Pioneer Press

Happy Friday! This was a JAM-PACKED week of fun, culminating in our Palentine's parties today. We had so many creative ideas for crafts in each class, and the obligatory sugary treats. My heart jumped for joy at our celebration of our UIL competitors, PBIS points of pride, and at our ability to celebrate Ms. Collins for National School Counselor week (it was last week but we wanted everyone to share in our appreciation of her). We are in full swing in our efforts to help our students achieve the highest levels of learning that they can, and next week will spend time looking at our mid-year data (which went home in backpacks today), to see what else we can do to support and enrich our students' learning. I am going to send out our Campus Improvement Plan (CIP) as an attachment to this newsletter. We appreciate your support and partnership, and wish everyone the greatest of weekends. Enjoy the three days off!

Our staff members have cast their votes, and we have named both our Teacher and Para-Educator of the Year for 2026-27! A huge congratulations to Mrs. Priya Dharshan for being named Teacher of the Year, and Mrs. Arundhati Jagtap (Ms. AJ) for being named Para-Educator of the Year. They both do a tremendous job and we are so proud of them. Mrs. Dharshan will be honored at the RRISD Teacher of the Year dinner on May 6, and will be entered for the district-level competition. Should she win at the district level, she would progress to state and then national Teacher of the Year. We appreciate ALL of our staff and their dedication to our students. Here are all the nominees for Teacher and Para-Educator of the Year:

Teachers: Sharee Esquilona (ACHIEVE), Brandy White (4th grade), Sydney Catone (2nd grade), Hayley Kleinman (Pre-K), Cally Drozd (2nd grade), Priya Dharshan (1st grade), Brittni Bordic (Int./Dyslexia), Tara McBrearty (Library), Kristin Shelton (Pre-K 4), Kristi Kerley (1st grade), Tori Mehok (Kindergarten), Joann Danielson (4th grade), Melissa Bolash (Pre-K 3).

Para-Educators: Arundhati Jagtap (Gen. Ed.), Kaylee Gaddis (ACHIEVE), Laura Wessels (Admin. Asst.), Jennifer Ashby (Pre-K 4), Maria Torres (Pre-K 4), Shemeka Riley-Fairconeture (Off. Spec.), Jessica Woodhouse (PE), Sarah Pouncey (ACHIEVE), Rebecca Holley (ACHIEVE), Keyona Webb (ECSE/TWC), Patty Zambie (Pre-K 3).

Again, we congratulate ALL nominated staff on their peer recognition, and thank ALL Pioneer staff for their incredible dedication to our families and community every day.

This week's overall attendance rate was 95.89%. The winning grade with the highest attendance rate was 4th grade with a rate of 97.95%. Our goal is 98% attendance weekly, so let's get back on track PSE!

We had 122 tardies this week, This week brings our second semester tardy total to 681. When students are tardy, they lose instructional time and it is disruptive to them and their classes. Please remember that classes begin at 7:35 promptly, with the bell signalling "time to move to class" at 7:25. We appreciate your help in addressing this rampant issue on our campus!

The PSE UIL Team competed on 2/1/25 at Elsa England. We won second place over all the schools in the McNeil Learning Community, and celebrated with an awards assembly this morning (2/14)! Students competed in Creative Writing, Oral Reading, Chess Puzzles, Spelling, Storytelling, Number Sense, Music Memory, and Ready Writing. We are so very proud of ALL our PSE competitors AND coaches!! Our competitors are: Izzy Hopper, Emmanuel Chow, Delia Hernandez, Lola Peterson, Olivia Lozano-Philip, Izzy Villalon, Ava Clarke, Lawrence Leezer, Jahmai Womack, Odin Pederson, Johnathan Hooker, Norah Scaffidi, Charles Schulz, Judah Lau, Mila Villalon, Horacio Gonzalez, Peter Farnsworth, Griffin Moody, Billy Kimble, Henry Haynie, Chloe Crandall, Dominick Chan, Frederick Chan, Ezra Lau, Rudra Kotedha, Melodi Lawrence, Izzy Dean, Tempe Pederson, Joey Gilden, Billy Kimble, Alaina Monnet, Alice Pecorino, Lulu Kilpatrick, Zoey Raley, Alex Adegbemle, William Crandall, Bryce Juen, Will Keffer, Lauren Spradley, Cora Cowhig Telles, Natalie Juen, Olivia Wiechnicki, Addie Conrad, Dashel Cormier, Silas Windler, Amira Creeger, Rondo Streetman, Layla Gonzalez, Elliot Webber, Evelyn Dorsey, Evelyn Mahometa, Charon Walker, Claudia Tollerton, Alberta Adegbemle, Kian Khanna, Melodie Villarreal, Sebastian Goldman, Addison Richardson, Wesley Bassett, Matthew Tucker, Shadle Cox, Tenley Brown, Grace Kesmuti, Austin Hart, Jocelyn Cruz, Olivia Holcomb, and Clara McGurk. Whoo hoo!!

Please CLICK HERE for the latest and greatest edition of the PSE Times. (Edition 8) Great job reporters, journalists, and staff!

Garden Club will be starting its Spring Semester! Students in K-5th are welcome to join and learn the joys of growing our own healthy food and how we can use it to fuel our bodies! We will start in room 203 at 3:15 right after school, and will end at 4:15. Pick up will be in the garden in the back of the school. Garden Club will begin on the Tuesday after Valentine’s Day, 2/18/2025. it Open to K-5th grade students! If Interested please fill out THIS FORM.

CLICK HERE for some great pics of Garden Club this year.

The Westwood High School HERC Club came to PSE on Monday evening to teach our Pioneers how to make Scribble-bots. Our families had so much fun learning to use everyday items to build the bots, and it was awesome to see so many of our students engaged in a neat STEM activity. Thank you to the HERC Warriors who reached out and asked if they could come to share this learning with our campus!

Last week our class had a fellow classmate and parent come visit us on Monday to teach us about the Lunar New Year! Students were so excited to learn about the Lunar New Year holiday and its traditions. We also got to learn about when it is celebrated and students got to take part in a few fun activities. This year we have enjoyed having different classmates and parents volunteer to teach us about different traditions and holidays that they celebrate at home. Another holiday we were given the opportunity to also learn about is Rosh Hashanah and a few others as well. We can't wait to learn about more traditions that are celebrated throughout the year!

Pond Springs Elementary families,

The day is here! You can now sign up for our Pond Springs Pioneer Fun Run! Our goal is to raise $20,000 for arrival and dismissal programing, student experiences (assemblies/ field trips), and enhanced classroom libraries. Signing up is easy and free! Thank you for working with us to make our school stronger. We are grateful for your support!

⭐️ Sign Up Now On MYBOOSTER.COM ⭐️

Key Dates to Remember:

💻 Sign up online OPEN at MyBooster.com – Start TODAY!

🎉 Fundraiser Kickoff in school – 02/26/2025

👟 Event Day – 03/07/2025

*Need help signing up? Video instructions HERE.

Second grade had Hunter Williams come visit on Thursday, 2/13 to teach them about weather and what a Chief Meteorologist does. Students were so excited to learn all about it and they asked great questions. Thanks to our second grade teachers for setting up such a great learning opportunity!

We would like to give a shout out to our neighborhood Texas Roadhouse for being such a wonderful community partner! They continue to keep our students in mind with incentive coupons and freebies for reading, teacher discretion, etc. This week we are sending home a FREE kids meal with each student! Enjoy and thank you for helping us help who supports us!

Artsonia Directions:

Families, please connect to Artsonia to see your child's artwork! If you're already connected, THANK YOU! You can view or purchase gifts with your kiddos' artwork on it. Click this link to see a gallery of the work we've made so far this school year.

Central Texas TEEN & KIDS COMIC CON, presented by Round Rock ISD Library Services, welcomes students ages 5-19, their guests, and educators. Comic-Con will be held on Saturday, Feb. 22 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Round Rock High School 201 Deep Wood Dr., in Round Rock.

• All costumes must be G-rated.
• No replica weapons are permitted (Lightsabers excepted).
• Full facial masks may only be worn during the Cosplay Fashion Show & Contest.
• Although concessions will be available for food purchases on-site, participants are also welcome to bring their own food and non-alcoholic beverages.
• Attendees under 12 should be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

February 17: RRISD Closed- no school

February 18: Spring Pictures (class pics and clubs/groups)

February 26: PTA General Meeting (cafeteria, 6 pm)

February 26: Boosterthon Kickoff Assembly

February 27-March 7: Boosterthon Pledges accepted

February 28: School wide movie day in the cafeteria; no lunch visitors

February 28: PTA Loteria Night (cafeteria, 5 pm)

March 2: RRISD Climate Survey closes

March 4 & 7: Variety Show Auditions

March 7: BOOSTERTHON FUN RUN

March 11: Second grade music performance ("Hats!") at 6:00 pm

March 17-21: SPRING BREAK!!

Principal: Sjoukje Brown, x4204

Asst. Principal: Tanya Richardson x4205

Main Office: Laura Wessels, x4299

Registrar/Attendance: Kathy Stephenson, x4202

Office Specialist: Shemeka Riley-Fairconeture, x4201

Counselor: Karen Collins, x4203

Nurse: Bethany Taylor, x4206

Ms. Brown

Proud PSE Principal