December, 2011

Cultural Competency Meeting Notes:  December 14, 2011

Attendee:  Heather McBride, Rachel Grant, Miles Erdly, Kasey Clay, Angela Stave, Kenda Chambers

·       Scheduling (meet with Miles to work on the schedule for the day, 2:00, Dec. 21^st)

§  10:30 to 3:30 time frame on February 29^th; 2 hour blocks of time so parents have a set time to be here

§  PE/Music; will do folk dancing; will have grade levels work on a folk dance for their particular areas (possible keeping the times the same?  Make adjustments to schedule

§  Lunch/recess, will move to two lunches

§  Parent Flyers with scheduled times, Heather will put together

§  Classroom teacher responsible to create 2 displays (in bays), recruiting families, NO FOOD, goal is positive and educational experience

o   Committee point people

§  Pre-2^nd:  Kenda/Kasey,; Asia/Oceania

§  3^rd:  Heather; Europe

§  4^th:  Rachel; Africa

§  5-6^th:  Heather/Aida; the Americas

o   Assigned Banners

§  Pre-School/Kinder/ 1st- Asia

§  2^nd- Oceania, Australia

§  3^rd- Europe

§  4^th- Africa

§  5^th & 6^th – “Americas” (North and South America) 

·       Martin Luther King, Jr. day;  January 20th

o   What are we going to do to commemorate the occasion

§  Grade level presentations; send out email to ask each grade level to put together a 3-5 minute or less presentation on or about Martin Luther King, Jr.

o   Heather will send email

§  Have grade levels send back what they are doing and how long it is

§  Send back by the 10th

o   End of the day assembly

§  Intermediate 2:40 (3-6)

§  Primary 3:10 (K-2)

November, 2011

Hi Everyone,

                Just wanted to send out our meeting notes from last Wednesday.  They will be discussed this morning but we may not have much time so we wanted to make sure we cover everything. 

Cultural Day Celebration

-          Miles had a great suggestion that instead of limiting the celebration to one night we should make it a whole day so everyone can participate! 

-          February 29^th will be the date and every classroom will get to participate! J 

-          Aida donated banners that represent different continents that will be assigned to each bay.  (to be announced later)

-          We will go over details and scheduling conflicts with Miles to get an idea of the classroom rotations. (Passports etc.)  

-          Further details to follow regarding no “R” day and grandparents day! J

THANK YOU FOR HELPING MAKE THIS A FUN DAY OF CELEBRATION FOR OUR WONDERFUL STAFF AND STUDENTS! 

Thanks,

The Cultural Competency Committee J

Summer 2011

Cultural Competency Committee:

mission: to develop cultural competence by increasing our ability to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures.

Purpose of committee
1. Increase our awareness of our own cultural worldview,
2. Attitude towards cultural differences,
3. Knowledge of different cultural practices and worldview, and
4.Knowledge of cross-cultural skills

Role
To provide our Covington community with weekly/monthly educational gems addressing ways in which we can gain a deeper understanding of how to apply positive ways of interacting with cultural competence.

Committee members
Kenda
Lisa
Heather

Frequency of meetings
Per need/monthly

Actions
Resources cache
Plans
Blog

May 11, 2011

Diversity Team Meeting Minutes, May 11, 2011

Attending Members:  Kathy Rees, Richelle Dunham, Rachel Nelson, Carol Altig, Lyndsey Brown, Kenda Chambers

PLANNING FOR NEXT SCHOOL YEAR:

Prior to end of school year:

·         Review minutes and organize possible completion dates for the next school year.

·         Pick date for next year and get early on the calendar

·         Identify actions that will need to take place very early in the school year

·         Will there be money in the budget for expenses?

Think Abouts:

·         Possible give aways for next Heritage Night:

·         Books (was purchased by PTA in the past; consider types of books to give away)  Ask PTA in the Fall, might be able to coordinate with Fall Book Fair

·         Book marks (multicultural themes)

·         Raffle with school type supplies (possibly from dollar store, drawn each half hour, items in small bags)

·         Have passports for students/families to encourage movement to all areas, last stop could be the free book

·         All members need to know where the diversity items are stored so that projects can be completed as needed

·         Bulletin boards will be put up in the Fall (maybe as a welcome to the new school year) and Winter (maybe a scrapbook of pictures from Heritage Night)

·         More advertizing opportunities for Heritage Night prior to the month?  (sharing ideas or activities leading up to the event, display with some of the activities for the night,

April 20, 2011

Diversity Team Meeting Minutes

Attending Members:  Kathy Rees, Richelle Dunham, Rachel Nelson, Carol Altig, Lyndsey Brown, Kenda Chambers

Heritage Night was reviewed to list what went well and what areas need improvement for next year. 

Successes:

·       The event was well attended and very fun

·       Pre-dished food allowed for more people to sample

·       The craft areas were well attended and directions were clear

·       High school students helping with crafts

·       MC time went well, having different people making announcements provided variety, there was a good flow to the evening through the announcements made, it provided good structure to the evening as a whole

·       The entertainment was great

·       Piñata was enjoyed and taking turns went well

Areas to Improve:

·       Story time was difficult to hear and pay attention to due to the other activities happening,

·       stories may need to be shorter to keep the attention of more age levels

·       Include explanation of posted art work, during the event and in the area of the art, label art work

·       A few Hispanic families had hoped for more representation of their culture

Think Abouts:

·       Have grade levels learn a song in another language to present

·       Consider changing the time back to 6:00 -7:30,  the evening started out very slow, many families arrived closer to 6:00

·       Double check dates for the event to minimize absences, possibly late January or early February

·       Encourage traditional costumes, Richelle had a reward set up in her classroom and it worked well

February 9, 2011

The Diversity Committee met Wed and also last Friday to discuss Heritage Night.  We worked out details for location,  agenda, and participants.  We divided up jobs on Friday and then back on Wednesday to discuss results.  We then divided up jobs again form what still needed completed.

January 2011

It's almost here.......


Heritage Night is coming soon! Just under a month away....

Heritage Night will be on a Thursday, February 17th @ 5:30-7:00. Thanks to our wonderful staff members and students, the past few events have been absolutely wonderful!

In preperation for this years event, we are asking teachers to help make decorations from cultural groups represented within our school/community. They brighten up our "old" hallways and gym, and provide an interesting and welcoming atmosphere for parents/visitors. Feel free to make decorations that represent any cultural group you and your class is interested in learning about. Maybe even choosing a theme as a grade level team......agian, anything helps. :)

Last, but not least.... Thanks to Katrina Alegado, we are working with our close neighbors at Kentwood HS and will possibly have a number of students from the Filipino Club performing a dance and volunteering at this years event! Thank you so much for making this happen Katrina. :) More to come soon.......

Thank you so much to everyone who has made our annual Heritage Night a success in the past. We are looking forward to this years event and that excitment of having a community/school connection with Kentwood students & teachers.

Thanks Again! :)

Your Covington Diversity Committee

Chair:Richelle
Kenda
Kathy R.
Carol
Rachel
Heather