The MLK Snapshot

Clear communication and connecting with families are two of our top priorities at MLK!

The Snapshot is our weekly information newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Our hope is that you will be able to use this Snapshot to stay connected with important calendar dates, events, and everything else related to MLK. If you need to - feel free to use the translation option available for all families. Please use the menu at the top of the page!

MLK Families,

Wishing everyone in our community a Happy New Year! With January we have a one month stretch to the end of the 2nd Marking Period. This month's focus in our Pillars of Penguin Pride initiative is Responsibility. Focusing in on the ways to settle back into routines with our classrooms - from completing classwork and homework, to working together in productive ways - is a great thing to hone in on this month.

All the best,

Andrew Kehoe, Principal

See the attachment below and be sure to check out our Friday Spirit Days!

JANUARY

Friday, January 3rd - Soaring High Marking Period 1 Recognitions (in-school event)

Tuesday, January 7th - Minute to Win It Fundraising Event (in-school event)

Monday, January 13th - PTO Meeting 6pm on Zoom

Week of January 13th - STAR Lab Planetarium at MLK

Tuesday, January 14th - PTO Dave and Busters Dine-Out 5-8pm

Tuesday, January 14th - Financial Literacy Club Assessment - Grade 5

Wednesday, January 15th - Financial Literacy Club Assessment - Grade 4

Wednesday, January 15th - Lucky Duck Fundraiser Due

Monday, January 20th - School Closed (ML King Day)

Wednesday, January 22nd - Vocal Music and Handchime Concert 6:30pm at Conackamack

Friday, January 31st - PTO Winter Wonderland Dance 6-8pm

PISCATAWAY DISTRICT CALENDARS

Please find our updated January Newsletter with sign ups and information about some of this month's great events! Hope to see you there!

On Tuesday, January 7th we will be having our Minute-to-Win-It activity for all students who sold 7 or more items in the Fall Fundraiser. Once again - thank you to all who participated! Student participants will receive a pass leading up to the event.

There are still slots to join our Multicultural Club. Here we will learn about different cultures and countries, and create crafts, when we meet. We will also plan the school's multicultural evening, which is tons of fun, with food, dancing, crafts and displays. Come be part of an amazing team and experience.

See attached flyer for more information. Any questions: shunter@pway.org

This January all students interested in joining the Financial Literacy Club will be required to sit for a short assessment. This assessment is used to determine eligibility for the club and is aligned with the key math understandings of the program.

The assessment dates are:

Tuesday, January 14th - Grade 5

Wednesday, January 15th - Grade 4

Please find all of the information in the attached flyer, as well as the link to sign your child up for the assessment.

The Community Service Club will once again be holding their Lucky Duck Fundraiser! The fundraiser will help support our community service projects including purchasing real ducks to needy families through the World Vision organization. Please see the attached flyer. We will be collecting order till January 15th. Orders can be dropped off in an envelope to your child's homeroom teacher or directly to Ms. Davis in Room 24a. Please reach out to sdavis@pway.org with any questions. Thank you!

Also - if you have any old sneakers you would like to donate, the Community Service Club Sneaker Bin is located outside the main office.

Please send your children to school with appropriate outdoor clothing for the expected weather conditions. Physical activity and time spent outdoors during recess is an important part of a child’s school day. The exercise and fresh air a child is afforded during this time gives them a break from the structure of the classroom and helps them develop a variety of skills. When properly clothed, preschool, elementary and intermediate students can safely participate in outdoor play in most weather conditions.

As the temperatures drop we want to emphasize how important it is to send students in with appropriate clothing for recess.

This year our yearbook advisors, Mr. Salcedo and Ms. Torres, are once again offering "Love lines" for purchase. These are messages of love and recognition that can be left for your child. Please see the attached letter regarding how to purchase.

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!

I strongly urge all of our families to become involved in any way possible!

We are excited to introduce a robust slate of after school activities for our students this year. I wanted to provide an overall picture of our clubs for this year in this week's Snapshot.

Many of our clubs will begin taking sign-ups soon, and some are on a first come first serve sign up. Please give the packet below a thorough review and be on the lookout for additional information coming home throughout the year.

Our after school tutorial program will be offered on a limited basis to students who are below grade level and in significant need of math or ELA supports.

Due to scheduling considerations, we are unfortunately not able to offer after school tutoring to all students. However, please know that we are always looking for ways to support every student academically. This can begin with a dialogue on your child's individual needs. If you feel your child may need additional supports do not hesitate to reach out to my office for a discussion.

Each year MLK teams up with Piscataway Police Department to participate in the L.E.A.D. program. This year our 5th grade program will begin the first week of December and continue with once a week lessons through February. Please see below regarding more information about the L.E.A.D. program.

What is the L.E.A.D. Program

Law Enforcement Against Drugs and Violence (L.E.A.D.) is a non profit (501C3) organization, supported by dedicated police officers, committed to protecting our youth and communities from the proliferation of drugs, drug related crimes, peer to peer/cyber bullying and violence. We achieve the goals of our youth drug prevention programs, school bullying, and violence prevention education initiatives by collaborating with educators, community leaders, families and L.E.A.D. support organizations.

- https://www.leadrugs.org/

Thank you to families that shared feedback already for our program. Your feedback was shared with our staff!

Each and every day our teachers and staff go above and beyond. Periodically I would like to reach out to the community to solicit some positive feedback to give to our teachers.

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!

Passionate Penguin Program Feedback Form

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!

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.

iPad Repair Needed? - Click Here

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!

Genesis Portal Set-Up Guide

You can keep up with your child's classes through the Schoology Parent Module.

Schoology Parent Resources

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.

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.

The Second Step Program is 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.