The MLK Snapshot
Newsletter Update / September 5, 2024
A Message from the MLK Main Office
MLK Families,
Inside our building we had a terrific school opening this week. I want to thank our students and staff for such a smooth start to our school year. I would also like to thank all of our parents and families for being communicative and patient as we open up the year. Pickup and drop off will continue to streamline and our students will become more comfortable with their daily routines each day.
We will keep the momentum going into the second week and beyond!
All the best,
Andrew Kehoe, Principal
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! Our first Spirit Day is tomorrow - College Spirit Day!
MLK Safety Week 2024
This upcoming week will be MLK Safety Week. Nothing is more important each day at our school than the safety of our students. Throughout this week we will focus on a few important goals...
1. Emphasizing the importance of our safety here at MLK each day.
2. Preparing for a variety of safety situations in various areas of the school.
3. Opening up a dialogue about safety and answering any questions regarding school safety that may be on the minds of students or staff.
Our Piscataway school safety procedures are well established and constantly reinforced throughout the year in our schools. At home, please consider talking to your student about the importance of keeping themselves and everyone safe. Student should always communicate with trusted adults about anything concerning, and parents can always bring any concerns expressed at home to the attention of the administration.
The National Safety Council, NJ Department of Ed, and many other online resources are available for parents to help generate these conversations. Please feel free to reach out to my attention at akehoe@pway.org if you have any questions regarding any safety items here at MLK.
Music Demo Assembly!
On Monday, September 9th, The Music Shop will present an instrument demonstration for our new students. Ms. Kim, Mr. Plesnarski, and Dr. Sato will share more information about joining Choir, Band, and Orchestra during the remainder of the week. Students will be given a welcome letter and packet that will contain sign-up and instrument rental information.
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 this week 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, indvididual 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 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
- Book Fair Flyer and Volunteer Sign-Up Links
- Sign up and Zoom Link for our October Meeting
I strongly urge all of our families to become involved in any way possible!