PRAIRIE ELEMENTARY PRAIRIE ELEMENTARY

WOULD LIKE TO HONOR THE WOULD LIKE TO HONOR THE

BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WHO BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WHO

HAVE SERVED OUR COUNTRY HAVE SERVED OUR COUNTRY

WITH A SPECIAL ASSEMBLY, IN THE GYM AT 8:30 AM ON NOVEMBER 11, 2009. IF WITH A SPECIAL ASSEMBLY, IN THE GYM AT 8:30 AM ON NOVEMBER 11, 2009. IF

YOU KNOW A CURRENT OR FORMER MEMBER OF THE MILITARY, WE WOULD LOVE YOU KNOW A CURRENT OR FORMER MEMBER OF THE MILITARY, WE WOULD LOVE

TO HAVE THEM AS OUR SPECIAL GUEST.TO HAVE THEM AS OUR SPECIAL GUEST.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR PICTURES OF VETERANS FOR A POWERPOINT PRESENTA-WE ARE LOOKING FOR PICTURES OF VETERANS FOR A POWERPOINT PRESENTA-

TION. PLEASE TURN THEM INTO THE OFFICE (MARK WHO WE RETURN TION. PLEASE TURN THEM INTO THE OFFICE (MARK WHO WE RETURN

THE PHOTOS TO) BY NOVEMBER 2. THE PHOTOS TO) BY NOVEMBER 2.

IF POSSIBLE, WE WOULD LIKE THE STUDENTS AND STAFF TO WEAR RED, IF POSSIBLE, WE WOULD LIKE THE STUDENTS AND STAFF TO WEAR RED,

WHITE AND BLUE FOR THIS SPECIAL OCCASION.WHITE AND BLUE FOR THIS SPECIAL OCCASION.

October 2009

Upcoming

Events

In this issue:

Get to know some of the new

staff at Prairie in

our“Spotlight” section

What’s a Smencil?

and much, much more!!

October 2009

Vol. #3, Issue #2

Prairie Elementary School

Home of the

BULLDOGS!!!

Prairie P.R.I.D.E. Pledge

Showing P.R.I.D.E

is what we do.

Here at Prairie

you can too.

Respect and

Responsibility

Bring out the best

In you and me.

Being Honest

and being fair,

shows other people

that we care.

We all know what's

right and good.

We will do the things

we should.

Sound off...Prairie

Sound off...P.R.I.D.E

Sound off...Prairie

P.R.I.D.E.

Sound off!

BULLDOGS!!!

Bullying Prevention Assembly Oct 9

SWF—Sack lunch needed for

1st—5th

Oct. 9

Visit from author John Hall Oct 14

No School-End of 9 weeks Oct 16

Scholastic Book Fair Oct 19-22

Parent/Teacher conferences Oct 19, 21

& 22

Conference Release Day-No

School

Oct 23

Picture Retakes Oct 27

WCT Red Riding Hood

Assembly

Oct 29

Bulldog Tracks

PARENT/TEACHER

CONFERENCES

Parent – Teacher Conferences are scheduled

for Oct. 19-22. We have set a goal to meet

with 100% of our parents – which will ulti-

mately increase communication and involve-

ment for everyone! Specials (Music, PE,

Library and Tech), Title and SPED teachers

will be scheduling conferences in addition to

classroom teachers. Parents, thank you in

advance for making these meetings a

priority. Conferences will be Monday and

Wednesday evening from 4:00-7:00 p.m. and

Thursday from 8:00 a.m. 3:50 p.m. There will

be NO SCHOOL for students on Thursday,

Oct. 22 and Friday, Oct. 23. Friday is the

Conference Release Day for Staff. We believe

communication is key to a successful year, so

mark your calendars now and plan to attend!

Technology class for October will continue to work on

placement in SuccessMaker Math and Reading. Some of the

students are beginning to reach placement, and others will

be reaching placement soon. Once they have placement,

they are working on their own level in Math and Reading

while in SuccessMaker.

We will work on keyboarding skills throughout the year, but

we have a new program ―Keyboarding for Kids‖ for third-

fifth grade that students will begin working on soon. I am

really proud of how well some of the students are doing with

the keyboarding. We work on correct posture

(ergonomics) and typing correctly.

Staff

Spotlight

Look in this spot each month for our

“Staff Spotlight”, and get to know the wonderful

Prairie staff. Each teacher has written a short

biography for you to enjoy!

Carolyn Brown, PreK teacher I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I love sharing the joy of learning and knew as a preschooler that I wanted to be a teacher. I have been teaching for 35 years. I have taught for Haysville for 25 years as a speech/language pathologist and the last 15 years as a PreK teacher. I have a husband, 2 grown children, and a granddog. I love to travel, garden and digital scrapbooking. Mrs. Shipman, PreK teacher My name is Mrs. Shipman. I have taught for 9 years. I graduated from WSU. I have a son who is 20 years old, and a daughter who is 16 years old. I have 2 dogs named Barney and Diamond. I grew up in Haysville. My husband is a supervisor at a shop which builds conveyors. I love teaching at Prairie. Mrs. Pile, Kindergarten teacher My name is Diania Pile and this is my second year at Prairie teaching Kindergarten. I am very excited for another wonderful year! I have one son, Ben. He is four and attends preschool here at Prairie. My niece and nephew also attend school here. My favorite activity is spending time with my family. We enjoy spending time outdoors. We recently bought a camper and spend as many weekends as we can camping. I love roasting marshmallows and making smores! We also enjoy reading books every day and sports. I enjoy seeing all my students from last year in our hall. Let‟s “saddle up for success” and have a great year! Marsha Archer, Kindergarten teacher I have taught in Haysville for over 28 yrs. including being a sub for 3 yrs. This is

my 26th yr. to teach kindergarten. I had the privilege of doing my student teaching with Lenora Heath at Rex Elem. and then

co-teach with her for over 20 yrs. I have been married to Charles Archer for 39 yrs. We have 4 children (1 son and 3 daugh-

ters). We have 8 grandchildren and #9 on the way this Spring. Five of them attend Prairie. I also have a daughter who

works as a para in the district. My husband and I love to travel and spend time with our family. We all enjoy camping and

boating. My hobbies are grandchildren, sewing and needle work.

LIBRARY LINES

The pedal is to the metal in the library! Students are digging into

their AR books and are already earning necklaces and charms for

great reading. These awards are given to students who achieve a

90 or 100% score on an AR test taken in their number range

(determined by their STAR diagnostic test). AR tests based on their

textbooks are not included. Great reading is also celebrated on

the AR board in the south hallway leading to the library. The num-

bers on the broncos represent the number of 90 or 100 % tests

those students have achieved so far.

Lessons have focused on main idea and supporting details in great

stories, keyword searching to locate books and information, and

reading TumbleBooks on the computer. John Hall’s books have

been featured as Prairie gears up for this year’s author visit with

Mr. Hall, the winner of the 2009 Bill Martin, Jr., Picture Book Award.

(This award is named after Kansan, Bill Martin, who

was best known for Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do

You See.) John Hall’s books are available at a dis-

count through the school. Call 316-554-2350 for more

information.

Congratulations to Cami Mills, Jacey Anderson,

Tayla Mallernee, Carly Smith, Kassidy Newton and

Allyson Stowe on becoming members of this year’s

KMEA Honor Choir! Students from all over central

Kansas audition for placement in this special choir.

They will perform in Sterling, Kansas, at the Ora

Shields Activity Center on Saturday, October 24th at

noon. The public is welcome to attend!

This month we will be finishing our

hand-soccer unit in

1st-5th grade. Once

this unit is finished, we

will start a unit of bad-

minton. In this unit the

students will learn a

variety of racquet skills

including forehand, backhand and serving.

Page 3

Fridays are FANTASTIC at Prairie! On select Friday mornings at 8:25 AM, we end the week with an all-school recognition assembly. For the month of Oct. we will have a “mini” FFA” on the 9th. Our „big‟ FFA was held on Oct 2nd . Parents are welcome to attend any of our assemblies. Chil-

dren may sit with their parents, but due to overcrowding, we ask that you sit together in the back of the gym.

Bullying Prevention at Prairie

Since the first week of school, staff and students have been focusing on

our school wide bullying prevention rules. We are committing to:

We will not bully others.

We will try to help students who are bullied.

We will make it a point to include others who are easily left out.

When we know somebody is being bul-lied, we will tell an adult at school and

an adult at home.

Please teach and encourage your child to use: STOP – WALK – TALK procedures if

they feel someone is not being respectful to them or someone else. See October’s

counselor’s corner for more information.

Prairie P.T.O. News

A BIG thank you to the parents who attended the room parent meeting. We appreciate the extra

time you will be spending planning parties for our students.

Reminder: The fundraiser was due on October 6th. If you didn’t get yours turned in, please do

so by Friday, Oct 9. Pick up will be between 3:30 and 6:30 pm, November 3rd . It will be

important to pick up food items that day due to lack of storage for them.

Don’t forget to send the Box Tops for Education labels and Campbells soup labels to school

with your student.

Pizza Hut Night: Pizza Hut will donate 25% of the sales generated from Prairie one

night a month. Our first Pizza Hut Night will be October 19th. We will be sending

home a flyer with more information soon.

The next skate party will be Wednesday, November 4th.

Counselor’s Corner Teaching Our Children to be

Respectfully Assertive

Teach and encourage your child to use: STOP – WALK – TALK procedures

when they feel someone is not being respectful to them or someone else.

This teaching format can be used if…

*Someone directs a problem behavior toward your child. (victim) *Your child sees others receive a problem behavior. (bystander) *Someone tells your child to stop. (bully) STOP: Teach how to use a school-wide stop signal if you feel some-one is not being respectful to you or someone else. If someone is directing problem behavior to you or someone else, tell them to “STOP.” -Teach and practice a physical and verbal signal. *Show eye contact…big voice…hand up…fingers closed *Say…”Stop” or “Enough” or “Don’t” -Teach a reply if someone gives YOU the stop signal. *Stop what you are doing. *Take a deep breath. *Go about your day. WALK: Teach how to walk away immediately after giving the stop signal. Encourage your child if they walk away. TALK: Teach how to get help. Teach where the line is between tat-tling to hurt and reporting to help. Practice with your child (who, what, where and when)… *I told _____ to stop. *I tried to walk away. *Please help.

Positive Behavioral

Interventions & Supports

Red Ribbon Week 2009

Prairie Elementary will be participating in RED Ribbon Week activities the week of Oct. 26-30. Each

day special ―dress up‖ events are planned. The events and dates are listed below:

Monday Oct 26th: Give Drugs the BOOT! Welcome to Red Ribbon Week! Red Ribbon Week was

started in memory of a man named Kiki Camerena. Kiki was a law officer and was committed to stop-

ping people who were buying, selling and using illegal drugs. He was killed while on duty by one of

these drug dealers. In memory of Kiki, say ―NO‖ to drugs, walk away and find an adult you

trust to talk about it.

Tuesday, Oct 27th: HATS Off to Being Drug Free! Wear a hat to show your commitment

to being drug free!

Wednesday, Oct 28th: “PAWS”itively Drug Free! Show your Bulldog spirit and wear a

Prairie shirt or purple/orange colors! Bring some loose change if you would like to donate to

the Kansas Humane Society.

Thursday, Oct 29th: Follow Your Dreams and Pledge to be Drug Free! Wear your pajamas and

dream it...believe it...achieve it...choose a drug free lift!

On

Friday Oct. 30th , students may come to school in their costumes. This is optional.

Weapons of any kind (even replicas) are not allowed, nor any costume that depicts violent be-havior. For this day only, they will be allowed to go directly to their classrooms and not wait in

the gym.

We will start the day with a ―Snake dance‖ parade. The parade will go through all the

rooms to Halloween music, then end up in the gym.

After the festivities, students will be provided treats in their classroom by room parents.

They will change out of their costumes, and the school day will continue. Some classrooms will

have Halloween or Fall themed activities within their regular classroom subjects throughout the

day.

If you need further information about this event, contact the school office.

School Wide Halloween Festivities

We would like to thank Stone Creek

Nursery and Absolute Natural Stones

for their contribution to the flower

beds on the south and east side of

Prairie. An additional THANK YOU to those

who contributed to our ―Mums‖

fund. We were able to get 18 new

mums and enough river rock to

spell P R A I R I E. Check it out the

next time you are visiting us.

Page 4

The book fair will arrive at Prairie soon. Many books,

including the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid called Dog

Days, will be available. Families are invited to partici-

pate in the family event drawings at the fair on Mon-

day night, the 19th. The book fair will be open eve-

nings until 7pm on Oct 19 and Oct 21st.

Thanks to all parents and grandparents

who avidly encourage students to read

and help provide students with more

reading choices through fair purchases.

SCHOOL BUS CONDUCT

All students are expected to obey bus safety

rules. The drivers will be conducting bus

evacuation drills with the students this year.

Our first drill will be scheduled during Bus

Safety Week-October 19-23. In addition , we

would appreciate your assistance in discussing

these rules with your children and stressing the

importance of following the guidelines.

•At the bus stop—Line up a

safe distance from the street.

Respect

other people’s property.

After the bus has come to a

complete stop, board in an orderly manner.

•On the bus– Obey the driver, take a seat

promptly. No pushing, shoving, or fighting.

Speak in a quiet voice. Keep arms, head and

belongings inside the bus. Place all trash in

containers. Respect bus property.

•Getting off the bus—take turns exiting. Walk

in an orderly manner.

Move away from the bus immediately.

•Riding the bus is a privilege. The penalty for

failing to follow the rules will be the loss of bus

riding privileges.

Star Polisher Recognition Program

During the school year, the Haysville Board of Education presents the “Star Polisher” award to

staff members, school volunteers and school com-

munity partners who go that extra step in helping the school district and its students to succeed.

Staff members, students, parents, volunteers and school patrons are encouraged to make nomina-

tions. Nomination forms are available in the school office or visit the district website at

www.261.com for more information. Deadline for turning in nominations for the

fall semester is October 23rd. Please think of a worthy staff

member that you can nominate.

R E C Y C LE Your Pop Cans at Prairie

Prairie has received a grant from the Kansas

Department of Wildlife and Parks called

OWLS. OWLS is an acronym for Outdoor

Wildlife Learning Sites. An OWLS is an out-

door environmental/wildlife laboratory, at or near a school,

consisting of one or more native habitat features. It is de-

signed to attract native wildlife and to facilitate multi-

discipline learning opportunities for students. We will use the

money collected from recycled cans to purchase plants and

seeds for the habitat. You can drop cans off at anytime dur-

ing regular school hours.

We are also recycling empty inkjet

cartridges, cell phones and several other electronic

items through Cartridges for Kids. Prairie earned

$139 last year through the program. The money

will be used to help fund future Family Nights at

Prairie. You may send your items to be recycled to

school with your student.

Join the Haysville Recreation Department in celebrating the

spookiest holiday of the year by participating in the

2nd annual Halloween Parade!

Dress up and come out for this frighteningly fun

event. Treats will be handed out and refreshments will be

served. Parents, bring your camera for the perfect photo op-

portunity of your little monsters!

When: Thursday, October 29th

Where: Parade begins at the Community

Building in the Historic District (130 E. 2nd)

Time: Line up begins at 6:15 pm, parade starts at 6:30 pm

Cost: FREE

Smencils are gourmet scented pencils

made from 100 % recycled newspa-

pers. They are guaranteed to maintain

their scent for at least two years. We

have 10 scents available. Smencils will

be available for sale every morning in

the office. The cost is just $1 and

comes in a tube made from biodegrad-

able plastic. Proceeds will go to help

fund special school assemblies and

other school wide programs.

NOTES FROM THE NURSE

We will be offering fluoride mouthrinse treatments

to the 3rd and 4th graders again this year. Permis-

sion slips will be coming home soon. If you are inter-

ested, please sign and send back to the teacher or

nurse. I will do them once a week for 6 months.

We will also be offering the H1N1

vaccination. The district will be send-

ing out a letter as soon as the vacci-

nation is available to us. The details,

time, place, etc. have not been set

yet.

Please continue to remind your children about good

handwashing. It is very important for everyone!

Also please remember to send jackets with your

children, it's getting cooler outside for

recess.

Thank you, Nurse Lewman

The Communities In Schools (CIS) Program has been very busy planning programs and services for the

09-10 school year. We have already started a Choices Group with 5th grade students, a Girl Power

Group with 4th grade students, a Scrapbook Club with 4th grade students and My Changing Family

Groups with 1st grade and 3rd grade students. In a few weeks, we will also be adding the following

groups to our schedule: 1st Grade Friendship Group, 1st Grade Handwriting Club, 2nd Grade Friendship

Group, 2nd Grade Handwriting Club, 3rd Grade Self Esteem Group, 3rd Grade Boy Power

Group and 4th Grade Boy Power Group. After-school programs that will be up and run-

ning soon include Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the 5th grade Community Service Club and

the 4th grade Origami Club.

CIS brought in the Mental Health Association‟s IC Hope Program to Prairie on Septem-

ber 22nd to talk to Mrs. Kondo‟s classroom about bullying. We have four more IC Hope Program Presen-

tations scheduled in other classrooms throughout the month of October. Two of the presentations will

discuss bullying and the other two presentations will focus on teaching students how to cope

appropriately while having a bad day.

****Help Us Help Our School****

If you shop at Homeland or Target, you could be

helping the students at Prairie. Every time you

use your Homeland card, make

sure to tell them you want Prairie

to get credit for it. Our number

is 64004. If you have a Target Visa

Credit Card, Target will donate 1% of

your total purchase to our school. Make sure to share

Prairie‟s id number, which is 126593.

Prairie participates in the

BOXTOPS FOR EDUCATION PROGRAM.

Bring your boxtops

and labels to

help our school!!!

Mommy, My Shirt Is Too Small!!!!!

Do you have any Prairie shirts your children have

outgrown? Please consider donating them back to Prairie.

We have students who attend Prairie whose families are not

always able to purchase a shirt. Drop off any Prai-

rie shirts you are willing to

“recycle” in the office. A child

will benefit from your kindness.

The economy is tough for so many of our families. The

district hopes to offer some relief. The Clothes Closet

operates out of Nelson Elementary. It offers gently used

clothing to families who need a little extra

help. You must make an appointment with

Cathy Michaels (554-2273) before you can

“shop” at the Clothe’s Closet.

If you have any clean, gently worn clothing

(especially jeans for older children and teens)

you would like to donate, you can bring them to the

Prairie office or drop them off at Nelson Elementary.