R. F. Pettigrew Elementary School -

Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday, March 9th. Move your clocks forward one hour on Sunday morning! Here are some great ideas to prepare for our clocks to SPRING AHEAD! Don't be late for school on Monday!

Attitude of Gratitude was the February Mindset lesson. This mindset teaches us to recognize the positives in life and focus on what makes us happy. Be grateful for the world, ourselves, and others. Focusing on gratitude each day can bring us joy and happiness. February Students of the Month exemplified the Seven Mindsets quality of having an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE Congratulations to these students for continuing this Seven Mindsets quality and working on their PAWS everyday! THE MARCH MINDSET IS LIVE TO GIVE. Giving love and respect to others, and receive new and exciting things that come into our lives gracefully. Students will learn that by giving back through their interests and passions, they will help other people and leave a lasting legacy in the world.

Then and Now! Mr. D recently attended a Rough Rider Girls Basketball game and caught up with a few of his former Pettigrew students that played basketball together WAY BACK in 3rd grade! What a great flashback! Way to go Riders!

Calling all Future Panthers!! Kindergarten Open House for the 2025-2026 school year is TODAY, Thursday, March 6th from 4:00-6:00 PM. Future kindergarten students and their parents are invited to come to the Pettigrew Open House Event to: *Meet our Kindergarten Teaching Team *Meet our Principals *Meet our Office Staff *Turn in required documents *Shop the PTO Spirit Wear Booth *Go on a School Tour with a member of our Student Council *Take a memorable photo at our photo backdrop *All future Pettigrew Kindergarteners that attend will receive a special gift from our principals If you have not already, PLEASE be sure to have your online registration completed BEFORE you come to our event, so you are on our guest list. If you are not registered yet, you will be required to do this before you attend the event. The online registration takes about 30-45 minutes to complete, and we will have devices available at the event if you don’t have a device to use at home. Here is a link to the online registration if you need it. https://www.sf.k12.sd.us/page/school- Please share this with people in your neighborhood that may have a kindergartner next fall.

Happy Social Worker Week! In the Sioux Falls School District, every student's journey is unique. For many of the kids we serve, our school social workers are there every step of the way! Whether offering a listening ear, connecting families to resources, or advocating for students' well-being, their dedication ignites hope and creates lasting impact in our schools. This year's theme, Unite to Ignite: Celebrating Our Impact, is a perfect reflection of how our social workers bring people together to create brighter futures for students. THANK YOU to our incredible school social workers for your compassion and care!

Kindergarten Open House is less than a week away!! Please get your kindergarten student registered before coming to the Open House event so you can move through the event without waiting. https://www.sf.k12.sd.us/page/kindergarten-registration If you are not able to get registered before you attend, we will help you get registered at the event! We can't wait to meet all of our 2025-2026 Kindergarteners and their parents on Thursday March 6th from 4-6pm. This is an Open House format so come and go anytime between 4-6pm. WHAT TO EXPECT *Meet our principals *Meet our kindergarten teachers *Drop off required documents *Register if you were unable to register at home. *Purchase Pettigrew gear *Tour the Kindergarten area *Take a memory photo Call the Pettigrew office if you have any questions or need any help at 605-362-3560, we are happy to assist you!

Siouxland Libraries is excited to partner with the Sioux Falls School District to encourage reading in our communities from March 1-31, 2025 for the Everybody Reads 2025 program. Readers will help create a mountain of sweets by adding a gumball to a gumball display for each book they read. Our goal is 350,000 books and if we make it, a $1,700 donation will be made to REACH. REACH is a nonprofit that provides literacy instruction and experiences for adult and youth readers each year. Our library at Pettigrew will also have a gumball display showing students how well we are doing at our school to work towards the 350,000 book goal!!

GUESS WHAT!! We made our PAWS ticket goal for the month of FEBRUARY! Tomorrow students may bring a stuffed animal to school with them! Way to go PANTHERS!

Let's spice up the month of MARCH to help us power through to SPRING, with some fun NATIONAL HOLIDAY DRESS-UP DAYS! We need something to help us when we lose that hour of sleep on March 9th. Spring arrives on March 20! We can do this!!

We are still celebrating last night's wonderful Teacher of the Year event! So many amazing educators to celebrate! Congratulations again to 2025 Teacher of the Year, Bruce Rekstad, who left with a $4,000 check, courtesy of our friends at Vern Eide. Also, a huge congratulations to the other four finalists, Jennifer Aerts, Bryan Aukerman, Scott Amundson, and Jessica Foley. New this year, thanks to the generosity of the Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation, these four finalists walked away with $1,000 each. So many wonderful memories were shared last night! We are so grateful to everyone who attended, from nominees and their friends and families to past ToY winners, past educators, school board members, SDEA friends, and SFSD administrators, it truly was an unforgettable night! Were you at the event? Feel free to get your photos here! https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjC3KKk You can watch the full video of the event here! https://youtu.be/D-60TEv2ijA

Pink Shirt Day is TOMORROW, Wednesday, February 26, 2025!! Pink Shirt Day calls us to stand up against bullying, by supporting those who are bullied. Get your pink shirts on and STAND UNITED!

Tonight is the night! The 2025 Teacher of the Year will be announced at an event starting at 7:00 PM. Watch live with us here! ---> https://youtube.com/live/MnFs9wL28Oo?feature=share

After the 5th Grade Attitude of Gratitude lesson this week, 5th graders began using their indoor recess time to create positive messages to hang in their restroom area, to encourage kindness, positivity and self worth. Some great messages of positivity are hanging for all to take in.

Recently in 505 and 506 music classrooms, students learned about "Musical Styles"! The 80s decade is one of the most fun and musically diverse time periods to study. We see 70s Disco give way to Hip Hop, and the emergence of Punk Rock, which becomes an intro for the 90s Grunge era. Mr. Ferri's 505 and 506 classes asked to do an 80s dress up day, which was Wednesday, Feb 12. So much creativity!

Pettigrew Invents! Invention Fair will be held at our school on March 7th from 6:30-8pm. In addition to student projects, there will be science demonstrations and exhibitions for all to participate in, so please join us on March 7th whether you enter an invention project or not! There will be fantastic prizes for the top student projects and participation rewards for every student who enters. ANY invention counts, so be creative, have fun, and register today! Sponsored by the Pettigrew PTO Register here by Friday, February 21: https://forms.gle/os9gVxSyDmJDFFQF7

Don't miss this awesome CLC event! February 20th from 6:30-7:30.

**NO SCHOOL** Monday and Tuesday, February 17th & 18th for President’s Day Break. Class resumes Wednesday, February 19th. Enjoy your long weekend!

Second grade students enjoyed a special hour this morning, decorating Valentine's Day boxes with their parents and classmates!

A recent Facebook post regarding Washington High School falsely claimed a routine request for a birth certificate was related to immigration status. State Law (SDCL 13-27-3.1-3.3) requires all public school students to have a birth certificate on file within 30 days of enrollment. When required records are missing from student files, school staff regularly attempt to contact families before sending the required information to the State’s Attorney. These requests are made solely to ensure compliance with State Law and to maintain complete student records. They are in no way related to immigration enforcement. We are committed to protecting the privacy of our students and their families. Please reach out to your child’s school or the district office with any questions rather than relying on social media for accurate information. We appreciate your cooperation in keeping student records up to date.

Calling All Kindergarteners!! We will have a Kindergarten Open House for incoming kindergarteners for 2025-2026 on March 6th, 2025 from 4-6pm. *Meet our Kindergarten Team *Meet our Principals *Pick up an information packet *Turn in birth certificates, immunizations and address verifications *Purchase Spirit Wear *Take a picture at our Photo Prop Station *Tour the kindergarten area of the building with student council members If you have not registered your incoming kindergartener, please do so before the event! If you need help registering please contact the Pettigrew office, we are happy to help! https://www.sf.k12.sd.us/page/kindergarten-registration