Pine Ridge Elementary

We’re excited to celebrate Read Across America Week (Dr. Seuss Week) from March 2–6 with some fun and easy dress-up days for our Bears! This is a wonderful opportunity to spark a love of reading while building school spirit together.

Each day features a simple theme inspired by favorite Dr. Seuss stories — making it easy (and fun!) for students to participate.

Please see the image for daily details. A hard copy of the flyer will also be sent home with students Friday, February 27, 2026.
We can’t wait to see our Bears join in the fun and celebrate the joy of reading all week long! 📖✨

A big thank you to Clermont Kids Dentistry for visiting our IST classrooms and teaching our students about the importance of good dental hygiene! 🦷✨ We truly appreciate you taking the time to make learning about healthy habits fun and engaging for our students!

Show your support for all those who have Rare Diseases by wearing Pink, Black, Green or Purple on Saturday February 28th.

Over 300 million people globally live with a rare disease, with 30 million in the U.S. alone. Nurse Jen's daughter, Kinsleigh, is one of them. She has a rare genetic duplication that affects less than 1 in 1 million people, with fewer than 30 well documented cases worldwide.

Help Show support to all those affected by Rare Diseases by wearing your colors!

We need your feedback. Please complete the Parent Stakeholder survey today. Find the survey here: https://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/299325/p2577

Gray Middle School will host their annual Gator Expo on Tuesday, March 3, 2026 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM. This event is a fantastic opportunity for teachers to showcase student work and for students to highlight their talents.
They also invite incoming 6th graders for the 2026-27 school year to explore all that Gray Middle has to offer!

Get ready — our Pine Ridge Book Fair is just around the corner! The fair will run Thursday, February 26 through Thursday, March 5, and will also be open during our Spring Picnic on March 4 so families can shop together.
This is a wonderful opportunity to spark a love of reading and help grow your child’s home library.
Families can visit our online Book Fair page to:
• Preview available books
• Set up and manage eWallet funds (a safe, cashless way for students to shop)
(The link was sent to your FOCUS email address.)
We can’t wait to see our Bears excited about books! Thank you for supporting our school and helping build a strong community of readers at Pine Ridge. 📖✨

Pine Ridge Bears are spreading kindness and cheer! 💌🐻
Today we celebrated friendship, compassion, and the joy of being together. From our students and staff to your families — have a Beary Happy Valentine’s Day! 💗

We are incredibly proud to announce that Pine Ridge Elementary’s VPK program has received the Designation of Excellent from the Florida Department of Education! 🎉

This recognition highlights the dedication, expertise, and commitment of our early learning team to providing high-quality instruction and meaningful learning experiences for our youngest students. Achieving the Designation of Excellent reflects the strong foundation our VPK program builds for future academic success.

Thank you to our amazing VPK teachers and staff for your hard work and passion each and every day.

Florida Prepaid’s annual Open Enrollment period is underway, offering
families an opportunity to lock in future college costs at today’s plan prices.
With recent enhancements, planning for higher education is now more
streamlined and affordable. The earlier you begin saving, the greater the long-term benefit. Take advantage of these improvements and secure your child’s future today with a Florida Prepaid 529 Plan. Enroll now at https://bit.ly/4q2cpCD .

Smiles, energy, and lots of Pine Ridge spirit! Our Boosterthon Fun Run was an incredible success thanks to our amazing families and staff members. Thank you for supporting our students and helping us reach our fundraising goal—we are so grateful!

PBIS is having a Ring Pop fundraiser February 9th-13th. Meet your bear Pals in the green swamp and bus loop before school to purchase a ring pop for $1.00 each to support our PBIS Program!

Pine Ridge's Fun Run is tomorrow! 🎉 With just one day left in our fundraiser, that makes tonight, the LAST NIGHT FOR DONATIONS! So far, every share and donation in our school has added up to over $18,000. Would you consider reaching out to one or two more donors tonight to help keep the momentum going?

Still need to register? Go to MyBooster.com and search for Pine Ridge Fun Run. Thank you for working hard to support our school. We truly appreciate you!

REMINDER: Send your student to school wearing appropriate clothing and sneakers to be ready for tomorrow’s Pine Ridge Fun Run.

Our bears celebrated a wonderful Literacy Week 2026 with our theme “Read, White, & Blue!” From creating a school-wide book chain and showcasing creativity in our bookmark contest, to students bravely reading poems from their pockets on stage, Pine Ridge students and staff had so much fun celebrating the joy of reading together.

We’re excited for our Pine Ridge Fun Run this Friday, February 6! Due to cooler temperatures, we’ve adjusted the schedule to take advantage of the warmest part of the day and ensure our students are comfortable while participating.

Updated Fun Run Schedule:
• 11:15 AM – 12:15 PM:
Kindergarten & Grade 3
Duquette’s and Weeks’ PreK classes will join the Kindergarten track from 11:15–11:45 AM

• 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM:
Grades 4 & 5
Womack’s and Viveros’ IST classes will join the Grade 5 track

• 1:15 PM – 2:15 PM:
Grades 1 & 2
Pylant’s, Cintron’s, and Suplita’s PreK classes will join the Grade 1 track from 1:15–1:45 PM & Mrs. Ransom's IST class will join the Grade 2 track from 1:15-1:45.

Temperatures are expected to range from 55–65 degrees, with a forecast calling for full sun.
Please be sure your child:
• Dresses warmly
• Wears tennis shoes
• Brings a water bottle

Thank you for your flexibility and continued support of Pine Ridge Elementary. We’re looking forward to a fun, energetic event and can’t wait to cheer on our students this Friday!

Please mark your calendars for our spring picnic, which will be held on Wednesday, March 4th during your child's regularly scheduled lunch time (shown on the attached PDF). Please use the Google form that was set to your Focus email to pre-register so we can ensure a smooth and efficient check-in process. Pre-registration will close on February 25th.

We’ve already raised over $15,000 as a school! 🎉 We can make it even further to help our Pine Ridge reach our goal of $20,000 with our challenge tonight - The class with the most new donations tonight will get to have game time with the Booster team!

It’s not too late to join the fun - sign up to participate on MyBooster.com!

Good luck! 🙂

Huge congratulations to our incredible elementary students who showcased their science fair projects at the Lake County Schools Science and Engineering Fair today! Their curiosity, creativity, and hard work were on full display, and we are so proud of the innovation they brought to this year’s competition. A big thank‑you to the judges, teachers, and families who supported these young scientists along the way. 👉 Next up: Middle and high school projects on Friday. We can’t wait to see what our older students have in store!

✨ Happy National School Counselor Week! ✨ We are so grateful for our incredible guidance counselors who support our students academically, socially, and emotionally each and every day. Their compassion, dedication, and commitment help our Pine Ridge students shine bright and feel supported as they grow and learn. Thank you for all you do to make a difference—today and every day! 💫📚💙