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Philip R. Smith Elementary School

January 31, 2025

Philip R. Smith Elementary School January 31, 2025
Philip R. SmithElementary SchoolJanuary 31, 2025

PTO News

February PTO News

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MA9h2vnkEvkqFsp_aLWbdZqgj-UlEn5G/view?usp=sharing


Cook's Night Off

🎉 Exciting News from the PRS PTO! 🎉

Thanks to your amazing support, we raised $259.91 for the Math Mobile and Reading Vending Machine during our first Cook's Night Off event! 🙌💙


PTO Valentine Hearts: Send your children a Valentine that will be displayed outside their classroom! Each message costs $1 and will be attached to a heart and placed outside your child's classroom. All messages are due by Monday, February 3rd. Please see the attached link for more details and the form! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VX7is6mcRmlNWHNFPn4hil2B5yptekGF/view?usp=sharing


Movie Night

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ucfEyfgI739WE6MQ2akTqPa5lWIv2GpC/view?usp=sharing


Adventures with Avery

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10eiNN5zubopCxnz_ebaYnRFPGHHZ_W19/view?usp=sharing


Yard Goats Save the Date

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FGeEF3IKw6HCOXOJdUzkDR95slunpxGw/view?usp=sharing

Cultural Celebration Survey

We want to learn more about the wonderful traditions, holidays, and cultures that are relevant to our school community. Our goal is to celebrate and appreciate the diverse backgrounds of our students, and integrate them into our school community.

Please take a few moments to complete this survey. Your responses will help us create a richer, more inclusive learning environment for all students.


https://forms.gle/zNpJdgZzSv3wCARXA

Daily Sub Opportunities

We are always looking to build our daily substitute list! If you are interested in being a daily substitute at PRS or any other school in district, please call Christina or myself and we can guide you to the online application process.

Winter Benchmark Assessments (iReady)

Our students have finished the Winter iReady Diagnostic in the areas of math and reading. Parent reports will be sent home electronically next week. We use the diagnostic to identify strengths and areas of focus for instruction, as well as identifying the best testing conditions for students (examples: in class, in a small group, 1:1 outside of the classroom, etc.). As a result of the Winter iReady Diagnostic, student's iReady MyPath individualized instruction platform will adjust to target areas that students need more practice and support on in reading and math. Remember this is just one assessment that we use and look at this time of year and if students didn't perform as well on iReady as we would expect, we use multiple data points to make decisions about our next steps. If you have any questions about your child's performance and you did not receive contact from your child's teacher, please do not hesitate to contact them to discuss your child's progress.

Patriotic Commission Essay Contest

Please see the link below for more information about the Patriotic Commission Essay Contest.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bwMrEKWIF_R6pBL4Ln4bcp9tWySnaL68/view?usp=sharing

Gr. 5 TE Transition Info

Greetings Grade 5 Families-

Though it may be hard to believe, we are already busy planning to welcome your rising sixth grader to Timothy Edwards Middle School (TEMS) in August. Fifth graders will learn more about our courses, programs, and extracurricular opportunities when our school counselors visit elementary schools this spring. In addition to the visits in each of our elementary schools, all fifth graders take a field trip to TEMS to tour the building and to meet administrators, counselors, teachers, and students.

We'd like to invite parents and guardians to a family information evening on Wednesday, February 12th from 6:30-7:30. We aim to share an overview of TEMS courses, athletics, clubs and activities, and general information about managing this important time in your child's adolescence. Though the format of this presentation is targeted towards adult audiences, children can attend with their guardians. Please see the flier below for more information.

This is an exciting time as your child prepares for this important next step in their educational and social journey. We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for both students and families, and are happy to begin partnering with you to ensure a successful middle school experience for your child.

We hope to see you at the meeting and look forward to the exciting journey ahead!

Candice Irwin, TEMS Principal

Global Play Day

PRS is excited to have our Third Annual Global School Play Day on Wednesday, February 5th, 2025!

The goal of Global School Play Day is to raise awareness about the importance of unstructured play. As research shows, play is an important part of the classroom and “contributes to developing the whole child.” Through play, a child's creativity, physical and cognitive abilities are refined and strengthened.” Some other reasons play is so important are:

  1. Helps children learn about the world and society

  2. Promotes problem-solving

  3. Promotes creativity, imagination, cognitive, social, and emotional development

  4. Can be used to deepen understanding of classroom content

  5. Enhances language and cultural development

All of our students are invited to bring in items to play with on February 5th. No trading cards or electronic gadgets please.

  1. The toy or game needs to be school appropriate.

  2. Students will need to share what they bring in with others in their class.

  3. If it is a very special or expensive toy, it should stay at home.

  4. Students should be able to play with the item without adult help.

  5. Consider sending a game that celebrates and shares your family’s heritage and culture.

  6. Indoor games only.

Teachers will decide when and how to incorporate play throughout the day on February 5th. It promises to be a fun day of play!

Student Leadership

The Student Leadership Team would like to thank you for supporting our Pet Supply Drive, which ended today. We collected one box of supplies for pets at the CT Humane Society.


Please see our attached flyer for information on our February Spirit Day to help victims of the California wildfires. Thank you for your support.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lh8MacXdFfdNK7V0BywsfE2yKYhQ59d0YbfLVGqQo68/edit?usp=sharing

PRS Bricks for our Memorial Garden

If you have had a chance to spend time outside in our beautiful memorial garden, you would have noticed engraved bricks in the walkway. There have been two opportunities over several years for families to purchase engraved bricks. We would like to offer this to our families again. Please see the link below for more information if you are interested in purchasing a brick that would be included in our memorial garden!

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGVzvoULfw/_tYuz7g_br8mcT5qkMnNjQ/view?utm_content=DAGVzvoULfw&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=viewer

Preschool Outreach

Can you please share on your newsletters and on digital displays in your buildings that the our Preschool Outreach Program is now accepting applications for the 2025-2026 school year? This can be found on our district website and the link for the application is here https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScrU9FT-f2f1h_UdwHnwOuWgKKJOorVz9CvYfiAblI0nfKDUg/viewform

Policelli Award

Do you know someone who deserves an award for their volunteer service?

The South Windsor Board of Education invites residents, or employees of a South Windsor business, to nominate someone who has volunteered their time for the betterment of the South Windsor community.

The Eugene Policelli Service Awards were established by the Board of Education to recognize and honor Dr. Eugene Policelli’s service to the town of South Windsor.

The nominee must:

1) be a resident of South Windsor for the past three years, or have worked and/or volunteered in South Windsor for at least three years, or

2) be a South Windsor High School Grade 12 student, and

3) be an example of outstanding citizenship and have made a significant contribution to enhancing the quality of life in South Windsor.

Nominees may be nominated by an organization where an individual has volunteered, an employer, a school employee, or a community member.

A family member cannot initiate a nomination.

Prior to making a nomination, please read the service/leadership criteria below:

Impact on the Community: Was the nominee’s contribution substantive enough to make a difference in the organization and the community?
Amount/Depth of Service: Does the nominee appear to have demonstrated a long-term commitment to one or more community service activities?
Leadership: Has the nominee assumed a leadership role in the community service activity?

After completing this Google nomination form, the award selection committee will reach out to the nominee to inform them of the nomination, explain the award program, ask the nominee if they would like to formally apply for the award, and provide them with the application (if needed).

The nomination deadline is February 24, 2025.

Please reach out to Benjamin Wry, South Windsor Public Schools School Counseling Curriculum Specialist, at 860-648-5033, or bwry@swindsor.k12.ct.us, with any questions or concerns. Thank you!

Dates

2/5 Global Play Day

2/14-2/17 Winter Break

3/5 Spring Photo

3/19 Concert


State Testing Window

SBAC: 4-28 through 5-9


NGSS: 5/15

Links

Michelle Dixon
Michelle is using Smore to create beautiful newsletters