The MLK Snapshot
Newsletter Update / May 8, 2025
Teacher Appreciation Week 2025
Want to submit a shout out to a teacher or staff member? Click here!
On Friday May 9th we will be setting up a "Sweet Appreciation" snack bar in the faculty lounge. If you're interested in donating a snack item or beverage, you can sign up here. Please note all items should be dropped off at the school by 9 AM on Friday. Thank you to everyone who has already signed up!
NJSLA Testing Information
New Jersey public schools are required by the Department of Education to administer the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA), a state-sponsored assessment that measures student achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics for students in grades 3 through 9. This year, Piscataway students are required to take two assessments in ELA and three in math. Science will be assessed only in grades 5, 8, and 11.
Please find the attached letter for full information about our testing calendar this year. Our 5th grade testing continues until Tuesday, May 13th. Following this, we will begin administering any makeup sessions.
Save the Date - Art Show + Spring Vocal Concert - 5/16
Join us for a night of creating, performing, and celebrating the arts. The Art Show & Family Craft Night + Handchime & Choir Spring Concert is on Friday, May 16, 2025.
- Art Show & Family Craft Night - 6:00pm in the MLK Cafeteria
- Handchime and Choir Spring Concert - 7:30pm in the Conackamack Auditorium
See the attached flyer below for all of the fun details!
Purchase Your Yearbook - Time is Running Out!
Buy Your Yearbook Today!
Please see the attached letter from our yearbook club regarding purchasing your 2024-2025 yearbook.
The price of the yearbook will be tiered into multiple deadlines. Please see below.
· If purchased between 5/1-5/10, the price of the book will be $18.
*The last day to purchase a yearbook will be on 5/10/2025.
If you have any questions, please send Mrs. Torres or Mr. Salcedo an email at atorres@pway.org or esalcedo@pway.org. Thank you so much for your purchase and support of our school! We hope you enjoy the yearbook!
Field Day Information and Volunteer Sign Ups
Martin Luther King School's Annual Field Day is on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Please send students in with bagged lunches for the day, as we will be eating outside (no glass containers, please). We also recommend students bring an extra bottle of water and a change of clothing since we will have some water activities.
In order for the day to be successful, safe, and fun, we need many volunteers to help lead the activities. We need volunteers for the outdoor and indoor stations from 8:15-11:00 AM for the fifth graders and 11:15 AM-2:00 PM for the fourth graders. If you are interested in volunteering your time, please complete the form below stating your full name, your child’s name, and which grade you are volunteering for. You are more than welcome to join your child for lunch.
Spring Field Trips
5th Grade - Will be going to the Somerset Patriots baseball game on Wednesday, May 28th. Permission slips will be sent home shortly.
4th Grade - Will be going to the Trailside Nature and Science Center in Mountainside June 11, 12, 13th. Specific classroom dates and permission slips will be distributed in mid-May for this trip.
We will be requesting a limited number of chaperones for each trip. Please be advised that PTO members will be given priority for class trip chaperoning purposes.
Multicultural Club Event - Sign Up to Participate!
We are excited to be able to put together King’s 2nd Annual Multicultural Night. We have an updated date for this event: it will take place on Tuesday, May 27th at 6 pm. We can’t make this evening a success without amazing parent volunteers like yourself!
We are currently looking for parents to host a table from their country. You will need poster board, displaying your country and facts, along with something else to teach us about your country. This could be with food or an activity. If you are interested, please fill out the form below. Please understand, we would like to limit it to no more than 3 people hosting a table for the same country. If you have any questions, please email: shunter@pway.org
MLK's Passionate Penguins Program
Thank you to families that shared feedback already for our program. Your feedback was shared with our staff!
Do you feel your child's teacher is doing an exceptional job and you would like to give them a shout out? Feel free to click the link below and we will provide the feedback to them!
New MLK Spirit Wear
We are excited to share some updated designs to our MLK PTO Spirit Wear. Spirit wear is available to purchase at https://spiritsale.online/mlk_intermediate/shop/home.
Thank you to our wonderful PTO for their designs and creativity in putting together these Spirit Wear Options!
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!
I strongly urge all of our families to become involved in any way possible!
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!
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 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.
The Second Step Program is 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, individual 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.