1. Newburyport Kindergarten Ad Hoc Committee Tuesday, October 19, 2010

2. Agenda Greetings5 minutes Purpose Introductions

3. Team Activity Read the article, Building A Reader, from What Matters Most For Response to Intervention. As you are reading, note the most salient part of the article that resonates with you. Share your thoughts with people at your table. Report out to the whole group. 3 minutes

4. Purpose The Kindergarten Ad Hoc Committees charge will be to gather information and collect data about student achievement, school readiness, the structure of the full and half day programs and before and after school care opportunities in the Newburyport Schools Kindergarten programs. The Committee will provide the Superintendent with information, and recommendations for his entry report to the School Committee and the community at large.

5. Guiding Question What do we need to do for our Kindergarten Program to be an Exemplary Program inclusive of 21 st Century Skills?

6. Inquiry Questions 1.What do our students need to know and be able to do for grade 1 readiness? 2.How much time is actually spent on literacy instruction in ½ Day and Full Day Programs? 3.How much time is spent on non-instructional activities (recess, lunch, snack, free choice)? 4.Is there consistency from class to class regarding literacy instruction? 5.How do we support children without the proper readiness skills for Kindergarten? 6.What best practices do exemplary programs implement daily (instruction, assessment, curriculum, time-on- learning and use of personnel)?

7. Team Activity #2 1.In your group, consider and discuss additional inquiry- based questions that support our guiding question. 2.Using chart paper list your groups common questions. 3. Report out. 10 minutes 5 minutes

8. Pair up with Another Group Share common lists of inquiry-5 minutes based questions Develop one common list of 5 minutes questions representative of both groups

9. Questions, Suggestions & Actions What are the Questions? What are the Suggestions? What are the Actions? Who is Responsible?

10. Next Steps Set up an on-line Wikki for group discussion and information sharing (i.e: posting articles, etc) Transfer todays information into a working document for collecting data during site visits. Research exemplary Kindergarten programs and post your suggestions on the Wikki. Next meeting date: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 at 3:45 p.m. in the Brown School Library