Dear North Smyrna Elementary Family,

On November 25th and November 26th, NSE teachers will be available for Parent-Teacher conferences. Conferences will be held via Zoom, over the phone, or in person.

It’s our belief that a strong partnership between the home and the school will cultivate the most effective education possible for our children. With this belief in mind, please take the opportunity to meet with us during our upcoming conference dates. Conferences are usually scheduled in blocks of 15-20 minutes with evening conferences available on Monday, November 25th. If you need an evening conference, they fill up quickly. Accommodating requested times may be difficult yet it’s our intention to meet with all desiring families. In an effort to fulfill this intention, please contact your child’s teacher as soon as possible and request a suitable meeting time.

We are looking forward to meeting with you soon as we work together to make this a successful year of learning for your child!

Sincerely,

Dr. Amber Augustus, Principal

Mrs. Haley Griffin, Associate Principal

Dr. Tiyana Mullen, Associate Principal

Sunday, November 3

• Daylight Savings Time Ends

Tuesday, November 5

• Election Day - No School for Students

Thursday, November 7

• Brickworks Fundraiser

Friday, November 8

• NSE PTO Charlton Wrap Fundraiser Begins

Monday, November 11-15

• School Psychologist Week

Monday,, November 11

• Veterans Day - No School for Students

Tuesday, November 12

• Picture Retakes

Wednesday,, November 13

• NSE PTO Meeting 5pm

Wednesday, November 20

• SSD Board Meeting at SHS, 6pm

Thursday, November 21

• Wear Purple for World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness
• NSE Kindness Project - Everything but the Turkey at 6pm in the Cafeteria

Friday, November 22

• Celebrate Substitute Educators Day!

Monday & Tuesday, November 25 & 26

• Parent-Teacher Conferences - No School For Students

Wednesday-Friday, November 27-29

• Thanksgiving Break - No School for Students

The schools in the Smyrna School District are very interested in getting feedback from our families about their experiences. In particular, we want to hear about the connection that students and their families have with North Smyrna Elementary School. This anonymous survey is designed to provide us an honest review of our strengths and areas for improvement. Results will be shared anonymously with our school leadership team exactly as written, but participants should not expect to receive a personal response from the school. Use the QR code or link below to access the survey.

We are now able to add credit cards to the list of payment options for Early Childhood tuition. As a reminder, all tuition is due the first of each month and can be paid by check, cash, money order, and credit card.

Unfortunately, we are unable to accept credit card payments on the last two days of the month due to the State of Delaware Finance system closing. If you are paying by credit card, please arrange to come in on days other than the last two days of the month. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.

On Thursday, November 7th, our NSE PTO held a fundraiser at Brickworks in Smyrna. We would like to send a huge thank you to all of the families who came out to support our school! While we are used to spending lunch with our students, it was great to have dinner with them and their families!

Our school staff strives to support each student's academic growth in reading, math, writing, science and social studies. During Parent Teacher Conferences, your child's teacher will be discussing with you your child's performance at this point in the year. Strengths, areas of growth, and ways in which your child is supported will be discussed.

Closely after students return from Thanksgiving Break, Trimester 1 will end on Tuesday, December 3rd. Teachers will be preparing K-3 students' report cards which will go home on Wednesday, December 11th. We encourage you to review the progress indicators and descriptions linked below that will be used to note your child's progress. If you have any questions about your child's progress at any point, please contact your child's teacher. As a reminder, Early Childhood students do not receive report cards.

November 13th is World Kindness Day! At NSE, we encourage our students to show kindness to others in many ways. Our staff works hard to influence our school culture for the better by making kindness, empathy, inclusion, and acceptance an everyday mentality. Take time to talk to your child about ways in which they can influence a great school by the way they treat others - and how they want to be treated.

The SHS Educators Rising program is offering amazing Elf on the Shelf kits for sale as a program fundraiser.

These kits will help reduce holiday stress! From December 1st to the 25th we've got you covered for Elf-tivities. Kits include 25 days of activities (20 new from last year & 5 returning favorites) with all needed supplies, a picture, and directions. This includes a welcome letter explaining Elf and a goodbye letter for Christmas morning.

$40 can be paid in cash, check (SHS Ed Rising), or by credit card in person. Orders must be placed by November 20th. Pick up at Smyrna High School front doors on the 21st from 3-5pm and on the 25th from 5-6pm.

On Friday, October 25th, North Smyrna Elementary School participated in Read for the Record! Student athletes from Smyrna High School greeted students in the morning prior to visiting their classrooms. All classrooms at NSE, Early Childhood through 3rd grade, listened to the story, 'Piper Chen Sings'. The Spanish Immersion classrooms were able to listen to this story in Spanish as a read aloud. It was an exciting event for everyone and a wonderful way to have our older students in the community be involved with our elementary students.

The SMS Reading Buddies visited in October to read stories to our youngest readers! They will be partnering with us throughout the 24-25 school year!

On October 29th, Early Childhood hosted an EC Boo Bash for students and their families. Students had a great time practicing their communication skills in a safe, inclusive environment alongside their siblings and parents.

We wish to thank Food Lion for their generous donations of over $200 of food items including 10 boxes of Oreos, 11 large bags of candy, 5 large boxes of mini Rice Krispy Treats, and 3 extra large boxes of fruit snacks.

On October 31st, interested students were able to wear costumes to school. These students took part in a brief parade around the school for families. It was a fun day in which students showed up as superheroes, book and movie characters, animals, and helpers in our community such as police officers and firemen/firewomen.

On November 15th, the SHS Drumline visited NSE to perform for students. The incredible talent of the high school musicians was on full display! The enthusiastic response of our NSE students indicates we have many future musicians in our school!

As we move into colder weather and cold and flu season, please remember to keep your student home if they have a fever or have been vomiting. They may return to school when it has been 24 hours since vomiting or a fever has stopped without the use of medication.

The nurses are not able to give cough medicine or allergy medication, so if your student needs these please give them at home.

If your student will need medicine while they are in school, please bring it in to the nurses' office and sign it in. It must be in the original box or container with the prescription label with your student's name on it.

At this time of the school year we have completed most of the vision and hearing screenings for our kindergarten and second grades. If you have not heard from us or received a letter, your student has no issues with vision or hearing. If you have received a letter from the nurses' office, please let us know if you have questions or need help with getting follow-up.

This month, our counselors are offering resources on developing students' coping skills. Life presents a variety of situations that can cause frustration and stress. How do we help children find ways of productively dealing with these emotions when the arise? Check out the resources below to learn more.

Looking for ways to support your student's growing math knowledge at home? Check out the resource below with links to a variety of articles on mathematics in classrooms today.

https://www.youcubed.org/resource/parent-resources/

Literacy Celebrations:

• The SMS Reading Buddies visited in October to read stories to our youngest readers! They will be partnering with us throughout the 24-25 school year!

• On Friday, October 25th, North Smyrna Elementary School participated in Read for the Record! Student athletes from Smyrna High School greeted students in the morning prior to visiting their classrooms. All classrooms at NSE, Early Childhood through 3rd grade, listened to the story, 'Piper Chen Sings'. The Spanish Immersion classrooms were able to listen to this story in Spanish as a read aloud. It was an exciting event for everyone and a wonderful way to have our older students in the community be involved with our elementary students.

Reading Resources & Information:

• Students should be reading and logging two steps each night for Eagle Reading. Books come home in their blue bags and should be returned each day. Students also have access to read online through ARC Bookshelf.

• The volume of reading is so important to building foundational reading skills. Prioritizing reading at home can help to build literacy skills that will benefit your child. Reading together as a family can be helpful!

• Please click the link below for directions on how to access ARC Bookshelf.

• NSE ARC Bookshelf Directions

• Students in grades K-3 will be invited to participate in our Thanksgiving Reading Challenge! A special reading log will be given to your child prior to the break. We hope you encourage your child to participate! Students will be rewarded for completing the challenge when they return in December.

• NSE Thanksgiving Reading Challenge - Click this link for our flyer!

If you are a NSE parent and are interested in substituting at North Smyrna Elementary School only, please stop by the Main Office and speak with Mrs. Berryman to get more information. We have flexible schedules and a great team! We hope you consider joining us!

If your family has moved at any point since last year or if there are changes to your phone number or email address, please contact our Main Office at 302-653-8589 as soon as possible to update this information. Having the most up-to-date contact information is crucial to providing your family with timely information, updates, scheduled events, and in the event an emergency arises.

Please send your child to school each day with:

• a water bottle filled with water only
• a snack
• an extra pair of clothes to keep in their bookbag
• a charged Chromebook (K-3rd grade) - issued soon!

Technology plays an ever more integral part of our daily lives. Utilizing technology in ways that benefit learning is a tool we incorporate in a variety of ways and each student has access to technology through a district issued chromebook. Students have access to the ARC bookshelf for nightly reading and other learning assignments that will take place at school and home throughout the year.

Every Kn-3rd grade student will be issued a Chromebook for their use at home and school.

Each family will need to complete a Chromebook Usage Agreement. Please see below for additional information on their usage and care to help ensure your child is ready to use his/her Chromebook each day:

• Charge the Chromebook nightly.
• Place the Chromebook back in the bookbag before each morning.
• Treat the Chromebook with care and avoid placing food or liquid near it.
• Keep the charger with the Chromebook to avoid loss.

We are excited that students have the opportunity to use technology across home and school as they build a skillset that they will use throughout their lives.

As our students begin the year working with district Chromebooks and district Google accounts, we want to share information on student IDs and passwords needed for logging in:

• For all students, their userid is firstname.lastname. If there are students with the same name in the District, we append a “1”, “2”, etc onto the lastname (john.smith, john.smith1, john.smith2). If this applies to your child, you will be notified.
• For all K-6 grade students, their password will be SSD###### with the “######” being the student’s School Lunch Number, and it will stay the same from year-to-year.

If you have any questions with logging in, please contact your child's teacher.

Regular attendance is a critical component to a successful school experience. We understand students may need to be absent for a variety of reasons throughout the year. Upon returning to school, please send an absent excuse note(with your child's name, date, and reason for absence) in with your child to turn in to your child's teacher. You can also email your absent excuse note to nsesattendance@smyrna.k12.de.us

Check out the NSE PTO Facebook Page

We are continuing to update the PTO Facebook page with learning activities and information for families. Please check it out at North Smyrna Elementary School PTO.

At October's Meeting, the PTO worked on:

• Early Planning for Walkin in a Winter Wonderland Event
  

We hope you will consider joining as we work together to provide the best educational experiences to our students throughout the year! Our next meeting will be held Wednesday, November 13th at 5pm.

At NSE, all students receive one free breakfast and lunch daily.

The NSE Cafeteria is also offers students the option to purchase a snack, drink, or a double entree at lunch. If your child is interested in purchasing one of these options, he/she will need additional money in their account. Money can be added to your student's lunch account by sending in cash, a check (made out to the Smyrna School District), or by creating a myschoolbucks.com account to deposit funds electronically. If you have any questions,, please contact our Main Office.

We encourage you to check out the following resources to learn more about the elementary grading policy: https://www.smyrna.k12.de.us/Page/626.

Parents continue to have access to their student's grades at any time by utilizing the Home Portal website. If you need your user ID and password to login, please contact the NSE Main Office at 302-653-8589.

As a reminder, Early Childhood students do not receive grades, interim progress reports, or report cards. Updates on student progress are available midyear and at the end of the year as well as by contacting your child's teacher at any point.

NSE Families Remind App: Text @nsefam to 81010 to receive school reminders.

NSE Facebook Page: Follow us on Facebook at North Smyrna Elementary School PTO

NSE YouTube Page: Check out our YouTube page at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoEsLnqVcfz-l0Fa8YhxqOw

Dr. Amber Augustus, Principal

Mrs. Haley Griffin, Associate Principal

Dr. Tiyana Mullen, Associate Principal

Website: https://nes.smyrna.k12.de.us/

Location: 365 N. Main Street, Smyrna, DE, USA
Phone: 302-653-8589
Email: nsesregistration@smyrna.k12.de.us

Facebook: facebook.com/NorthSmyrnaElementarySchoolPTO
Twitter: @NSESSD