Message to NAMS Staff 01/31/25

This past week, our Grades 6, 7, & 8 Bands were able to perform to full houses of students, staff, and families. The Grades 6 & 7 Band Concert was Tuesday night followed by the Grade 8 Band and NAHS Wind Ensemble on Wednesday night. It is always so wonderful to see how our students improve from year to year, performing much more complex pieces in Grade 8. The current Grades 6 & 7 students sound terrific, so we are excited to continue to see them perform in the future. Listening to our Grade 8 Band, you would think that you were listening to a high school band.

Thank you Mr. Nelson and Mr. Ignos for continuing to lead and nurture the growth of our students!

Project 35ONE Update!

In a previous message, I shared that Pierce Leary was selected as the North Andover Project 35ONE Ambassador. You may learn more about Project 35ONE here and at the following address:

This past Saturday, Pierce participated in the program’s Lauch Day. You may view pictures and news stories about the event below:

• These photos from Benson Chang of Norton, Class of 2022!

• Two news stories: WBZ-TV and Channel 7!

Thanks to the work of all of the state’s ambassadors, more than 34,000 lives were positively impacted during an afternoon of service!

MAP Testing Guide 2024-2025

See page 6 for resources to prepare students for testing.

Please Note:

• Rosters get updated through PowerSchool.
• If a new student has been added to a class, it will take at least 24 hours from being added to PowerSchool to show up in NWEA MAP
• NWEA is linked through Clever but is not a single sign-on as other apps.
• Username is your full email address.
• If you've forgotten your password, click on the "forgot password" to be emailed a reset link.
• Teams are responsible for all extra time and makeups.

Test Dates 2/3-2/14

Makeup Window 2/24-2/28

Reports go home the week of 3/10

NAMS Spelling Bee 2025

This past Tuesday, January 28th we held our annual NAMS Spelling Bee well attended by students and families. It was truly an exciting event with the top 2 spellers in the end going back and forth until we finally could announce this year’s winner. This year’s winner was Deetyangi Choudhury 7C with Eva Sideri 6C as the runner up. The students who placed in the top 5 were as follows:

1. Deetyangi Choudhury 7C

2. Eva Sideri 6C

3. Sartaj Sankhla 6A

4. Cristina Castro 7C

5. Sophia Viloria 6A

Thank you to Mr. Mueller for organizing this event and thank you to our judges: Ms. Leonardis & Ms. Jones.

NAMS Library Newsletter - February 2025

You may find the latest NAMS Library Newsletter here. In this issue, you will learn about the following:

• Did You Know???
• Top Circulating Titles
• 2025 Award Winners Announced!
• Celebrate Black History Month
• North Andover Reads 2025
• February Programming @ Stevens
• DATABASE SPOTLIGHT
• BOOK SPOTLIGHT

The Annual MassDOT Name a Snowplow Contest received entries from public school classrooms all across Massachusetts to name 12 MassDOT plows that will be in service this winter season.

This annual contest for Elementary and Middle School Students highlights the dedication of public works employees during the winter season.

MassDOT has announced the winners of the 2024 “Name A Snowplow” Contest and one of our classrooms WON!

District 4 Winner is...

You can see all of the really creative names and learn more about this contest here.

9th Annual Yard Sign Design Contest

The Massachusetts Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program’s Yard Sign Design Contest is a way for students to use their creativity to help promote safe roads for cyclists and pedestrians in their communities.

• Contest Opens: January 3, 2025

• Deadline for Entries: February 24, 2025

Here’s how:

• Students create and submit a design for a yard sign with this year’s theme: HELMET SAFETY.

• Wearing a helmet is not only an important safety item, but it is also the law in Massachusetts that all people 16 years of age or younger must wear a helmet while riding a bike1. We want

• students to focus their designs on highlighting the importance of wearing a helmet while biking, skateboarding, scootering, etc. Signs in different languages are highly encouraged.

• Signs may be hand-drawn or created digitally in LANDSCAPE format.

• The four winning designs will be made into yard signs for distribution to SRTS partner schools around the Commonwealth.

You can learn more about the program and how to enter here.

January 27th - February 7th

Sponsored by Student Leadership

Bread & Roses is a soup kitchen in Lawrence, MA that has long been a center of hope and care to the thousands of people in the Merrimack Valley who are struggling for survival. Their primary purpose is to ease the hunger of people in the community.

Bread & Roses’ mission is Food. Dignity. Compassion.

Bread & Roses does not accept any form of government funding and relies on the community to ensure that the needs of our neighbors are met.

Please help us by donating the following items:

• Boxes/Bags of Individually wrapped snacks (chips, cookies, granola bars, etc.)

• Bottled water

• Pancake Mix, Muffin Mix, & Cake Mix

• Canned Items (Fruit, vegetables, beans, fish, soup, etc.)

• Tomato Sauce

• Pasta, Mac & Cheese, and Rice

Donated items will go into pantry orders, Grab & Go meals, and community meals!

Please Note:

• Gift cards for Market Basket and money donations are accepted too!

• Expired food cannot be accepted. Please check the date.

• Please write the expiration date on the top of boxes and cans to help us out.

Did you miss the virtual presentation last week?

We have the video for you!

In the conversation, Brooke shared information regarding:

• Cell phone and social media safety
• Strategies and advice to rein in their use

We’ve added her recommended resources to our already existing resource list, along with the new video.

EVERYTHING can be found on our resources page under the tab “Internet and Cell Phone Safety.”

The more parents that join this pledge, the stronger this movement will become!

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week. We will announce our final event of the year in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

North Andover Reads 2025

The North Andover Reads 2025 website is live on the Stevens Memorial Library website here and at the following address: https://stevensmemlib.libguides.com/NAR2025

What is North Andover Reads?

• North Andover Reads is a joint effort of the Stevens Memorial Library and the North Andover Public Schools. Books, programs, and exhibits and more are chosen to highlight our R.A.I.S.E. initiative. Visit the North Andover Reads 2025 website for all the details.

• This year we're learning more about neurodiversity. We hope everyone: students, parents, teachers, join in to read, discuss, and celebrate the richness of neurodiverse experiences! It’s a chance to come together, to celebrate diverse ways of thinking and being, and foster a more inclusive community.

• In each age group, there is "One Book" chosen by Stevens librarians and North Andover Public School Librarians for us to all read. There are book lists suggesting other titles as well.

I hope you will visit the site, perhaps read some of the books, join an event, and even tell others about North Andover Reads.

Books are available through Stevens Memorial Library for everyone! Our students have access to books through Stevens, our school libraries, and digital versions in SORA and Overdrive.

Kathleen Keenan, Library Director
Stevens Memorial Library
345 Main Street
North Andover, MA 01845
Phone 978.688.9505 x42021
Email kkeenan@NorthAndoverMA.gov
www.StevensMemLib.org

NAMS MCAS Dates 2025

• You may find a more detailed schedule here.

• We reviewed the upcoming MCAS schedule and noticed that grade 8 was scheduled to take Math Session 1 the day after April Break. Moving that date required moving a few more dates, but not too much!

• We also reviewed the 3 different schedules we follow on MCAS days. In an effort to break the day up for kids who aren't testing we made adjustments to when RA classes would be offered on Schedule 1 & 2.

• This change would free more people up to help collect kids who need extra time since the lunch time that we would need volunteers would be 2nd lunch instead of 1st on MCAS days.

• We adjusted the RA times on Schedules 1 & 2 so that support staff would be available to collect students who need additional time earlier and also be available to supervise the middle lunch.

NAMS MCAS Dates 2025

ELA Testing

Grade 8 ELA - Session 1

• Monday, March 31, 2925

Grade 7 ELA - Session 1

• Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Grade 6 ELA - Session 1

• Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Grade 8 ELA - Session 2

• Monday, April 7, 2025

Grade 7 ELA - Session 2

• Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Grade 6 ELA - Session 2

• Thursday, April 10, 2025

Math Testing

Grade 8 Math - Session 1

• Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Grade 7 Math - Session 1

• Thursday, May 1, 2025

Grade 8 Math - Session 2

• Monday, May 5, 2025

Grade 7 Math - Session 2

• Tuesday, May 6, 2025

Grade 6 Math - Session 1

• Thursday, May 8, 2025

Grade 6 Math - Session 2

• Monday, May 12, 2025

STE Testing

Grade 8 STE - Session 1

• Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Grade 8 STE - Session 2

• Friday, May 16, 2025

Civics Testing

Grade 8 Civics - Session 1

• Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Grade 8 Civics - Session 2

• Thursday, May 29, 2025

You're Invited!

Join North Andover School Committee Members Joe Hicks and Ed Moscovitch

For an Informal Community Chat on Saturday, February 1, 2025 from 11:00-12:00 p.m.

At the School Administrative Building Conference Room, 566 Main Street

(please enter via the back door)

Sunshine Fund

• This is a staff fund to support one another in times of need and sadness and to also celebrate special occasions!

• $25 is the suggested amount. You can venmo Julie @Julia-Nightingale-143 or provide her with cash or check made payable to Julie Nightingale.

• Early Release & PD Dates 2024-2025

• 2/5 (1 hour)

• 2/26 (2 hours)

• 3/12 (1 hour)

• 3/26 (2 hours)

• 4/9 (1 hour)

• 4/30 (2 hours)

• 5/7 (1 hour)

• 5/21 (2 hours)

• 6/4 (2 hours)

Marking Periods

• Trimester 1

• Start T1 - Wednesday, August 28, 2024

• Midpoint T1 - Friday, October 18, 2024

• End of T1 - Friday, December 6, 2024

• Trimester 2

• Start T2 - Monday, December 9, 2024

• Midpoint T2 - Friday, January 31, 2025

• End of T2 - Friday, March 28, 2024

• Trimester 3

• Start of T3 - Monday, March 31, 2024

• Midpoint of T3 - Friday, May 16, 2024

• End of T3 - Last Day of School (June 13th right now.)