Principal for the Day

Dear Pine Glen Community,

I am Jonathan Wolinski and I am Principal for the Day. Below are some pictures from when I did walk throughs of the classrooms.  During the day, I made sure teachers had what they needed and the students were learning.  Some day when I grow up I would like to be a principal or a superintendent.

Jonathan Wolinski
Principal of the Day
Pine Glen School

Message from the PTO

Hi Members,

The annual Pine Glen Carnival sponsored by the PTO was a great success again thanks to the efforts and teamwork of many. We would like to thank all members of the Pine Glen Community who helped to make the Carnival a major attraction in the town of Burlington. The event took place with the generous assistance and donations of many parents, high school/former students, teachers, staff, and administration.

Countless thanks go to Carnival Co-Chairs Lynn Barnstein, Michelle Grossman, Deb Murphy, and Maria Woods who took care of the many details that needed attention to run a grand-scale event. We sincerely appreciate all their efforts. Many thanks go to Kimberly Daly and Cathy Carney for organizing the Cake Walk and to Principal John Lyons and secretary Julie Gosselin for their support of the Carnival Committee.

Over fifty local businesses participated by donating gift cards/certificates, merchandise, and services to the raffle. Please thank them when using their business. Thank you to the Raffle Committee, including Monica Brown, Denise Desmond, Jill Giles, Lillian Mahoney, Jill McCabe, and Maria Woods for their time-consuming legwork and follow-up to solicit and collect raffle items. A sincere thanks to everyone who donated items to the raffle, especially the room parents and teachers who organized classroom gifts.

We would also like to thank RE/MAX for advertising and planning to give hot-air balloon rides. Unfortunately, weather conditions made it unfavorable to use the balloon. We will try to get the balloon ride again next year. Thanks also to Carol McDonald Macri for making all the arrangements for the ride. The advertising efforts of Carol and Catherine Gillespie helped to bring many visitors to the Carnival. Please see http://pineglencarnival.blogspot.com for updates, postings, and photos.

We also would like to thank retired Pine Glen Principal, Jane Dwyer, for her famous face painting skills and the D.A.R.E. program and Officer Sheppard for the police car ride. Many thanks to the Burlington Fire Department for displaying a firetruck at the front of the school for up-close inspection, Al Fay for his antique firetruck ride, and Joanne Ryan for donating the helium for the balloons.

Again, we would like to thank everyone who worked on and attended the Carnival. Proceeds will be used to enrich the educational experience of all Pine Glen students. We look forward to holding another Carnival next year and continue this fine Pine Glen tradition that has taken place for decades.

Please note that the next and final PTO meeting of the school year will be held on Thursday, May 17th at 7 p.m. We will hold a PTO Board election for next year's officers. If you are interested in a Board position, please complete and submit a nomination form that is available in the school office by April 30th.

Thank you,

The Pine Glen PTO Board

School Calendar 2012/2013

12-4.13 Students' Calendar Final Version

PTO and Carnival

50 Parent Volunteers Needed!!!!

Thanks to those who have responded to the previous email. However, we still need Parent Volunteers for the Pine Glen Carnival this Saturday, March 31^st!

We need Parent Volunteers for Saturday in the afternoon! We also need strong, parent volunteers to help hold the tow ropes for the hot air balloon.

Please take the time to volunteer for this event so that we do not have to cancel these amusements!

This is an extraordinary event that is fun for families and is one of our biggest and most successful fundraisers. The money raised will directly benefit all Pine Glen School students. We desperately need your help.

Please contact Lynn Barnstein at lbarnstein@yahoo.com, 781.229.0360 or Michelle Grossman at healingoasis444@gmail.com, 781.249.2753, to let us know your availability for March 31^st.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Pine Glen LTC Supports World Literacy

There are 793 million people in the world who cannot read. So last week, the students of Pine Glen and the Library & Technology Center supported world literacy in a couple of different ways.

First, we celebrated World Read Aloud Day, sponsored by LitWorld.org, on March 7 by connecting with students in Falmouth, ME and Solon, IA and reading aloud to each other through Skype. For example, Mrs. Potter's kindergarten class in Falmouth, ME shared a poem with us while Ms. Hayes' 4th grade class read Tikki Tikki Tembo. It was a wonderful day of reading, sharing, connecting, and, most importantly, showing the world’s children that we "support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world."

Second, we spent the entire week donating books to children in India who do not have books in their lives. How did we do that without ever leaving the walls of Pine Glen? We visited the We Give Books web site where if you read a book, they give a book. I signed up for a free account then chose a campaign to support with our reading--I choose Support My School India. The We Give Books web site has many wonderful fiction and nonfiction ebooks to read online. I chose a few I knew the students would love and read them aloud throughout the week as the book was projected onto my SmartBoard. When we finished a story, I clicked the Give a Book button and voila . . . We donated a book!

The Pine Glen students loved the stories and we all loved that the simple and joyful act of reading allowed us to support world literacy in a meaningful way.

Crossposted from the Pine Glen LTC.

Kindergarten

One of the kindergarten classrooms at Pine Glen posted on their Blog a summary of an art unit they completed. The link below will take the viewer to their Blog.

Here is the link.

http://pineglenroom101.blogspot.com/

PTO

Hi Members, Pine Glen 5th graders recently celebrated their D.A.R.E. Graduation. We would like to thank Officers Sheppard and Cross for all their work. They helped the children to obtain important knowledge and skills in the short-term as well as strategies they can use all their lives. Special guest speakers included School Superintendent Dr. Eric Conti, State Representative Charlie Murphy, Selectman Ralph Patuto, and Burlington Police Chief Michael Kent. After the ceremony, the children and their guests enjoyed refreshments served by Pine Glen PTO members. We would like to thank Joanna DeFrancesco who chaired and organized this event as well as PTO volunteers including: Catherine Gillespie, Christine Nicoloro, Glenda Little, Laurie Laprise, Ashley DeFrancesco and Gabby Civetta. This was an extra effort for volunteers for they were not parents of 5th graders planning to attend the event with their child. We appreciate their time and effort to join us at the school to help out. Please note that the D.A.R.E. dance/pizza party at the Fox Hill School for all Burlington fifth graders has been rescheduled to Friday, March 30th from 6-8 p.m. due to MCAS testing. Thank you, Maria Woods and the Pine Glen PTO Board

PTO Information

100 Volunteers Needed!!! Volunteers are desperately needed for the upcoming Pine Glen Carnival on Saturday, March 31st! We need at least 100 volunteers to run this event - both students & adults. Please take the time to volunteer for your school, even if it's only for an hour. This is an extraordinary event that is fun for families and is one of our biggest and most successful fundraisers. The money raised will directly benefit all Pine Glen School students. We desperately need your help. Please contact Lynn Barnstein at lbarnstein@yahoo.com,781.229.0360 or Michelle Grossman athealingoasis444@gmail.com, 781.249.2753, to let us know your availability for March 30th (set-up 2:45) or March 31st (8:45-10:45)(10:30-12:30)(12:15-2)(1:45 clean up). Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

App Recommendation

I am regularly asked for app recommendations for the iPad. The picture above is a group of first graders at center during balance literacy time. The students are using an app called Don't Let the Pigeon Run This App! by Mo Willems. Mo Willems is one on my favorite children's authors. Willems' books Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too, and Knuffle Bunny Free are some of my daughters all time favorite read-a-loud books at bedtime. I find Willems to have an uncanny sense of humor.

I have seen and talked to an ever increasing amount of children's authors who have told me they will likely be releasing their books in the near future in an app format. The authors have told me the reasoning behind this is that not only will students have access to the book on the app but also engaging, higher order thinking comprehension activities. One author told me she is excited to put video in her app showing how she got her ideas and the process steps she followed to publish. In some ways this reminds me of when we saw movies switch from a tape on a VCR to a BluRay Disc or digital download on a variety of playable devices. Don't Let the Pigeon Run This App! is one of may favorite apps and is a preview into the future of children's literature.

This Morning at Pine Glen School

The following pictures are some of the many things I witnessed this morning on my daily walk throughs of classrooms. The first two pictures are of a kindergarten teacher and a kindergarten instructional assistant with guided reading groups. The next picture is of our reading specialist with a fourth grade guided reading group. The other pictures show RTI tutors, instructional assistants or teachers working with primary age students in small groups. One of the reasons we have seen so much progress in our students reading growth is the support we have from instructional assistants, RTI tutors, special needs teachers and reading specialists. These talented instructors are critical to providing interventions and guided reading to all students at their instructional levels.

Lost and Found

The picture below shows the Lost and Found. It is currently located in the school lobby. On March 23, 2012 all items that are not claimed will be donated to good will. Please remind your children to check the Lost and Found if they are missing any items.

Burlington All-Towne Band Concert

I was very proud last night of our fourth and fifth graders. They all did a great job at the Burlington All-Towne Band Concert. I always enjoy this concert. It is so much fun to see the progression of skills from fourth grade to high school.

Thank You to the PTO

The picture below is of some of the books donated by the PTO. These titles will be used during guided reading. Staff and students are very appreciative to the PTO for their continued work on behalf of student literacy and enrichment at Pine Glen School.

English Language Arts

Today I viewed some second graders learning about phonics. Teachers from kindergarten through third grade utilize the Fundations program for phonics instruction. In the first picture you can see second graders using the dry-erase tablets and examining the consonant/vowel magnets on the white board at the front of the room. In the next two pictures you can see a second grader using a Gel Word Board and Magic Pen. The student can write the word and then trace it again to have the word leave the board. These student manipulatives and interactive learning tools not only provide fun instruction they help students to retain the information in their long term memories.

In the final picture you can see a fourth grader using an interactive-white board to practice editing skills while discussing them with her classmates and teacher.