Electronic Report Cards

Hello Families,

By the end of the day today, your child's report card will be available to view on Phoenix. Please make sure that you log on to Phoenix and view your student's grades and my comments. Please go over the report card with your child so that they are aware of their areas of strength and possible areas of improvement. Please email me if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks!

Mrs. Martinson

Spirit Week Next Week!

Hello Families,

Below is a message from our School Counselors:

Next week is National School Counseling Week - which falls only one week before Random Acts of Kindness Week – and to celebrate we are going to focus on the character traits of Kindness and Acceptance. 

Please join us in a Spirit Week by doing the following:

Monday - Orange You Glad? Wear orange to celebrate being a part of the Pinebrook community, as in “Orange you glad you go to our school?”

Tuesday - Hats Off to You Wear your favorite hat to school. You may be asked to give a compliment to someone and say: "My Hat's off to ________ because _________________.”

Wednesday - Warm & Fuzzy Notes Wear your most comfortable fleece or sweatshirt.  Students may be asked to make cards to give friends, parents, and teachers to tell them how much they are appreciated. Parents: leave a note for your child on their pillow at home. 

Thursday - We Are All Different Wear different or crazy socks in honor of the Native American proverb "To know the heart and mind of a person, you must walk a mile in his/her moccasins.”  Classroom conversations may focus on diversity and empathy.

Friday - We Love Learning Wear your favorite Pinebrook gear or college shirt to celebrate learning here at Pinebrook and to ask your teachers about where they went to college, why they went there, what they liked about their college experiences

I hope your child will have fun joining in on the spirit week! Also....we have officially collected 150 lbs of caps. We will be collecting until May so keep them coming! Thanks and I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend :-)

Mrs. Martinson

Important Papers Coming Home Today!!

Hello Families,

I wanted to draw your attention to three important papers coming home today in your child's take-home folder so please be sure to check it!

1. "Because of Winn Dixie" Movie permission slip--We are finishing the book Because of Winn Dixie in class as part of our reading unit. The class has loved this story, learning all about the main character and the challenges she faces in life. As a celebration to the end of the unit, I want to be able to show students the movie. The movie is rated PG so I will need ALL parents' permission to show it. Please read the letter, along with movie synopsis, that I send home and return as soon as you can.
2. Valentine's Day Celebration Menu--We will have a small celebration on Valentine's Day with some light snacks. Please review the menu and identify ANY food you do not want your child to eat. If I DO NOT get the form back from you, that means you give your child permission to eat all the food.
3. Valentine's Day Class List--I included a class list to help your child address their Valentine's. Your child DOES NOT need to include names on the cards, but I sent home a list just in case they would like to!

Please let me know if you have any questions about the above forms. Also, don't forget that tomorrow is our sort and weigh day for caps so make sure to send in anything you have collected at home! We are close to having 150lbs!! Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs. Martinson

Comfort Cases

Hello Families,

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day! In honor of MLK Jr., who stood up for the rights of others, I wanted to let you know about a charity Pinebrook is getting involved in to help others.

Comfort Cases
Comfort Cases is an organization that provides backpacks filled with comfort and essential items for foster children to call their own. On any given day, there are over 400,000 children in foster care in the United States. These children usually move from foster home to foster home with nothing more than the clothes on their back. Those that do have personal belongings are given a trash bag to keep them in. Comfort Cases wants to change that! Read more about the charity here.

Why this Charity?
The reason Pinebrook has chosen to support this charity is two-fold. One, it is close to our hearts. Our Pinebrook community has been affected by the effects of foster care so we want to help. Second, this charity allows children to get involved and experience philanthropy for themselves!

How Can You Help
Each grade level has been assigned an item to donate that will be used to pack in the backpacks for the charity. Third grade has been given blankets (think small, fleece blankets that can be rolled up and put in a backpack). These blankets MUST be new! If you would like to donate one, or more, send them in to school with your child. Then on Saturday, February 17th, your child and family is welcome to join us at school where we will all work together to pack as many backpacks as we have supplies for. This allows your child to help with the end product, feeling more connected to the charity. More details about the packing event will come closer to the date. The more supplies we collect, the more backpacks we can pack!

If you have any questions about this charity, please let me know. It is not required for students to participate, but is a nice way to introduce your child to the world of giving! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and don't forget to keep sending in those caps!

Mrs. Martinson

Room 26 Updates

Hello Families,

I am sure you are all happy that school resumed to somewhat of a normal schedule today. I think even the kids were happy to be back into their routine! Due to the snow days and the wacky schedule today, there have been some changes to our plans the next couple of weeks:

• Students will be given their new word study words THIS Friday and will be tested on them on Friday, January 19th. 
• Students will have their Water Cycle Test TOMORROW. Please make sure they study!
• We will be weighing, cleaning and sorting our caps THIS Friday! Please make sure to send in any caps/lids you have at home.
• My math class updates:
• Students in MY math class will have a Prodigy assignment that is due on Thursday. They are to log on to Prodigy either today or tomorrow and complete 10 questions about money. They should not log off until they have completed 10 money-related questions. All students were given their log in but please let me know if you need me to send it to you again!
• On Thursday, students will be given their usual homework sheet to complete and turn in by NEXT Wednesday, January 17th. 
• Our Money Test has been moved to Friday, January 19th! 

With winter break and then 3 snow days, many students have fallen out of the routine of doing their reading homework and Reflex, as well as are forgetting school folders at home. I would love your help in encouraging and reinforcing these positive school behaviors at home. Thanks for the support!

Mrs. Martinson

Happy New Year!

Hello Families!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and that 2018 has some amazing things in store for you and your family. I get to start the New Year with a sick toddler so it's not been the greatest start!

As we get back into the swing of things at school, I want to share some reminders and information about the upcoming week.

• Keep sending in your caps and lids. This Friday, and every Friday, students will start sorting, cleaning, and weighing the bottle caps. We will keep this data in a spreadsheet so that we can see how close we are to our goal of 500 pounds!
• This Friday, January 5th, your child will take their Water Cycle Test. We started this unit prior to break and will review/continue learning this week. Make sure your child continues to study their notes! 
• In all math classes, students will start their Money unit. The easiest way to help your child during this unit is to give them lots of practice counting various amount of money. This unit can be challenging for students so the more practice, the better! 
• In reading, we will be starting a Character Studies unit. We will be reading the book Because of Winn Dixie and work on analyzing the main character, the secondary characters, and discuss how the main character changes throughout the story. Students will be encouraged to read fiction books with strong main characters during this unit so that they are able to do the reading work in their own book. 
• In writing, we are going to continue to work on persuasive writing, something we started learning about prior to winter break. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Stay warm and enjoy the new year!

Mrs. Martinson :-) 

Recycling Presentations

Hello Families,

I hope everyone is having a great day. Today your child presented to different 5th grade classes about our bottle caps/lids recycling project. Everyone did AWESOME! The 5th grade seems amazed at the undertaking of this project and seem very excited to help.

I have added all the group presentations to my Google Drive. If you would like to view your child's group's completed presentation, please click here . Each presentation is titled with one child's name so ask your child whose group they were in. I have also tweeted out some pictures/videos so check out our class twitter feed here to see the presentations in action!

Don't forget to collect caps/lids over break! We already have 3 buckets full! We will weigh what we have when we return from winter break :-)

Enjoy your holidays and please feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns! Happy Holidays!

Mrs. Martinson