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

JANUARY
2 - School Resumes
6 - PTA Meeting
20 - NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King Day
21 - NO SCHOOL - Teacher Workshop
21 - Countdown to Kindergarten 5:00 - 6:30
27 - NO SCHOOL - Staff Development

FEBRUARY
3 - PTA Meeting
17 - NO SCHOOL - Presidents' Day
26 - Evening Conferences
27 - Evening Conferences
28 - NO SCHOOL - Conferences

Be Ready for Recess!

It is important for students to get outside for some physical activity every day. They are provided with a 20-minute daily recess.  We expect everyone to come to school dressed for the weather. 

• Our school will have indoor recess on days when the temperature with wind chill is below -11°.

• We may choose to have a 10-minute outside recess when temperatures with wind chill are around -11°.  Outside supervisors will make this decision in cooperation with the office.

• Students with health plans on file in the health office may have special considerations that will be followed.

During the cold winter months, your student must wear a coat, mittens/gloves, hat, snow pants and boots. If there is snow on the ground, children who do not have boots or snow pants will have to stay on the blacktop area during recess. Please contact our School Social Worker, Michael Burr, at 651-480-7287 or mburr@isd200.org if you need any assistance with getting winter gear for your student.

Amazon Wish List

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

2025-2026 Kindergarten Enrollment

Information for registering your 2025-26 kindergarteners was mailed out in early January.

Incoming kindergarteners and their families are invited to visit our school on Tuesday, January 21st from 5:00 - 6:30 pm to meet the kindergarten teachers, take a school tour, and take part in a fun scavenger hunt.

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

December was a busy month!  All grades enjoyed some traditional holiday music and learned rhythmic and melodic concepts from these pieces of literature as well as various culture’s traditions focused around the holidays.  In addition, we completed our first round of formal assessments. We are excited to begin preparations for another round of assessments towards the end of January.

Grade 4 completed their unit on the instruments of the orchestra and are now getting ready to go to the High School to see and hear the instruments that they can choose to play in Middle School.  In December, Low La and Low Sol returned to music street, so in January, we will add a couple new rhythms to our repertoire.

Grade 3 completed their instrumental skills assessment.  Be sure to look on Seesaw for the recording of their instrumental performance.  In January, we will be assessing our in tune singing of our new melodic house, High Do. In addition, we will be learning a new rhythm.

Grade 2 is busy practicing their half notes and half rests.  We also learned about the repeat sign. On Music Street, we have been practicing our new house, Grandma Do.

Grade 1 students are reading and writing tah and ti-ti (quarter notes and eighth notes). In January, we will add the quarter rest, or the beat of silence.

Kindergarten students just completed their assessment of instrumental timbres.  From the sounds of drums, to triangles, to shakers, each instrument has a different type of sound.  We are continuing our work on the steady beat of music. We have discovered that music can be fast and slow as well as loud and soft.

Be sure to bring your 4th grade student to the Instrument Fair at the High School on January 28 from 5-7pm and/or January 30 from 6-8pm. At the instrument fair, students may try to play ALL the instruments of the band and orchestra.  It is a FUN night for ALL!

Stay warm and Keep on Singing!

Art Corner

Happy New Year, Art Families! 🎨

Welcome back to the art room! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are ready for an exciting new year of creativity and exploration. This month, our young artists will be diving into learning about the seven different elements of art as we create exciting projects that focus on exploration, different cultures, and the power of imagination!

In January we will begin by focusing on line in art which is the building block for the other 6 elements of art!

Fourth grade will be exploring lines in art by learning all about Ancient Greek Pottery and what it means to create a still life drawing. The designs of Ancient Greek pottery are well known and many modern artists draw inspiration from their style! We will be using what we have learned about different types of lines and combining it with that signature style to create a vase for our cacti still life drawing! 

Third grade is exploring the ancient tradition of Chinese Porcelain vases. We will be learning about the history of these beautiful blue and white vases before using our knowledge of lines to draw and paint our own vases!! Once we have our vases drawn and painted with our designs we will be painting flowers inspired by the floral art of Jennifer Paganelli! 

Second graders are heading to the art style found in Peru's Andes mountains!! Not only will we be using all sorts of curvy lines to draw and decorate our llama’s but we will also be creating a background inspired by the Llama Ceremony in Peru. During this ceremony they would thank the llamas for all they supplied throughout the year and dress them in colorful blankets, tassels, and flowers. The background for this project will be using several different types of lines and patterns to create a blanket design that would be seen during this ceremony. 

First grade artists are exploring different types of lines in famous works of art! They are learning to identify and talk about the lines they see in the artwork of well-known artists. One artwork we will look at is titled Composition VII by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky and is a large mixture of lines, shapes, and movement! 

In Kindergarten we are continuing to learn about the different types of art and the elements of art we see in each piece. We have been working on projects ranging from abstract to following guided drawings to even free drawing! This kindergarten class has a very big imagination and it has been so fun to continually see their creativity grow with each project we do! 

I look forward to this new year and all the amazing art that will be created in Pinecrest’s art room in 2025!! 

Don't miss the new stunning display of fourth-grade painted snow owls in the office, highlighting their exploration of texture techniques in art!

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.

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.

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