The Puma Paw

Hello Puma Families,

I hope you are well.

Sometimes kids say and do things that aren't allowed, and it's our job to teach and guide them to interact with peers better. I am sharing openly as I reflect upon the last couple of weeks. Lately, we've seen an uptick in behavior instances centered around some big topics. To clarify, I'm referencing a small number of examples out of the over 960 students - so the uptick is still a relative one. However, some topics involved inappropriate language - racially charged or threatening overall. Other examples fall along the lines of inappropriate touching. In these examples, there is a level of harm that can occur. That level ranges within the confines of the student's experiences or parent's experiences with these matters at some point in their life. The school's effort is to provide a safe place for our students and educate them about the harm these topics can create to the student, students around them, and their families.

I ask you to help protect all of the students and families in our school by talking about these subjects with your child(ren). Have a conversation about derogatory terms and denounce their use. Talk about threatening words and give good examples of expressing frustration in a way that allows constructive venting and coping. Also, please share the importance of keeping with high-fives, fist-bumping, and the like rather than an inappropriate touch of any sort.

Continual open conversations as a family is an essential habit to develop as we carry through the challenges of shaping people in a complex society as a community. In short - talk with your children about these topics and reinforce the positive messages they hear from us at school. Let's change how people interact in the future with our conversations with the students today.

• Mar. 13 - 17 is an A Week
• Mar. 13 - No School for Students - Teacher Professional Development Day
• Mar. 14 - Spring bus evacuation drill
• Mar. 16 - Movable Monday and PNB Gr. 5 students visit Mercer - only those scheduled to attend Mercer
• Mar. 16 - PEP Session 4 for EL parents at 5:30 pm
• Mar. 20 - 24 - Pinebrook Career Spirit Week
• Monday - Wear your favorite college gear
• Tuesday - Wear neon colors/sunglasses
• Wednesday - Wear job interview attire
• Thursday - Dress as your future job
• Friday - Pinebrook or House gear!
• Mar. 21 - World Down Syndrome Day - wear fun socks!
• Mar. 24 - End of the third marking period
• Mar. 29 - Family Arts Night! 6:00 pm - See Flyer!
• Apr. 14 - PTA World Bazaar 6:00 pm - See Flyer!
• Pre-Registration for the 2023-2024 school year is open - new students and rising Kindergarten! Click here or contact PNB Registrar Leigh Jacob. Hovatter families contact Bushra Ahmad.

Yukon House selects Owen as the 5th Grade House Star because of his outstanding leadership and character. Owen is kind and considerate with his classmates and peers. He is always Respectful, Responsible, and Ready. Way to go Owen!

Congratulations to Mehak N. from Mrs. Flynn's class, who won the Pinebrook 5th Grade spelling Bee in December and earned Third Place in the LCPS District Regional spelling competition! We are so proud of Mehak and all the work she did to prepare! She represented our school in such a fantastic way - we're proud of you, Mahak! Way to go!

Click flyer to register!

This week, third-grade students learned from a parent volunteer, Mrs. Chen, how to write numbers in Chinese as part of the social studies unit about China. Additionally, this week they planned cities to support understanding of how to use area and perimeter. They finished the week with students from Lightridge High School helping with class activities.

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.

World Bazaar: The Pinebrook Elementary PTA is proud to present its first World Bazaar event on Friday, April 14th!

We need YOUR help in order to make this a success. There are many opportunities for which both students and parents can sign up - showcase your culture, sell trinkets or food, or display information about your ancestral country! We encourage you to sign up by clicking here!

Questions? Email: infopnbpta@gmail.com

The PTA Nominating Committee is currently seeking nominations for the 2023-24 Executive Board. Please click here for more information.

We want to inform you about some security enhancements that are coming to Pinebrook Elementary School. LCPS Safety & Security has equipped all schools with multiple layers of protection, some visible and some not, to ensure a safe and secure environment for everyone. We are preparing to have construction done on our main entrance to increase the security measures for our students and staff. Pinebrook will be undergoing improvements to enhance our technology that controls access, monitors visitors while maintaining fire and safety measures at the main entrance.

Soon, LCPS Facilities Services will be installing a security vestibule, which is a second entrance beyond our traditional entrance. It is LCPS Safety & Security's intent, and ours as well, to ensure this construction causes minimal disruption to our daily schedule and instruction. The tentative start date is Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, and the project will take about two months.

During this time, our school's "main entrance" will be closed. The temporary main entrance will be at the music atrium at the A2 doors. We will temporarily move the office to the teacher's lounge just inside the atrium doors. Our staff will work with students at arrival and dismissal to use the A2 doors for entering and exiting the school. Once construction is complete, we will return to typical operation using the main entrance (A1 doors). The day-to-day operation of the school will remain the same during construction. Students and visitors will come and go from the A2 doors and will still be greeted and checked in by our security officer, Tito Harris, who will maintain a post at that entrance during construction on the main entrance.

LCPS Safety & Security is constantly re-assessing our security plan and incorporating national best practices and modernized technology to strengthen our capabilities. Nothing is more critical to Loudoun County Public Schools than its students and staff's safety and welfare.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Be well,

Paul

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!

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/

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.

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!

• When you come to school, it's essential to be in the habit of three things:

1. Make an appointment
2. Have your ID;
3. 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.

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