The Weekly Update #34

More information was posted in Class of 2025 and 2026 Google Classrooms.

Students in Grades 9 and 11

New Jersey Student Learning Assessment Math/ELA -Grade 9 Science-Grade 11

On May 20-23, students in Grade 9 and Grade 11 will be administered the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA) for Math, ELA and Science. Make up testing will occur May 27-30 for students who are absent during the initial testing window following a regular schedule. Students who need to test during the make up window will miss class time to test.

The NJSLA includes two 90 minute units of ELA, two 90 minute units of Math and four 60 minute units of Science. The ELA assessment is aligned to the ELA 9 content. Students in High School will take a math assessment aligned to Algebra 1 if they are enrolled in an Algebra 1 class or Geometry if they are enrolled in Geometry or Algebra 2 class as a ninth grader. Students who are dually enrolled in Geometry and Algebra 2 will take the Geometry assessment. The Science assessment is aligned to standards within the grades 9-12 grade band of the NJSLA standards for Science.

Students who are testing should report directly to their assigned testing location for daily attendance. Grade 9 and 11 should check with their respective Class of 2028 and 2026 Google Classroom for their testing room assignments beginning May 9.

Students who are testing are encouraged to be prepared by being well rested and fed, arriving on time, bringing their fully charged school issued chromebook, sharpened pencils, and recreational reading if they complete testing early. Students will not be permitted to work on schoolwork in their testing room. An online calculator is in the testing platform, but students may bring their own hand held calculator if desired. Students may also bring their own wired headphones with a traditional jack for use with their chromebooks.

Students in Grade 10

Students in grade 10 have signed up for activities on 5/20, 5/21 and 5/23 during the Sign Up Genius link provided. Students will receive a copy of the activities they are scheduled for in their homeroom on Monday 5/19. 10th grade students should report directly to their first activity each of these days for attendance and remain there until the testing block has concluded.

Students in Grade 12

12th grade students will have online programming that can either be completed at home or in school on Tuesday May 20, Wednesday May 21 and Thursday May 22. The assignments to be completed online will be shared with senior in the Class of 2025 Google Classroom prior to the start of testing.

Seniors completing online assignments at home must report to school by 9:35am and report to their first period class. Students arriving in class after 9:40am will be marked late.

On Friday May 23, seniors have a mandatory After the Fire Assembly and should report to the auditorium by 7:20am. Attendance will be taken.

Northern Burlington will celebrate our DI, DII, and DIII college-bound student-athletes on Thursday, June 5th at 3:30 PM in the High School Stadium. Join us as we honor their incredible athletic and academic achievements!

Parents/Guardians & Students: If you are attending college and participating in athletics at the next level, we want to celebrate you! All you have to do is contact your coach and tell them you are interested in participating!

Schedule:

• 3:00–3:25 PM: Parents decorate student tables (no early arrivals please!)
• 3:25–3:30 PM: Student-athletes arrive
• 3:30–3:50 PM: Player announcements & signing celebration

Let’s make this a memorable day for our future collegiate athletes!

Hoping you can join us! We're holding a brief but important community meeting to discuss the results from our recent ThoughtExchange and collaboratively begin crafting a new mission statement for Northern Burlington. Your voice is invaluable in shaping the future of our students' experience.

The meeting will take place on Thursday, May 22nd at 6:00 PM in the High School Media Center, conveniently scheduled just before the high school band concert. We encourage you to attend this engaging discussion and then stay to enjoy the wonderful musical talents of our students! The presentation will be available afterward for those unable to attend.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

If your child is currently in 9th, 10th, or 11th grade, please log into the Parent Portal and review or update the contact information listed under the STUDENT CONTACTS form. This form will be available from May 12 through May 30.

Updating this information helps us streamline communication and ensure we have the most accurate contact details on file.

We appreciate your prompt attention to this important task. Thank you for your cooperation!

Join us for the Fall 2025 HS Cheerleading try-outs being held June 3 & 4, 2026. Try-outs on June 3rd will be from 3 - 5 pm. June 4h will be the actual tryouts - time slots will be assigned. Both days are mandatory.

Mark your calendars, if you are interested in cheering during the fall season! Join the Google Classroom - CODE: L35R5LJN - for more information and to join the interest meeting on May 13th at 6:30 pm. This is the ONLY try-out for current NB students for Fall cheerleading at the high school. Cheerleaders are responsible for their own transportation during try-outs.

Athletic portal is open to submit forms and physical documents. Please do this as soon as possible - even before the interest meeting if you think there is a chance you will try out.

If you have any questions, please email Coach Ballinger - kballinger@nburlington.com

In an Oprah Daily article Samantha Vincenty writes about how it’s in the chaotic moments of our lives that we need inner peace the most. She lists 10 Micro-Practices from different practitioners for finding calm in chaos. Here are a few but for all ten click here.

Since your breath is always with you, breathe using the 4-7-8 breath, which is a time tested yoga technique. Inhale through your nose for a count of 4, hold that breath for a count of 7 and slowly exhale it out for a count of 8. The longer exhale helps stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which stimulates the relaxation response in your body.

Recognize and acknowledge the emotion you are experiencing. Naming the emotion helps de-escalate its intensity.

ACT your way to deeper self-compassion- Use the three step method called ACT-A is to acknowledge your struggle, and say, this is really hard. C is for connect, connecting to the fact that how you are feeling is part of the human experience, knowing that other people get frustrated, angry, overwhelmed etc. and the T is to talk kindly to yourself, especially in the third person because doing so activates the care circuit in your brain so you feel more cared for. So you might say, Laura, you are going to be ok, and you are not alone in this.

Practice acceptance. She writes that when we resist our circumstances we create a lot of suffering, which is the opposite of inner peace. But when you align yourself with what is, you flow with, rather than against what is happening. She says that is why it is called “practice” because it might take a few or a lot of tries to be successful at it. You might say to yourself something like this,”This is where I am. I’m just going to flow with this…It’s ok and I’m ok.”

Yearbooks are sold out online. However, they will be available for purchase in person during the distribution days in June. The cost is $95.

Not sure if you ordered your student a yearbook this year? Here are three ways to check:

1. Go to your email and search for ‘Jostens Order Confirmation’. Be sure the email/purchase date is from this school year (2024 - 2025).

2. Go to www.jostens.com. Log in with the email you believe you used to purchase the yearbook. Click your name, then ‘Orders’ to see lifetime purchases for that account. Click ‘Receipt’ next to any purchase to verify that the order was for a yearbook and not an ad or other celebratory product. Again, please verify that the purchase date is from this school year (2024 – 2025).

3. Click here to use the Jostens Order Lookup system. You will need to select our School and then enter your Student’s First Name, Last Name, and Grade. PLEASE NOTE: The system searches for exact matches. If you may have ordered under a child’s nickname, i.e. Ben instead of Benjamin, please try both names in the search fields.

Thank you so much for your support of our school and yearbook program.

An email was sent to all Senior Parents yesterday informing you about the Senior Assassin activity that some students are participating in. This is not a school sanctioned activity and is something that may be concerning and could have repercussions. Please read the full letter for further information.

Students with early release or late arrival must be here for their duration of their schedule. Please read the information in the NJSLA section for the exact schedule of times and activities for seniors for the week.

If you have not ordered your cap and gown, please reach out to Ms. Guevara directly.

Our contact information is:

Email: rguevara@nburlington.com