Friday, October 30, 2009

Halloween Dance

The Halloween Dance is tonight from 7-9 P.M.  Please remember this event is not a drop-off.  Parents need to be with students.  The following Blog post below is being reprinted below.

Friday, October 16, 2009


I am very excited and eager to attend my first Halloween Dance at Pine Glen School. This looks to be a lot of fun. In order to ensure this is a great and wonderful time for all, please help us make this event safe. There is one and only one entrance to the school during this event: the front doors. All other doors - particularly the Fire-Exit doors in the cafeteria - are not to be used. The play structure outside is designed to be used for recess. We do not have sufficient lighting for nighttime and staff to supervise at such activities. Likewise, the doors in the lobby leading out to the structure are not to be opened. Children are under parental supervision for evening and after school events. Students at these events are not allowed to run.
In planning your Halloween costume, please remember that no swords, light-sabers, knives, guns or other violent objects can be brought to school (even play parts of costumes).


Please help me remind parents at the Halloween Dance of the Fire/Safety guidelines. Parents/students who might impede upon the rest of the participant’s terrific and enjoyable evening will be asked to leave the event and be suspended from all future events over the course of the academic year.

PTO News

The SCRIP/GIFT CARD fundraiser has begun!  The forms were sent home on Tuesday in your child's backpack.  Please support our school while enjoying the convenience of shopping for gift cards without traveling from store to store!  The retailer list was condensed....so if you are looking for a particular gift card, go to www.glscrip.com and add the retailer to your order.  Any questions please feel free to contact Kathleen, at rmacmunn@msn.com.  Thank you for your support!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Campbell's Labels for Education Program

Collect labels, cut out UPC code and send them to Pine Glen.  Pine Glen PTO can redeem them for free items for our school! 

The Labels for Education Points can be found on such products as Campbell's condensed soups, Campbell's microwaveable soups, Spaghettio's,  V8 Juice, and Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers.  Please visit www.lablesforeducation.com for a full list of eligible products.  There is a Campbell Soup container in the lobby where students can drop their collected UPC codes.

If you have any questions about this program, please call or email Adrienne Mattson at 781-272-2423 or adrienne.mattson@verizon.net

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

NOTE FROM THE SCHOOL NURSE

There have been several positive cases of head lice. Please check your child for head lice as a precautionary measure. One of the most common signs of head lice is itching. Lice are transmitted through close contact with another infected person or through shared combs, hats, and other personal items. To learn more about Burlington Public Schools Head Lice Procedure, check out the webiste at www.burlington.mec.edu and click onto the Pupil Services link, then Health. Please call me at 781-270-1713, if you do find head lice on your child and/or if you have any questions. Also, please remind your child not to share Halloween costumes, especially masks and hats--prevention of head lice is the best approach to eliminating them.

Monday, October 26, 2009

What is guided reading, DRA and flexible grouping?

“Guided Reading: Using a teacher-chosen text as the basis for instruction, the teacher works with a small, temporary group of students to develop their processing strategies as they read a variety of increasingly challenging texts”(Guiding Readers and Writers: Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell).

Guided Reading is a researched based instructional approach. Students are flexibly or temporarily grouped. This is a critical difference from traditional grouping practices witnessed in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. In such programs, students might have been labeled or put in “red-birds” or the “blue-jay” group. These groups were often static. Once a student was in a low group they stayed there. These lower performing groups typically received lower-quality instruction and often were not presented with higher order thinking skill questions.

Flexible grouping creates a community within the classroom where all students are readers. Groups are formed and re-formed many times. These data created groups vary in purpose. The goal of guided reading is to provide students in groups with what they need, when they need it by monitoring growth and progress, as well as identifying the appropriate intervention to fulfill our promise for reading growth.

One of the tools utilized to assist teachers in assigning students to a guided reading group is the DRA and DRA2 (Developmental Reading Assessment). This tool allows teachers to identify student’s instructional level with an evaluation of the three components of reading: reading engagement, oral reading fluency, and comprehension. The DRA2 was administered in the 2008/2009 academic year in grades 3-5. It will continue to be administered this academic year. The noticeable difference between the DRA and the DRA2 is the DRA2’s emphasis upon written response to show a student’s comprehension of text. A written response necessitates more rigor and cognitive demands on higher order thinking skills to show comprehension. This assessment provides teachers the benefit of having an excellent measure of reading and not strictly decoding. In addition, this data can assist teachers in identifying which students could benefit from interventions on a targeted reading skill. Likewise, it can be used as a progress monitoring tool to ensure students are making enough progress that they will no longer need an intervention or assistance.

Parents can play a huge supporting role in reading development. A terrific idea is to have a set schedule on school nights for example, when teeth are brushed, children are in their rooms at a set time, and literacy occurs right before sleep. For example, with primary grade students it is great fun to have your child read one of his/her instructionally appropriate books to you and then after you read a book to your child. This is one of my favorite parts of the day that I do myself with my kindergarten daughter. For older students, it might be taking turns reading pages or chapters. Reading is not just about stating the words. Oral language is a big component of literacy. The rich, engaging and fun conversations you can have with children about what you read will be wonderful (Taken from my Blog post Literacy and Home).

Another idea is to put sight words up throughout the home. Take flash cards and stick magnets behind them and post them on the refrigerator as an example. Practice the sight words as a memory game. Take a stick with a string attached to it and a magnet at the end of the string and then play magnet sight word fishing with sight words cards that have paper clips attached to them. A sight word list such as the Dolch Sight Word List or Fry Sight Word List can quickly be found in with a Google search on the computer.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Lunch Menu

The school lunch menu is available online at the Burlington Public Schools Web Page.

The link below will bring you directly to the web page.

http://www.burlington.mec.edu/finance/lunch.html

NOTE FROM FOX HILL

Thursday, November 5th – 6:00-9:00 pm – Fox Hill Shopping Extravaganza – Come get some of your holiday shopping done and find many unique gifts that you won’t find at the mall (and won’t have to fight the mall parking lot, either). Great chance to get out browse, find some fabulous gifts and enjoy some fun company. Vendors include personalized decorations, jewelry, Burlington apparel, photography, gift baskets, skin care & make-up, pet & children’s accessories, doll clothes, purses, candles & accessories, sport memorabilia, athletic apparel, hair accessories and much, much more. Take your chance at a raffle for some fantastic prizes. Admission is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be available. Fox Hill School is located at 1 Fox Hill Road in Burlington. For more information, contact Julie Quinn at quinns@rcn.com.

Picture Day on Wednesday

School pictures will be taken on October 28th.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Note From the PTO

Want to support the school without spending any additional money that you would not have already spent? Look in your child's backpack next week to see how this can be done! Watch for the Pine Glen PTO Scrip Program (Gift Cards) for full details! Any questions---we will have a booth/information at the Halloween Party! Thanks for your support!

NOTE FROM THE SCHOOL NURSE

Reminder to Parents of Grade 4 Students--All 4th grade students are required by State law to have an updated physical. Please send a copy of your child's most recent physical to the health office. If you need another health form, please contact me at 781-270-1713. Many thanks to those parents who have already submitted their child's updated physical.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Note from PTO: Pine Glen Halloween Dance

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We are looking for volunteers to help with the annual Pine Glen Halloween Dance scheduled for Friday, October 30th, 7 - 9 p.m.

It’s a lot of fun!!!

If you can spare 1 hour (or even a ½ hour) to volunteer, please contact Nancy Keddy or Maria Woods.

We are looking for volunteers to help set up and decorate that afternoon and we need help that evening to monitor the haunted house, to run the refreshment and ticket tables, and to assist with the breakdown and clean up.

All volunteers must have a current CORI form on file. If you filled one out last year or the year before you’re all set. If not, you must go to the Superintendent’s Office at the High School with a photo ID and complete the form. It can take up to 10 business days to process. It really takes only five minutes to do so.

Thank you.

If you have any questions, please call or email:

Nancy Keddy 781-273-2890 – nsk@nskinc.com or

Maria Woods 781-270-4584 – woodscounty@rcn.com

Many, Many Thanks!

Pictures From The Burlington “Up in the Air” Science Center Program




Friday, October 16, 2009

Lunch Menu

MENU----------WEEK OF October 19, 2009 Full Lunch $2.50 Milk $.50


MONDAY--------Chicken Teriyaki Dippers, mashed potatoes, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

TUESDAY--------Nacho Grande, Rice, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

WEDNESDAY – Meatball Sub, French Fries, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

THURSDAY------Pasta w/butter or meat sauce, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

FRIDAY-----------Pizza, Veggie Dippers, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

AVAILABLE DAILY—Pizza, Bagels, Peanut Butter & Jelly/Fluff, Cereal & Yogurt, Assortment of Snacks & Ice Cream

FANTASTIC PUMPKIN FAIR

Friday night, October 16, 2009. 6-9 pm at Fox Hill School. Come join in the fun of our annual fall tradition. Great games, fall crafts, fabulous prizes and a few good scares. The ever popular Haunted Hallway will be sure to fright, along with many old favorites: Moon Bounce, Cake Walk, Pumpkin Painting, Duck Pond, Pizza, Popcorn, Cotton Candy, Raffles plus lots more. New games and activities this year include Fishing, Soccer, Token Toss, Haunted Hayride, Putt-Putt Golfing and more. Admission is free, tickets for each activity/game can be purchased at the door. For additional information, contact Julie Quinn at 781-229-2851 or quinns@rcn.com.

NOTE FROM BHS

Craft Fair, Sponsored by Athletic Booster Club on Saturday October 17, 2009, 10 – 3 at Burlington High school.

NOTE FROM THE FOOD PANTRY

A Food Drive in Memory of Whitey Graham (to benefit the Burlington Food Pantry) will take place at the Presbyterian Church, 335 Cambridge Street, on Saturday, October 17. Please bring donations between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. No expired items, please! Jointly sponsored by Masons of Simonds Lodge and the Presbyterian Church.

Halloween Dance

The Halloween Dance is Friday October 30th from 7:00-9:00 P.M. 

Principal Notes

It has been an amazing fall. I would like to again just thank all members of the Pine Glen Community (parents, the P.T.O., teachers, fire and police officials) for their continued support. We have put into practice an unbelievable amount of academic researched based practice in a short amount of time. Please pass along and share a thank-you to the teachers at Pine Glen for the hard work they have and will continue to provide. We are the envy of many communities given the fact that we have up and operating a common schedule that has daily built in common planning time for teachers. In addition, we have created a culture through new practices (i.e. drop-off, pick-up, and absentee policy) that holds instructional time has crucial and not to be interrupted. Furthermore, we have a set intervention time with intervention practices and staff to provide them up and going. Our goal is a noble one: to ensure the ALL students are making gains.

Literacy and Home

One of our Pine Glen community’s big focuses this year is literacy. Parents can be active team members in helping us with our literacy focus. One of leading causes of difficulty with reading, obesity, lack of attention, and sickness is related to not getting enough sleep. Please ensure your children are receiving an appropriate amount of sleep. A terrific idea is to have a set schedule on school nights for example, when teeth are brushed, children are in their rooms at a set time, and literacy occurs right before sleep. For example, with primary grade students it is great fun to have your child read one of his/her instructionally appropriate books to you and then after you read a book to your child. This is one of my favorite parts of the day that I do myself with my kindergarten daughter. For older students, it might be taking turns reading pages or chapters. Reading is not just about stating the words. Oral language is a big component of literacy. The rich, engaging and fun conversations you can have with children about what you read will be wonderful. If you think about how much time students spend at sports or after school activities during the week, it is interesting to compare this to how much time they spend on literacy during the week. To use another sports analogy, Tom Brady did not simply become a great quarterback by simply going to games and practices; he put in additional time above and beyond. This holds true for literacy as well.

The Halloween Dance

I am very excited and eager to attend my first Halloween Dance at Pine Glen School. This looks to be a lot of fun. In order to ensure this is a great and wonderful time for all, please help us make this event safe. There is one and only one entrance to the school during this event: the front doors. All other doors - particularly the Fire-Exit doors in the cafeteria - are not to be used. The play structure outside is designed to be used for recess. We do not have sufficient lighting for nighttime and staff to supervise at such activities. Likewise, the doors in the lobby leading out to the structure are not to be opened. Children are under parental supervision for evening and after school events. Students at these events are not allowed to run.

In planning your Halloween costume, please remember that no swords, light-sabers, knives, guns or other violent objects can be brought to school (even play parts of costumes).

Please help me remind parents at the Halloween Dance of the Fire/Safety guidelines. Parents/students who might impede upon the rest of the participant’s terrific and enjoyable evening will be asked to leave the event and be suspended from all future events over the course of the academic year.

Safety: Security at Drop-Off and CORI’s

The large majority of parents are doing a terrific job in ensuring a safe procedural way for their children to begin the school day.

Please remember not to drop-off students prior to 8:20. Teachers are not on duty. It is not safe to leave your children unsupervised in a parking lot.

At 8:35 the school day has begun. Teachers/staff on duty need to leave their duty assignments and report to their respective teaching spaces. If a car arrives at 8:35 or later, simply park your car and walk your children to the office to sign in. Please do not walk your children to class, this results in a distraction to classroom instruction.

No adult can be in the building with students if they have not had a CORI check. If you are unsure about your CORI being up to date, please call Mrs. Gosselin in the office to confirm. A CORI can be completed at Central Office located at Burlington High School.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Event Notice

Does your son or daughter send text messages?

Does your son or daughter have a Facebook page?
I’ll bet the answer TO ONE OR THE OTHER is YES!
If it is YES, then you’ll be interested in this event!

What’s really going on when your child is online? Become better informed about online issues impacting youth, such as social networking sites, predators, sexting and cyber bullying. Effective prevention and intervention strategies for parents will be outlined and discussed. Co-sponsored with the Burlington Public Schools, presented by Margie Daniels, M.Ed., L.I.C.S.W., Executive Director of Partnership for Youth, in conjunction with the Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone’s Office.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 7:00 PM in the Burlington High School Auditorium.

For more information please contact Dennis McCarron at dandmmccarron@hotmail.com

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Note from the PTO

Note From the PTO


Thank you to all that attended the Ice Cream Social!!  What a wonderfully attended event!!  Fun was surely had by all!!

Thank you also to the the many volunteers!! The Ice Cream Social would not have been possible without you.

The winners of the PTO Raffle are as follows:
VIP Seating to a Pine Glen Event

Virginia Churchill Sahid

Melissa Ganley

$25 Shaws Gift Card

Karla Arrington

PTO News

We are excited to begin a Scrip Fundraising Program (Gift Cards)!  Order gift cards from local & national retailers and we automatically get a percentage.  Francis Wyman have had great success with this program and we hope we can do the same!!  Look for details in your child's backpack on October 30th!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Note from PTO

............COMING SOON...............


PINE GLEN PTO ARE EXCITED TO INTRODUCE THE SCRIP FUNDRAISING PROGRAM!!!!

LOOK FOR FULL DETAILS IN YOUR CHILD'S BACKPACK ON OCTOBER 23rd.

WHAT IS SCRIP--- simply put --- GIFT CARDS from retailers that we all know!! (They are the same gift cards you buy at the store)! Some of the retailers included in the program are: STOP & SHOP, SHAW'S, SHELL, OUTBACK, DUNKIN DONUTS, HOME DEPOT, PANERA BREAD, CVS PHARMACY, CHEESECAKE FACTORY, BARNES & NOBLE, I TUNES, OLD NAVY, just to name a few!!!!

PINE GLEN PTO purchases the Gift Cards from Great Lakes Scrip Center at FACE VALUE and they give us a certain percentage of all Gift Card Sales!!!!!

NO SELLING....

NO ADDITIONAL SPENDING...

JUST PLAN AHEAD FOR UPCOMING HOLIDAYS, BIRTHDAYS, THANK YOU's or MISCELLANEOUS GIFTS.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Note From the PTO

Ice Cream Social

Sponsored by the Pine Glen PTO

Join us for the annual ice cream social!! This is a free event open to all Pine Glen families. Come and make your own ice cream sundae! The social is a great way to meet new friends and spend time with old friends. We hope to see you there!

If you haven't signed up to become a member of the Pine Glen PTO please take a minute to stop by the PTO table.

Once you sign up your name will be entered into a drawing for a Gift Card or VIP Seating at a Pine Glen School Event!

Winners will be drawn during the Ice Cream Social!!

WHEN: Thursday, October 8
TIME: 6 PM – 8 PM
PLACE: Pine Glen Cafeteria

Sunday, October 4, 2009

NOTE FROM BHS MUSIC

The Burlington High School Music Boosters are selling tickets to see The Lion King on February 17, 2010 at 7 pm (Feb vacation week) through Broadway Across America and its Event Usher service. Ticket purchases include a built-in donation to the group! Go to: http://www.eventusher.broadwayacrossamerica.com/. (enter “BURLING2009” at the login prompt). For info contact Boosters Pres. Donna Gregorio: burlgregs@yahoo.com.

NOTE FROM BURLINGTON UNION

Halloween is right around the corner, and the Burlington Union wants to read your spookiest story. Burlington pupils in grades one through six is eligible to write a spine-tingly tale to share with Burlington Union readers. Entry form, rules, and information are available on the Burlington Union's web site at www.wickedlocal.com/burlington. All entries must be received no later than Wednesday, October 22. Simon Malls has once again graciously donated prizes for the top three stories and all stories will be printed in a special section of the October 29 edition of the Burlington Union and will also be posted on the web site at www.wickedlocal.com/burlington.

Lunch MENU---WEEK OF October 5, 2009 Full Lunch $2.50 Milk $.50

MONDAY---------Chicken Wrap, Potato Puffs, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

TUESDAY--------Taco’s, Corn, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

WEDNESDAY – Turkey on Croissant, French Fries, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

THURSDAY------Pasta w/butter, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

FRIDAY-----------Pizza, Salad, Fresh Fruit, Juice/Milk

AVAILABLE DAILY—Pizza, Bagels, Peanut Butter & Jelly/Fluff, Cereal & Yogurt, Assortment of Snacks & Ice Cream

Friday, October 2, 2009

Note From the Principal: Schedule Change

As a result of contractual obligations with the cafeteria staff in the district, changes will be made to the master schedule that will begin on Monday (October 5, 2009). Second and third grade had been going to lunch and then recess (12:45-1:35). The new schedule will have students in those grade levels go to lunch first and then recess. A second change will call for first grade to now go to recess/lunch with kindergarten from (11:30-12:20). One second grade class that went to lunch with the first grade once a week will now go with the kindergarten and first grade on that day. I want to thank the cafeteria workers at Pine Glen for their flexibility to date.
John Lyons
Principal

Note from the Superintendent: Schedule Change

Due to contractual obligations at the district level there will need to be change to the recess and lunch schedule at Pine Glen. I understand the research that initiated this change and benefits for students to have recess before lunch. It is too late for the district to have detailed contract changes without disrupting the progress that we have made in the schedule. We can certainly meet with the cafeteria workers this coming spring to discuss additional changes to the lunch schedule for next year. I apologize for requiring the change back to the lunch and recess schedule. The fault is mine. The cafeteria workers have been very accommodating.
Dr. Eric Conti
Superintendent