Welcome Back, Prairie Families!!
from Principal, Kristen Jones
August Events
8/02-8/04: New Teachers Report
8/05: Welcome Back All Teachers!! PTA providing breakfast.
8/08-8/10: Teacher Professional Learning
8/08: Teacher Assignment live in Skyward
8/09: 4:30-6pm Ice Cream Social
8/11: First Day for Grades 1-6; Early Dismissal at 12:30
8/11-8/12: Kindergarten Small Group Conferences (Sign up coming 8/08)
8/15: First Day for Kindergarten; Coffee & Kleenex in Garden for parents after arrival
8/31: 5:30-6:15 & 6:30-7:15 Back to School Night for parents
Ice Cream Social: 8/09 4:30-6:00
- This is a great opportunity to drop off your child's supplies for the year!
- If you ordered supplies through our wonderful PTA, volunteers will deliver those to your child's classroom on 8/08.
- Click here to find the school supply lists on our website.
Complete Online Verification & Pay Instructional Materials Fee in Skyward
You will be able to view your child's classroom teacher in Skyward on Monday 8/08. Please be sure to follow the online verification process so you will have access to this important info!
Important New This Year: Go to Fee Management on the left to pay the instructional materials fee of $60. This helps support ELA & math hands-on materials as well as programs used for personalized learning online.
Steps to fill out forms:
- Visit smsd.org.
- In the top navigation bar, click on “Skyward” and log in to your account.
If you do not have a Family Access account, you may contact your child’s school office to inquire about setting up account access. - Under “Home” you will see “2022-2023 Student Annual Online Verification.”
There will be directions that walk you through the entire process.
They include permission forms, a health history review, and a medication permission form. The process should take only about 5 minutes to complete.
Please try to complete these forms as soon as possible. It is a mandatory step necessary for student materials checkout. Students cannot be assigned a computer/device until the forms are complete.
Important Food Service Info
SchoolCafé – Online Parent Portal for Food Service Information
https://www.schoolcafe.com/SHAWNEEMISSION Parents should create an account with a username and password. Setting up an account will allow them to:
o Apply for Child Nutrition Meal Benefits and see approval status
o View Menus with nutrient and allergen information
o View child’s account balance and purchases
o Set limits for ala carte purchases
o Set reminders for low account balances
Child Nutrition Meal Benefits – free or reduced priced meals
● After July 1st, Families are encouraged to apply for child nutrition meal benefits. Benefits are issued based on the income guidelines set by the USDA. Applications are filled out online at https://www.schoolcafe.com/SHAWNEEMISSION. Processing the application can take up to 10 days. Families would be responsible to pay for any meals charged before the meal benefits application is processed. If a family qualifies, each qualifying student can receive one breakfast and one lunch per day as part of this benefit. All breakfast and lunch meal choices are available for all students regardless of eligibility status.
● Families can give Food Service consent for disclosure of their child nutrition meal benefits to help families with:
o Transportation fees
o Prekindergarten fees
o Instructional Resource fees
o Advanced Testing fees
● Consent for disclosure is part of the Parent Online Verification process.
● As required by USDA, a certain percentage of qualified applications will be selected for verification. The verification process requires families to submit proof of income. If a family does not provide the necessary documentation, their benefits will be revoked.
● Due to a waiver, Food Service has been able to extend benefits for 30 days for families who qualified for benefits in 19-20 and 20-21 school years. The benefits will expire at midnight on September 23rd. Families will need to reapply to see if they still qualify.
Meal Prices for 2022-23
● It is the expectation that students will have money on their food service account or cash to purchase meals or ala carte items. Students will use their student ID number on a pin pad to make the purchase from their account.
Breakfast: $1.55
Lunch: $2.85
Payments
● Payments can be made by check or cash at the school, or by credit card online through E-Funds (fee) at https://www.smsd.org or by calling the Food Service office with a credit card (no fee).
Automated Phone Calls
Automated phone calls will be sent to parents for the following reasons:
● Approved for free or reduced meals.
● A low account balance - $8.00 or less
● A negative account balance.
Bus Transportation Update
Please note: Transportation will still be provided if services are designated in your child's specialized plan.
Attention Kindergarten Families
- Log into Skyward for your child's teacher name on 8/08 (I apologize for having the incorrect date on a previous email)
- Small Group Conferences will be held on 8/11-8/12. These will be 45-60 minute sessions with up to 4 families per group. Please bring your child with you so our intervention team can take this opportunity to screen individual children while parents meet with the teacher.
- An email will come out on 8/08 for you to sign up for a conference time.
- 8/15 is the first full day! Meet your child's teacher on the Kindergarten playground to start the day. Join PTA and me for coffee and Kleenex in the garden after drop off.
- Some asked about class sizes and they are currently at 21-22 students each. Our educational aides are scheduled to provide support in the classrooms throughout the day, so all is going to be great!
Daisy's Back to School Supply List
You can donate funds to the school or bring items with you to the Ice Cream Social.
Here are some items Daisy needs:
- Costco Kirkland brand dog food
- toys
- treats
Click on this link to find out more about our Daisy.
Daisy is eager to return to work! She really misses serving your children!
5th-6th Gr: Getting Started for Band & Strings --
We are very excited to kick off another year of instrumental music in the East Area! See below for details of exciting Jump Start events we have coming up. For our new 5th Grade students, please don’t forget to get them signed up here: 5th Grade Band/Strings Sign-Up.
East Area Band/Strings Jumpstart – SME Auditorium
Strings – Monday August 15th
Band – Tuesday, August 16th
· 5th Grade Info Night @ 6pm
o An informational meeting for all first-year students and parents to communicate information about the program, schedules, finding instruments, expectations, etc.
· 6th Grade Family Meeting & Masterclasses @ 7pm
o A short family/student meeting, then we’ll breakout into instrument groups for students to participate in a 45-minute masterclass with local musicians.
A Message from the PTA Presidents
On behalf of the PTA, we’d like to welcome you back to the start of another great year at Prairie Elementary. We’re excited to get back to a school year filled with fantastic events and community activities. But most importantly, we’re eager to be back at Prairie supporting our kids and teachers so they can continue to attain excellence in education. We look forward to seeing you on August 9th at the Ice Cream Social where you can sign up for a PTA membership, join the garden committee and many others, sign up for volunteer positions and purchase some Prairie Panther Spirit Wear! Our weekly newsletters will be emailed to all Prairie families starting Sunday, August 7th. Thank you for your support, and please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions at prairieelementary@gmail.com. Together, we’ll make this year another wonderful year for our children. Sincerely, Katie Gahagan and Erin Knighton
Check out this graphic about how our community organizations collaborate to support our Prairie students.
Prairie Elementary
Email: kristenjones@smsd.org
Website: prairie.smsd.org
Location: 6642 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS, USA
Phone: (913) 993-4400