Normandy Park School

I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Monday, December 5th is a D Day.

This Friday, NPS HSA will host the Share the Magic Raffle (additional information below). This week, all students will engage in an Hour of Code with Mrs. Gilson. She will lead students in grade level appropriate computer coding activities!

The week of December 12th, NPS HSA will host the Scholastic Book Fair. On December 16th, students will perform for families at our winter concert (additional information below). Prior to Winter Break, report cards will be sent home.

Sincerely,

Christopher Miller

Principal of Normandy Park School

Help us Share the Magic!

Share the Magic Raffle will be held on Friday, December 9. All students will have an opportunity to participate with many awesome prizes up for grabs!

UPDATE:

Message from the HSA:

Share the Magic Raffle This Week! Just Added Bruce Springsteen Tickets Grand Prize!

Thank you to everyone who has already purchased tickets for the HSA’s Share the Magic Raffle. We hope to see many of you at the raffle drawing event this Friday at 6:30pm. It will be a fun event with snacks, games, music and dancing. Look out for a flier to come home this week with details. The HSA’s goal this year is to match the $7,000+ raised in last year’s raffle and so far they are approaching the halfway point with less than a week to go. The HSA budget is made up of funds donated by our school community. They are counting on donations to continue providing free family events like this year’s Fun Fair, Movie Night, Bingo Night and World Cup Watch Party in addition to Cultural Arts programming like the Mexico Beyond Mariachi assembly our students enjoyed last month and the upcoming Dance Through the Decades school-wide residency. To up the ante, a generous friend of NPS has donated two amazing tickets to a sold out Bruce Springsteen concert at the Prudential Center on April 14th - section 7 row 3. The market value of these tickets is currently almost $2,000 apiece! Raffle tickets for this incredible prize are $10 each and you can order yours by emailing the HSA at npshsafundraising@gmail.com or purchase them at Friday’s event.

Please click here for the monthly bilingual newsletter from Mrs. Esteves.

MPAC will teach a Dance Through the Decades Residency to each grade unit where students would learn about dance history, different dance styles throughout each decade, move their bodies by learning choreography from each decade, and work on a class dance.

Each class will be assigned a different decade!

MPAC will provide a total of 8 instructional sessions throughout January to March for each classroom. MPAC will conduct 1 introductory dance session per class prior to the winter break.

Unfortunately, the MPAC instructor had to call out last week. They are rescheduling for the following dates for introductory sessions.

Wednesday December 7th: K/1 sessions

Friday December 9th: 2/3 sessions

Wednesday December 21st: 4/5 sessions

Introductory sessions will focus on an introduction to dance and occur within the classroom.

The residency will conclude with a cumulative schoolwide performance in March! More information to follow!

NPS will host 3 concerts this year, one for each grade/unit level. We are excited to invite families in to attend the performance. Additional information listed below:

Date: December 16th

Times:

• 9:15am for Primary Unit (K/1)
• 10:15am for Intermediate Unit (2/3)

• 12:45pm for Senior Unit (4/5)

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly at christopher.miller@msdk12.net. Thank you!

Report Cards for the first trimester will be sent home on December 22nd, 2022. For new families, please note that we use a Standards Based Report Card.

I will be hosting a virtual information session for parents to learn about our Standards Based Report Card on December 14th at 6:30pm. If you would like to attend, please fill out the attached form.

Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza…..another round of holidays are rapidly approaching. Whether you celebrate any, all or none of these holidays, this time of year can be very happy and very stressful. Make sure you check in with yourself about how you are coping. Be kind to yourself by creating realistic expectations for yourself. Reach out to family, friends, or even us at Normandy Park, if you find you are struggling in any way.

Most children are very excited about the upcoming holidays and the days off. Talk with your children about your expectations of them. Keep them realistic and age appropriate. Continue to try to spend quality time with your child. They will more often remember the time you spent with them over the gifts they receive. As you know from my previous newsletter, I love the way the folks at Big Life Journal explain things (not a district sponsored organization) and this season is no exception. If you are feeling overwhelmed check out some of these strategies. Even though the focus on the holidays, these strategies can be helpful to anyone at any time of the year.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s emotional well being, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

Stay awesome!

Ms. Cheryl Cohen

School Counselor

973-889-7960 x6115

Click here to visit our Home and School Association website!

Save the Date for Upcoming HSA Events:

• Students will be visiting the Book Fair with their class during school hours and will have an opportunity to purchase books at that time. More information will be sent through backpack mail this week.

• Calling all volunteers! Parents are a vital part of our Fair and are needed to help kids find books and run the cash registers. Sign up to volunteer while your child’s class shops.

• eWallet offers a safe and secure alternative to cash. Simply create a free Scholastic account by visiting www.scholastic.com/bf/NPS and add funds that can be used immediately. **If you have a balance on your eWallet from our June Book Fair, you need to create a new eWallet for this Fair and choose the option to fund your new eWallet with the leftover balance.**

• Make a donation to our Scholastic “All for Books” eWallet. Once again, the HSA is collecting donations so we can ensure that every NPS student is able to purchase a book at the Book Fair. For more information regarding this campaign, please contact the Book Fair Coordinator, Katie Martinez at martinez.katie.l@gmail.com.

• Parents can stop by (for any additional purchases) on Concert Day (December 16th) from 9am to 2-2pm. If you plan on stopping by the Book Fair, please complete the following form and then, sign in at the office for a visitor's pass. Thank you for your cooperation! This will help the school manage the amount of visitors in the building.

*Also, please note that if you'd like an additional purchase after your child has shopped, you do not need to stop by in person. There are several ways to make an additional purchase:

1. You can send your child with money and a note to the teacher
2. Shop the Online Fair during the week of the Book Fair (12th to 16th) at www.scholastic.com/bf/NPS

Help us Share the Magic!

Share the Magic Raffle will be held on Friday, December 9. All students will have an opportunity to participate with many awesome prizes up for grabs!

The HSA World Cup Watch Party was a success! It was an evening of food, fun, and soccer! There were almost 100 people in attendance.

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!

• 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

Mrs. Gilson provides all NPS students with coding instruction through developmentally appropriate activities!

In addition to coding activities embedded in the curriculum, all Morris School District elementary schools will participate in the international event “The Hour of Code” during the week of December 5 to 12. Students have been building their coding skills using Beebots and Ozobots as well as coding on the following websites Hour of Code Overview , the Scratch and Bee-Bot in technology classes this fall.

The Hour of Code is an one-hour introduction to computer science The Hour of Code began as a one-hour coding challenge to give students a fun first introduction to computer science and has become a global learning event, celebration, and awareness event. HourOfCode.com offers hundreds of one-hour activities in over 48 languages for kindergarten and up. Activities require no experience and can be run on browsers, tablets, and smartphones - some don’t require any computer at all. Why computer science? Computer science is foundational Computer science is changing every industry on the planet. Every 21st Century student should have the opportunity to learn how to create technology. Computer science concepts also help nurture creativity and problem-solving skills to prepare students for any future career. Economic opportunities for all Computing occupations are the fastest-growing, best paying, and now the largest sector of all new wages in the US. Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed. Students also love it! Recent surveys show that among classes students “like a lot,” computer science and engineering rank near the top—only performing arts, art, and design are higher.

Code.org’s own activities feature Minecraft, Star Wars, Disney’s Frozen, Angry Birds, and Plants vs. Zombies. An annual global event The Hour of Code takes place every year during Computer Science Education Week, the first week in December. Over 100 million students have tried the Hour of Code !

Happy Coding!

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.

Click here for December 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.

Morristown ONSTAGE, the MEF's premier talent event, is returning for its 16th year at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown and you could be a finalist! Audition registration is now open for anyone who lives, works, receives talent training or attends school in Morristown, Morris Township and Morris Plains or is an alum of Morristown High School.

Do you sing, dance, play in a band, mystify with magic or have another amazing talent to showcase? Take center stage and audition in person on Saturday, December 10, 2022 at Morristown High School. Your act must register in advance by December 2 at www.morristownonstage.com. Registration is free through November 11. A $20 fee will be required for those who register after November 11.

Finalists will compete for one of two 1st place $1,000 cash prizes – one for contestants ages 19 and over and one for contestants ages 18 and under. Additionally, a $500 “Audience Choice” Winner, a $250 Rossoff Rising Star Award for talent training and the New York Jets Take Flight Award to the top two vocalists to audition to lead MetLife Stadium in the singing of the National Anthem during a New York Jets home game.

Morristown ONSTAGE 2023: Timeless!

• Week of December 5th: Hour of Code
• Week of December 12th: HSA Scholastic Book Fair
• December 16th: School Concert (Times vary for each grade/unit)
• December 23rd: Early Dismissal for Students

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.