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

October
Sept. 26 - Oct. 6 - Read-A-Thon
6 - PTA Meeting @ 7:15 in the Pinecrest Media Center
10 - No School: Teacher Workshop
13-14 - Evening Conferences
13-15 - Scholastic Book Fair
15 - No School: Conferences
16-17 - No School: Teacher Association Days
22 - Picture Retake Day

November
3 - PTA Meeting @ 7:15 in the Pinecrest Media Center
7 - Family Movie Night
27-28 - No School: Fall Break

Read-A-Thon

Teacher Conferences

Fall Teacher Conferences will be held October 13-15. If you haven't yet, please use the link below to sign up for a conference with your child's teacher.

New Safety Processes

As a reminder, we updated some safety procedures designed to strengthen our overall security. One change that was implemented is our process for picking students up early and dropping off items. If you are dropping off an item, we ask that it is left on the round table in the vestibule. There will be paper and pen to label the item. We will then get the item to your child. 

If you need to pick up your child early for an appointment or from the nurse’s office, we ask that you follow the process below:

1. Please contact the front office if you're planning to pick up early.

2. When you arrive and have parked your car, please call the office at 651-480-7280. We will then contact the classroom and have your child walk to the office.

3. Then, we ask that you enter the first set of doors, ring the doorbell to let us know that you've arrived, show your driver's license to the camera, and wait in the vestibule. Thank you in advance for your patience as you wait for your child.

4. When your child arrives at the office, we will send them out to meet you in the vestibule.

In order to make this process more seamless, it's important that we have your driver's license on file in our security system. If you've never picked up early from school, please stop by the office before or after school so we can add you to our system.

Picture Retakes

Educational Benefits

Did you know "Educational Benefits" are more than Free and Reduced Lunches? By qualifying for benefits, families can access WIC Benefits, the Metro Transit Assistance Program, reduced internet programs (FCC Affordable Connectivity Program), and scholarships or discounts on camps, athletic programs and child care.

All families are encouraged to apply as these benefits also help Hastings schools qualify for education funding, discounts, and other meal programs that benefit all students.

Link to apply: https://frapps.horizonsolana.com/HASS01

Dress for the Weather

As the weather begins to cool, please be sure your child is dressed appropriately for playing outside. Students spend twenty minutes outside for noon recess. When the temperatures start to dip into the 40’s and 50’s, we do require students to wear a light jacket or sweatshirt outside. When winter arrives, winter clothing will be required.

Reporting Absences

Absences should be reported prior to the start of the school day. You can do this two ways: call the attendance line at 651-480-7281 and leave a message, or submit an absence request using your parent portal. An absence reported through the portal must be a full-day absence. If your student will be coming late to school, please call the attendance line.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING AN ABSENCE REQUEST

1. Log into your Campus Parent Portal Account (via a computer or using the mobile app)

2. Select MORE and then ABSENCE REQUEST (or look under "Shortcuts" for the Absence Request link)

3. Fill in the required information including:

   • Mark the student(s) who will be absent

   • Select the reason the student will be absent from the Excuse dropdown list

   • Select "Full Day Absence" as the Absence type.

   • Select the date(s) the student will be absent.

   • Use the comments field to provide additional details on the absence

4. Click on the Submit button to save and submit your request

End of Day Transportation Changes

When there is a change to your child’s normal dismissal plan, please contact the main office at 651-480-7280 by 1:35 pm if possible so we are able to get a message to your child and their teacher before the end of the day.

Family Movie Night

Family movie night is coming up on November 7th at 6pm. The movie will be decided by student vote closer to the date. Stay tuned for details! Please check the lost and found while you're here. Everything left after the movie night will be donated.

Music Notes

We have had a great start to the year as we looked at our Basic Needs and how each one of us has those same basic needs of fun, belonging, power (a feeling of accomplishment and self-worth), and freedom (the opportunity to make choices). In addition, we have been working on showing our Pinecrest Pride in the music room and in the hallway.

Our students in Kindergarten are discovering their voices and many of the different sounds they can make with their voices, as well as matching pitch. We are focusing on the concept of steady beat and using our bodies, instruments, and icons to demonstrate that we have mastered this concept. In addition, we have looked at the different shapes of instruments and played the circle drum, the rectangle bell steps and the triangle.

Grade 1 has reviewed high and low, fast and slow, loud and soft, the steady beat, and our different types of voices as well as the different types of instruments. We are currently working on our first grade vocabulary, forte and piano in place of loud and soft as well as allegro and largo for fast and slow.

Grade 2 has reviewed the concept of the steady beat, along with the strong and weak beats. In addition, we have reviewed our rhythm reading, specifically, “tah”, “rest” and “ti-ti”. Finally, our music street houses have returned to music street so we are reading sol, mi and la.

Grades 3 and 4 are reviewing canon echoes, steady beat and reading the rhythms of “tah, ti-ti, rest, half note and half rest. Be sure to ask your student what the word “canon” and “ostinato” means. We are reading do, re, mi, sol and la on the staff!

We are excited for our Pinecrest Choir to get going again! All students in Grade 4 are welcome to join us! Rehearsals will begin on October 21st and occur every Tuesday at 7:15am in the Pinecrest Music Room.

We are looking forward to a great year of music-making!

Fine Arts Happenings Around the District

October 13: High School Vocal Concert 7:00pm HHS Auditorium
October 21: High School Band Concert 7:00pm HHS Auditorium
October 22: Pinecrest Choir Rehearsals Begin 7:15AM Music Room 20
October 28: High School Orchestra Concert 7:00pm HHS Auditorium

Art Corner

I am so happy to have both familiar faces and new faces in the art room this year!! This year has been off to such a great start!! We dove head first into the world of art making with each grade looking at different techniques, artists, and ways to create art!! After seeing how this first month of school went I am beyond excited to see where the rest of the year takes us in the art room!! 

Fourth graders have been hard at work learning about the difference between street art and graffiti. They then used their new knowledge on this unique form of art to create their own graffiti letters spelling their name!! We wrapped up that project last week and began working on our Jim Dine inspired artwork!! 

Third grade artists started the school year learning about POP ART! We took a look at several examples and talked about all of the different colors, shapes, lines, patterns, and types of bubble letters we saw! We kept all of this in our minds when we began creating our own pop art masterpieces using our names as the focal point!! 

Second graders brainstormed some unique materials we could use to paint with. We talked about anything from forks to sponges to even our hands could be used to create a painting. We brought out paint for the first time this year, but instead of using paintbrushes to create our backgrounds we used marbles!! The students had a blast rolling around the paint filled marbles all over their papers to create unique designs!! 

First grade artists learned all about the artist Jackson Pollock. He is an artist that hardly any of the students heard of before, so we had fun looking at images of his crazy artwork! He is well known for making splatter and pour painting a popular style of art that could end up in museums! We used strings dipped in paint to mimic Pollock’s style of capturing movement on our papers! It is safe to say this was a messy process that ended up with amazing results!! 

Kindergarten artists have been hard at work learning ALL about the different materials we see in the art room!! Alongside learning about these supplies we continue to talk about what it means to be an artist!! They are doing an awesome job being supportive to one another and understanding that making mistakes is part of the art making process!! 

I am truly looking forward to this school year and seeing all of the projects we will be working on unfold! These kiddos at Pinecrest are truly a talented group of young artists!! 

STEM Lab

We’ve had a fantastic start to the school year in STEM! Students have jumped right in with a variety of fun building challenges that encouraged creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving. From designing benches and fences to investigating balanced forces and non-powered technology, each grade had the chance to explore hands-on activities that got them thinking like engineers.

Now, we are excited to begin our longer-term projects for each grade level. These projects will allow students to dive deeper into the design process, build on their skills week by week, and see their ideas come to life over time. Each grade will be working on a unique project that connects to real-world STEM concepts and gives students the opportunity to find multiple ways to solve a problem as well as finding the best solution among competing objectives.  The projects for each grade are:

Kindergarten - Engineering Trash Collectors

First Grade - Engineering Bandages

2nd Grade - Engineering Pumpkin Pollinators

3rd Grade - Engineering Magnetic Dog Doors

4th Grade - Designing Solar Ovens

We can’t wait to share updates as students make progress on their projects in the weeks ahead!

Kids Campus School Age Care

Order your Spirit Wear! Can be customized to our school!

Hastings Public Schools

The Hastings School District consists of approximately 4,300 students. Please click on the links below to email the building principal or site leader. We've also included the phone numbers to the main offices of each of our district's sites:

• Tilden Community Center 651-480-7670

• Kennedy Elementary (K-4) 651-480-7221

• McAuliffe Elementary (K-4) 651-480-7390

• Pinecrest Elementary (K-4) 651-480-7280

• Hastings Middle School(5-8) 651-480-7060

• Hastings High School (9-12) 651-480-7470

• Hastings Alternative Learning Center 651-480-7690

*If you need any assistance in translating this newsletter, contact us at kgorr@isd200.org.

Website: www.hastings.k12.mn.us
Location: 1000 11th Street West, Hastings, MN, USA
Phone: 651-480-7000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hastingspublicschools