Moran Prairie Messenger
Weekly Moran Prairie Family and Community Newsletter
Friday August 4th:
Welcome Back!
I hope this letter finds you well after a refreshing summer break. On behalf of the entire Moran Prairie staff, we extend a warm welcome back to all our elementary school families. We trust that your vacation was filled with enjoyable moments and joyful memories with those you care about. As the new academic year begins, we are excited to have our students return to the classrooms, eager to embark on a journey of learning and growth together.
While we do have a few weeks left, a few updates are in order is we get closer to the start. Our dedicated team is committed to providing a supportive and nurturing environment for each child to flourish and reach their full potential. We look forward to partnering with you throughout the year to ensure a successful and rewarding educational experience for your children. Welcome back, and let's make this year a memorable one!
Find our new Moran Prairie instagram and follow us for regular updates of the amazing things we're doing this year!
Ongoing Reminders
- Register your kindergartner for next year! We are accepting registration and beginning to work on numbers for next year's kindergarten classes. Know someone who needs to register a kinder? Pass the info along to get your registration in ASAP!
- Not returning next year? Let the office know ASAP as we work on our numbers and classes for next year.
- Class lists will be posted August 17th at 3 pm. They will remain posted until the start of the school year. You may also call the main office to ask after that point. We wait until later in August to share because new students register or unenroll and changes may occur, so we try to get as close to final as possible!
- Office hours: the office will be open beginning August 17th at 8 am. Our staff will be in a training all day the next day on the 18th and will not be in the office that day. They will then return fully open on Monday August 21st! In the meantime, you may always call or email Ms. Hellenthal with any questions.
- Kindergarten Orientation will be August 24th from 10 - 12 pm. This will be a time to meet your child's teacher, see your classroom, and learn about all things Moran Prairie (bussing, arrival/dismissal, meals, daily schedule, and so much more). Please plan to attend if you can!
- Launch conferences for 1st through 5th grade are Thursday August 31st and Friday September 1st. The conference sign-up tool will be sent to families later this month. Please know that while students are not in class on these days, they are considered part of our 180 school days. We do count your conference for your child's attendance, and we want our students to attend their own conference and meet their teacher. What better way to start the year strong, ask questions, and get to know your teacher prior to starting!
- Kindergarten conferences occur Thursday August 31st, Friday September 1st, and Tuesday September 5th. These are their WaKids conferences and are different than the Launch conferences for 1st - 6th grade. Families will sign up for these with their classroom teacher at Orientation on the 24th and afterward. Kindergarten families do not use the conference sign up tool that 1st-5th grade use!
Staff Updates
Jeanie Johnson will be our new reading intervention teacher this year. She will be sharing room 201 with our ELD teacher Katie Harsh (who will be on family leave until November). An introduction from Jeanie, and some photos below:
I started teaching in 1994 for 6 years in the Silver Valley in grades 2nd through 4th and then in 2000 moved to Spokane and began teaching at Arlington Elementary. I taught there for 10 years, some as a literacy interventionist and some as an a.m./p.m. Kindergarten teacher. I later moved to Lincoln Heights and taught many combination classes of 1st/2nd, 2nd/3rd and some straight 2nd and 3rd grade classes. For the last, I believe 5 years, I have been a math interventionist at Finch and over these years have had different grade levels of focus from 1st-3rd (with a few 4th graders and K kids mixed in) with my main focus being on 2nd and 3rd graders.
One year and two days ago I had a baby very late in life with the man I dated for many years, and I am absolutely delighted! I find myself laughing many times a day and being in absolute awe of how quickly tiny humans learn. My little guy's name is Huxton, often called Huxley. We live on a small wheat/lentil farm with our animal family and have been working hard at growing a young forest! Hope you are all having a great summer and won't see this message until the day school starts. 🙂
We also have a few traveling specialists joining us periodically throughout the week. If this changes, I will update us:
- John Martin (PE)
- Kevin Cope (Music)
- Dawn Valley (Art)
Aimee Giesa will still be our K-2 science teacher, with us half-time.
We have a part-time shared SLP who will be working with us and Scott ES. Her name is Meghan Bird, and she'll be working closely with Marci Dunavan.
Chase Middle School's CCTV
Will return next year!
Upcoming Dates
- Thursday August 17th: Class lists posted
- Thursday August 24th: Kindergarten orientation 10 - 12 pm
- Monday August 28th: Staff returns
- Thursday August 31st: Launch conferences & Open House 8 - 6:30 pm
- Friday September 1st: Launch conferences & Open House 8 - 3 pm
- Tuesday September 5th: First day for students 1st thru 5th grade
- Wednesday September 6th: First day for kindergarten, only group A
- Thursday September 7th: First day for kindergarten, only group A
- Friday September 8th: Kindergarten group A
- Monday September 11th: Student late start at 9:30 for staff collaboration, Kindergarten group B
- Tuesday September 12th: All kindergartners come to school!
You can find the calendar for the 2023-24 school year here. This may help with planning for next year!
Stay Connected
- Email us: mrnprairie.ptg@gmail.com
- Moran Prairie PTG Website: www.moranprairieptg.org
- Like us: www.facebook.com/MoranPrairiePTG/