College Community School District home page: www.prairiepride.org

Educational Service Center .... 848-5200401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034Prairie High School ................. 848-5340401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034 grds 10-12Prairie Point ............................. 848-5500401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034 grds 7-9Prairie Creek Interm. ............... 848-5310401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034 grds 5-6Prairie Crest Elementary ........ 848-5280401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034 grds PK-4Prairie Heights Elementary ..... 848-5230401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034 grds K-4Prairie Ridge Elementary ........ 848-5100401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034 grds K-4Prairie View Elementary ......... 848-5260401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034 grds K-4Prairie Edge School ................ 298-34065400 Kirkwood Blvd. SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404 grds K-12Prairie School Foundation ..... 848-5437401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034

How to REaCH US...

Published four times a year so that citizens of the district may be informed about the programs and activities of the College Community Schools.

aRtIClES FoR PRaIRIE NEwS

The College Community School District provides equal educa-tion and employee opportunities and will not illegally discrimi-nate regardless of their age (except for schools) race, religion, socioeconomic status, color, creed, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The district shall take affirmative action in recruitment, appointment, assignment and advancement of women, minorities and disabled. Inquiries regarding compliance with equal education or employment op-portunities and/or affirmative action shall be directed to Ying Ying, Equity Coordinator, College Community Schools, 401 76th Avenue SW, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404. Inquiries may also be directed, in writing, to the Iowa Civil Rights Department or to the Director of the Region VII Office of Civil Rights, Department of Education, Kansas City, Missouri.

May/June 2010 College CoMMunity SChool DiStriCtwHat’S INSIDEPrairie Crest .............................. 2Prairie Heights .......................... 3Prairie Ridge ............................. 4Prairie View .............................. 5Prairie Creek ............................. 6Prairie Point .............................. 7Prairie High ............................... 8Prairie Edge .............................. 9School Foundation .................... 9District News/Information ... 10-12

College Community Schools • Prairie NewsSteve Doser, editor; 401 76th Avenue SW, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404 • (319) 848-5437 Serving the communities of Cedar Rapids, Ely, Fairfax, Shueyville, Swisher and Walford.Board of Education meetings are held on the third Monday of each month. District residents are invited to attend.Board of Education: President–Randy Bauer Vice President–Greg Kelsey Dot Pospischil, John Titler, Norm Zahradnik, Kristie Fisher, Jed Peterson

To submit an article contact Community Relations at (319) 848-5437.

Continued on page 11

Hearing the pitter patter of smaller feet, teachers saying, “Criss-cross apple sauce…hands in your laps…let’s see your pretzel legs…hips and lips…”, field trips to the fire station…the Iowa’s Chil-dren Museum…Somersaults, the singing of songs such as, “Fishy, fishy…Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes…If You’re Happy and You Know It,” these are all definite signs that there have been some changes for the elementary build-ings in College Community School

District. Smaller feet, more children and new teachers adorn all four of the Prairie elementary buildings this year. These new changes be-

long to Prairie Hawks Preschool, a new addition to the school district.

What is Prairie Hawks Pre-school? How was the school district able to add preschool to each elementary building? What do the teachers and children do in preschool? How long will we have preschool? What does

preschool mean to College Com-munity School District? These are all questions that I am sure are on everyone’s mind. This article about Prairie Hawks Preschool will an-swer these questions and give you some important information on the importance of educating young children.

For several years the administra-tion has been working very hard to apply for the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program grant funding for public school districts. This ap-plication and all of the processes that went along with it were very grueling and tedious. However, after several years the hard work of the administrators paid off and in

the spring of 2009, College Com-munity School District was notified that they were awarded the grant funding to support the addition of preschool to the district. The administrators decided to name the new Statewide Voluntary Pre-school Program “Prairie Hawks Preschool”. With the addition of Prairie Hawks Preschool to the school district, we now have a Pre-K through 12th grade district which totally adheres to its goal, “To Ensure Quality Learning Today for Tomorrow.”

This year was the first school year for Prairie Hawks Preschool. It has been an eye-opening experience for everyone involved. Starting a

new program has been challeng-ing; however, it has been exciting for the staff and administrators to see the support the community has shown for the preschool program. This program has found support from all of the school district ad-ministrators, principals, elementary schools and staff, parents, and

community members. It has truly changed the Prairie community in many positive ways. “Our first year of integrating preschool programs at Prairie Ridge has been extremely rewarding. We have established many structures and procedures that form the basis for a quality preschool experience. The pre-

school perspective has broadened our collective knowledge base about the progression of learning in the primary years. Additionally, we have developed relationships with students and families that will enhance our ability to effectively meet student needs and ensure early success as students transition to kindergarten next year. It has been a joy to learn alongside our lively, young friends!” –Tracy Laue, Prin-cipal at Prairie Ridge

As stated earlier in this article, much planning went into the prepa-ration for the grant writing process for this preschool funding. Many committees were formed and donat-ed their time to plan the grant appli-

Kindergarten, Here we Come

I Need lunch Money... College Community announces online optionsContinued on page 11

College Community Schools is offering On-Line Access for par-ents/guardians to student meal ac-count balances, activity, and is ac-cepting Lunch Account Payments online at EZSchoolPay.com

Here’s how to begin: Go directly to the EZSchoolPay.com site or go to the district website at www.prairiepride.org and click on the Link and fol-low the instructions to create an account. During the process of establishing your on-line account you will be asked to provide your child’s/children(s) ID number. ID numbers appear on low balance re-minders brought home by elemen-tary students or you may contact any of the following Lunch Clerks to get the ID number.

Prairie High SchoolJudy Serbousek 848-5462 jserbousek@prairiepride.org

Prairie Point Middle SchoolMary Shramek 848-5500 x1076 mshramek@prairiepride.org

Prairie Creek IntermediatePam Luther 848-5322 pluther@prairiepride.org

Prairie Crest ElementaryAmber Suthers 848-5280 asuthers@prairiepride.org

Prairie Heights ElementaryCarol Stallman 848-5230 cstallman@prairiepride.org

Prairie View Elementary Jane Zangerle 848-5260 jzangerle@prairiepride.org

Prairie Ridge ElementaryShari Clines 848-5100 sclines@prairiepride.org

Julie Hauser, Director of Nutri-tional Services, can also provide student ID numbers at 848-5215.

Once you have established your account you have the ability to do the following:

EZSchoolPay.com has the ability for parents to view their child’s meal account activity online. This is a great way for you to track how your money is spent and the eating habits of your child. When you are logged in to EZSchoolPay, click the “My Stu-dents” link. Assuming you have already linked students to your parent account, click the “View

Transactions” link next to your child’s name. The resulting report will show recent activity, including meal service, a la carte service, ac-count credits (both online and cash/check), and account adjustments.

Transactions will show for up to 30 days of service. Please note that this service is informational only. Though rare, there may cir-cumstances when the transaction list may not be complete or gaps in history may occur. If there is any question about your child’s meal account it is always best to consult with your child’s school cafeteria manager for a complete account history report. This portion of EZSchoolpay is free and all parents are encouraged to create an

2 • May/June 2010 • Prairie news

Calendar of Events

Prairie Crest elementary

May3No School / Profes-

sional Learning Day3-7 National Teacher

Appreciation Week11 PTO Meeting @ 6:15204th Grade Track &

Field Day214th Grade Picnic31No School / Memorial

Day

June2Enrichment Day44th Grade Promotion8Last Day of School /

Dismissal @ 11:45 Immigration Simulation in Second Grade

As a culminating activity to the second grade immigration unit, the stu-dents became immigrants entering Ellis Island. The students packed their belongings to travel to the United States for a better life. After showing their passport, they first boarded the ship and sat in the crowded steerage, except for a few privileged immigrants that were in first class. After a long, hot, crowded trip they finally arrived in America. Upon departing the ship, the immigrants had to find their way around Ellis Island (Prairie Crest). They needed to be checked in the medical, interview, information, baggage and passport rooms. The students had to show their passports and were questioned in each room about their family history, homeland, reasons for immigration to America, and their plans to find a job. Students had to have a medical examination to make sure they were healthy and did not have any diseases. Their belongings were thoroughly checked to make sure they were not bringing illegal items into America. If an immigrant failed in one of these areas, they were deported. After a long, tiring pro-cess, they finally were admitted to America and were greeted by holding a celebration. The immigrants enjoyed cupcakes, good patriotic music and fellowship. The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience but admitted it was a very difficult process for the immigrants.

Music timePrairie Crest students are continuing to expand their

knowledge of rhythms and note names as well as learning new instruments and proper instrument technique. The use of xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels that the PTO bought two years ago continue to enhance learning. Students love to use their knowledge of dynamics, pulse, and borduns on such beautiful sounding instruments. Creat-ing melodies and rhythm patterns as a class and individuals has been a focus at all grade levels. It is very gratifying for classes to be able to hear their creations and perform com-plex pieces of music using varied instrument sounds. At this point in the year, the first and second grade classes have al-ready performed their concert, “Making Music with Move-ment”. Now the third and fourth graders are preparing for their upcoming performance called “Might Minds!” on April 22. The evening performance time is 7:00. It has been a wonderful year of creating and learning in the music room!

Reading is learning

Jump Rope for Heart at Crest a Success

Crest Elementary held their Jump Rope for Heart fund-raiser in February and March and it was a great success. The students learned about keeping their bodies healthy through physical activity and had a great opportunity to practice the Caring and Citizenship pillars of Character Counts. On March 12th, the whole school had the opportunity to come to the gym and celebrate their accomplishments with our Jump Rope for Heart day. This special day had each grade coming together to jump rope and exercise to keep their hearts strong and healthy. Once all the donations were collected and added up, Crest donated more than $5,500 to the American Heart Association. Great Job, Crest.

Fourth Graders Share Research about the United States

Fourth grade has been busy researching and learning about the United States. We have focused our writing instruction around gathering information on states, especially in the areas of economics, history, and tourism. The students have learned how to take notes from nonfiction text, online research, encyclopedias, and other resources. They then transferred their notes to a graphic organizer to plan their written paragraphs. In their paragraphs they will include topic and concluding sentences, introductory and concluding paragraphs, and body paragraphs based on their research. The students will be creating Power Point presenta-tions and sharing their learning with families after fourth grade promotion.

First Graders and the Daily FiveAs part of our reading instruc-

tion, first grade at Prairie Crest has been implementing The Daily Five. The students have five different reading/language arts components that they do each day during Daily 5 time.

During “Read to Self” the stu-dents find a comfortable place in the room to read “good fit” books from their book boxes. They work on reading the words of the story, reading the pictures, and then re-telling the story. They have also been working on asking questions and inferring the author’s meaning while reading.

Another component is “Read to Someone” where the students read their good fit books to a partner. Each partner takes turns reading and then he or she checks for un-derstanding by summarizing a page or two that the other partner just read.

The third component which is “Listen to Reading” is where a small group of students listen to books on tape, cd, or the Speaka-boo’s website and are able to dis-cuss the book together.

“Word Work” is possibly the most fun part of The Daily 5. There are many different activities

the students can work on during this time. They can make their spelling words with Play-Doh or Wiki sticks, write sentences using their spelling words, cut out paper letters and create spelling words, or create words from the word wall with letter cards.

The final component is “Work on Writing.” Everyday we practice writing neatly and inserting spaces between words. We have been writing expository paragraphs to inform the reader of a topic of our choice. Soon, our Work on Writing time will be focusing on personal and imaginative narratives for the rest of the year.

The first grade teachers are very proud of the hard work all first graders are doing during The Daily 5 time.

The Title 1 students at Prairie Crest are learning comprehension strategies that are aligned with their classroom instruction to help them better understand the stories they are reading. In first grade, the stu-dents have been working on metacognition (thinking about their thinking), question-ing, inferring and determining importance. Learning these strategies along with read-ing accurately have helped the first grade readers make great improvement this year with accuracy and comprehension.

The second grade students are learning and practicing fluency strategies. Fluency is the ability to decode and comprehend at the same time and the students’ reading sounds

smooth like a conversation. This will help them to read accurately, with speed and prosody. The second grade students have been working on this for reading aloud and silently reading. The second grade students are also learning comprehension strategies that are aligned with classroom instruction to deepen their understanding of the text.

The Title 1 students at Prairie Crest have made amazing progress and growth this year. The students and their parents have been doing a terrific job reading at home each evening! They understand that meaningful practice is imperative to stu-dents’ growth in reading!

Visit College Community School District

home page: www.prairiepride.org

May/June 2010 • Prairie news • 3

Prairie heights elementaryCalendar of Events

May3No School – Profes-

sional Learning Day6Mrs Hora/Mrs Zah-

radnik’s classes to Culver’s Greenhouse 9:15 – 11:40

7Mrs Harrelson/Mrs Krumbholz’s classes to Culver’s Greenhouse 9:15 – 11:40

74th Grade to Camp Wapsie 9:15 – 2:30

71st Grade to Blooms-bury Farms 9:15 – 1:30

11 PTO Meeting Prairie Heights 5:30 Meal 6:15 Meeting

143rd Grade to Coralville Fossil Gorge 9:45 – 2:00

17Mrs Oehlerich/Mrs Steenblock’s classes to Children’s Museum 9:15 – 1:00

18Ms McClain/Mrs Nierling’s classes to Children’s Museum 9:15 – 1:00

204th Grade Track & Field Day 9:00 – 3:00

214th Grade Picnic264th Grade State Fair27 4th Grade Track &

Field Day (Raindate)28Kindergarten to Bever

Park31No School

June3Kindergarten to Bever

Park (Raindate)44th Grade Promotion8Last Day of School

11:30 Dismissal10Summer School Begins

An invention! Our annual Prai-rie Heights Invention Convention is a great way for students to show-case their understanding of core subjects as well as their proficiency with 21st century skills. The State of Iowa has created the Iowa Core Curriculum as a guideline for all teachers, parents, and community members in the state. Academic expectations are established for all K-12th grade students. Embedded within this framework are 21st Century Skills: habits of thinking and communication that are neces-sary in our ever-changing world. As stated by the New Commission on the Skills of the American Work-force (2006) “It is a world in which comfort with ideas and abstractions is the passport to a good job, in which creativity and innovation are the keys to the good life, in which high levels of education – a very

different kind of education than most of us have had – are going to be the only security there is.”

This is where our Invention Convention comes in. Students need practice in melding what they learn with the problem solving and innovation necessary in today’s world. All 4th graders (and 3rd graders who choose to) are asked to create an invention that solves a problem. The students create these inventions to the best of their abil-ity and then make a display board to showcase their invention. These inventions are judged by a panel of teachers, business leaders, and community members. Students with the top inventions are able to enter them into the regional Invent Iowa competition. Students who win at this level are eligible for the state competition. This year, five

inventions were chosen to continue all the way to the state level:

3rd grade:◗ Hannah Johnson: Quick Fingers◗ Eric Wisnousky: Hot Rod

Fishing Pole

4th grade:◗ Cal Wagner and Bailey Swartz-

endruber: The Resting Arch◗ Sadie Slaughter and Keegan

Andersen: Share with Me Popcorn Holder

◗ Gage Hahesy: The Big Bucket TrapCongratulations to these stu-

dents and to all of the students who shared inventions at the Prairie Heights Invention Convention. Their creativity, problem-solving, and innovation were remarkable.

what do you get when you cross Core Curriculum, 21st Century Skills, and great 4th grade minds?

Exploring the world in world language by Sra. Dianne Peckosh

Periodically, enticing aromas emanate from the Prairie Heights World Language classroom. Choco-late, Spanish tortillas, Peruvian pota-toes… these are ingredients for a rich and memorable learning experience. Along with cooking and tasting foods from different places, we explore the music, art, money, and other aspects of the culture of various Spanish-speaking countries as we learn a new language.

Learning the culture of the countries where Spanish is the main language is an important part of our elementary World Language program. We have assigned a target country for each grade level, and throughout the year, we take virtual field trips by way of books, videos, food tasting and more to experience and understand these cultures. These experiences help us become aware of things that are important and mean-ingful to other people so that we may communicate more effectively in ev-ery context. Culture lessons also help us to connect our language learning to the elementary core curriculum at each grade level, and provide extend-ing and enriching experiences for all students.

So, if you happen to walk down our halls one day and smell some de-lectable scents or hear unfamiliar in-struments or see us cutting money in half, you are welcome to join us on one of our virtual field trips as we ex-plore the world in World Language.

Fourth Grade NewsOur fourth graders at Heights

have been busy learning how to use different types of technology. We began the year creating Shape Books for our first grade book buddies using the Power Point program. Students took pictures of items around the school that were different shapes. The first graders were asked to try to locate where on the playground they could find each shape. We had a great time be-ing authors of those books.

We were excited to learn that each of us had a Google account to use. These accounts can be ac-cessed from any computer with in-ternet access. We have learned how to use the email, which will come in handy when students and teach-ers want to journal about a book they are reading or to discuss other topics of learning. Another use for our Google account has been the

Google Documents. We have been able to log into our accounts using Google docs and type final drafts of different writing pieces. The best part has been the access we have had to our writing outside of school. Students can work on their writing at school and then log on at home and continue working on it there. Another great thing has been the revising and editing steps of the writing process. Students are able to make comments right on their classmate’s paper on the computer. Peers, parents, and teach-ers can revise and edit quickly, improvements can be made, and the finished product can be printed in a much shorter amount of time than before when we had to go to the computer lab where the papers used to be saved on specific computers.

Wiki Space is another piece of technology we are experimenting

with. A Wiki is like a webpage that can be added to by students and teachers alike.

While we are just beginning to understand all of the technology available, we are enjoying taking the time to experiment with it and how it can help make learning more enjoyable.

Planetarium Dome theater ProgramThanks to the

generosity of our PTO, Prairie Heights’ students were able to experience the Kram-er Entertainment Planetarium Dome Theater. The grade levels were given a choice of programs to see. Kindergarten and preschool chose The Secret of the

Cardboard Rocket. First graders enjoyed the program Earth’s Wild Ride. Second graders experienced the Force Five presentation. Third grade went back in time with Dinosaur Prophecy. Fourth grade went under the micro-scope with the program Microcosm.

News From the art RoomBy: Kevin Jordan

For the second time Prairie Heights Elementary was repre-sented at the Prairie Foundation Auction Dinner, this year selling off a collaborative art work de-signed by our fourth graders

Working in small groups each fourth grade classroom created five to six abstract human figures that portrayed a single emotion, the idea being derived from the graphic work of the artist Keith Haring Then one figure was se-lected from each class that best portrayed that emotion Finally the four figures created were com-bined into one work entitled: “Art is life…life is art” The students were excited and energetic about working together and contributing to this very worth while cause

Jump Rope for HeartPrairie Heights students have been busy

jumping. The students recently participated in the American Heart Association’s pro-gram Jump Rope for Heart. The students participated in a jump rope unit, followed by a Jump Rope for Heart Day, which con-sisted of several different jumping stations to help strengthen their own hearts.

Prairie Heights Elementary had 178 envelopes turned in for this event, with donations totaling $7,314.00. This is an incredible feat and one that everyone should be extremely proud of. This money will help save lives of people who are struggling with heart disease and stroke. We are very proud of the generosity and community spirit of the Prairie Heights’ students and their families.

We had two top sellers this year: Britton Carter and Dylan Clark. Both Britton and Dylan each raised $200.00 to fight heart

disease and stroke. Congratulations Britton and Dylan.Our top selling classroom this year was Ms. Palmer’s first grade class.

This class raised an amazing $680.00 for the American Heart Association. Awesome job, and congratulations to everyone in Ms. Palmer’s class.

THANK YOU FOR BEING HEART HEROES PRAIRIE HEIGHTS

4 • May/June 2010 • Prairie news

Prairie ridge elementaryCalendar of Events

May 3No School 3-7 Staff Appreciation

Week11 PTO Meeting 6:15

Ridge IMC204th Grade Track &

Field Day214th Grade Picnic274th Grade Track &

Field Rain-date31No School Memorial

Day

June 44th Grade Promotion

2:00 Ridge gymJune 8 Last day of school

dismiss at 11:45

Ridge and writing

Summer time FunOnly a few more weeks and

the endless days of summer be-gin While the “lazy, crazy days of summer” are a time for fun and regeneration, they also pro-vide kids the opportunity to take part in various area programs designed not only to be fun but also be educational Listed be-low are several area resources providing summer time activities designed to be fun while slipping in some learning at the same time:College Community Summer School Classes● classes run June 10th

through July 2nd ● a wide variety of classes are

offered● for further information call

848-5224the Science Station● for further information call

294-4367Camp tanager● for further information

call 365-9165 X327 or visit their website wwwcamptanagerorg

the Cedar Rapids Public library● offering a wide variety of

summer reading programs● for further information call

398-5123the Cedar Rapids Museum of art● offering varied activities;

many hands-on● for further information call

366-7503the Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation Department● Offering a variety of activities

for all ages● for further information call

286-5731● wwwcrrecorg

Prairie Ridge students and staff have been working hard all year to meet our building goals related to writing and reading fluency. Stu-dents have made terrific gains in these areas. Research has found that when students return to school after a long summer vacation, they can lose one to three months worth of learning. The Prairie Ridge staff encourages parents to help their children retain educational skills throughout the summer through fun reading and writing activities. Here are a few ideas: Have lots of books available to

children. Area libraries sched-ule special summer events and incentive programs. Make regular trips to the library.

Read everyday! Read to your child and have them read to you. Schedule a special time each day that is set aside for reading.

Have books in the car and en-courage children to read as you travel.

While on vacation – keep a journal, send postcards, read the map together, add up miles traveled, or make a scrapbook.

Children write letters or emails to friends, relatives, or teachers.

Children read and write “to do” lists.

Write a play or skit that can be performed with stuffed ani-mals or puppets – then perform the play.

Don’t forget to practice math skills, also. Encourage children to use their money skills when shopping. Look for telling time and elapsed time opportuni-ties as you plan each day.

Children need to know the

importance of continuing to grow as readers and writers even during summer vacation. Summer is a time for children to learn in unique and authentic ways.

Summer Reading and writing

Fourth grade students at Prairie Ridge have been working hard all year to develop and hone excellent writing skills. Last fall, we learned about using the Writing Routine (from The Write Tools) to guide us through parts of the writing pro-cess. The Writing Routine consists of the following steps:1. Analyze the prompt2. Brainstorm ideas 3. Pick and choose big ideas and

details4. Make a plan5. Topic sentence work6. Turn and talk7. Write

Students use the Writing Routine to help plan and organize their writ-ing. Fourth graders have learned the importance of having a plan before beginning to draft a piece of writing. Students also benefit from having multiples opportuni-

ties to “talk their planners out loud” with peers. Being able to generate complete thoughts orally using their planners, provides the necessary bridge to being able to successfully draft a piece of writing.

We are amazed at the differ-ent kinds of writing students are producing. Students have written expository (essay) pieces, summa-ries, personal narratives, and have just completed imaginative narra-tives, which has been a favorite. Fourth graders are also becoming experts at evaluating their own writ-ing for traits such as organization, word choice, and voice. There is a genuine excitement and buzz in our classrooms during writing instruc-tion, and students are making con-nections between their writing and real-life applications. Our fourth grade authors have the “WRITE” stuff!

Increasing Student Success at RidgeJump Rope for Heart at Ridge

Ridge students recently participated once again in Jump Rope for Heart. Students raised $11,681.48 for the American Heart Association. The event took place the week of March 22nd during PE classes. Students participated in many different jumping activities including short and long jump roping, trampoline, pogo stick, hurdles, and much more.

Participating in Jump Rope for Heart not only allowed the students to exercise their hearts, it also gave them the opportunity to help save lives. Thank you to everyone who donated money to this great cause.

Prairie Ridge Elementary Spe-cial Education Teachers met this school year to design accommoda-tions to increase their students’ suc-cess in the general education social studies and science curriculum. Us-

ing technology, they created visual supports. Examples shown above were generated to aide students in learning and understanding the gen-eral education first grade vocabu-lary unit, Bringing History Home.

Visit College Community School Districthome page: www.prairiepride.org

May/June 2010 • Prairie news • 5

Prairie View elementaryCalendar of Events

at Prairie View, we believe inrespect for people and property

safety for everyone

responsibility and teamwork

quality in all we do

May3No School - Profes-

sional Learning Day3-7 Child Nutrition Appre-

ciation Week4National Teacher

Appreciation Week4-21 BRI testing – end of

year – grades 1-611 PTO 5:45 Umbrella

@ Heights - 6:15 Busi-ness meeting

12National School Nurses Day

204th Grade Field Day - rain date 27

214th Grade Picnic284th grade Wax

Museum, gym31No School – Memorial

Day

June34th grade Field Trip –

West Branch, Hoover Museum

44th grade Promotion at 2:45

8Last day of school, report cards home - 11:45 dismissal

10-July 2Summer School

Bringing History Home

Third Graders at Prairie View recently finished a study on slavery and segre-gation. Students were very engaged during this unit of learning and came away with a great deal of knowledge about the Civil War and the segregation years that fol-lowed up to the Civil Rights Movement. To culminate their learning, partnerships studied and wrote a biog-raphy on a famous African American. After research-ing and taking their papers through the writing process to the final draft stage, students worked to create a Wheat-ies Box as a final product to display their person of study. Boxes included a portrait of the person, a slogan about what they were the champion of, a timeline highlighting six key points of the person’s life, and “ingredients” of the person. One example of a study on Martin Luther King Junior listed Martin as the “Champion of Peace,” and ingredients including 50% determination, 30% bravery, and 20% leadership. We’re thrilled to announce that sev-en students from each class will be drawn to have their box on display at the Kernel’s game Thursday, April 15th for Jackie Robinson Night.

Exploring Cultures

The Kindergarten classes at Prairie View are fortunate to have 12 ELL students from 7 different countries including the Marshall Islands, Bosnia, Korea, China, Mexico, Vietnam, and various Afri-can countries.

Mrs. Levi, the ELL teacher, and the kindergarten teachers helped the students celebrate their diversity by having the ELL families come in and teach the students a little about their country.

A parent from Mexico showed the students many pictures of schools in Mexico, parties in Mexico, and holidays in Mexico. She also showed them a cartoon in Spanish and they listened to a

Spanish song. As an added bonus, she brought in home-made can-dies that are tradi-tional in Mexico.

A par-ent from Korea

taught us about Korean traditions. Her daughter wore her hanbok that she wears for Korean holidays. She also shared her wedding album with the students and answered questions the children had for her. Earlier this year, she brought in Ko-rean food for the students and read a book to them in Korean.

A parent from China brought in Chinese food from their restaurant for the children to sample. They also gave each child an accessory from China.

These are just a few examples of the wonderful guests that came to share about their culture to our classes. The students are fortunate to be able to celebrate their cultures with each other.

For additional information or to make donations of money or auctions items contact: Jennifer Neira (319) 350-2280

Immigration SimulationSecond grade students at Prairie

View learned what it was like to be an immigrant passing through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954.

Their journey began when they boarded the SS Carmania, in the locker bays, on the morning of Febru-ary 5th. On this journey each student carried their passports and all of their “worldly” school possessions in their trunks and bundles. The ship was crowed, noisy, and uncomfortable for the majority of the students who were traveling in third class. Some passengers got lucky and were moved to first class on the ship. There they were treated like Kings and Queens as they were served ice cold water and lounged in comfortable chairs. When

the ship arrived at “Ellis Island” each student waited in line to have their baggage inspected. Then they jour-neyed on through the medical room, information room, inspection room and the interview room. Along the way some students were sent to the deportation room for various reasons. The immigrants were TIRED, HOT, and THIRSTY. Many students were worried that they would not make it to AMERICA. However in the end, everyone was greeted by the Statue of Liberty as they made it to their final destination, AMERICA! To celebrate they enjoyed patriotic Bomb Pops and had their picture taken as they became new U.S. citizens.

Jump Rope for HeartIn P.E. the Fourth Graders at Prairie View put their life into three words

for Good Morning America’s weekend segment - Your Life in Three Words. They made a human heart with the words “We’re Heart Heroes” and “Jump for Heart” displayed in the background.

1st Grade Curriculum

First graders at Prairie View are currently exploring the con-cepts of balance and motion We will be observing and com-paring how objects balance, spin and roll

Prairie Hawk PreschoolPrairie Hawk Preschool at View has

been working on social skills and getting ready for kindergarten. The students have been working hard on their team-work skills by working together and problem solving. Each week we focus on team building skills. The students also learn through play during center time focusing on creative curriculum goals. These projects encourage social and language skills which are important to have for kindergarten readiness.

6 • May/June 2010 • Prairie news

By: anna GardnerWhat’s happening in Spanish

class? Over the course of the 2009-2010 school year, Prairie Creek Intermediate students have been reviewing and practicing material learned in their K-4 World Lan-guage program, as well as expand-ing their knowledge.

Fifth grade students have been working with comida (food) vo-cabulary, and will eventually be learning to order in a restaurant and ask for the bill using polite requests in Spanish. Recently, students went ‘shopping’ in World Language class to find food items and other house-hold products, using grocery lists written completely in Spanish!

Sixth grade students have been increasing their vocabulary of fam-ily, physical characteristics, and personality traits. These students

are currently learning to discuss different activities and sports that they enjoy practicing. Students will eventually write a descriptive paper to describe a friend or family mem-ber using only Spanish.

Both grade levels have also investigated Spanish-speaking countries throughout the school-

year. Fifth grade students studied Costa Rican food, popular jobs, school and home life, as well as common leisure activities. Sixth grade students focused on Cuba. They studied common modes of transportation, cash crops, and the history contributing to the country’s rich diversity. Incorporating culture into the World Language program is very valuable as it supports stu-dents’ knowledge of world geogra-phy and makes language learning more meaningful.

Prairie Creek intermediate

Visit College Community School District

home page: www.prairiepride.org

Calendar of Events

May3No School – Profes-

sional Learning Day Teacher Appreciation Week

4PTO Meeting 6:155Fifth Grade Track &

Field Day6Sixth Grade Track &

Field Day Sixth Grade Parents Night at Point 6:30-7:30

11 Band/Choir Concert 6:00

17Music Concert 6:00 (5th grade) 7:00 (6th grade)

31No School – Memorial Day

June1PTO Meeting 6:153Snow Make-Up Day4Snow Make-Up Day7Snow Make-Up Day8Snow Make-Up Day &

Last Day of School Dismissal at 10:40

State of the art Many exciting things have been happening in the

Prairie Creek Art Room. We recently had a guest visitor from the University of Iowa Museum of Art. The stu-dents were able to view a number of works of art from Africa. A few were even able to try on original masks created for initiation ceremonies.

Creek fifth graders began their work in art by diving into screen-printing.

Each used the process to communicate a story based on personal experience through a work of art. The stu-dents carefully planned each layer of the print, including symbols to reveal clues to the story.

Fifth grade students have also been creating self-portraits based on the work of Chuck Close. Using a grid while drawing helps beginning artists break down a picture and draw it realistically piece by piece.

The sixth graders have been making a lot of artwork as well, including fine-tuning their observation skills through a still life drawing. Students drew sports equip-ment set-up in the classroom. These objects provided simple lines for students to render. Through this slow journey of learning to see, we used lines to define shape and shading to reveal form. Moving beyond the basics, students used their drawing and painting skills to create strange worlds after viewing and studying Surrealism.

Information literacy: technology

College Community School District has embraced the idea of providing students with 21st cen-tury skills and 21st century resourc-es. Students in CCSD have been provided with a school sponsored Google account, limited Wi-Fi ac-cess and an Infinite Campus student account. Each student has been provided a username and password to access the following three re-sources.● Google e-mail accounts provide

students with a way to commu-nicate efficiently with teachers and classmates. Within these accounts, students can create Google Documents. Students can create presentations, docu-ments, and spreadsheets. Then, they can share these documents with their teachers and / or classmates. This access allows multiple people work collabora-tively on a single file anywhere that has an Internet connection.

● Accounts can be viewed by visiting the web address: mail.ccsdstudent.org

● Your child’s e-mail address is: username@ccsdstudent.org

● Wi-Fi access allows students to bring in their own devices, such as laptops, (with pre-approval from teacher and parents) and connect to the schools Internet network. Teachers will assist the child in taking reasonable care to keep devices safe, however students will be held responsible for personal belongings.

● Your child’s Infinite Campus account allows your child to view their information such as: schedule, grades, attendance, behavior, and report cards (start-ing in sixth grade). To access this, go to the web address: www.prairiepride.org and click on the student link. Then click on the link to the campus portal.It is important to remember

that these are school sponsored accounts. Therefore, students can only change their password by con-tacting the school IMC. This al-lows parents, to have access to their child’s account at any time. Policy questions can be directed to Craig Barnum (cbarnum@prairiepride.org). Password questions at Creek can be directed to Kristi Ferreter (kferreter@prairiepride.org) or Brenda Haskin (bhaskin@prairi-epride.org).

Mark Your Calendars for General Music

Greetings from the General Music room at Prairie Creek. The end of the school year is fast approach-ing…ready or not. Mr. Dyrland would like you all to take a moment to mark your calendars for the Spring General Music Concert coming up in May. He plans on sending home a detailed letter SOON. So, please be ready to dig into the deep abyss of your child’s backpack in search of it. In the meantime, you can find the basic information below:

What: 5th and 6th Grade General Music Spring Concert

When: Monday, May 17th, 2010 ❦ 5th Grade – 6:00pm

❦ 6th Grade – 7:15pmWhere: Prairie HS Concert HallAt this concert, students will be sharing many of

the activities they have been doing throughout their time in General Music. There will be singing, there will be playing of instruments, there will be songs with movement or dancing, and there will be presen-tations of musical knowledge. Luckily for all of you, these activities will be performed by your children and NOT Mr. Dyrland.

The concert should last approximately 35 minutes, and it is destined to be a lot of fun. We have a lot of talented students at Prairie Creek, but—even MORE importantly—we have a lot of hard-workers. We hope you will be able to attend and give the kids your support! Mr. Dyrland hopes you all enjoy the weath-er, and don’t forget to mark your calendars. Have a great rest of the school year.

Media News UpdateIt’s been a busy trimester in

the Library Media Center The students spent several lessons reviewing the Research Pro-cess for content area projects Information-Seeking Strategies, Location & Access of Informa-tion, and Use of Information were covered Over the next trimester we will be focusing on Literature Appreciation with the upcoming Scholastic Book Fair scheduled for April 5-9th

Visiting Author…Ryan Sloth, came to Creek on March 3rd and spoke to us about the writing process and the steps a writer goes through to get a book pub-lished Check out his website at wwwcoachslothcom It was exciting having a football player, football coach, actor, and now author visit our school!

Help your child get the most out of the information explosion by visiting this cool site: wwwschoollibrarylinkcom Each month there is a new issue that is available online and it is packed full of Information Liter-acy ideas and resources Click on the current issue to view it full screen as a PDF

Looking for ideas of what to read this summer…feel free to contact me and I would be happy to send you an electronic bibliography of the Best Books for 2009-2010 As we near the end of the year, it is important that students get all their library materials returned to the IMC Thank you in advance for help-ing your child be responsible Brenda Haskin, Media Specialistbahaskin@prairiepride.org848-5337

Qué pasa en la clase de español track & Field DayThe Prairie Creek Physical Edu-

cation Department is sponsoring a track and field day for fifth and sixth grade students. The event will be held at the Prairie High School track and field complex. The fifth grade will be held on May 5th, beginning at 9 a.m., and the sixth grade will be held on May 6th at 9:00 a.m. Boy’s running and girl’s field events will be in the morning and boys field events and girls running events will be in the afternoon.

Friends and families are invited to attend. Sportsmanship, effort and self-esteem are emphasized, and the event promotes physical, social, and cognitive development of children.

In the event of threatening weather officials will determine if it is necessary to postpone the event. Rescheduled dates have been set for May 7th & 10th.

Students are encouraged to bring water bottles and must bring a sack lunch. We will be eating at the track. Athletic shoes are a must. We would appreciate any parent volun-teers. Please contact Kelly Danilson (kdanilson@prairiepride.org) or Scott Leggat (sleggat@prairiepride.org) or call 848-5310.

May/June 2010 • Prairie news • 7

Prairie Point Middle School & 9th grade Academy

May1 8th Grade Festival of Bands

at Adventureland!3 No School! Professional

Learning Day!4 3:30 pm – 7th & 8th Boys/

Girls Track (H-HS Stadium) Regis/LaSalle

6 3:30 pm - 7th & 8th Girls Tennis I & II (Point Tennis courts) Maharishi 3:30 pm – 7th & 8th Boys/Girls Track (H-HS Stadium) LM Oak Ridge/Wilson

8 9th State Large Group Festival 5:00 pm – 9th Boys Track MVC at Linn Mar High School

10 8:00 am - 7th grade Outdoor Ed Week (first half leaves) 3:30 pm – 7th & 8th Girls Tennis I (T) II (Point Tennis courts) Regis 3:30 pm – 7th & 8th Boys Soccer (T) Roosevelt

12 8:00 am - 7th grade Out-door Ed Week (second half leaves) 2:30 pm - 7th grade Outdoor Ed Week (first half returns)

13 3:30 pm – 7th & 8th Boys/Girls Track (T) IC NW (@ West HS)

14 2:30 pm - 7th grade Out-door Ed Week (second half returns)

17 3:30 pm – 7th & 8th Boys/Girls Track (H-HS Stadium) Regis/LaSalle 3:30 pm – 7th & 8th Boys Soccer (H-HS West Soccer Field) LM Oak Ridge

18 7:00 pm – Variety Concert at HS Theatre

20 7th & 8th Band Solo/En-semble Festival in the Point Band Room

24 3:30 pm – 7th & 8th Girls Track City Meet at PHS Stadium

25 3:30 pm – 7th & 8th Boys Track City Meet at PHS Stadium

27 2:45-4:45 pm – 7th & 8th School Dance! 5:30-7:30 pm – 9th Grade School Dance!

June8 Last Day of School (10:45

am dismissal)10 Summer School begins!

Calendar of Events

Jazz Bands Complete Success SeasonThe three Prairie Point Middle School and Ninth Grade Academy jazz

bands have completed a very successful, educational season of music-making. Their performances included:

Fall Concert – 8th and 9th Grade Jazz BandsIndianola Jazz Experience – 7th, 8th, and 9th Grade Jazz BandsWinter Concert – 7th, 8th, and 9th Grade Jazz BandsDes Moines Hoover Jazz Festival – 8th and 9th Grade Jazz BandsCongratulations to the 100 members of Prairie Point’s jazz bands!

7th Grade Jazz Band

8th Grade Jazz Band

9th Grade Jazz Band

thanks for a Great SpaceGreg leytem, Principal

As our first year at Prairie Point comes to a close, I want to express

the appreciation of our students and staff to our community for provid-ing a wonderful learning space. The design and functionality of the building has had a positive impact on our ability to establish and main-tain a positive learning community. Like with any new building project, there have been some glitches along the way, but our students and staff have responded with patience and understanding as we have continued

to work through and resolve these issues. Absent, but not missed, are many of the problems that were compounded by overcrowded hall-ways, classrooms and lunchroom. With few exceptions, the building has functioned much as it was en-visioned and designed. Our 7th, 8th and 9th grade students, who were the inaugural student body of this new school, have been a great group to work with this year. They have been enthusiastic and respect-ful of the new space that our tax-payers and patrons have provided. As the current year winds down and we plan for next year, we are grate-ful to be able to do so with the won-derful space, resources, staff and students that make up Prairie Point.

Introduction to Business— Global Business Project

Last month in Katie Anderson’s 9th grade Introduction to Business class students completed a global business project featuring Yellow-book Inc. This project was the culmi-nating event for the global business unit. In this unit students learned about the various factors of the inter-national business environment.

Students had the opportunity to meet with representatives from Yellowbook to learn more about the corporation including its product and services, pricing and promo-tion, manufacturing, distribution, and customer service and support. With this knowledge, small groups of students chose a country to which they believe that Yellowbook should expand. Students created a business report and presentation advising representatives from Yel-lowbook why they should expand to their country as well as the po-tential challenges the company may encounter when it begins expansion activities.

Yellowbook representatives then chose a group from each class period as the winner of the

competition. Winners from 5th period were Delaney Hoffman and Larissa Henecke. The winners from 6th period were Jace Hanna, Zach Schulte, and Mitch Adams. All of the winners received a certificate of achievement. Congratulations to all students for their hard work.

The battle is on for 7th graders at Prairie Point. The Battle of the Books that is. Students are reading from a select list of books. They are reading as many as they can and encouraging their friends to do the same. Why? Because at the end of the school year, each student will join a team of eight other stu-dents and compete in against their classmates in a contest to see who knows the most about the books they have read. Success depends on speed, attention to detail, and collaboration with teammates. Win-

ning teams will proceed through the bracket to the very end, they hope. One student said she has read one book already, The School Story by Andrew Clements, and plans to read at least three more. She says she’s reading the books more care-fully since she knows her team will be counting on her. This is the first year Prairie Point’s students have participated in the Battle of the Books reading motivation program and we hope to make it an annual event.

Delaney Hoffman

Zach Schulte, Mitch adams, Jace Hanna

Battle of the Books

Visit College Community School District

home page: www.prairiepride.org

8 • May/June 2010 • Prairie news

Prairie high School

Visit College Community School District home page: www.prairiepride.org

From the PrincipalCalendar of Events on the web

Here are some important dates for students in grades 10-12 as we ap-proach the end of the year. Please

be sure to call the high school if you have any questions.

On Tuesday, May 18, 2010 we will have a two-hour late start for students in grades 10 & 11 at Prai-rie High School in order for our seniors to rehearse for their senior presentations. Students in grades 10-12 will be operating on a 2- hour late start schedule for the remain-der of the day. Classes will start at 11:00 a.m. with dismissal at the regular time of 3:45 p.m.

The HS Spring Musical is scheduled for Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 7:00 pm and Friday, May

7, 2010 at 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm in the high school auditorium. Please come out and support our students as they perform The Music Man.

Senior presentations are on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 begin-ning at 4:20 p.m. Senior parents should be receiving invitations so please be sure to visit with your son/daughter about this important event.

Senior Awards Night will be held on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium at the high school. This is an opportunity for scholarships to be presented by the scholarship representative. If your son/daughter is receiving an award, you will be receiving an in-vitation from the guidance office.

The student’s respective coun-selors will distribute senior check-out forms on Thursday, May 20, 2010 before school in the guidance office. Senior students will be required to return their completed

check-out forms prior to graduation practice.

Graduation practice is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. on Thursday, May 27, 2010 in the north gym. This practice is required for any student who is planning to participate in the graduation ceremony on Sat-urday, May 29, 2010 at 12:30 p.m. at the US Cellular Center. Please remember that students must meet all graduation requirements in order to participate in the graduation cer-emony on May 29.

Due to snow days, the school year has been extended to Tuesday, June 8, 2010 with a four hour early dismissal. We will be running a semester exam schedule on Friday, June 4 and Monday, June 7. It is expected that all students be in at-tendance for all periods and tests unless they have junior/senior re-lease during unscheduled periods. The semester exam schedule is as follows:

Periods 1/2 9:00 – 10:30Break 10:35 – 10:50Periods 3/4 10:50 – 11:25A Lunch 11:30 – 11:52 B Lunch 11:57 – 12:19C Lunch 12:24 – 12:46Periods 5/6 12:51 – 2:15Break 2:15 – 2:30 Periods 7/8 2:30 – 3:45Tuesday, June 8, 2010 will be

used for any student who needs to make up a test that was missed on Friday or Monday. In addition, any student who has more than three tests on either Friday or Monday can request to move a test to Tues-day. In order to move a test to Tuesday, the student must first get permission from the teacher and from an administrator. If a student does not have to make up a test and does not request to move a test to Tuesday, they will not be required to attend school on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.

Mark Gronemeyer, Principal

Getting to Know Each other in German and EnglishFree Press auerbach March 19, 2010By Heike Mann

Auerbach. Lederhosen, brat-wurst and Rammstein on one side and patriotism, football and fast food on the other. What do Germans know about America and Americans about Germany? Eva-Maria Haueis, teacher of the advanced English courses at the Goethe-Gymnasium (high school), wanted answers to these questions not only from her students, but also from Eli Henry, Solomon Wilharm, Madde Brown and Neil Lefebure. These four students are part of a group of 26 Americans from the state of Iowa who are guests in Au-erbach for 5 days.

For 6 years, the school in Au-erbach has maintained contact with Prairie High School in Cedar

Rapids, Iowa. The company which organizes the trip is an American cultural exchange program whose goal is to give young Americans the opportunity to improve their knowl-edge of the German language and to gain respect and understanding of foreign people and cultures.

Speaking in German proved to be difficult during the lesson. That’s why Eva-Maria Haueis posed her questions both in German and Eng-lish. Paul Knaus, a German teacher, was able to help with his perfect German. After all, he is married to a woman from Schleswig-Holstein and lived in northern Germany for seven years. Michael Dankert and Sara Koppenhaver, the other two accompanying teachers, helped to explain life in the U.S. The German students were astounded to hear that American students are only al-lowed to participate in extra-curric-

ular activities if they meet academic requirements. Solomon said that practice for football begins in the morning even before school. Then in the afternoon the team practices again, and that makes his school day sometimes 11 or 12 hours long.

The American students will be in Germany for two weeks, stop-ping first in Berlin. “It’s a great city with lots of people”, said Solomon, who is in Europe for the first time. He thinks the tall mountains of the Vogtland are cool, because “in Iowa there’s only flat land.” “There are lots more trees and cities and villages that are closer together”, said Madde, noting the difference to her home country. “We have a lot of farming, and lots of cows.” The American students also found it remarkable that you are allowed to drive as fast as you want on the German Autobahn. This is much

different from their home country. From Wednesday to Friday, the American students will participate in the lessons at the high school in Auerbach. They are staying with families in Auerbach. As it turns out, all of them like the German dumplings. “But otherwise, they are all eating like little birds”, said Lisa Gross, and added that Madde didn’t particularly care for the red cabbage that was served with the marinated beef.

Tomorrow the Americans will bid farewell to Auerbach. After-wards, their trip takes them to Munich. “It is not an exchange in the true sense of the word, because we don’t send German students to the U.S. It becomes a question of finances. But due to the visits in the last few years, enduring friendships have been established.”

10th Grade Important DatesRegistration for 2010-2011 school year is complete Please talk to your child about what they selected for classesSummer School Registration Deadline May 7th 2010Begin considering a Winter, 2011 internship (wwwworkplace-learningorg)

11th Grade Important DatesRegistration for 2010-2011 school year is complete Please talk to your child about what they chose for classesACT testing Date June 12th 2010

The annual “FESTIVAL PRE-VIEW BAND CONCERT” will be held on Thursday, April 29th, 2010, at 7:00 PM in the Concert Hall Performances will include the 9th Grade Concert Band, HS Symphonic Band, and the HS Wind Symphony This is the final concert of the year to be performed here at Prairie for these bands this school year

Admission to either or both of the concerts is $5 for adults, $3 for students, with Senior Citizens and preschool-aged children admitted free Activity passes will also be accepted

Please make plans to join us for an exceptional night of instrumental music at the an-nual “FESTIVAL PREVIEW BAND CONCERT” scheduled for Thursday, April 29th, at 7:00 PM, in the Concert Hall!

the annual “Festival Preview Band Concert” Is Scheduled For thursday, april 29th

Paige Leytem, class of 2010, enjoyed learning more about the varied roles and responsibilities of the nurses in three surgical and rehab departments at St Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. “Before I started my internship with St Luke’s, I re-ally didn’t know how

a hospital worked. The exposure to the world of healthcare has reinforced my interest in medicine. Paige’s internship sparked an interest and has impacted her future plans. “I am now a volunteer at St. Luke’s and plan to continue my explorations in the area of Dermatology. The people I worked with were awesome … because of this experience I have gained new confidence in communication and interpersonal skills.”

Nursing Rotation at St luke’s

Prairie wrestlers Earn trip to State Dual Championships

Under the direction of Head Coach Blake Williams, the Hawks finished 19-3 in dual competition including a divi-sional championship by way of an undefeated run through the MVC (8-0) and a trip to the state dual team championships Four wrestlers qualified for competi-tion at the state tournament in Des Moines; Jake Rizzio (135), Peyton Wagner (152), Alex Steenblock (171) and Josh Lambrecht (215) Lambrecht led the Hawks in Des Moines by earning a spot in the state championship Despite com-ing up short in his bid for an individual state title, Lambrecht earned a silver medal to compli-ment those won by Rizzio (7th) and Wagner (7th) The focus of the 2009-2010 season has been the development of a “team first” mentality and that was evident in the squad’s solid performance throughout the lineup in their upset victory over fourth ranked North Scott, earning the Hawks a spot in the state dual team championships for the fifth time in the past six years

The Hawks concluded the season by falling in a hard fought dual to eventual state champion Waverly-Shell Rock in the quarterfinal round of the dual team championships

The Prairie Hawk’s wrestling program would like to thank the community for their continued support

Counselor’s CornerSummer School Registration Deadline May 7th 2010Deadline for Kirkwood courses next fall are June 15th 2010Begin considering a Winter, 2011 internship (wwwworkplace-learningorg)

12th Grade Important DatesVisit Guidance Website for current scholarshipsSenior Awards May 26th 2010 at 7:0 pmGraduation May 29th 2010 at 12:30pm at the US Celluar Center

May/June 2010 • Prairie news • 9

Prairie edge

www.prairiefoundation.com Prairie School Foundation

Bringing 21st Century Skills alive Researching the Human Bodyby Karen ommen

In my 10th grade Biology class we are in the Human Body Unit Throughout this unit the students have done some interesting research and activities They researched the job of a specific bone, how to prevent heart, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, the benefits of exercise, and the changes during each trimester of pregnancy Some the activi-ties they did were to make a personal exercise schedule for one week They did an activity in which they needed to do competing movements at the same time: They had to draw a circle with one hand and a triangle with the other at the same time They also practiced with reflexes They practiced the sense of touch by placing their hands in mystery boxes then guessed what was in each one They practiced the sense of sight with optical illusions This unit is probably the favorite of my students because it can be so closely related to everyday life

technology Comes alive in the 9th Grade Classroomby Megan Ballantyne

According to the Iowa Core Curriculum, students need to have 21st Century Skills in order to suc-cessfully participate in a global society. 21st Century Skills require the use of technology in the class-room by both the teacher and the students.

I try to incorporate the use of technology in my classroom every day. As a class, my students follow world events and news stories on a daily basis. We watch news clips from various network stations,

and well as, Channel One. The students keep a daily current events journal where they respond to a daily prompt that is shared with the class. This activity was particularly interesting to students, when the earthquake hit Haiti in January. As we followed the story, the students were able to see that Haiti’s lack of infrastructure magnified the disas-ter, causing extremely high death tolls. Each student was able to compare general living conditions in Haiti to those in the neighboring Dominican Republic and recognize the disparity. Relief efforts made by

organizations in the United States impressed the class. Hope for Haiti Telethon and the work of Wyclef Jean, helped amplify the need. It was evident that there are many ways to assist others. Participation by so many pop culture icons in the Haitian Relief Effort, kept the stu-dents interested.

Students are also encouraged to use technology in the classroom. Recently, my class used Wall-wisher.com for a prewriting activ-ity. Wallwisher.com is an Internet application that allows students to respond to a prompt, share their

ideas and opinions, and organize information. This application is free to use and an excellent collabora-tive tool.

What are the Iowa Core Cur-riculum’s 21st Century Skills? Why are they important to our students? Educators are now learning these skills and analyzing how they relate to the content areas and to the life-long learning that the students will need to be successful as adults in their community.

The 21st Century Skills are: Financial Literacy, Health Literacy, Technology Literacy, Civic Lit-eracy, and Employability Skills. Given these broad areas, teachers are evaluating not only what con-tent area content and skills students need, but how these skills translate to smart decision making as a citi-

zen, employee, consumer and suc-cessful adult.

We are going beyond memoriza-tion of facts for a test, to applying knowledge in order to make good decisions for our own benefit and how our decisions impact others. Take for example the area of health literacy. You can’t turn on a televi-sion or read a paper or magazine without seeing something about the obesity rate in America for both adults and our young people. Con-sumers are becoming more savvy on reading food labels, understand-ing the importance of exercise and the possible long-term health issues of not taking care of our health.

Consequently, in the classroom we don’t just teach about the food pyra-mid we now go well beyond to have students calculating the amount of sugar they consume by drinking regular pop, the health risks associ-ated with obesity, and the impact of health insurance issues on everyone.

We want students to see the interconnectedness of choices they make with their health on a daily basis and the impact of those choic-es on them later in life. We are no longer teaching concepts in isola-tion, but across content areas so that students understand the relevance of their learning on themselves, their families, their community, and the

world. Students need to learn and be able to explain how each one of the 21st Century Skills relates to themselves since they are part of a much larger system. When we use technology in the classrooms it isn’t about just learning a new program or skill, it is about what we want students to know and be able to demonstrate. If technology can help them learn more deeply and share the connections they have made, then it enhances instruction for the students. This is the purpose we strive for to help students learn ef-ficiently, apply learning to real life situations and be productive adults.

Donor support is critical in our efforts to enhance educational op-portunities for all Prairie kids. In the past four years the Foundation has allocated over $100,000 to our schools. Annual support is critical to the mission of the Prairie School Foundation and we extend our sincere gratitude to our generous donors. Below is just a sample of why your support is making a dif-ference in a Prairie education.

“the Kindergarten classes at Heights would like to thank you for all you do to enrich our learning! we truly appreciate how generous you have been. we want you to know that we are all enjoying and learning to improve our reading by making good use of all the leveled books that you helped us purchase. thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You truly put kids first!” – Prairie Heights kindergarten team“thank you for the purchase of a lady bug for my class room. I use it nearly every day to model writing skills and other techniques. It is much easier for

students to focus because they can easily see what’s expected. I am so grateful for all of the new technology in our building. as we work on 21st century skills and student engagement, these elements become critical. thank you for your support of our district.” – Wendy Anderson, 8th grade language arts teacher“I want to thank the Prairie School Foundation for the temple block set for the Prairie Ridge music room. For the past two years the elementary music staff has been using the orff approach to teaching elementary music. this approach requires a variety of pitched and un-pitched percussion instruments which can be expensive. the temple blocks will be used in a variety of activities in every grade level and will last for a generation of students.” – Michele Steepleton, elementary music teacher “I speak for the entire faculty when I say thank you for supporting us by purchasing turnitin.com. this program will continue to assist

students to correctly document sources. this is one more way to ensure academic integrity. thank you for your support of education!” – Debbie Erenberger, Prairie High School language arts teacher“Prairie View Elementary really appreciates the research books purchased by the Foundation. they have really helped us in our classrooms.” Prairie View 4th graders“I would like to thank the Foundation for the funding of a projector for our autos classroom. the Department of Education has offered a new web based curriculum that we can use for our class and the new projector will help immensely with teaching the curriculum.” – George Herman, Prairie High School industrial technology teacher“thank you so much for the supplies in our kindergarten classrooms! we could not have done it without you! thanks!” – Prairie Ridge kindergarten team

“thank you for donating the projector screen to our class! It has been a big help! we have used it for science when we were looking at our evaporation dishes for mixtures and solutions! we also use it for math class. we love it!” – Lauren, Prairie Creek 5th grade student “as a department we would like to express our sincere appreciation for the purchase of the three data multimedia document camera projectors. they will greatly enrich the learning environment for hundreds of students. also, thank you for the purchase of an aV cart. the Foundation’s generosity is greatly appreciated.” – Social studies department“the third grade teachers at Prairie Heights would like to thank the Prairie School Foundation for purchasing the Math whiz (calculator and electronic game) four our classes. Each third grade class received five of the learning tools for the students to use to sharpen their math skills. these electronic games provide repeated drill, immediate feedback, self-

assessment, and no-fail game format. the program will provide additional practice that students need to gain confidence to use math in everyday activities. thank you!” – Prairie Heights 3rd grade team “thank you for the generous support of our outdoor Education Program. Due to the Foundation’s generosity many of the 7th graders have the opportunity to experience the educational camp trip – Prairie Point 7th grade class leaders “thank you for your support of the high school. we purchased three iPods and three Italks to enable teachers to record and podcast their lectures. we feel this will benefit all students, but especially our Ell IEnglish language learners) students.” – Kim Hynek, Prairie High School business education teacher “thank you for the new washer and dryer. It will help us as we transition into the work place.”– Prairie Wood Transition Center

Your Support of the Foundation Speaks Volumes

10 • May/June 2010 • Prairie news

1970

Prairie District news

Volunteer Spotlight

Prairiewood transition Center

The PrairieWood Transition Center at Kirkwood is wrapping up a successful second year! Students and staff have been very busy and are excited about the hard work and learning that has been taking place.

The students worked hard to develop and improve their daily liv-

ing skills. They successfully pre-pared and hosted their 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon in Novem-ber and worked hard throughout the year to prepare delicious lunches for themselves and their peers.

The holidays were a busy time at PrairieWood. Students designed, assembled, and sold holiday cards. They are anxious to do this again from year to year. PrairieWood students and staff also gave back

to their community this holiday season by ringing bells for the Salvation Army. Despite the chilly weather, carols were sung and a great time was had by all.

This year, students also enjoyed a variety of work experience op-portunities. Students were work-ing everywhere from cleaning the Kirkwood Equestrian center, to volunteering at a local hospital, to cleaning at a sub shop. While their

time working in the community is hard, PrairieWood students enjoy their time and are anxious to get into the world of work upon gradu-ating from the program.

The PrairieWood Transition Center at Kirkwood is excited about the learning opportunities they are able to offer young adults with dis-abilities. They look forward to a future of preparing students to live independently in their community.

College Community Schools is pleased to announce the 2010 recipient of the presti-gious Governor’s Award for Volunteer Service – Amy Ellis Amy is continuously involved with several volunteer projects over the past ten years includ-ing directing the Pit Crew and bus volunteers, designing and building props and stag-ing equipment, driving and supervising the loading and unloading of equipment, and creating the “Cocoa Moms” for the Prairie Hawks Marching Band, coordinating a district-wide fund raising event for Prai-rie Music Association, serving as a business interviewer for High School Junior Interviews and serving as a state judge for Business Professionals Association of America Amy continues to volunteer even after her three daughters have graduated from PHS! Congrat-ulations to Amy and the district thanks you for your years of dedication and commitment to the students at College Com-munity Schools!

opportunities to help this spring at Prairie –

Share your career through interviewing an 11th grade PHS student through our Junior Inter-view Program

Track and Field Days Book Fairs 4th Grade PicnicTo sign up to help with any

of the above projects, please contact Kathy Waychoff, Volun-teer Coordinator, at 848-5224 or by email at kwaychoff@prai-rieprideorg

BaNDSummer Band Camp: Aug 9-13 8:00 am – 5:00 pm Aug 16 & Aug 18 6:00 pm – 9:00 pmEnd-of-Camp Showcase: Aug 20 3:30 pm – 6:00 pmContact persons: Craig Aune caune@prairiepride.org Brett Messenger bmessenger@prairiepride.org

BoYS BaSKEtBall High School: June 11-July 2, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 8:30 am - 10:00 am Middle School: June 21-24 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Elementary: June 14-17 11:30 am - 1:00 pmContact person: Paul Schenkelberg pschenkelberg@prairiepride.org

GIRlS BaSKEtBallPrairie High School July 26-30 Grades 3-5 8:00 am - 10:00 am Grades 6-8 10:30 - 12:30 pm Grades 9-12 1:30 - 4:00 pm Contact person: Steve Doser sdoser@prairiepride.org

CRoSS CoUNtRY Grades 9th – 12th: July 28-30; Aug 2-6Contact person: Bill Schwarz wschwarz@prairiepride.org

FootBall Middle School/High School: Aug 2-Aug 6 8:00 am – 5:00 pmContact person: Craig Jelinek cjelinek@prairiepride.org

VollEYBallSunday Summer League: June 6-July 18 4:00 pm – 7:00 pmPrairie Team Camp: July 12-14 Soph/Varsity players 9:00 am – 11:00 am; 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm July 15 9:00 am – 11:00 am; 12:00 pm – 2:00 pmEastern Iowa Elite Camp: July 19-22 Grades 6-12 9:00 am – 12:00 pm; 1:00 pm – 4:00 pmLittle Hawk Developmental: Aug 2-5 Grades 4-7 8:00 am – 11:00 amFreshmen Camp: Aug 2-5 1:00 pm – 4:oo pmC.R. Challenge Team Camp: Aug 6 & 7 8:00 am – 6:00 pmContact person: Kevin Geary kgeary@prairiepride.org

Prairie activity Summer Camps New Health RequirementsImmunization Requirements

All kindergarten students need 5 DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus) if the 4th dose was not given after the child’s 4th birthday.Students must have 4 doses of Polio if the 3rd dose was not given after the child’s 4th birthday.Students need 2 doses of Measles and Rubella, commonly given as an MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella)Students now need two Varicella doses (Chickenpox)Students still need 3 doses of Hepatitis BIf your child does not have insurance for immuni-

zations, you can go to the Linn County Health Department. Call for an appointment. (892-6000)

lead RequirementsAll Kindergarten students will need a blood test

for lead. This is usually done with a finger prick when the child is 2 years old and the results are sent to a statewide database. After school starts, the school nurse will notify you if your child has not had this done.

Dental ScreeningPrior to entering Kindergarten, students now need

a dental check up. A dental certificate, signed by the dentist or screener, must be on file at school. The dental screening can be done between the ages of 3-6. All schools have the proper form, which was also mailed out in the K packets.

If finances are a concern, the Dental Center at St. Luke’s has a low cost clinic. (369-7730)

other requirements:Students entering 9th grade and all out of state

transfer students are required to have a dental screening. This must occur within previous year of enrollment. The signed dental certificate must be on file at school. Any questions, call the school nurse. (848-5225)

Intermec Foundation awards 12 Grants to School District and Foundation

Twelve Intermec employees generously took their time to coordinate efforts with CCS staff to submit grants to the Intermec Foundation All twelve were ap-proved for $2000 each A variety of projects received support Band equipment and computer software at the high school, library materials for Creek and Point, materials for speech sup-port at all four elementaries, funding for the Washington DC trip, books to build reading flu-ency and vocabulary at Heights & View, and document cameras at Crest These grants are initi-ated by the Intermec employee THANK YOU for supporting all our students with your efforts

Class of 1970 to Celebrate 40 YearsPrairie Class of 1970 wants You

The Prairie High School class of 1970 is in the process of organizing its 40 year class re-union scheduled for Saturday, July 31, 2010. The committee has been unable to retrieve con-tact information for several classmates. If anyone is a member of this class, or knows someone who is a member of this class, please contact Steve Voigt via e-mail at stevedorla@mchsi.com. The Prairie Class of 1970 is also on Classmates.com and on Facebook.

May/June 2010 • Prairie news • 11

Prairie District news

All four of Prairie’s Elementa-ry Schools participated in a fund-raiser called “Make a Change for Haiti. From February 1st through

February 12th, students were al-lowed to bring any amount of change to contribute to the cause. The slogan was “Let’s ‘change’ the Haiti children’s frowns…upside down.” On February 12th during the Valentine’s celebra-tions, the final count of $4719.31 was revealed.

The organizers of the event had decided against making it competitive between schools and thought it would be better for the students to focus on working to-gether. Wells Fargo Bank helped the fundraiser by allowing us to use their change counter. Project organizer, Shari Cline, gave the

final donation to the Red Cross. The fundraiser was a great suc-cess, not only in being able to help the suffering in Haiti, but also to give our Prairie students a chance to shine together in their generosity and be a part of mak-ing the world a better place.

One student from each ele-mentary earned the job of helping to take the change to Wells Fargo. Aubrey Eiselstein, 3rd grader at Crest, is posing here with the Wells Fargo Mascot and two rep-resentatives at Wells Fargo bank. Aubrey has a dream of being a park ranger that offers horseback riding to campers.

cation particulars such as classroom staffing structure, locations, and numbers of children, budget, and many additional aspects of the grant application. In our grant applica-tion for the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program, the district was allowed to request funding for 75 percent of the average of the last three years of Kindergarten enroll-ment. This gave the committee the number of 242 slots for preschool. We also were required to obtain community support for this pro-gram by requesting other daycare/preschool providers to offer some of the preschool slots at their loca-tion. We obtained support from two community partners: Kirkwood Kids and All God’s Children. Both of these community partners sup-port our program by housing Prairie Hawks Preschool funded children in their own programs. Here at the Prairie school district campus we house 160 preschool children.

The planning committee also planned the number of classrooms and the locations of classrooms for the Prairie Hawks Preschool on campus. It was determined that Prairie would house the preschool

classrooms in each of the four ele-mentary buildings. Each elementary building has two preschool class-rooms, with the exception of Prairie Crest, which houses three preschool classrooms. Prairie also has a mix-ture of general education half-day preschool classrooms taught by a state of Iowa licensed specialized early childhood teacher and Inclu-sive preschool classrooms taught by a state of Iowa early childhood special education licensed teacher at each elementary building. This will continue to be the structure of our set-up for the campus buildings for next fall.

“Research shows that high-quality early childhood programs help children—especially those from families with low-incomes—develop the skills they need to suc-ceed in school.” –NAEYC publica-tion: www.naeyc.org/woyc/facts, 3/29/2010. Prairie Hawks Preschool staff is working toward provid-ing excellence in education for all of the four-year-old children they serve. Each teacher is following the Creative Curriculum for Pre-school Children in their classrooms as a framework for the preschool

classrooms. They are also working on following the Iowa Quality Pre-school Program Standards (IQPPS) for preschool classrooms as re-quired by the state of Iowa for the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Pro-gram funding. The IQPPS standards are very high quality standards that ensure the children we serve are being provided a quality preschool education.

When one walks into a Prairie Hawks Preschool classroom they will see children busy playing and learning through their play. One should see the teachers and Para educators being actively engaged in the learning and activities with the children. The preschool program is dedicated to providing developmen-tally appropriate activities to meet the needs of all of the young chil-dren. Daily activities provide ex-periences in communication, social skills, literacy, math, science, social studies, music and movement, technology, self-care, and motor de-velopment. Children are supported in developing these skills through individual, small group, large group and adult supported play activities.

This present school year (2009-2010) was the first year for our preschool programming and was supported in funding by a grant; however, the years hereafter will have the support of regular funding from the state per each preschool student. The school district will continue on from now on as a Pre-K through 12th grade district. Throughout the several years the community will be able to see the district’s preschool program, Prairie Hawks Preschool, grow and de-velop into a support for the young children in the school district.

Prairie Hawks Preschool is a wonderful addition to the school district. It has shown the commu-nity professionals, businesses, edu-cators and the general public that College Community School District supports the education of young children. As Prairie Hawks Pre-school, the Early Childhood Center (ECC) joined the nation in celebrat-ing The Week of the Young Child, April 11-17, let us all remember the importance of educating our children so that they will be able to have a successful future.

account and review their child’s meal choices.

Low-balance email alerts; Parents can choose to receive alerts with EZSchoolPay.com. This is a great tool for helping you anticipate and avoid inter-ruption of your child’s meal service.

The default low-balance level for all parents is $0.00. In order to receive a low-balance mes-sage your child’s account would have to fall into a negative bal-ance. You’re able to edit your parent profile and increase the low-balance level to something that makes sense for you. The higher you set the reminder level the more advance notice you will receive. The District rec-ommends that you set your low balance level at $5.00 or above to avoid a $0 balance.

You will only receive one email alert when your child’s balance drops below your re-minder level. To get another reminder, you would have to make a payment to increase the balance above the reminder level and then have the balance fall again below the reminder level.

In the email alert, you will have an option to disable receiv-ing future messages if you wish. This portion of EZSchoolpay is also free and all parents are encouraged to create an alert for their child’s account.

On-line payments; Parents have the ability to make online payments into their child’s/children(s) lunch account uti-lizing EZSchool pay.com for a small convenience fee ($2.00 per transaction) utilizing Visa and MasterCard. Payments are posted every 15 minutes directly to the designated child’s account and can be made on-line 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Pay-ments for multiple children are possible at the same time for the charge of one convenience fee. Obviously, this portion of the program is not free but is a value added service for those parents who choose to utilize it. Parents do not have to utilize the on-line payment portion of EZSchool-pay in order to take advantage of the low-balance email alerts and the meal account activity portions of EZSchoolpay.

Please contact Julie Hauser, Director of Nutritional Services, at 848-5215 or your Building E-Trition Clerk with any additional questions you may have about EZSchoolpay.

lunch Money online options

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1Make a Change for Haiti

Kindergarten, Here we Come

Fifth and Sixth Grade Bands

Current fifth and sixth grade bands are working hard to prepare for their Spring Concerts on May 11. We are ex-cited to share our musical progress with family and friends at our concert. Prairie Creek students have also been accepted to participate in two honor bands this spring. We anticipate one other future honor band opportunity for 6th graders this year. Congratulations to the follow-ing students:Coe Elementary Honor Band, april 17

Brooklyn Botine, 5th grade fluteJocelyn Wood, 6th grade fluteRachel Becker, 6th grade clarinetAndrea Bragdon, 6th grade clarinetEmily Northup, 5th grade clarinetPaul Danker, 6th grade bassoonBen Drysdale, 5th grade trumpetJimmy Kunze, 5th grade trumpetEvan Hofland, 6th grade trumpetJason Niccols, 6th grade trumpetAdam Tiedeman, 5th grade baritone Cairo Dinicola, 5th grade tubaSam Uthoff, 6th grade tubaLogan Jansa, 5th grade percussionAustin Wisnousky, 6th grade percussion

Marion Honor Band, January 30Jacob Smith, 6th grade baritonePaul Danker, 6th grade bassoonLauren Fangman, 6th grade clarinetKristen Wahlert, 6th grade clarinetJocelyn Wood, 6th grade fluteCassidy Button, 6th grade hornAlex Mixon, 6th grade hornSammy Andrys, 6th grade tromboneShane Finn, 6th grade trumpetMandy Hellman, 6th grade trumpetVijay Kamulumpundi, 6th grade trumpetJason Niccols, 6th grade trumpetTaylor Zeller, 6th grade tuba tuba

The Jazz combo is the small-est unit within a jazz band. The usual instrumentation for a combo has changed over time but has generally included one to three horn players and a rhythm section consisting of a chordal instrument, a bass instrument, and percussion. This type of in-strumentation offers the members considerable flexibility in that the players can improvise much of their own parts without the chaos that would ensue if a larger ensemble offered its members as much freedom. The goal of this experience is to offer students individual instruction on impro-visation, style, rhythm, melody, harmony as well as allow students

to share in each other’s creativity. Benefits for the Student (from

The National Association for Mu-sic Education)

Improvisation is essential to the jazz combo. Students work-ing on improvisation will devel-op their jazz language and style, and apply their music theory to real time demands.

Students who perform in jazz combos generally become more independent as musicians, while simultaneously experienc-ing the group dynamics in self-directed small-ensemble playing.

There is nothing more reward-ing and motivating to a student than creating an original composi-tion. Easy blues tunes and riffs

are great to give students ideas for creating their own melodies.

Students will be challenged to investigate what makes the music they listen to so fun and exciting. Students will not be told what to listen to; however, they will be offered a diverse amount of music that may ignite a different interest or curiosity.

The Jazz Combo is a creative way for students to improve self-confidence, teamwork, com-prehension, problem-solving, dis-cipline, communication, concep-tualization and logical reasoning.

Interested or have questions?Brett Messenger

Assistant Band Director, PHS bmessenger@prairiepride.org

SUMMER SCHool Jazz Combo

Non-Profit Org.U.S.Postage

PAIDPermit 111

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

May/June 2010 • Prairie News • 12Prairie District information

College Community School District401 76th Ave SWCedar Rapids, IA 52404-7034

aS a REFRESHER... In 2009, our Varsity Base-

ball Field received a total renovation and our student-athletes played last Spring on a brand-new field. A new backstop, dugouts and bleach-ers were installed. CURRENtlY UNDERwaY...

The varsity softball field is receiving a similar renovation as above. The field has been overhauled with new back-stop, bleachers, and dugouts installed. Both softball and baseball fields will be in full operation for this year’s sum-mer season.a woRK IN PRoGRESS...

Next steps highlight con-struction of a new concession stand/press box and indoor hitting cages. This finds us under summer construction

with temporary concession stands and rest rooms. This summer will be exciting to watch the development as we enter the final phase of this outdoor facility expansion. tHE DIStRICt’S CoMMIttMENt...

We appreciate our school district’s commitment to im-proving the infrastructure for our outdoor facilities by mod-ernizing the sewer system, converting our water system from well water to city water and hiring an engineer in an effort to begin construction of our softball/baseball con-cession stand/press box/ and indoor hitting cages.SPECIal tHaNKS to PRaIRIE BooStER ClUB...

It is because of the dedica-tion, hours, energy and in-

volvement of numerous Prai-rie Boosters that we are able to financially assist with the above projects. I urge you to consider becoming involved with this fine organization that supports academics, fine arts and athletic programs within College Community School District. Meetings are the third Monday of each month in Prairie High School’s cafeteria.waNt to lEaRN MoRE?

Please access prairie-outdoorfacilities.org to read more in depth about these ex-citing plans. It’s not too late to purchase a brick to support the baseball/softball project.

Please contact Rocky Bennett at RBennett@prai-riepride.org or 848-5361 to learn more.

Headline News from the Prairie High School activities office...Softball/Baseball Projects Enter Exciting Final Phases

Join the Kernels for College Community Day at the Ballpark Who: All College Community Families & FriendsWhy: To enjoy a relaxing afternoon with family and friendsWhere: The beautiful Veterans Memorial BallparkWhen: May 3, 2010 at 12:00, noon – a no school day for students

Flyers with ticket order forms are available at each of the buildings.Sign up for “on field” activities with Susie Burns at Prairie Point by e:mail, at sburns@prairiepride.org