🍀Grand Prairie March Newsletter🍀

Happy March, Grand Prairie Families! We are excited to welcome in warmer weather and loads of fun activities this month. During the month of March Grand Prairie will celebrate Woman’s History Month. Students will celebrate the countless women who have tirelessly and courageously fought for equality, justice, and opportunity in our Nation. As a school we will also celebrate the pillar of responsibility. Your students can join us by wearing Green on Thursdays!

Grand Prairie is looking forward to hosting some amazing events this month. During the first week of March our remaining kindergarten classrooms will be hosting their penguin presentations for their families. (Gold Hermes and Johnson had their presentations on February 28th)

• Tuesday, March 4th – ALL green kindergarten classes (Brandner, McCurdy, Hawking, Adent)

• Wednesday, March 5th – ALL purple kindergarten classes (O’Neill, Gillen, Krivanec, Piunti)

• Friday, March 7th – Gold classes (Wegforth and Glavas)

Preschool will host make and takes in their classrooms on Friday, March 21st from 9:45am – 10:45 am for the AM session and 1:25pm – 2:25pm for the PM session. And finally, Lincolnway Special Recreation Association (LWSRA) will be bringing their amazing wheelchair athletes to Grand Prairie on Monday, March 24th. This special performance allows them to show off their skills to the students while playing against Grand Prairie’s own staff! They will return to Hickory Creek on Thursday, March 27th for a 6:30pm night game where all families are invited to join the fun to raise money for the LWSRA.

FSP will be hosting our annual spring book fair the week of March 17th – 21st. Every student will have the opportunity to visit the fair during their ELC time and purchase some amazing new books! Parents are welcome to join their young readers during their scheduled book fair time! On Thursday, March 20th, FSP will host a family night from 5:30pm –7:30pm. During this time all families are welcome to come out to visit the fair and our 2nd graders will be performing in the big gym for their families at the times listed below.

• Gold Community: 5:30 pm performance

• Green Community: 6:15 pm performance

• Purple Community: 7:00 pm performance

Ramadan begins the evening of Friday, February 28th and concludes the evening of Sunday, March 30th. A reminder to families, if your child will be fasting for Ramadan and you feel they would benefit from utilizing an alternate location during lunch, please let us know! Grand Prairie is happy to provide a different setting than the lunchroom for students that are fasting during Ramadan!

Some additional important dates for families are listed below!

• Monday, March 3rd – 2nd Grade Field Trip to see Dog Man

• Sunday, March 9th – Spring Ahead… and move your clocks ahead one hour!

• Monday, March 10th – National Napping Day – Let’s all wear PJs today!

• Monday, March 10th – 2nd Grade Field Trip (Hannigan, O’Gean, Little, Milosovic)

• Tuesday, March 11th – 2nd Grade Field Trip (Major, Kora, Ladalski, Malone)

• Wednesday, March 12th – 2nd Grade Field Trip (Curran, Rodig, Elia, and Placzkowski)

• March 17th – Bully Presentations for all K-2 students

• Friday, March 21st – End of 3rd Quarter, LWSRA Popsicle Sale Day, and Rock Your Socks World Down Syndrome Day!

• Friday, March 28th – Early Release, 1:50pm – Start of Spring Break

• Monday, March 31st – Friday, April 4th – No School, Spring Break

We wish everyone a safe and restful Spring Break! We look forward to seeing everyone return on Monday, April 7th.

"May your troubles be less, and your blessings be more, and nothing but happiness come through your door."

- Old Irish Blessing

In March, our second graders will explore science and social studies-related texts while learning about influential women in honor of Women's History Month. They will dive into figurative language as they prepare for our poetry unit, where they’ll discover various types of poetry through both reading and writing. Additionally, students will enjoy mystery books and begin their journey as budding poets, experimenting with different poetic forms and styles. Students will also attend their Pilcher Park field trip, where they will learn how sap is harvested from trees and embark on an adventure through the forest trails, discovering different plants and wildlife along the way.

One small step for first graders! One giant step for learning about our mysterious sky!! March will bring out the Scientist in all of us! First graders will be exploring the sun, moon, and stars! Some important phrases we will explore are phases of the moon, position of the sun, shadows, patterns in the sky and constellations! By the end of the unit, we will understand the amount of daylight changes throughout the year, and that seasons have patterns that can be observed, described, and predicted. There are some fun family activities you can do at home, too! You can observe the moon every night. What does the moon look like? Where in the sky is the moon? What are the different names of the moon’s phases? You can record the sunrise and sunset, too!

Time flies when you are learning and having fun! Our Kindergarten students reached an exciting milestone-the 100th day of school! To celebrate, classrooms were filled with creativity, excitement, and a sense of accomplishment.

Our Kindergartners embraced all things 100! They counted, built, crafted and reflected on just how much they learned since the first day of school. Whether it was through their writing, participating in fun math activities, or completing 100 acts of kindness, every activity reinforced the progress they have made. These first 100 days have been filled with growth, friendships, and hard work. We are so proud of each student’s achievements and can’t wait to see what the rest of the school year brings.

This month's study is FRIENDSHIP!

Friendship in the preschool setting is …

• sharing

• taking turns

• listening

• sorting out disagreements

• laughing and playing together

• feeling happy

• helping others

• including others

Just like adults, when preschoolers make mistakes, they might be embarrassed, frustrated, or unwilling to try again. Mistakes are a natural part of life and the only way to truly grow is to make mistakes, persevere, and understand how much better the success is when it’s coming from a learning place.

Children need to know it’s okay to make mistakes and adults offering a positive approach to the effort, a safe place to admit mistakes without fear of reprisal, and a trusted adult to model the correct way to do something. Maybe more importantly, they need to know their efforts were not in vain - it leads to retrying and success!

When children make mistakes, adults can make things easier by acknowledging the child’s feelings - it’s frustrating to get it wrong, but also encourage them to try again. Adults can show where the mistake happened and talk about what might be changed to help fix it.

Adults should not shame the child, make them embarrassed about their mistake or implement severe consequences. Mistakes are learning opportunities, so we need to make sure we aren’t creating negative associations.

There are a lot of books focused on just this subject, and reading about mistakes at a time when everyone is calm and happy is a great way to get the idea out there that everyone makes mistakes, and that’s okay!

“When I Make Mistakes”

Written by: Sarah Read

Problem solving skills are essential for children to navigate through challenges they face in school and in life. Problem-solving is the process of identifying, analyzing, and finding solutions to challenges or obstacles. It involves critical thinking, decision-making, and creativity. Problem solving skills contribute to improving academic performance, social interactions, and overall well-being. At FSD-157c, social workers teach problem solving techniques to students by guiding them through the following steps. Students are also helped to analyze and then discuss whether their reaction fit the true size of the problem (e.g. they broke their pencil-glitch and screamed-big). Here is a three-step process that you can use at home. Have your student:

1. Identify the problem

2. Identify the size of problem

• a. Glitch: Can you solve it on your own?
• b. Small: Do you need help from an adult?
• c. Big: Is it an emergency?

3. Identify an appropriate solution that fits the size

We love it when parents partner with us to use the same language at home! You can ask your child when they are upset, “What is the size of the problem?’

• Kindergarten and Second grade Dental Exam forms are a required piece of medical paperwork per Illinois State Law. These forms must be turned in by May 15, 2025, for CURRENT KINDERGARTENERS and SECOND GRADERS.

• If you have not already turned in this form, the nursing staff will be sending out reminders in the coming weeks.

• If your children are ill, please keep them home until they are 24 hours fever, vomit, and/or diarrhea free. This is an essential element of stopping the spread of bacteria and viruses!!!!!

• Fever reducers, such as Tylenol, are great tools to lessen the symptoms of some illnesses, but this medication should not be used in order for the child to attend school that day due to a fever. If you administer a fever reducer in the morning for a fever, please keep your child home.

• Please practice effective hand washing habits! This is the BEST way to prevent illnesses.

• If you have any questions regarding your child's attendance due to an illness, please feel free to contact the school nurses.

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. What does self-regulation mean? Self-regulation is the ability to understand and manage your own behavior and reactions. In order to learn how to self-regulate, children need the adults in their lives to model and teach strategies as well as be present to support them when they have big emotions. This process is called co-regulation, where an adult is adjusting their actions to model regulation and help their child manage emotions and behaviors. Especially during the early childhood stages, children benefit from co-regulation with their parents while learning to distinguish and process their own emotions. When your child is upset or dysregulated, you begin to develop a quick game plan of how to best help. Below is a link and visual developed by Dr. Bruce Perry, a well-known researcher, clinician, and expert in trauma that gives a visual and explanation for “The Three R’s,” or the three steps for co-regulation. The first R stands for regulate which means staying with your child and providing strategies or physical affection to help them calm. Achieving calm usually happens more quickly when language is limited. Just be present. The second R is relate. This means showing empathy and care through words and actions. You can say things like, “I can see that you are sad” or “I’m sorry that happened to you.” Once a child achieves a calm body and has had a moment to connect with you, adults can then move on to the third R which is reason. It’s important to remember that until a child has been able to calm their body, they are not able to shift to the higher parts of their brain where they can process what you are saying, apologize, problem-solve, or reason. As the adult in your child’s life, you get the opportunity of teaching and walking alongside them as they learn to self-regulate.

Always remember that in order to do this well, it is important to first take a minute to ensure that you are calm. Take a deep breath, give yourself compassion, and don’t seek to solve the problem right away. Just be present! You are your child’s greatest resource.

March 6 - Hot Lunch, Chorus

March 7 - Smoothie Day

March 9 - Day Light Savings, move your clocks ahead 1 hour

March 10 - Daylight Savings, Wear your PJ's!

• 2nd Grade Pilcher Park Field Trip

March 11 - 2nd Grade Pilcher Park Field Trip

March 12 - 2nd Grade Pilcher Park Field Trip

March 13 - Hot Lunch, Athletic Booster

March 17 - St. Patrick's Day

• Book Fair: March 17 - March 21

March 18 - Board of Education Meeting

March 20 - Hot Lunch, FSP

• FSP Family Bookfair 5:30 - 7:30
• 2nd Grade Musical

March 21 - Jump Rope Assembly

• Popsicle Sale
• End of 3rd Quarter

March 27 - Hot Lunch, LWSRA

March 28 - Early Dismissal 1:50pm

March 31 - No School - SPRING BREAK!