March 13 - Family Spirit Night at QDOBA (5:00-7:00)

March 17-21 - Spring Break (No School)

March 27 - Registration Opens for 2025-2026 Kindergarten Students

April 3 - Around the World Festival (more info coming soon)

April 11 - PTA Spring Festival (more info coming soon)

April 15 - Purple Up Day

April 18 - No School for Students

THE HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY SCHOOLS UPDATED STUDENT CALENDAR IS ATTACHED BELOW (with changes due to school closures for Hurricanes Helene and Milton).

Dear Families,

Thank you to all the parents and teachers who joined us for Parent Resource Night on Wednesday evening! We were grateful to have USF professor, Dr. Lauren Evanovich, share valuable insights on positive parenting and strategies to help students get the most out of their homework. If you were unable to attend, copies of the handouts from the meeting are linked below.

We’d love your input on future Parent Resource events—please let us know if there are specific topics you’d like us to cover. Our goal is to partner with you in supporting your child’s success and fostering a love for learning.

Thank you for your continued involvement and support!

Warm regards,

Mrs. English, Principal

Mrs. Moncrief, Assistant Principal

Please check out the document attached below for information about our kindergarten program and registering your child for kindergarten for the 2025-2026 school year. This information was shared at our Ready, Set, Kindergarten meeting in February.

• REGISTRATION OPENS ON MARCH 27th
• Completed forms and supporting documentation should be submitted to the main office on Tuesdays or Thursdays from 9:00-11:00.
• If you are unable to submit forms and supporting documentation on the designated days above, call (813) 558-5400 to schedule an appointment.

On February 26th, the Hillsborough Regional STEM Fair Grand Awards Ceremony was broadcast virtually to recognize winning STEM Fair projects in grades K-5. Both virtual and face-to-face winning projects from schools across our school district were submitted to the Hillsborough County Regional STEM Fair for judging. Twenty-seven students from Pride Elementary were honored with medals and special awards across all categories, including engineering, invention, and scientific inquiry. Pride Elementary is also home to this year’s winner for Best in Fair (4th Grade), Evelyn Hill! Her invention, which she named “The Debrivator”, is a prototype built using LEGO robotics and coded to remove debris from hurricanes.

Congratulations goes out to the following winning projects and students!

3rd Grade:

• Hands Down: Which Sanitizer Works Best? – Mya Lauck, Advait Palampalli, Olive Cao, Arjun Paladugu

4th Grade:

• Debrivator – Evelyn Hill (Best in Fair for 4th Grade)
• Best Boiled Egg Test – Amy Zhang
• You Really Need Hydroelectricity – Naimish Kongala
• Water Purification of Dirty Water – Meera Jangada, Krisha Bhandare
• Folding Clothes Machine – Anvee Jadhav, Sahasra Chippa, Nihit Girkati, Khadija Zouari
• Sun to Power – Aarna Lakhena, Harini Machavarapu, Saanvitha Palle, Saanvi Samudrala

5th Grade:

• Sound Energy Generates Electricity – Nandiish Veerakutty Ananda
• Remote Control Car – Akhil Doguparthi
• Eco Friendly Crayons – Navyaa Mangalaganesh
• O.R.C.A. (Ocean Robots Collection Administration) – Kaydyn Mack, Aris Isaac
• Code Gamers – Vian Savanagiri, Vishnucharan Prasath, Sharan Sureshkumar
• The Brilliant Birdhouse – Matilda Hitt, Freya Mewada

If you missed the 2025 Virtual Awards Ceremony, click this link to view a recording:2025 Hillsborough Regional STEM Fair Grand Awards Ceremony

You can also check out this brief video from the face-to-face Regional STEM Fair held at the Tampa Convention Center on Wednesday, February 12th. https://youtu.be/5u_zBS7QB98

The Live to Give Mindset teaches the importance of serving others while maximizing our own potential. It tells us that abundance in life is a cycle; in order to receive love, respect, and financial security, we must first learn to give those things to others. This mindset also teaches us that the greatest gift we can ever give is to find and leverage our unique genius to maximize our positive impact on the world, knowing that good things will be returned to us in kind. In the lessons for this mindset, we guide students to think about the impact they want to make and the legacy they want to leave.

Click on the link below to read about how parents can encourage this mindset.

• For the safety of students and families, please DO NOT use cell phones in the car line!
• When picking up in the carline, please have your QR pick-up code ready to be scanned and keep your numbered car tag hanging on your rear-view mirror until your child is in your car. Please stay in the center of the drop off/pick up lane near the cafeteria, far to the left of the yellow line and AWAY from the orange safety cones. DO NOT PULL AWAY FROM THE CURB UNTIL THE SAFETY PATROL HAS CLOSED THE DOOR AND STEPPED AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE and do not pull around cars in the line that are still loading.
• Review safe walker/pedestrian and bike rider laws/rules/procedures with your children.
• Bike riders are required to wear helmets.
• Follow all traffic laws/rules and drive cautiously through school zones and in the neighborhood.
• Please do not drop students off in surrounding streets or park/drop students off in surrounding neighborhoods such as Stone Creek Townhomes.
• Student supervision is not provided at Cross Creek Park. Students should be met at the park by an adult or should walk/ride bikes directly home while crossing guards are present.
• HOST students should not be picked up until 2:30 or later (after car line pickup is finished).
• You may reference our Quick Reference Guide for Parents (included in first day folders and on our website) for important information including detailed drop off and pick up procedures. Quick Reference Guide for Parents 2024.2025.pdf (hillsboroughschools.org)

Attention Pride Elementary Families,

Our PTA is working on our 2024-2025 SCHOOL YEARBOOK! Do you have pictures from school events? Please upload them at the attached link for consideration to be included in the yearbook. The last day to submit photos is March 15, 2025. Thank you!

https://photos.jostens.com/T9HHMP

Place your order for your 2024-2025 PRIDE ELEMENTARY YEARBOOK! Yearbooks are hardcover with 144 color pages! Reserve this special keepsake for your child NOW!

Visit our PTA Member Hub linked below to place your order.

Givebacks (memberhub.com)

Congratulations to Navyaa Mangalaganesh, a 5th-grade student in Ms. Sorondo's homeroom! With over 50 outstanding entries submitted, the selection process was incredibly challenging for our judges. Photos of the other designs selected as finalists are posted below Navyaa's winning submission.

Congratulations to Ms. Kovach's 3rd graders for having the highest average daily attendance in the school 98.83%

These classes had the highest average daily attendance for their grade level and received a HUGE TROPHY to display in their classroom for the month!

Kindergarten - Outerbridge - 96.49%

First Grade -Brennen - 97.66%

Second Grade - Perez 95.97%

Third Grade - Kovach 98.83%

Fourth Grade - Camerino 98.74%

Fifth Grade - Graham 96.64%

THE GRADE LEVEL WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE ATTENDANCE FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY WAS FOURTH GRADE WITH 95.96%.

Kindergarten - 93.71%

First Grade - 95%

Second Grade - 93.80%

Third Grade - 94.26%

Fourth Grade - 95.96%

Fifth Grade - 93.85%

OUR SCHOOL-WIDE AVERAGE ATTENDANCE FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY WAS 94.46% AND OUR AVERAGE ATTENDANCE FOR THE YEAR IS 94.52%. (OUR GOAL IS 96%).

Please visit Givebacks to order spirit shirts, purchase yearbooks, purchase birthday marquee messages, make donations, and join our PTA.

We need volunteers to help in the cafeteria during lunch on a daily basis between 10:00 and 1:30. Ideally, we would like to have recurring volunteers, but any time you can help would be greatly appreciated! The role involves monitoring student behavior, assisting students with opening food items, escorting students to the bathroom or health clinic, helping with spills, etc.. Parents must have an approved volunteer application on file in order to volunteer. Please click on the link below to sign up!

Pride Elementary: Lunchroom Support Volunteers (signupgenius.com)

Please click on the attachment below to see a list of our teachers who are working on additional certifications and currently teaching subjects out of field.

Every day matters when it comes to attendance! There is a strong link between regular attendance and academic success. Research indicates that missing 10% of the school year, which is 2 days a month, negatively affects a student’s academic performance. Compared to students who are chronically absent, students who attend school regularly have greater success in all grade levels. Elementary school students who regularly attend class are 1.7 times more likely to achieve grade-level scores in English Language Arts and 2 times more likely to achieve grade-level scores in Math. Chronic absenteeism (10% or more of school days) leads to students struggling to read proficiently. Please note that absences for vacations and family visits are considered unexcused absences. Whenever possible, please try to schedule these activities for when school is not in session. Teachers are happy to provide students with suggestions for making up missed assignments but cannot replicate all of the learning that takes place in the classroom.

Email: Pride.Elementary@hcps.net
Website: hillsboroughschools.org/pride
Location: 10310 Lion's Den Drive, Tampa, FL, USA
Phone: 813-558-5400
Facebook: facebook.com/PrideElem