Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

Wow! What a fun field trip yesterday! I think I was just as tired as the kids! :) Thank you to all the parents who joined us on the field trip yesterday as a chaperone!

Here's your weekly update...

End of the Year Literacy Testing:
I am about to begin our end-of-the year literacy testing next week. Please be sure that your child is reading every day...weekends included. Your child should read out loud to practice decoding and fluency, and then practice retelling the story in sequence using characters' names and providing as many details as possible. Ask your child to make a connection to the story. Ask your child to identify his/her favorite part and say why they liked that part best.

First Grade Music Program:
The students are busy practicing for our First Grade Music Program, which will be held on Tuesday, May 14th at 8:30 am in the Pinebrook gym. Please mark your calendar!

Spring Pictures:
If your child had his/her individual picture taken last month, I sent it home on Wednesday. Please follow the enclosed directions if you would like to purchase any of the portraits. If you do not wish to purchase any pictures, please return all of the pictures to school with your child.

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading- We will explore characters in fiction stories. 
• Writing- We will continue writing stories for a series
• Math- We will finish our Time unit. We will practice telling time to the hour and half hour. We will discuss the concepts of a.m. and p.m., read schedules, and explore elapsed time. 
• Social Studies- We will continue working on our PBL project called the Great Crayon Rescue

Please reach out with questions, comments, and feedback. :) 

Donal and I will be hosting my parents who live in PA this weekend. I have not seen them since the holidays in December, so I am very excited to have some quality time with them. We will also be going to Shenandoah National Park for the first park this weekend! I hope you all enjoy the beautiful weather on Saturday! 

Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

Happy Friday! It is hard to believe we have made it to Spring Break! Before we have a week off of school, here is your weekly update.

Spring Break Reading Incentive:
The kids have made a "Bucket List" Spring Break reading incentive. If they complete and return the signed bucket list on Monday, April 22nd, they will earn 5 puma paws as a reward. :)

Field Trip:
We are excited for our field trip to Leesburg Animal Park on Thursday, April 25th. Please watch the weather and help your child dress appropriately and comfortably. Your child should wear sneakers, and pack a disposable lunch. Sunscreen and/or bug spray should be applied at home. We are unable to apply these things at school.

First Grade Music Program:
The students have begun to practice for our First Grade International Music Program, which will be on Tuesday, May 14th at 8:30 a.m. in the Pinebrook gym. Please mark your calendar!

Project Based Learning Update:
Our class has started a learning project called "The Great Crayon Rescue." We are exploring ways to reduce the number of crayons that end up in landfills each year by reusing or recycling our old crayons. The kids are loving this project. Please ask your child about it!

End of the Year Literacy Assessments:
I can't believe I'm about to type this, but I am...Our end-of-the-year literacy assessments will begin in May. This means we are at the most critical part of our whole instructional year, as we make our final push toward our testing dates. Please be sure your child is reading every day...weekend included. Your child should read out loud to practice decoding and fluency, and then retelling the story in sequence using character names and providing as many details as possible without prompting. Ask your child to make a connection to the story. Ask about the author's message...What is the author trying to teach us in the story? Ask your child to identify his/her favorite part in the story and provide details as to why that is their favorite part. I truly cannot overstate the importance of your child not only reading everyday, but also discussing what they have read.

Last Call for Pinebrook 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 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 the Week 4/22-4/26:

• Reading- We will continue our reading unit, "Meeting Characters and Learning Lessons"
• Writing- We will continue our narrative writing unit. We will continue to focus on editing our writing for mechanics, punctuation, and proper sight word spelling. 
• Math- We will continue our Time unit. We will practice telling time to the hour and half hour and learn about elapsed time. 
• Science and Social Studies- We will continue our project based learning unit in which we think of ways to impact the environment by reducing the number of crayons that we throw away each year.

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

I hope that you all have a wonderful spring break and have safe travels! I will be staying in VA this year and I'm going to get a head start on my spring cleaning and taking time to relax. I'll miss the kiddos and can't wait to hear all about their adventures when they return! :) 

Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

Happy Friday! Today was our wrap up to Career Week! Our class was visited by an attorney, therapy dog, police officer, and software architect. We learned so much about these amazing careers!

Report Cards:
Your child's Quarter 3 report card is available for viewing today by logging into your ParentVue account. If you have difficulty logging into your account, or do not yet have access to ParentVue, please contact Mrs. Sciortino in our school office at 703-957-4325.

Field Trip:
Please see last week's Thursday folder for information about our 1st Grade field trip to Leesburg Animal Park on April 25th. Please return your child's permission form and payment as soon as possible and no later than next Friday, April 12th.
*Please note-The original date was listed as April 19th, which is the Friday of Spring Break. I apologize for the error. Please send permission forms back by next Friday, April 12th*

Spring Break Travel Notification:
Spring break is coming! There is NO school for students Monday, April 15th-Friday, April 19th. School resumes Monday, April 22nd. If you plan to get an early start on travel, and your child will be absent in advance of Spring Break, please kindly notify both the office and me in advance. You may use the online absence form. If you pick up your child early on Friday, April 12th, please use the early dismissal form on the Pinebrook homepage. I will send home a Spring Break reading incentive next week.

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 the Coming Week:

• Reading- We will continue our unit, "Meeting Characters and Learning Lessons: A Study of Story Elements." This week we will study characters in books. 
• Writing- We will continue our writing realistic fiction unit by learning to create a series. 
• Math- We will continue our Time unit. We will discuss units of time such as second, minute, and hour. We will practice telling time to the hour and half hour. 
• Science/Social Studies- We will begin a project called "The Great Crayon Rescue." We will talk about what happens to crayons when we throw them away and how we can avoid filling our landfills with crayons. This project will align with several of our Science and Social Studies standards related to citizenship, responsibility, civic duty, reducing, reusing, recycling, and man made and natural resources. 

Please let me know if you have questions, comments, or feedback about anything written here. 

Hopefully the rain clears today before the start of the weekend! I am tackling the landscaping in the backyard this weekend...wish me luck! :) 

Weekly Update

Hi Everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful week! I am so happy that it is beginning to feel like spring! We all have a bit of spring fever now :)

I can't believe that it is the end of the 3rd quarter! I simply can't believe that we are moving into the last part together. These kiddos continue to wow me everyday with their joyful hearts and explosive growth! You should hear the way that they talk during our phonics lessons! Their conversations blow me away :)

Quarter 3 Report Cards:
Quarter 3 report cards will be issued on Friday, April 5th. Your child's report card will be available for viewing by logging into your ParentVue account. If you do not yet have access to ParentVue, or you have trouble logging on, please contact Mrs. Sciortino in our school office at 703-957-4325.

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. Please note these 2 very important points:

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 a few weeks ago in Thursday folders for the class picture. 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 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 either the 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 a confusion every year so I am trying to help avoid that. 
2. Individual pictures will also be taken on Wednesday, April 3rd, and you will receive a picture packet at a later date. You can indicate a "Portrait Look" for your child's individual portrait by completing and returning the "Individual Picture Day Form" attached to the order form I sent home. If you would like to purchase individual pictures, you may purchase those AFTER you receive the picture packet. 

Spirit Week:

To celebrate Career Week, we will have Spirit Week this week. Themes for each day are as follows:

• Tuesday-Be a "Career Champe" Wear navy or silver to represent the importance of high school and celebrate Champe HS, which is the high school for our Pinebrook school cluster. 
• Wednesday- "What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?" Dress like your future career
• Thursday- "Interview Day!" Dress to impress like you would for an interview!
• Friday- "College Pride Day" Wear college gear or colors to support career goals and college readiness.

Career Day:

As a culminating event to Career Week, 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 by contacting our counselors, Tana Amadeo (tana.amadeo@lcps.org) or Heather Ross (heather.ross@lcps.org).

Field Trip:

Please see the information that I sent home in Thursday folders about our 1st Grade Field Trip to Leesburg Animal Park on April 25th. Please return your child's permission form and payment as soons as possible and no later than Friday, April 12th. If you are interested in chaperoning this trip, please return the chaperone interest form :) 

Science Night:

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

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 begin our last major Reading unit of the year called "Meeting Characters and Learning Lessons: A Study of Story Elements."
• Writing- We will begin our next writing unit called "From Scenes to Series." This is a narrative writing unit where we will explore ways to develop characters in stories. 
• Math- We will begin our Time unit. We will discuss units of time such as second, minute, and hour. We will practice telling time to the hour and time to the half hour. 
• Social Studies- We will spend the week exploring ways to stay safe on a bicycle and ways to stay safe during the summer. 

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

I hope you all enjoyed some extra time with your kiddos over the weekend! 

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! :)