Normandy Park School

There will be no school on Wednesday, October 5th (in recognition of Yom Kippur).

Monday, October 3rd, is an A Day.

With schools across the nation, state, and district, we will participate in the yearly Week of Respect. The Week of Respect is recognized each year during the first full week of October. We will be having activities throughout the week that continue to promote kindness and positivity. It is important to note that the anti-bullying messages are not just reserved for the week. Lessons are embedded throughout the day, all year long, whether it be learning good sportsmanship, how to compliment someone’s art or music, or that we all make mistakes and grow by learning how to fix those mistakes.

Sincerely,

Christopher Miller

Principal of Normandy Park School

We kick off the month with the Week of Respect! In addition to spirit week and the lessons that are embedded in the classroom each and every day, students will have some additional activities such as Chalk it Out, where positive messages are written in chalk throughout the blacktop and playground areas, and writing thank you letters to people who are important in their lives.

At the end of the month many people will be dressing up for Halloween. It is important to recognize that some families do not celebrate Halloween. We also have some children who are scared of costumes. Whether you celebrate Halloween or not,this is a great opportunity to speak with your child(ren) about people having different beliefs and respecting those beliefs.

There are so many ways to teach respect and kindness at home by talking about what respect and kindness looks, sounds and feels like. Here are some examples

Kindness looks like: Helping a friend or family member, taking good care of a pet, sharing a toy with a sibling

Kindness feels like: a soft pillow, a big hug, a warm cuddly pair of pajamas.

Kindness sounds like: “Can I help you?”, “You are so nice!”, “That was a great game!” “Thank you for helping me.”

Wondergrovekids has a nice video for young children on respect. It is a little long and as always, I recommend you review the video first and decide if it’s something you want to share with your child, as well as come up with discussion questions for your child.

https://youtu.be/k-6ws8LZECU

Our libraries are filled with all kinds of wonderful books on Respect and Kindness. Have your child ask Mrs. Gilson for some suggestions or go to any library in Morris County and ask the librarian there. They will be glad to assist!

If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s social-emotional well being please reach out to me and I will be happy to help!

Your School Counselor

Cheryl Cohen

cheryl.cohen@msdk12.net

973-889-7960 x6115

October 11th and 12th: NJSLA Start Strong Assessment for 4th and 5th Grade. For additional information, please click here.

The Start Strong Assessments:

• Are based on a subset of prioritized prior-year academic standards;
• Are available in ELA grades 4-10, Mathematics grades 4-8, Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II, and in Science grades 6, 9, and 12;
• Can be administered in approximately 45-60 minutes;
• Will provide immediate results to educators through the assessment platform

Click here for October Breakfast and Lunch Menus.

For additional information on MSD Breakfast and Lunch, please click here to visit the district's website.

Students can bring and/or purchase lunch. Free and reduced meals are provided to families who qualify for support. To fill out the Free and Reduced Meals application, please click here.

The NPS kitchen is moving back to selling chips, ice cream and cookies as a treat during lunch. The cost is $1. CASH ONLY.

K/1 students are strongly encouraged to purchase snacks on Fridays only. This helps K/1 assistants provide support to students purchasing snacks in a targeted effort. However, please note, K/1 students can purchase snacks on another day if desired.

Parents: You will need to send in $1 bill or change in an envelope, labeled as snack money and YOUR CHILD'S NAME! Please don't skip the name part as loose money that is not labeled is tough to track down and allocate appropriately.

Child: He/she will need to know that they have the money and get it from their lunchbox when the lunch aides call "Anyone who is buying snack, please come up"

Suggestion: ---if your child is a slower eater---this may be something you want to wait on OR encourage a cookie or chip bag that can be closed and put in the lunchbox. It's super hard to walk ice cream down the hallway, back to the classroom to finish

Click here to visit our Home and School Association website!

HSA clubs start this week. For pick-up please use the middle doors (unless otherwise specified).

*On Tuesday, we have several clubs in the building. Therefore, we will use multiple pick-up locations:

*Tuesday Club Pick Up

(4:20 PM)

Middle Doors

American Girl

Lego

Guided Drawing

Main Front Entrance

Fit Kid

Yarn Art

Computer Games

Show your NPS pride! Purchase NPS school gear directly from Redbubble with shipment right to your doorstep! A small percentage of profits will be returned to NPS with your purchase!

Create a profile on our NPS HSA Membership Toolkit to enable your participation in the school directory (grade/teacher), sign up to receive the Home and School Association's weekly newsletter, submit club forms, volunteer and more!

HSA will host an outdoor movie night on October 7th at 6:30pm at the NPS front field.

If there is inclement weather (e.g. rain), the event will be hosted in the NPS gym.

October is almost here! I have received a few questions regarding Halloween costumes. Given that a lot of families are beginning to purchase costumes, I wanted to provide a few guidelines.

On Monday, October 31st, students may wear their costumes or school spirit colors to school (or bring with them to put over their clothes). To ensure the health and well being of our school community we ask you to adhere to the following costume guidelines:

1. Students choosing to dress up must wear their costumes to school (and/or have costumes they can easily put over their clothes).

2. No weapons, swords or handheld accessories. Students have enough items to carry!

3. Please make sure costumes are school appropriate (e.g. no fake blood, inappropriate language, etc.).

4. No Halloween masks that cover students faces. It is imperative for us to be able to see and identify all students at all times! In addition, it is very important for student's to have full vision while walking around the school. Please save masks for trick-or-treating!

Throughout the day, classrooms will have fun autumn or Halloween activities. Additional information on classroom celebrations and activities will come from your child's homeroom teacher. In the morning, we will have a school-wide parade for students and staff only. This will be a time for students to see costumes of children and teachers across the school! We will make sure to take lots of pictures to share with families!

If you do not want your child to participate in the parade, please let your homeroom teacher know via ClassDojo or e-mail; we will have alternative activities planned at this time.

Please use the digital blue note form for any dismissal changes. The main office will notify the homeroom teachers of the dismissal change. For absences, continue to contact the school nurse.

If a situation arises that requires you to pick your child up during the school day, a note must be sent to the office specifying the pick-up time. Students being picked up early are asked to be picked up before 2:30 p.m.

• If you know that you child will be tardy or absent from school, it is requested that you notify the nurse in advance. This can be done by phone at 973-889-7960 x 6152. Voicemail is operational 24 hours daily.

• You may also contact her office by email at: marybeth.supple@msdk12.net

• Students who arrive tardy (after 8:55am) must report immediately to the Health Office upon arrival to school for a late pass

• October 12th and 13th: NJSLA Start Strong Assessment for 4th and 5th Grade. For additional information, please click here.
• October 24th: Early Dismissal for Students

*Afterschool clubs will kick-off in October. Thank you to those who have registered! For more information and schedules, visit the HSA website.

2022-2023 District Calendar

· Parent Handbook

· District Calendar

· Arrival and Dismissal Procedures

· Free and Reduced Meal Application

· Adding Money to Breakfast/Lunch Account

· Sunset and Sunrise

The Morris Educational Foundation (MEF) is proud to continue its mission of generating and distributing resources to enhance the education of the 5,700 students and 1,000 educators in the Morris School District’s 10 schools. For 30 years, the MEF has and will continue to support our District through vibrant grants, supportive tutoring, enlightening parent education and life-changing scholarship programs. Learn more about how the MEF works to enrich and inspire the academic pursuits of all our students by clicking here. With you, our community, we make exceptional education extraordinary.

Click on this link to view a video about what the MEF does for you!

Any questions, email info@morrisedfoundation.org.