We have a lot of new faces at PWS and we would like to welcome our new staff members to PWS! We also have some staff members who have switched positions. Here are all of the staff changes for the new school year:

Karen LaMunyon-Assistant Principal
Shelby Hillman-Kindergarten
Ashlyn Johnson-2nd Grade
Lisa Schweikert-3rd Grade
Dorothy Green-4th Grade
Angela Baird-4th Grade
Ruth Graber-4th Grade
Daniel Dick-5th Grade
Chase Nichols-5th Grade
Katie Todd-1st Grade Music
Cathy Clynch-Reading Improvement
Stacie Stricker-Intervention Support
Misty Chenoweth-FAA
Stephanie Hayes-FAA
Robin Shoemaker-FAA
Dory Thompson-Orchestra
Taylor Huddleston-Tech
Lynda Baker-Reading Improvement Para
Carol Wespi-Reading Improvement Para
Petrissa Palmer-Instructional Para
Channing Crayton-Special Ed Para
Lisa Lackey-Special Ed Para
Natalie Mark-WSU Para
Joan Niemeyer-Special Ed Para
Mary Slates-Special Ed Para
DeAna Villa-Special Ed Para

I would encourage you to get involved in the PWS PTO. We have many exciting activities planned. The PWS PTO big fundraiser (The PWS Walk-A-Thon) is coming up on Thursday, Oct. 8. This is a great night of family fun, and we can do many great things for our students with the money that is raised from this event.

We would also like to encourage everyone to be sure that your child's name is on everything that he or she has at school that could land in Lost and Found (jackets, coats, lunch pails, etc.) Our goal is to keep our lost items to a bare minimum.

Our theme this year is EXCEL with Pray-Woodman Pride! We are looking forward to a great year and will strive to make Pray-Woodman a great place to learn each and every day!!!

Nils Gabrielson

Principal

Pray-Woodman Elementary School

Maize, Kansas

316-350-2603

ONLINE BULLETIN BOARD

The Maize School District introduced an Online Bulletin Board, which replaced all paper flier distribution. Click here for information about student-related activities and events, which could include those sponsored by a Maize school or partner agency and that are related to academics, athletics or fine arts.

COUNSELOR'S CORNER

PWS Counseling Program-

Carrie Heide, Counselor

*All students will be invited to participate in a lunchtime friendship group. Friendship groups help me get to know your student and give students a fun way to connect with their peers in a small group. Parents and students do not need to sign up for Friendship group. If you do not want your child to participate in a Friendship group, please let me know.

*All students will participate in monthly classroom guidance lessons that teach the Kansas School Counseling Standards and support the Maize Way Character Education program.

*Individual Counseling services are available upon student, teacher and parent request.

*Divorce groups and other support groups require parent permission to participate. Let me know if you are interested in more information about these groups.

Thank You! I love working with your children! Please come visit me in-200B.

Carrie - 350-2684 or cheide@usd266.com

STUDENT INFORMATION IN THE MEDIA

Use of student information in media, district publications and district social media

Information that may be shared with the news media or used in district publications or on district social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, is limited to participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, school activities, honors and awards received, grade level and photographs.

Parents/guardians have the right to refuse or permit the designation of any or all of the above information for use in the media or in district publications (via both print and digital platforms), including official district social media accounts. Parents/guardians who do not want this information published must file written notification with Lori O'Toole Buselt, Director of Communications, Maize USD 266, 905 W. Academy Ave, Maize, KS 67101 by Sept. 19, 2015.

If you do not file a refusal, Maize USD 266 assumes you have no objection to the release of the above information for media or district publicity purposes.

PWS PTO Scoop .... By Petrissa Palmer & Danielle Vequist, Co-Presidents

Thank you to all of those who signed up to help with the PTO this year!! Parent volunteers are essential to the success of this organization! We appreciate all of those parents who donate their time, energy and talent!!

With so many budget cuts, our teachers and school will have to rely on our PTO more than ever, so we are going to increase our fundraising efforts this year! We will have two or three major fundraisers as well as several spirit nights at local restaurants throughout the year. We are planning several spirit nights in order to give families more choices and opportunities. Please do not feel as though you have to attend all of the spirit nights!

Our first big fundraiser will be the Walk-A-Thon on October 8th. Details will be coming home soon!!

Thank you to all of the parents who have signed up for the TLC Program (adopting a staff member)! Forms are due on Monday, August 30th. If you are considering signing up, please do so as we are twenty parents short at this point!

We recently started a "PWS PTO" Facebook page. Please "like" it to learn about upcoming events and activities!

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at pwspto@yahoo.com.

We're off to a great start with parent involvement and are looking forward to a great year!

Petrissa Palmer & Danielle Vequist,

PTO Co-Presidents

MRS. HILL'S 1st GRADE CLASS

First day of school!

Red day!

RECYCLING

We are recycling markers at PWS, and we are needing clean, empty, plastic containers with lids (coffee containers, plastic ice cream buckets, candy containers, etc.) to collect them. If you have any to donate, please send them to the PWS office. Special thanks to the students at CHSM for collecting and recycling our old markers!

STUDENT OF THE MONTH AWARDS

August Awards

Kindergarten:

Brady & Alyson (Bever)

Drake, Addilyn, Brynn & Ayden (Brownlee)

Michael & Natasha (Shively)

1st Grade:

Piper & Hayden (Hubert)

Carter & Jaylianna (Johnson)

2nd Grade:
Becca & Max (Andrus)

Elli & Kolby (Hobbs)

well done
3rd Grade:

Avi & Lizzy (Martin)

Lindsay, Tyson & Faith (Schweikert)

4th Grade:

Nathan & Ava (Green)

Keaton & Terashaye (May)

5th Grade:

Erik (Nichols)

Alexis & Malaki (Wiechman)

2015/2016 IMPORTANT PWS DATES

Dates for Pray-Woodman Elementary 2015-2016

Monday, Sept. 7 - Labor Day, NO SCHOOL

Thursday, Sept. 17- Lifetouch Individual Pictures

Friday, Sept. 18 - Professional Dev. Day - NO SCHOOL

Thursday, Sept. 24 - 7:30-Breakfast with Mom (Kindergarten-2nd Grade)

Friday, Sept. 25 -7:30-Breakfast with Mom (3rd - 5th Grades)

Sept. 30 & Oct. 1- Conferences (Oct. 2 - No School - Conf. Comp. Day)

Friday, Oct. 16 - Professional Dev. Day - NO SCHOOL

Friday, Oct. 30- 2:45 pm - Fall Parties (extra parking at CHSM)

Monday, Nov. 9 - Lifetouch Retakes

Nov. 25-27 - Thanksgiving Break

Monday, Dec. 21 - Friday, Jan. 1 - Winter Break

Monday, Jan. 4 - Teacher Work Day - NO SCHOOL

Monday, Jan. 18 - Professional Dev. Day - NO SCHOOL

Thursday, Jan. 21 - Breakfast with Dad (Kindergarten-2nd Grade)

Friday, Jan. 22 - Breakfast with Dad (3rd-5th Grades)

Thursday, Jan. 28 - Lifetouch Casual Individual and Classroom Group Pictures

Friday, Feb. 12 - 2:45 Valentine Parties (extra parking at CHSM)

Feb. 17-18 - Conferences (Feb. 19 - No School - Conf. Comp Day)

Monday, March 14 - Friday, March 18 - Spring Break

Friday, April 8 - Professional Dev. Day - NO SCHOOL

Friday, May 6 - Professional Dev. Day - NO SCHOOL

Friday, May 20 - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

TARGET FUNDRAISER

Shop at Target and help us Fundraise!

Every time we make a purchase at Target with a Target debit or credit RedCard our school gets 1% of that total! This past August we received a check for over $1,000 from the purchase totals of 40 individuals. Here's how to get signed up and have your card linked to our school so we can get the proceeds.

Stop into the Target on 21st and Maize and ask any cashier about signing up for a RedCard. It's completely free and easy to sign up for. There is a debit option that links with your current checking account so be sure to bring a blank check and drivers license. There is also a credit option if that is your preference! (You can also sign up online at Target.com)
Once you receive your card and activate it, go to Target.com and at the bottom of the page it will read "Manage my RedCard." You will make an account login and then follow the prompts to link the card to our school.
Shop!! Remember that 1% of all we spend at Target comes right back to the school! There's no limit on this and it's a free way to fundraise!
If you have problems linking your RedCard to our school, Patrick Wolz is our contact at Target. He is the Assistant Store Manager and can help if needed. His email is Patrick.wolz@target.com.

Dillon's Fundraiser

ATTENTION DILLON'S CUSTOMERS

Pray-Woodman School was recently accepted into the Community Awards Program with Dillons!! PWS will get credit for most purchases its members make using their registered Plus card. The more we shop at Dillons, the more opportunity for PWS to earn big rewards. It's so easy!!

To enroll:

Visit Dillons website at www.dillons.com/communityrewards.
Sign in OR create an account.
Click on "Enroll now."
Enter the 5-digit NPO and search (our schools unique NPO number is 84604).
Select PWS and click "Enroll."

To create an online account at Dillons Website:

Visit Dillons website at www.dillons.com/communityrewards.
Click on "Register" at the top of the page.
Enter your email address, password, zip code (select preferred store).
Click on "Create Account" at the bottom of the page.
You will receive an email confirmation to your inbox, to activate your account click on the link in the body of the email and enter your sign in information to confirm.

For assistance in setting up an online account or with general questions, please feel free to contact Dillons at 800-576-4377, option 3.

THIS IS A TERRIFIC WAY TO EFFORTLESSLY SUPPORT OUR SCHOOL.

THANK YOU!!

A NOTE FROM THE NURSE...by Alli Lampkin

My name is Alli Lampkin and I am the school nurse at Pray-Woodman. We have had a great year so far and I am enjoying getting to know all of the students. With school back in session, it is important that we do all we can to keep kids healthy and in the classroom. In order to keep your children healthy, as well as their classmates, please keep these things in mind when deciding whether or not to keep your children at home.

Students should stay home if they have:

A fever of 100 degrees or greater
Vomiting or Diarrhea
A non-stop disruptive cough
An eye that is draining pus

It is also very important to make sure we have updated information here at the school concerning your child. It is the responsibility of the parent to update medical information and contact numbers in Skyward Family Access during enrollment and throughout the school year. Teachers, coaches and other school staff rely on Skyward for important health information like asthma, seizures, diabetes, and food allergies. In addition to updating Skyward, the parent/guardian must also personally communicate this information to the school nurse who will educate and train the appropriate staff. If you have any questions regarding school guidelines and policies in keeping students safe and healthy at school, please feel free to contact me.

Looking forward to a great school year!

Alli Lampkin, RN

Library News... by Kristin Rodell

Please save your box tops and send them with your student to the Pray-Woodman Library Media Center. Box tops can be found on several grocery items including cereals, granola bars, tissue boxes, paper products, and much more. Each box top is worth $0.10 and they add up fast! Last year we collected 25,000 box tops for a total of $2,500. Our library uses these funds for new books, to fund our Reading Counts program, and to fund our Battle of the Books program. Please keep an eye out for our class box top competition coming October 5-15. Thanks for your help!

=============================================

Pray Woodman Parents, please "like" our Facebook page administered by Mrs. Rodell, PWS Library Media Specialist. This page will primarily promote media center happenings but we will also have information about current activities taking place at PWS. To find our page, please search for Pray Woodman Elementary. You can also go to www.facebook.com/praywoodman and like our page. If you do not have a Facebook account, you can use this link to visit our page without signing up for Facebook.

AFTER SCHOOL PICKUP/PARKING

Parking along Academy Street or in one of our parking lots is an option for picking up your children after school. If you choose to pick up your students this way, we ask that you walk over and pick your students up from the waiting area. If you are unable to do this, please wait in our parent pick-up car line. Thank you!

RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE

Keep saving pull tabs! They really do make a difference!

EMERGENCY ALERTS & NOTIFICATIONS

In the event of an emergency in your child's school, the Blackboard

Connect parent notification system will be used to notify you of the situation and will alert you to steps you need to take in order to reunite with your child. Voice messages will be sent to all phone numbers and emails listed in Skyward Family Access "Family 1". To view the contact information the district has on file, please log on to Skyward Family Access and click on "Student Information." If you are unsure how to log on to Skyward Family Access, please contact your child's school for assistance.

September - COMPASSION

Showing sympathy and concern...caring for others...being kind and thoughtful...helping those in need.