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Pine Bend Press Pine Bend Elementary School ~ 9875 Inver Grove Trail, IGH, MN 55076 ~ 651.306.7701

Principal’s Notes Maybe you have noticed it at your church or at work but it is definitely true at schools everywhere: It seems like the same people volunteer to do the big jobs every year. We have that situation here at Pine Bend. There is a group of people who lead up the committees every year; make the special events happen and beg others to join the fun. The good news is that Pine Bend has more of those people than other schools but the bad news is that it is not enough and they tend to move on when their children move on to middle school. This is a round about way of asking more of you to help make Pine Bend a wonderful school by being a part of our big events. We have two major events coming up: SALT Day and Carnival. SALT Day is Students and Adults Learning Together. It is a day that ALL Pine Bend students look forward to and a huge event to run smoothly. As with all big events, the more volunteers we have, the better the event is for our kids. This is a great event to get your volunteer feet wet because everything you are asked to do is very clear and just requires you to be at the school on the afternoon of Friday, February 8. The Carnival is a huge event too. It will take place the evening of Friday, April 19. No one should ever escape elementary school without volunteering for Carnival. You do not have to work all night, just one session. You can have your child help you with the game or activity you work and then the rest of the time is for family fun. Working the games is great fun and the kids get to relieve some of that testing stress they have been experiencing all year. To volunteer for these events or other activities you need to be a part of our volunteer corps. If you have not completed a volunteer corps application, you can find it online at the district website under support. If you are on that database, you will be asked to volunteer for these events or you can contact Brenda Myran, our PTSA volunteer coordinator at [email protected] . To all of you who volunteer regularly or who volunteer for one of these events -‐ the students and staff at Pine Bend thank you. You are what make our school extra special!

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 3

Save the Date!

Pine Bend University Begins Tuesday, January 8th

(No PBU week of Jan. 14-‐18)

PTSA Meeting Tuesday, January 8th

6:30 pm

Conferences Wednesday, January 16th 5-‐9 pm

Thursday, January 17th 10 am – 8:30 pm

NO SCHOOL

January 17th & 18th

NO SCHOOL Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 21st

THE PINE BEND PRESS JANUARY 2013

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PTSA News Hello Parents, Teachers and Students of Pine Bend Elementary!

Students and Adults Learning Together (SALT) Day is nearly upon us! The committee has been working hard to put together another excellent set of courses for students to choose from. Watch your Wednesday folders for more details for this exciting event that will be occurring on February 8th! We are also beginning to get started on planning our largest event of the year – the Spring Carnival/Silent Auction. This year’s Carnival will take place on Friday, April 19th. Mark your calendars for this fun event – you won’t want to miss it! We are always in need of volunteers to help out with both of these committees. If you are interested in participating, please email me at [email protected] and I will make sure we have you on our list. Our next PTSA meeting is Tuesday, February 12th at 6:30 pm in the Pine Bend IMC (Library). As always, free childcare will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there!

Yearbook Update You can still order!

2012-‐2013 Yearbooks

Go to: ybpay.lifetouch.com

Enter Code: 1228813

Questions? – email Julie at [email protected]

PTSA Meeting Schedule All PTSA Meetings are held at 6:30 pm in the IMC

and childcare is provided!

February 12th

March 12th

April 9th

May 14th

Pine Bend PTSA Silent Auction 2013

DONATIONS WILL BE NEEDED for Pine Bend’s ANNUAL Silent Auction in April.

Go to www.biddingforgood.com/pinebendptsa Sign-‐in with your Username and Password from last year or select “Register to Bid” to create an account. If you have questions, please email Lisa Lindquist at [email protected] or call me at 651-‐341-‐6180.

We are also looking for committee members to solicit donations, help at the auction,

and organize the auction booklet. Contact Lisa Lindquist

if you are interested at [email protected] or call at 651-‐341-‐6180.


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Pine Bend Fundraiser Eat at Dairy Queen

Thursday, January 24 5:00 - 8:00 pm

6655 Cahill Ave, Inver Grove Heights (651) 455-0339

10% of sales of directly to Pine Bend Elementary

Proceeds from this fundraiser will go toward the playground fund.


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SALT day is quickly approaching. We hope you were all able to get your forms in. We are diligently working on getting everyone assigned to their classes and supplies purchased. We are always looking for help so please if you haven’t volunteered to help with this fun and exciting day, please do so. You can contact the office or one of the SALT committee members and we will make sure you are given a job. Thank you, SALT COMMITTEE Lori Sticha Tracy Follman Sue Borchardt Julie Feldman Stephanie Schmid

Earning $$ For Pine Bend! Thank You to everyone who submitted BoxTops during the summer and fall. We just received our first check from BoxTops for $1,780!!! Great Job!! Don't leave your BoxTops in a drawer at home! They expire and we want to turn them into cash! Our next BoxTops deadline is

March 1st. ****You can earn more BoxTops automatically by starting your online shopping

We need more Loaves4Learning upc's to cash in! Cut them from Country Hearth or Village Hearth bread bags and bring them to school!

The KEMPS program has been discontinued.

Do NOT send in any milk caps or UPC labels for KEMPS.

Thank you!


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Classroom Reports Kindergarten Winter Wonderland-‐the children love it and most adults not so much. We in Kindergarten wish everyone a Happy New Year and look forward to lots of exciting learning happening in our rooms. We spend the whole month of January in the cold. Our learning focuses on snowmen, snow, winter clothes, winter birds, winter fun and activities. We finish our month learning about Arctic animals. Our classrooms have lots of different learning centers that work on our reading, writing, math, science, art, and fine motor skills. Come to Pine Bend and see some of our learning hanging in the hall! One of our favorite Arctic learning activities is to plunge into ice cold water-‐one bare hand and one hand surrounded by blubber (Crisco shortening). It is a fun activity to try at home that shows us why those animals can swim in that icy cold ocean water.

The Kindergartners are excited to begin their Guided Reading groups this month. We are in the process of doing running records and assessing the children's individual reading levels. The children have been learning how to work independently in Daily 5 center activities so that once we begin our Guided Reading groups they will understand the part of our plan that says "Do NOT interrupt the teacher!" The children will be bringing little reading books home. Please find a special place to keep these books-‐a shoe box works great-‐and make the time to listen to them read to you each night.

Can you be caught being Spartan: Safe, Respectful, and Responsible? All staff at Pine Bend will be watching for children that are making an effort to be a Team Maker. Staff will be giving out special little tickets to those children caught being a Team Maker. The children will then put their tickets into one of three buckets which will have one ticket drawn from it each month at our PBIS assembly. January's rewards for being a Team Maker are: use of Ms. Moore's chair for one day; free Library time with a friend; and a $2 coupon for the school store. Are we being a Team Maker just so we can get a ticket? NO! We are being a Team Maker because that is our job and it makes Pine Bend a safe and happy place. Here's to a GREAT 2013 for everyone! Mrs. Paulson, Mrs. Leseman, Mrs. Weise, and Ms. Burmeister

First Grade What a whirl wind we are on. The first grade had an exciting speaker from the Minnesota Science Museum. He lead us to be scientists and discover information about dinosaurs. This was a lead into our trip to the science museum. If you are interested in coming with us you will need to have a background check. The cost will be $15. You can get the papers from the district web site. The children are working on reading harder books. Please continue to have your child read nightly at home. As we tell the children, if you want to become good at reading, you really need to practice reading, and talk about the story to more fully understand the story. We are learning about 10's and 1's in math. We are adding the numbers up. Continue to have your child do math at home by folding socks into pairs and count by 2's, or set the table with a knife, spoon, fork, plate, and glass and count by 5's. These are simple ways to help your child and yourself. We are continuing to work on writing sentences. We are still drilling them on where to put a capital, period, and spaces. Any extra support from the home front would be great. Thank you for the gift of teaching your child. We really do love teaching them. Thank you, The First Grade Team Mrs. Dramdahl-‐Maddio, Grade 1, Hillary Tabuso, Casey Gyan In math we are adding and subtracting facts. It helps us to learn these facts when we do circles and count them out and when we do Math Mountains. Soon we will know those facts and we won’t have to use circles and mountains. We are learning how to read words by learning our sounds and letter combinations really well. We are getting better and better at reading. Our favorite part of the day is Daily 5. That is why we are becoming such good readers. Then we have recess and lunch.


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Second Grade Mrs. Jurrens, Grade 2 by Ian Sumner, Alyssa Running (this article was written for the December PB Press but was inadvertently left out) We have been learning about the Sun. Did you know there are black spots on it? They are called sunspots. Also, we have learned that the Sun is about 52 times as hot as a pot of boiling water. Ouch! We do a lot of reading in second grade. We really like it when we read a book and then do a play about it. We learn the most about books and reading in our reading groups. Problem solving is an important part of our math class. We just learned about parallelograms. Some have slanted sides but if you continue the lines forever, they will never touch. That means the lines are parallel. Mrs. Jurrens, Grade 2 by Mira Smith and Brandon Rogers

We have started Math groups and switching classes so that we can get smarter in math. We have been learning how to do different equations and place value. We also do mad math minutes to help improve our speed in math facts. In reading we are still doing Daily 5. In Daily 5 we read, we write or we work on spelling words every day. We are getting really good at it. We practice stamina, which is where we try to read for a longer

period of time to get better at it. We are looking forward to getting better at reading and getting our homework done when it is sent home. When that happens we get a star on our sticker chart and when we get up to 10 stickers, we get a gumball. We are so excited about SALT Day. It is about a month away! Mrs. Kelly, Grade 2 by Joseph Stanton, Sydney Lencowski (leftover from December and augmented for January) We have been making snowmen out of large snowflakes. We get to make them look however we want with carrot noses, broomsticks, eyes, mouth and buttons. Look for them in the hallway. For our marble jar celebration we got to do a Goonie Bird celebration. Goonie dresses really funny so we got to do that too. We get marbles in the jar by doing a good job on our tests or behaving really well, or listening to directions and doing what we should. Recently we got to listen to music and do some artwork. We know what parallelograms and quadrilaterals are. A quadrilateral has to have 4 sides, that’s the quad part and lateral means a straight line. Also, in math we have been working on problem solving and other shapes. We are coloring stained glass windows with craypas for art and our room was full of grandparents for grandparents’ day. It was really fun even though only 2 people got a bingo. We are learning about onomatopoeia too. Those are special words like crash, splash, pop, moo, bang.


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Third Grade Mrs. Gagne, Grade 3 by Kayla Sweeney In math we have been learning about regrouping large numbers in subtraction. We have been doing now and then dressing in Social Studies. That is where we look at what people wore in the past and compare it to what we wear now. We also read Female First. Speaking of the past, we also did a report in reading on people who lived almost 100 years ago and what kinds of telephones and other inventions they used. In spelling we have learned about dipthongs with /oi/ /oy/ /ow/ /ou/. In health we have been keeping our bodies fit. For the New Year we made a project and on it had our 2013 goals. We also looked back at 2012 to see what we learned. In writing we are learning cursive letters and poems such as Haikus and rhythm and rhyme poems. We are also writing our power reports. News From Mrs. Kyllo’s Third Grade

Happy 2013 to you! We started off the New Year with a bang. Mrs. Kyllo had balloons and decorated our room so it was a festive welcome back. We all wrote New Year’s Resolutions and talked about our hopes and dreams for the year ahead. We made S'mores in class and soon we will write a sequence book on the steps we used to make them. Our room smelled yummy!

In reading we have been working on silent letters and descriptive paragraphs. First, we brainstormed our ideas using a web, then we added details, wrote our first draft, met with Mrs. Kyllo, and finally we did our final copy. After that we illustrated pictures of our writing. We wrote two stories: one about a special place and the other one about Minnesota winter. Mrs. Kyllo read a book to us called My Quiet Place. This book was full of special places and great illustrations. We are also working on main idea and details this week. Oh yeah, we wrote our pen pals in Woodbury too!

In math we finished learning about probability. We used words like certain, likely, unlikely, and impossible when describing the outcome of something. We also started multiplication. So far we know our multiples of 0,1,2,5, and 10. Mrs. Kyllo gave us each a set of flash cards that we are suppose to practice with each night. In health we are starting to learn more about healthy eating and the food guide pyramid. We will have to keep a journal for one week and record everything we eat and drink. Finally, we continue to practice writing in cursive. We were so excited to learn our letters, now we need practice writing and connecting them properly. Mrs. Kyllo thinks some of us have better cursive than our parents J Enjoy the New Year & may all your goals come true! Team 19


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Fourth Grade Mrs. Mahovlich, Grade 4, Emma Schwartz and Mary Wilkemeyer Innes Happy 2013 Pine Bend! Our class just started two-‐digit multiplication, problem solving, step groups and Thomas Sobaski taught us how to do LADIS. It is very fun! In December we made books about our family. It was very fun! On Friday, the day before winter break, our class had a lot of fun in our PJ’s. In the afternoon we had a winter party; we watched the movie Old Yeller. We now have a new book that Mrs. Mahovlich reads to us after lunch. We really enjoy that time and we are enjoying gymnastics in Phy. Ed. It is very fun!

Fifth Grade Mrs. Molda, Grade 5, by Olivia Schmidt and Jake Schaefer (December article inadvertently left out)

In reading our class learned how to determine importance and asking questions. We also learned about sound-‐heat transfer and The Declaration of Independence. One fun thing we got to do is pick a poem and share it. We also started small groups. Now in math we finished multiplication and we are starting division. We are also getting ready for the

MCA’s by doing an MCA review packet. In Social Studies we learned about Indians but now we’re learning about famous explorers. In science we’re doing something called an Ag Mag. It talks about agriculture in this science chapter. We met with our little buddies close to Thanksgiving. They read books to us then we watched a Thanksgiving movie while we all had a snack that each person brought in. Mrs. Molda, Grade 5, Nicole Estephan and Trent Peterson Our 5th grade class finally finished our lovely lanterns for conferences and they look fabulous. In reading we are learning about our big government and the three branches of government: Legislative, Judicial and Executive. In science we have finished our pendulums but we changed lots of our variables. We took our test and almost everybody got 100% but for this experiment we still have to write our sequence paragraph. Next in math we are learning about 2-‐digit division and in gym we are starting gymnastics! The best thing is that all the 5th graders are going on a field trip to the Kindness Retreat all day on Tuesday. It’s going to be great!


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Happy New Year from Physical Education!!!

Pine Bend students are just starting gymnastics. During this unit, students will be able to practice on balance beams, the climbing rope and the climbing-‐wall, various tumbles and other strength building activities. Our next unit is snowshoeing. We are looking forward to being outdoors and strengthening our cardiovascular endurance while snowshoeing on the wooded trails behind Pine Bend. Many students have been doing a nice job of remembering their tennis shoes for physical education, but please continue to remind them to bring them to school on phy-‐ed days. In conclusion, please remember to keep your son or daughter active during the winter months. Below is an article that supports the need for children to be active all year round. Just a reminder…… Jump Rope for Heart is March 7th Have a great January!

This study looked at how regular exercise improves the ability of overweight, previously inactive children to think, plan and even do math, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers report.

They hope the findings in 171 overweight 7-‐ to 11-‐year-‐olds -‐-‐ all sedentary when the study started -‐-‐ gives educators the evidence they need to ensure that regular, vigorous physical activity is a part of every school day, said Dr. Catherine Davis, clinical health psychologist at GHSU's Georgia Prevention Institute and corresponding author on the study in Health Psychology.

"I hope these findings will help re-‐establish physical activity's important place in the schools in helping kids stay physically well and mentally sharp," Davis said. "For children to reach their potential, they need to be active."

To measure cognition, researchers used the Cognitive Assessment System and Woodcock-‐Johnson Tests of Achievement III that measure abilities such as planning and academic skills such as math and reading. A subset of the children received functional magnetic resonance imaging highlighting increased or decreased areas of brain activity.

MRIs showed those who exercised experienced increased brain activity in the prefrontal cortex -‐-‐ an area associated with complex thinking, decision making and correct social behavior -‐-‐ and decreased activity in an area of the brain that sits behind it. The shift forward appears consistent with more rapidly developing cognitive skills, Davis said.

And the more they exercised, the better the result. Intelligence scores increased an average 3.8 points in those exercising 40 minutes per day after school for three months with a smaller benefit in those exercising 20 minutes daily.

Activity in the part of their brain responsible for so-‐called executive function also increased in children who exercised. "In kids you just don't know what impact you are going to have when you improve their ability to control their attention, to behave better in school, to make better choices," Davis notes. "Maybe they will be more likely to stay in school and out of trouble."

Children in the exercise program played hard, with running games, hula hoops and jump ropes, raising their heart rates to 79 percent of maximum, which is considered vigorous.

Cognitive improvements likely resulted from the brain stimulation that came from movement rather than resulting

Reminder! The Pine Bend Press is available in 3 easy to access places online!

• The Pine Bend Elementary Website under the Pine Bend Press section.

• Links on Facebook! “Like” Pine Bend Elementary PTSA to receive updates!

• Email updates from Mrs. Moore!

If you would prefer a paper version each month please let your child’s teacher know and we will be sure you receive a paper copy in your child’s Wednesday folder!

JANUARY 2013

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cardiovascular improvements, such as increased blood and oxygen supplies, Davis said. "You cannot move your body without your brain."

The researchers hypothesize that such vigorous physical activity promotes development of brain systems that underlie cognition and behavior. Animal studies have shown that aerobic activity increases growth factors so the brain gets more blood vessels, more neurons and more connections between neurons. Studies in older adults have shown exercise benefits the brain and Davis's study extends the science to children and their ability to learn in school.

About one-‐third of U.S. children are overweight. Davis suspects exercise would have a similar impact on their leaner counterparts.

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