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M.L. King Intermediate School

MLK Family Snapshot Newsletter 10-2-25

Posted Date: 10/02/25 (4:45 PM)

MLK Snapshot
 

October 2, 2025

 

What is the MLK Snapshot?

Clear communication and connecting with families are two of our top priorities at MLK! The Snapshot is our weekly information newsletter sent every Thursday afternoon. Our hope is that you will be able to use this Snapshot to stay connected with important calendar dates, events, and everything else related to MLK.
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Message from the Principal

MLK Families,

The Week of Respect is designed to recognize the importance of social and emotional learning and character education. We observe the week by providing a variety of activities and instruction focused on preventing all forms of Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying at our school.

Please take some time this week to discuss the importance of respecting one another with your child. As students grow older, and have more and more interactions with peers, maintaining respect for one another becomes increasingly important. It remains at the core of the values we hope to instill in our students each day at MLK.


All the best,

Andrew Kehoe, Principal
 

MLK's Calendar at a Glance

OCTOBER
Monday, Oct. 6 - PTO Meeting 6PM at MLK
Monday, Oct. 6 - Week of Respect
Monday, Oct. 13 - Picture Day
Friday, Oct. 17 - PTO Fall Festival
Monday, Oct. 20 - NJ School Violence Awareness Week
Calendar
 

PTO Meeting - In Person 10-6-25

Our first PTO meeting of the year will be this upcoming Monday, in person at the school. All are invited to attend! The meeting will start promptly at 6:00pm in our cafeteria.
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Upcoming Spirit Days

Every Friday at MLK is a special Spirit Day!

Here is a list of our upcoming Spirit Days. We invite all students to dress up and participate!

10/3: MLK Spirit Day: Wear your MLK Gear
10/10: *Week of Respect - follow Spirit Week Schedule - See Below!
10/17: Diwali Spirit Day - Wear bright colors
10/24: Sports Day - Celebrate your favorite sports team with a jersey or a hat
10/31: Halloween - Wear your costume or Black & Orange
week of respect
 

Picture Day Approaches!

Picture Day approaches on Monday, October 13th. See the information below regarding the prepay code and pre-ordering for your pictures!
picture day
picture day
 

4th Grade Social Studies Trip - The Cornelius Low House/Old Town Village

This month our 4th grade students will have the opportunity to make a visit to the nearby Cornelius Low House Museum and East Jersey Old Town Village. This trip is a great way for our students to connect with their local community and the many interesting historical events that happened right here in Piscataway.

4th grade parents - Please be on the lookout for a permission slip and more information from your child's teacher as their trip date approaches. You can find our trip dates for each 4th grade room in the calendar above!

You can find more information about this historic site at this link:


low house
 

The Kastle Favorites Fundraiser

This is one of our biggest fundraiser of the year! Check out the pictures below for all the information!

To register you can go to:
MLK code is: 991563

kastle
kastle 3
kastle 2
 

The PTO Book Fair (Sept 29-Oct 6)

Check out all of our info in the flyer below!!
book fair
 
PTO

PTO Flyer and New Website

Please continue to frequently visit our PTO website to look for ways to stay involved.

Updated: sign up to volunteer for your child's specific teacher slot at the upcoming book fair.

You can follow this link to check out the site, and find our flyer attached!

 
pto newsletter
spirit wear
 
ipad

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.

 
birthday

Intermediate School Birthday Procedures

Our birthday procedures at the Intermediate level have been updated for this school year. Please read carefully before planning any celebrations!

From the Intermediate Student Handbook:

Birthday Celebrations:
• Recognitions are brief and are scheduled at a time of the day that is convenient for the teacher’s classroom schedule. Please make contact with your child’s teacher ahead of time to schedule the date/time.
• Recognitions are for students only (guests/family members may not attend).
• Birthdays are exciting for our 4th & 5th graders. Our Intermediate Schools celebrate “food free” birthdays, which means no special snacks, treats, or edible items may be brought in to share with the class. Instead, a small, non-edible item may be brought in to hand out to your child’s homeroom class. If you would like to celebrate your child’s birthday in any other “food free” way, please reach out to your child’s homeroom teacher at least 1 week in advance.
• Please let your child’s teacher know if your child is not permitted to participate in their peers’ birthday celebrations.
 
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Social and Emotional Supports at MLK

Please see below for an overview of 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.

We utilize resources from the Second Step SEL program, 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 recognition opportunities to encourage and promote schoolwide positive behaviors. 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.

 

Our 2025-2026 PTO Executive Board

President - Melissa Lieberman-Elimanco
Vice President - Deepna Javan
Treasurer - Jennifer DeQuattro-Haskin
Secretary - Rachel Sy
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MLK Parent Resources

Please remember that our school and district websites remain a primary source for all information related to our schools.
Piscataway District Website
MLK Website