Prairie View Pony Express
February, 2018
Turning the page into February can only mean one thing…..Groundhogs’ Day! The big question of, “Will he” or, "Won’t he”……”see his shadow”…..is on my mind. Even if this long standing tradition (132 years and going strong…..probably not the same groundhog, though) is just an old wives’ tale, I would not be unhappy if good, ole Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow. According to “Phil”, if he doesn’t see his shadow, winter will soon end and spring will be on its way. Shadow, no shadow, we are guaranteed a sweet holiday on the 14th for Valentine’s Day. A day filled with sweet thoughts, sweet notes, and sweet treats…….my favorite kind of day!
2018 is off to a fantastic start. Educators attended a Teachers’ Institute the day before students returned from winter break. After a few days back, we started Winter Benchmarking. Across the district, elementary students are assessed in the areas of math and English Language Arts using two different instruments, AimsWeb and MAP (Measures of Academic Progress). This midpoint check lets us know how the students are progressing and if any interventions are needed. Your child’s teacher will be sharing these scores with parents and guardians. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the teacher for further explanation. I know it’s getting redundant, but I feel I can’t state it enough…… the best predictor of school success is daily support for reading at home. As the saying goes, “First you learn to read. Then you read to learn”. The school-home partnership is vital in order to build a strong academic foundation.
Students learned more about Martin L. King, Jr. through lessons and activities on January 15th. We talked about his ideas on civil rights and all of the things he did to improve the lives of his fellow men (and women). This background was a perfect lead-in to our St. Jude’s Math-a-Thon kick-off. Not only is this a fun way to practice math skills, it provides students with an opportunity to do something really nice (raising funds) for children with catastrophic diseases. All donations are due by February 5th. Stay-tuned to find out if we succeeded in making our goal of $1500.00! Another milestone was celebrated in January…the 100th day of the school year! Lots of creative projects were created and displayed to commemorate this day.
In addition to our regular February curriculum, and the holidays of Groundhogs’ Day and Valentine’s Day, students will spend some time learning more about a couple of our earliest presidents, Abe Lincoln and George Washington. A three-day weekend, in honor of Presidents’ Day (February 17th, 18th, & 19th), will give students (faculty, staff, and administrators) a little reprieve from school. Mark February 20th on the calendar. That is the day we will “reveal” the title of the book we have selected for One School/One Book. For the first time, all K-3 elementary buildings in Sandwich have coordinated to read the same selection. If you are new to One School/One Book, every student, faculty, and staff member will receive a copy of ??? . We are asking our families to read together an assigned number of pages each night. There will be trivia questions on the announcements each day over the previous day’s reading. This school-wide project will culminate in a Family Night scheduled for March 8th. The planning team has been busy developing activities that coordinate with the book. Of course, all plans are top-secret. Get ready for the “big reveal”, get set to read together with the rest of the PV family, and go to the Family Night. Not only will it be a fun evening, it will be a sweet experience for the whole family.
Sherrie Stricklin
Principal
"Learning Today, Shaping Tomorrow!"
Prairie View would like to acknowledge and congratulate the following students for having perfect attendance for the second quarter of the 2017/2018 school year.
Morgan Barbor, Bentley Bedford, Brandon Beverage, Owen Brown, Jacob Byram, Catherine Clark, Mackenzie Corneils, Talia Crosby, Eliza Deloach, Teancum DeWitt, Emma Dudzik, Ben Englehart, Luke Englehart, Evan Frantzen, Patricia Harbacek, Chloe Heiman, Shanea Hinman, Tanya Hinman, Josiah Karunakaran, Shaynee King, Brianna Kleckner, Trent Kolarits, Reid Komarowski, Joshua Kotalik, Kayla Kressin, Aiden Kuehlem, Daniel Lisner, Faith Loya, Lucas MacIntyre, Carter Matteson, Landen Moss, Colton Scalf, Kennedy Smith, Ethan Starsiak, Madilyn Starsiak, Nolan Szymczak, Sara Timmerman, Logan Trigg, Sophia Van Duesen, Eleanore Vanatta, Summer Vanatta, Isabella Vancil, Mason Werner, and Ryan Werner.
Debt Service Extension Base (DSEB) Information
Sandwich Education Foundation
St. Jude's Math-a-thon
Notes from the nurse
Dental Exams-
A completed dental examination form is due by May 15, 2018 for Kindergarten and Second Grade students. Any second grade student that does not fulfill this requirement may have their final report card held. Exams done within 18 months (after 11/15/16) of the May 15th deadline will be accepted.
Mobile Dentist -
Our school has partnered with Smile Programs… the mobile dentists to offer in-school dental care. They will be at Prairie View on Wednesday 3/21/18. If you would like your child to participate, please complete and return the form before 2/14/18, or sign up your child at www.myschooldentist.com. All insurance is accepted including Medicaid and CHIP. For those without insurance, a low cost self-pay option is available.
This does fulfill the dental exam requirement for Kindergarten and 2nd Grade students. If you need a form or have any questions, please contact your school nurse.
Prairie View Culver's Fundraiser
Valentine Smencils for Sale
Valentine Smencils Have Arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where: Prairie View Office
Scents Available: Chocolate, Marshmallow, Donut, Strawberry and Blueberry
Smencils are $1.oo each… There is no limit on how many you can purchase.
PPA News
We have started another Box Tops for Education class competition that will end on February 28th. The classroom that brings in the most Box Tops will win. We are no longer collecting Labels for Education as this program as now ended.
St. Jude Math-A-Thon started on January 15th and will run till February 5th. Please consider donating to this charity. We have set our school goal of $1,500 this year.
A big thank you to Nicole Kotalik for running the basketball camp as a fundraiser to our PPA. We greatly appreciate your support!
Our next PPA meeting date is February 23rd at 1 pm.
PPA email: prairieviewppa@gmail.com
PPA Facebook: www.facebook.com/PVPPA
Thank you,
Prairie View PPA
What's Happening in.........
P. E. Classes
Resource Classes.......
SAVE THE DATES!
One School, One Book!
On Tuesday, April 17th, 6:00 p.m. at Sandwich High School, Prairie View will hold their Spring concert. The theme will center around music of the 80's. Notes will come home early March and two weeks before the concert with more information!
2018 - 2019 REGISTRATION INFORMATION
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
SANDWICH ANNOUNCES KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
FOR THE 2018-2019 SCHOOL YEAR
The Sandwich School District will be holding Kindergarten Registration for the 2018-2019 school year the week of March 12th – March 16th from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. daily. If your child will be 5 years old on or before September 1, 2018, he/she is eligible for Kindergarten.
This registration is to determine the approximate enrollment for 2018-2019 school year. Please bring with you a state issued birth certificate and three forms of proof of residency, one of which must be a lease or mortgage. We cannot register any student until we have proof of residency. No payment is required at this time. All students registered on these dates will be invited to a special Kindergarten orientation to be held in the spring.
If you are unsure which elementary building your child will attend, please contact one of the following schools: Woodbury (815)786-6316, Prairie View (815)786-8811 or Haskin at (815)786-8812.
NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOMS
Kindergarten
January was a busy month with lots of assessments. It is so exciting to see how much growth the Kindergarteners have had since the beginning of the year! We are now able to sound out simple words and are becoming more confident with writing sentences We will continue to focus on rhyming and word families. In Math we are still working on addition. We spent a week learning about penguins. We learned a lot about real ones and read some fun fiction books as well. We also have been doing lots of snow-themed activities around the books The Hat , The Mitten, and the movie Frozen. We even had a "snowball" fight in gym class!
1st Grade
2nd Grade
Reading Strengthens Writing and Writing Strengthens Reading
There is a large amount of research telling us that writing skills have a very important impact on reading comprehension. We do a lot in second grade to strengthen students’ writing abilities. We keep a daily journal, do formal writing projects, write about what we have read, answer questions through written sentences, write letters and notes, and many other activities. There are also many things that you can do at home to promote this important skill. You can write letters or cards to friends and family, write grocery or to-do lists, keep a journal or diary, leave each other fun post-it notes throughout the house, write reports about books that you read or activities that you do, or you could even write thank-you notes to each other. There are many fun ways that you could incorporate this skill into your routine.
3rd Grade
In math, our third graders are learning how to identify place value, how to round numbers to the nearest tens and hundreds, and how to add and subtract using mental math.
In Science, Mrs. Karpus’ class is learning about the Structures of Life. Her students constructed cardboard skeletons to identify the bones in the human body. Mr. Steimel’s students are learning about Water and Climate. They have been conducting experiments with frozen water and snow.
In art, the students created snow landscapes using torn paper, as well as drawing with white chalk on black paper to create snow globe scenes.
THE PARENT INSTITUTE
IMPORTANT DATES FOR FEBRUARY 2018
ARBOR MANAGEMENT MENUS
Prairie View School
Email: breiners@sandwich430.org
Website: http://www.sandwich430.org/
Location: 1201 Castle Street, Sandwich, IL, United States
Phone: 815-786-8811