Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

Happy Friday!

I hope you had an easy transition back to work and school after our Thanksgiving break. We have had a busy week and I'm sure many of your kiddos will be excited for some rest and relaxation a bit this weekend.

In other news, the 1st grade teachers hosted our Den Rally today. During a Den Rally, the entire school gathers in the gym for character building and to celebrate our Pinebrook community. Today, us 1st grade teachers did a short presentation on how adults and students can greet each other with the 3 R's. It was a lot of fun to role play different scenarios and hear the kids react. Please ask your child about it! :)

Volunteers Needed!
In social studies, we are learning about economics and holiday traditions around the world. In the next week, the 1st graders will spend time "visiting" other countries to learn about holiday traditions from many cultures. As a culminating activity to this unit, our 1st grade classes will host a "World Market" on December 18th. At the market, each class will "sell" an item representing a particular country or culture. Students will shop for items from other classes using a punch card system. They will have to budget and save their punches, and prioritize their purchases since they will not have enough punches to buy everything. At the market, we would like to showcase culture artifacts from around the world. Would you like to set up a table at the market to showcase your family's cultural heritage, and speak to students who may visit your table? If so, please return the "Wanted: First Grade Parents" slip that I sent home in yesterday's Thursday folder. Please return the slip by Tuesday, December 4th.

We Celebrate Winter Holidays:
In yesterday's Thursday folder, I sent home a paper called "We Celebrate Winter Holidays." This is a mini project that I do with my students each year so they have the opportunity to learn the diversity at Pinebrook. By completing this mini project, students have the opportunity to learn about another holiday that others celebrate during the winter season. Please support your child in completing this by Monday, December 10th. Thank you for your help!

Scholastic Book Fair:
The Scholastic Book Fair will be held at school all next week. Students previewed the Book Fair today. Students who bring money may shop at the Book Fair during recess next week (December 3rd-7th). If your child plans to bring in money for the Book Fair, please send the money in a sealed envelope marked with your child's name, my name, and "Book Fair" on the outside of the envelope. If you would like to attend the Book Fair to shop with your child, our Family Shopping Night will be Tuesday, December 4th from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Due to the Book Fair, students will not check books out of the library next week, but books can still be retuned on Monday or you can keep them until Monday, December 10th. If you don't have the opportunity to attend the Scholastic Book Fair, the books may be purchased online on the Scholastic website. If you order online, please use our classroom code. Our class will be able to earn free books for our classroom library based on your purchases. We have earned 15 free books for our classroom already this year!

Early Emergency Dismissal Forms:
Our office is asking all families to complete and/or update your child's early emergency dismissal form. This is the form that tells us how your child goes home in the event of an early dismissal due to inclement weather or some other emergency. If you have not yet completed this form in the last 2 weeks, please complete it by clicking HERE.

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading-We will continue our nonfiction unit in which we learn ways to become super smart about nonfiction topics and practice strategies for solving hard words in nonfiction books. 
• Writing- We will finish our How-To writing unit and begin our nonfiction chapter books writing unit. 
• Math-We will continue our measurement unit. We will talk about length, weight, volume, and temperature. We will measure with standard and nonstandard units. We will learn about tools used for measurement. 
• Social Studies- We will explore holiday traditions from around the world as the students "visit" countries around the globe. 

As always, I welcome questions, comments, and feedback. 

Donal and I will be spending our weekend getting ready for the holiday season, as I know that many of you will be doing as well. I have enjoyed hearing the excitement from your children about their eleves visiting and decorating trees at home. First graders definitely keep the magic and excitement of the holiday season alive for me! 

Have a super weekend! :) 

Weekly Update

Hi Everyone,

A surprise snow day! Hooray!

We have a short week coming up and then 5 wonderful days to spend with family and food! Here's what you need to know for next week's short week and the week after...


Quarter 1 Report Cards:
A friendly reminder that Quarter 1 report cards were issued Monday. If you have not yet done so, please log into your ParentVue account to view your child's report card.

Thanksgiving Travel:
If your child will be absent next week, and/or leaving early early on Tuesday, please kindly notify both the office and myself in advance. For absences, you may use the online absence excuse found on the Pinebrook homepage. For early dismissal, you may use the early dismissal form also found on the Pinebrook homepage.

School Picture Retakes:
School Picture Retakes will be on Monday, November 19th. Picture retakes are for students who were absent on picture day, or students who paid for a picture package and would like to have the photos redone. If you believe either of these apply to you, please send me a message and I will give you all the details about picture retakes.

No Written Homework Next Week:
There will be no written homework next week due to our short week. PLEASE READ!! Remember...reading isn't homework...reading is LIFE. :)

Focus Areas for the Coming Short Week (11/20-11/21) AND the Week of 11/26-11/30

• Reading- We will continue with our nonfiction unit, in which we learn ways to become super smart about nonfiction topics
• Writing- We will complete a few fun Thanksgiving writing projects and continue our How-To writing unit
• Math- We will finish our graphing unit by completing a Thanksgiving GRAPH-tivity. We will begin our measurement unit. We will talk about length, weight, volume, and temperature. We will measure with standard and nonstandard units. We will learn about tools used for measurement. 
• Social Studies- We will begin our economics unit. We will explore the concepts of wants and needs, goods and services, and consumers and producers. 

As always, I welcome your questions, comments, and feedback. 

Happy Thanksgiving! As I count my blessings, your sweet kiddos, you, and the support you offer each day are surely at the top of the list. 

Weekly Update and Important Report Card Information

Hi Everyone,

We spent the week preparing for our Veteran's Day Celebration, which will be held at school on Monday. Please help your child dress in red, white, and blue on Monday to add to our patriotic atmosphere. Veterans will come to speak with us about their time in service, and we will celebrate them with our own Pinebrook Veteran's Day Parade.

Important Information About Report Cards:
Quarter 1 report cards will be issued Monday, November 12th. Please note: Paper report cards will NOT be issued. Your child's report card will be available for electronic viewing by logging into your ParentVue account. 
If you do NOT have a ParentVue account, you MUST contact Mrs. Sciortino in our school office at 703-957-4325 to obtain an authorization key. I apologize in advance, but I am not able to help you with obtaining or accessing your ParentVue account. You must go through Mrs. Sciortino. 

Thanksgiving Plate:
On Wednesday, I sent home a note about Thanksgiving, along with a "plate" for your child to decorate with things that he/she is thankful for. We will use the decorated plate for an in-class project. Please help your child decorate his/her plate with pictures of things that he/she is thankful for. The pictures do not to be printed, your child may choose to draw/color pictures if they wish. The plates will go through the laminator, so please only use flat decorations. Please send the decorated plate back to school by Wednesday, November 14th. If it is finished sooner, you may send it in sooner. Thank you!

Homework Update:
A friendly reminder that our new homework will begin next week (Monday, November 12th). Students will bring their weekly homework packet home on Mondays. The completed homework packet is due back on Fridays to allow flexibility in helping your child with his/her homework. Daily homework will consist of reading and one page in the homework packet. Detailed instructions are included on the cover page of the packet. Please contact me with any questions regarding homework.

Thanksgiving Travel:
If your child will be absent in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday, please kindly notify me and the office in advance. You may use the Pinebrook online absence notice found on the Pinebrook homepage.

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading- We will begin our Nonfiction unit, in which we learn strategies good readers use when reading nonfiction texts. This unit will last until Winter Break.
• Writing- We will continue our unit on How-To writing. How-to writing is procedural writing, in which we teach our reader "how to" do something. We will also complete a Thanksgiving writing project. 
• Math- We will begin our graphing and data unit. We will study tally charts, picture graphs, and object graphs, and bar graphs. This unit will last until Thanksgiving break. 
• Social Studies- We will learn about our beautiful state of Virginia, and discuss the symbols that represent our state. 

Our second quarter has begun! Thank you for all that you've done to help your child adjust to 1st Grade! I am blessed by their sweet presence each day. Please remember...your feedback is always welcomed and appreciated. 

Enjoy the weekend!! :) 

Weekly Update

Hi Everyone,

Today marks the end of our first quarter. The school year is passing quickly! I am so pleased with our little classroom family, and with the growth that the kids are making. Have I told you I think your kids are the BEST? :)

Thanksgiving Plate:
I will be sending home a note about a Thanksgiving project that we will be completing in class in next week's Thursday folder. There will be an at-home portion to this project. I am asking that each child decorates their Thanksgiving "plate" with things that he/she is thankful for. Please help your child decorate their "plate" when it comes home with things that he/she is thankful for. The plates will go through the laminator so please only use flat decorations. Please send the decorated plate back to school by Thursday, November 15th. If it is done sooner, your child can most certainly being it in then. So, be on the lookout for this project in Thursday folders! I will write another reminder in next week's blog post.

Homework Change:
Due to our short week next week, we will not have sight words or written homework. When homework resumes on November 12th, we will have a new homework routine. The kids will no longer use their orange homework journal (I will pass them back on Wednesday, and they may choose to use them as they please). Instead, I will send a homework packet home on Mondays. Completed homework packets will be due on Fridays. Each day's homework will include reading for 15-20 minutes, along with a worksheet to review our Words of the Week or other previously learned concepts. I will continue to give a Words of the Week spelling test each Friday. Your child will receive a completion grade for homework. Detailed homework instructions will be included on the cover page of each week's homework packet.

Turkey of the Year:
Turkey of the Year voting continued today, and will go on for the next few Fridays! Your child must read to vote for the staff member he/she would like to see come to school dressed in a turkey suit. One hour of reading equals one vote. Each Friday, please sign and return that week's voting slip. If you lost the voting slips, please write a note to indicate how many hours your child read the previous week, sign it, and send it to school on Friday.

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading- We will have a celebration for finishing our word detectives unit and we will complete a small project in showcase all that we learned to do. 
• Writing- We will continue with our How-To writing unit. This is writing in which we teach our readers how to do something. 
• Math-We did not finish our fractions unit this week due to all of the extra events/activities. We will finish next week. 
• Social Studies-We will learn about our Famous Virginians: Christopher Newport, Arthur Ashe, and Thomas Jefferson. We will also learn about the significance of Veteran's Day and prepare for our Pinebrook Veteran's Day celebration. 

It's been a delight to visit with so many of you at conferences. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me about your child's progress! Thank you for being vested in your child's social, emotional, and educational development. 

Don't forget...the kids don't have school on Monday and Tuesday due to Teacher Work Days. Enjoy the long weekend! And the extra hour of sleep!