Week at a Glance
Week of August 10-14
Monday, November 2
- Start of School Psychologist Awareness Week
- 5th Grade Outdoor Education (rescheduled due to rain on 10/15/26)
Tuesday, November 3
- Election Day - E Learning Day
Wednesday, November 4
- Vision and Hearing Screening
Thursday, November 5
- Home and School Executive Board Meeting 1 pm
Friday, November 6
- End of 1st Trimester
- Spirit Day - wear green
Monday, November 9
- Ordering for Prairie paver begins (order now through January)
Tuesday, November 10
- Home and School Meeting 9 am, MPR
- Community Core Chat 6-7 pm, LC
Wednesday, November 11
- Veterans Day Assembly 9 am
Once your child exits the vehicle, if there is space, please pull all the way forward in the drop-off lane before you merge back into traffic. This will provide space for the drivers behind you to pull forward and drop off their child while you are merging back into traffic.
Prairie’s annual fall costume parade and classroom parties are scheduled for Friday, October 30th. Below are a few reminders to ensure a wonderful experience for all Prairie students.
Costume Expectations:
- Costumes may be brought to school in a bag and students will change prior to the start of the parade. Please use your best judgment and send simple costumes that children can easily change into for the parade.
- Prairie is a latex free building. Costumes containing latex are NOT ALLOWED.
- Costumes should be school appropriate. Please avoid costumes that are overly scary, depict violence, or those that would frighten our youngest learners. While masks may be worn for the parade only, they should not impact a student’s ability to see and must follow the same expectations for costumes. Face painting is not allowed. If a costume is deemed inappropriate for the school setting, the student will be asked to participate in the clothing he or she wore to school.
- No costume weapons of any kind may be brought to school. Please leave any weapons that may have come with your child’s costume at home.
Using the Drop-Off Lane on 10/30: Please keep costume bags inside the vehicle with your child rather than in the trunk. Our Parent Safety Patrol volunteers will be at the curb ready to assist any ghosts, goblins, or princesses with extra bags as they exit the car.
Using the Trunk: If your child's costume needs to be stored in the trunk, please park in a designated parking spot to safely unload your vehicle.
Thank you for your cooperation in keeping our drop-off lane moving smoothly and safely!
Fall Parade:
The parade will begin inside and then students will exit through Door 1 around 1:30 before heading towards the South blacktop. Parents are invited to observe the parade at the front of the school or on the South blacktop. Please arrive by 1:20 pm so you don't miss the parade. Students will re-enter the building through Door 6. Classroom parties will begin at the conclusion of the parade.
In the event of inclement weather, the outside parade will be canceled. A Talk 203 will be sent if the parade is canceled.
*Please note that children do not need to wear costumes to participate in the parade.
Room Party Volunteers:
In keeping with district security procedures, the names of all room party volunteers will be submitted to the main office prior to the party. Name badges will be pre-printed for all volunteers and be available for pick up in the front foyer. Remember, only parents that are scheduled to work the classroom parties will be allowed into the building during that time. All volunteers will enter through Door 1.
Parking:
PLEASE follow all parking restrictions during the parade. Be aware that the buses for our multi-needs students pick up outside of Door 3. When those buses enter Prairie, each bus needs to swing around for pick-up and exit. Please do not create parking spaces and use only those spaces that are designated as parking.
The DuPage County Health Department (DCHD) will be conducting vision and hearing screenings on Wednesday, November 4. Students in preschool, kindergarten, and grades 2 and 8 will receive a screening for vision and hearing from staff of the DCHD (unless we have a kindergarten vision examination on file). Hearing screenings are conducted in preschool and in kindergarten through third grade. Special education students are also screened yearly. If students are absent or fail any of the screenings on November 4, they will be re-screened on Wednesday, November 18. Parents of students meeting referral criteria will be contacted via US mail after Nov 18. Parents/guardians may request additional vision and/or hearing screening by contacting Prairie’s School Nurse, Jill Accardo, RN, PEL-CSN at 630-637-4031 or jaccardo@naperville203.org.
District CORE Chats will be held for the Prairie community on November 10 from 6:00-7:00 p.m. in the LC. CORE Chats are a facilitated, 30–45 minute small-group conversations hosted across district school sites. Designed to prioritize active listening, these sessions ensure every participant’s voice is heard.
Topics for CORE Chats include the following:
- Future Readiness & Innovation
- Building & Preserving Trust
- Balancing Tradition with Evolution
Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, October 27th is World Occupational Therapy Day. Prairie is so lucky to have two wonderful occupational therapists this year: Ms. Hannah Arzadon and Ms. Hope Brainard. Thank you Ms. Arzadon and Ms. Brainard for all of the help you give both students and staff! Home and School is recognizing each of our amazing occupational therapists with a card and gift. If you would like to contact either of our OTs to let them know how much you appreciate them, their emails are below:
Tuesday, October 27th is also School Bus Driver Appreciation Day! We are very fortunate to have wonderful bus drivers for the 5 buses that arrive to Prairie daily: Mr. Horace Lai (Bus 58WC), Mr. Scott Leyden (Bus 24), Mr. Ray Morris (Bus 113), Mr. Lamont Peterson (Bus 102WC), and Ms. Joan Schaeffer (Bus 10). Thank you bus drivers for making sure students arrive to and from school safely each day! Home and School is recognizing each of our awesome bus drivers with a card and gift. If your child is a bus rider, please consider making a card for the bus driver or saying thank you. Parents are also encouraged to email the bus drivers to say thank you. Their emails are below.
hlai@naperville203.org, sleyden@naperville203.org, rmorris@naperville203.org, lamontpeterson@naperville203.org, and jschaeffer@naperville203.org
Home and School also wanted to take this opportunity to thank our amazing crossing guard Mr. Ken Nelson for all of his hard work making sure that students get to school safely each day! Home and School will be recognizing Mr. Ken with a card and gift. Parents and students are encouraged to say thank you and/or make a card for Mr. Ken that you can hand to him at his corner! Thank you Mr. Ken for all of your help keeping Prairie students and families safe on their way to school!
In honor of Veterans Day, join the Prairie 5th Grade Girl Scouts Troops and Prairie Student Council in collecting items for care packages that will be sent to deployed service members.
️When: Nov. 2-13
Where: Collection boxes in the Prairie Elementary front office
What: View the list of urgently needed items here.
Let’s show our gratitude—one package at a time!
YMHFA equips adults with the skills and confidence to recognize, understand, and respond to mental health and substance use challenges in youth ages 12–18, while connecting them to appropriate support and resources.
Training details:
Date: Monday, November 23rd
Time: 9:00AM - 2:30PM
Location: D203 Administration Center 203 W Hillside Road Naperville, IL
Register here
Please see the attached flyer for more information
2026 Veterans Day Assembly- November 11th 9 am
We are honored to welcome our Prairie parents and grandparents who are current or former members of the United States Armed Forces to join us for our Veterans Day Assembly on Wednesday November 11th in the morning. This special event gives our students and school community an opportunity to recognize and thank the veterans and service members who have served our country.
Veterans Day Assembly RSVP:
Please complete the RSVP form to let us know if you or a family member will be attending. Each Veteran and guest will need to check in at the front desk upon arrival.
If you have not previously visited a District 203 school and had your driver's license or state ID scanned through our visitor management system, please bring a valid ID with you so it can be scanned at check-in.
RSVP Deadline: October 31 at 3:00 p.m. The form must be submitted by the deadline so that we can make appropriate accommodations for all of our guests.
We look forward to honoring our veterans and service members together as a school community!
Please contact Hillary Lafferty (prairieschoolvp@gmail.com) with any questions, changes or submissions for the WAAG. Submissions for the following week's WAAG are due by noon on the prior Wednesday.
Here are some links you may find useful:
- October 2026 Lunch Menu
- Prairie Lunch and Play Sign Up
- Prairie Spirit Wear
- Prairie Home Page
- Prairie Home & School Facebook page
- Prairie Instagram Page
- Prairie GroupMe
- Prairie Twitter / X
- Directory Spot Access Information
- 2026 - 2027 District 203 Calendar
- My Ride K-12
- District 203 Virtual Backpack
- WAAG Archives
- Home & School Home Page