PRE Newsletter
April 5th, 2024
Important Dates
April 5--Solar Eclipse Form Due, Community Service form due to Mrs. Montgomery
April 6--Autism Awareness Event
April 8--Solar Eclipse
April 11--District Elementary Choir Festival @ MVHS 7:30 PM
April 15-17--Book Fair
April 16--Community Service Event-Alex's Lemonade Stand! See information below!
April 17--Donuts and Books @ 7:30-8:30 AM and Chipotle Night @ 5:00-9:00 PM
April 18-19--No School
April 22-26--Autism Acceptance Spirit Week-See details below!
April 23--Body Venture--See below! We still need at least 17 volunteers!
April 25--Kindest Kansas Citian and 2nd grade music program
May 3--Carnival!
Solar Eclipse
On April 8, 2024, all of Kansas will be in the path of a solar eclipse. This special event is being called a total solar eclipse and it will be the last total eclipse visible from the contiguous United States until 2044.
The Kansas City area will be in the 85-90% totality range for this event making it a great educational experience for students.
Like many schools, planning is underway to ensure students can safely experience this rare event. Prairie Ridge will provide eclipse-safe viewing solar glasses for all students and staff. These glasses provide a safe viewing of the eclipse. Students will be allowed to keep the glasses.
Safety is always a top priority. To that end, students will not be permitted to look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun through unfiltered cameras, telescopes, binoculars, sunglasses, or other optical devices, with or without glasses. The solar glasses acquired by the school comply with the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard for filters for direct viewing of the sun.
Please complete the form that came home with your child this week indicating your permission for your child to partake in the short viewing of the eclipse or if you prefer, they do not participate. If this form is not returned to your child’s school by Friday, April 5, the student will not be allowed to partake in the viewing on April 8 (one form per student).
We do not want our students to miss this rare event, but students and staff are expected to follow safety procedures. Your child(ren) can experience the eclipse safely, but it is vital that they protect their eyes at all times with the proper solar filters.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the school.
BOGO Book Fair Coming Soon!
Our marvelous BOGO Fair is coming up soon! It will be open April 15-17, from 9:00am-3:30pm. We run this Fair a bit differently - there will be no set class shopping times. Teachers will decide when students who have eWallets or funds to spend at the Fair will be able to drop in and shop. Families are welcome to shop either during the school hours listed above, or at our Family Shopping Night on Tuesday, April 16 from 4-8pm. NEW this year! We will have a parent shopping event Wednesday morning from 7:30-8:30 am where you can get a donut in the cafeteria before you come shop at the book fair. Come join us for a donut and then shop! Please remember, per school rules, all students must have adult supervision until the doors open at 8:30am.
Parents shopping during school hours, please sign up here so we can add you to the PRE visitor list: tinyurl.com/bogo24shopping
We need your help to run the Fair! Please sign up here: tinyurl.com/bogo24volunteers
Please join Prairie Ridge Elementary in the fight against childhood cancer on April 16th directly after school. Cost is $1/ cup and you can donate now using the website below or wait and bring cash during the afterschool event. The BOGO book fair will also be going on, so be sure to swing by there as well! We will keep the lemonade stand available until 6pm. There is a sign up below to volunteer for this event. Please see the additional information about making sure a parent is present for K-2nd grade volunteers.
Please contact Tara Bonewitz 913-515-9533 if you have questions.
Chipotle Night! Wednesday, April 17th from 5-9pm
Enjoy a Chipotle dinner and help support PRE!
In-Store: Make sure you show the fundraiser flyer (hard copy or on your phone) or tell the cashier at checkout that they are there for a fundraiser before you pay!
Online/App Order: your online ordering code is: AMH3MZY
Online Auction
The PRE PTO is getting ready for our annual auction! Do you have tickets to a Chiefs or Current game you can't use? Tickets to a performance at Azure Amphitheatre or Kauffman Center you can't make? A rental property you'd be willing to allow us to use? We'd love to auction off those items this year to raise money for the PRE PTO and our great faculty, staff, and students! Contact Abby Polich (abby.polich@gmail.com) or 608.509.6272 for more information!
PARENT FEEDBACK FORM CONCERNING 2024-2025 CLASS PLACEMENT
There are times when parents have information that is pertinent to share regarding class placement. In my experience, only about 5% of parents share information as parents feel that the classroom teachers know their child well and make decisions that best suit their child. You are your child(ren)’s first teacher, their strongest advocate, and know them the best!
In this feedback, you may wish to share information on your child’s learning style, academic strengths, or social needs. Or you might know information about a situation outside of school which might impact your child’s learning or social-emotional well-being. This information assists us in placing each child in the classroom that suits him/her best.
If you are providing input about teacher-student fit, I would ask that you please refrain from requesting any specific teacher by name. There are several reasons for this:
- Grade levels spend a great deal of time reviewing student needs both academically and socially as we determine class placement.
- Accepting requests for specific teachers from the bulk of our parents would make assigning students to classes very difficult, if not impossible.
- Further, there may be multiple requests from families for children to be in the same classroom, yet this could create a situation that is not conducive to learning for all students in the classroom.
If you are providing input on multiple children from the same family, please complete one survey PER child.
Parent input will remain confidential. If you choose to provide input, please do so before APRIL 24. Thank you!
Body Venture
We are excited that Body Venture has rescheduled with us and will be visiting PRE on April 23. This is an exhibit offered by the Kansas Department of Education and is an amazing learning experience for our students. We had this at PRE a few years ago, and students still remember this day!
Here is a description of Body Venture...
Kindergarten through fifth grade students tour the human body with this exciting immersive
experience. Throughout the exhibit, they will learn how to apply the Body Venture Motto:
EAT SMART. PLAY HARD.
At each of the 11 Body Venture stations, a volunteer presenter engages the students in a five-minute activity focused on healthy choices. The tour begins when students, in groups of eight to ten, enter the school lunchroom and become a food such as a carrot, a strawberry or a piece of cheese. In the second station, they walk through a giant brain. Inside the huge brain, students experience “brain waves” and learn about brain function. The “foods” step into the exhibit’s larger-than-life mouth, are “swallowed” through the esophagus tunnel and move into the stomach. From the stomach, the students travel through the small intestine where they become nutrients that are “absorbed” into the blood stream. Then, they follow the path of the nutrients to the heart, lungs, bones, muscles and skin stations. Students leave the body through Body Venture’s Pathway to Life. This final station recaps key health concepts from each of the 10 previous stations.
We cannot do this without the help of volunteers. If you can help with any part of this process, it would be greatly appreciated. Please see sign-up opportunities below!
Please Help Spread the Word!
Need something to do this summer? Get a Skate City summer pass and skate for $2 a session!
☀️ Anyone can buy the pass (not just PRE students) So please pass it on to friends and family members as well! Just have them put Prairie Ridge in the school field!
Purchase your pass here: https://app.getoccasion.com/p/n/s99VvZ7K/v5
(It will look like you're making a reservation but you're just choosing the date as your purchase date).
Golden Spoon Winners
Congratulations to our award winning classes for showing great lunchroom behavior!
K-Robertson
1st-Allison
2nd-Working on it!
3rd-Working on it!
4th-Burks
5th-Maddux
Golden Broom
Congratulations to the following classrooms for winning the Golden Brown award this week for putting in extra effort to keep our classrooms clean.
K - Robertson
1st - Allison, Mendez, and Lawyer
2nd - All
3rd - All
4th - Sudac
5th - Mantel
Double Diamond
The Double Diamond Award is given out every Friday to two classes (one K-2 and one 3-5) that have exemplified specific expectations during their specials classes. Specials teachers have explained what students need to do in order to earn this award.
•Listen AND follow teacher directions
•Only talking during appropriate times
•Use an inside voice when working
•Show RESPECT to everyone and to property
•Enter and Exit the classroom appropriately
•Give YOUR personal best effort during class
Mrs. Hoover's kindergarten class and Ms. Proehl's 3rd grade class won the Double Diamond Award this week. Congratulations!!!
Students of the Week
Congratulations to our students of the week! As a reminder, one change this year will be the Student of the Week yard signs. The Student of the Week yard signs will be in the office. If you would like to stop by and grab a sign to have in your yard the week that your child is student of the week, please stop by and get a sign. When the week is done, please simply return the sign to the school for other families to use. We love celebrating each student!
Landry Wampler
Graham Demke
Brayden Burgette
Lennox Basom
Kanon Hays
Brooklyn Seitnater
Vivian Bentson
NOW TAKING RESERVATIONS FOR LUNCH AT SCHOOL
Would you like to come and enjoy lunch with your child? We would love to have you come experience lunch at PRE. Right now we are reviewing lunchroom expectations (and training our new Cougars!), so we will invite families in after Labor Day. We will continue with signing up for lunch to ensure that we know who will be entering the building as a safety measure. There are THREE families per grade level. If you are coming as a family, please use ONE spot for your family. For those who are new to Prairie Ridge, visitors for lunch are often a parent, a relative, or a family friend, usually someone who is visiting from out of town.
Please, keep in mind the following important points:
- Lunch periods are 27 minutes long and we have to stay on schedule to fit everyone in close to a normal "lunch time."
- Parents may be joined at their reserved table by their child only. It can create negative competition with hurt feelings when we allow for others to join.
- Parents may bring in outside food for their dining party only. We have several students with food allergies and intolerance, and the students know that for safety reasons we do not share or trade food. Food and/or drink must be consumed during the lunch period and not sent back to class with the student.
- Confidentiality is important to us, so kindly refrain from sharing stories later if you happen to notice that another child is having behavioral or learning challenges. We've got people for that! Feel absolutely free to seek assistance from our on-duty staff if you notice that someone needs help!
How do I sign up? Click this link to let us know when you are coming! Closer to your date, please call the office to reserve a school lunch if you're not bringing your own. The cost of an adult lunch is $4.35, which needs to be paid (with exact change, please) on the date you will eat with us.
2023-24 Lunch Times
10:50--K
11:50--1st
11:20--2nd
12:20--3rd
12:50--4th
1:20--5th
If you like LOTS of happy noise all at once and don't mind the possibility of wearing syrup and ketchup on your body when you leave...feel free to join us!