LISD Academic Advocates

1. Call to Order and Pledge. The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm. At that time the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

2. 2. Minutes. The minutes were read from the October 24, 2005 meeting. Elizabeth Frey moved to accept the minutes with a spelling correction. Chris Cavalli seconded the motion.

3. 3. Treasurer's report. The beginning balance on October 18, 2005 was $2,959.26. The income had family memberships for $65.00 and a corporate membership for $75.00. Expenses were web hosting for $89.94 and two 2005 scholarships for $500.0 and $250.00. The ending balance was $2,259.32.

4. Committee report. There will be no meeting in May. The last Monday in April will be the last meeting for the school year. The scholarships will be given out at that time. Elizabeth Frey will be checking with the ONE OAK Foundation to see if they will be giving a donation for scholarships again. Chris Kay said that the new "All A's" honor roll was up in Cedar Park High School. There were some Sr. pictures that need to get up to finish up the Sr. honor roll.

5. Speaker. Charlotte Flowers (LISD elementary math coordinator) spoke on "Everyday Mathematics-the transition from elementary math to middle school. Everyday Mathematics is a curriculum based on research at the University of Chicago begun in 1983. The LISD started using the 1998 edition of the curriculum in the 2000-2001 school year. The curriculum is designed as a spiral. Concepts are first introduced in once-over-lightly fashion that is meant to just expose the students to a new concept, e.g. fractions. The following year the topic is reintroduced in greater depth with everyday applications. Finally in the third year, students are expected to have mastery of the concept through additional focussed instruction. Daily work includes new concepts, as well as reinforcement of recently taught concepts. This curriculum uses problem solving for everyday situations, hands on activities, links between past experiences and new concepts, ongoing review throughout the year, partner and small group activities, practice through games and multiple strategies and solutions. One of the core beliefs of this curriculum is the idea that children remember better those concepts that they discover for themselves, so multiple approaches to problem solving are encouraged. Debi Swingler, a 5th grade teacher, and Gary Lamoureaux, a 6th grade teacher, discussed how the program prepares elementary children to move on to middle school math, and Jill Walker, middle school math facilitator also commented. There were many questions from the audience through out the evening.

6. Announcements. The next meeting will be January 30, 2006.

7. The meeting adjourned at 9:02 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Marilyn Hosier
Secretary