Our daily column, 5 Things You Need to Know Today, will help you to get your day started and offer you some fodder for water cooler conversation.

1. Hundreds of members of the Framingham Teachers Association, and parents, are expected to attend the Framingham School Committee meeting tonight at 7:30 in the King Building. The teachers and parents plan to speak on the lack of a contract. Framingham Patch will be at the meeting.

2. Framingham Selectmen are scheduled to meet tonight at 7 in the Memorial building. On the agenda is a license for Outback Steakhouse and a discussion about the McAuliffe branch library project.

3. The Framingham Rotary Internet Auction is LIVE tonight on Access Framingham (AF-TV) at 7:30. Tune in to see auction items and learn about what Rotary grants do to help the local community. All bidding is online. The deadline to bid is 9:59 p.m. Dec. 5. For additional information watch the attached video or visit www.rotaryauction.com

4. A wife and mother and volunteering icon has died after a 10-year battle with cancer. Pam Washek, the co-founder of the Wayland Angel Food Network (now the Neighbor Brigade), passed away Dec. 2. Today, Wayland's chapter of Neighbor Brigade is just one of more than 30 in the state of Massachusetts. There is also a chapter operating in Framingham.

5. Framingham Parks and Recreation offering a Whimsical Wednesdays program for children ages 3-5 starting Jan. 9. Classes are held at Whimsy Arts and Crafts Studio Wednesdays from 11 to 11:45 a.m. Weekly, children will use a variety of different materials. Cost is $48. Registration begins Dec. 6 at the Parks & Recreation office.