Dear Families,
Well, this week certainly had it all! Students reporting in-person, saliva screenings, hybrid learning, and a snowstorm. I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt thanks to all of our Prairie families for your continued support while we continue to navigate the scenarios that each week brings. Your partnership and mutual support of our students truly make Prairie a model partnership. Please take a few minutes to review this week’s Principal’s Message.
Kindly,
Christine Pfaff
NEW *Submit Your Yearbook Photos*
Valentine's Day is just around the corner! We'd love to see pictures of your kids making Valentine's Crafts, or in Valentine's Day colors! Maybe even that rare picture of siblings hugging with big smiles! Keep your cameras handy and send us pictures to be featured in the yearbook at [email protected]. In the email please include your child's first and last name and teacher.
NEW *News from Exploration Lab*
Since November, Prairie students have been learning to create animation videos using toys, clay, legos, and/or paper. Because the students worked so hard, I have compiled a highlight video for your enjoyment. I received over 350 animation videos and wish I could show them all, however here are 30+ of them from grades 1-5. Many were quite long so I had to add just a clip from their entire movie. If you don’t see your son/daughter’s video HERE, please ask him/her to show it to you. Enjoy! ~Mrs. Spivack
NEW *PTO News*
Extended until January 31st: Looking for a fun Valentine's Day activity to do, the PTO is selling cookie kits from Couture Cakery with a Valentine's day theme. The kits cost $17 and are on sale through January 31st. The kits will be ready for pick up on February 11th and 12th at school. Also, all families who purchase a kit will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card to the bakery. Head over to MTK for more information and to place your order.
NEW *Lunch Bunch - Don't Miss Out on the Fun!*
Lunch Bunch has been such a positive experience for our students! We wanted to send a friendly reminder of the schedule for this optional lunch activity. Students can stay logged into their classroom teacher’s Zoom link during the lunch breaks and a support staff member will supervise this time to allow students an opportunity to socialize with their classmates. See below for some student thoughts on our lunch bunch time as well as the schedule for each grade level.
- “ Regular lunch at home can feel lonely and when it’s our lunch bunch day I get to be with my friends. Lunch Bunch is awesome!”
- “ I like lunch bunch because you get to talk and socialize with everyone. It feels great to spend time with each other and learn about everyone.”
- "Lunch Bunch is so fun. Awesome kids are there and we share riddles; we are so lucky to have this."
- “It feels like real school to me! Like I get to spend time with my classmates during lunch how I would if I was at school.”
- "It's like when we are in the lunchroom at school. It's our Zoom lunchroom!"
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NEW *REVISED FREE MEAL PREORDERING AND PICK-UP INFO*
Extended in-person preordering deadline. Due to an issue with the Linq website preventing families of in-person students from preordering for the week ahead, the preordering deadline for the week of Feb. 1–5 has been extended to Sun., Jan. 31, at 6 PM. Preorder meals for in-person days next week at onlineordering.linq.com
New meals distribution quantity/schedule. Families of remote students (and those who want to pick up free meals for the days their in-person students are remote) will receive two meals when picking up on Mon., Feb. 1. On Wed., Feb. 3, they will receive meal supplies for five meals. Beginning the following week (the week of Feb. 8), there will no longer be meal pick up on Mondays. Instead, meal supplies for five meals will be distributed on Wednesdays. Pick up hours/location 11 AM–2 PM at Twin Groves and Woodlawn Middle Schools parking lots will remain the same.
NEW *ERIN’S LAW*
An Illinois law known as Erin’s Law requires schools to implement an age-appropriate sexual assault and abuse awareness/prevention curriculum for Kindergarten through Grade 12.
Kildeer Countryside CCSD 96 researched and observed best practices and programs for delivering this instruction, selecting Victor Pacini to present Be Seen & Heard.
The focus of this developmentally appropriate and interactive program is to teach children skills to keep them safe from danger or abuse. Concepts discussed will include distinguishing safe from unsafe touches, safety rules at home and school, saying NO, safe/unsafe secrets, and telling a trusted adult, as well as reinforcing that an adult’s touching him or her is not the child’s fault. For more information about this presentation please go to www.victorpacini.com/peace-of-mind-2
The presentation to Prairie students will be via Zoom during the school day on February 23rd.
If you prefer that your child does not attend this prevention education session, please submit your written request - or your questions - to me at [email protected].
NEW *IMPORTANT REMINDERS FOR PARENTS OF IN-PERSON LEARNERS*
Parents who have children coming in must do their daily self-certification. It significantly slows down our arrival procedures when students don't have this.
Likewise, parents whose students do not bring their saliva samples will be called to come to the school and bring their student’s sample collection vial, barcode label, and plastic baggie and assist their student in collecting the sample.
Please remember that completing the daily self-certification and providing the weekly saliva sample is a commitment you made for your child to attend in-person. If there are repeat incidences for the daily self-certification and/or saliva collection, the student may need to go back to remote learning. Please set alarm reminders for yourself. I do not want anyone to have to move back to remote learning for this reason.
The schedule for saliva sample collection for EC–Grade 2 is as follows:
Monday
Ivy Hall Grades 1-2 (Last names A-L)
Prairie Grades 1-2 (Last names A-L)
Tuesday
Country Meadows Grades 1-2 (Last names A-L)
Kildeer Grades 1-2 (Last names A-L)
Willow Grove PM Students
Wednesday
Willow Grove AM Students
Thursday
Country Meadows Grades 1-2 (Last names M-Z)
Ivy Hall Grades 1-2 (Last names M-Z)
Prairie Grades 1-2 (Last names M-Z)
Kildeer Grades 1-2 (Last names M-Z)
See MORE INFO regarding saliva samples and collecting them.
To access the required Daily Self-Certification Form, you need to log into TeacherEase each day your student will attend in person to submit self-certification.
This VIDEO gives instructions, including how to access the daily self-certification form using your cell phone (iOS or android).
If you will be using your home computer to send daily self-certification, we suggest that you bookmark the TeacherEase website. The link is: https://www.teacherease.com/common/login.aspx
REPEATING *News From the Library*
We are pleased to announce the purchase of over 1,500 e-books for our students to check out directly from home onto their iPads. Most of the classrooms have been introduced to a new app, called Sora by Overdrive. Children are allowed to check out one book at a time. They can also place one book on hold at a time.
Many of our books have a limited number of checkouts before they disappear forever. Because of this, we strongly encourage children to read a sample of the book before borrowing it. This way they can decide whether the book is a good fit and it will help our books last longer. In addition, we are asking students to return books as soon as possible so others may check them out.
Finally, If you have a public library card, students can add their public library and have thousands of more books to choose from. All you need is a library card. See THIS VIDEO for instructions on how to add a public library to the Sora app.
REPEAT *In-Person Learning Protocols*
Parents whose hybrid in-person students will be learning in person, please be sure to review the Revised IN-PERSON LEARNING PROTOCOLS for information about health and safety protocols and expectations for families and their students who will be learning in-person in our schools.
REPEAT *PREORDERING FREE MEALS FOR IN-PERSON LEARNERS*
If your child is participating in in-person learning next week and you would like your student to receive free meals in the building on those in-person days, please pre-order using the Linq website (onlineordering.linq.com). Find more information about how to create your account and how to order HERE.
Please place your orders by 6 p.m. Thursday for the week ahead.
These meals are free to all students through the Summer Food Service Program of the USDA. This program is anticipated to be in place through the end of this 2020–2021 school year.