Weekly Update

 Good Afternoon! Happy Friday! 

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful week! We had a lot of fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day on Wednesday! (We even had a leprechaun visit the classroom to hide gold coins at each child's desk). Let's bring on the spring weather again!

Below are a few updates for next week:

Click HERE to access parent plans for the week of March 22th - March 26th.  There is a list of materials at the end of each day so you can prepare those items the night before. 

Tuck-In Tuesday:

Each week one of our amazing PNB teachers will record a read aloud story or log on live to share a read aloud bedtime story with your family and child. Please click here for more information about this wonderful reading event!

Flat Stanley - We will be starting a unit on maps next week, where we will be reading the book, Flat Stanley. We will be reading the book in class, or providing recorded read-alouds on the student schedule for the days your child learns at home. If you would like to purchase the book for your child to read themselves, here is the link to purchase on Amazon: Flat Stanley Chapter Book Link in Amazon (this is completely optional!). In years past we have mailed a Flat Stanley to a friend or relative, but with the current delays in the postal system and different guidelines for COVID, we have chosen as a grade level to not do this activity. We will instead have some different exciting activities to do in class!

Mentos and Diet Coke Experiment: We had some more fun outside this week with another experiment! We added Mentos to a bottle of Diet Coke to tie the reaction between the two to our force and motion unit in Science. We were able to safely space out the three hybrid classes behind the school, which was a treat to have everyone together for the first time this year. Here is the link to our video and a link to try the experiment at home!

Puma Paw:  

Please click here to access the Puma Paw for important school and grade-level information.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, concerns, or feedback. 

Have a super weekend!

Best, 

Miss Hillary Drumheller

Weekly Update

 Hello Everyone! Happy Snow Day!

I hope your kiddos have been enjoying a few extra days off of school! I'm sure those sleds are flying down the hill with that extra layer of ice :) 

Below are the updates/information needed for next week:

What a fantastic few days back! Even though we were wearing masks, that didn’t stop our smiles. I was ecstatic to see everyone in the building, and we picked right back up with our learning as if we’d never left. I read an article this week that I couldn’t agree with more. It stated that kids this year should be defined as superheroes, and they are tackling things that will go down in history. As difficult as this year may be, they keep pushing through, using all the superpowers they have. They are incredible, and I couldn’t be more proud of them. 

Click HERE to access parent plans for the week of Monday, February 22nd to Friday, February 26th.  There is a list of materials at the end of each day so you can prepare those items the night before. 

Interims:

Quarter 3 Interims or progress reports will be distributed on Wednesday, February 24th. If your child receives an interim, you can view it via ParentVue or email. 

100th Day of School - We are celebrating the 100th day of school on Friday, February 26th! We will be doing many fun literacy and math activities during the day. I invite students to dress up for the 100th day. Your student may dress up like a 100 year old person or decorate a shirt with 100 things. Here are some examples:

• 100 year old girl – eye glasses, skirt, sweater, wig, gray hair spray, stockings, pearls, large purse, scarf

• 100 year old boy – button down shirt, flannel shirt, suspenders, tie, eyeglasses, gray hair spray, drawn on beard or mustache

• 100 item shirt - (glue or paint items) – pom poms, painted shapes or numbers, googly eyes, stickers, etc.

Water Bottles: Please send in a full water bottle with your child every day. We are trying to limit trips to the water fountain to maintain social distancing in the hallway.

Snack: We will have a snack break every morning. Please send a small, healthy, peanut-free snack, that your child knows how to open independently.

Collections: We began our writing unit that focuses on opinion writing or writing reviews. Students will learn that people collect things and write opinions about their collections. For this task, we are asking that each student make a collection of his or her own to use for this writing assignment. Please send your child’s collection in a plastic bag, shoebox or small container on Tuesday (02/22) or Wednesday (02/23) to use in school during writing. Collections can include items like postage stamps, pencils, baseball cards, stickers, Lego figures, hair bands, etc. If you have any questions for this writing project, please let me know. Happy collecting!

Library Books:

If your child did not receive library books this week, that means they still have books checked out of the library that need to be returned first. Your child received a letter from the library notifying them of the books that need to be returned. 

Navy Take Home Folders: 

Please be sure to check your child’s navy take home folder each day that they come to school. 

Supplies:

Please make sure your student has these in their backpacks every day:

1. Pencil box with: crayons, sharpened pencils, scissors, glue, eraser, dry erase marker and regular markers

2. Fully charged Chromebook

3. White board and eraser

4. Composition notebook

5. Blue take home folder

6. Writing folder

7. Extra mask

**Please also send in the green Go Math Books we sent home in the beginning of the year. These will stay at school, and we will begin to use those during math centers.

If you would like your child to keep their pencil box supplies at school, along with any other items, please let me know so I can remind your child to keep those things in their supply bin at school. 

Prodigy: I will soon be sending you an email about a math app in LCPSGo called Prodigy. Each student will have an assigned username and password assigned to them. This is not a requirement, but another fun way for students to practice their math skills in addition to Dreambox. Please write your child’s username and password on the back of their distance learning folder or in a place where they can access it easily. 

Small Group Sessions on Mondays: 

I will begin virtually meeting with some small groups every Monday starting on February 22nd during asynchronous learning. If your child is not scheduled to meet on Mondays, that means they are getting their small group time when they are in school. If your child was part of the Red or Orange reading groups, they will be meeting with me during their reading group time on Mondays.If your child goes to daycare, please help communicate this time with them so they can remind students to login. 

Behavior Chart/Calendar:

Starting next week I will be implementing my in-person classroom behavior clip chart. Your child will have the opportunity for behavior that demonstrates the 3 Rs (Ready, Respectful, and Responsible). Or may move their clip down the chart for not demonstrating those behaviors. If your child needs to move their clip down for whatever reason, they will still be able to earn their clip being moved back up based on the behaviors that they demonstrate. Your child will receive a monthly calendar that they will keep in their Take Home Folder. When they are in school, they will color in the date to show what color they ended their day on. Students will be able to earn rewards based on their behavior in the classroom. Here is the clip chart key:

Home Run- Light Blue

Base Hit-Purple

At Bat- Green (this is where your child will begin each day)

Strike 1- Yellow

Strike 2- Orange

Strike 3- Red

Whole Class Rewards:

Our class will also be able to earn rewards based on whole class behavior. Our class will be split into two teams: navy and maroon. Each group will have their own reward system. When the whole class demonstrates the 3 Rs, they can earn a class reward such as extra recess, dance party, etc. 

Student Agenda:

Next week we will begin to use our student agendas as a reading log. Having your child read each day is super important in first grade and it takes more than just reading in the classroom. I ask that a family member read with your child each day for 15-20 minutes. When your child is finished reading, they should practice retelling the story in a sequential order using character names and details from the book. When you open your child’s student agenda for the week, you will see a right side and a left side. The right side is where you will record what your child read, how many minutes they read, and an adult signature. The left side will be used for reminders such as a test date or to practice sight words. If you have any questions about this process, please let me know. 

Puma Paw:  

Please click here to access the Puma Paw for important school and grade-level information.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! Please reach out at any time with questions, comments, concerns, or feedback! Stay safe out there!

Best, 

Miss Hillary Drumheller

Weekly Update

 Good Evening!

One more week of distance learning! I am thrilled to be welcoming your child back into our hybrid learning environment, and for some of you, this will be your child's first time in a hybrid setting. Welcome! I have a lot of information to share with you all this week, so please hang in there. I wanted to provide as much information up front so you can start to prepare and ask any questions/address any concerns that you may have about our return. I also shared some updates that will be needed for next week too!

Click HERE to access parent plans for the week of Monday, February 8th - Friday, February 12th.  There is a list of materials at the end of each day so you can prepare those items the night before. **There will not be any small groups on Monday, February 8th. I will be using that time to prepare our classroom and curriculum for hybrid learning!

Return to Hybrid Learning: The LCPS School Board approved the motion to return Hybrid students K-5 to school on Tuesday, February 16th. I am so excited to be back in the classroom with our class! Students will attend school in-person two days a week, and complete asynchronous work 3 days a week at home. Students are required to login for morning meetings on the days they are learning at home. Please pay close attention to the supply list below to help your child start preparing their materials for school (some supplies may have changed if your child attended in-person learning in the fall). Click here to access our schedules for our in-person and at-home days. This includes our daily Specials. Please refer to the Parent Calendar on the Puma Paw to know if it is an A or B week.

Parent Information and Q&A Session: As many classes have changed, and some students will be coming back to Pinebrook for the first time this year, Ms. Drumheller, Ms. Duckworth and Mrs. Tomaseski will host a virtual parent session on Monday, February 8th from 11:30-12:00 to provide information about what our school day will be like, and allow time for any questions you may have. If you are unable to attend our information session, it will be recorded to viewing at a later time. Please use the following link to connect to our Virtual Q&A Session: meet.google.com/gih-yvaq-tur 

Your child will be placed into the Navy Group or the Maroon Group depending on the days that they come to school and will follow that group’s schedule/assignments on our Schoology page. If you are unsure what days your child comes to school, please email me ASAP.

Navy Group - students who come to school on Tuesday/Thursday

Maroon Group - students who come to school on Wednesday/Friday

Asynchronous Work: 

Please remember that students MUST complete all asynchronous work on the days they are learning from home. Students should follow this order when completing their work - listen to the provided recorded lessons (new content to stay on pace for the year) for each subject, then complete Independent/Seesaw work for that subject work. Some Seesaw work is being submitted early in the morning, and is incorrect, which means students are not listening to the lessons first.

Brain Break Box: Brain breaks will be provided throughout the school day for your child. Since we are unable to share games and activities in the classroom this year, we have asked that each student bring in a “brain break box” this is a shoebox sized box that contains independent activities that your child can complete during a brain break or during indoor recess time. Your child’s brain break box can be decorated and should have their name on it. You can include items such as: play-doh, legos, art supplies, games, etc. for your child to play with. Brain break boxes will be kept at school each day.

Library Books:

Students will receive library books each week that they have Library special. They will get to select 4 books from a book menu and the books will then be delivered to our classroom. Students will be able to keep their books for two weeks. They can return them to our classroom on Tuesday or Thursday of the week that we have our Library special. 

Extra Change of Clothes: The clinic is unable to provide extra clothes this year for accidents at school, so we ask that each child bring an extra set of seasonal appropriate clothes in a labeled bag that can be kept at school. If your child already has a set of clothes at school from the fall, please let me know if you need to switch those clothes out for warmer clothes, and I will send them home with students on their first day back.

School Lunch:  School breakfast and lunch is provided free of charge for your child each day. We will send home a breakfast and lunch menu with your child and this can also be viewed on the LCPS website. 

Supply List: During Hybrid learning, students will need to keep some materials at school, some materials at home, and bring some materials back and forth. Students will have a space in the classroom to keep an extra set of materials there, if families choose. Please click here to access the supply list for hybrid learning. 

P.E. and Recess: While your child is in the hybrid learning environment, they will be participating in P.E. outside as much as possible to allow the students to take advantage of being able to take their masks off for physical activities. We will also be going outside for recess every day that the weather permits. We ask that your child dresses appropriately each day knowing that we will be going outside if it is not raining and the temperature is above 32 degrees. 

Specials Schedule: Your child will attend specials on the days that they are in school, expect for Library. Library will still be a virtual special. Please look on your child's schedule to know when to attend our virtual Library special

A Week	Art	Art	Library (Synchronous)	Library (Asynchronous)
B Week	P.E.	P.E.	Music	Music

Valentine’s Day- Although this Valentine’s Celebration may look different this year, we still want to celebrate all the friendships we have made in first grade! Connections and feeling cared about are even more important right now as we continue to tackle this difficult year together. We will begin our day with a virtual Valentine’s celebration for morning meeting, where we will share our Virtual Valentine’s cards with each other. We will then incorporate some fun Valentine’s activities throughout the day. Please click on the link below to access our class cards and directions. You will need to login to your student’s lcps account using their email address (studentid@lcps.org) and their password (birthday - MMDD)

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12Hk-iWgEC9iOkaY8yISOplmY_kb5Q3Gf0xGEI_hiagY/edit?usp=sharing

100th Day of School - We are celebrating the 100th day (and 101st so both groups can celebrate in-person) of school on Thursday, February 25th and Friday, February 26th! We will be doing many fun literacy and math activities during the day. I invite students to dress up for the 100th day. Your student may dress up like a 100 year old person or decorate a shirt with 100 things. **Please make sure your child still wears their mask!

Here are some examples:

• 100 year old girl – eye glasses, skirt, sweater, wig, gray hair spray, stockings, pearls, large purse, scarf

• 100 year old boy – button down shirt, flannel shirt, suspenders, tie, eyeglasses, gray hair spray, drawn on beard or mustache

100 item shirt - (glue or paint items) – pom poms, painted shapes or numbers, googly eyes, stickers, etc.

Once again, I know that this is a lot of information, so please take some time to let it process. I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Best, 

Miss Hillary Drumheller

Weekly Update

 Good Afternoon First Grade Families,

Happy Friday! I hope everyone enjoyed their week and I know we had some hurdles to jump over along the way. I am hoping for better internet connection next week! I know that there is some inclement weather being predicted for this weekend, so please stay safe! I am sure all students are feeling excited about the possibility of a snow day!

Please read below for our weekly updates:

Weekly Parent Plans:

Click HERE to access parent plans for the week of Monday, February 1st- Friday, February 5th.  There is a list of materials at the end of each day so you can prepare those items the night before.

Reading Groups:

We transitioned into our new reading groups this week! I know there was a lot going on this week (internet not working on Tuesday and picture day on Wednesday and Friday), but I wanted to share a reminder about your child attending reading groups regularly. Reading groups have been created to support your child with their reading and literacy skills. An email was sent with your child’s reading group schedule. Below is the schedule as a reminder:

Monday		Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:45-9:05	Red Group	12:45-1:05	Yellow Group	Green Group	Yellow Group	Green Group
9:05-9:25	Orange Group	1:05-1:30	Blue Group	Teal Group	Blue Group	Teal Group
	1:30-1:50	Purple Group	Pink Group	Purple Group	Pink Group

Substitute on Tuesday: 

I will not be teaching on Tuesday, February 2nd. Our class will have a wonderful substitute for our live synchronous learning and students will still follow their student schedule. Due to my absence, reading groups will not meet on Tuesday afternoon. I apologize in advance. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send me an email or Remind message. 

Snow Days:

If LCPS makes the decision to close school because of inclement weather, our synchronous day of learning will also be cancelled.  Please do not have your child complete assigned work from their student schedule or Seesaw. We will reschedule those activities for a different day. If your child is looking for activities to do on a snow day, they may work on the choice board for the week, read in Raz- Kids or Epic, or play in Dreambox.

Random Acts of Kindness Month:

February is Random Acts of Kindness Month! Our wonderful school counseling team at Pinebrook has created a Random Acts of Kindness calendar to use all throughout the month. We challenge our students to show some kindness each day to spread some cheer! The calendar will be on the Puma Paw newsletter, but you can also access it by clicking here. Students who complete 20 of the activities can submit the google form and be recognized on the morning news in March.

Seesaw “Must Do” Activities:

Please be sure to check your child’s “must do” activities in Seesaw at the end of each week.  As we have done in the past, the activities will be available to be worked on over the weekend, to give families a chance to catch up on the week’s work.  However, they will be archived on Sunday at 4PM each week.

Puma Paw:  

Please click here to access the Puma Paw for important school and grade-level information. Don't forget...first grade has a news page on the Puma Paw!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or feedback, please reach out at any time. 

Have a fabulous weekend!

Best,

Miss Hillary Drumheller