General Membership Meeting

Present: K.Albrecht, D.Amato McCoy, L.Ardiles, R.Bercy, M.Brandle, C.Carney, J.Croshere, C.Dehler, O.Estevez, S.Fisher, A.Gilroy, N.Grogan, K.Hill, C.Hyer, K.Khan, K.Kucharovic, T.Mark, D.McKeon, N.Morris, M.Ricafrente-Biazon, M.Scott, V.Sookdeo, G.Foderingham

Call to Order: Christina Eckler 7:11pm

Pledge of Allegiance, Emergency Exits and procedure, no smoking, Parking rules

President’s Report:

Installation Dinner will be held at Ayhan’s on June 19th. The cost will be $20/person. Flyers will be coming home in backpacks.

Thank you to Kelly Hill for your hard work in organizing the Teacher Staff Appreciation lunch. Thank you to the executive board and everyone to helped at the Memorial Day Parade. Thank you to Shani and Beth for your hard work training and preparing our cheerleaders. Thank you to MaryKate and Khem for running Fun Snack Friday. Thank you to Justine for managing the newsletter this year. Thank you to Doris, Chanel, Susan, Deena for sitting on the site-based team. Thank you to everyone who helped during field day and helped to distribute waters to the children.

We are still accepting NYS School of Excellence surveys. They can be completed until Friday at 5:00pm.

The budget vote passed, and Dylan Caamano won Principal for the Day for the fun vote.

The Baldwin Council of PTAs held its annual luncheon at the Coral House. At this meeting our own Doris McKeon was installed as the 2018-2019 Council President.

On June 8th, we will be having our give back. We will be hosting a movie on the field. The movie will start at 9:00pm and will be Boss Baby. Flyers will go home in backpacks.

On June 11th, at 7:00pm, we will be holding an emergency PTA meeting. We will be voting to amend our bylaws to allow for two co-presidents in our unit. Please come for this quick meeting to vote. The first 5th grade events meeting will be held after the vote.

Principal’s Report:

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the Installation Dinner. Students have had a great year thanks to the hard work of everyone here. The 4th grade science test is coming up. There is a written and performance part of the test. We had an awesome field day on Monday. Thank you to all of the parents for making it a success. We were chosen as a National School of Character. The students are learning to take pride in their behavior. Ms.Graham has been hired as a full-time administrator. She will remain a part-time assistant Principal at Plaza and will be a part-time director of elementary reading department. There will be increased police presence on the streets to make sure that the streets are safe during drop off and pick up. Please make sure to park correctly so that buses can maneuver down the narrow side streets.

Teacher’s Reports:

Kindergarten:

Thank you to all of the parents and family members that attended Field Day. The children had a great time competing against their kindergarten friends. It was a great day! The kindergarten classes are looking forward to completing their first year at Plaza School. It’s hard to believe that it’s coming to an end! The children have worked so hard this school year. They have a lot too be proud of. As a reward for their hard work, the kindergarten teachers have planned many special events and trips for May and June. Please refer to the kindergarten calendar that was sent home in your child’s folder. The teachers will also send home reminders on Class Dojo. If you have any questions please contact your child’s teacher.

First Grade:

We’re beginning our fiction unit. It’s sure to be all the rage. We’ll read A Year with Frog and Toad. Then watch it live on the Bellmore stage. We will learn about physical and character traits, story elements, and even some songs. We will be having so much fun while learning along the way.

In math, we’re recording data on picture and bar graphs. We count, record, and compare. Some of the topics get good laughs.

We learned about sound and how it even travels in the ocean. We used tuning forks, bells, and stethoscopes - we’re sure you’ve heard the notion. The LICM will dissect fish, explore the parts, and cook it for sampling, oh how cool. We are so lucky to have this happening May 23rd, right here at Plaza School.

We just learned about Memorial Day. People served and made the biggest sacrifice. They protected our country’s freedoms without thinking twice.

Second Grade:

Greetings from second grade! WE have been hard at work over the past few weeks. We have begun our new Book Club series in Readers Workshop. The students Loe meeting in groups with their friends and discussing their books. During writer’s workshop, the students revisited all of the different genres from the past year. They will be choosing their favorite one to work on in June. In math, we are beginning our measurement unit. We are measuring in inches, feet, and yards. The students are very excited to use rulers! We met with Farmer Reese yesterday to begin weeding our garden! We also were able to plant kale, oregano, pease, and peppers just to name a few. Hopefully in a few weeks we can taste all of our hard work! The 2nd grade classes will be walking to the Baldwin Garden in June. We will be sending home more information shortly. Thanks for all of your support at home with the students

Third Grade:

Third graders are busy finishing their research for their country of study as part of our social studies unit. They are learning how to read non-fiction using text features in order to take notes. Students are also busy using their notes to craft paragraphs in order to write reports about what they learned. We are all looking forward to International Day (June 15) where parents are invited to read our reports and sample foods from these countries. Students are also looking forward to our field trip on June 6. We will be visiting Jones Beach to observe birds and other sea life as a culmination of our animal unit in science. We will also be working with magnets and simple machines as part of a science unit on forces.

Fourth Grade:

Fourth grade has finished our math unit on fractions and have recently begun a new unit on decimals. We will finish the year reading fantasy stories and writing literary essays. We continue to practice for the NYS Science Assessment. The performance part of the test is on Wednesday May 30. The written part is on Monday June 4th. Thank you for a great year.

Fifth Grade:

Fifth graders are heading into final days at Plaza. Field Day and Unity Day were a success. We are also looking ahead to June when we will have our trip to Camp Coleman and our fifth grade dance followed by our yearbook-signing event. Our Moving Up Ceremony will be here on the last day of elementary school for us at Plaza. We are excited, but sad, to be leaving Plaza School and heading on up to the Middle School. Thank you to all the parents who helped make this year memorable.

Treasurer’s Report:

Motion to accept changes from last meeting passed. Balance in checking is $21,874.89. The total disbursements are $9,996.46.

Membership Report:

The business member of the week is Toddlewood.

Health and Safety Report:

Mental health awareness month. Do not be shocked by what your kids may say. Let them come talk to you. Don’t forget sunscreen and insect repellant as the weather warms up.

On behalf of the Executive Board, thank you to Christina Eckler for your hard work and leadership as PTA Presidents. You have done an amazing job.

To the committee chairs, thank you for your hard work to make all of our the PTA sponsored events and fundraisers a success this year. Each committee chair received a token of appreciation.