There is NO SCHOOL:
December 1, 24 - 31, and January 1, 2
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7:40 - 7:55: Students should not arrive prior to 7:40. All students enter through the main doors. Breakfast is served. Students may not enter the building until the bell rings at 7:40.
8:00 am: School begins
2:35 pm: Dismissal for all walkers and parent pickup
2:40 pm: Dismissal for bussers
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December
1 - No School - Staff Development
1 - 10 - 10 Days of Giving Food Drive
8 - PTA Meeting @ 7:15 in the Pinecrest Media Center
24-31 - No School: Winter Break
January
1 - 2 - No School - Winter Break
5 - PTA Meeting @ 7:15 in the Pinecrest Media Center
19 - No School - Martin Luther King Day
20 - No School - Teacher Workshop
26 - No School - Staff Development
30 - Family Bingo Night
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Pinecrest has been the big winner for 2 years in a row!
Help us make it 3 so we can win Culver's Custard and help Hastings families in need! |
Apply for Educational Benefits- Support Your Family
And Our School!
“Educational Benefits” are about more than just free or reduced meals—they open doors for families! Qualifying can connect you to WIC, Metro Transit Assistance, affordable internet options, and discounts or scholarships for camps, sports, and child care.
Every application matters! When families apply, it helps Pinecrest earn funding, become eligible for grants, and access programs that benefit every student in our community.
Link to apply: https://frapps.horizonsolana.com/HASS01
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COUNTDOWN TO KINDERGARTEN |
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2026-27 kindergarten registration is opening soon. Watch for additional information on registering. Mark your calendars now for the opportunity to visit our school on January 22 from 5 - 6:30 to meet kindergarten teachers. |
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November PRIDE Winners
Congratulations to our November PRIDE Winners!
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Emergency School Closings
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In case of inclement weather, activities will be shared with families in the students’ take-home folders, as well as being posted here on the school's webpage. In situations where we can anticipate the need for an e-learning day, your child may come home with their school issued iPad to help students connect with their teacher and access activities posted on Seesaw. Students with an Individualized Education Plan will follow lessons provided by their classroom teacher and/or lessons modified by their case manager. Please return completed work to school or submit it through Seesaw as directed by your teacher. The due dates for e-Learning day assignments will typically be due the next day.
*Please note, the first two inclement weather days will not have e-learning expectations in place.
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Please make sure your child is prepared to spend 20 minutes outside at lunch recess. Hats, mittens, snow pants, boots, and winter coats are recommended. |
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Join the Pinecrest PTA! Meetings are held the first Monday of each month at 7:15 pm in the Pinecrest media center. New members are always welcome!
Visit our Pinecrest Elementary Community Facebook Page for more information!
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The sounds of December will soon be wafting through the halls.
Kindergarten is working on the steady beat, feeling it in their bodies and playing it on instruments as well as tapping icons that represent the steady beat. We are singing in our singing voices and focusing on matching pitch.
In addition, we have discovered the difference between loud and soft and are now working on aurally differentiating the four unique instrument timbres: woods, metals, shakers and skins.
Grade 1 has moved on from the steady beat to reading and writing the quarter note and eighth notes. These are fondly referred to as “tah” and “ti-ti”. In addition, we completed our study of our National Anthem.
Grade 2 is practicing Grandma Do and tie. Grandma Do moved in on Music Street and the do clef helps us determine where all the melodic houses are living on the 5-floor hotel (the staff). Finally, the tie will turn into the half note and half rest later this month.
Grade 3 has moved on to reading the sixteenth note (ti-ka-ti-ka). Grandma Do’s son, High Do moved in on Music Street. We will be playing High Do and tika-tika on the orff instruments in
December.
Grade 4 is reviewing tika-tika, ti-tah-ti, whole note and the whole rest. Low La has returned to Music Street and Low Sol will be back this month. We are singing melodies that include all of these houses and writing them on the staff. We are studying the music of the Nutcracker for our Fine Arts Field Trip to the O’Shaughnessy on Friday, December 19. On December 22, we are excited to share a musical holiday treat. First, our Pinecrest choir will
sing for our parents and family members at 12:30pm in the Pinecrest Gym. Later that afternoon, the Hastings High School Jazz Band will be performing for us followed by the Pinecrest Choir as they present their Holiday Show to the Pinecrest students and staff.
We hope you all have a magical and musical Holiday Season!
Pinecrest Concert Dates for 2025
Grades K & 1 Informances—April 16-17 during your child’s music class.
Hastings Elementary Choirs Spring Finale—Monday, May 4 at 6:30pm at HMS Auditorium.
Grades 2, 3 & 4 Music Demonstration-Friday, May 15 in the Pinecrest Gymnasium.
Grade 4 8:25am
Grade 3 9:25am
Grade 2 10:25am
December Fine Arts Happenings around the District
Thursday, Dec. 4 Middle School Orchestra Concert 5th/6th grade @ 6:30, 7th/8th grade @ 7:30 HMS Auditorium
Tuesday, Dec. 9 HS Band/Orchestra Concert 7:00pm HHS Auditorium
Thursday, December 11 7th Gr. Vocal Concert 6:30pm HMS Auditorium
Thursday, Dec.11 8th Gr. Vocal Concert 7:30pm HMS Auditorium
Saturday, Dec.13 HS Holiday Vocal Concert 2 & 4:30pm HHS Auditorium
Tuesday, Dec.16 5th Gr. Vocal Concert 6:30pm HMS Auditorium
Tuesday, Dec.16 6th Gr. Vocal Concert 7:30pm HHS Auditorium
Monday, Dec, 22 Pinecrest Choir Holiday Show 12:30pm Pinecrest Gymnasium
Monday, Dec. 22 Holiday Jazz District Tour 1:15pm Pinecrest Gymnasium |
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In the art room, throughout the month of November, we have been having lots of discussions about gratitude! Alongside all of our regular awesome projects the students have been working on, each student was able to add a leaf to the Pinecrest Gratitude Trees. They brainstormed a few things they were thankful for, wrote it on the leaf, and hung it up on the tree for everyone to see!
Thank you to parents for supporting your students and their creative/artistic sides!! It was awesome to hear about so many moms, dads, and grandparents hanging up their kids' artwork on the fridge or walls at home!!
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November was productive and rewarding for our STEM classes. All grade levels completed one project and began a new one. It is wonderful to see all the different solutions these young engineers invent - it is impressive! Their questions are thoughtful and their observations are clever. It is a pleasure to teach such incredible kids.
Kindergarten We began the month by finishing our rolling experiments. Students first tested a set of different items that roll. They divided these into good rollers and bad rollers. We then studied the good rollers and used our observation to then turn a bad roller into a good roller by utilizing different materials (cardboard tube, caps, tape, washers, cup lids). You can see in the pictures below how proud students were of their creations! Last week, we started our trash collector unit. Students were introduced to a duck named Danny that lives in a pond where people have thrown a bunch of trash. To help in our problem solving, we created a model pond and put trash in it. Students learned that engineers use models to help analyze and understand the problems they are trying to solve.
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First Grade At the beginning of the month, first grade completed materials investigation and selected the soft and sticky part they wanted to use for their bandages. Once they created the bandage they designed, we put the bandage through a series of tests. If a bandage failed one of their tests, students were able to improve their design and try again. In asking, imagining, planning, creating, testing and improving their bandage, first graders successfully completed one cycle of the engineering design process. Below are pictures of first graders testing the bandage they designed.
Last week, first grade began a new project, Programming a Robot. Students are learning the basics of coding and discovering how to create programs by sequencing directional commands. In the pictures below you can see one first grader acting as a programmer and using codes to direct the other first grader, acting as a robot on the rug. The goal for this unit is for students to program a Blue-Bot to successfully complete a maze!
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Second grade students also completed a lap around the engineering design process with their work on a hand pollinator. After investigating various materials for picking up and dropping off pollen (baking soda), students designed and created their own hand pollinators. We finished the project with a day for testing and improving the designs. Below, students are testing the hand pollinator they constructed.
Our current project, Creating Animations, requires students to utilize Scratch Jr to animate a pollinator in its habitat. One activity used to help students adjust to writing a program, is to give a fellow student verbal instructions to follow, so they can complete a drawing as close to the programmer’s as possible. The programmer and computer were not allowed to compare their drawings until their “program” was complete. This was a fun and enlightening demonstration for students to see how hard it can be to give specific instructions that aren’t misinterpreted and a great start to calibrating their minds to the task of programming. Below, a second grade student instructs a fellow classmate on how to draw her drawing.
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Third graders completed their magnetic dog door challenge this month. This required students to both open and close a dog door using a magnet’s ability to attract and repel. This was a valuable experience in trial and error as it was difficult to negotiate the repel and attract in ways that they didn’t interfere with each other. It was satisfying to watch when a student discovered a solution!
Our new project, Building Automated Systems, is a popular one. An automated system is a task that is accomplished through technology, with minimal human intervention. Students will be programming the Edisons to automatically open a door for five seconds when a person is detected.
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Fourth graders finished their solar oven insulation testing this month and they seemed to enjoy both prepping their insulation and seeing how hot they could get their solar ovens! We used a heat lamp for each solar oven and had some temps get over 135°F. My favorite part of this project was watching the students face the engineer’s dilemma - what performs the best is usually not what is best for the environment. This is a daily battle in industry that is difficult to negotiate. I think this is a valuable perspective to gain, made more impactful because the students experienced the conflicting goals - heating up food while having a low impact on the environment. Below, students have selected the insulation of their choice and are prepping it for their solar oven.
We have now moved onto our next project, Designing a Computer Game. For this project, students are using the visual programming language Scratch to design and create a game. This program uses code blocks that are sequenced by dragging and dropping. It is a great introduction to coding and students are learning how to manipulate it quickly. We should finish this project just before Winter Break.
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Order your Spirit Wear! Can be customized to our school! |
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