The Pine Brook Press

Website: https://www.greececsd.org/Domain/23

Location: 2300 English Rd, Rochester, NY 14616, USA
Phone: (585)966-4600
Twitter: @Pinebrookgcsd

Principal: Andrea Geglia andrea.geglia@greececsd.org

Acting Assistant Principal: Allie Weise allison.weise@greececsd.org

Nurse: Jen Curatalo jennifer.curatalo@greececsd.org

Main Office Secretary: Janine Layne janine.layne@greececsd.org

Custodian: Carl Meyer carl.meyer@greececsd.org

Hello Pine Brook Families!

This week Pine Brook participated in Read Across America! Our Panthers enjoyed guest readers from across the community and had the chance to read in the foyer with teachers and friends. There are many reasons why Read Across America is important. Here are a few:

1. Encouraging a love of reading: Reading is an important skill that is essential for success in school and in life. By promoting reading and encouraging a love of reading, Read Across America helps to instill this important skill in children at a young age.

2. Improving literacy rates: Literacy rates in the United States have been consistently higher among those who read more often. By promoting reading and encouraging children to read more, Read Across America helps to improve literacy rates in the country.

3. Promoting cultural awareness: books share fun and imaginative stories that often include themes of diversity and cultural awareness. By reading these books and participating in Read Across America, children can learn about different cultures and broaden their understanding of the world.

4. Building community: Read Across America brings people together to celebrate reading and literacy.

Keep the fun going this weekend with your Panther and ask them to share what their favorite part of Read Across America week was!

Enjoy the weekend!

Andrea and Allie

We have had such a great experience with having parents join us on our interview teams over the past couple of years, but feedback to us has been that coming into the school setting can be overwhelming. As a response, Greece is holding this Parent Training event in hopes to create a pool of parents who feel supported, confident and ready to join a team when we are in need. Check our this flyer for more information!

A HUGE THANK YOU to all of our Guest Readers and our Pine Brook staff for making this year's Read Across America celebration a great success! The students truly enjoyed hearing stories from our guests and getting to meet people from all over the Rochester community.

Girls on the Run - Join Girls on the Run, open to 3rd-5th grade girls! Program starts 3/20 and ends 6/4, and meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school 3:30-5pm. Girls who join will receive a journal, t-shirt, water bottle, and a finisher's medal at the 5K. You don't have to be a runner to join - Girls on the Run helps you gain confidence, meet friends, and have a lot of fun! Register today on our website www.gotrrochester.org. Financial aid available to all who apply.

Thank you all for sharing in our Family Perception Survey. The results are in and we will be sharing with you in the next few weeks. We appreciate your input!

Will your child be four-years-old on or before December 1, 2023? If so, you can apply for Greece Central’s free PreK program. Click here for more information.

Activities for Families:

One More/One Less: Play a fun addition game in the car or on the bus. Tell your child a number less than 10 and ask, “What is one more?” or “What is one less?” For example, 5 plus one more is 6! Five minus one is 4! For older students, try this game with larger numbers.

Letters Are All Around Us!: Next time you go to the grocery store or get the weekly specials in the mail, invite your child to play this game with you! While at the grocery store or using the advertisement, invite your child to practice identifying letters. Say the name of a product and ask him or her to identify the letter, say the sound and even find the first letter in the ad or on the item at the store.

Mindful Corner:

Challenge your family to incorporate mindful movement into your day! Destress your body with some mindful movement when you are at your desk chair.

There’s no “right” way to practice mindfulness! The important part is being consistent and making the effort. Resource: How to practice mindfulness

Thank you to our Parent Coordinator, Meredith Boulis, for setting up this family roller skating event! Thank you to all the amazing family’s and Panthers who came out, it was so great to see everyone having so much fun!!

The PTSA hopes our school community will join us on Tuesday, March 28th for an exciting meeting where we vote on the budget. What does this mean? We vote on how to spend the money raised with the Dance Fit Fundraiser on OUR KIDS! Come play a part in making your kids' school year even better!

Pine Brook PTSA Meeting (Budget Vote!)

Google Meet joining info

Tuesday, March 28 · 7:00 – 8:00pm

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/vbv-chgq-iis

Or dial: ‪(US) +1 567-401-0059‬ PIN: ‪165 676 377‬#

More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/vbv-chgq-iis?pin=1635310313917

Sincerely,

Pine Brook PTSA

• Please call the Parent Helpline at 966-2911 if you are in need of support from the GCSD Food/Clothing Pantry.

• KidsCare:

Are you in need of before and after school care for your child? Our KidsCare flyer has more information. Please reach out with any questions.




• Neighborhood Navigation Center - Click here to learn how our GCSD Navigation Center can provide support and services to your family!

• Save the Date for the Spring Family Fest! Check out this flier for more information

• Donations needed: Please share this flier with your school community!
  

Pine Brook is excited to announce our 2nd Schoolwide WIG (Wildly Important Goal) - Increase our Reading Minutes! As a school, we will read an extra 100,000 minutes by March 31st. We are HALFWAY to reaching our goal! This can be done at school, at home, on the bus, in the car, at the doctor’s office or anywhere a book can be picked up and read! Students can read independently, they can be read to, or they can even read to someone else. We can’t wait to watch our Panthers grow in their love of reading. Our goal kicked off on Monday, February 6th.

Thank you in advance for your support to help us reach our goal!

• March 24th: Report cards available on Infinite Campus and mailed home

Who to Call With Questions is a New Resource for Families

Building trust and ensuring that there are open lines of communication between home and school are essential for student success. We want to be sure you know who to contact with questions or concerns. In December, the district shared a new resource for families. In case you missed it, this linked Who to Call with Questions, Concerns and Compliments reference guide is a step-by-step guide families can use to ensure questions are answered quickly and effectively. Please refer to it whenever you need to speak to someone about your child’s progress. Whether your inquiry is about academics, safety, or services and supports, there are people at the school and district level who are ready to help whenever a question or concern arises.

For Step 1 concerns at Pine Brook, please start with the person closest to the situation. They should be able to help you navigate the situation. If the concern rises to a Step 2, please contact the Acting Assistant Principal. For your convenience there is a list below of contacts at Pine Brook:

Step 1:

Safety, Health and Wellness:

Nurse: Jen Curatalo jennifer.curatalo@greececsd.org

Registration, Daily Schedules, and Other Questions:

Main Office Secretary: Janine Layne janine.layne@greececsd.org

Mental Health, Counseling and Social Work Questions:

Counselors: Anne McAdam anne.mcadam@creececsd.org

Counselor: Debbie Schneider deborah.schneider@greececsd.org

Social Worker: Aimee Zito aimee.zito@greececsd.org

Academics and Instructional Questions:

Please contact your student’s teacher

Step 2:

Principal: Andrea Geglia andrea.geglia@greececsd.org

Acting Assistant Principal: Allie Weise allison.weise@greececsd.org

The Diversity Inclusion and Leadership Network is thrilled to share our new Greece Alumni T-Shirts. Our goal is to provide an opportunity for alums to show pride, continue traditions, and re-ignite school spirit. In addition, the proceeds from the fundraiser will be used to support events that encourage a stronger sense of community, including scholarships for students who express an interest in joining our district family after graduation, networking events for employees from across the district to come together, and celebrations of multicultural holidays. If you would like to purchase a t-shirt, the sign-up form can be found here. In addition, if you would like to donate to the Belonging and Inclusion Fund, you can donate at paypal to @GreeceTeachers and put “Belonging and Inclusion Fund” in the description.

A “Special Science Guest” (our very own Mrs. Valachovic!) appears on the Pine Brook Morning Show each month to bring a fun “At-Home Science Experiment” idea to students. Click here to view and conduct the latest science experiment with your family!

Greece Central’s Office of Student Transportation Services is now accepting 2023-24 transportation requests for private, parochial, and charter school students, as well as requests for busing to and from child care facilities. An application must be filed each year that service is requested. Child care transportation is only available for students in grades K-8.

CLICK HERE to complete the child care application.

CLICK HERE to complete the private/parochial/charter school application.

Applications must be completed by July 1. This deadline is important. Bus runs are established in the spring and early summer. Current residents who fail to request transportation by the July 1 deadline are not guaranteed service at the opening of school.

Applications received after July 1 will be accepted, but no new bus stops will be created to accommodate late applicants. Those missing the deadline will be transported from the closest established bus stop.

Attention Families! We have a TON of found clothing items. Please check out the slides that contain photos of items that need to be reunited with Pine Brook Panthers! Click here or the link below to view.

10% of profits are donated back to Pine Brook! A BIG thank you to our PTSA for organizing our spirit wear sale.

Pine Brook livestreams a morning show every M-F! This show is run by students, for students! Here is the link to the Pine Brook’s LiveStream Channel. It will show the announcements live at 9:00 each morning.

If you would like to watch the announcements at a later time, use this link for our Pine Brook Archived Live Streams. Once on the site, you can click on whatever date you would like to view. Once we have finished the show live, it should appear here.

It's a great day to be a Panther!

Pine Brook Student Handbook 2022-2023

Technology Support for Families

GCSD Calendar

Click here if you would like to view the Code of Conduct Presentation for Students.

March 3,2023

February 17, 2023

February 10,2023

February 3, 2023

January 27, 2023

January 20, 2023

January 13, 2023

January 6, 2023

December, 2022

November, 2022

October, 2022

September, 2022

Authors: Andrea Geglia, Pine Brook Principal and Allison Weise, Pine Brook Acting Assistant Principal

The Greece Central School District does not discriminate in employment or in its educational programs and activities against qualified individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, disability, veteran status or age and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups.

The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies:

Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources

Compliance Officer

P.O. Box 300 (585) 966-2300

North Greece, New York 14515 JEREMY.SMALLINE@greececsd.org