Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page

Franchesca Brown, Principal

Terry Davis, Assistant Principal

Laura Nossel, Editor

From the Principal, Franchesca Brown

December 5, 2013

Pinewood

Herald

Pinewood Information 2

Proud Penguins 3

General Information 4

Health & Guidance 5

Special Areas 5 –7

Community News 8

Support Pinewood 9

Santa for a Senior 10

More Proud Penguins 11

Pinewood Calendar 12

On the web

pinewoodes.bcps.org

200 Rickswood Road

Timonium, MD

21093

Phone 410-887-7663

Fax 410-252-1962

Pinewood

Elementary

Inside this issue: A Winter Holiday Thought from

Mr. Lebowitz and the Pinewood Family…

Put aside tinsel and glitter and lights;

Forget all the winter wonderland sights.

Goodbye romantic, fireside chatter.

Stop to think about what really matters.

Forget the gift boxes needing name tags;

Set aside all those department store bags.

Don’t worry if every string of light glows –

This season’s meaning is under your nose.

Think about family, loving, and caring.

Dwell on the good times all should be sharing.

Putting too much time in data and graphs

We don’t want to miss the good times and laughs.

Sharing a meal with close family and friends,

Laughing and smiling until evening ends.

Holding hands and embracing each other,

Strangers, too, are our sisters and brothers.

So take time to create your own family tale,

Oops you forgot to respond to e-mail;

Listen to children’s laughter and chatter

You will soon see what really does matter.

Is it really crucial to have that tech toy?

Look deep in your heart to find the true joy.

Be grateful for your family and friends;

Their support and love will never end.

You’re wished a holiday that puts a smile on your face,

whether you’re here or in some other place.

Look for each moment of peace and good cheer,

And may it last you all through the New Year!

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 2

A special thank you to

all the volunteers who as-

sisted with American Edu-

cation Week and to the par-

ents who volunteered their

time to stamp the new read-

ing curriculum books.

School News

Private School Applications

All private school

applications must first go to

Ms. Adkins for recording and

processing before the teach-

ers fill out the Common Refer-

ral Forms. Please be sure to

include a 6” x 9” envelope

(or larger) with five postage

stamps for each school your

child is applying to. A fee of

$1.00 per page will be

charged for the copies. Appli-

cations will be processed as

time permits in order to en-

sure delivery before the

deadline.

Report Card Envelopes

If you haven’t already

done so, please return your

child’s report card envelope.

School Supplies

Please check your

child’s supplies to see if they

need to be replaced. School

supplies make great holiday

stocking stuffers.

We Appreciate Your

Cooperation

As the holiday season

approaches, we would like to

encourage everyone to give

out stickers or other NON-

EDIBLE treats and rewards.

We have many students with

food allergies. Thank you!!

Santa to a Senior

Pinewood

Elementary

School and

staff in con-

junction with

HomeInstead Senior Care in-

vite you to support their Na-

tional “Be a Santa to a Senior”

program by providing holi-

day cheer to the residents of Augsburg Lutheran Home on

Campfield Road. The collec-

tion will run November 25th

through December 18th.

It’s Getting Cold

As winter begins,

please remember the follow-

ing!

Children should be

dressed appropriately, so

they are warm and com-

fortable in the building

and warm enough for re-

cess. Please label your

child’s clothing. It makes

it easier to return when it

is lost.

Please DO NOT drop off

children early in the

morning to stand outside

of our building. The

school doors do not open

until 8:45 A.M.

Please Send In… “

Car protectors”. Mrs.

Frankle is in need of large

empty plastic coffee contain-

ers (Maxwell House are per-

fect because they have han-

dle grips) for students who

get sent home due to vomit-

ing. Thank you.

Visiting Pinewood

Our school, as well as

all schools in BCPS, is utilizing

a visitor check-in system

called Raptor. When you visit

Pinewood you are required to

show your government issued

ID. Your ID will be scanned

and once you are cleared a

badge will be printed. Please

wear your badge at all times.

When you are ready to leave,

please return to the office to

check out. You will be re-

quired to show your govern-

ment issued ID each time you

visit. Thank you for your co-

operation.

Vision & Hearing Screening

Volunteers are needed

to help escort students to the

health suite for vision and

hearing screening February

13,14, & 18-21, 2014. Students

in grades, K,1,4 and all new

students to BCPS will be

screened. If you have a stu-

dent in grades 2,3,or 5 that

you would like added to the

list or you can assist with es-

corting students, please con-

tact Mrs. Frankle at rfran-

kle@bcps.org. Thank you!

.

Vision: Pinewood Elementary believes every student is capable of

learning the skills and strategies necessary to be college and career ready.

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 3

Proud

Penguins

Congratulations

to the following

students who

were chosen

from all the stu-

dents who were

recognized dur-

ing the month of

October for be-

ing “Prepared,

Polite, and Per-

sistent.” They

had lunch with Mrs. Brown;

Ryan M., Roman A., Sophia W.,

Ella V., Patrick B., Maeve K., &

Taylor V.

Supplies for Soldiers

Dear Students of Pinewood

Elementary,

Thank you very much

for your generosity! Today

we received our fifth box

from Pinewood Elemen-

tary. The soldiers here

really appreciate the snacks and personal hygiene

items. Everyone also enjoyed the letters as well. We are at a

remote location so there is nowhere to buy the type of prod-

ucts that you sent. We greatly appreciate you taking the time

to put these packages together and sending them to us.

Please take a few minutes and let us know how we are doing by going to

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PinewoodParentSurvey2013

Author Breakfast

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 4

If you were unable to attend

the most recent Volunteer

Training sessions, we will

host training sessions through-

out the year. It is mandatory

that all volunteers participate

in an annual training prior to

volunteering in the classroom,

attending field trips, etc. This

is a BCPS Board of Education

Policy.

The next training is

scheduled as follows:

December 10, 2013

at 6:30 p.m.

MSA Testing

The MSA testing win-

dow for students is

March 3rd through

March 14th. Please try to avoid scheduling

appointments or vaca-

tions during this time

frame.

Lunch Information

Homeroom lunch schedules

are available on the Pinewood

web site.

Lunch Account Pre-Payment

Please take advantage of the

SNAP program to deposit

money to your child’s lunch

account. It is important to fill

out the pre-payment form,

checks preferred, with your

child’s name (NO NICK-

NAMES). If you need to send

cash, please put it in an enve-

lope with the pre-payment

form. Additional copies of this

form are available in the

school office. This eliminates

the need for children to carry

cash

Lunch money account bal-

ances were carried forward

from last year.

BCPS to launch weekly email

newsletter Community invited to

subscribe

On Monday, November 25,

Baltimore County Public

Schools launched the first

issue of the Team BCPS

email newsletter.

The public is invited to

subscribe to this weekly

publication, which will

showcase the events,

programs, and initiatives

of Baltimore County Public

Schools. It is the newest

component of the school

system’s ongoing efforts to

increase access to timely

information and engage

the community in the

educational process.

To subscribe to the Team

BCPS email newsletter, go

to:

http://www.bcps.org/news/

TeamBCPSNewsletter.html

BCPS Cafeteria Mark your

Calendar

Schools-out.com

Is a free public service web-

site to email parents directly

about unexpected changes

in the school schedule. The

schools-out.com web site is

tied directly to Baltimore

County Public Schools and

is updated by BCPS staff.

The BCPS website

www.bcps.org provide the

most definitive information

about unexpected changes

in school scheduling. Par-

ents may also call 410-887-

5555 for information.

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 5

From your School Nurse

Mrs. Pam Frankle

Save the date!

Speaker: Dr. Laura Bodnar

Topic: Childhood Anxiety

Date: February 11, 2014

(snow date forthcoming if needed)

Time: 6-7pm before PTA meeting This presentation will focus on common anxiety dis-

orders that arise during childhood, including Sepa-

ration Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety, performance-

based anxiety, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Symptoms of these disorders will be explained and

guidelines for helping parents differentiate between

developmentally appropriate fears and symptoms of

a larger disorder will be discussed. The presentation

will also address ways in which anxiety can impact

attention, social functioning, and academic perform-

ance.

“STREPT” THROAT

Often this time of year parents panic when their

child develops a sore throat. Most sore throats

are not strep but are viral instead. Viral infec-

tions usually cause a cough and congestion.

Antibiotics will not help fight a virus.

The problem with strep is that, left untreated, it

can affect other parts of a child’s body. This can

cause serious problems that can last weeks,

months or even a lifetime.

Signs of strep are sore throat with pain and

swelling, difficulty swallowing, fever (usually

over 101 degrees), a rough red skin rash (not in

all cases), swollen glands, pus or bleeding spots

on tonsils, headache, abdominal pain and/or

nausea.

Children diagnosed with strep throat must re-

main out of school and daycare for at least 24

hours after antibiotic treatment begins in order

to prevent the spread to other children and

adults.

Guidance Counselor’s Corner

By Mrs. Linda Reines NCC, LCPC

For those who did not visit the gym dur-

ing American Education Week, the students

were very involved with learning about the cir-

culation of the heart and how exercise affects the

heart. This is especially important this time of

year as the weather gets colder and activity lev-

els are less. Please remind your child to get at

least sixty minutes of exercise a day.

As the weather gets cooler all students

need tennis shoes to participate in Physical

Education. Please help to remind them for their

safety. If they want to wear

their boots just put the

shoes in their back pack

and they can change at

gym.

Have a great Holiday!

Physical Education by

Pat Pilson

Pinewood’s “Harvest for the Hungry Food Drive” ended

last month. We are waiting to hear from The Maryland

Food Bank on how many pounds of food were donated.

Thank you for your generosity. Many classes were

taught a lesson on hunger along with an activity during

October and November. Some classes completed a

Nutrition book, while other classes worked on family

budgets and the importance of saving. The kindergarten

classes colored lovely placemats. The third grade

classes created beautiful centerpieces. Thank you again

to those who contributed supplies. Thank you to Mr. and

Mrs. McClellan and Pinewood’s Cub Scout Pack 43, who

took the placemats and centerpieces to Our Daily Bread,

a soup kitchen. Currently, Developmental Guidance les-

son’s are being taught in kindergarten, first, and fourth

grades. In kindergarten the students are working on a

“feelings” book. The first graders are enjoying lessons

and activities with DUSO (Developing Understanding of

Self and Others), the dolphin puppet and The Underwa-

ter Problem Solvers. In fourth grade we are working on

friendship skills and anti-bullying strategies. Have a

wonderful holiday.

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 6

The Scholastic Book Fair was a

huge success! Parents, students, and staff

enjoyed all of the excitement. As you

know, our Book Fair serves as a fundraiser

for the school library. The proceeds from

the Book Fair are used to purchase new

books and supplies for the students to

use. In addition, the profits are used to

fund annual presentations by excellent

authors and illustrators. This year we sold

$11,045.45 in merchandise and of that

amount, the library will receive $2,542.65.

I wish to thank our school community for

the tremendous support of this fundraiser.

Library News

by Marilyn Lockwood

The Art Beat by Sheldon Lebowitz

Kindergarteners Our kindergarten friends created the most charm-ing sponge-painted snowman family portraits that gave the children a chance to show off their drawing and col-oring skills, along with a touch of glitter for snowy winter skies. Next we’ll take a trip to the circus as we use a paper plate, and our paper cutting and gluing skills, to create expres-sive clown faces!

First graders First grade snow-man experts are combining cut pa-per, fabric and felt with neat and tidy gluing skills to create fun snow-man collages, with lots and lots of textures. We will spend a good bit of this month creat-ing colorful and descriptive back-grounds that tell all about the snow-man and the habi-tat. Using oil pas-tels will make for exciting and bold backgrounds for super snowmen!

Second Graders Second Graders Oh my heavens, what can you say about an animal sculpture and papier-mâché! Dip the strip in the paste, one at a time, apply it care-fully, it will look just fine. The paste makes it sturdy, strong and secure, keep add-ing more strips, it’s balanced, for sure! With so many layers, it won’t be long, before this animal sculpture is so very strong!

Third graders November was Native American History Month and to recognize the accomplish-ments of these ancestors, we are busily drawing and coloring sym-bols and images from Native Americans on “leathered” paper shields that have been mounted on cardboard for sturdiness. With a border motif and pattern, the message to ward off danger is col-ored beautifully in the shield!

Fourth graders A chalk lifting de-sign has become the most beautiful background sky, along with an in-teresting skyline silhouette. Layer-ing cut paper buildings, com-plete with details of windows and doors, over the silhouette, along with a square or two of cardboard under the paper buildings, adds depth and dimen-sion to these cut paper city col-lages. Cityscapes have never been so much fun, or so colorful!

Fifth graders Our Pariscraft harlequin masks are taking such an exciting turn as the completion of painted designs and patterns and features will lend way to a layer or two of varnish to create a slick and glossy surface. Upon completion of the varnishing, details such as sequins, feathers, ribbons, and yes, glitter, will embel-lish already ex-pressive and well-crafted sculptural masks. Anyone for an early Mardi Gras celebration?

ART CONGRATULATIONS... To Geoffrey D. and Hiba S. (fifth grade) and Yehna K. (first grade) whose works are hanging at the BCPS Office of Communications. To Kaitlin R. and Elena M. (fifth grade) who were honored by the County Executive for having their work on display in the Towson Courthouse.

Recommended reading:

Picture Books:

1. Ivy & Bean Break the Fossil Record, by Annie

Barrows, ©2007, grades 1-3

2. Mr. Wuffles!, by David Wiesner, © 2013, grades

K-3

3. Hanukkah Bear, by Eric Kimmel, ©

2013, grades K-3

Chapter Books:

1. The Year of Billy Miller, by Kevin Hen-

kes, © 2013, grades 4-6

2. Scaly spotted feathered frilled : how do we know

what dinosaurs really looked like?

by Catherine Thimmesh, © 2013, grades 4-7

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 7

Musical Notes from the desktop of Mrs. Mahoney

Tech it Out By Mr. Weitkamp

The holidays are upon us,

and the vocal music department is

working hard.

Kindergarten students are

really grasping the concepts of

steady beat, sound and silence, and

long and short sounds. We engage

in a variety of different activities, in

order to reinforce these concepts,

such as, singing, movement, and

playing classroom instruments.

1st Grade just completed a

baseline pre-test on many of the

musical symbols they will be learn-

ing and performing this year. It will

be exciting to see how their scores

improve when they take a similar

assessment later in the year!

2nd Grade students also

took a pre-assessment recently,

and are fully in the process of add-

ing to their knowledge base of

musical concepts and symbols.

3rd Grade students are

still plugging away at the basics on

their recorders. Some of our

parents witnessed first hand the

process that we go through in order

to solidify these skills when they

came to observe during American

Education Week. These kids work

hard!!

4th Grade is progressing

nicely on recorders, and will hope-

fully be ready to play a song for

their spring concert in May.

5th Grade students are

busiest of all. They are preparing

for their winter concert on Decem-

ber 17th and their field trip to

Augsburg Lutheran home on

December 19th.

Have a joyous and blessed

holiday season!!

Time is really flying

by in the computer lab.

The students have been

doing a great job learn-

ing things like: how to

create a document in

Microsoft Word, how to

save documents, how to

talk to the computer,

how to change the size

of their view, how to

create columns, how to

cut, copy, and paste,

how to change margins,

how to resize items,

how to change the font,

etc…

In December we

will be working on the

writing and editing fea-

tures from Microsoft

Word and Pixie. We will

also be doing some fun

holiday activities. If you

do not want your child

included in any holiday

activities please let me

know and I will find

other projects for them.

Thank you and have a

memorable holiday

season!

Band and Orchestra

notes from Ms. Seward

Band and Orchestra

Band and Orchestra Report

Cards were sent home last

week and this week.

Please make sure that you

have received and re-

viewed your child’s grade

report! Feel free to contact

Miss Seward via email to

discuss anything on the

grade report.

WINTER CONCERT!!!

Our Winter Concert will be

Tuesday, December 17,

2013 at 7:00 PM in the cafe-

teria. All members of the

band/orchestra should re-

port to the gym PROMPLY

at 6:30 PM for tuning and

warm up.

Come and hear our young

instrumentalists as well as

the 5th grade Chorus!

4th Grade Exploratory

Music

Fourth Grade Exploratory

classes will be finishing up

the Woodwind Unit this

month. Students have spent

the last month learning how

to play clarinet, but in our

final weeks we will be

exploring the other instru-

ments in the family. A few

of the activities will even

have us CREATING instru-

ments out of every-day ma-

terials! This is a fun time of

year for our 4th graders!

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 8

Community News

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 9

PLEASE SUPPORT PINEWOOD!

Thank you for saving these items for our Campbell Soup Labels & Box Tops. Only the bar code is needed

Office Depot – 5% Back to Schools Program – ID # 70047487

Target – Take Charge of Education – 1% of purchases – Target.com/tcoe

Recycle - Please send in your used printer ink cartridges, laser toner cartridges and unwanted cell phones

Soda Tabs – Send your soda can tabs to school to benefit Ronald McDonald House

GIANT A+ Bonus Bucks – ID # 01103

Drink Pouches — Please save your drink pouches We receive $.02 per pouch.

ShopRite Rewards for Education at eScrip.com/ShopRite or by calling 800-931-6258.

Thank you to our Campbell’s labels committed for counting and submitting the labels!

Baltimore County Public Schools introduces a new reading series….

Reading Wonders is designed specifically for the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Reading/Language Arts. Combining research-based instruction with new tools to meet today’s challenges, every component and every lesson is designed for effective and efficient CCSS instruction.

The program provides unmatched support for

Building a strong reading foundation

Accessing complex text

Finding and using text evidence

Engaging in collaborative conversations

Writing to sources

Using a rich range of diverse print and digital media, Wonders provides the instructional support and materials you will only find in a program that was created to teach to the rigor, intent, and depth of the new Common Core State Standards.

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 10

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 11

Harvest for

the Hungry

Pinewood Happenings

Family Art

Night

Festival of Trees 2013

Pinewood Elementary School Herald Page 12

December 2013 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5

Herald Online

6

Spirit Day

7

8 9 10

Volunteer Training 6:30 pm

11 Redistricting Public Forum 7 pm

Dulaney High School

12 13 14

15 16 17

Winter Concert 7 pm

18 19 Grade Five Students

to visit Augsburg

Lutheran Home

20 Guest

Readers / Last

Day before Winter

21 First Day of

Winter

22 23 24 25 Merry

Christmas

26 Kwanzaa thru

January 1

27 28

29 30 31

Happy New Year!

January 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 Schools Reopen 3 Spirit Day 4

5 6 7 8 9 Herald Online 10 11

12 13 14

PTA Meeting 7 pm

Volunteer Training

6:30 pm

15 16 17 Schools close 3

hours early

End of 2nd marking

period

18

19 20 Schools Closed Dr. Martin Luther King,

Jr.’s birthday observed

21 Schools Closed

for Professional

Development

22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31