The Prairie Dell Elementary Post

The 26-27 school year is off to a fantastic start here at Prairie Dell! The first two weeks have been filled with building relationships, adjusting to new routines, teaching our ROAR expectations with students, and lots of learning.

Now that we’ve settled into our routines, September brings a new energy. Classrooms are getting into a steady rhythm, expectations are becoming second nature, and our focus shifts toward deep learning, growing our brains, and doing our Wildcat best every day.

One of the things I love most about Prairie Dell is the people who make this place special. Our staff brings so much care, energy, and dedication to their work each day, and it is evident in the relationships they build with students and the learning happening throughout our building.

I am incredibly proud to be a part of the Prairie Dell family. Thank you to our students, staff, and families for making the start of this school year such a great one. As always, we are here to support our students and families. Please do not hesitate to stop by the office or give us a call if we can assist in any way.

Ashley Smith

Prairie Dell Principal

Our cookie dough fundraiser kicks off on Monday, September 14th. This is our major fundraiser for the year that we use to help us pay for student field trips, student recognition/awards, and other things that support our students and teachers. We will be sending a separate email with more details about our fundraiser. Thank you in advance for your participation and support!

Packets will be sent home with students on Monday, September 14th with details. Students have a lot of opportunities to earn prizes for the items they sell.

We screen every student three times a year (fall, winter, and spring) to evaluate where students are at in their learning and what kind of growth each student is demonstrating throughout the year.

We are working on finishing up our fall screening window right now. We use our screening data to create instructional plans for students and identify interventions for students if needed. Throughout the year, you may hear teachers talk about your child's results.

Our students kicked off the year with PBIS Bootcamp, where they learned and practiced what it means to show their R.O.A.R. throughout all areas of our school! Students rotated through common areas including the hallways, cafeteria, bathrooms, learning stairs, and even the school bus to practice our expectations in real-life settings.

Having a common language and consistent expectations across our school helps students know exactly what it means to be respectful, responsible, positive, and take ownership wherever they are. Just like any new skill, expectations become stronger when we teach them, practice them, and reinforce them, and PBIS Bootcamp gave our students the opportunity to do just that!

A special thank you to Mr. Goddard and First Student for arranging for a bus to be on-site so our students could practice bus expectations in a real-world setting. We appreciate the partnership and the opportunity to help our students show their ROAR.

What better way to celebrate our first full week of school than with a ROAR Rally?!

Our Wildcats spent time practicing our assembly expectations, celebrating our first Wildcat Wows for staff and students, and learning about all the different ways we recognize students throughout the school year. It would't be a true ROAR Rally if we didn't end with some FUN! Our staff and students went head-to-head in a Hungry Hungry Hippos game!

Our students always love getting to be part of the action—and they especially love seeing their teachers join in on the fun!

We have several more ROAR Rallies and assemblies planned throughout the year, and this was the perfect kickoff to a year of celebrating, recognizing, and showing our assembly ROAR expectations!

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based, tiered framework that aims to establish the foundation for delivering regular, proactive support and preventing unwanted behaviors. During our first weeks of school, we will spend time learning and practicing our school wide behaviors. This common language creates consistency and a unified support for expected student behavior. Children thrive when they have consistent, predictable expectations and consequences. These are some of the components of the PBIS Framework:

• Students can earn Paw Points and Paw Parties for showing their ROAR
• Students can earn Wildcat Wows for showing their ROAR
• Students of the Month: Students are selected monthly for being model ROAR students.
• Prairie Dell Pride T Shirt Award: Students are selected monthly for academic recognition (growing their brains) and for doing their Wildcat Best on academics
• We celebrate as a whole building every quarter for meeting PBIS goals with ROAR Rallies

We show our ROAR at Prairie Dell Elementary. We teach and expect our students to be RESPECTFUL, take OWNERSHIP, have a positive ATTITUDE, and be RESPONSIBLE.

Mark your calendar! Fall school pictures are scheduled for Wednesday, September 16th. All orders will be handled through Wagner online platform.

School: Prairie Dell Elementary

Prairie Dell Elementary is excited to introduce a new weekly resource for our families, The Weekly Wildcat Wisdom!

Each week, families will receive a quick, practical Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) tip that connects to skills our students are learning at school.

Check us out and follow our Facebook page for weekly updates!

Don't forget! School is dismissed one hour early every Friday for staff professional development. Our dismissal processes begin at 1:45.

Attached you will find information about our Transitional Kindergarten Program. We are fortunate to be able to offer this program at Prairie Dell to benefit our youngest learners. If you think your child would be a good fit for the program or if you have additional questions, please contact the office at 636-583-1200 or email me at ashley.smith@unionrxi.org.