Prairie Elementary Carnival

Prairie Elementary Carnival
Friday, April 26, 5:00 – 8:00 pm
Families welcome! All students must be accompanied by an adult. Activities are suitable for children under the age of 12.

Many years ago, Prairie’s parent group hosted carnivals in the spring that were fundraising events for the school. This year’s carnival is not a fundraiser. Instead, it is a free event, planned with the spirit of giving back to our families and saying “thank you” for supporting their child’s education.

A group of about 10 teachers got together and started thinking of ways to do something special for our kids and families to celebrate nearing the end of another great school year. This crew has put in countless hours already, excited to give our kids this awesome night! Our final Discovery Room theme encompasses a carnival vibe, so they thought this would be the perfect way to kick-off our final Discovery Room adventure for the year.

Many community sponsors have provided donations to help make this event a success. Numerous games and activity booths will be available to entertain the students. There will be inflatables, prizes and treats. In addition to traditional carnival games, students can get a book at the “Book Walk,” and win a big soda at the Ring Toss. In the cafeteria, students can play Loteria, which is a traditional game from Mexico, similar to Bingo. There will be food trucks on-site for families to purchase something to eat.

An event like this requires many volunteers. Community organizations and student groups from our High School and MN West, as well as many of our Prairie staff are all slated to help run this event. We are grateful for all of the district and community support that has been generated. It is sure to be a great night for all!

Posted on Mon, April 22, 2024 by Clasine Lester

Prairie Elementary T-Shirt Project

Prairie Elementary received a grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council (SMAC) for a t-shirt project. A grant was written to have artist Bobbie Alsgaard-Lien visit the Prairie Elementary Art classroom for a short residency in working with all first and second grade students for this two weeks project. Some of the topics Bobbie covered included the history of design on cloth, color theory, and patterns in her presentations to the students about the project. Students worked with new materials (white T-shirts and a variety of fabric markers) for this project. Students will be working with Miss Bobbie for designing a t-shirt with fabric markers that the students themselves designed and colored that when finished they kept their “art work”. They were not to use numbers or rainbows, but rather designs, patterns, and lots of fun colors. Many different patterns, objects, colors, and individuality were shown in the finished projects.

We appreciate the efforts of Bobbie Alsgaard-Lien, our Prairie Elementary teachers and staff of the first and second graders, the support and guidance of the administrative team at Prairie Elementary, along with the support of the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council for this inspirational project.

*This activity is funded in part with a grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council made possible by the voters of Minnesota, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.