Dear North Smyrna Elementary Family,

Our staff steadily prepared throughout the summer for the start of the 2024-2025 school year, and it is with much excitement that we look forward to greeting our students on the first day next week! Our K-3 students will begin on Tuesday, September 3rd, and our Early Childhood students will begin on Wednesday, September 4th. This year will be filled with new learning adventures, new friends, and lots of growth!

We encourage you to take time to review the information below as you enter this school year. If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact our office.

We look forward to partnering with you as we work together to ensure a wonderful and rewarding school experience for your child!

Sincerely,

Dr. Amber Augustus, Principal

Mrs. Haley Griffin, Associate Principal

Dr. Tiyana Mullen, Associate Principal

Wednesday, August 28th

• NSE's Back to School Meet & Greet Event

Tuesday, September 3

• First Day of School for K-3 Students
• NSE's Back to School Spiritwear is on! Get your NSE Gear at the link below!

Wednesday, September 4

• First Day of School for EC Students

Tuesday, September 10

• Professional Learning Day for Staff, No School for Students

Monday, September 16

• Start with Hello Spirit Week

Wednesday, September 18

• NSE PTO Meeting, 5pm
• SSD Board Meeting at SES, 6pm

Thursday, September 19

• International Talk Like a Pirate Day - Come to school dressed as a pirate, Mateys!
• Car Seat Safety Check at Smyrna Municipal Park, 8-4pm

Wednesday, September 25

• NSE Kindness Project, Making Dog Toys, 6-7pm in the cafeteria

Please take time to review the information below on NSE's transportation procedures for arrival and dismissal. Each day, we see approximately 650 students and over 100 staff members enter and exit our school campus everyday. Your assistance in following these procedures helps us ensure a safe and efficient dismissal for all. Thank you for your patience and support.

Please see the below attachment on information about our new car rider traffic flow which will have all cars use Providence Drive in order to enter campus. Only right hand turns will be permitted onto campus and only right hand turns will be permitted to exit campus. We appreciate your assistance and support as we make adjustments to accommodate the construction taking place.

If your family has moved at any point since last year or if there are changes to your phone number or email address, please contact our Main Office at 302-653-8589 as soon as possible to update this information. Having the most up-to-date contact information is crucial to providing your family with timely information, updates, scheduled events, and in the event an emergency arises.

If you are a NSE parent and are interested in substituting at North Smyrna Elementary School only, please stop by the Main Office and speak with Mrs. Berryman to get more information. We have flexible schedules and a great team! We hope you consider joining us!

Please send your child to school each day with:

• a water bottle filled with water only
• a snack
• an extra pair of clothes to keep in their bookbag
• a charged Chromebook (K-3rd grade) - issued soon!

Our Start With Hello Spirit Week will begin September 16th!

Technology plays an ever more integral part of our daily lives. Utilizing technology in ways that benefit learning is a tool we incorporate in a variety of ways and each student has access to technology through a district issued chromebook. Students have access to the ARC bookshelf for nightly reading and other learning assignments that will take place at school and home throughout the year.

Every Kn-3rd grade student will be issued a Chromebook for their use at home and school.

Each family will need to complete a Chromebook Usage Agreement. Please see below for additional information on their usage and care to help ensure your child is ready to use his/her Chromebook each day:

• Charge the Chromebook nightly.
• Place the Chromebook back in the bookbag before each morning.
• Treat the Chromebook with care and avoid placing food or liquid near it.
• Keep the charger with the Chromebook to avoid loss.

We are excited that students have the opportunity to use technology across home and school as they build a skillset that they will use throughout their lives.

As our students begin the year working with district Chromebooks and district Google accounts, we want to share information on student IDs and passwords needed for logging in:

• For all students, their userid is firstname.lastname. If there are students with the same name in the District, we append a “1”, “2”, etc onto the lastname (john.smith, john.smith1, john.smith2). If this applies to your child, you will be notified.
• For all K-6 grade students, their password will be SSD###### with the “######” being the student’s School Lunch Number, and it will stay the same from year-to-year.

If you have any questions with logging in, please contact your child's teacher.

Regular attendance is a critical component to a successful school experience. We understand students may need to be absent for a variety of reasons throughout the year. Upon returning to school, please send an absent excuse note(with your child's name, date, and reason for absence) in with your child to turn in to your child's teacher. You can also email your absent excuse note to nsesattendance@smyrna.k12.de.us

NSE has two nurses to address our students' health needs throughout the day, Mrs. Warner and Mrs. Parks. They take the health and safety of each child seriously. Please see the letter below with information that will guide health decisions throughout the year.

Please see the resources provided below from our School Counselors, Mrs. Brogen and Ms. Montalvo.

Our school uses the Bridges in Mathematics program for PreK 4 year olds to 3rd grade. Check out the math apps available for your students to use while at home:

https://www.mathlearningcenter.org/apps

Check out the NSE PTO Facebook Page

We are continuing to update the PTO Facebook page with learning activities and information for families. Please check it out at North Smyrna Elementary School PTO.

We hope you will consider joining as we work together to provide the best educational experiences to our students throughout the year!

Please reference the following to keep up with important news, events, and updates throughout the school year.

At NSE, all students receive one free breakfast and lunch daily.

The NSE Cafeteria is also offers students the option to purchase a snack, drink, or a double entree at lunch. If your child is interested in purchasing one of these options, he/she will need additional money in their account. Money can be added to your student's lunch account by sending in cash, a check (made out to the Smyrna School District), or by creating a myschoolbucks.com account to deposit funds electronically. If you have any questions,, please contact our Main Office.

The Smyrna School District Food Pantry is available to families with students in the Smyrna School District. Pre-packaged boxes will be distributed at Smyrna Middle School located at 700 Duck Creek Pkwy. Smyrna, DE 19977. If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Scott at 302-653-8308 or at jennifer.scott@smyrna.k12.de.us.

Smyrna School District has adopted standards based grading K-5. Grades will be reported in trimesters for K-6 as well. We encourage you to check out the following resources to learn more: https://www.smyrna.k12.de.us/Page/626.

Parents continue to have access to their student's grades at any time by utilizing the Home Access Center website. If you need your user ID and password to login, please contact the NSE Main Office at 302-653-8589.

As a reminder, Early Childhood students do not receive grades, interim progress reports, or report cards. Updates on student progress are available midyear and at the end of the year as well as by contacting your child's teacher at any point.

Our staff returned to school in August ready and excited to prepare for the year.! The past couple of weeks have been filled with not only classroom preparations for shared learning experiences for our staff.

NSE Families Remind App: Text @nsefam to 81010 to receive school reminders.

NSE Twitter Page: Follow us on Twitter at @NSESSD

NSE Facebook Page: Follow us on Facebook at North Smyrna Elementary School PTO

NSE YouTube Page: Check out our YouTube page at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoEsLnqVcfz-l0Fa8YhxqOw

Dr. Amber Augustus, Principal

Mrs. Haley Griffin, Associate Principal

Dr. Tiyana Mullen, Associate Principal

Website: https://nes.smyrna.k12.de.us/

Location: 365 N. Main Street, Smyrna, DE, USA
Phone: 302-653-8589
Email: nsesregistration@smyrna.k12.de.us

Facebook: facebook.com/NorthSmyrnaElementarySchoolPTO
Twitter: @NSESSD