January 2015
NPMS PTO NEWSLETTER
Sherry Flaherty, President
May Chan, Vice-President
Nadine Geoffroy, Treasurer
Evelyn Minolfo, Corresponding Secretary
Aileen Ping, Recording Secretary
Dear Parents:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
As we welcome in the 2015 school year I’d like to take this opportunity to bring to your attentiona few things that have gone on at the Middle School since our last newsletter:
On November 19th the NPMS celebrated American Education Week and invited parents to visit their child’s class. This year’s theme was “Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility.”
November and December were busy months for “The Student Services Club” as they visited the elementary schools on November 29th to teach “pumpkin math.” Pictures are posted on the NPMS web page under site shortcuts; photo gallery. On December 9th they baked cookies for the senior citizens who will deliver them to the homeless. On December 19th they collected new, unwrapped toys for the “U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program”.
Middle School students donated toys which will be dropped off to less fortunate children in the community.
On December 3rd the NPMS Band, Chorus and Orchestra students joined together to present their Middle School Winter Concert. It was a festive evening and pictures are posted both on the NPMS web page under site shortcuts; photo gallery.
On Friday, December 12th the Green Team was treated to a Zita’s Italian Ice Party in the Cafeteria for winning the October Box Tops Contest! The PTO along with several helpers served over 60 students Italian Ice during 9th period! Collecting Box Tops is new to the Middle School this year and our first attempt at saving them helped us raise $102.70. So please keep sending them in. Each Box Top is worth .10 cents and they add up quickly for our school! We are also collecting Labels for education too!
Continued
On December 23rd in conjunction with the Character Ed Program and PBSIS, NPMS the “Quiz Bowl” for students was held. Students competed to answer educational trivia questions.
January 7th Members of the Science Olympiad will compete in STEM based Science events that push students to master middle and high school standards, at UnionCountyCommunity College. Mr. Cooper is the Advisor and Ms. Bromley will co-advise the event.
January 9th - NPMS Geography Bee. This assembly is the culmination of several rounds of internal classroom geography bee competitions. The winner of the School Geography Bee will take an exam to determine placement for the State Level Bee.
January 16th – Leadership Conference. Peer Leaders will be learning leadership sills and develop skills working together as a team.
FUNDRAISING:
Mixed Bags:
The Mixed Bags fundraiser was a success – we unfortunately did not match our goal - - but came very close – so thank you too all that participated and THANK YOU to May Chan for organizing it! We heard from several parents (after the event was over) that they did not receive their catalog for this fundraiser (via their child bringing it home) so we might run it again in the Spring as the bags and prices are fabulous!
SCRIPS:
The last minute SCRIPS fundraiser was a HUGE success. For those of you not familiar with the SCRIP program, the PTO partnered with SCRIP and made it possible to purchase Gift Cards to a large variety of local retailers as well as many other retailers. You place your order online using the NPMS school code, make a check out to the NPMS PTO, we place the full order and you receive the gift card at full face value and the NPMS gets a small kick back on your order. It is so simple! Just think what a little planning ahead can do for our school. Retailers include A&P, Shop-Rite, Smashburger, Chipotle, Starbucks, Exxon and many, many more! We are thinking about making this a quarterly event. You can go to for a full listing of retailers. (FYI Middle School Enrollment code 9BA81AF327862(Case sensitive).A huge Thank you to Michelle Holcomb for Chairing this fundraiser for our school and doing a great job!!!
Continued
SPIRIT WEAR:
The NPMS Spirit Wear Fall/Winter sale has ended and all Spirit Wear has been distributed (some at the very last minute – but thankfully in time for the Holidays)! There will be another opportunity to order Spirit Wear in the Spring. The PTO is looking into some new designs!
Our next Board meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 20th at 1:30 P.M. – Please join us as we will have Melissa Hatfield, Language Arts Supervisor (grades 7-12) speaking about the PARCC testing and Language Arts.
Thank you for your continued support!
The NPMS PTO