2nd Grade Marketplace
Good afternoon Prairie families,
Another great week in the books for our Pumas! Today we had our second Buddy Classroom activity of the year. Classes join together to help strengthen our school community across grade levels. This month’s activity focused on one of our Prairie Pillars: Responsibility. The classes read the book “The Good Egg” and discussed ways each person can show responsibility. What a great way to close out September!
I wanted to take a moment to express our heartfelt thanks to our amazing PTO for generously providing Prairie visors to all the students for the Scamper event last week. The students were thrilled, and the staff members were pleasantly surprised and delighted to receive visors as well! Your thoughtfulness and generosity did not unnoticed, and we truly appreciate everything you do to make our school community special.
As we officially welcome fall, I hope everyone is enjoying fun activities with their families. With Halloween just around the corner, please be sure to check out the information about our Halloween party.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!
Kindly,
Ms. Lauren Delahanty
Upcoming Dates & Helpful Resources
- October 3 - No School - District Holiday
- October 10 - No School - School Improvement & Fall Family/Educator Conferences
- October 11 - No School | Family/Educator Conferences
- October 14 - No School - District Holiday
- October 22 - Early Release Day
2024-25 School Year Calendar & Hours
NEW *Halloween Festivities on Thursday, October 31*
On October 31st, all students will have the opportunity to participate in a parade outdoors at 1:45 pm (dependent upon the weather) as well as the classroom party. Please see the image below for families wishing to view the parade outside.
Please see some reminders below:
- The parade may be viewed by families outdoors. If it rains, it will be indoors for students and staff only.
- The Halloween party in the classroom is only for volunteers already identified via the PTO. At this point, you know if you are a Halloween party volunteer (if so, please no extra siblings)!
Thank you for your help with this and we look forward to the creativity from our students this day!
Once students have walked around the school, they will come back inside the building for their class party. Only Halloween party volunteers will be allowed in the building after the parade. If you are a parent volunteer for the Halloween party, you must enter through the front door and sign in as usual. If you have questions about being a party volunteer, please reach out to our PTO. As a reminder, there is no outside food allowed at Halloween parties.
If the weather does not cooperate and we are unable to have the Halloween parade outside, we will email parents before 1:00pm notifying you that the outdoor parade has been canceled.
NEW *IMPORTANT NOTES FOR PTO PARTY VOLUNTEERS*
Parents attending the parties may not bring additional family members, other children, etc. We need everyone to abide by this and will have to ask you to leave if you come with other attendees.
Every PTO volunteer approved to come into our school MUST have their license or ID scanned through our security system to enter. If you have never volunteered at Prairie then you must come in to scan your ID or license ahead of the party. You have to bring this with you or you will not be able to enter. There is typically a very long line to enter at this first party, so please anticipate this. The more people who come and complete this early, the shorter the line will be on October 31st, 2024.
NEW *External Assessments from 23-24 to be Sent Out
Parents and Guardians, you will soon receive something in your email inbox. The results from last year's state assessments will be electronically sent to parents on October 1st. There will be instructions on how to receive a physical copy if parents are unable to print and would like to do so. Please see the chart below on which assessments information to expect from your child.
REPEAT *Leaving a Positive Digital Footprint*
As we navigate an evolving digital age, it is important for our children to learn how to use technology safely and responsibly. To best support our students in developing these lifelong skills, KCSD96 will be introducing the Common Sense Digital Citizenship Lessons to our K-8 students throughout the year. These age-appropriate lessons will cover essential topics like online safety, protecting personal information, and recognizing positive and negative online behaviors. It’s important that we set our students up for lifelong success.
Common Sense is a widely-used resource used by school districts across the country, including in our region. We encourage you to review the material with your child and have open discussions about what they learn in class. You can access the resources and learn more by visiting the Common Sense Digital Citizenship website.
https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/curriculum
By working together, we can help our children become thoughtful, safe, and respectful digital citizens. If you have any questions, please reach out to Principal, Aska Lempke, [email protected].
REPEAT *Parent Engagement Opportunities - GCI and TEP*
KCSD96 is dedicated to fostering strong partnerships with our community, offering a range of opportunities for parent engagement. Through these programs, we empower parents to actively contribute to and enrich the educational environment for all of our students. This information, including meeting dates for the 24-25 school year, will be sent to all families in Friday's E-News. We encourage our teachers to relay this information to families who may be interested.
Guiding Coalition of Interculturalism
GCI is a learning community that reflects and connects the KCSD96 values of diversity and inclusion; aligns parents, educators, and students in cultural and educational experiences; and engages with a wide audience. This year our Bilingual Parent Advisory Council will merge with GCI to create a more cohesive group focused on cultural diversity, inclusion, and language support. We will align their missions to create a unified group that addresses both interculturalism and bilingual education and create one communication platform for parents, educators, and community members. GCI meeting dates for the 24-25 school year are:
- October 1st, 2024
- November 12th, 2024
- January 21st, 2025
- February 25th, 2025
- April 22nd, 2025
Meetings are at 6:30pm in the Educational Development Center at Ivy Hall Elementary (1072 Ivy Hall Lane). Please fill this Google Form to indicate your interest. For questions, please contact, Community Parent Liaison: [email protected].
Thought Exchange Partnership
TEP offers parents the opportunity to share their thoughts and receive information about instruction, programs, and district initiatives. TEP is a committee that seeks parent feedback in developing student discipline policies and procedures related to the Student Handbook and provides information and feedback to the Board. District 96 values two-way communication, and a deep understanding of parent perception supports district planning and communication. TEP meeting dates for the 24-25 school year are:
- October 8th, 2024
- December 10th, 2024
- January 28th, 2025
- March 11th, 2025
- May 6th, 2025
Meetings are at 6:30pm in the Educational Development Center at Ivy Hall Elementary (1072 Ivy Hall Lane). Please fill this Google Form to indicate your interest. For questions, please contact, Community Parent Liaison: [email protected].
REPEAT *PHYSICALS AND IMMUNIZATION FORMS DUE by 10/15*
Please ensure that all physicals and immunization forms are turned into the school nurse by October 15th.