The Puma Paw
A Pinebrook community information source
May 19, 2023
Hello Puma Families
We want to ensure that you have an opportunity to provide input as we develop classes for next school year! Please click here to complete the Family Input Survey for Placement.
Thank you!
"Paw-erful Points"
- Monday - May 29 - No School for Memorial Day Recognition!
- May 22 - 26 is a B Week
- May 22 - PTA Meeting in Pinebrook Library at 7:00 PM
- May 23 - Bruster's Spirit Night from 5:00 - 7:00 PM! Special Scoopers - PNB Staff!
- May 25 - 2nd Grade Economics Fair
- May 26 - PNB Volunteer Breakfast at 8:30 AM - RSVP was due
- May 29 - No School
- May 30 and 31 - 3rd Grade Field Trip to Natural History Museum (See teacher message for scheduled days)
- May 31 - 5th Grade Shark Tank Finals!
- May 31 - PNB Chorus Concert 6:00 - 7:00 PM
- June 1 - Movable Monday Schedule
- June 2 - First Grade EOY Party
- Reminder - Parent supervision is required at all PTA community events.
Pumas That Pounce!
Andes 5th Grade House Star: Chase S.
House Andes selects Chase as their 5th Grade House Star because he is incredible with helping other students in class. He is patient, responsible, takes any job he is given seriously, and is polite. He is always Respectful, Responsible, and Ready. Way to go Chase!
We want to recognize the 5th-Grade Student Ambassadors for their work in organizing the Penny Race! The group of leaders had an idea, developed a plan, strategized around issues, consulted with Administrators, and then implemented their concept, which led to a successful result! It was a very impressive undertaking, and the group was successful. Thank you to Tory Walker, the sponsor for the Ambassadors, for guiding this group of leaders toward their goal.
Puma Block Party - A Celebration of Community
On Thursday last, the PTA hosted the 2nd Annual Puma Block Party! There were games, food trucks, a dunk tank, and, more than anything, community building. Seeing neighbors, friends, and children playing and laughing as adults came together and enjoyed was exciting. Kudos to the PTA for the event and its coordinators, Lindsey Searle and Emma Moores, as they and their team pulled together a fantastic event for all of us.
Penny Race Results! Congrats to House Yukon!
The results of the Student Ambassadors' Penny Race are in! As a school, we raised $590! The money is to plant trees near the playground. Congratulations to House Yukon for winning the Penny Race. Yukon will receive a 30-minute recess for their win. The Student Ambassadors thank everyone for contributing to this good cause.
Pinebrook Gets a Makeover!
In early May, Stadler Nurseries gave a complete makeover of the vegetation in the front of the school. They replaced overgrown trees and shrubs with new dogwood trees, hydrangeas, cherry laurels, spreading plum yew, and more. Funding for the fresh look is from the money donated to the PTA from YOU! Thank you, PTA, for supporting this unique project to keep our school welcoming and warm in many ways.
Patagonia Wins The First House Point Competition!
This past week, we celebrated House Patagonia for their work in demonstrating the 3Rs! The school celebrated Patagonia students with a parade through the hallways and positive cheering and clapping. The competition worked by teachers noticing students making good choices, showing strong character, and setting examples of being Ready, Responsible, and Respectful Pumas. Each time a teacher saw a student, that teacher gave a point to the house the student belonged. At the end of the competition, House Patagonia earned the most points! A new round starts next week!
Kindergarten Take the Learning Trip to Great Country Farms
This past week, kindergarten students had the opportunity to learn at Great Country Farms. Students engaged in learning about the life cycle of strawberries toured a greenhouse, and learned about plant care. Students took home a few strawberries and a kit to plant sunflower seeds. Of course, the students also had some good ol' fashioned playtime. Memories were captured, and the experience made for a wonderful learning time.
Kindergarten Students Perform for Parents and Meet the HOV Specialists
Kindergarten Students Meet the Hovatter Specialists and Principal
The Pumabees were humming on Friday morning. Music teachers from Pinebrook and Hovatter Elementary Schools led the students through a program led by both sets of teachers to introduce the kindergarten students to the specialists at Hovatter Elementary, where many Kindergarten students will attend school next year. A highlight of the event was for the Kinder students to perform the Pinebrook school song and then, in the moment, learn the Hovatter school song to tie the students together. Mrs. Mercer, Principal of Hovatter, and Assistant Principal of Hovatter, Mrs. Abigail Cebular, were on hand and said hello. The event wrapped up with a performance of Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World" sung with voice and in sign language by the kindergarten students. Thank you to all the music teachers, from both schools, for a fabulous experience.
For The Garden Committee!
My name is Courtney Shirley, and Karthik asked me to help oversee communications & events for our Pinebrook Garden.
I'm excited to fill you in on recent developments for our school garden. A fundraising/donations portal was successfully launched and sent to our Pinebrook Community through the Puma Paw email to help solicit donations for supplies and garden needs; a large amount of mulch was generously donated and Pinebrook's 5th Grade graduates are leaving their mark on Pinebrook by giving a garden gift!
At this time we're also looking for parent and family volunteers (children are welcome!) to help unbag and spread out the mulch and volunteer in our garden.
If you'd like to help, simply click on the below Sign Up Genius link.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/904084EA5A62FAB9-thursday
We truly appreciate your help to get Pinebrook's beautiful garden going & growing!
Questions about the Garden Committee? Contact PinebrookGardenCommunications@Gmail.com
VDOE Offers Tutoring Grant
The state of Virginia will be accepting applications for the K-12 Virginia Recovery Grant. This grant is available to assist families whose students were impacted academically by the pandemic. Grants can range from $1,500 to $3,000 and will go towards tutoring, and other educational services, for your student. Tutors must be selected from a pre-approved list of vetted tutors, which will be made available to families. For more information, please visit the VDOE website.
Puma Pawd - Pinebrook's Own Podcast
A new episode of the Puma Pawd is available!
- Paul, Leigh, and Turner talk with LCPS Director of Student Services Jen Evans and PNB 4th Grade Teacher Brianna Davis about why it's important not to miss school, who misses, and the impact. Click here!
Check it out on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and Google (google by RSS feed). Click or search one of the listed platforms.
Have an idea for the Puma Pawd? -Big or small - click here to let us know! -And thanks again to those that sent some ideas! Send more!
LCPS Community Listening Sessions
Dr. Smith will discuss how we can best support students' academic and mental health needs, along with how LCPS can best communicate with and engage our community.
Below are the dates, times, and locations of the Community Listening Sessions:
Wednesday, May 17: 6 p.m., Heritage High School - Catoctin District
Monday, May 22: 6 p.m., Loudoun County High School - Leesburg District
The At-Large board member may attend any session.
All community members are invited to attend one or more of these events to make their voices heard and take part in this process. If you would like to attend, please indicate your interest at bit.ly/LCPSCLS.
Read more information on the listening sessions. As always, we appreciate your support and engagement as we plan for the future of LCPS.
Friday Spirit Week!
We're bringing back Friday Spirit Day! Each Friday, have your child wear their PNB Spiritwear or house colors!
School Colors - navy blue, maroon, white
House colors:
- Yukon - yellow
- Yosemite - red
- Patagonia - purple
- Sonoran - orange
- Everglades - green
- Andes - blue
*For many students, they might know their color ... we might not have locked up the specific house names yet.
PTA Updates!
- School Code: PES003
- Order Deadline: July 11, 2023
- Link: Order School Supply Kits | Sprout School Supplies
Garden Committee's Call To Action!
To Our Pinebrook Community,
We have a beautiful school courtyard that requires help. Our school has a wonderful Garden Committee that is trying to make this happen, but we need more hands and help get it growing. With a bit of care and community contributions, we're certain it will bloom to be a thriving, valuable resource for Pinebrook.
We need items to help make this garden a reality and provide hands-on learning opportunities for all grades. We are looking for gardening items and monetary donations to keep the momentum going; students and our committee have already started planting vegetables, and our seeds are sprouting!
If you have items you no longer use in your garden, we would love to
have them. If you are not the gardening type, we welcome any monetary
donations to purchase items such as tools and items the committee will use to build our garden space. We have volunteers eager to help get the garden courtyard into shape for students to use; we need the funding and supplies.
For monetary donations, you can:
1) Click the link School Cash Online or go to
https://lcps.schoolcashonline.com/Fee/Index (Click here for directions)
2) Make a check payable to Pinebrook Elementary School in the notes/memo, and write "Garden Committee."
3) Cash: Secure envelope with PNB Garden Committee on the front
For garden items to donate, here are some ideas:
● Any plastic pots that are not being used or that can be reused
● A bunch of little hand shovels
● Outdoor watering cans
● Gloves
● Rake, hand trowels, transplant trowel, hand rake, hoses, shovel, etc.
● Clipboard to be used outside
● Building tools (hammers, nails, etc.) for our garden beds.
● Any other garden elements (stepping stones, trellises, hoses, sprinklers, etc.)
Please email Michael Weinheimer if you want to donate garden items.
Send all monetary donations to the front office, or have your student give
envelopes to their teacher to take to the office.
Thank you in advance for your contributions. Every little gift will help sow
the seeds to make this a place we will be proud of for many seasons to come here at Pinebrook.
Sincerely,
Michael Weinheimer – PNB 3rd Grade Teacher
Karthik Gopal – Lead Parent Committee Volunteer
Common Sense Media
Have you ever wondered if a certain movie, show, video game or even book is appropriate for your child's age? Common Sense Media is a great resource that you can turn to for advice on these questions. You can look-up just about anything and find its recommended age level. They also have a multitude of resources on how to teach your child to be a responsible digital citizen. Students learn about digital citizenship in counseling, library and classroom lessons at school. We use Common Sense Media resources to help teach positive digital citizenship. In this day and age when technology is all around us, educating students and ourselves on all possible safety measures is a must. Check out the website, it's a great resource!
For Pre-School students in PNB and Hovatter Attendance Zone
Hovatter ES has space available in their Early Childhood Education program for the 2023-2024 school year. This classroom will educate children with disabilities, whom Hovatter currently serves, and typically developing children from the Hovatter Elementary and Pinebrook attendance area. We are searching for typically developing children who will be four years old by Sept. 30, 2023. Our program has limited openings; please review the criteria to see if your child meets our specific requirements.
The criteria include:
*Availability to attend 5 days a week from 07:30 - 11:30 AM
*The child must be 4 by Sept. 30, 2023
* The family must live in the Hovatter ES or Pinebrook ES attendance zone
*The parents will be required to arrange transportation to and from school
*The child may not have a current IEP
For more information about the inclusion program, please call or email AP at abigail.cebular@lcps.org or Barbara Veltri barbara.cavalcantiveltri@lcps.org.
To Purchase Tickets for the quilt please email denise.higgins@lcps.org. Thanks!
Parent Resources To Know
See the flyer below for SchoolCash Online! Field trip fees, scholastic orders, and other school payments will now use SchoolCash for transactions. Please sign up today!
School Information
Specialist Content Google Site
Remember, when you come to school...
- When you come to school, it's essential to be in the habit of three things:
- Make an appointment
- Have your ID;
- Have your phone, especially if you are tardy, picking up, or returning a child to school, as we use an electronic form to record the child's return. You will access the form via a QR code scanned by your phone.
Pinebrook Elementary - "Every Teacher for Every Child ... Everyday"
Website: https://www.lcps.org/pinebrook
Location: 25480 Mindful Court, Aldie, VA, USA
Phone: 703-957-4325
2023 All Rights Reserved – Loudoun County Public Schools