Stoner Prairie News
10th Edition, December 4th, 2023
Principal Connection
Welcome December!
As we welcome this month, so too do we welcome snow and cold! If your scholar has winter gear, please mark all winter clothing with names (includes hats, boots, gloves/mittens, coats, etc.). We will go through lost and found and if items are there for a period of time, without names, we will repurpose that for others to share. If your scholar needs winter gear, please reach out to our social worker, Ms. Confer at conferl@verona.k12.wi.us. If your scholar has outgrown winter gear and/or if you have extras, please consider donating items to our closet - you may drop off items at the office.
Also in December, we will begin to tackle some of our scholar assessments. Most of the mid-year assessments will be done after break, however, this week we will embrace ACCESS testing. This tool is used with scholars that are English Language Learners (EL). Currently 16% or nearly 1 in 5 of our scholars at Stoner Prairie speak English as a second language and/or have another language spoken in their home. The assessment we are doing this week will help our teachers better scaffold learning for scholar success.
While the bulk of our students who speak another language speak Spanish (39%), there are many languages that are spoken in our school community. Each color in this graphic represent a language spoken at Stoner Prairie - the blue is Spanish, but the remainder are spread across 16 different language. We are grateful for our wonderfully diverse population!
To support ACCESS testing this week, we are asking all of our students and staff to be quiet during instructional hours so that our community members taking on this assessment can fully focus on this important testing.
WEDNESDAY 12/13 and 12/20 Help us fill the barrel!
To date we have not collected any items for the district-wide drive for needed items at Badger Prairie Needs. This and next Wednesday we are going to work to change that and fill the donation barrel. Please consider sending in items - they are welcome any day but a focus will be placed on Wednesdays. Donate whatever you would like - canned green beans, masa flour, white rice, sugar, dry beans, etc to shampoo/conditioner, deodorant, toilet paper, and toothpaste. Patrols will be available to support this on Wednesdays.
Teacher Newsletters: Click here to see your child's newsletter
Stoner Prairie Elementary PTO News
Jersey Mike’s is opening soon in Fitchburg! They reached out to the PTO with an awesome offer for Stoner Prairie Families and supporting the PTO at the same time! During their opening week, Dec 6-10, Jersey Mike’s is partnering with Stoner Prairie PTO in a fundraiser where 100% of the funds go to the PTO. Watch for coupons to come home with your student next week and please consider participating by bringing the coupon to the new Jersey Mikes location (near Taco Bell on McKee) and and making a minimum $2 donation in exchange for a regular size sub.
Rusty Dog Coffee & Tea Pick-Up! Stop by Stoner Prairie on Dec 10 from 3-5 pm or Dec 12 from 5-7 pm to pick up your coffee & tea order.
It is that time of year, when we are thinking about honoring our teachers and staff at Stoner Prairie! We are gathering the Staff's wish lists and will post them in our FB group (Stoner Prairie PTO), on our website (https://stonerprairiepto.wixsite.com/website/) and here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/102eK74u71736PscJr65e4XfkLTLgMjdC/view?usp=drivesdk. Check them out to get a personalized gift for staff! (Please do not give homemade treats due to allergens.)
We are hoping our classroom teachers will feel appreciated and loved from all their students this holiday season. But what about our amazing support staff? Using the staff wishlists PTO volunteer Tricia Gulman will coordinate support staff gifts. If you want to adopt a non-classroom teacher staff person let her know at tricia.gulmen@gmail.com. For example, if you adopt the school nurse, you would purchase something from her wish list, like the emergency medical backpack from her list, along with some small treats, and make a card. Or you contribute to a general fund through Venmo (@triciagulmen - 2504 are last 4 digits) and she will work with her team to purchase gifts for all support staff and include your name on the donation list. A small donation can go a long way to provide our 40 support staff with a gift. Thanks for helping make Stoner Prairie a great place to work and teach!
Did you know you can donate 5% of your purchase at Office Depot to Stoner Prairie? Next time you need school or office supplies use our ID: 70108759.
Mark your calendars! The next PTO meeting is 1/9 from 6-7 pm in the Stoner Prairie Library. All are welcome! Reach out to stonerprairiepto@gmail.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions or to be added to our email list. Keep up to date with events on our website: https://stonerprairiepto.wixsite.com/website/
Helping Hands
The Verona FFA and the VASD Social Workers are running our 34th Annual Holiday Gift Drive, Helping Hands. This year we have a record number of families requesting gifts...well over 400 families!
If you are able to help, we greatly appreciate it. All the gifts go to students in our school district, many you see each day at school. Middle and High School age gifts are always the most needed gifts. Gift cards are always a great gift.
To sign up for a gift, go to our Signup Genius or to make a monetary donation you can visit the Classmunity page. If purchasing a gift, we ask that it is around $25-$30 and is unwrapped. You can bring it to your school location. FFA members will be coming to the schools on the morning of Dec 11 to pick up the gifts.
Thank you for your support and helping brighten up our students' day!!!!
The Verona FFA
Important Updates & Upcoming Dates
Attendance reminders:
Call us when your scholar is unable to be at school. To report an absence, you may:
- Call 608-845-4203 (English attendance line) or 608-845-4200 (main line with Spanish option) or
- Email sp-attendance@verona.k12.wi.us (English and Spanish) with all attendance changes.
Contacting the attendance office directly is important!
Please connect to PowerSchool today!
Welcome Back Ms. Roetker and Ms. Gratz!
Our kindergarten team welcomed back Ms. Roetker last week and our fourth grade team welcomed back Ms. Gratz! Both teachers welcomed babies over the summer and returned after family leave. We are glad to have them back with our scholars and wish them well as they transition back.
Ms. Gratz, 4th Grade
Ms. Roetker, Kindergarten
Help us contain head lice
With an increase in cold weather and roller blading in PE - there are increased opportunities for shared hats/helmets at Stoner Prairie. As a result, there is an increased opportunity to share head lice. Prevention and helping your scholar know how to minimize the spread of lice is the best precaution.
Here are three things your scholar can do as recommended by the CDC:
- avoid head to head contact during play (please tell your scholar to not play with each other's hair and avoid head to head contact when on the playground).
- do not share hats, scarves, coats, hair ties, etc. If a scholar needs a hat from the community space or bins located near recess doors, please tell them to keep the hat. If they borrow a coat, tell them to not use the hood and use their own or a borrowed hat that they can keep.
- do not share combs, brushes or towels.
A note from Mr. Vergeront - Rollerblading time!
We are excited to have Family Skate Night on Monday, December 11th! Come out and skate with us! Please sign up all Stoner Prairie students and their adults that will plan to skate. We are offering four 45 minute skate periods. Adults that do not plan to skate do not need to sign up for a slot. We have rollerblades up to adult size 12. We also have helmets and wrist guards available to borrow.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4DAFA72BA0FFC61-46453095-family#/