Prairie Trails Newsletter

March 2024

Prairie Trails Newsletter March 2024

Prairie Trails March Newsletter

Click TRANSLATE link and select your preferred language!

  • ¡Haga clic en el enlace TRADUCIR y seleccione su idioma preferido!
  • Kliknij link TŁUMACZ i wybierz preferowany język!
  • TRANSLATE എന്ന ലിങ്കിൽ ക്ലിക്ക് ചെയ്‌ത് നിങ്ങൾക്ക് ഇഷ്ടപ്പെട്ട ഭാഷ തിരഞ്ഞെടുക്കുക!
  • અનુવાદ લિંક પર ક્લિક કરો અને તમારી પસંદગીની ભાષા પસંદ કરો!
  • ترجمہ لنک پر کلک کریں اور اپنی پسند کی زبان منتخب کریں!

5 Essentials Survey

As a parent/guardian, you have an opportunity to share your thoughts on the important elements of school effectiveness in the Illinois 5Essentials Survey. The Parent Survey is now open and will close on March 28, 2025. Each of our schools needs at least 20% of parents to complete the survey to receive a supplemental report of this valuable feedback. To participate, please visit https://survey.5-essentials.org/Illinois/ and select the appropriate survey to begin.



For more information about the Illinois 5Essentials Survey, or to view previous years’ Reports, please visit https://www.5-essentials.org/illinois. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact UChicago Impact Survey Support at 1-866-440-1874 or impact-surveys@uchicago.edu.

Important Dates......

March 5- Miles of Smiles
March 7- Kindergarten Fine Arts Field Trip
March 9 - Daylight Savings Time begins

March 11- PTC Meeting at Prairie Trails 5:45 pm
March 11 - RTSD26 Board of Education Meeting

March 12- Indian Grove Construction Meeting at Euclid School 6:00pm.
March 24-28 - Spring Break NO SCHOOL
March 31 - Classes resume

Prairie Trails Specials Updates

ART

This month in art, students are tracing geometric shape stencils to create castle drawings and creating primary and secondary color donuts. Every week, students are experimenting with different art materials and practicing their fine motor skills by drawing, coloring, tracing, cutting and gluing. If you have any questions, contact me - Mrs. Pennington at lpennington@rtsd26.org.


MUSIC

Mark your calendars! The Kindergarteners will be putting on a performance the evening of Thursday, May 22nd in the Prairie Trails School gym. We’ll be sharing songs & dances we’ve learned in Music class this year. More information will be coming soon!


In Music class we’re starting to learn which songs will be on our May performance. We’re also being introduced to new instruments, playing musical games and singing a ton! Please feel free to reach out to mthompson@rtsd26.org with any questions.


PE

Kids Heart Challenge:

During the past month, students and families participated in the Kids Heart Challenge. The students were asked to challenge themselves at home, collecting donations for the American Heart Association and learning heart healthy skills. The students were also challenged at school with various jump rope challenges. All in all, it was a very successful month, with the students earning prizes for their jumping skills as well as keychains for participating in the fundraiser. Thank you to all the families who participated, we raised over $4,600 for a very worthy cause.


STEM

Students in STEM class have been learning how to code robots! So far, they have learned how to use color command tiles to make Indi Robot move on a path and Evo the Ozobot to use color pattern commands to make movements along paths. Kindergarten students are now working with game based computer coding in order to get ready for our last physical robot, Code and Go Mouse.

These game based coding challenges are through Hour of Code. We have chosen Code Monkey, Jr. in order to teach students how to code a sequence and a loop of movements. These games are free and do not require sign up for an hour of use. Please check out the links below for more information, and ask your student to show you more about Code Monkey!

Hour of Code

Code Monkey, Jr.

Jeannine Wagner

Indian Grove Construction Update

Indian Grove School will undergo a complete renovation this summer! If you’d like to learn more about the exciting changes ahead, please join us at Euclid School on Wednesday, March 12, at 6:00 PM. This event will not only provide details about the upcoming construction but also offer a glimpse of what the finished project at Indian Grove will look like. We hope to see you there!

Miles of Smiles

If you signed up for the Miles of Smiles visiting dental appointments, dentists will be at Prairie Trails on on Wednesday, March 5 to complete exams.

All Students Must Be Registered Every Spring!


Registration for the 2025-2026 school year is open. To register your child please log in to your PowerSchool account and complete all of the forms. If you have multiple students in the district you will need to complete the forms for each student.

UPDATED LUNCH MENU

Summer Camp Opportunities

Summer Camp registration through the River Trails Park District opens for residents on February 4th. Scholarships are available (click here for more information).

Prairie Trails Feedback

Take a minute and give a shout out to a Prairie Trails staff member, ask a question, or give us some feedback. https://forms.gle/h2mNhKLxEkvo9rT66

District Communications

When you receive an initial text message notification from the district, you will need to opt-in to receive future text messages from us.

Please reply "YES" when prompted to do so.

Contact Information

Contact Information

Amy Veytsman, Principal aveytsman@rtsd26.org

Natalie Hudson, Assistant Principal nhudson@rtsd26.org

Mary Cannata- School Secretary - mcannata@rtsd26.org

Kristina Garry- School Nurse- kgarry@rtsd26.org

Amy Veytsman
Amy is using Smore to create beautiful newsletters