Grand Prairie

December 2025

Happy Holidays to all our wonderful Grand Prairie families! We’re excited to sprinkle some extra joy throughout December as we bring back our Warm Winter Giving Tree. Beginning December 1st, families who wish to donate new hats, scarves, or mittens may send them with their young learners to be placed on our tree. All items will be donated to a local agency supporting families in need of warm winter essentials.

Our staff is ready to make the most of our three special weeks together! On Friday, December 12th, we’re thrilled to welcome Hickory Creek Middle School for their annual Choral Holiday Tour, filling our halls with their joyful songs. Then on Monday, December 15th, our first graders will travel to the Beverly Arts Center to see Mrs. Claus – Holidays Around the World, a perfect match for our global celebrations.

Speaking of global celebrations, we’re excited to explore Holidays Around the World with all K–2 students from December 8–19. Students will learn about Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan and Eid, Las Posadas, Saint Lucia, Chinese New Year, and Christmas traditions from Italy, Australia, and the United States. Teachers will reach out with classroom-specific details so families know what exciting activities are coming.

Holiday Spirit week Flyer:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGXm_zx2AA/1enOvDszlG2riulwpNAuWg/view?utm_content=DAGXm_zx2AA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h655e386fe6

Our final day before winter break, Friday, December 19th, will be filled with warm and festive fun. Our preschool families (AM and PM) are invited to build gingerbread houses from 9:00–10:00am, while our K–2 students will enjoy a schoolwide sing-along led by Mrs. Turnbough. Classroom parties for K–2 will take place from 12:35–1:25pm. If you prefer your child not participate in the winter party, simply contact their teacher and an alternate activity will be provided.

As a final reminder, Grand Prairie will dismiss one hour early on Friday, December 19th. Car riders will begin walking out around 1:40pm, followed by buses at 1:50pm. We wish every GP family a safe, joyful winter break and look forward to welcoming our students back on Tuesday, January 6th!

Please take a moment to check the Lost and Found table for any missing items.
Helpful tip: Label your child’s jackets, water bottles, and other personal belongings with their name. This makes it much easier for us to return lost items quickly.

We’re looking forward to an exciting and festive month in second grade! Throughout December, we’ll be celebrating Holidays Around the World, exploring a variety of cultures and the many ways people celebrate this special time of year. Along the way, students will discover that even though traditions may differ, many of the values and celebrations that bring people together are similar across the globe!

A closer look inside our classroom:

In writing, our second graders will continue their work in the narrative writing unit, focusing on crafting engaging stories with inner dialogue, experimenting with creative beginnings and endings, and refining their editing skills to make their writing shine.

In math, we’ll continue working toward mastering addition and subtraction within 1,000 and applying those skills to solve word problems within 100. Students are developing strong strategies and confidence as mathematicians!

In reading, we’ll explore how illustrations enhance storytelling, helping readers deepen their understanding of characters, settings, and plot development.

December promises to be a month full of learning, creativity, and celebration. We wish you and your family a joyful holiday season and a happy, healthy New Year!

During the month of November, first grade readers have been hard at work learning how to ask and answer questions as they read a fiction story. Students learned that the words “who, what, why, when, where, and how” are words we can use to form a question. Readers can ask questions about the characters, settings, and events in the story. They can think about what they are wondering before, during, and after reading. During the Month of December, readers will continue to ask and answer questions while reading, this time with nonfiction texts. We love listening to Jack Hartmann as he helps us learn how to be good readers! Students will listen to books about many different holidays that are celebrated around the world. First graders will explore Ramadan, Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and more. We are now in Module 2 in math, and our mathematicians are learning about the make ten strategies to solve addition problems to 20. Once they learn to make ten strategies, they will then learn how to take from ten when subtracting. Field trips are always exciting, and we are looking forward to our first-grade field trip to the Beverly Arts Center to see the holiday musical Mrs. Claus! We are entering a very exciting time of year!

This month kindergarten had so much fun and learned so much!

We kicked off the month with an exciting sock hop for our 50th day of school! We celebrated our 50th day of school with 50’s day crowns, dancing to songs from the fifties, colored 50 days of school pictures, we played the limbo and had fun with hula hoops! We absolutely loved seeing everyone dressed up for the occasion as well!

In math we have been working hard learning about shapes, and how to use directional words! We have learned that shapes are everywhere and make up so many things!

In writing we had a great conversation about wants versus needs. We are also working on our narrative stories using our inspiration pages!

In ELA we are learning how to be super readers! We have many superpowers we can use when it comes to learning how to read!

Ms. Kelsey's Class Newsletter

Our preschool class had an amazing time at our Fall Party. We had amazing volunteers that created fun crafts and activities for the students. The students were able to do different stations with our volunteers. The stations included crafts, bozo buckets, pinning nose games, and ring toss.

Project Begin also had an amazing time during our Fall Parade. The students loved seeing everyone in the halls waving and cheering for them. They did such a great job walking through the whole school!

What’s Happening in Stem?

During the month of November, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade STEM students used various materials to build homes from different Native American Tribes.

December 4: Chorus Booster Hot Lunch

December 11: Band Boosters Hot Lunch

• FSP Holiday Shop 5:00-7:30

December 12: Smoothie Day

December 15: 1st Grade Field Trip to Mrs. Claus

December 16: BOE Meeting

December 18: FSP Hot Lunch

December 19: Early Release @ 1:50

• Winter Party 12:35-1:25

December 22 - January 5: No School

January 6: Classes resume