Normandy Park School
Principal's Corner
February 17th to February 21st
- February 19th is E Day
- School will be closed for students February 17th-18th
- Last week, the Reading Challenge begins. Flyers were home to explaining the challenge and how to participate (for additional information, see below)
- The Senior Cultural Arts Residency with Stop Motion artist, Tracy Fox, will continue this week (additional information below)
- February 21st, Farmer Tina will meet with Intermediate classes for their Grow It Green lesson
Black History Month
For Black History Month, our Intermediate and Senior classes have been researching influential African Americans with Mrs. Gilson. Throughout the month, students have, and will continue, to present on the NPN News.
In library, Mrs. Gilson will read The Undefeated, written by Kwame Alexander and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. The book was the 2020 Caldecott winner. The book is an illustrated poem that highlights the contributions of influential African Americans.
Normandy Park School's 3rd Annual Reading Challenge
The Normandy Park School HSA presents the 3rd Annual Reading Challenge: Get Stuck in a Super Book! The challenge began last week!
We hope all of the students will participate in this fun activity designed to make everyone an enthusiastic reader. Here is how to participate:
READ!! Children’s eligible reading began on Monday, February 10th and end on Monday, March 16th. Your child’s reading should be appropriate for reading ability, grade level and length. Books may be fiction or non- fiction but should be books that your child reads within the program dates and has not read before. Books being read for a class assignment count! Your child may read independently or be read to. Books from home, school or public libraries or any other source are fine for the program.
LOG! Students will receive tally sheets to keep track of their reading. They will need to complete 5 logs to successfully complete the challenge. Return the logs to the library or submit online at https://normandyhsa.membershiptoolkit.com/Open_Forms. Students can pick up new log sheets at the library or at the front office. The number of books to complete a log sheet will vary by Unit.
ENJOY THE JOURNEY! Each participating student will have a “spider” on our big
hallway display near the front office. Students will “get stuck” in the spiderweb. Students
will continue to read through the 0spiderweb as many times as they can.
EVERYBODY WINS! Any students that successfully complete the challenge will receive
a medal and a brand new book, with the top 3 readers from each unit receiving a trophy
and Scholastic Bucks to spend during our NPS Book Fair!
We are excited about this event and are looking forward to watching our children become
super readers! If you have any questions, please contact Hope Dulac at
HopeDulac@gmail.com or Dimitra Drakotou at drakotou@me.com.
100th Day
Last week, classrooms celebrated the 100th day of school and Valentine's Day on February 14th. For Valentine's Day, students designed very creative boxes to collect their Valentine's cards. Classrooms completed activities to celebrate our 100th day of school!
I would like to take this time celebrate each and every individual student's effort and progress over the past 100 days of school. In addition, I would like to acknowledge and thank all our NPS families, support staff, teachers, and community organizations for supporting our students in their journey thus far!
I am looking forward to finishing the school year strong with continued support and enthusiasm from our whole NPS family!
Happy 100th Day!
Thank You!
STEAM Fair
The Normandy Park School is excited to announce our second annual S.T.E.A.M. Fair which will be held Thursday, March 5th from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. The acronym S.T.E.A.M. stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. Students are learning, exploring and expressing interest in many areas, and this is an additional opportunity to showcase their work.
During the fair parents and students will have the opportunity to explore the different aspects of S.T.E.A.M. throughout the building. It will be an amazing opportunity for students to display their talents and interests through multiple facets.
Your child also has the opportunity to complete an at home project. This is voluntary. Some of the possible topics include Climate Change, Food Webs, Habitats, Rockets, Science of Sports or Research on an inventor. The possibilities are endless. If your child is interested in completing an at home project please email Mr. Russell at robert.russell@msdk12.net. In your email please indicate the project title as well as the amount of space needed to showcase the project. Projects should be brought in the morning of the fair. Storage is not available prior to the morning of the fair.
Also, if you can volunteer to set up the morning of the fair please email Mr. Russell. The more help we can get setting up the faster the process.
We hope you will join us in celebrating our students’ hard work.
FMS Key Information for 5th Grade Parents
Attention 5th grade families, please click here for key information on immunizations, sports, activities, and attendance.
Naglieri Testing
Last week, all 3rd grade students took the Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability Test. 4th and 5th grade students who are new to the Morris School District will also be taking the test. Please find below your child’s homeroom testing schedule. This online test is a brief, thirty minute, culture fair measure of a student’s nonverbal reasoning and general problem-solving ability. In broad terms the test measures different aspects of general cognitive ability and its scores can be somewhat but not singularly predictive of academic success. It is an assessment based on a testing method supported by more than a half century of research.
Each student’s test results will be available to their parents in March. Results will be one of several measures used to determine eligibility for the Quest Program and is useful as one extra part of an overall view of our students as learners. If you have any questions regarding the administration of this test, please feel free to call me at school. Thank you for your continued cooperation and support.
Cultural Arts Residency for Senior Classes
From February 10th to February 27th, NPS will host their Senior Cultural Arts Residency with Stop Motion artist, Tracy Fox. Students will create their own Stop Motion art with the guidance of the artist. The projects will be geared around students sharing their own superpowers and expertise.
NPS will host a culminating event for Senior parents to come and see the students Stop Motion art projects.
MSD Preschool Registration
In December, the Morris School District opened registration for free preschool for district families for the 2020-2021 school year. To register, please visit https://www.morrisschooldistrict.org/
Upcoming Events
- March 5th: NP STEAM Night (6:30pm to 8:30pm)
- March 23rd to March 28th: Scholastic Book Fair
- March 28th: Family Fun Fair (Book Fair will be open as well!)