Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Parent Conferences/Halloween Parties

I hope you are all enjoying a beautiful fall!!  This is such a great time of year! 

Parent/Teacher Conferences
We have one of our most important school events coming up on Friday - Parent/Teacher Conferences.  In order for our students to be as successful as possible, all of us need to work together as a team.  Parent/Teacher conferences provide a very important opportunity for teachers to meet with every family about their students' needs and successes.  This communication is extremely important because you can provide information about your child that we may not know or understand. 

Please keep in mind that, while Parent/Teacher Conferences are only held once a year, we hope to keep the lines of communication open during the entire school year.  If you have questions or concerns at any time, it is important to communicate with your child's teacher immediately before a small concern becomes much bigger. 

Halloween Party/Parade
Our Halloween Parade/Parties will be held on Friday, October 29 at 2:00 pm.  The Parade will start at 2:00 in the bus lane, with parties to follow.  Parents are, of course, welcome to attend!  A map will be available on the website that shows the parade route and good places for parent viewing.  Please note that we will not have any parking in the bus lane or on the East and North sides of the building so that our route is clear.  We also ask that the front entrance of the building and the bus lane remain clear so that we can get the students out of the building and ready for the parade. 

Break the Rules Week and Cougar Pride Night Pictures
A big Cougar thank you goes out to everyone who participated in the Break the Rules Week and Cougar Pride Night pictures.  We were able to raise a lot of money to help our Prarieland families, which further demonstrates the extremely caring nature of the Prairieland community! 

As always, please contact me with any questions, concerns, or celebrations!  It's a GREAT day to be a Cougar!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Mass e-mail

Yesterday in an attempt to send an e-mail to our Prairieland families to remind everyone about the Rusty May Bullying presentation on September 29 and the early out for Homecoming on Friday at 1:45, I inadvertently sent e-mails to every student in Unit 5.  We now have the problem fixed for any future mass e-mails, but it did create a lot of confusion yesterday and I apologize for that. 

Just to reiterate the message:
  • The RSVPs for the Rusty May Bullying dinner/presentation were due today, but we will still accept them tomorrow. 
  • We will dismiss at 1:45 on Friday for the Normal Community West Homecoming parade.  It should also be noted that this year we will also dismiss for the Normal Community Homecoming parade on October 15- also at 1:45. 
As always- please contact me with questions or concerns!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

PIECE

We had our first PIECE meeting of the year on September 14. We were very excited to have a number of new families in attendance! We have several announcements to share from the meeting:


• We will be having an additional meeting to discuss the budget and elect a secretary on Monday, October 4 at 6:30 in room 29 in the 4th/5th grade commons.


• We have an opening for a new secretary for this school year. At this time we have several members who are interested in filling the opening, and we will be presenting the candidates and conducting an election at the October 4 meeting. If you have not yet expressed an interest in the position and would like to, please e-mail Board President Lisa Albaugh (lmalbau@ilstu.edu) by September 20.


• Please note also that we will not be combining a meeting with Cougar Pride Night on October 5. We will have a meeting on October 12 with Dr. Niehaus as our guest speaker. We will alternate business meetings with guest speakers each month.


Thank you for your strong support of our school!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Curriculum night and updates

It was great to see so many of you at Curriculum Night!  I hope you learned lots of things about your child's classroom and that you now have a good picture of what the year holds for our Prairieland Cougars.  I have especially enjoyed meeting all of our Prairieland families.  Please be sure to stop and introduce yourself any time you see me around or when you are in the office.

I have a couple of announcements about changes/additions to our calendar in the next month or so that I would like to share:

  • September 14- We will have a very informal Club Night before the PIECE meeting.  The Club Night will be in the Multi-Purpose room from 5:30 pm-6:30 pm and will include the following:  Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Craft Club (K and 1st only), Chess Club, Gardening Club and Cooking Club.  The PIECE meeting will begin at 6:30 pm.
  • October 5- On our original calendar, this was listed as Open House/PIECE meeting w/ a visit from Dr. Niehaus.  The PIECE meeting/visit from Dr. Niehaus will be moved to October 12 at 6:30 pm.
I hope you are all having a positive start to the year.  The kids have been doing a wonderful job at school, and our staff has very exciting plans for the year!  Please know that your children are in good hands with our wonderful staff!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

First Week

The Prairieland Cougars are off to a great start!  Our students arrived on Monday with smiles on their faces, backpacks full of supplies and minds ready to be challenged!  Many parents were also seen skipping away with smiles on their faces after dropping their students off.

We have several events/deadlines coming up that I would like to remind you about:
Saturday, August 28- Movie Night- "Furry Vengeance" at dusk
Monday, August 30- Picture Day- practice those smiles!
Monday, August 30- Spiritwear orders are due
Tuesday, August 31- Curriculum Night
  • 6:00-6:45- 1st and 2nd grade
  • 6:45-7:30- 3rd and 4th grade
  • 7:30-8:15- 5th grade
I would also like to let you know that we will have a very informal "Club Night" on September 14 before our PIECE meeting.  Not all of our Clubs/groups will be present, but we will for sure have Craft Club, Girl Scouts, and Chess.

We appreciate all of your support as we start this new year.  Please communicate regularly with the school about any questions or concerns that you may have.  Education is truly a team endeavor!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Back to school!

Now that class lists are complete, and teachers have their classrooms almost complete, it is time for the students to arrive!  We are all looking forward to seeing students on Monday!  I just wanted to put a reminder out about some dates and times:
Thursday, August 19- 6:00- Kindergarten Open House for parents only
                                         - Mrs. Lockenvitz and Mrs. Riley 1st grade Open House for families- 6:00-7:30
Monday, August 23- 1st 1/2 Day of school- 8:30-11:30 am for 1st-5th grade/Open House for Kindergarten (times for the Kindergarten Open House will be shared by the Kindergarten teachers)
Tuesday, August 24- 1st Full day of school- 8:30-3:15
Tuesday, August 31-  Curriculum Night – Adults Only

                                 6:00 – 6:45 1st and 2nd grades
                                 6:45 – 7:30 3rd and 4th grades
                                 7:30 – 8:15 5th grade
It's a great day to be a Cougar!!!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Registration/Class lists

We had registration last night and it was wonderful to meet all of our new families and many of our returning families.  It is awesome to see how welcoming our Cougar staff and families are!

If you have not registered your child, please be sure to call the school office- 888-6838 or stop by as soon as possible.

Also, please stop by and pick up your School Kidz kits if you ordered them in the spring.  They are in the front lobby, organized by grade level.  There is a check out sheet in the office.

Class lists will be posted on Friday, August 13 after 4:00 pm.

I can't wait to see everyone in a couple of weeks!!

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Back to School

As we all head back to school, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new Prairieland families and a welcome back to our returning Prairieland families.  I am very excited to be a part of the Prairieland family, and I am looking forward to meeting all of you!

Please know that I am available to answer your questions, hear your concerns and listen to your ideas.  I also love to hear about the things that are going well for you and your child as the year progresses.  Please feel free to call the school (888-6838) or send me an e-mail (bergmacm@unit5.org) if you have anything to share or discuss.

It's a great day to be a Cougar!