PRM School Rocker

Greetings PRM Families,

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2026! We were excited to welcome students and staff back to Pleasant Ridge Montessori School on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, as we began the second half of the school year. The care, joy, and energy our staff bring to the building each day continue to make PRM a place where children feel supported, challenged, and valued. Thank you for being such strong partners in your child’s learning journey.

January is a time for new beginnings and renewed focus. Teachers are reestablishing routines, setting goals with students, and supporting a smooth transition back into the learning environment after winter break. These resets are essential as we prepare students for a strong second semester. We encourage families to talk with their children about goals, perseverance, and the importance of giving their best effort each day, helping families feel empowered and hopeful about their child's growth.

Second quarter report card grades went live in Focus on Friday, January 9, 2026. Report cards provide an opportunity to celebrate progress, reflect on growth, and discuss next steps with your child. If you have questions or would like additional support, please reach out to your child’s teacher.

We also want to remind families of the importance of attendance and punctuality. Instruction begins each morning promptly, and arriving on time helps students start their day calmly and connected to their classroom community. Please make every effort to ensure your child arrives at school by 7:40am so they do not miss valuable learning and relationship-building time, reinforcing their role in their child's success.

As we move into the heart of winter, we resume our WIN (What I Need) Block on January 26, 2026, which provides targeted intervention and enrichment to support every learner. Consistent attendance is critical so students can fully benefit from this instructional time.

The new year brings many opportunities for growth, connection, and celebration within our school community. Please be sure to review the upcoming dates and events in this newsletter so you can plan to participate in school and family activities throughout the winter and spring, helping families feel connected and engaged.

Thank you for your continued trust, support, and partnership. We look forward to all that 2026 has in store for our PRM community.

With gratitude,

Principal Simpson

Email: simpsoa@cpsboe.k12.oh.us

Event updates throughout the month are available on www.prmrocks.org/calendar

*You can subscribe to this calendar on your personal device by finding the green “subscribe” button on the top right side of the calendar page and following the directions.

Tuesday, January 6 – School Resumes; start of Third Quarter

Wednesday, January 14 – LSDMC Meeting @ 3:00pm (virtual)

Wednesday, January 14 – PTO Meeting @ 6:00pm at PRM (Library)

Wednesday, January 14 – Foundation Meeting @ 7:15pm at PRM (Library)

Monday, January 19 – No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Thursday, January 22 – Coffee w/ the Principal from 8:00-9:00am at PRM

Thursday, January 22 – Restaurant of the Month from 4:00-10:00pm at High Grain (Silverton)

Tuesday, January 27 – Booster Meeting @ 7:00pm at Wiseguy Lounge (upstairs Goodfellas)

Monday, February 2 – ILT Meeting @ 2:45pm at PRM

Saturday, February 7 – PRoM Fundraiser from 7:00-10:00pm in the PRM Gym (adults only)

Monday, February 9 – No School – Staff Conference Day

Wednesday, February 11– LSDMC Meeting @ 3:00pm (virtual)

Wednesday, February 11 – PTO Meeting @ 6:00pm at PRM (Library)

Wednesday, February 11 – Foundation Meeting @ 7:15pm at PRM (Library)

Thursday, February 12 – Parent Teacher Conferences from 3:00-6:00pm at PRM

Monday, February 16 – No School – Presidents’ Day

We’ve begun the year 2026 and the third quarter of the school year. We will continue to go outside to recess if at all possible. Please send your child in with coats, hats, and gloves if they have some at home. Kindergarteners will be doing two assessments this month (winter mid-year diagnostics – see dates below). As always, let your classroom teacher know if you have any questions or concerns.

iReady Math Assessment (for kindergarten) – January 13 and 14

iReady Reading Assessment (for kindergarten) – January 20 and 21

The 6-9 Team is ready to dive back into our academic learning and build our classroom communities. Students will review and practice classroom and school-wide expectations over the first few days. They will begin their phonics, fluency, fraction, division, and cultural lessons. Many students are traveling to Green Acres this month for a field trip. Check with your classroom teacher if you need more information on those specific dates.

We are finishing up our middle-of-the-year assessments with first and second-grade students. WIN lessons will also start again this month with new groups using that middle of the year data.

We request that you help your child prepare for these upcoming chilly days. Please encourage them to wear coats, hats, and gloves to school. Many students still arrive with a thin zip-up jacket and then complain when we have outdoor recess. If you need any winter clothing, please let us know.

Also, please monitor your students' backpacks for any toys. With the cold weather, we will have indoor recess, and students often bring toys from home to play with. This can cause peer-to-peer conflicts, and to prevent that, the team needs your help. Classrooms already have many different options for indoor recess: board games, cards, crafts, videos, dance parties, and technology. We are so lucky to have these choices, and therefore, we do not need any toys from home. Please reach out to your classroom teacher if you have any specific questions.

We hope all of our 9-12 families had a restful and joyful break. We are excited to begin the third quarter and look forward to a strong start as students settle back into their routines. As a reminder, students are expected to be in uniform every school day. Additionally, students may not use cell phones or smart watches during the school day. These devices should be turned off while at school. For more detailed information regarding uniform expectations and Cincinnati Public Schools’ phone and smartwatch policies, please refer to the student handbook. Our 6th graders are eagerly anticipating their annual Camp Kern field trip! This year, students will attend Camp Kern on February 25th, 26th, and 27th. Important information has been sent home in Wednesday folders. If you have any questions or need additional details, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s homeroom teacher. Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to a wonderful third quarter together!

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In music class, our 9-12 classes are starting on our guitar unit! Parents, short fingernails make it easier to play guitar. Our 6-9 classes are identifying instruments and classifying them into families. Our 3-6 classes are using movement and instruments to explore differences in music and to learn the correct words to describe them (high and low, fast and slow, long and short, soft and loud).

Moana Jr. rehearsals are now on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school! Parents, please check the Moana Jr. page on ClassDojo for rehearsal info, including which production groups attend which rehearsals. We are also seeking donations for costumes and props:
-blue fabric (sheer or opaque)
-silk tropical vegetation (bright flowers, bushes, palm trees, tall grass, etc).
-raffia
-red and orange fabric
-tropical printed fabric
-baskets
-beige fabric (for a boat sail)
-plastic coconuts
-glow-in-the-dark paint
-poles (to make spears)
-white tank tops (variety of sizes for 9-12-year-olds)
-chicken head hat
-pig nose/ears

-large sheets of foam rubber

Please reach out to Mrs. Wahl or Ms. Smith with donations or any questions.

PRM parents with children aged six months to five years: the Baldwin Music Education Center is now enrolling for the Winter/Spring Term! Music classes for littles help them develop in every way. Find more information here: https://baldwinmusiceducenter.com/

Coming Soon...

We hope everyone had a wonderful winter break! Imago is looking forward to all the new horizons in 2026, including winter lessons on seed starting, spring units in Outdoor Education, Outdoor Explorers, and the Outdoor Refresh project. Plans for the PRM Garden redesign are underway! The goal is to create an enriching, up-to-date outdoor classroom and playscape for PRM students. To learn more about how you can support the Outdoor Refresh project, visit this page on the PRM website.

Happy 2026! We’d like to start by thanking everyone who supported PRM during the first half of the school year. It truly takes a village to make a school successful, and we appreciate the support offered by many – no contribution is too small. A huge thanks to Ashlee Tuke for being the champion of the Gingerbread Event, to Emily Lyons for being the champion of Staff Appreciation Meals, and to all the families and friends who attended Winter Fest and the Hand-Made Market to support our students.

The PTO is excited to host another Staff Appreciation lunch in February to celebrate our incredible staff. More details on those specifics will be shared soon. We are also grateful for the Foundation's continued support and applaud their ongoing efforts to strengthen our school. We can’t wait to keep the momentum going, so please mark your calendars and join us for our next PTO meeting on January 14 at 6:00pm in the PRM library. We hope to see you there!

Happy New Year from the PRM Foundation! Thank you all for helping us close out 2025 with such a successful Silent Auction of Experiences. With your help, we raised $3,673 for PRM. A special thanks goes out to our champions, Clint and Sara Bourgeois, and Lauren Farquhar, as well as all who donated experiences – you all made this fundraiser possible! We also continue to benefit from your textile donations in the Clothing Recycling Bins located near the front driveway. We are doing so well, they’ve added a second bin!

Coming up this month, we have our January Restaurant of the Month at High Grain in Silverton. Join us on Thursday, January 22, from 4-10 PM, when 5% of all Taproom sales will go towards PRM. No need to mention anything - just enjoy a night out with your family and friends!

And last but most important, mark your calendars now for the first PRoM Fundraiser on Saturday, February 7, from 7-10 PM in the school gym. This adults-only, Sneakerball-themed event promises to be a fun community fundraiser with lots of music, dancing, food and drink, raffles, and priceless PRoM memories! Talk to your friends and neighbors and book those babysitters now! You can also follow along via our Instagram page at @prom_foundation. This fundraiser will directly benefit our 2025-2026 initiative - the Outdoor Project. We can't wait to celebrate our amazing school community with you all!

Reach out to prsfpres@gmail.com with any questions and join us at our next Foundation meeting on Wednesday, January 14, @ 7:15 pm in the PRM library.

ILT meetings take place on most first and third Mondays of each month at 2:45pm at PRM and are always open to all who wish to attend. However, there are several “No School Mondays” in January and February, which make our meeting schedule a bit challenging and result in minimal updates.

Our next LSDMC meeting will be virtual – please join us on Google Meet on Wednesday, January 14, from 3:00-4:30pm. Everyone in the community is invited to drop in to listen, learn, and ask questions as Principal Simpson and Ms. Monique, the PRM Resource Coordinator, go into greater detail on test scores, community resources, and more. With the start of the second semester, LSDMC is the space to ask questions about policy changes, voice your concerns about public school funding, and stay informed about the CPS and PRM One Plan goals as the district prepares for the next school year. If you know prospective PRM families with questions about the school, these are also informative meetings for them to attend.

Happy New Year from PRM Athletics! Basketball is in full swing now, and our teams will host games on January 10th, 17th, 18th, 25th, 30th, and 31st at PRM. Teams will play regular-season games into mid-February and culminate their season with a weekend tournament February 27-March 1. Full schedules can be searched by home games or by team on the CPYBL website.

Spring sports registration will open on Friday, January 23, @ noon. This includes spring soccer (league and Little Roadrunners), spring volleyball, track and field, and hopefully baseball. ***We are still in need of a new baseball coordinator and can’t open registration until this is finalized. If you are interested in being the baseball coordinator or learning more about the role, please reach out to prmathletics@gmail.com asap! Registration and updates will be available on the Athletics webpage.

Lastly, our quarterly Booster Meeting will be on Tuesday, January 27, at 7:00pm at Wiseguy Lounge (upstairs Goodfellas), and we welcome new participation – anyone interested in athletics is invited.

PRM Cub Scouts have an exciting spring planned. Activities include a spring campout, Pinewood Derby, rocket launch, and more adventures. There’s something for every kid!

Our first meeting of 2026 is on Thursday, January 15, at 6:00 PM in the PRM Cafeteria. Scouts will break into dens and work on Cub Scout Adventures. Email cubpack25prm@gmail.com for details or to sign up.

• Help is Available for you!

If you need assistance with food, housing, health care, utilities, jobs, childcare, or other expenses or needs, feel free to contact Ms. Allison Quinter, School Social Worker, or me, Monique Crosby- Resource Coordinator.

• Looking for something to do- Check out Michaels. They have in-store and online free classes for the entire family. Click on the link and see what you can get into. Link: https://www.michaels.com/classes

• Skating + Bumper Cars are Now Open-November 1st-February 16th- Click on the link to reserve your skating time.

Ice Rink Link: https://myfountainsquare.com/ice-rink/

• Festival of Lights- Cincinnati Zoo: The zoo has transformed into a Wild Lights show for all to enjoy. The show runs from November 20, 2025, through January 4, 2026. The activities run from 4 pm to 9 pm on weekdays and from 10 pm to 9 pm on weekends. Click on the link for tickets and more information. https://cincinnatizoo.org/events/festival-of-lights/

Please keep the electronic link to the Code of Conduct handy for your records. There will not be paper copies printed this school year.

All parents/guardians are asked to submit this form to acknowledge receipt and review of the Code of Conduct.

We must be consistent in acknowledging and enforcing our school uniform policy. Our uniform policy is liberal enough to include several options for families. All PRM Spirit Wear is considered part of the school uniform.

While we don't like to take time away from instruction to deal with uniforms. We must all be consistent to ensure this doesn't become a major issue during the school year.

Please see the policy below and in the PRM Student Handbook.

Cincinnati Public Schools:

513-363-0123

Cincinnati Children's Hospital PIRC intake line:

513-636-4124

Suspected Child Abuse or Neglect:

513-241-KIDS

Suicide Prevention Hotline:

1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Crisis Textline:

Text 4HOPE to 741741

Disaster Distress Helpline:

1-800-985-5990

Domestic Violence Hotline via Women Helping Women:

513-381-5610

Our Character Program centers around:

Respect, Ownership, Compassion, Kindness and Safety, Safety, Safety!

Below are the three school-wide expectations that we expect students to follow throughout all parts of our learning community. Please support us by reinforcing these at home.

• Be Respectful
• Be Responsible
• Be a Problem Solver

Email: simpsoa@cpsboe.k12.oh.us
Website: www.prmrocks.org
Location: 5945 Montgomery Road
Phone: 513-363-4400