Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

We had a fantastic day today! Lieutenant Mettinger from Loudoun County Fire and Rescue came to talk with us about fire safety. There is information about today's visit in your child's homework folder. This afternoon, we also began to conduct our pumpkin investigations! We rotated throughout each first grade classroom, conducting experiments and recording observations along the way. Unfortunately, we were unable to finish, so we will pick up with it next week. Please ask your child about their fun Friday! :)

It's the time of the year when the calendar begins to fill up quickly, both at home and at school! I have many things to tell you about.

Important Information About School Photos:
Fall pictures will be taken on Tuesday, October 29th. I sent home information about pictures in last week's Thursday folder. This will be a day for individual pictures only; a whole class picture will be taken in the Spring. Following are some guidelines to help facilitate your picture order/purchase:

• If possible, please order your child's pictures online. It's the fastest, easiest, and most convenient way to order your child's pictures. If you order online, you will not need to send anything to school with your child on Picture Day!
• If you are not ordering online, please fill out the payment envelope, enclose your payment, and send it to school on Picture Day. Your payment envelope must include your child's name, my name, your "look" (or background) selection, your package selection, and your payment. 
• Picture purchase is optional

Fall Party:

I hope to see many of you at our Fall Party on Thursday, October 31st. It will begin at 12:00 p.m., but parents may come in at 11:30 to start setting up the activities. I will have the students outside for recess to get some energy out before we begin the party. I sent home a food permission form for the party today. Please sign and return the food permission form by Thursday, October 31st. Since no costumes are allowed that day, please help your child contribute to our festive atmosphere by dressing in something orange or Halloween themed (a Halloween shirt, hair ribbon, etc.)

Turkey of the Year:

Turkey of the Year voting begins next week, and will continue 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 the week's voting slip, which came home in yesterday's Thursday folder. If you lost your voting slip, please write a note to indicate how many hours your child read during the previous week, sign it, and send it to school on Friday. 

Parent Teacher Conferences

Conferences have begun! If you conference is before school, please let the front office know that you are here for a conference and come on down to Room 3. You should not need to sign in for a conference before school. If your conference is after school, please ring the school bell, be prepared to show your photo ID to our office staff, and sign in at the office. You may walk to our class after you sign in. If you have not signed up for a conference, please do that ASAP using the Sign-Up Genius by clicking HERE.

50th Day Celebration:

We will celebrate the 50th Day of School on Thursday, November 7th with some fun 1950's themed activities. (I sent home a note with all the details.) Students are invited to dress in 1950's-style attire that day. We will learn fun dances, complete some crafts, and have root beer floats. If you do NOT want your child to have a root beer float (made with root beer soda and vanilla ice cream), please let me know as soon as possible, and before November 7th. 

Veteran's Day:

Please read the following message from our school office regarding Veteran's Day:

"Pinebrook Elementary students and staff would like to honor our Veterans during our annual Veterans Day Celebration that is being held on Monday, November 11, 2019. If you, a family member or neighbor are a Veteran please join us for this special celebration. All are welcome to attend!  This year, Veterans will not be asked to speak to a classroom of students. We invite you to come, relax, and allow us to honor you."
Schedule:
8:00-8:30 Breakfast in the Library 
8:30-9:15 Celebration in the gymnasium
Please RSVP for our Veteran's Day celebration by clicking HERE

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading-We will begin our Word Detectives Unit, in which we become word detectives who solve cases involving tricky words and letters. 
• Writing- We will begin our How-To unit, in which we learn about procedural writing, and tach our reader how to do something. 
• Math-We will continue with our Geometry unit. We will identify plane shapes in the environment, talk about the number of sides and vertices in circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles, and define a right angle. 
• Science-We will finish our pumpkin investigations. We will paint our pumpkins so they are festive and ready for Halloween!

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Don't forget--No school on Monday due to the Teacher Workday. 

I hope that everyone has a fun-filled weekend! Can't wait for another week of fun next week! :)