The Principal's Perspective

August 24th- First Day of School. The opening School Welcome Letter shared August 5, 2026 can be found here as well as on our Website.

August 25th Town halls- 6th Grade Period 2

7th Grade Period 10

8th Grade Period 8

August 25th- Accelerated Math and ELA begins for 5th Grade Scholars. THIS was sent to all families from the district. This was sent to families from me.

August 28th- Ice Cream Treats for students at the end of the day as they dismiss.

August 28th- Sports Website Updates anticipated to be completed with details around try-outs etc.

*Upcoming

Sept 17th- Open House 5:30-7:00 pm

Welcome again to the 2026–2027 school year! Whether you are joining us for the very first time or returning as a familiar face, our team of teachers and staff are thrilled to welcome all of our new and returning Lion families to the Nichols Middle School community. The energy in our hallways has been high this past week getting ready to greet your wonderful scholar, and we are eagerly anticipating a fantastic year filled with growth, discovery, and many achievements.

As we launch this opening week, our top priority is ensuring that every single scholar steps into a environment where they feel safe, supported, and happy. Middle school is a transformative time, and creating a positive culture requires intentional focus. This year, our overarching framework centers on two powerful sets of guiding principles: The 3 C’s and The 3 R’s.

Our Instructional & Environmental Framework

• The 3 C’s (Clarity, Challenge, Connection): We believe learning thrives when expectations are transparent (Clarity), academic goals push students beyond their comfort zones (Challenge), and meaningful relationships are built between peers and teachers (Connection).

• The 3 R’s (Rooted, Responsible, Restorative): We empower our scholars to remain grounded in their core values (Rooted), take ownership of their choices and learning (Responsible), and focus on resolving conflict through empathy and relationship-building rather than punishment. Outcomes of behaviors are inevitable; the goal is to reach, teach, and restore so that negative behaviors, thoughts, or words do not become a pattern. Building relationships throughout a scholars process is critical as they grow and mature (Restorative).

Together, these core pillars serve as our framework towards success. They ensure our classrooms are not just academic spaces, but communities where scholars develop the social, emotional, and critical-thinking skills needed to navigate the world with confidence. For the first 3 days of school teachers will be very intentional about building classroom communities that encompass student voice. Scholars will be intentionally engaged in activities that allow them to get to know their classmates, the grade level community and their individual and unique classroom communities.

Additionally, building a thriving school culture cannot happen in isolation—it requires a strong, active partnership with you, our families. When home and school work hand-in-hand, our scholars achieve their absolute highest potential. We invite you to join us in reinforcing the 3 C’s and 3 R’s at home, staying connected through our newsletters, and actively participating in our family events throughout the year.

Thank you for trusting us with your scholars! We are honored to guide them on this journey, and we look forward to an extraordinary school year ahead! Lift off in 202-2027 in full swing!

• Students meet in the cafeteria and will exit with teachers
• Students will get student friendly schedules and teachers will discuss schedules
• Students will tour the building and get additional information regarding navigating the building
• Students will participate in team building activities, ice breakers, getting to know each other activities and learning/thinking tasks
• Students will practice "3 Minute Reset"
• The remaining part of the week will be a continuation of classroom community building, learning their teachers and classmates, getting to know and understand that academic expectations and supports, the behavioral expectations and supports, and the emotional wellness expectations and supports.
• We are prepared to provide schedules to students whose families do not have access to printers or who are unable to write schedules out.

• Students will go to their first period class which will be a FAPEL class (either PE or a Fine Arts rotation). New students will be assisted in getting to their classes. Staff will be outside the 7/8 door seeking out new students to support
• Students will participate in team building activities, ice breakers, getting to know each other activities and learning and thinking tasks

• Students will practice "3 Minute Reset"
• The remaining part of the week will be a continuation of classroom community building, learning their teachers and classmates, getting to know and understand that academic expectations and supports, the behavioral expectations and supports, and the emotional wellness expectations and supports.
• We are prepared to provide schedules to students whose families do not have access to printers or who are unable to write schedules out.

• Students will go to their first period class. New students will be assisted in getting to their classes. Staff will be outside the 7/8 door seeking out new students to support.
• Students will participate in team building activities, ice breakers, getting to know each other activities and thinking and learning tasks
• Students will be given an overview of 8th grade expectations
• Students will practice "3 Minute Reset"
• The remaining part of the week will be a continuation of classroom community building, learning their teachers and classmates, getting to know and understand that academic expectations and supports, the behavioral expectations and supports, and the emotional wellness expectations and supports.
• We are prepared to provide schedules to students whose families do not have access to printers or who are unable to write schedules out.

Sexual Health Education Grade 6-8

Acceleration in D65

D65 SEL

All teams are excited to greet all of our scholars. All materials that will be needed to complete tasks will be provided to the students. We are excited to build classroom community, give students ownership and voice and to build their capacity to make sound and responsible decisions towards their success.

Families-please verify your school assignment in Powerschool. If the school assignment is GE, they must finish registration and your student may not start on Monday EVEN IF THEY APPEAR TO HAVE A SCHEDULE. Thank you and please have a wonderful first day with students.

Sanctuary Evanston is local community group partnering with schools to support families, staff, and administrators in reducing harm to families and school communities impacted by immigration enforcement. District 65 and District 202 have had many families impacted by detainments (here is a public story of a D65 father from May), which have continued into the summer. We have learned afterwards that many of these families did not know about Sanctuary Evanston, and did not have emergency plans in place, which has caused great difficulty for their families.

Sanctuary Evanston works to connect impacted families with resources for rent, utilities, food, and legal fees, as well as to proactively ensure that every single neighbor understands their rights and has a family emergency plan in place. We have trained facilitators to lead Know Your Rights informational events for families, and are available to hold events for families to create emergency plans. Please reach out to SanctuaryEvanston@gmail.com for questions, concerns, or more information

• Middle School to ETHS math kids- their schedule started on 8/18/26, Day 2 of ETHS calendar. Transportation will bring the students to their middle school at the end of the math block at ETHS starting on 8/24/26. THIS was sent to all families of students who go to ETHS for math on 8/14.

• Elementary to Middle math kids- their schedule and transportation will start on Day 2 (8/25/26). THIS was sent to all families of students who go to middle school for math on 8/14.

Families received the following informational letter last week. Please reference it for answers to many questions.

Our free/reduced meal application is live. Families , please use this link to access it directly.

All of our middle school students are required to set passcodes for their iPad. All students moving from 5th to 6th grade will be required to set a passcode for their district issued iPad at the beginning of the 26/27 school year. This requirement will be pushed out to 6th grade student iPads during the second week of school (week of August 31st). Students will learn about the importance of setting a passcode to keep their devices secure and set up their passcodes during their Advisory or AVID classes with staff support.

Please sign your students up for YOU! This year the program us 5 days a week till 6:00 p.m.!

• Students are not allowed to have cell phones, earbuds, headphones, smartwatches on their person. For students needing the cell or watch for safety to and from school, we will provide storage for those items until locks are passed out this week. Students will be given their devices back at the end of the day

• Lockers are assigned to one single person. Remind your students to not give out their combinations, nor are they allowed to share a locker or "temporarily" use an unassigned locker.
• For students who bring lunches to school, while we wait for our locks to arrive, we will store the lunches for the first couple of days. If students desire to carry water bottles, that is fine.
• Students who have personal items that they would normally put into their locker, a purse, fanny pack, or small tote is perfectly fine to use until students get their locks.

• Students will not be admitted into the building prior to 7:30. If they are admitted for breakfast they MUST remain in the cafeteria until 7:50. Students will be expected to leave the cafeteria for class no later than 7:57 in order to be on time, so please plan your drop offs accordingly as we do not allow students to remain in the cafeteria when they should be in class.
• Students are required to leave school grounds by 3:15 unless they are under the supervision of a staff member. If your child is being picked up and you know that you will be late, please create a plan with your child as to where they should meet you and at what time.
• First day, 6th graders enter on the black top at the red cafeteria door, Door 5. After day one they enter through Door 6. 7th and 8th enter and dismiss through the Elmwood door.

The PTO is seeking new members immediately. Please reach out to join! We need you!

Contact nicholsmiddlePTA@gmail.com

Thank you Michelle We're and PTO for a great Back to School Bash!