The MLK Snapshot
Newsletter Update / October 17, 2024
A Message from the MLK Main Office
MLK Families,
Each year the third week in October is designated School Violence Awareness Week in the state of New Jersey. Much like the Week of Respect earlier this month, this week affords us another opportunity to teach our students about making our school a safe, supportive environment for everyone.
At home, please take some time to discuss the importance of school safety with your children. This can include discussions about being safe at school and online - including reporting anything that may be concerning to a trusted adult. The message that we send to our students is that school safety is no joking matter. Simply put - there is no greater priority at MLK than the safety of our students and staff.
All the best,
Andrew Kehoe, Principal
MLK's Passionate Penguins Program
Do you feel your child's teacher is doing an exceptional job and you would like to give them a shout out? Feel free to click the link below and we will provide the feedback to them!
The Fall Festival
Our Fall Festival is shaping up to be a fantastic event. This year we will have activities in the cafeteria, a DJ playing spooky tunes for dancing in the gym, a scavenger hunt around the building, and plenty of fun treats at our bake sale! One note - our haunted house attraction that was used in previous years will not be a part of this year's activities.
Students (and parents!) are encouraged to wear their costumes to this event!
Please note - this event, like all family events at MLK, is not a drop off event. All students attending the Fall Festival must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
Please click on the PTO Newsletter for all of the information on our Fall Festival! We are still looking for volunteers as well, so please check out the link in the newsletter.
4th Grade Social Studies Trip - The Cornelius Low House/Old Town Village
This month our 4th grade students will have the opportunity to make a visit to the nearby Cornelius Low House Museum and East Jersey Old Town Village. This trip is a great way for our students to connect with their local community and the many interesting historical events that happened right here in Piscataway.
4th grade parents - Please be on the lookout for a permission slip and more information from your child's teacher as their trip date approaches. You can find our trip dates for each 4th grade room in the calendar above!
You can find more information about this historic site at this link:
MLK Spirit Days
Each week you'll notice that on Friday we have designated Spirit Days. These are fun, festive days where students and staff are able to dress up and participate together in a cool theme. For students with picture permissions - we take pictures of our great outfits, put them up on school bulletin boards, and include them in the yearbook and on the school website as well!
Families are encouraged to check the monthly calendar and go all out for our Spirit Days!
iPad Repairs
You can fill out a repair ticket for your child's iPad at any time! Coming to school with a working device is important. If your child's device has been damaged in any way please use the following link to bring this to the attention of the district IT department.
Other Important Communication Tools
You can find much more information at our school website!
https://king.piscatawayschools.org/
You can stay in touch with your child's academic information through the Genesis Parent Portal!
You can keep up with your child's classes through the Schoology Parent Module.
MLK Birthday Procedures
We love to celebrate our students! If you would like to have your child’s birthday recognized in school, please be aware of the guidelines in place at MLK:
- Recognitions are brief and are scheduled at a time of the day that is convenient for the teacher’s classroom schedule.
- Recognitions are for students only (guests/family members do not attend)
- Please pre-schedule the date with your child’s teacher.
- If you would like to send in a snack:
- Store-bought
- Individual serving (nothing to cut, etc.)
- Ingredients must be visible
- No candy
- Please do not send in goodie bags or additional items for your child to distribute
- Please let your child’s teacher know if your child is not permitted to participate in their peers’ birthday celebrations.
Social and Emotional Supports at MLK
I wanted to take an opportunity to further touch on our school-wide Social Emotional Supports at King. In addition to individual and group counseling, we provide schoolwide support to all students through two initiatives - the Second Step SEL Program and our Pillars of Penguin Pride Positive Behavior Supports (PBIS) Program.
The Second Step Program:
We want your child to be successful in school and that means supporting and encouraging their whole development. While excelling in academic classes is important, children also need skills to take on learning challenges, make good decisions, manage strong emotions, and get along with others.
Beginning in October we kick off the Second Step Program, a research-based social-emotional learning program designed to improve children’s social-emotional skills. Second Step skills and concepts are designed to help children both in and out of school. Four units will cover the following:
- Growth Mindset & Goal-Setting: Children learn how to pay attention and manage distractions, develop a growth mindset, and apply goal-setting strategies to their social and academic lives.
- Emotion Management: Children learn how to identify and label emotions and use emotion management strategies—including stress management for older students—to calm strong feelings.
- Empathy & Kindness: Children learn how to recognize kindness and act kindly, have empathy for others and take others’ perspectives, and recognize kind acts and empathy as important elements of building and maintaining relationships.
- Problem-Solving: Children learn how to identify and state a problem, recognize if a problem is an accident, and use the STEP problem-solving process.
The Pillars of Penguin Pride PBIS Program
We also want to continually recognize and celebrate our students. Positive Behavior Supports programs identify desired behaviors and recognize students that practice them around the school.
At King, we have identified a core behavior each month and are providing every staff member with recognition tickets to encourage and promote schoolwide positive behaviors. Students can then turn in their tickets by our counseling office to be entered into raffles for fun prizes. Beginning in October students will be focusing on "Respect." This provides a fun schoolwide way to recognize our students.
Counseling and Behavior Supports
Throughout the year we offer "lunch bunches" focused on specific social-emotional needs, individual counseling, and in class lessons along targeted themes for our students. Mr. Kaiafas, our wonderful school counselor, is always here to respond to any student needs. If you feel your child would benefit from any specific programming he can be emailed at nkaiafas@pway.org. You can also call the main office any time if looking for supports for your child.
The PTO October Newsletter
Great News! Our wonderful PTO is consolidating all of our PTO initiatives into one easy to read Newsletter each month. This will be your one stop shop for many school initiatives and events, including sign-ups for many great volunteer opportunities. Please give this a look each week to stay involved in everything at MLK!
This edition includes
- PTO Membership Sign Up Information
- Spirits Sales Information
- Kastle Fundraiser Info
- Fall Festival Sign Up and Information
- Sign up and Zoom Link for our October Meeting
I strongly urge all of our families to become involved in any way possible!