Week of September 23rd
September 23rd is a C Day.
I hope that everyone had a great weekend!
Thank you to all our families for joining us last week for a wonderful Back to School Night! I hope that you enjoyed the opportunity to come and see in your child's classroom and meet the teacher. As a school, we are excited to continue to grow our partnership throughout the school year!
I would also like to congratulate Ms. Joelle Diana. Over the weekend, Grow it Green awarded Ms. Diana the Classroom Cultivator of the Year Award. This award goes to the teacher that has embraced the organization's mission and has continued to inspire the children beyond the Grow It Green lessons in the classroom!
Reminder:
First HSA meeting of the year will be held at 7pm on September 26th.
Please know that I am here to help and support in any way that I can. Feel free to reach out to me directly at christopher.miller@msdk12.net.
Sincerely,
Christopher Miller
Principal of Normandy Park School
SAVE THE DATE- PICTURE DAY
Picture Day will be September 26th.
Make-up picture date will be October 10th.
iReady Diagnostic
This week, our school will continue to administer the i-Ready® Diagnostic assessment for Grades 1st through 5th. Kindergarteners will begin iReady in October. The i-Ready Diagnostic helps teachers to effectively assess their students and then provide individualized instruction based on each student’s unique needs.
Please read below for additional information about our diagnostic assessment process:
What is a “diagnostic assessment”
A diagnostic assessment is a form of pre-assessment where teachers can evaluate students' strengths, weaknesses, knowledge and skills before their instruction. Teachers utilize the results of the diagnostic assessment to plan instruction for the whole class and for small groups and individual students. In MSD, we give the diagnostic assessment three times during the school year.
iReady Diagnostic
The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your student’s needs. Each item a student sees is individualized based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier questions. The purpose of this is not to give your student a score or grade, but instead to determine how best to support your student’s learning. Diagnostic reports are shared with parents at the completion of the administration window.
i-Ready Personalized Instruction
The personalized, online iReady lessons that all MSD students have access to are not the same as the diagnostic. These lessons are connected to the results of your child’s diagnostic assessment but are meant to provide students with skill and content practice based on their individual level and needs. These lessons are fun and interactive to keep your student engaged as they learn and allow for self-paced learning and practice to complement face-to-face instruction provided by your child’s teacher.
By using the diagnostic assessment to inform high-quality face-to-face teacher instruction and the individual student practice, we provide a multifaceted approach to accelerating student learning. Our teacher teams along with administrators carefully review results and data after each diagnostic assessment window to ensure that the needs of students who are showing strong progress and students who are showing slower progress are being met.
Please note, that iReady is one measure that teachers use along with multiple measures, such as oral reading assessments, day to day observations, exit tickets, and comprehension check-ins. All measures are used to help inform and drive instruction!
Please reach out to your child’s teacher or myself (christopher.miller@msdk12.net) if you have any questions or would like additional information.
Hispanic Heritage Month
Observed annually from September 15 to October 15: It is a time to appreciate and celebrate
the history, colorful cultures, diversity, and contributions of the ancestors of American
citizens who came from Mexico, Spain, the Caribbean, and South- and Central America.
September 15 is set as the starting date for the month for several reasons. It is the
independence anniversary for Latin American countries El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica,
Nicaragua, and Honduras. From here onwards, the independence days of Mexico and Chile fall on September 16 and September 18, respectively.
- Hispanic and Latino Americans amount to an estimated 17.8% of the total U.S. population, making up the largest ethnic minority. Around one-fifth of the U.S. population is Hispanic.
- The state with the largest Hispanic and Latino population overall is California with over 14 million.
- There are relevant Hispanic influences in American life: music, food, art, cinema, politics, literature, science & technology. Have you seen movies like “Coco” or Vivo”?
- Some inventions from Latin / Hispanics:
- Color TV: Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena (México)
- The electric brake: Victor Ochoa (México)
- The artificial heart: Dr. Domingo Liotta (Argentina)
- Bandage for administering drugs: Alejandro Zaffaroni (Uruguay)
- The stent: Julio C. Palmaz (Argentina)
What heritage runs in your family?
Share some of your traditions with your classmates!
Notes for parents/teachers:
Observation of Hispanic Heritage Week started in 1968 under President Lyndon B. Johnson and was later extended to a 30-day celebration by President Ronald Reagan, starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted via approval of Public Law 100-402 on August 17, 1988.
Welcome to the 24-25 school year. Thank you to everyone for being so welcoming and kind. My first days here at Normandy Park have been amazing. Your warm welcome has been felt.
I wanted to introduce myself as your new counselor and tell you a little about myself. I have been in education for 24 years. I started my career as an elementary school teacher working with second and third grade students. I moved on to becoming a library media specialist. I then realized I wanted to help students with emotional issues and I went back to school. I have two Masters. One in Education with a concentration on ESL and my second Masters in Counseling to be an LPC with the ability to be a School Counselor. I am a proud mom of 4 boys. Their ages range from 25, 18, 16 and an adopted son who is three. Yes we went back to diapers after many years. I am bilingual, I am a first generation American Colombian. If anyone needs help with translating anything to anyone at our school. Please feel free to reach out to me. It is my pleasure to help. I am fluent in both Spanish and English.
As the school counselor I can assist your child in a variety of ways, individual and group short term supportive counseling, as well as in class support. Some of the groups that run throughout the year address concerns about friendship (making and keeping friends), self-esteem, anger management, grief (death of a family member or parents separating or divorcing) and executive function ( organization and managing their time). Most groups run between 6-7 weeks and are carefully scheduled so that your child will not miss either important academic instruction or specials. Individual sessions are just that, one to one sessions that are supportive in nature. They are not intended to be intensive therapy sessions however, if your child is in need of more intensive therapy, I will gladly help you locate community resources. In addition, I am excited to announce that for the third year in a row we are excited to have Social Work Interns joining our school. They will be available to provide counseling services as well. We have two wonderful young ladies working with us, Ms. Paige and Ms. Haley.
It was great meeting some of you on Back to school night. I look forward to meeting more of you during the school year.
Wishing everyone a wonderful school year!
Gloria Hunt
(973) 889-7960 Ext 6115
Help Make it a Great Year for All 5,700 Morris School District Students
Welcome to the 2024-25 school year! The Morris Educational Foundation is proud to Support Every Student Every Day. While the Morris School District provides the essential tools for quality classroom learning, the MEF supports the extras that elevate learning. From cutting-edge instructional resources to enriching curricular activities, the MEF is committed to helping students not just succeed but excel.
We invite you, our community, to kick off the 2024-25 school year with a gift to launch our students’ education above and beyond the standard curriculum. $1 a day for 180 days adds up to a year of exceptional learning for one student.
Please help us make it the best year yet for each of the 5,700 students in the Morris School District! Let's Support Every Student Every Day and empower them to achieve their fullest potential.
Donate today by clicking here. Together, we can make a difference!
Dismissal Changes
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.
