Stewart Middle School Newsletter

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We are excited to complete month three of face to face learning and our ability to welcome all learners into the building daily. It has been an absolute pleasure to fill the building with laughter and smiling faces, even if they are partially obscured by our masks.

As we enter the final month of 2021, we have an opportunity to reflect upon the past year and all of the lessons we have learned from the pandemic and our experiment with virtual learning. Reopening brick and mortar school has not been without challenges but the benefits have certainly been more numerous than the learning opportunities.

As we look toward 2022 and the second half of the school year, two words come to mind: gratitude and cooperation. As your principal, I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to work with your children each day, opportunities abound for us to learn together. I am also grateful for our dedicated staff who support your learners in the classroom and beyond, on a daily basis. Last, but most importantly, I am grateful for all of our Stewart families and our extended community family. You continue to support and advocate for not only your learners, but many other learners and their families. Without this collective support for our learners’ education and growth, none of the shared success would be possible. This is why we feel compelled to constantly echo... TOGETHER, WE ARE STEWART!

On behalf of all of the SMS staff, we wish you and your family peace, hope and love during this holiday season.

Warm Regards,

Dr. Camil Culbreath

** With all themed and dress-down days, appropriate school attire is still required. See link for details SMS Dress Down Day expectations

All students should be to school at 8:00am

Dismissal begins at 2:55pm

EARLY DISMISSAL DECEMBER 17 & DECEMBER 23 DISMISSAL TIME 11:50am

Your learner should be wearing their mask at all times in the building.

Please remember to send extra masks with your learner everyday!

Please take note of the following message regarding early-pick up for your child:

As of Monday, November 1st, early dismissals will not be permitted during the last 30 minutes of the day. You must sign your child out before 2:20 pm or meet them outside at dismissal time. We want to ensure the safety of all of the learners during the busy period immediately before dismissal and can’t when families are waiting in the office area. It is always easiest to send in a note to alert teachers and the office of the early dismissal.

Please remember that your learner should be coming to school in the proper school uniform. The links below have Stewart's uniform policy:

Here are some helpful websites to purchase school uniforms:

Walmart online

Walmart School Uniforms

Target online

Target School Uniforms

French toast online

French Toast School Uniforms

Children’s Place

Children's Place School Uniforms

Amazon

Amazon School Uniforms

NASD strives to work with families to help maintain healthy students throughout the school year. Our nursing staff maintains partnerships in order to help families with students' health needs. All of our school buildings are working with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to utilize telehealth. This is an opportunity for families to interact with CHOP doctors for minor health conditions during school hours. In order to participate, please contact your child's school nurse. While the registration form asks for insurance information, at this time, no fees are being assessed for this service.

To register and learn more about CHOP Telehealth, click on the following link:

https://apps.chop.edu/online-request/schoolReg.cfm

Vaccinating children against COVID-19 is the best way to keep families and communities healthy and safe and keep schools open for in-person learning. Anyone 5 years and up can schedule a shot at https://www.vaccines.gov/

Parent Faculty Club (PFC) and the Stewart Action Team for Partnership (SATP) will be holding the December meeting on December 9th, 8:30-9:30am to accommodate families who are not available during the evening hours. The meeting is virtual and a link will be sent via Talking Points. The meeting will be led by parents/guardians and important topics will be discussed.

Below you can find a flyer and a link from the New York Times on tips of how you can help your learner with math at home!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/well/family/coronavirus-home-school-math-help.html

The link below are directions for a math card game that our Math Specialist Mrs. Benson provided for our learners and their families to play at home! Give it a try!!

Here is a message from our Reading Specialist Mrs. Bergan on how your learner can stay engaged with their reading over winter break!

Looking for a tool to keep your students engaged in learning over winter break? All Stewart students have access to Lexia Core 5 or Lexia Power Up directly through ClassLink on their Chromebooks! Core 5 supports 5th grade students and Power Up supports students in grades 6-8. It only takes 20 minutes per day for students to work on activities that will strengthen their skills as a reader. Check it out!

National American Education Week, observed November 15-19, 2021, gives public schools an opportunity to celebrate public education and all of those who help to make it great! This year, SMS celebrated through many classroom discussions and activities each day involving our staff, scholars, or families.

We sported our “blue and white” gear, favorite college colors, our families shared their favorite teachers, subjects, and memories of school and our scholars wrote notes thanking our teachers and staff. One of the most exciting parts of the week was watching our 7th-grade scholar, Maite Garcia-Trinidad assume the role of “Principal for the Day.” Maite was selected from a raffle of all scholars and won an opportunity to shadow Dr. Culbreath, participate in the weekly principals’ meeting and share her learner perspectives on ways we can re-imagine SMS to be more responsive to the needs of our learners, and get a glimpse into the exciting days of our building administration.

The Eternal Life Christian Center located at 1320 Dekalb Street in Norristown is a non-profit that provides helpful resources to families in Norristown. Some of those resources include rental assistance, food pantries, medical clinics, and even free clothing.

The Blessing Shop provides a specific amount of free clothing to anyone in need. The Blessing Shop is located at 320 W. Main Street in Norristown PA and is open between 10:00AM and 2:00PM on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Click on the following link to find out more information and share with anyone you think might be interested: https://eternallifecc.com/clothing

Project Libertad is an after school program directed towards empowering newcomer immigrant youth and their families by providing essential, youth-led, youth-centered legal and social services. Project Libertad envisions that all newcomer immigrant youth have access to the legal services,social services, academic support, and leadership opportunities needed to thrive!

Right now Project Libertad is offering their after school services to Stewart students virtually. Below are the flyers for Project Libertad, you are able to scan the QR code using your camera on your phone if you are interested in signing up your child. If you have any further questions you can contact Project Libertad at info@projectlibertad.org.

Where are we located?

The Family Support Center (FSC) is located at the Roosevelt High School. Our entrance is at the back of the building where the parking lot is.

Do you have someone that speaks Spanish?

Yes, we have a Bilingual Family Support Specialist available who speaks Spanish.

Do I need an appointment?

No, you do not need an appointment. You may walk-in/stop by. We will be following District protocols, so please wear a mask.

1161 Markley Street

Norristown, PA 19401

(610) 630-5001

Monday - Friday

8:00am - 4:00pm

Family Support Center Staff

Julie Knudsen

Pupil Services Supervisor

Yvonne Maloy

Secretary

Kelly Brodoski

Central Registration

Maria Salazar

Bilingual Family Support Specialist

Meghann Radick

Home & School Visitor/Homeless Liasion

Brenda Del Carmen

Bilingual Truancy Abatement Specialist

The Family Support Center (FSC) is available to support the needs

of all NASD families.

Please feel free to click the heading above labeled "COMMUNITY RESOURCES" to access the plentiful resources that NASD offers to our families.

Stewart is on all social media platforms gives us a follow for more updates!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stewartnasd/

Email: camilculbreath@nasd.k12.pa.us
Website: https://www.nasd.k12.pa.us/stewart
Location: 1315 West Marshall Street, Norristown, PA, USA
Phone: 610.275.6870
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stewart-Middle-School-890744050996347/
Twitter: @StewartMiddle