Highlight of the Week
On Thursday, we hosted our 2nd Principal Coffee of the school year. Our topic this week was "Technology at Prairie." Mrs. Linda Litvan, Prairie's Technology Instructional Coach, reviewed for parents the many various types of technology and web-based applications our students use on a daily basis. Parents were very excited to learn about all the ways their children are using technology at Prairie. On our technology tour, parents were able to see the technology in action and watch students using iTouches, MacBooks, and the interactive white board in Mrs. Spivack's class. We stopped by Miss Cotter's classroom as well and the students walked our parent visitors through their class blog. Parents were also able to see the new ByteSpeed laptop computers that will be going into our classrooms after spring break. This generous technology donation from our PTO, 60 ByteSpeed computers in all, brings each classroom set of computers up to six laptops.
A huge thank you goes out to Mrs. Litvan for her excellent presentation. Her knowledge and expertise in the area of technology education for parents, staff, and students is truly appreciated.
Teacher Institute Day
Teachers throughout the
District worked extremely hard at the Institute Day on Tuesday. The focus of the day was on reviewing our new
reading targets that were implemented this year. As you may recall, these new learning targets
originated from the Common Core, which is a set of proposed national targets
developed by experts in the field of education.
On Tuesday teachers had the opportunity to share how they instructed and
assessed these targets this year. Grade
level teams revised the targets to make them clearer and in certain instances
they increased the rigor or altered when they would be taught next school year. The collaboration that occurred on Tuesday
was truly exceptional! It was certainly
a day well spent.
PTO Highlight
The Art Auction will be held on Friday, April 20th. To learn more, please visit the
PTO Newsletter. We hope to see you there!
Spring Conferences
Parent/teacher conferences are an important
opportunity for educators to share your child’s progress with you. It is also a time for you to ask questions
and plan additional ways to support your child with the classroom teacher. Just a reminder that spring parent teacher
conferences will be held on Wednesday, April 4, from 5:00-7:00 PM and Thursday,
April 5,th from 2:00-7:00 PM.
Students will be dismissed on Wednesday at 2:00 PM. Students will also not have school on
Thursday and Friday to accommodate for conferences. We look forward to meeting with you then.
Incoming 6th Grade
Students
- Click here
for information regarding the 6th grade placement criteria for
the 2012-2013 school year.
- Incoming 6th Grade Parent Evening * April 10th * Twin Groves Cafeteria * 7:00
Placement Requests for the 2012 - 2013 School Year
It’s time to start thinking ahead to the
2012-2013 school year. Creating balanced class lists that meet the needs
of all students is a tremendously difficult job that takes many hours of
thoughtful dialogue between classroom teachers, administrators, and other staff
members. We at Prairie take student
classroom placement very seriously. The process for class list creation
is as follows:
· First, teachers think
about the social and academic needs of each of their current students,
recording pertinent information to assist in the decision making process.
· Next, teachers meet
together as grade level teams to form class lists that are balanced in terms of
academic, social, and emotional needs as well as considering friendships and
other areas. This is no easy task and often takes several meetings.
Teachers consider each child’s personality, academic needs, friendship
patterns, and so on as they make a match for each individual child.
Specialists, the specials team, and I collaborate with the teams as needed during
this process as well.
· Each grade level team
types a draft set of class lists that are then submitted to me. One at a
time, I will consider each student and his/her placement. At this
time, parent input is also considered. Any changes in the draft lists
are reviewed by the classroom teachers to ensure balance.
· Final class lists are
then created with summer changes for move ins/outs reflected.
This same process happens at first grade.
Willow Grove creates the class lists for our incoming kindergartners enrolled
there and I will add in students who attend private kindergartens. Our goal
is to create balanced class lists that promote the success of each child.
The process benefits all students. Because of the input and thought given
by teachers, parents, and administrators, we are very reluctant to make changes
once this process occurs, as removing or moving one child can disrupt the
balance of a class, impacting all students.
The Prairie staff welcomes any insight you wish to
share about your child’s strengths, needs, and learning style. We will take
into consideration pertinent information about your child’s learning style
and needs, received on or before Friday,
April 27, 2012. While we welcome your input, specific teacher requests
will not be honored. Please put your thoughts in writing and address them
to me at cpfaff@kcsd96.org.
