Friday, November 20, 2009

Minutes

General Meeting June 11, 2009

In Attendance: Mr. Alan Atkins, Mary Leo Dick, Mary Rowe, Janice MacFarlane, Lynn McMinniman, Jennifer Shepherd, Kaajal Amhwani

Meeting called to order 7PM by Mary Rowe as Chair.

Welcome by Mary Rowe. Janice MacFarlane moved to accept Agenda, seconded by Mary Leo. Minutes of May General Meeting distributed. Mary Leo moved to accept, seconded by Janice.

Principal's Remarks: Mr. Atkins thanked the Friends of NMS and their executive for another great year. He is very pleased with the growth and progress of the group and remarked that it is even better this second year than last and is looking forward to next year and beyond. He commented that continuity of Friends of NMS and our philosophy is very important as the group contributes a vital function within the school.

Year in Review: The Friends of NMS Annual Report- 2008-2009 School Year was presented and will be made available on the Blog. Mary Rowe read through the highlights and the full report was distributed to those present.

Looking Ahead to Next Year: The Friends are already rolling ahead with activities for next year. We have set the dates for the French and English Book Fairs and will continue to help with the activities in which we were involved last year. We are very pleased to have new membership from the Grade 6 parents whose children will be joining the school in September. We discussed ideas for possible new initiatives and Mr. Atkins proposed a second information evening for new parents in the school sometime in October. This would give the parents a chance to get into the daily routine and provide an opportunity for the parents to address any orientation questions they may have. We want the families to feel welcome and comfortable by reinforcing the many modes of access to information and communication with the school. Thank you to all who attended. You have great ideas for making the school environment a better place to nurture and encourage our children. We are very excited about our participation next year and we look forward to working with all of our new and continuing members in the upcoming school year.

Adjournment: Mary Leo moved to adjourn, seconded by Janice. Mary Rowe adjourned the meeting at 7:50PM

Friday, November 13, 2009

Frieinds Update

Hi Everyone,

We hope parent teacher interviews went well for all of you.

Thank you to everyone who was able to contribute to the Teacher's Munchie Table that we set up in the staff room for the teachers. As always, the teachers are very appreciative of your efforts.

Just a reminder that the Firefighter's Challenge is coming up next week. We would invite anyone who wants to help decorate to meet after school on the 18th. We will also need help setting up the equipment that evening.
The challenge itself takes place on the 19th and Mr. Yaychuk would appreciate it if volunteers can make it to the school by 8 am if able. This is a FUN event for the kids and volunteers alike. We will be calling those who indicated on their forms they would like to help out. Feel free to drop us an email if you want to come out and join the fun!

Junior Achievement is looking for parent volunteers who would like to help out with their Business Basics Program- Our Business World being taught to the Grade 7 classes at NMS on Tuesday, Dec. 1st from 9-11 am. They will provide a training session on Wednesday, Nov.25th from 12-1 pm (location TBA) for interested volunteers. If interested, please contact Connie Woodside (President &CEO JA NB) @ 455-6552 or jafrednb@nb.aibn.com .

Finally, we have scheduled a General Meeting for next Thursday....
Friends of NMS General Meeting Thursday November 19, 2009 @ 6:30 pm

Agenda

1. Approval of Agenda
2. Approval of Minutes
3. Principal's Remarks
4. Completed Tasks since Sept. '09
5. Upcoming Tasks
6. Adjournment

Take care and hope the kids enjoy their long weekend,
Mary, Janice and Mary Leo
Co Chairs Friends of NMS

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Friends Update

ENGLISH BOOK FAIR

We would like to give a big Thank you to the 23 people who volunteered to help out at the book fair. We sold roughly $6500.00 in books last week of which 60% of that will go back into the classrooms as books. Having books available in our classroom libraries is an effective way to stimulate our kids to pick up a book and read. Thank you as well to everyone who came out to support the book fair by purchasing books etc.

PUMPKIN PATCH

We will be holding our 2nd Annual Pumpkin carving/decorating contest this week at NMS. Students who wish to do so, can carve or paint a pumpkin and drop it off on Wednesday October 28th.
Pumpkins will be displayed and fellow students can then view the masterpieces on the 29th. All can vote for their favourites with pennies. Kids can vote as many times as they wish and all pennies collected will be donated to UNICEF.
Pumpkins can then be taken home on the 30th in time for Halloween.
Please note, pumpkins can not be taken on the bus but parents are more than welcome to drop them off at the office.

SCHOOL DANCE (October 29)

Our first school dance of the year will be the Halloween Dance on the 29th. Thank you to all those who volunteered to help out at the dance. The dance starts at 6pm and runs until 8:30pm. Volunteers will be notified this week as to what time they are scheduled to help out.

The admission to the dance is $3 with a donation of canned cat or dog food, and $4 without a donation.

We are also planning to decorate for the dance, if you are interested in helping with this, please let us know.

FIREFIGHTER"S CHALLENGE

This year's Firefighter's Challenge will be held in the Gym on Thursday, November the 19,2009. We are looking for Volunteers to help with the set up of the obstacle course on Wednesday evening as well as volunteers to help with the day long event on Thursday. This is a fun event that has all grade levels participating in an obstacle course challenge to simulate some of the many things our brave firefighters encounter on a daily basis. Please note: volunteers help at the various stations that are set up. You do not have to run the course. :)

H1N1 CLINIC

The school will be running the H1N1 immunization clinic on the 4th of November and is looking for a couple of volunteers who are familiar with the school to help with directing the kids. If interested in helping out, let us know.

MUNCHIE TABLE

For the past few years, we have been providing a "Pick Me Up" for our staff during Parent Teacher interviews. We set up a Munchie Table that the teachers can snack on during the interview period. Interviews take place the evening of the 12th and morning of the 13th. If anyone is interested in sending in some food items on the 12th to help us accomplish this, we would be very grateful. We would appreciate any contributions, particularly fruit, veggies, sandwiches, cookies, muffins, yogurt etc....

UPCOMING MEETINGS etc.

Next General Meeting : TBA

Nominations for the positions of the 3 Co Chairs will be accepted from December 7, 2009 until 3pm December 11, 2009. Nomination forms will be made available just prior to these dates and will be posted on the Blog.

Elections will take place January 13, 2010.

The Friends of NMS Annual General Meeting will take place on Thursday January 14, 2010 at 7pm.

More information will be made available prior to these dates.


Sincerely,
Mary Rowe, Janice MacFarlane and Mary Leo Dick
Co Chairs of Friends of NMS

Friday, October 16, 2009

Friday, October 9, 2009

Friends Update

Hi Everyone,

We are happy to report that our distribution list is now up and running. We want to ensure that everyone who provided an email to us does get contacted. If you know of anyone who provided an email address on their volunteer form but did not receive this, please have them contact us so we can verify receipt of their form.

Volunteer Forms
We wanted to thank each and every one of you who have taken the time to contact us or fill out a form. Our volunteer numbers are at an amazing 175. We are thankful for the growth of Friends over the past few years and that the momentum continues.

French Book Fair
Thank you to the volunteers we were able to come out and help with the French Book Fair on Sept 29,30 and Oct 1. We had a whopping 30 people come out to help us promote the love of reading to our kids and outlying community. Also, Thank you to everyone who stopped by to have a look and purchase books. The French Book Fair brought in over $10,000 of sales. That gave NMS a profit of over $ 5700 in books which will be used to build classroom libraries. The NMS staff is very appreciative. :)

Corn Boil
We would like to give a big Thank you to our Corn Boil Volunteers. This event was put on short notice (as is sometimes the case at NMS :) ) and yet we had such a wonderful turnout. We had 11 people who helped out during various parts of the picking/husking or boiling. The free corn was then served up to our 780+ students and staff. Special thanks to Harveys Big Potato for their generous donation of the corn. All remaining corn cobs were donated to the Food Bank.

English Book Fair
Coming up on October 20,21,22, we will be having an English Book Fair. We will be running it from 10 am -6 pm on Tuesday the 20th, 10 am-6 pm on Wednesday the 21st, and 10am-4pm on Thursday the 22nd. If anyone would like to volunteer for this event, please drop us an email.

Dance
Mark your calendars....the first dance of the year will be October 29th. If you are interested in helping out, let us know and we'll pass your name to the dance committee.

Thanksgiving is the time of year when we all reflect on those things that we are grateful for. In addition to family and friends, we are grateful for an administration and staff that welcome parental involvement for our kids. We are also very grateful for such a fantastic group of parent volunteers here at NMS. We can't wait to see what we can accomplish throughout this year.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving,
Mary Rowe, Janice MacFarlane and Mary Leo Dick
Co Chairs of Friends of NMS

Monday, September 28, 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009

WELCOME BACK FRIENDS

Welcome to the 2009-2010 School year at NMS. We are really excited to welcome back past volunteers and to embrace those new to our school. It was nice to see so many familiar faces and to meet new ones, at Meet the Teacher Night.
Thank you to all who have filled out Volunteer forms for our Friends of NMS group. We now have over 164 names on our list. If for some reason you did not receive a form, let us know and we will get one to you. Simply fill it out and return it to the office.
Some events already scheduled include the French Book Fair (September 29,30 and October 1) and the English Book Fair (October 20,21....). (You do not have to be able to speak French to help out with these). Profits from the Book Fairs are used to supply books for our English and French Classrooms as well as Methods and Resources. If you have any questions or have the time to help out, feel free to contact us m.rowe1@rogers.com, jmacfarlane1@rogers.com and dickrogr@nbnet.ca .
Volunteers are needed to help the Resource Department with Lunch Hour Activities in the Methods and Resources Room. This room offers a safe zone for children as they adjust to their new school year. This would be a great opportunity to provide fun activities in a small group setting. Contact Cecilia Birney by phone 453-4243 or email Cecilia.Birney@nbed.nb.ca.

Also, if anyone is interested in helping out with Math or Language Arts, please contact Cecilia Birney.

All volunteers are asked to familiarize themselves with Policy 701 and complete the validation questionnaire. This can be accessed at http://701.nbed.nb.ca/toc-e.asp .

As well, any volunteer working directly with children will need a criminal record check.

Here's to a great year at NMS with FRIENDS,
Mary Leo Dick, Janice MacFarlane and Mary Rowe
Friends of NMS Co Chairs