Highview Happenings

Dear Highview Families,

Happy FriYAY! We have had another wonderful week of learning, growth, and excitement here at Highview Elementary school. Our students continue to amaze us with their curiosity, kindness, and hard work. We remain proud of their efforts each day!

Our Global Service Project - Kind Coins for Kenyan Kids - is in full-swing! It is heartwarming to see our students and staff actively involved in donating coins to such a special cause. Our fourth-grade RULER Ambassadors are hard at work collecting, counting, sorting, and rolling coins for us to deliver to the bank. As a reminder, the fundraiser for Kenya will continue through Friday, March 14.

Next Friday, February 14 is the Rockland Read-In. It is a day dedicated to reading lots and lots of books. Highview School won the distinction "Most Minutes Read" the last two years. We are hoping to retain that title in the county! As a special treat, students and staff can wear their pajamas to school for the Rockland Read-In. No slippers, please!

After the Mid-Winter Recess, the students at G.W. Miller and Highview Elementary Schools will participate in a fundraiser sponsored by the Nanuet Elementary PTA. It is called the WizFit Challenge. It is a donation-based, interactive fundraiser led by the world-famous Harlem Wizards. For more information, click the link below to view the "Save the Date" and informational video.

WizFit Challenge - Save the Date

Like always, we are grateful for your continued collaboration and partnership. I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful weekend! We look forward to welcoming our Highview Knights back to school on Monday, February 10.

Sincerely,

Matthew Lutz

Principal

mlutz@nanuetsd.org

On a rotating basis, classroom teachers nominate two students from their classes to receive a Charter Shout-Out. The class charter is a RULER tool used in all classrooms to help students develop expectations for success as learners and members of the community. The Charter Shout-Out gives teachers the opportunity to highlight students who are living up to their classroom charters.

This week, students from the following classes received shout-outs and were recognized over morning announcements: Mrs. Brooke (3KB), Mrs. Collins (4HC), and Mrs. Mitlof (4AM). Congratulations to Emmah (3KB), Parker (3KB), Pamela (4HC), Matthew (4HC), and Rocio (4AM). See their proud picture below!

Being the Principal of Highview Elementary School brings me a tremendous amount of joy and pride. I am beyond lucky to be able to work with such incredible students, staff, and families.

World Read Aloud Day is celebrated on the first Wednesday in February and took place on February 5 this year. This is a day dedicated not just to reading, but to the art of reading aloud. Oral forms of storytelling were the earliest way of preserving human knowledge, insight, and creativity. World Read Aloud Day helps us to highlight the tradition (and importance) of reading stories aloud to our children.

I would like to give a shout out to Ms. O'Riordan and Class 4MO. They invited me into their classroom on Tuesday to read one of my favorite books. Together, Class 4MO and I had fun engaging with This Book is Out of Control! by Richard Byrne. We shared many laughs together! Thank you, Class 4MO, for inviting me in to share a book with you on this special day!

At the beginning of the year, our School Counselor, Ms. Lipson, and School Social Worker, Mrs. Weiss re-launched a monthly Eat-and-Play Challenge for our students. The goal is for classes to work together to follow the Eat-and-Play rules during the lunch/recess periods. They have the opportunity to add a sticker in a square on an incentive chart. The classes with the most stickers at the end of the month get to shop on our FABULOUS prize cart! There will be at least one winner each month in both grade levels.

For the month of December, Mrs. Merz, Mrs. DeGennaro, and Mrs. Amann's classes won the third-grade challenge. Mr. Lawless, Mr. Nye, and Ms. O'Riordan's classes won the fourth-grade challenge. Congratulations classes 3JM, 3PD, 3KA, 4JL, 4TN, and 4MO! We look forward to seeing which classes will win for the month of February!

Throughout the week of January 27, we celebrated the Great Kindness Challenge here at Highview Elementary School. All Highview students participated in a schoolwide Kindness Superstar activity. Each student was responsible for designing a star and sharing the different ways in which they can show kindness to themselves and others. After students designed their stars, Ms. Sue and Mr. Pat created a giant bulletin board display that included a kindness star from every Highview student. Take a look at our masterpiece below!

Cupid's Comedy Knight

Cupid's Comedy Knight is a fantastic opportunity to enjoy an evening out! Please consider purchasing tickets to attend and share in the fun. Your participation will help make this event a success and provide valuable support to our elementary school. Don't miss out on a night filled with laughter and great memories. We look forward to seeing you there! Purchase tickets online by clicking this link: https://nanuetcomedy.cheddarup.com.

Thank you to all students and families who attended our RULER Family Night on Thursday, January 9. Although the temperature outside was frigid, we had a great turnout for the event. Approximately 89 families joined us for a night dedicated to emotions, feelings, and kindness! I would like to thank our staff volunteers as well as the high school volunteers who assisted with the event. And I would be remiss if I did not thank our fabulous fourth-grade RULER Ambassadors for their leadership in organizing, planning, and running the event!

Take a look at our daily Morning Affirmations that we recite together as a school community. The purpose of this practice is to encourage our students to use positive self-talk to get themselves excited and ready to conquer the day. We want our students to feel empowered and productive at Highview. You are more than welcome to use these at home as well.

During arrival and dismissal, the safety of our students is our top priority. Please review this document, which outlines our arrival and dismissal procedures for the 2024-2025 school year. We must all work together to ensure the safety of both students and staff during these important blocks of time. We thank you in advance for your cooperation and partnership in following these procedures each day.

HV - Arrival & Dismissal Procedures 2024-2025

As always, the safety of our students and staff is our top priority. When riding the bus, students are expected to follow three bus rules:

1. Be a good listener.
2. Use a quiet voice.
3. Stay in your seat at all times.

Please note that beginning in 2024-2025, no student in Grades K-4 will be released from the bus without an adult present at the bus stop. This is to ensure the safety of all students.

We appreciate your partnership in reiterating these expectations for a safe bus ride. Please note that unsafe behavior on the bus will result in a loss of bus riding privileges at the discretion of Principal Lutz, Assistant Principal Mehu, or their designee(s).

The Board of Education is committed to providing a safe and orderly school environment where students may receive and district personnel may deliver quality educational experiences without disruption or interference. We ask that you read and review the Code of Conduct for Grades K-4 with your child. Our goal is to ensure students are engaged in learning while making positive contributions to our school community.

Each week, documents will be loaded to our Digital Backpack, which is linked to the bottom of the Highview homepage. We encourage you to check the Digital Backpack, which is updated every Friday, to ensure you have updated information on important dates, events, and opportunities being offered to students and families.

Students in grades K-4 should not bring electronic devices, large amounts of money, or valuable items to school. This includes cell phones/smart phones, iPods, iPads/tablets, smart watches, personal computers/laptops, electronic games, expensive jewelry, card collections, and large amounts of money. Even if the student who brings in the item is not at fault, there are no funds to pay for its repair or replacement. The school carries no insurance that is applicable to these matters and there is no money budgeted for this purpose. Principal Lutz, Assistant Principal Mehu, and/or their designee(s) reserve the right to determine whether an item is an electronic device and/or valuable.

Over the next few months, the district and buildings are moving to a new communication system to send alerts out to parents, guardians and the community. Please check your email for an invitation from Parent Square or register on the website. Follow the video linked below to set notification and language settings in the app or website. The Parent Square app can be downloaded from your app store.

Registration Website:

https://www.parentsquare.com/signin

Video for how to change notification or language settings:

https://app.screencastify.com/v3/watch/HfHHWdCKIX8cQcYtdLYs

We are fortunate to have a wonderful Parent-Teacher Association (PTA). We encourage our parents to get involved with the PTA. If you have questions, you can always reach out to our PTA via email at nanuetpta@gmail.com.

Here are the 2024-2025 Board Members for the Elementary PTA:

• Jennifer Falzon, President
• Debbie Harris, Vice President for G.W. Miller School
• Linda Metress, Vice President for Highview School
• Kelly Ann Trombley, Secretary
• Stephanie Gannon, Treasurer
• Gillian LaTorre, Delegate

Additionally, please check out the PTA's website for more information on how to join this amazing group! Thank you to our fabulous PTA for all you do to support the students, staff, and families in the Nanuet School District!

Nanuet Elementary PTA Website

As you know, the safety of our students and staff is our top priority in the Nanuet Union Free School District. The Safety/Security Protocols for 2024-2025 are outlined in the document below. We thank you in advance for your cooperation with and prompt attention to these protocols.

2024-2025 Safety and Security Protocols - Highview School

Students do have a snack time daily and at the discretion of the classroom teacher. Your child's teacher will communicate this to you when they share their specific schedules. We encourage you to send a healthy snack to school with your child. If your child's classroom is designated as Nut Aware, you will receive a letter as well as a notification from the classroom teacher. Please do not send any products containing nuts.

Every student can have a water bottle in class. Water bottles must be capped (no straws or glass) and should be a personal size (16 oz. or less). There are opportunities to refill water bottles during the school day. Please be sure your child’s water bottle can fit in their backpack for transport purposes. Please label your child’s water bottle with their name and class code. Students cannot bring open containers, energy drinks, or coffee-related drinks to school.

Our students at Highview Elementary School participate in a reading incentive known as Strive for 25. The goal is for every student to read 25 books by the end of the school year. Classroom teachers keep track of books read in their individual classrooms for this incentive. This year, we are adding some benchmarks along the way so that students have more opportunities for recognition. Please see the benchmarks below.

• Students who read 10 books will be recognized and given a small prize.
• Students who read 20 books will be recognized and given a small prize.
• Students who read 25+ books will be recognized and will receive a certificate and book.

Monday, February 10 - Friday, March 7

Winter Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) Administration

Tuesday, February 11

Board of Education Meeting

7:30 p.m. at Nanuet High School

Friday, February 14

Rockland Read-In

Wear your pajamas to school!

No slippers, please!

Monday, February 17 - Friday, February 21

Mid-Winter Recess

All Nanuet Schools Closed

Monday, February 24

School Resumes

Tuesday, February 25

Board of Education Meeting

7:30 p.m. at Nanuet High School

Email: mlutz@nanuetsd.org
Website: highview.nanuetsd.org
Location: 24 Highview Avenue, Nanuet, NY 10954

Phone: (845) 627-3460

Facebook: www.facebook.com/NanuetPublicSchools

Instagram: @nanuetschools