Grand Prairie May Newsletter

Hello Grand Prairie Families!

We hope you're all enjoying the sunny hints of spring that April has brought us! As we step into May, our students are excited to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We will learn about the AAPI characters and creators such as Cassandra Cain, Luen Yang and Jim Lee; who have enriched the DC Universe to help make it a diverse, inclusive place to be a superhero! Additionally, we’ll be embracing the spirit of Citizenship throughout May, inviting all students and staff to join in by wearing their favorite colors on Thursdays!

Get ready, because May is gearing up to be a SUPER busy month at Grand Prairie!

To kick things off, our first graders will host “Dining with Dudes” on Friday, May 2nd, from 12:00-1:00 PM! This special event allows our first graders to enjoy a fun-filled time eating and playing with the special men in their lives!

Then, on Friday, May 9th, our Kindergarten classrooms will hold their annual Mother’s Day Tea at 1:00 PM. This delightful event is a wonderful way for our young learners to celebrate the amazing ladies in their lives!

Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 15th! Grand Prairie will open its doors from 4:30 PM-6:00 PM for our Kindergarten Here We Come event. Parents and incoming kindergarten students (or new faces at GP) will get a chance to explore our school, hear from the principals, visit a Kindergarten classroom, and embark on a fun scavenger hunt through the building using QR codes to learn more about Grand Prairie!

On Friday, May 16th, our second graders will have their exciting step-up day at Chelsea School! These “almost 3rd graders” can’t wait to visit their future school and classrooms to discover all the fun adventures awaiting them. Plus, our first-grade students will host their annual reading celebration, inviting first-grade families to roll out the red carpet and celebrate all their reading achievements! The celebration kicks off at 1:15 PM.

And who’s ready for Field Day 2025? Our kindergarten and first-grade students will celebrate on Wednesday, May 21st, while our second graders will have their turn on Thursday, May 22nd. Stay tuned for specific times for each grade level, which will be sent home soon! A big thank you to FSP for generously providing Field Day T-shirts for all our students. We also appreciate families for quickly submitting their size selections!

A final reminder from the District Office to register for the 25-26 School Year:

You should have received a letter in the mail with a SNAP code to enter in this registration link.

If you did not receive a SNAP code, please ensure that you have verified your residency for next year with the district registrar.

Any questions can be directed to cbrooks@fsd157c.org.

Let’s make May a month full of fun and celebration at Grand Prairie!

Some Important dates for families are listed below!

• Friday, May 2nd – 1st Grade Dining with Dudes
• Tuesday, May 6th and Wednesday, May 7th – FastBridge Testing - Classroom teachers will communicate dates your 1st or 2nd grader will be testing for Reading and Math.
• Friday, May 9th – Kindergarten Mother’s Day Tea, 1:00pm & Preschool VIP Day (AM: 9:45-10:45, PM: 1:25-2:25)
• Monday, May 12th – 1st Grade Green visits Lake Katherine Nature Center
• Tuesday, May 13th - 1st Grade Gold visits Lake Katherine Nature Center & Purple Kindergarten to LWSRA park.
• Wednesday, May 14th – 1st Grade Purple visits Lake Katherine Nature Center
• Thursday, May 15th – Kindergarten Here We Come, 4:30pm-6:00pm
• Friday, May 16th – 2nd Grade Step Up Day to Chelsea & 1st Grade Reading Celebration, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
• Monday, May 19th – Gold Kindergarten to LWSRA park
• Tuesday, May 20th – Green Kindergarten to LWSRA park
• Wednesday, May 21st – Kindergarten (9-11am) and 1st grade (12:35-2:35pm) Field Day
• Thursday, May 22nd – 2nd Grade (12:35-2:35pm) Field Day
• Friday, May 23rd – School Improvement Day, Students Dismissed at 11:25am. Preschool will NOT be in attendance on this day.
• Monday, May 26th – No School, Memorial Day

We are all looking forward to the many engaging activities that May is set to bring!

Spring is in full bloom at Grand Prairie! 2nd grade students in Mrs. Kora's class are excited for engaging and hands-on experiments with plants, flowers, and seeds! Students will learn about what plants need by designing an experiment to block sunlight and water. They will also have a chance to plant their own seeds and take care of their plants. There is so much excitement when they see how much their plants grew each night and over weekends! Students will also learn how seeds are dispersed. In one activity, they'll build their own helicopter seeds to show how seeds move in the wind. In another activity, they will make their own little "critter" covered in seeds to see how animals can disperse seeds when they travel. Students will have a blast with these exciting springtime experiments!

There’s a lot going on in May as we start to wrap up our First-Grade year! We’re practicing retelling stories! It’s important to make sure to retell in order, and to include many key details and the names of the characters. In math, the boys and girls are solving comparison word problems, using place value, and solving addition and subtraction problems up to 100. Phonics is more challenging as we learn about diphthongs such as oi/oy, aw/au and ou/ow. It wouldn’t be the end of the year without a bunch of fun and exciting activities planned including Field Day, Dining with Dudes, a fieldtrip to Lake Katherine and a Reading Celebration! So proud of all their growth this year!

What an incredible first year at Grand Prairie it has been for Kindergarteners! As we move into May and begin to close out the year, so much is still happening in (and out of) our classrooms!

Kinder friends are preparing something very special for those women who make our world go ‘round: our Moms & Special Ladies! Our annual Mother’s Day Tea event is one of the most memorable, heartwarming days of the year!

See you Friday, May 9th at 1:00 pm for a day you won’t soon forget!

Soon after, we kick off our Camp Read-A-Lot unit, where we become savvy campers by reading “under the stars” in the GP courtyard … with a blanket & stuffed animal, of course! We’ll also be sharing our favorite books from home while camping! We’ll go on a scavenger hunt in the “wilderness” & write about our adventures! We’ll also hunt for different nature words to discover new prefixes & suffixes in our word sums!

Here’s to a summer full of exploring, learning, & having fun!

See you next year in 1st Grade!

This month spring has sprung in preschool! The students in the project begin classroom are learning about the butterfly life cycle as they watch caterpillars build cocoons and transform into butterflies! The students in the Early Childhood classroom have been learning about eggs, chicks and bunnies. There are so many opportunities for fine motor and sensory play during the spring months as parents prepare their gardens and tend to their lawns. Preschoolers can build their fine motor skills by helping to water new plants at home using spray bottles. Using shovels, spoons, and even their fingers to place seeds in soil (tip: have them work on opposing their pointer finger to their thumb in a fine pincer grasp) are all great opportunities for students to build their hand and tool use skills!

Spring is here! Let's keep our kids focused on their math skills! One game that will keep your kids on their toes is I Have, You Need. Set a target number like 10 or 20 or even 100. Say I have 7 and ask what do you need? (Three would be the correct response for ten.) Repeat with various numbers 0-10. You could also compare the numbers to make 10 with the numbers to make 20. For example, for 6 you need 4 to make 10 and 14 to make 20. Allowing your children to discover those patterns will help them improve their sense of number. Anytime you can ask about naturally occurring groups and which groups has more or less, you will be discussing important mathematical concepts using the real world. Other activities that promote mathematical thinking are cooking/baking or playing card games and at the end asking how many more cards the winner had. The more you ask your children and listen to their responses instead of simply telling them the answers, the more your children will develop their mathematical thinking.

Thank you for beginning or continuing to partner with the Grand Prairie staff in implementing the concepts of the ZONES of REGULATION curriculum at home. It is our desire to come alongside families to help create an emotionally safe environment at home where students are learning to identify their emotions and utilize strategies to self-regulate. Calming strategies or tools are something we utilize frequently in all grades and classrooms at Grand Prairie. Students are able to “check-in" and change their name or symbol to a different zone color if they are having an emotion they want to express. When a student is not in the green zone, they are not only asked how they feel, but they are asked, “What do you need?” It is important for your student to not only check physiological symptoms when having an emotion but assess what strategy will help them to gain energy (blue zone) or calm down (yellow or red zone). As mentioned before, strategies that may work for one student may not work for another. Therefore, it is important to help your student practice and think about strategies when they are in a calm and happy state (green zone). Some ideas for strategies to try or practice include a variety of fidgets, stress balls, tactile items (e.g. kinetic sand, putty, or playdough), body movements (e.g. yoga stretches or wall pushes), and a variety of breathing methods. While we are unable to control some of the reactions in our bodies, breathing is one of the things that can be controlled. Deep breathing is a very beneficial strategy for parents and children when entering a situation with emotions that are not in the green zone. Some of the immediate benefits include reducing stress symptoms, calming the nervous system, lowering blood pressure, releasing physical and mental tension, slowing the heart rate, enabling clearer thinking, and sending signals to the brain to calm down and relax. Practicing deep breathing strategies is a fun activity for the whole family and can help develop skills that are beneficial when resolving conflicts and addressing behaviors. Below are some kid-friendly links to try at home to teach the art and benefits of deep breathing. Regulation practice = Family Bonding!

Rainbow Relaxation: Mindfulness for Children - YouTube

Relaxed Breathing Training, Version B

Calming Belly Breathing for Kids - Blowing Candles | Mindfulness - YouTube

Melting Exercise - Learn To Destress | Guided Meditation For Kids | Breathing Exercises | GoNoodle

May 1 - FSP Hot Lunch

May 2 - 1st Grade Dining with Dudes

May 6 - Fastbridge Reading Testing

May 7 - Fastbridge Math Testing

May 8 - ED Foundation Hot Lunch

May 9 - Kindergarten Mom's Tea 1:00pm

• Preschool VIP Day AM: 9:45-10:45 & PM: 1:25-2:25

May 12 - 1st Grade F/T Lake Katherine - Green

May 13 - 1st Grade F/T Lake Katherine - Gold

• Purple Kindergarten F/T - LWSRA

May 14 - 1st Grade F/T Lake Katherine - Purple

May 15 - Kindergarten Here We Come 4:30pm - 6:00pm

• FSP Hot lunch

May 16 - 2nd Grade Step Up Day to Chelsea

• 1st Grade Reading Celebration

May 19 - Gold Kindergarten F/T to LWSRA Park

May 20 - Green Kindergarten F/T to LWSRA Park

• BOE Meeting 7:00pm

May 21 - Field Day for Kindergarten and 1st Grade

May 22 - Field Day for 2nd Grade

• ED Foundation Hot Lunch

May 23 - SIP Day 11:25am dismissal

May 26 - No School, Memorial Day

May 29 - FSP Hot Lunch

May 30 - Second Grade Celebration