versus the 'sage on the stage'. For more information and detail on what the model might look like - specifically the Writers Workshop model - click to read through 'A Parent's Guide To Writing Workshop'.
Budget: It's that time of year when our district level administration works to finalize the budget proposal for next school year. Last night, this proposal was presented to the North Syracuse Board of Education. For specific details you can visit our district webpage where there are links to each updated version of the budget proposal to read through.
What is most important about this process is that you have the information necessary to make an informed decision - and that you take advantage of your opportunity to have a voice in the process by voting. Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Mr. Don Keegan, will visit our PTO meeting on April 9th at 6:00 to review the budget with any interested parents, and then the final vote will take place on May 21st. Specific details on registration and polling locations can also be found by clicking on the link embedded above.
Our School Community: For many years, our PTO held multiple fundraisers each year where items such as candles, cookie dough, salsa, chocolate, and more were sold to raise money for capital projects the PTO hoped to complete. Over the years our Parent Teacher Organization has been responsible for providing our students with drama assemblies, science guest speakers, a new rock climbing wall, an outdoor pavilion, technology equipment, and most impressively - our asphalt running track.
A few years ago, in response to parent feedback, we moved away from multiple fundraising campaigns, to holding a single event that would raise the bulk of both our operating costs and build up money to be used for a capital project. This fundraiser is Race For Education. Race For Education raises money from friends and family OUTSIDE of the Allen Road community to lessen the financial burden on our own parents. It also allows us to keep 100% of the profits, when we used to only receive approximately 30% for sales of items on outside vendors behalf.
This year we have an amazing opportunity to hit our objective earlier than expected. Recently, our district agreed to join with us in raising funds to replace a large portion of our playground by matching up to $25,00 of our PTO's fundraising efforts. This will accelerate the process a great deal, possibly enabling us to have the aging equipment replaced by the coming fall - or following fall at the very latest.
But we need your help. While we all cringe at the word fundraising when approached, this particular effort can be amazingly successful if everyone in the school community simply contributes address labels of friends and family. This fundraiser is a quantity game - meaning that we don't have to have large donations - but that we need to cast a 'wide net' and send out our student written fundraising mailers to as many people as possible. And this is where you come in...
Statistics show that the average return of flyers is 60-70%, with the average donation being $12.00 - $15.00. We have seen this come true almost every year we have held Race For Education at Allen Road. What it means though is that the overall number of flyers sent out is the key. If every student turns in 10 labels/addressed, we would mail out approximately 4,000 flyers. Sixty percent of that would be 2,400 - and even at a $12.00 donation average, that could add up to be just under $29,000.
The trick is participation...by everyone. So as you see the information come home this week with explanations, instructions, and label sheets - please consider committing to at least ten labels with addresses being sent back in. We are powerful as a fully engaged school community - able to do great things for today's students, and build great opportunities for those students yet to come.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this far - and have an absolutely fantastic April!
-Mr. Lunden
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