Dear Nichols’ Families, We had a great turnout for our first P.T.A. meeting on Tuesday, September 8. Everyone en-joyed our second annual “Tailgate” to kick off our Reading MUSTANGS (Mighty, Unique, Strong, Talented, Agile, Noble, Grand, Superb) Program. We hope all of you are continuing to read with

your children and signing their forms.

I have some exciting news to share. The Northside Education Foundation (NEF) is a non-profit corporation that supports Northside ISD in funding innovative classroom programs. NEF raises funds and awards New Teacher, Resource, Innovation, and Team grants to faculty and staff to help enhance classroom instruction. Since 1995, the Foundation has awarded more than $2 million in grants. You may have the seen the NEF Apple plaques in our hallways and classrooms. NEF recently awarded a New Teach-er Grant to Mrs. Amy Armstrong, our Special Educa-tion teacher in first and fourth grades. She will use this award to help enrich student learning. I greatly appreciate the many ways the Foundation supports NISD students, faculty and staff. As the District continues to grow and classroom needs increase, the Foundation’s work is more critical than ever to raise more funds so more grants can be awarded. To

learn more about NEF, donating and volunteering, please visit www.nisd.net/nef.

During the month of October and on our Early Release day on October 23, teachers will be holding individual conferences with all parents and guardians. If you have not scheduled a date and time with your child’s teacher, please contact him/her so you can meet together to discuss your

child’s academic progress.

I would like to personally invite you to join Mrs. Rigby and me for Coffee and Conversation with the Principal and Counselor on October 6 at 7:45 a.m. in the Resource Room. Mrs. Rigby will be discussing bullying awareness and prevention. Afterwards, you will have the opportunity to ask

questions or discuss any topic regarding Nichols Elementary.

We have had several concerns about parent pickup in the afternoon. If you have students on-ly in the upper grades, please try to arrive a little later so you do not hold up the line. Remember, we dismiss the youngest students first. Also, please do not get out of your car unless you are parked in the parking lot and please use the crosswalk to set a good example. Thank you for your coopera-

tion and patience.

Yours in education, Mrs. Sonya D. Kirkham, Principal

Principal’s News

October 1, 2015

Nichols News Anna Mae “Mas” Nichols Elementary—Home of the Mighty Mustangs

Page 2 Nichols News

Campus News

Spirit Day T-Shirts

At Nichols, we celebrate Spirit Days every Friday and wear our

Nichols t-shirts to show our Mustang Pride. New school t-shirts may be purchased in the front office for $12 (cash only).

Box Tops for

Education Please support the Nichols Ele-mentary Music program by cutting

out and sending in Box Tops for Education. There is a box in the front foyer of the school.

Bike Rodeo Our annual Bike Rodeo will take place on Fri-day, October 23. Par-ents/guardians are wel-come and encouraged to attend and volunteer for the event. More infor-mation will be sent home with your child, so get those bikes out and get

ready!

P.T.A.

If you have not joined the Parent Teacher Asso-ciation (PTA) please consider doing so. A por-tion of your $8.00 membership stays at Nichols and provides the money for all field trip en-trance fees and transportation costs. Your mem-bership also provides trophies for the Bike Ro-deo, and many other items that directly benefit your children. There are membership envelopes in the front office.

Lost and Found When the weather starts to change, our Lost and Found begins to over-flow. Parents, please take a few minutes to write your child’s name in his/her jack-

et or sweater. Thank you!

Superheroes of the Month

Happy Birthday to the following faculty/staff:

1 Jeanette Betancourt, 4th Grade 5 Dee Marquez, Early Childhood Collaboration (ECC) 22 Melissa Villarreal, Custodian 24 Krystal Mata, Speech Lan-guage Pathologist 30 Olga Thompson, Principal’s Secretary/Bookkeeper

Faculty/Staff Birthdays

in October

*Thank you to all of our fifth grade parents who provided food for our September Early Release luncheon. Our teachers enjoyed the delicious lunch and then spent the afternoon in technolo-gy training. *Thank you to everyone who participated in our fall fundraiser. It was very successful and all pro-ceeds will benefit our wonderful Nichols’ stu-dents. *Thank you to Stacie Healy, Rosemary Ragland, Angie Lucio, Lindy De La Rosa, and Tracy Lilly for assisting with Picture Day.

tance acuity screening is per-formed for the left and right eyes with an approved chart. For most screenings we use the Snellen “Tumbling E” chart. A letter or symbol chart may be used as needed. Please keep in mind this is a distance acuity test. If you have concerns about your child’s ability to see up close we recommend seeing an eye care specialist. For hearing screening the results of the pure-tone audiometric Sweep-Check screen are recorded for both the left and right ears. It is conducted at an intensity of 25dB for 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hertz frequencies. Q: What is a passing result? A: A student 5 years or older must have 20/30 in both eyes and pass all three frequencies in each ear. Q: How will I know if my stu-dent did not pass the screen-ing? A: A student must fail two screenings, two weeks apart in order for a referral to be sent home. You will receive a referral in writing stating which exam

Greetings from the Nichols clin-ic! We hope that your school year is off to a fantastic start. Nurse Benavides and I have been busy at work collecting all your medical information and getting in your asthma and al-lergy action plans. Keep those coming! It is now that time of year when we are beginning to administer the state mandated vision and hearing screenings. I would like to take some time to discuss these screenings with a little Q&A. Q: When are these screenings done? A: Screenings must be done within 120 days of admission. State mandated grades are PK, K, 1

st, 3

rd and 5

th. Students new

to NISD in 2nd

and 4th

will be screened as well. Any student may be screened at any time if concerns arise. Our mass screening of 1

st, 3

rd and 5

th

grade students will be per-formed on October 14, 2015 by a team of NISD nurses. Q: What is the procedure for screenings? A: For vision screenings a dis-

your student did not pass. At that time we encourage you to make an appointment with an eye care specialist or your fami-ly physician. Q: What are some common vis-ual problems in children? A: Hyperopia/Farsightedness: The eye does not focus well on nearby objects Myopia/Nearsightedness: The eye does not focus well on dis-tant objects Astigmatism: The cornea or lens in an eye is more curved in one area than in another. Strabismus: An observable de-viation of one or both eyes when the person being screened is looking at a specific object. The eyes may turn in, out, up or down. Commonly known as “cross-eyed”. Yours in health, Rebecca Ball RN, BSN Andrea Benavides, LVN (210) 397-4059 or rebecca.ball@nisd.net andrea.benavides@nisd.net

Page 3

News from our Nurses

Nichols News

Every leaf speaks

bliss to me,

Fluttering from the

autumn tree…

Emily Brontë

We are off to a great start in the guidance department here at Nichols! I feel very privileged to work with your children! Lessons have been taught to students on how to be problem solvers and manage their conflicts using Kel-so’s Choices during the month of September. Have your students tell you about Kelso and how he helps us solve our small problems! Students will also be learning ways to respect themselves, others, and our school. As a school and staff, we will be signing a Declaration of Respect on October 9th. This will serve as a way of stating to ourselves and others the im-portance of being respectful in all situations. Many of my lessons this year will focus on Bullying Pre-vention. Students will learn how to stand up against bullying and make the right choices if or when

they are in a bullying situation.

During the month of October, I will be teaching students how to be safe in various situations and reminding all to make responsible choices! Our focus will be on “Being Proactive” and Drug Aware-

ness/Healthy Choices.

Military Pride Group is starting again! Our first meeting will be on October 16th at 7:30 AM in the Guidance Classroom (B111). This group will be for students that

have active duty military parents.

Upcoming Dates to Remember:

October 6, 2015 at 7:45 AM

Coffee and Conversation

with a focus on Bullying Aware-

ness/Prevention

October 26-30

Red Ribbon Week

More information coming soon.

October 30

Careers on Wheels and

Career Day Speakers

Yours in counseling,

Mrs. Stephanie Rigby

210-397-4076

stephanie.rigby@nisd.net

as a positive male role mod-el.

Dads, Granddads, Uncles, Step-Dads and Adult Broth-ers...this is your chance to make a difference.

Please remember in order to volunteer, you must have completed a Criminal Back-ground Check. You can do this at www.nisd.net. If you

have any ques-tions or would like to volunteer for a day, please contact the front office.

Dad & Dad-Figures,

We need you! We would like to continue this program here at Nichols.

WATCH D.O.G.S. is an inno-vative program being used by schools across America which helps them to be posi-tively impacted by the com-mitted involvement of fa-thers and father-figures in their student’s life. The goal is to have these men spend at least one day a year at the school to be an extra set of eyes and ears

Page 4

WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads Of Great Students)

Nichols News

The Counselor’s Corner

Mustang Calendar

OCTOBER

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

National Crime Prevention Month National Princi-pals Month

Nichols Proud— Superheroes in Training!

1

Day 3 College Spirit Day 7:15 a.m. Choir 7:30-9:00 a.m. & 3:00-7:00 p.m. Fall Fundraiser Money Collection

2

Day 4 Spirit Day

3

4

5

Day 5 3:00-4:00 p.m. Strings

6

Day 6 7:15 a.m. Choir 7:45-8;45 a.m. Cof-fee & Conversation with the Principal & Counselor 5:30 p.m. PTA Board Meeting

7

Day 1 3:00 p.m. Art from the Heart 3:00 p.m. Strings

8

Day 2 7:15 a.m. Choir 3:05-4:15 p.m. Student Council Meeting

9

Day 3 Spirit Day Ident-a-Kid NISD Declaration of Respect Signing Day

10

Library StoryFest

11

12

Day 0 Columbus Day Student Holiday/ Staff Develop-ment National School Lunch Week

13

Day 4 7:15 a.m. Choir 3:00-4:00 p.m. The Bluebonnet Bloggers 3:00-4:00 p.m. Young Rembrandts 6:30 p.m. PTA Gen-eral Meeting

14

Day 5 3:00-4:00 p.m. Art from the Heart 3:00-4:00 p.m. Strings

15

Day 6 7:15 a.m. Choir 5th Grade Earth Science CDB #1

16

Day 1 Spirit Day National Boss’s Day 7:30 a.m. Military Pride Group

17

18

19

Day 2 Read Across the Globe 3:00 p.m. Strings

20

Day 3 7:15 a.m. Choir 3:00-4:00 p.m. Mad Science & Young Rem-brandts

21

Day 4 3:00 p.m. Art from the Heart 3:00 p.m. Strings

22

Day 5 7:15 a.m. Choir 2nd Grade Math CDB #1

23

Day 0 Spirit Day 8:30-11:30 a.m. Bike Rodeo 11:45 a.m. Early Release/Fall Parent/Teacher Confer-ences

24

25

Los Leones Stu-

dent Art Fest

26

Day 6 Red Ribbon Week 3:00 p.m. Strings

27

Day 1 7:15 a.m. Choir Picture Retakes 3:00-4:00 p.m. Mad Science & Young Rem-brandts

28

Day 2 Special Olympics Track & Field 3:00-4:00 p.m. Art from the Heart 3:00-4:00 p.m. Strings

29

Day 3 7:15 a.m. Choir 4th Grade Writing M/C & Narrative Composition CDB #1

30

Day 4 Spirit Day 8:30-11:30 a.m. Career Day

31 Halloween