HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-01-09 School Council - Birch Meadow Elementary Minutes Town of Reading
Meeting Minutes O ECElVED
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School Council -Birch Meadow Elementary 9 PR 6. 79
Date: 2017-01-09 Time: 3:00 PM
Building: School - Birch Meadow Location: Conference Room
Address: 27 Arthur B Lord Drive Session: Open Session
Purpose: Version:
Attendees: Members - Present:
Whitney Goodhue
Danielle Tucker
Keriann Zahoruiko
Ashley Quinn
Julia Hendrix
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Julia Hendrix, Principal
Topics of Discussion:
• Introductions and Welcome
• Follow-up on homework policy discussion from December 51h Meeting
Review:
Birch Meadow Homework Policy
Birch Meadow Grade level homework policies
• Bigjump in minutes between Grade 4 and Grade 5
• As 5t° grade parent, most nights less than 90 minutes
• Independent reading is consistent
• How much independent reading is being done
• How is it tracked —Grade 4 has a log, Grade 2 has a log, logs make them
accountable,
• Transition from Grade 5 homework to Grade 6 was hard
Other school homework policies
• Barrows—acknowledges different pace that students work at and spells
out what should happen if students are working past the set time
• Nice to see across district we start homework in 1't grade
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• If you take out reading Birch 5`h grade is in line with most other schools in
district
Parent Survey about homework
• Putting a link for math resources on the websites for parents to use when
they're working with their child
• Discussion about next steps in reviewing homework at Birch Meadow
Categories of Problems
Long term projects—chance for parent and child to work together
Specific problems around math —
What are children supposed to be learning from problems they
can't do
Questions:
Are teachers getting the information they need from the students'
homework?
When students can't solve a problem what information needs to go back
to the teacher?
Are students learning how to ask for help when they can't do something?
Should we make the times be a range?
Does it need to be more explicit for parents that if frustration level is
getting higher and "banging head against wall" then student should talk to
teacher?
Are students feeling like they have to get it done regardless?
What are students supposed to do next K they can't figure out their
homework, particularly math?
Is this a culture issue—do we need to make the culture of the classroom
more comfortable about not knowing?
Individuals who really need to understand this are the students.
• Next Steps
o Reword homework policy
• Send draft
o Positive school culture articles/research
0
o How do we get the word out?
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