Prairie PTA Website Updates
Our Prairie PTA website and it just got updated! Our volunteers have spent many hours fixing links, updating content, and consolidating pages so you can quickly find the information you need.
Forgot where to upload more money for your student's lunch account? New to Prairie this year and feeling like you could use a handbook with all the details? Been out of school so much you forgot the drop-off rules? Head on over to www.prairiepta.organd give our newly updated website a glance. Maybe even bookmark it for the future!
Kindergarten & Pre-K Enrollment Open!
We are thrilled that enrollment for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten for the 2025-26 school year begins soon in the Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD)! Families will be able to enroll students for the 2025-26 school year starting January 1, 2025.
Know of a family with a child who is Pre-K or Kindergarten age? Help us spread the word! Share this message and let them know SMSD is ready to help their little learners start strong.
Click here to learn more about Pre-Kindergarten in the Shawnee Mission School District
Click here to learn more about Kindergarten
How to Enroll
Online enrollment for Pre-K and Kindergarten opens at 8 a.m. on January 1, 2025. Click here for enrollment links, which will go live on January 1.
Please note that the enrollment application must be completed on a desktop or laptop computer or a tablet. It will not work on your mobile phone. If you do not have access to one of these devices, please make an appointment to enroll in person. For Kindergarten enrollment, please contact your area school. If you are unsure what school your child will attend, please use School Finder.
For Pre-K enrollment, please visit https://www.smsd.org/academics/early-childhood/pre-kindergarten or contact the Early Childhood department at 913-993-6441.
This online enrollment:
- Allows families to complete the enrollment application for Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten
- Provides for early enrollment, helping to ensure a student’s placement within the Pre-K program, which has a limited number of slots. Kindergarten has an unlimited number of slots. (Note: All necessary documentation must be submitted before enrollment is finalized.)
- Allows the district to begin planning a welcome for our incoming early learners to our schools
About Starting Pre-K in the SMSD
To be able to enroll for Pre-Kindergarten, children must be four years old on or before Aug. 31, 2025 (but not Kindergarten eligible). Click here to read more about enrollment requirements.
Pre-Kindergarten is a half-day program in Shawnee Mission. Fee and no-fee options will be offered in the 2025-2026 school year. Sessions are held from 8:10–10:55 a.m. and 12:25-3:10 p.m.
Wraparound care options are available at some sites through Johnson County Park and Recreation and YMCA. For more information regarding site locations and programming, enrollment steps, and availability:
Johnson County Park and Recreation link
About Starting Kindergarten in the SMSD
A child must be five years old on or before Aug. 31, 2025, to enroll in Kindergarten, by state law.
SMSD offers free, full-day Kindergarten for every student. The elementary school day takes place from 8:10 a.m. to 3:10 p.m.
Kindergarten Kickoff events will be held in every SMSD elementary school in the spring of 2025. Individual schools will share information about exact times and event formats with incoming families and on individual school websites. Julie Keogh will send communication to our families the first week of April. At these events, students and families are able to spend time in the school and learn more about the Kindergarten experience. Information regarding Jump Start, a summer program for incoming kindergarten students will also be shared.
Our school communities look forward to welcoming future Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students and we look forward to working with families in support of each child’s success!
PolkaDots: The Cool Kids Musical: March 6
Book by Melvin Tunstall III
Lyrics by Douglas Lyons
Music by Greg Borowsky & Douglas Lyons
The plot follows 8-year-old Lily Polkadot who just moved to the “Squares Only” small town of Rockaway. As the first Polkadot in an all Square school, Lily faces an almost impossible task of gaining acceptance from her peers. From daily bullying to segregated drinking fountains, Lily’s quest seems hopeless until she meets Sky, a shy Square boy whose curiosity for her unique polkadot skin blooms into an unexpected pal-ship. Inspired by the events of The Little Rock 9, Polkadots serves as a colorful history lesson for children, reminding them that our individual differences make us awesome, not outcasts.
The MVP Program (My Volunteer Pal) through SMSD is a mentoring and volunteer program where parents or adult members of the community can reach out to help support students, classrooms, or school wide events including field trips.
MVP training involves:
- Attending a 1-hour training sessions at Prairie or another location in the district as advertised on the district website.
- Completing a Background Screener (this screener and training are good for 5 years) If you cannot remember if you have gone through the process or wonder when your approval might expire, you can email Amanda Mingori at amandamingori@smsd.org and she will check the master list from the district.
- We will be hosting an MVP training at Prairie on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, from 5:30pm-6:30pm. If this day and time do not work for you, there are other opportunities to attend a training throughout the district. You can find a list of other trainings here https://www.smsd.org/families/volunteer-mvp as well as learn more about the MVP program.
MVP Training Needed:
- If you want to be a one-on-one mentor to a student
- If you are supervising a student group activity at school, during the school day, outside the view of the classroom teacher (small group tutoring, chat and chew, any other “during the day” club without SMSD staff in attendance)
- If you want to volunteer to chaperone or attend field trips where you might be responsible for supervising students outside of the view of and SMSD employee (Examples of this may include the Zoo or Deanna Rose)
MVP Training NOT Needed When:
- Volunteering in the classroom in general
- Volunteering at the school in general
- Volunteering to go on a field trip where everyone will be in the same space as an SMSD employee
Prairie Elementary
Email: kristenjones@smsd.org
Website: prairie.smsd.org
Location: 6642 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS, USA
Phone: (913) 993-4400