Grand Prairie October Newsletter

Happy Fall Grand Prairie families! October is packed with many fun and exciting activities for our students and their families!

During the first half of the month, we will continue our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs September 15th – October 15th. Students will learn about Angel Manuel Soto, a Puerto Rican director of “Blue Beetle” DC’s first Lationo-led superhero movie, and the actor who plays Jamie Reyes, Xolo Mariduena.

Starting on Monday, September 30th and running through Friday, October 4th, FSP will be hosting our fall book fair. Each student will have a chance to visit the bookfair on the scheduled ELC date. Parents are welcome to join their children for this book shopping adventure! Additionally, Thursday, October 3rd FSP will keep the fair open late, offering families to come shop from 5:30-7:30pm. We will be joined by many community organizations like FSP, Frankfort Public Library, Navarro Farms, Touch-a-Trucks, therapy dogs, and more that night to make it a very memorable event! We hope to see many of our families there!

Our Kindergarten and First Grade students are excited to go on their first field trips of the year this month. Kindergarten will be visiting Konow's Farm for some fall fun and First Grade will be traveling to Navarro Farm just down the road for some fall fun of their own. Classroom teachers will provide specific dates and times for each classroom.

On Wednesday, October 16th, the school resource officer, Officer Mineo, will conduct Run, Hide, Fight presentations in PE classes. Grand Prairie will conduct a whole school Run, Hide, Fight practice drill with Officer Mineo on Thursday, November 7th.

October is also National Bully Prevention Month! Our social workers will help our young learners understand how to recognize and prevent bullying, as well as what to do if they are ever bullied. Our second of four bully presentations will take place during PE classes on Monday, October 21st.

Picture retakes will be on Monday, October 21st. If you would like your child to retake their photo, or if your child was absent, please email your child’s teacher and Mrs. Kojs (skojs@fsd157c.org), our school secretary, so we can ensure that your child is scheduled for retakes on this day!

We are excited to kick off our red ribbon week on October 23rd. Stay tuned for more detailed information on optional dress up days during this week for all three FSD157c schools!

Our month will end with our Fall Festivities on October 31st! The student parade will be at 9:30am and parties will take place from 10:00am-10:50am. Students will be dismissed at 11:25 am on October 31st.

A reminder to families that there will be no school on Friday, October 11th for a teacher's institute and Monday, October 14th for Indigenous People Day.

They have been working diligently during our ELA time. Students are using a story structure anchor chart to successfully identify the characters, setting, problem, steps to solve the problem, and solution in a story. Our young learners are also generating “wh” questions pertaining to both a fiction and nonfiction text.

We have also been utilizing our Zones of Regulation boards when articulating our feelings and thoughts. Coupled with our Zones lessons are the Second Step lessons. So far, we have learned about respect, focusing attention, and listening. Grand Prairie 2nd Graders are becoming Super Students at these skills. Well done, 2nd Graders!

The 1st graders are adjusting to the new school year nicely. There are plenty of smiles when they see their friends in the hallways and at recess. They are using their Second Step lessons to look, listen, have a still body and have a quiet voice when walking through the hallways, lining up for recess and while learning in the classroom. These beginning Second Step lessons give the students strategies for focusing which helps them be successful in the classroom.

Speaking of the classroom, in ELA the students are learning about story elements. They are practicing talking and writing about characters’ traits, story settings, and the important events in fictional books. In math, they are practicing their math facts to 10 and the strategy of counting on. We are also looking forward to our first field trip to Navarro Farm.

It’s great to be a 1st grader!!!

Every day is a magical day in kindergarten. We have learned so much over the last month about school and making friends. Seeing new friendships form is so fun and exciting. Along with the fun and magic of the social aspect, we have also had a lot of learning! As we continue to learn numbers 1-10 in math, kindergarten students have explored numbers using manipulatives, games, and activities. We just finished our first mid-module and will continue to give numbers meaning and learn the basics of math. In writing, we have started to work on beginning sounds of words and label our pictures. Our kindergarten students are quite artists and amaze the teachers daily with their artistic abilities. This month, we will continue to sound out our words to hear what other letter sounds are in our words. In reading, students have learned book handling skills and will learn to recognize familiar words in texts, along with the high frequency words they have learned. In social studies and science, we have begun to explore Hispanic Heritage month and acknowledging all the wonderful people who have impacted our lives. It has been a fun and exciting first 6 weeks of school and we cannot wait to see our students continue to grow!

In just a few days, Kindergarten students will be taking their first field trip to Konow’s Corn Maze. Students and teachers are overly excited to explore the outdoors and make lasting memories. Kindergarten is filled with many firsts for students, and it is exciting to experience them with them. We are looking forward to a wonderful year!

It has been an amazing first month of preschool, we have already learned so much. We started the school year learning our colors. The first nine days of school, the students wore a different color and brough in an item that represented the color of the day.

During our All About Me Theme, students made a special page which included pictures of their favorite things, such as color, food, animal, place, game, and/or sport as well as a photo of their family. They also wrote a reason why they are special. These pages were laminated and made into a class book which has been placed in our classroom library. The students enjoy looking at the photos of their classmates.

We have been practicing how to watch with our eyes, listen with our ears, keep our voices quiet, and maintain a calm body.

Jenniffer Faruzzi

Project BEGIN

Welcome to the 2025 Illinois Monarch Award Program!

Thank you to the Education Foundation for funding this amazing program at Grand Prairie!

Students will listen to some of the Monarch nominees in the coming months. Students in grades K-2 will hear at least five of these books during their library time. In mid-March, students will vote for their favorite. Their votes will then be added to the votes of other children throughout the state to determine the winning book.

You can keep track of the books your child has read by checking off the books on the bookmark he/she received during library. If your child completes the Monarch Book Challenge by reading all 20 of the books, he/she may return the bookmark to the Grand Prairie Library and choose a book from our prize book collection to keep!

Please sign or initial the top of the completed

Mrs. Cunningham

The Frankfort Public Library is having a Monarch Book Challenge too!

Participate in a 2025 youth reading challenge this school year!

Monarch Award Challenge: For K-2nd graders. Read all 20 books on the list by the end of the school year and win a prize!

For more information on the Frankfort Public Library’s Reading Challenge, please visit: Reading Challenges | Frankfort Public Library District (frankfortlibrary.org)

The bookfair will be at Grand Prairie September 30th - October 4th!

We can't wait for all of our young readers to be able to pick some amazing books to share with YOU!

Your child's classroom teacher will reach out with your students book fair time and day.

Don't forget, FSP Family night will be Thursday, October 3rd from 5:30 - 7:30 where your family will be able to do many awesome activities and also visit the book fair as a family!

Grand Prairie has scheduled picture retakes for students on October 21, accommodating those absent on the initial picture day. If you would like your child to retake their photo, or if your child was absent, please email your child’s teacher and Mrs. Kojs (skojs@fsd157c.org), our school secretary, so we can ensure that your child is scheduled for retakes on this day!

Additionally, volunteers and substitutes are invited to obtain a photo ID during this opportunity.

SAVE THE DATES. . . . .

Monday, September 30th -Run Club, 7:40-8:05am

Wednesday, October 2nd - Run Club, 7:40-8:05am

Thursday, October 3rd - Athletic Boosters Hot Lunch

• Family Book Fair Night 5:30 - 7:30
• Family Community Night 5:30 - 7:00

Friday, October4th -

• FastBridge Family Reports Go Home
• FSP Smoothie Day
  

Monday, October 7th - Run Club, 7:40-8:05am

• Kindergarten Field Trip to Konows
• 1st Grade to Navarro (Monaco, Hyland, Malkusak 11:10-1:20)

Tuesday, October 8th -

• 1st Grade to Navarro (Atieh, Bertucci, McKuras) 9:30-11:30
• 1st Grade to Navarro (Brannigan, Jorgensen, Payton) 11:30-1:05

Wednesday, October 9th - Run Club, 7:40-8:05am

• 1st Grade to Navarro (Murray, Kelly, Cervantes 11:10-1:20)

Thursday, October 10th - Band Boosters Hot Lunch

Friday, October 11th - Teacher Institute - No Student Attendance

Monday, October 14th - No School, Indigenous People Day

Tuesday, October 15th - BOE Meeting 7pm

Wednesday, October 16th - Run Club, 7:40-8:05am

• Run, Hide, Fight Student Presentation during PE

Thursday, October 17th - FSP Hot Lunch

Friday, October 18th - Veteran's Day Popsicle Sale during lunch, $1

Monday, October 21st - Run Club, 7:40-8:05am

• Picture Retakes - please contact Sue Kojs (skojs@fsd157c.org) and your child's classroom teacher if your family would like a retake.

Wednesday, October 23rd - Run Club, 7:40-8:05am

Thursday, October 24th - Education Foundation Hot Lunch

Friday, October 25th - End of Quarter 1

• Veteran's Day Popsicle Sale during lunch, $1

RED RIBBON WEEK October 28th until November 1st.

• Monday, October 28 - Wear Red and Blue
• Tuesday, October 29 - Wear your favorite Sports Team or Jersey
• Wednesday, October 30 - Wear your favorite hat
• Thursday, October 31 - Wear your favorite character
• Friday, November 1 - Wear your favorite PJ's

Tuesday, October 29th

• Preschool Parties (Lusk) - AM: 9:45-10:45AM & PM: 1:25-2:25PM

Wednesday, October 30th

• Preschool Parties (Faruzzi) - AM: 9:45-10:45AM & PM: 1:25-2:25PM

Thursday, October 31st - Fall Parties and Parade

• Parade: 9:30 Parties 10:00-10:50
• No Preschool Attendance
• Dismissal at 11:25am
  
  

Friday, November 1st - Chorus Boosters Hot Lunch