Bravo!!!

Congratulations to the cast and crew of Shrek Jr. on a pair of phenomenal performances this week! 99 of our middle school students were involved in the acting, singing, dancing, set design, prop creation, lighting, sound, and technical work required to bring this story to life.

It is amazing to see the attention, care, and detail that went into making this production the smashing success it was! 

Thank you to Mr. Oliveira and Ms. Wade for their guidance, creativity, and leadership supporting every aspect of this endeavor.  Thank you to the East Prairie Education Foundation for the grant money to make the production possible. 

Thank you to our families for their involvement and support.  Above all, thank you to our students for sharing their talents with all of us.  Bravo!  If “all the world’s a stage” our students are more than ready to make it a great show!

Parents & Partnership

East Prairie is proud to have partnered with the ELL Parent Center for the sixth year to provide the Parent in Schools Program.  This program is a nationally recognized parent engagement model that builds deep and lasting relationships between students, teachers, and parents.   Thank you to Ms. Shoaib, Ms. Syeda, Ms. Hasan, Ms. Naz, and Ms. Oaida for their incredible commitment to our community.  Thank you to Ms. Hernandez, Ms. Kath, Mrs. Mehr, Mrs. Berkowitz, Ms. Wydmanski, and Mrs. Foti for opening their classroom doors to our families and this opportunity.

 

At East Prairie, this program has been a phenomenal way to involve parents within our classroom and further connect with our community.

Q3 is in the books!

 We officially wrapped up quarter 3 with pajama day and an all school pep rally. 

The pep rally brought us together to celebrate our students, teachers, teams, and accomplishments, while also having some fun! 

We were treated to amazing performances by our cheerleading team and the cast of Shrek Jr., as well as some fun games, competitions,

and of course pie - it is after all “pie day” (3.14) for our math loving friends :)

Carnival for a Cause!

Thank you to the PTA, our students, families and teachers, for coming together at the carnival to celebrate and have fun in support of a great cause! Featuring a dunk booth, duck races, face painting, "tattoo" parlor, fortune telling, and lots of games a terrific time was had by all!

Thank you for participating in this year’s PTA fundraising week!  Thanks to the online auction and carnival, we were able to raise $4,000, making a real difference for our kids, teachers, and families.  Your amazing generosity and engagement help us create wonderful family events and experiences all year long!  Thank you!

Beyond amazing events, the PTA also helps ensure every child gets lunch by assisting families in need.  This immense care and generosity also supports our staff, making them feel valued and appreciated.  The PTA does so much for so many!  Our community thrives thanks to the PTA's dedication to our kids, families, and teachers.

Learning & Wellbeing

 

While we take tremendous pride in all of the professional learning we do together, we were truly fortunate to have welcomed Dr. Tina Boogren to East Prairie for last Friday’s institute day.  Dr. Boogren is a world renowned practitioner helping to lead our field in educator wellness. 

Educator wellness is “a continuous, active process toward achieving a positive state of good health and enhanced physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being” (Kanold & Boogren, 2022). 

It is an ongoing journey of self-reflection and personal growth - ensuring we are our best selves, to support our students and community to the fullest extent possible.  We will continue to build on this learning, and put it into practice throughout the year.  We are beyond grateful for the opportunity to truly engage, interact with, and learn from the leading thinkers in our field!

We also had some fun putting our Community Connections Center to good use!

A Community of Care

 Thank you to all of the community organizations that came out in support of our first ever “Community of Care” event!  We are committed to being a hub for connection and care, and we deeply value our partnerships in supporting every member of our community.  Check out the resource book available in the main office to learn more about the people, programs, resources, and organizations available to support you and your family.

NN/EPS Mentor Program

The overarching theme of this month’s meeting was perseverance. The focus was on equipping students with specific, actionable strategies they can use to overcome challenges, obstacles, and difficult times.

We aimed to accomplish this goal through a structured reflective writing activity. 

 Mentors engaged in this process by writing a letter to their mentee. In this letter, each mentor identified a personal challenge they have faced, described a time they experienced a similar hardship, and detailed the specific steps they took to persevere through it. This offered mentees a real-world example of resilience from a trusted adult. 

Simultaneously, mentees wrote letters to their younger selves. These letters focused on a challenge they anticipate facing as they get older. They explored how this challenge might hold them back, the feelings it might evoke, and, most importantly, the reasons why it's important to work through the challenge, as well as how they might go about doing so. 

We of course also did our team building activity and had time to leverage the power of play to reinforce our learning and build stronger connections.

Thank you to our mentors, mentees, and staff that make this very special program what it is!