Kate Simkowiak

From the Board

Board announcements, meeting minutes, etc.

Guest Speaker Chris McCurry, PhD on Preparing Our Children for Success in the World

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Please join us April 26th at 7:00pm in the Terrace Park Commons for an insightful presentation:

The Gift of Resilience:

Preparing Our Children for Success in the World

by, Chris McCurry, PhD

This presentation will cover:

  • Ideas about what makes children successful in life
  • The nature and origins of childhood distress
  • A new way of thinking about a child’s stress-related behaviors; one based on intention and attention
  • Strategies for responding to your child’s distress that promote psychological flexibility and growth
  • Tools for promoting resilience in your child, and in yourself

Chris McCurry, Ph.D., is a clinical child psychologist in private practice at Associates in Behavior and Child Development, Inc., P.S. in Seattle. He is a clinical instructor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Washington. Dr. McCurry specializes in the assessment and treatment of children who are experiencing behavioral and emotional problems including anxiety disorders, attention disorders, underachievement in school, and parent-child conflicts. He is the author of Parenting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance published in 2009 by New Harbinger.

Please join us for our CPA General Meeting before Dr. McCurry’s presentation from 6:30-7 pm.

Highlights:

  • Election of new board members
  • CPA 2011/2012 Budget
  • The New Play Shed Project

Gifted Education Day Information from the CPA

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Thank you so much for your planning participation in Gifted Education Day this Monday, January 23rd.

In preparation for the day, we wanted to cover some important items.

1. Since the Coalition activities start at 9:00am in Olympia, we will not be meeting at Terrace Park in the morning as a group to arrange carpools. If you have arranged to meet independently, that is fine. Please allow for time to park at the Capitol. On Monday there is also a hearing on same sex marriage and we anticipate a large showing at the Capitol on both sides of this issue so be prepared for some crowds.

2. When you arrive in the Columbia Room, please check in with the Coalition to receive a name tag and green scarf from the Puyallup School District. We wear the scarves for the day and please remember to return them to the Columbia Room before you depart at the end of the day.

3. CPA board members will be in the Columbia Room to answer any questions you may have on Monday. We will have copies of the schedule and maps in case you need them. We will also have the T-shirts that you ordered to hand out. Throughout the day, Michelle Toshima and Kristin Merrill will be in the Columbia Room for any questions or directions needed.

4. The first meetings of the morning are with Randy Dorn and the Governor in the Columbia Room. These are being coordinated by the Coalition and we have a short amount of time with each. We have arranged for a few students to talk and a few more to stand in support. If your child is not a part of these presentations, please know they will have a chance to speak with our legislators at the afternoon meetings we have arranged.

5. Attached is an updated agenda for the day. Please note that leaders have been assigned to each meeting with our legislators. The leader will introduce our group and the purpose of our meeting. At these meetings, we will ask if any student would like to say a few words. Please see the attached prompts to cover with your child to prepare them if they would like to speak. The message this year is to say thank you for including highly capable within the definition of basic education and also for maintaining the funding highly capable in the current budget.

6. On the agenda, we have specified districts of each representative we are meeting. We ask that you try to attend the meetings with the representatives from your district or when there are no conflicting meetings, we all try to attend.

Thank you again for your participation!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Tina Raghu.

Family Gifted Education Day 2012

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Please plan to attend Gifted Education Day in Olympia. We are all in this together! And we need you!

DATE: Monday, January 23rd, 2012

TIME: 7:30 AM Leave Terrace Park by carpool or caravan / Estimate 2:30 PM departure from Olympia, WA

WHERE: State Capitol Building in Olympia, WA

WHO: Parents, Students, Teachers and Administrators of Edmonds School District Highly Capable Programs

Gifted Education Day is an annual event scheduled by the Coalition for Gifted Education. CPA has participating for many years bringing families to Olympia for Gifted Ed Day to tour the Capitol, meet with Legislators, and meet other parent groups for gifted education from around the state. As you may be aware, the Washington legislature has gone back into Special Session to continue the cut the budget. Once we see the results of the Special Session we will draft specific talking points with the help of the Coalition.

If you plan to attend please open the Family GED 2012 Form, print, complete, and return along with and any payment due for Gifted Ed. Day t-shirts to your child’s teacher or the CPA box in the Terrace Park Office by Monday, January 9th. Please note: this form is for Family GED, 4th Graders will be receiving forms for their field trip from their teacher.

Have questions about this event please check our FAQ page. If you would like additional information on this event, please attend our CPA General Meeting Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 6:30 pm. Thank you.

Draft Schedule for Family GED 2012:

TIME AND ACTIVITY:

9:30 am — Arrive Olympia

9:30 am–10:30 am — Legislator Meetings

10:30 am–noon — Capitol Tours (limited space)

Noon — Lunch

1:00 pm — Group Photo on Capitol steps

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm — Legislator Meetings

CPA’s 1st General Meeting – Oct. 6th, 2011

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Thursday, October 6th, 2011

6:30 pm – 7 pm CPA General Meeting

Highlights:
• Election of Michelle Toshima & Kristin Merrill as Board Members-at-Large
• CPA 2011/2012 Budget
• CPA 2011/2012 Calendar

7 pm – 8 pm CPA Round Table Discussion

Meet fellow parents and teachers in an informal round table discussion. Bring your questions about CPA, homework, social issues, transportation, etc.

CPA’s Fall Semester Fund Drive is On!

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The Challenge Parents Association’s primary role is to support gifted education at Terrace Park School and Brier Terrace Middle School. As parents of Challenge and Highly Capable Program children, you are already members of CPA. There is no membership fee. All of the funds donated to CPA go directly to support and enhance your child’s education.

 

We know every family’s budget is unique and we appreciate any amount your family can contribute.

Please download the pledge form and support your CPA today. Thank you!

CPA Board Meeting Minutes – August 25th, 2011

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CPA Board Meeting, June 9th, 2011- Pam Gasper’s home

In Attendance – Tina Raghu, Pam Gaspers, Lisa Flynn, Ann Radcliffe, Michelle Toshima, Maya Shinn

Meeting started at 6:45 p.m.

President’s Report:

There will be no co-president this year. We will recruit a co-president in the spring for next year and then the new co-president can overlap with Tina for a year.

Summer play dates went well this year with good number of attendees of new and current families. Will keep it a low number of play dates again next year.

Web design looks great. Ann Radcliffe will keep improving and updating it for easier communication. She welcomes any input to make it better.

 

Reviewed CPA fundraising letter for the first Wednesday packet. Pam suggested looking into adding a graph that shows how the CPA budgets its expenditures.  The graph will show the percentage of how much we give to different categories (classroom support, additional teacher training, grants, social, administration). Tina will take this on and send around via email for input. Discussed a second letter to raise funds after WAETAG to let members know about the training we help fund.

Tina had a question from Ms Poly whether or not CPA will pay for the back to school swim night. The consensus was no; we will not fund the event.

The PTA is looking for volunteer for Back To School Night. Anyone who is interested will contact the PTA to volunteer.

Book Club. Mary Freitas suggested a book club. Tina will ask for more details when she meets with Mary. It was suggested that if we want to do this we need to find a volunteer to lead the group.

Coffee Chats. At this point we are not going to schedule any and will revisit at a later time.

The PTA is paying to attend a Law seminar and has invited CPA board members.  Tina will forward information on this when she gets it.

Summer BBQ Preparation:

Ann showed us her sign in sheet. We’re going to try to keep it simple. Michelle suggested that we have clipboards and ask people to sign up as we mingle. Tina will bring clipboards.

Lisa and Pam will go shopping Saturday morning. We discussed item quantities to be purchased based on the RSVP. We still need few items. Michelle will bring table for signing up. Need to purchase name tags and multi-colored Sharpies (Tina). Each Grade will have different color to make it easier to recognize.

Addressing the need of Events for Community Building.

Have a family game night – BINGO – at the beginning of school year and have teachers help out with the event.

Lisa volunteered to take on organizing class lists for each class. We decided that we would like to get information at Curriculum Night (9/22/11). The form will specifically ask if information can be shared with the class and then with the Challenge Program families.

Ann brought up a question as to how to increase our revenue through the Goodsearch. Concern was raised that not many families know about the program. Maybe increase ad/communication on this.

Treasurer’s Report:

The handover is done from Tracy to Maya. Maya will coordinate a date to add co-signers for checks. (Tina and Lisa?) Need to set a date for auditing before 1st General Meeting.

We need more information on WAETAG for our budgeting. Maya will find out how much the district plans to fund and how many teachers would like to attend the conference in Wenatchee. Michelle will check in with teachers at Brier Terrace. We plan to prioritize new teachers but hope that we’ll be able to send any teacher who wants to attend.

Meeting Dates to come:

We need 4 board meetings and 4 general meetings per year. We tentatively set up the next 2 meeting dates as follows:

  • First General Meeting: Thursday, October 6th 2011.

Will be discussing what CPA is and we’ll include BTMS

  • 2nd general meeting: Thursday, January 12th, 2012.

In preparation for the Gifted Ed Day (January 27th 2012).

The next 2 general meeting will be determined later.

The next board meeting in preparation for Gifted Ed Day will be on Thursday, November 17th 2011. Place and time to be determined.

Bingo night in the fall as a second general meeting for community building was also rediscussed. We are waiting on the PTA calendar and once we see that we’ll see if can also schedule this meeting.

Meeting adjourned 8:10 p.m.

Summer Park Gatherings

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COME AND PLAY!

The next summer gathering is this Wednesday! All Terrace Park Challenge & BTMS Highly Capable Families (current, former & future) are invited to come have fun and make new friends. So bring a picnic lunch and any park toys you’d like to share.

Wednesday, August 10th
11 am – 1 pm
Edmonds City Park: 3rd Ave. South and Howell Way, Edmonds
Park Amenities: Picnic areas, play structures, baseball field, and trails.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for our Back-to-School BBQ!

Sunday, August 28th
We have the area reserved from 10 am – 6 pm

North Lynnwood Neighborhood Park: 18510 44th Ave. West, Lynnwood
Park Amenities: Water spray, play structures, basketball courts, picnic areas, and paved trail (perfect for small bikes, trikes, and scooters)

Lunch served: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm (or until supplies run out)
The CPA will provide grilling items, buns, condiments & paper goods.
We ask that families supplement the BBQ with the following:
Beverages: Last names A-G
Side Dishes/Chips: Last names H-O
Desserts: Last names P-Z

If you haven’t already, click here to RSVP for the BBQ so that we can get an accurate headcount.

Challenge Parents Association (CPA) board members will be attending to meet with Highly Capable families and answer questions and make introductions to other district programs families.

Brier Terrace Middle School Highly Capable Program Families:
A special invitation to you as CPA has expanded to include the BTMS Highly Capable program. With your support, we look forward to working with Hi-Cap teachers of BTMS to augment classroom materials, support special activities, extend learning beyond the classroom, provide professional development materials for our teachers, enable our teachers to do more with the children in the classroom, and provide resources for gifted parenting issues support.