The month of March is well underway at Nishuane! There is much planned at Nishuane this month as we “spring forward!” Please be sure to visit our Nishuane Family Calendar to learn more! 🌷☘️🌼🌷☘️🌼
This past week we kicked off our celebration of Women’s History Month, as well as our Pennies for Pages literacy fundraiser. This week’s special events included a Read-A-Palooza Spirit Week, as well as the start of our Book Swap. Our excitement at Nishuane for reading was in the air as learners and staff wore special literacy themed apparel each day! In celebration of National Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Week, a literacy themed SEL activity was also offered to learners. Please see below for additional information pertaining to our month-long literacy challenge!
Thank you to all parents, guardians, and caregivers who joined us for March Parent/Caregiver Teacher Conferences this week! We greatly appreciate you visiting Nishuane, as well as for your ongoing partnership in supporting each of our learners. Thank you once again!
This upcoming week we are very excited for the first-grade production of Peter Pan. The production will take place on the morning of Friday, March 14th at 9:45 am in the Nishuane Auditorium. Please see this communication (and below) for additional information. We greatly look forward to you joining us for this very special occasion!
Women’s History Month
This week we launched our focus on Women’s History Month with a spotlight on women who have put their “stamp” on history from A-Z. Ife Joseph, former student of Nishuane, was the first person we shined a spotlight on, as she was recently recognized on Good Morning America for creating a social justice mental health app called, “Mental Health for Social Justice” that inspires young people to feel safe, heard, and inspired to take action. While in the classroom students are learning about notable women, we will also be sharing excerpts from the book The ABC’s of Women’s History by Rio Cortez on the Morning Announcements, and visiting a bulletin board that celebrates the accomplishments of 18 women from various fields. Remember to ask your child to share facts about women they are learning about in school.
Additionally, we are excited to share our Women’s History Month Digital Library 2025! Check out our extensive list of books you can purchase, those you can loan from the library, and those that are read-aloud from some of our Nishuane teachers! Make sure to write any of the titles you read or listen to on your Pennies for Pages reading log. Be on the lookout for the schoolwide enrichment activity that will come home next week, entitled Illuminating Women!
🎬🎭First Grade Production & Cast Parties (Friday, March 14th) 🎭🎬
We are excited for our first-grade production, Peter Pan. Our learners and teachers have been working hard preparing for the big showcase of talent! The first-grade production and cast parties will take place on Friday, March 14th at 9:45 am in the Nishuane School Auditorium. Please click here for a communication regarding the production and cast parties. Additionally, four tickets will be sent home in backpacks to all first-grade families.
Pennies for Pages & Masked Reader Bedtime Story
“Pennies for Pages,” Nishuane School’s literacy outreach project in which students will read and raise funds for the Montclair Public Library, is underway! Pennies for Pages began on Monday, March 3rd and will end on Friday, April 11th. Please click here for the family letter that was sent to families.
This year we will also be offering a new Masked Reader Bedtime Story series! Please see this informational flyer for additional information. Here is this week’s Masked Reader video. Can you guess who our first masked reader is???
Montclair Public Library Cards
Want to continue the Pennies for Pages celebration at home? The Montclair Public Library can help with that! All families may sign-up for a library card at the Montclair Public Library. Information for signing up may be found at this link.
National Social Emotional Learning Week
This past week (March 3rd-March 7th), Nishane and the entire Montclair Public Schools celebrated National Social Emotional Learning Week. In celebration of SEL week, as well as the start of our Pennies for Pages literacy initiative, learners had the opportunity to partake in the following grade level SEL activities:
○ Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students made and decorated bookmarks for the 2nd grade students.
○ First graders wrote a note to the K and pre-K students sharing the most important fact to know about 1st grade.
○ Second graders wrote notes to 1st graders that describe something that is dreamy about 2nd grade.
Nishuane’s New Vision Statement
We are very excited to share that Nishuane’s revised vision statement has been finalized! As previously shared, our vision statement was revised as part of Nishuane’s ongoing work with the New Jersey Inclusion Project (NJIP). The Nishuane NJIP team was charged with creating a more inclusive vision statement for our school community. We thank all stakeholders who provided feedback earlier this winter. The insight garnered throughout the process was very helpful and much appreciated. Nishuane’s revised vision statement is:
Our Vision: Nishuane School is a diverse, inclusive community where every student is valued and supported in becoming a confident, empathetic, and curious learner. Rooted in equity and belonging, we foster academic, creative, and social-emotional exploration, empowering students to develop independence, respect, and make meaningful contributions to the world around them
CI & Aesthetics Registration
It is time to pick CI’s and Aesthetics Courses for your child(ren) for the 2025-2026 School Year.
Students will be screened for their CI requests from March 18th through April 5th. Parents will be notified about the screening results the week of April 15th.
We will open up Genesis for the Aesthetics requests from Thursday, April 24th through Friday, May 16th. Scheduling of these classes will take place over the summer.
*Creative I Registration Letter
*Course information is on our website at: https://nishuane.montclair.k12.nj.us/academics/c_i_aesthetics
*Registration Information and an FAQ are posted on our website at:
https://nishuane.montclair.k12.nj.us/academics/c_i_aesthetics/c_i___aesthetics_registration_2022-2023
New Jersey Inclusion Project (NJIP) Update
The Nishuane NJIP Team has been hard at work over the past few weeks as we continue our journey through the first year for a three-year systemic change grant. At the end of February, we were joined on site at Nishuane by our NJIP liaison Brittany Seeley. During our meeting, we focused on creating a more inclusive master schedule for the forthcoming 2025-2026 school year, as well as the dissemination of a family survey (please see directly below). In addition to our onsite meeting, earlier this week our team participated in a regional meeting with other districts engaged in this work. This meeting continued the conversation regarding the planning of a more inclusive master schedule. Our team also finalized Nishuane’s new vision statement based on stakeholder feedback collected in December/January (please see above)! The team’s next steps are to convene a scheduling team to plan the 2025-2026 master schedule with inclusion at the core. We are excited to continue our work throughout the latter portion of this school year and beyond!
Nishuane New Jersey Inclusion Project Parent, Guardian & Caregiver Survey
Nishuane School is currently engaging in discussions around continuing to create more inclusive learning environments for all students within our school community. An inclusive school community encompasses the placement of students with disabilities into general education classrooms for all or significant parts of the school day with appropriate supports. To support the school in obtaining a broad view of how our school is currently doing with regards to fostering an inclusive school community, please fill out this survey about you and your child's experiences at our school. This survey will be open until Friday, March 14, 2025.
Responses to the survey are completely anonymous. The results we gather will help us understand how we are doing from your perspective and how we can continue to ensure to meet the needs of families. We will broadly share the information gathered from this survey as soon as possible.
We appreciate your time and effort in completing this survey. Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
The Nishuane NJIP Team
SATp Community Involvement/Connection
We are looking for volunteers to help update a list of community members that staff can partner with to enhance classroom lessons. Volunteers would use the provided contact information to reach out to businesses, professionals, and community members to see if they are still interested in partnering with the school to enhance lessons and support the school-community connection. If you are interested, please email Tara Wentzell ([email protected]).
Nishuane Playground Construction Update
Construction on the Nishuane playground began on Friday, January 10th and is presently underway. The contractors continued to work on the playground over the course of this past week (Week of March 3rd). The upper blacktop area has been accessible to students for outdoor recess Once dry, the field will be added as a second outdoor option. A rotation has been created for students to have opportunities to go outdoors to one of these two locations on specific days. On days that students are indoors, they will continue to rotate among various locations in the building. We have been intentional to offer students a menu of engaging activities and spaces that incorporate movement, as well as socialization. The contractor shared that they anticipate the entire project being completed sometime in mid-March contingent upon additional weather-related delays. As a reminder, throughout the duration of the project, we ask that all visitors to Nishuane please be mindful of the closed outdoor areas and to remain away from the construction site. Updates will continue to be provided via the Nish News and are also available on the district website at this link. We very much look forward to having a new playground to use for the second portion of the school year!
🎉😊Nishuane Faculty & Staff Compliment Club🎉😊
It is our absolute honor and pleasure to serve the learners and families of the Nishuane community! Our passionate faculty and staff work tirelessly to foster a nurturing and nourishing learning environment for each of our learners every day.
In appreciation of our faculty and staff, we invite all members of our community to join our “Compliment Club” by recognizing and celebrating the unwavering dedication of Nishuane’s talented faculty and staff. Please utilize this Google form to recognize individual faculty/staff members and/or groups/teams at Nishuane. The compliment will be shared with the spotlighted faculty/staff member(s) and/or group(s)/team(s). This form will be open throughout the course of the 2024-2025 school year and multiple compliments may be shared by a community member. Please feel free to revisit and submit compliments at any time!
Thank you for "filling buckets" by showing your appreciation of Nishuane’s faculty and staff! 😊
Reminder Regarding Cell Phones/Watches with Capabilities
As a reminder, electronic devices may be in backpacks but not out or on during the school day. If a student does not follow the expectation to keep the device out of sight, then it will be sent to the office and caregivers will have to sign them out.
Dressing for Colder Temperatures
As the temperature begins to drop, please be sure to send your child to school each day with warm clothing. As a reminder, outdoor recess is held outdoors when the real temperature is 28 degrees Fahrenheit or above (when there is no inclement weather). Jackets and dressing in layers for temperature fluctuations is strongly encouraged.
Arrival & Dismissal Safety
Please carefully review the important Nishuane School arrival and dismissal information included in the beginning of year communications and available here. These protocols and safety precautions must be carefully followed at all times to ensure a safe arrival and dismissal.
As always, thank you for your partnership in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our entire school community!
Nishuane Visitor Form & Protocols
● Please click here to review Nishuane’s visitor protocols. Visitors must complete the visitor form prior to a visit.
○ Please remember that visitors must report only to the location of the building that was indicated on the visitor form. Visitors may not visit other locations in the building. Thank you for your support with this important safety measure!
○ Please wear a visitor’s badge for the duration of your visit. The visitor’s badge must be visible at all times.
○ Please do not prop doors open under any circumstance.
○ Please do not hold open the door for anyone behind you when entering or exiting the building.
Nish Spirit Wear Fridays
Every Friday at Nishuane is School Spirit Day! On Fridays students may participate by wearing blue and white, as well as Nishuane spirit wear. Spirit wear is available for purchase through our PTA.
Nishuane Instagram
Nishuane is on Instagram! Follow us @nishschool for a peek into the learning and fun we have in our community. Our account is private for everyone's safety. When requesting to follow us, please send a message with your child's name and we will accept you.
Nurse’s Notes
Please see the below reminders from Nurse Anne Ndungu
(Phone: 973-509-4236~Fax: 973-509-1197 ~ E-mail: [email protected]):
I hope that everyone is doing well and healthy. I wanted to notify you that there is a stomach bug that is going around the school. Please remind your child/children to wash their hands frequently, especially before and after eating and when they cough or sneeze. One healthy habit proven to reduce illness is hand washing. If you notice that your child is having the following, please keep them home from school:
. Fever over 100 F. The child may return to school when fever free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medications (Tylenol, Motrin).
. Vomiting or diarrhea. May return to school 24 hours after the symptoms are resolved and able to tolerate a normal diet.
. Complaining of a stomach ache that will not go away.. Please do not hesitate to seek the advice of your healthcare provider to determine when your child can return to school.
Also, kindly send an extra pair of clothes for your child to keep in their locker just in case of an accident. I am kindly asking for a donation of slightly used clothes for boys and girls ages 5-8yrs.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
I wish you and your families a great weekend!
Anne Ndungu, RN
Phone: 973-509-4236 Fax: 973-509-1197
Email: [email protected]