Dear North Smyrna Elementary Families,

Happy New Year to all of our NSE families! We are now firmly in the middle of our school year. At this points, routines have become settled and we are fully engaged with the learning objectives of the year.

At NSE, we value the relationship and communication we have with our families. Please take time to review your child's take home folder each week for flyers on school/district/community events, classroom newsletters, important information, and your child's completed assignments for the week. Consider joining the school's Remind app (information below). Take time to review North's News for information on events and to see what a day in the life of a North student/staff member is like!

As you read through each month's North's News, we encourage you to note the following:

• The important schoolwide dates are an overview of what the month has in store. Your child's teachers will send home more information and/or flyers on specific dates/events as those events draw near.
• Read through the information from our specialists. This information is designed to strengthen the school to home connection in a variety of areas including: student health, reading, math, and social/emotional learning.
• At North, we love to celebrate our students and staff members! You will continue to see our Students of the Month and staff recognitions.
• You will continue to see Scenes from NSE which celebrates events and moments that have occurred at NSE over the course of the past month.
• If there are community events of which we are aware and think they may be of interest to our NSE families, we will include information on them as well. For example, you will see information on the Block Kids Competition included in this month's newsletter.

You will note a change on this month's North's News. General parent information has been removed. Instead, we have included a link for important parent information that remains relevant and consistent throughout the year for you to reference at any time. You will find that information linked in a button below on each North's News so that it is still accessible whenever it is needed.

We look forward to a wonderful month!

Sincerely,

Dr. Amber Augustus, Principal

Mrs. Haley Griffin, Associate Principal

Dr. Tiyana Mullen, Associate Principal

Monday, January 20

• No School for Students in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Wednesday, January 22

• PTO Meeting, 5pm

Friday, January 24

• Decades Day - 80s! We are celebrating being in the 80s - (days of school that is) by wearing our best 80s gear!

Tuesday, January 28

• Mid-Trimester 2
• NSE Family Night - The Amazing Race, 6-7pm
• Jungle John visits K & 1 to enrich their animal research units

Wednesday, January 29

• No School for Students - Professional Learning for Staff

Friday, January 30

• Cereal Assembly

The schools in the Smyrna School District are very interested in getting feedback from our families about their experiences. In particular, we want to hear about the connection that students and their families have with North Smyrna Elementary School. This anonymous survey is designed to provide us an honest review of our strengths and areas for improvement. Results will be shared anonymously with our school leadership team exactly as written, but participants should not expect to receive a personal response from the school. Use the QR code or link below to access the survey.

Students are required to have an adult accompanying them while completing the race!

A T-shirt order form for the 2025 Spread the Word - INCLUSION campaign is linked below. Additional order forms are available in the NSE Main Office.

Students and families who would like to order a t-shirt can return their completed forms along with the exact amount of cash or a check to the front office for collection.

As a school, we will be wearing our Spread the Word shirts on March 5th to show our support for inclusion. Thank you for your participation and encouragement of our students!

Delaware Council of Mathematics Leaders (DCML) is hosting 3 statewide showings of the movie Counted Out. The dates of the 3 showings are (New Castle County) February 2nd, (Kent County - Dover Wilmington University) February 3rd, and (Sussex County) February 5th. Admission is free.

Please see the below flier for a QR code to watch the trailer and registration information. The movie highlights perspectives of mathematics in education and our world today.

In December, our students and staff signed a steel beam which will be part of the new addition to celebrate the great things to come as our school expands in the coming years!

In December, all students K-3 were gifted with a book of their own to keep to read over the winter break thanks to the generous donation of a parent. 2nd and 3rd grade students were surveyed and received a book that interested them the most! Students expressed pure joy as they opened their book and shared it with their classmates!

A special thank you to Mrs. Apgar for helping to organize such a special opportunity for our students!

Thank you to the Smyrna Rotary for the delivery of dictionaries to our 3rd graders in December! Rotary members, Marie Fontaine St. Pierre and Jay Davis, visited our classrooms to deliver the dictionaries personally and engaged in a lesson on how to use the dictionary with students.

The "Ladies of Distinction" from Smyrna High School collaborated with NSE's Girls Group to develop a mentorship program of young women and girls that focuses on leadership, growth, empowerment, and inspiration!

Mentorship Matters! At NSE, selected 3rd graders spend time each week reading with a Kindergarten buddy. "Readers Are Leaders" not only benefits our Kindergarten students as they are learning to read but our "leaders" leave with such a sense of pride and ownership knowing they are trusted to make a difference.

On December 10th, our 3rd grade chorus performed for their school and families. They put forth a beautiful performance with songs such as "Be A Light", "Cold Snap", "Here Comes the Snow", "An African Wish", and "Better Bundle Up". One feature that set this performance apart from other chorus concerts we have had in the past is the introduction of student conductors! Each song was led by 2-3 students to lead and model the song and motions. These students did a fabulous job!

Mrs. Mullen's selection as the NSE Educational Support Professional Award winner was celebrated at the SSD Board Meeting on Wednesday, January 15! This award is given to a staff member whose activities reflect the contributions of educational support professionals to public education. She is so deserving of this recognition, and we were thrilled to see many individuals from our school and her family were there to celebrate this accomplishment with her.

Mrs. Mullen is a bright spot in the day of our staff, students, and the many families who call or visit NSE's Main Office. We are so fortunate to have her here at North! Congratulations, Mrs. Mullen!

Continue to monitor your child for illness and contact the Nurse's Office with any questions or concerns.

January's SEL focus is on Growth Mindset. Our counselors will be working with students on perseverance, fixed vs. growth mindset, and the power of 'yet'.

Check out this resource to support your child's growing math knowledge at home:

https://stressfreemathforkids.com/math-education/parents-are-math-teachers-too/

Eagle Reading Expectations

• K-3 students at NSE are expected to read for 30 minutes at home each night. This means they are logging 2 steps. Each step is equal to 15 minutes of reading.

• As of January 6, 2025, the Smyrna School District expectation is that students have read 175 steps. Please review your child's log to ensure that they are staying on track with their daily reading.

• To catch up on steps, students can read extra during some nights or on the weekends!

Reading Celebrations at NSE

• In December, we celebrated 110 K-3 students with a movie to celebrate them for completing the Thanksgiving Reading Challenge! Great work to the following students:

• Thanksgiving Reading Challenge 2024 Winners

• NSE started our "Readers are Leaders" program in December. Some of our 3rd grade students are supporting our kindergarten students with different reading and writing activities. We are so proud of this partnership that is being created with our older students supporting our younger readers!

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!

Our next meeting will be held Wednesday, January 22nd at 5pm.

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

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