Weekly Update

Hello!

I need to apologize for my late post. I'm sure your kiddos told you that I was not as school on Friday. I missed them all so much and I am excited to be back in the classroom with them today.

It was great to see some of our first graders from Room 3 at the Sports Spectacular Thursday evening. That is one of my favorite events at Pinebrook!

Flat Student Update:
Thank you to all who have sent in an address and stamps for Flat Students! I can't wait to get started on sending these off to their destinations. Your child made a Flat Student in class on Friday :) They will also be writing a letter to be mailed to their recipient.

No School March 29th and April 1st:
Please note that students do not have school on Friday, March 29th or Monday, April 1st due to Teacher Workdays.

Spring Picture Day:
Spring Picture Day is Wednesday, April 3rd. A whole group (class) picture will be taken on that day, and your child's individual picture will be taken too.

1. If you would like a class picture (this is the whole group photo), you must order and pay for it before Picture Day. I sent an order form home on Thursday for the class photo. You can fill out the order form, include payment, and return the payment envelope to school, or you can order and pay online. If you order and pay online, you must return you must return the payment envelope to school with the online payment confirmation code written on the envelope. This means that by Wednesday, April 3rd, you should return return your payment envelope with payment inside, or the payment envelope with the online payment confirmation code written on it. If you do not order a class photo by Wednesday, April 3rd, you will NOT receive one. There is NO option to order a class photo at a later date. This becomes an issue every year. Please, please...if you want a class photo, you MUST order it per the instructions that I outlined.
2. Individual photos will also be taken on April 3rd, and you will receive a picture packet later date. You can indicate a "Picture Look" for your child's individual portrait by completing and returning the "Individual Picture Day Form" attached to the order form I sent home on Thursday. If you would like to purchase individual photos, you will purchase those AFTER you receive the picture packet. 

Science Night:

Pinebrook will be hosting a Science Night with the Children's Science Center on Thursday, April 4th from 6:00-8:00 p.m. here at school. Please watch the Puma Paw weekly email for more information! :) 

Career Day:

Pinebrook will host a Career Day on the morning of Friday, April 5th. We are in need of volunteers to share information about their occupations with students at Pinebrook. If you can't be with us in person, you can Skype in! Please consider volunteering if you can by contacting our school counselors, Tana Amadeo (tana.amadeo@lcps.org) and Heather Ross (heather.ross@lcps.org).

Yearbooks:

Pinebrook yearbooks are on sale now! Yearbooks may only be purchased online. To purchase a yearbook, go to ybpay.lifetouch.com and enter school code 7561119. You will be prompted through the order and payment process. The deadline to order a yearbook is April 28th. You must pre-order a yearbook if you would like your child to receive one. 

Focus Areas for This Week:

• Reading-We will be learning about main idea and key details and learning about contractions. 
• Writing-We will edit and publish our book reviews. This is our last publication for our opinion writing unit!
• Math-We will wrap up our Place Value unit. We will compare and order numbers. 
• Social Studies- We will finish our maps unit and learn about bicycle safety. 

Your feedback is always welcome. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments :) 

Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

Happy Friday! 5 long days, but 5 fun days. We had a Den Rally yesterday with a special Harlem Wizards guest and we discovered our love of writing this week!

Flat Student Projects:
I sent home a note in yesterday's Thursday folder about our Flat Student projects. Please review this information. Please send in stamps and an address by Friday, March 22nd. If you need assistance with this task, please let me know as soon as possible. Please also let me know if you have any questions about this project. The kiddos are very excited to start reading Flat Stanley on Monday!

Pinebrook Triple Play:
Please join us! Our annual Pinebrook Sport Spectacular will be next Thursday, March 21st in the gym at John Champe High School. The Triple Play usually starts between 5:45 and 6:30 p.m. The Pinebrook teachers and staff play games that are designed to make us look as silly as possible! The event starts with teacher bowling. There will be food and snacks for sale, raffles, and other fun things. The 1st graders lead the singing of the National Anthem before the games begin. Please watch The Puma Paw weekly email for more information.

Yearbooks:
Pinebrook yearbooks are on sale now! Please see yesterday's Thursday folder for additional information. Yearbooks may only be purchased online. To purchase a yearbook, go to ybpay.lifetouch.com and enter the school code 7561119. You will be prompted to go through the order and payment process. The deadline to order a yearbook is April 28th. You must pre-order a yearbook if you would like your child to receive one.

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading-We will be learning about compound words and contractions. 
• Writing-We will continue our opinion writing unit as we focus on editing our writing with a partner to fix up any mistakes to make our reading more easy to read. 
• Math-We will begin our place value unit by learning how to group numbers into tens and ones and we will how to compare numbers. 
• Social Studies- We will finish our Maps unit. We will construct a map of a familiar area, and begin our Flat Stanley adventure. 

I hope you have a fun weekend! This week has been so busy that I am looking forward to some downtime. :) 

Weekly Update

Hi Parents,

Happy Friday! We celebrated Dr. Seuss this week. The Book Fair and Family Arts Night were great family activities too! Time is clicking along, and the calendar is filling fast! The kids are working to fill our marble jar to earn a reward in the classroom!

Pinebrook Triple Play:
Please join us! Our annual Pinebrook Triple Play Sports Spectacular will be Thursday, March 21st in the gym at John Champe High School. The Triple Play usually starts between 5:45 and 6:30 p.m. The whole staff plays games designed to make us look as silly as possible...think crab soccer, tricycle races, and dizzy bats! There will food and drinks for sale, raffles, and other fun things. The 1st graders lead the National Anthem before the games begin. Please watch both your Pinebrook weekly email and and your child's Thursday folder for more information, including the specific start time and admission prices.

Camp STEAM-tacular!
I will once again be directing Camp STEAM-tacular at Pinebrook! This is an especially fun week for the kids where they have the opportunity to be creative by being engaged in hands-on critical thinking activities. The Kindergarten/First Grade theme is We Built This City! Each morning grade levels work together to complete STEAM related activities and the afternoon is focused on a grade-level themed challenge. I would love to see some of our first grade students at Camp STEAM-tacular this summer! Camp STEAM-tacular takes place from June 17th-June 21st. Check out our website below to sign-up!
https://sites.google.com/lcps.org/camp-steam-tacular/home

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading-We will talk about how to use a dictionary and practice this skill. We will talk about contractions and compound words. 
• Writing- We will use our knowledge of writing an opinion/review of our collection to write reviews of other things now. 
• Math-We will use our knowledge of addition and subtraction to explore fact families.
• Social Studies-We will begin our Maps unit. We will explore cardinal directions, map keys and map symbols, and construct a map of a familiar area. 

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. 

Have a fantastic weekend! :) 

Weekly Message

Hi Parents!

I hope you've had a great week! We previewed the Book Fair today and found some awesome books. We learned about George Washington and explored subtraction. Lots of learning is happening in Room 3, even on delay days!

Scholastic Book Fair:
The Scholastic Book Fair will be held at school all next week! Students previewed the Book Fair today. Students who bring in money may shop at the Book Fair next week during recess. 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 Wednesday, March 6th from 3:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. *Please note: Book Fair purchases are optional.

Fine Arts Night:
The PTA is sponsoring a Fine Arts Night at school on school on Wednesday, March 6th at 5:30 p.m. This will be a night of hands-on creativity as kids visit many fun stations to explore art through a variety of mediums. Visit the Book Fair to shop with your child, and then head on over to Fine Arts Night!

Celebrating Dr. Seuss!
Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd. We will celebrate Dr. Seuss with a school-wide spirit week. Themes for each day are:

• Monday: Crazy Hair Day in honor of the characters from "Who-ville"
• Tuesday: Wear silly, wacky, or mismatched socks in honor of Fox in Socks
• Wednesday: Crazy Hat Day in honor of The Cat in the Hat
• Thursday: Wear a college shirt/ vacation souvenir shirt in honor of Oh the Places You will Go
• Friday: Pajama Day in honor of The Sleep Book. Friday will also be a Dr. Seuss movie day

I am inviting your child to bring in their favorite Dr. Seuss book next week as part of our celebration!

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading- We will explore rhyme, author's message, and have some fun with Dr. Seuss. We will also learn about using a picture dictionary.
• Writing- We will continue writing our opinion and reviews of our collections by adding reasons for our opinions and providing examples.
• Math- We will finish our Subtraction unit. 
• Science- We will discuss Force and Motion and discover the way different objects move. 

Thank you for your continued efforts to support the kids and me! I appreciate working with each of you, and I am continually amazed at the progress the kids are demonstrating. :)

Donal and I are heading up to Pennsylvania for a weekend of skiing. Hopefully the weather will hold up! 

Please reach out with questions, comments, and feedback. 

Have a super weekend!