7:40 - 7:55: All students should arrive and 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

2:40 pm: Dismissal for bussers

DECEMBER
1 - 10 - 10 Days of Giving Food Drive
2 - NO SCHOOL - Staff Development
2 - PTA Meeting
23 - Jan 1 - NO SCHOOL - Winter Break

JANUARY
2 - School Resumes
6 - PTA Meeting
20 - NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King Day
21 - NO SCHOOL - Teacher Workshop
27 - NO SCHOOL - Staff Development

10 Days of Giving

The PTA will bring boxes to each classroom. Throughout the week, they will weigh and empty those boxes to track totals for each class. The class that brings in the most pounds of donations will win a popcorn and hot cocoa party! There will also be a popcorn party for the 2nd and 3rd place winners!

Hastings Family Service can turn a $10 donation into 10 pounds of food. If each student at Pinecrest brought in $2 we could provide 1,000 pounds of food to families in need!

Amazon Wish List

Help us have an amazing year! Please consider donating a book from our Pinecrest Library Amazon Wish List!

At Pinecrest, PRIDE stands for Problem Solver, Respectful and Responsible, Independent, Demonstrate Self-Control, and Empathetic. Students have been working on showing Pinecrest PRIDE since the beginning of the year, but now we will be implementing a reward system to recognize students who are going above and beyond. PRIDE tickets have been used in the past in classrooms, but we will be making it a schoolwide thing by doing weekly grade level and specialist drawings. Prizes will include Pinecrest swag or fun experiences with staff members (special breakfasts, teacher helper, read to a past teacher’s class, library helper, etc.). 

We are kicking off our PRIDE revamp with an extra incentive. Any student that earns 3 PRIDE tickets by December 13th will get an invite to a Hot Cocoa Party that will take place the week before Winter Break.

If your student brings home one of the neon yellow PRIDE tickets, make sure you ask them about how they showed their Pinecrest PRIDE to earn it!

2025-2026 Kindergarten Registration

2025-26 kindergarten registration is opening soon. Watch for additional information on registering and the opportunity to visit our school and meet kindergarten teachers.

Join the Pinecrest PTA! Meetings are held the first Monday of each month at 7:15 pm in the Pinecrest library. New members are always welcome!

Visit our Pinecrest Elementary Community Facebook Page for more information!

Music Notes

The sounds of December will soon be wafting through the halls.  We will be completing our first round of assessments during this month.

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.

On December 16, 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 10-11 during your child’s music class.

Hastings Elementary Choirs Spring Finale—Monday, 5 at 6:30pm at HMS Auditorium.

Grades 2, 3 & 4 Music Demonstration-Friday, May 16 in the Pinecrest Gymnasium.
          Grade 4 8:20am
          Grade 2 9:20am
          Grade 3 10:20am

December Fine Arts Happenings around the District

Thursday, December 5       5/6 Gr. Band Concert                   6:30pm         HMS Auditorium
Tuesday, December 10       HS Band/Orchestra Concert         7:00pm         HHS Auditorium
Thursday, December 12      5th Gr. Vocal Concert                    6:30pm         HMS Auditorium
Thursday, December 12      6th Gr. Vocal Concert                    7:30pm         HMS Auditorium
Saturday, December 14      HS Holiday Vocal Concert            2 & 4:30pm   HHS Auditorium
Monday, December 16        Pinecrest Choir Holiday Show        12:30pm        Pinecrest Gymnasium
Monday, December 16        Holiday Jazz District Tour           1:15pm          Pinecrest Gymnasium
Tuesday, December 17       7th Gr.  Vocal Concert                  6:30pm         HMS Auditorium
Tuesday, December 17       8th Gr.  Vocal Concert                  7:30pm         HHS Auditorium
Wednesday, December 18  Choir Caroling at Park Ridge          3:00pm         Hastings Senior Living

Art Corner

Wow! Another month of school is underway, and I am sure we are all feeling how fast the time is flying by! It feels like it’s on turbo speed here in the art room with how many fun projects we have gotten to do! Each and every student that comes into the art room continues to amaze me with not only their fun, creative, and artistic minds but also their positive and kind personalities. It truly has been a pleasure getting to know everyone and the things that interest them!

In fourth grade we jumped straight into fall as we learned about the difference between warm and cool colors. Fourth graders looked at images and artworks of birch trees as well as different ways masking tape can be used in art. We then used tape as a way to resist the paint to create our own birch tree inspired paintings! 

Third grade artists learned about the Japanese artist Hokusai as we tied in what they learned about him and his artwork The Great Wave in their classes to the project we worked on in class. They took their prior knowledge on his artistic process and the parts of a landscape, foreground, middle, and background, before we dove into creating our own landscape drawings inspired by The Great Wave. We also learned about warm and cool colors so that we could separate the different parts of our landscape by these color groups. It was so fun to see the creative process as each student created their own unique drawing.

In second grade we have been hard at work working on our large balloon posters. In their classrooms they learned about what the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade is and what the balloons can look like. They started their artistic process by brainstorming ideas and sketching out their designs. They then brought these amazing ideas to life as they began working on their final balloon projects! They will be participating in their own version of a Thanksgiving Day parade the day before break as they show off their projects around the school. 

First grade artists have been learning about abstraction in art. We have looked at artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Reggie Laurent who use different shapes, colors, and patterns to create an abstract artwork. We used this knowledge to create a couple projects that turned objects like leaves and birds into fun and colorful abstract art.

In kindergarten we have been hard at work focusing on learning how to use different materials in art through our projects. We learned about how art doesn’t necessarily have to look like something but rather can be a combination of colors, shapes, and designs. Through this project kindergarten artists got to explore several different materials as well as work together to create a collaborative art piece. They used paint and oil pastels before we used scissors and glue to create their own “Galaxy Collage” art projects. 

As the school year continues on we will stay hard at work here in the art room at Pinecrest as we continue to learn about and experiment with different artists, art styles, materials, and techniques. Although most importantly we will continue to always strive to have a good time here!! 

Emergency School Closings

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 inclement weather day will not have e-learning expectations in place.

Dress for the Weather

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.

Illness and Keeping Your Child Home

A student should not come to school (and may be sent home from school) if they have or have had:

• a fever of 100 degrees F or more in the past 24 hours

• vomiting or diarrhea in the past 24 hours

• an undiagnosed skin rash

Reporting Absences

If your student will not be at school, please call 651-480-7281 by 8:00 AM. If your student is ill, please report their symptoms and/or any diagnosed communicable condition like chicken pox, strep throat, cough and fever, influenza, COVID, or pink eye. It is recommended that you follow the MDH and CDC exclusion guidelines for communicable diseases. We have a 24 hour symptom-free policy for ill students.

If you have further questions, please reach out to Carly in our health office at 651-480-7286.

Early Pickup and 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.

Bring Your ID

Please bring your valid driver's license with you and check in at the front office when you are checking out your student or visiting our school.

Free tickets for Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra offers free tickets to kids ages 6-18 to several concerts throughout the season through the Hall Pass Program. Included are classical concerts, Symphony in 60, Sensory-Friendly programs and Relaxed Family Concerts. With so many extraordinary performances left this season, explore the concert calendar with your family and schedule a trip to Orchestra Hall!

Parents of students with special needs are invited to join Hastings' Special Education Staff in discussing how to support one another and providing input on district programming. Please mark your calendars for the Special Education Advisory Council (SEAC) 2024-2025 meeting dates!

• February 24th - time and location to be announced

• April 2025 - All Dakota County SEAC - Date, time, and location TBD

For more information about SEAC or if you are interested in becoming a member, please contact Jill Petersen at 651-480-7008 or jpetersen@isd200.org

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