Normandy Park School
Principal's Corner
April 1st to April 5th
April 1st is B Day
April 5th, there will be an HSA Meeting at 9:30am
Celebrating Music in Our School Month
March was Music in Our School Month.
I would like to take the time to thank our music and band teacher, Mrs. Schwam, and our orchestra teacher, Ms. Carroll, for all their hard work, time, and ongoing support with our young musicians.
In addition, thank you to all our young musicians for their enthusiasm, drive, and dedication. Your love of music is an important part of what makes Normandy Park School such a special place to be.
To celebrate Music in Our School Month, some of our young musicians performed on NPS news last week!
Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run inspires 3rd – 8th grade girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using an experienced based curriculum that integrates running. Throughout the ten-week program, the girls learn important life skills through interactive lessons and running games. The program ends with the girls being physically and emotionally prepared to complete a celebratory 5k event.
This spring, the program will be offered for NPS girls, 3rd thru 5th grade, by Girls on the Run. The season will begin April 7th, 2019. Practices will be held at Normandy Park School, Wednesdays (3:30pm to 4:45pm), and at the Morristown High School track, Sundays (1:00pm to 2:15pm).
Thank you to our parent volunteer coaches, Elham Mehdizadeh and Richard Nause, for volunteering their time to run this great program!
To register, please use this link.
For additional information, contact Kim Ciriaco at kim.ciriaco@girlsontherun.org
Mistakes- Opportunities to Learn
As we enter April, I would like to take the time to revisit the importance of the mistake in the learning process.
Albert Einstein once said, "Failure is success in progress." Accordingly, failure is not an end, but a beginning. Mistakes are a critical part of learning. They are not to be feared, but openly embraced as opportunities to move forward. This is not always an easy concept or approach to accept. As a school, we continuously strive towards creating a culture of error, where students feel more comfortable making mistakes and learning from them. Throughout the year, we've discussed the importance of process praise, in which we value and praise individual effort and progress. The goal is for our students to realize that mistakes are a natural and extremely important part of the learning process.
When you come this month for Parent Teacher Conferences, please take a look at some of the "Famous Mistake" projects in our Senior hallway. Students completed projects around famous mistakes (inventions that were a product of a mistake). They researched the invention and reflected upon what they learned about the importance of a mistake.
Parent Teacher Conference Scheduling
Normandy Park School will have Parent Teacher Conferences on April 10th and 11th. We will now be using MyConferenceTime for scheduling conferences.
To schedule your preferred time for a parent-teacher conference, please visit https://www.myconferencetime.com/normandypark/
Click on the name of your child’s teacher. Select the desired date/time for your conference by clicking on “Sign Up.” Submit the requested information. If you have several children attending our school, click on “Register for Multiple Conferences” and follow the prompts to schedule your children for several conferences. After you schedule a conference online, the date and time are reserved for you. You will receive email confirmation of your conference.
Scheduling will be open from 3/11/2019 to 4/8/2019.
If you are unable to sign up for a time and date online, please contact the main office at 973-889-7960.
HSA Meeting
When: May 9th
Time: 6:30pm
Where: Normandy Park School
Mackey Pendergrast, Morris School District Superintendent, and Dr. Jennifer van Frank, Morris School District Communications & Community Relations Coordinator, will attend the HSA meeting to discuss communications -- steps for improving communications, parent feedback on district communication practices, and any questions people might have relative to communication.
Principal Joseph Uglialoro from FMS will also attend to provide information on transitioning to FMS for graduating 5th graders.
Looking Ahead
April 10th and 11th: Parent Teacher Conferences
April 15th to April 22nd: Spring Break
April 23rd to April 29th: Primary Residency with Spirtree
May 9th: HSA Meeting with Mackey Pendergrast, Morris School District Superintendent, Dr. Jennifer van Frank, Morris School District Communications & Community Relations Coordinator, and Joe Uglialoro, FMS Principal, at 6:30pm
Tentative State Testing Schedule (Gr. 3-5)
NJSLA ELA and Math
3rd Grade: April 29th to May 3rd
4th/5th Grade: May 6th to May 10th
Make-Ups: Given throughout NPS testing window, concluding May 17th
NJSLA Science (5th Grade Only)
May 15th and May 16th