Philip R. Smith Elementary School

I am so proud to share that PRS was ranked 9 out of 980 elementary schools in the State of Connecticut. The state bases the ranking on school's Accountability Index which takes into consideration a variety of criteria including but not limited to student growth on state testing (SBAC and NGSS), student attendance, and 4th grade physical fitness. Be sure to celebrate with your child at home and as always, encourage them to work hard and perform their best so that PRS continues this incredible success!

Don't forget to fill out the Winter Market paperwork that went home earlier this week. Please let your child's teacher know if you plan to shop after school on Monday!

Help us make our Annual Soup-er Luncheon for Teachers (on December 18th) a special one.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0944ABAE2EA6FB6-53401360-souper#/

Here is the PTO newsletter and calendar of events for December.

Cook's Night Off

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17oFhcIBvztY-TQzNVgYK7jcxJasyq10B/view?usp=sharing

Adventures with Avery

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10eiNN5zubopCxnz_ebaYnRFPGHHZ_W19/view?usp=sharing

Yard Goats Save the Date

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FGeEF3IKw6HCOXOJdUzkDR95slunpxGw/view?usp=sharing

As you can imagine we go through headphones for students pretty quickly around here. We purchase ear buds but they don't necessarily work for our youngest learners. If you have any extra sets of headphones at home or know someone who might, would you please send them into school and we can distribute them to classrooms that need them.

You may have noticed some strange happenings here at PRS this week. Well, our Cheer Committee rolled out an Underground Spirit Week for Staff! Monday was Monochromatic Monday where staff wore an outfit in the same color. A lot of cream, tan and black!! Tuesday was Royalty Day and staff showed up in gowns and crowns!! Wacky Wednesday didn't disappoint with outlandish mismatched clothes. Thursday was drink from anything but a cup and boy did people get creative. AND finally, the best way to end a week...PJ Day!

So if you were wondering if we had all lost our minds, nope, just had a little fun and kept the students guessing. The best part was when the kids asked what we were doing and why? We simply all responded with, "we don't know what you are talking about." or "what do you mean?"

Thank you for all who submitted a form for the after school clubs. I will be working on the rosters next week and will email you if your child(ren) has been selected to participate.

If you have had a chance to spend time outside in our beautiful memorial garden, you would have noticed engraved bricks in the walkway. There have been two opportunities over several years for families to purchase engraved bricks. We would like to offer this to our families again. Please see the link below for more information if you are interested in purchasing a brick that would be included in our memorial garden!

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGVzvoULfw/_tYuz7g_br8mcT5qkMnNjQ/view?utm_content=DAGVzvoULfw&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=viewer

The Student Leadership Team would like to thank you for your kind support of our Pajama Day for the Cure. We will announce the total we raised in next week's elbast. Our annual Toy and Stuffed Animal Drive also ended today. We collected two boxes of toys for South Windsor Human Serices. Thank you for helping us to help others. We will announce our January project next week.

Latest article about building resilience in our students. https://www.understood.org/en/articles/building-resilience-in-kids

Senator Murphy invites your students to participate in his Office’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Contest. We ask students from elementary, middle, and high schools from across Connecticut to participate in honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by submitting essays that reflect on Dr. King’s dream, their own aspirations, and the importance of what Dr. King means to them.

Submissions are now open and must be received by Saturday, January 11th at 11:59pm. Essays can be submitted online or mailed to our Hartford Office.

Essay instructions and FAQs can be found here on our website. This site includes word count guidelines, submission guidelines, and information on what we look for in essays.

We look forward to reading and reviewing your student’s work! If you have any further questions, please contact Sarah Lopez at 860-549-8463 or email at MLK_Essay@murphy.senate.gov.

12/18 Parent/Teacher Conferences

12/16 Holiday Market

12/21-1/2 Holiday Break

1/23 PRS Math Night NOTE CHANGE of DATE!

Adding Someone to School Messenger https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h2vqldyvZFOK_jumwjaGUbHMP2H4GSLs/edit#heading=h.gjdgxs

Yearlong Calendar

https://cdnsm5-ss13.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_239916/File/Calendars/2024-2025%20School%20Calendar%20SWHS%20Principal%20Update.pdf

Attendance https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-0idrvt_FgrUNOSYEH85cJwtMIoiBsEj/view?usp=sharing

Gingerbread House Festival

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nxszhPZsZf3gCYKGuMtVl_MMJF5lexlL/view?usp=sharing

Little League Tee Ball

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZU20iiDpZUCTZixYK4e0qtd6qDiYGmeS/view?usp=sharing

Open House Informational Links https://secure.smore.com/n/8y39c

Nurse's Blog

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QoYcCkcavl8PlOhe7qdj66idT1cmvLoV9IW4z_DOjl8/edit?usp=sharing

Universal Stories https://sites.google.com/apps.southwindsorschools.org/prs-universal-stories/home

Volunteer Registration: This is the newly revised Volunteer Registration form-In order to volunteer you must complete this form. If you have already completed it in the past and have been approved to volunteer, you do not need to complete it again.

https://www.southwindsorschools.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=240000&pageId=28297053