Check out Hunt's MAY newsletter...now online!
There are LOTS of springtime happenings YOU will want to know about! Also remember you can link directly to Hunt's Facebook and Twitter accounts from the Hunt website.
Early Release Day on Wednesday, May 15th.
Students dismissed at NOON.
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| Hunt concerts coming up this week and next! |
Not-to-be-missed spring concerts featuring our Hunt musicians:
- May 14th - 7-8 pm Guitar and Piano night with the Hunt Guitar Ensemble
- May 15th - 7-8 pm Hunt Band Concert/bake sale
- May 22nd - 7-8 pm Hunt Orchestra concert
Remember to check out the Book Fair before the Band concert and bring your used shoes, sandals and boots for Hunt's shoe recycling program any night!!
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| Hunt Book Fair, May 13th - 17th |
Volunteers needed for the Hunt Book Fair!
The Book Fair is happening THIS week, Monday, May 13th through Friday, May 17th.
Volunteers are needed during the following times:
Mon., Tues, Wed, Thurs. Fri. - 7:45 - 10:15 am
Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri. - 10:15 am - 12:45 pm
Mon., Tues., Thurs. - 12:45 - 3:15 pm
Volunteers are especially needed on Wednesday and Thursday! Thank you for lending a hand. Please contact Ms. Pawlusiak at dpawlusi@bsdvt.org if you can help out.
The Book Fair will also be open before the
Band Concert on Wednesday from 6:15 - 7:00
Take a look at the great
selection of books for Summer Reading! Lots of brand new titles!
Some
titles available at the Book Fair are:
Legend by Marie Lu
and a 2013 release by her - Prodigy: A Legend
Divergent
by Veronica Roth, a goodreads choice award "favorite
book"
Son by Lois Lowry the sequel to The
Giver
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul
Evans
So Much Closer by Susane Colasanti - a very popular
author
Game Changers by Mike Lupica, one of the most prominent
sports writers in America
The 39 Clues Series
and from the new DCF
list:
Chomp by Carl Hiaasen
The Boy on Cinnamon
Street by Phoebe Stone
See You at Harry's by Jo
Knowles
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
and
this year's DCF Winner
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van
Draanen
Diane Pawlusiak
Teacher Librarian
Lyman C. Hunt Middle School
1364 North Avenue
Burlington, Vermont 05408
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| Please volunteer for the Book Fair!! |
SpringFest at Flynn School
The 2nd Annual Spring Fest will be held on Sunday, May 19th, from 2-4 pm at the Flynn Elementary School Playground. This fun event will feature a bouncy castle, face painting, magic show, bake sale, dance party, silent auction …and more! Some of the great silent auction items include: Dinner at the fire station and a ride in the Fire Truck, a Burton Snowboard, 2 nights at a lakefront cabin on Appletree Point, a weekend at Camp Abnaki and a private baseball coaching session with a Red Sox scout and more! There will also be a book swap at the event and interested readers are asked to bring gently used books to the Flynn office or to Spring Fest in order to swap for new ones! Please come out for a great time with local families, your support will help the Flynn PTO fund important programs and projects at Flynn Elementary! In fact, this year the PTO is raising money to help purchase a brand new universally accessible playground! Don’t miss the fun, come join us on May 19th! For more information, contact: flynnschoolpto@gmail.com
May PTO Meeting next Thursday - 5/16/13, 6:30 pm in the library. This is the final PTO meeting of the year - despite being the last one, it is never too late to get involved at Hunt (unless of course your only child is off to BHS and in that case - Happy trails...)
We would like to vote on PTO leadership for the coming school year. Please feel free to nominate yourself or a friend to help guide the PTO in representing all Hunt parents and enriching the school experience for all students. The draft agenda is included below:
- Welcome and Introductions– Kate Belluche
UPDATES
- Treasurer’s report - 5 min –Brian Pine
- Principal’s Corner – 10 min - Rich Amato
- Fundraising Update - 10 min - Gabi Baumann/Susan Rutherford
- Hunt Sign –10 minutes- Brian Pine/Gabi Baumann
- MISC – Graduation, Staff Appreciation, Garden Opening, Student Achievement
- Officer Elections
- Mindfulness Program Introduction – 7ish pm- Lindsay Foreman
Recent Meeting with Mr. Amato
PTO reps met with Mr. Amato last week to talk about parent concerns that could be worked on over the summer by Staff and Administration. Below is a recap of what was discussed.
If you have other school related concerns that you would like discussed, please feel free to contact us at Huntmiddleschool
@gmail.com
Parent teacher Conferences
Some parents have been confused about parent-teacher conferences at Hunt, especially in grade 7/8. In grade six, parents meet with the homeroom teachers. In grades seven and eight, parents meet with the whole team. Some parents have been discouraged from signing up for a conference if their child did not receive a note home saying that the conference was necessary.
The unintentional message at Hunt is that it is not necessary to have parent teacher conferences unless there is a problem. When we asked Mr. Amato about this, he agreed about the perception, but that is not the message that he would like to send
The way that conferences are set up now, it is impossible to meet with every family. Hunt will be looking at different ways to hold parent teacher conferences so that every family is able to participate. Ideas include having the October conference time focus on individual goal-setting in grade 7/8. Another idea is that families could meet with individual teachers instead of having to meet with the whole team. A third idea brought up would be to structure conference times similar to BHS where parents could lineup to meet with teachers over the course of an evening. Mr. Amato did say that Hunt's goal is that every single family meets with their child's teacher or teachers two times a year.
Long term absences
We discussed the need to develop a protocol for letting families know if one of their child's teachers is going to be out long term. Mr. Amato agreed that if a teacher is going to be out of school for more than two weeks that he would make sure the families are alerted with a letter mailed home and or an alert now message.
Instructional media
Families have concerns about the use of instructional media/movies and inappropriate content of movies. Mr. Amato plans to remind staff during staff training about the appropriate use of instructional media. He will also provide the same information to Kelly services so that substitute teachers are aware of the policy. The expectation is that media with a rating above G for general audiences will be cleared with parents. This would probably look like a letter home from the teacher alerting parents to an upcoming video to be shown and asking their permission. This allows parents to have their child opt out if the movie seems inappropriate.
Focus groups
Last year was the first year that Hunt middle school started using focus groups as part of the school restructuring plan. Every six weeks or so, students are tested and put into focus groups depending upon specific needs identified from the testing. This allows students with particular needs to be grouped together so that a skill can be re-taught.
Hunt is looking at some ways to tweak focus groups, particularly for students who do not need extra skills help. This time may be used to provide additional challenge to students who are currently exceeding the standards set.
We also discussed the idea of job shadowing/capstone type studies for all students at Hunt.
Security cameras
For the past school year, the PTO has been lobbying for security cameras at the front entrance to help with bike theft and vandalism. After events in December, Mr. Amato submitted plans to the district about increasing security in the front entrance, Including cameras and a buzzer system at the front doors. Mr. Amato was told that this would be too expensive - $6-7k, but his still trying. The only thing that came to mind is about the security system. Mr. Amato did mention that the district wanted to know how much the PTO would contribute, if any. I thought Mr. Amato said he would look into the district paying for a small, short term system for the door and the bikes that would cost in the $600-$700 range, like the one at Costco. The PTO talked about the fact that there are cameras at the high school, Sustainability Academy, and cameras going in at Flynn school paid for by the district. I don't believe that the PTO should be providing security at the school.
MIDDLE SCHOOL SORRY! GAME May 18th!
Hey middle-schoolers! Register today to play the 1st annual middle school life-size "Sorry!" board game at University Mall. All you need is a team of 4 middle school friends (grades 5-8) and one parent captain.
The 4 players of the winning team will each win a $100 gift card to any store in the Mall! Teams are chosen on a first come-first serve basis so hurry and download your application at www.umallVT.com. Submit your application to Customer Service at University Mall immediately! For information, please call (802) 863-1066 x11.
Hunt Middle School PTO is holding the
4th Annual New North End Perennial Plant and School-wide Yard sale, on May 25th.
Don't compost those healthy perennial plants, flowers, and herbs! Save them for Hunt's 4th Annual Perennial Plant and School-wide Yard sale, on May 25th 8:30-2:00pm. All proceeds will support the purchase of outside garbage cans, and shrubs for Hunt's new front entrance gardens.
Most perennials will be sold for $5! Buy the plants you need while helping to cover the cost of Hunt's Front Entrance Garden Project. It's a win-win!!
Simply dig up your extra plants and place them in boxes lined with plastic , plastic bags or in pots. Drop them off at Hunt, starting May 10th, through May 22nd, from 3-6pm., in the grassy area in the center of our parking lot. (Look for the potting soil, plastic pots, and signs marking the spot!) Volunteers will divide and re-pot them for the sale. If you have perennials ready for donation now, just drop them off to 50 Sunset Drive and Susan will gladly re-pot them.
Yard sale donations will be gratefully accepted May 24th from 3-7pm at Hunt School. (Sorry, we cannot accept early yard sale donations due to space considerations). To arrange for pick-up or drop-off of your donated perennials or yard sale items, or to volunteer, please contact Susan at 951-2571 or
susanrutherford@hotmail.com. High School and middle school student volunteers welcome!
New at the Stone Circle
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| The Stone Circle at Hunt |
Beautiful new shrubs, plants and a tree have been planted around our stone circle recently, and as you can see, they look great. Be sure to stop and take a look at your fundraising dollars at work! Thanks to Bella Nadworny, Gabi Baumann, and Susan Rutherford for purchasing and planting these new additions to our garden.
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| Be sure to visit the Stone Circle when you are next at school! |
Hunt Garden Committee is looking for a few people to help with watering the front entrance gardens this spring and summer. If you can help water for one week or if you can help water one day per week, anything you can do will help. High school students and scouts are welcome!! Contact Susan if you can help. at 951-2571 or susanrutherford@hotmail.com.
Come out to support the HUNT marathon relay teams on Sunday, May 26th!
Did you know that Aidan T., Nate B., Lucas B., Jackson E., Hessain T., Chris G., Eamon L., Anders O., Aaron B., Ben H., Phillip G., Olivia N., Simon K., Abdi B., Patrick B., and Seamus B. are all participating in marathon relay teams? If you and your family are out on the course on Marathon Sunday, please CHEER our HUNT relay runners on!
A note of thanks from Ms. Anger...
Thank you very much for the $75 donation to make Papusas for
our school wide opening of the gardens. My 100 Healthy Living students will
enjoy making them and all the students in the school will enjoy eating them at
our school wide celebration of the garden opening happening May
17th.
Sincerely,
Want an easy way to support Hunt Middle School's Student Council and all Hunt's students? It won't require volunteering or cost you a dime? Save Box Tops for Education!
**Box Tops for Education are on the packages of hundreds of participating products that you probably use every day. All you need to do is cut them off the box they are on, stick them in a baggie, and send them to school with your middle school student. There is a container for the Box Tops in the main office.
**Did you know that Box Tops are dated and cannot be used if they are past this expiration date??
Make yourself a note on your home or electronic calendar to send in those Box Tops!! Saving them is the first step. Sending them in before they expire is the next.
The student council will be collecting Box Tops all year long, so start saving and sending in your Box Tops today! The collection box is located in the main office.
Thanks for choosing to support the student council by collecting Box Tops!
Hunt's Student Council collects used shoes, sandals and boots for Hunt's shoe recycling program!!
The collection box went missing for a few days, but it's back in the front entrance of Hunt and ready for the collection of your pre-loved shoes, sneakers, boots, athletic foot wear, and sandals. Don't let those shoes fill our landfills! ShoeBox recycling will get them to people who need them, because most shoes still have some life left in them. Simply bring your old shoes to Hunt, place them in the specially marked box, in the front entrance of the school, and a member of the student council will send them to ShoeBox Recycling. Thanks for doing your part! Contact susanrutherford@hotmail.com with any questions. The band, choir, and orchestra concerts are great times to bring them to Hunt!!
Save the Date...
- May 15th - Early Release Day - students released at NOON
- May 15th - 7-8 pm Hunt Band Concert/bake sale
- May 16th - May PTO meeting - 6:30-8 in the library
- May 18th - Middle school SORRY! game at the U-Mall
- May 21st - 5th Grade Step Up Day - 1-2 pm. Early Release 6th Grade ONLY!
- May 22nd - 7-8 pm Hunt Orchestra concert
- May 25th - 8:30 am - 2 pm; 4th Annual New North End Perennial Plant and School-wide Yard Sale
- May 26th - Vermont City Marathon & Relay -- Go Hunt runners!!!
- May 27th - Memorial Day - No School
- May 29 - 7-8pm Hunt chorus Concert/Bake Sale
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