Northwood News March 27 - 31

Be Smart. Be Kind. Be United. Be a Unicorn.

Thank you for Choosing Northwood!

Dear Northwood Community,

It's Carnival Week! We are so excited for the big day, this Saturday, April 1 from 2:00-6:00 pm on the Northwood playground/field. It's sure to fun time! We hope you will joins us and invite your friends, family and neighbors. There truly is something for everyone; fun games, great food and a fabulous silent auction!

If you ordered a Carnival T-shirt it is coming home with your child today. It would be great for us all to save them to wear on Friday to show our excitement for the day. A lot of kids like to wear them on Saturday at the Carnival too.

A big thank you to Erica Lewis for organizing our campus beautiful day this past Saturday. She and a team of volunteers worked hard all morning to spruce up our campus, do some basic cleaning and plant some flowers. It looks great!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 28 is our monthly early dismissal day for staff professional learning. School will be dismissed at 12:30 pm, so please make arrangements for your child.

Be sure to read to the end of the bulletin for a lot of important updates and reminders about Carnival and everything that is going on at Northwood!

Have a great week and thank you for your support!

Mrs. Harper

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Life In the Library

Welcome to your Northwood Library! Check out our Padlet each week for the latest in library news and events by clicking THIS link.

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Volunteers

Volunteers are still needed to set-up, run & clean-up Carnival on Saturday. We are asking all parents, grandparents, teachers, etc. to please sign up for at least one 1-hour shift to help make this event a success. You can sign up here: tinyurl.com/northwoodcarnival. This is also a great volunteer opportunity for school & community groups that need volunteer hours, middle school age & up! Questions, please contact Lisa Miller at Miller.LisaG@gmail.com.

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Join the Fun!

YAY, IT IS CARNIVAL WEEK! - Our annual Northwood Carnival is happening THIS Saturday, April 1st from 2-6pm! This is our largest fundraiser & event sponsored by the PTA & is a wonderful community event with lots of fun for the whole family! Please see below for more detail on fun for the week & we hope to see you all there on Saturday!

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Cake Contest

We hope your student is planning to submit a cake for the Carnival Cake Contest, a fun Northwood tradition! All cake entries are due on Friday morning between 7:00 & 8:00am in the cafeteria. Judging will begin at 8:30 & winners will be announced before the end of the school day. In addition to the contest, please help us stock our longtime favorite "Cake Walk" with wonderful cakes & baked goods for Carnival. All donations can also be delivered to the Cafeteria on Friday morning between 7 & 8:30am. The class who donates the most baked goods will WIN a Popsicle Party! Questions, please contact Susan Craig at susan.m.craig@gmail.com.

News and Upcoming Events

Carnival: Northwood's Spring CARNIVAL will be held THIS Saturday, April 1st from 2-6pm! There will be lots of fun, food & laughs for April Fool’s Day:) Please make plans to join us & bring your families, friends & neighbors for an afternoon of FUN including food, treats, drinks, TONS of fun games, prizes, inflatables, cake walk, photo booth, karaoke + an amazing Silent Auction to shop & all funds raised go back to our amazing teachers, staff & Unicorns!

*Advanced ticket & t-shirts will be available at our sidewalk sale starting today, March 27th through Friday, March 31st at drop-off from 7:15-7:45am & pick-up from 2:20-3pm! (Tuesday, March 28th early release sales from 12:10-12:45pm) Tickets will be available at a presale rate of 12 tickets (1 ticket = $1) for $10 total & t-shirts will be $12 each, limited sizes available so first come, first serve! Cash, check & Venmo will be accepted. Questions, please contact Joy Nicewander at joynicewander@gmail.com.

*Cascarones Contest! Please drop off cascarones donations in your child's classrooms, these are collected each morning & will count towards the contest through Friday, March 31st. You can also Venmo $2 to @NorthwoodElementaryPTA if preferred with a note for cascarones AND teacher name. The class that collects the MOST will win a Popsicle Party! Questions, please contact Kaela Momtselidze at kaela.brendler@me.com.

*A HUGE Unicorn thank you to our amazing sponsors: Home & Patio, Park Place Recreational, Britton Orthodontics, American Bank, Theory, Real Estate Muses, AIM, Screaming Goat Yard & Tap, The Law Office of Lisa S. Miller, Mindful Kindness Counseling LLC, Mission Bell, ACE Five Oaks, Integrated Shredder Technology, The Beignet Stand, Next Level Urgent Care, Kumon, Austin Flipsters, Vivroux Sports & Dryline Partners for supporting the 2023 Northwood Carnival! We truly appreciate all of your generous support!

Unicorn Watch: Watch Dogs is now Unicorn Watch! If you would like to volunteer please use the following link: Unicorn Watch Sign Up . You will also need to order a Unicorn Watch shirt which can be purchased using this link: Unicorn Watch Shirts . If you would like to volunteer, please make sure that your DPS clearance is current. You can do that here: DPS Clearance There will be no orientation meeting this year. If you have any question please email them to nwunicornwatch@yahoo.com

Join PTA: When you join the PTA, you join a community that encourages student achievement and builds a partnership between our families and our school. PTA organizes teacher appreciation, provides classroom grants, supports student enrichment programs, and so much more. We believe that together we can help our children be successful. Go to joinpta.org and sign up online or submit cash or check to the front office. Payment envelopes are available. The membership fee is $7.00 per person and there is an additional $1.50 transaction fee for joining online. Consider having both parents, grandparents and even your child join! If you have not already joined, please join today.

Upcoming Dates:

March 27-31 - Advanced ticket and T-Shirt sales for Carnival

March 28 - Early Dismissal @ 12:30/Staff Development

March 30 - Young Master's Art Show 5:30-7:30 pm - Littleton Gym

March 31 - Carnival Set Up

April 1 - Carnival 2:00-6:00 pm

April 6 - College Shirt Day

April 7 - Student/Staff Holiday

April 14 - Purple Up! Wear Purple for the Military Child

April 19 - Grades 3-5 STAAR Reading Test

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Morning Routines and Drop Off

Our school day is from 7:30 am - 2:45 pm. Students may enter the building as early as 6:50 am to eat breakfast.

Please drop of your child next to the curb in the school parking lot. Student Safety Patrols will open your car door and assist your child. Please do not drop off your child on Pike Rd. or in the drive through lane.

If your child arrives before 7:23 am they will wait in the following location K-1: Cafeteria, 2-5: Gym. Please have your child put a book in their backpack, so they can read while they wait. At 7:23 am the teachers will pick up the students and go to class. The tardy bell rings at 7:30 am, so please allow plenty of time. In order to ensure the safety of all our students, we ask that parents not come into the building in the mornings. We will make sure that everyone gets to class safely.

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School Absences

Our goal is for all of our students to maintain outstanding attendance (at least 95%). Our current attendance rate is 93.3%, We have had a little drop over the past couple of weeks. We are close, but every child, every day makes a difference!

The best way to learn is by being present at school! If your child needs to be absent due to illness, please be sure to send a note to school the day they return explaining the reason for the absence. Absences for illness and medical appointments will be excused with a written note.

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Pick-Up Procedures

Everyone picking up a student from school at dismissal is required to present an official Northwood Dismissal Tag. Official green tags with your child’s name and grade were passed out the first week of school or when you registered. If you need an extra one, please let your child’s teacher know. If you do not have a dismissal tag, you will be required to come to the front office and present an ID to receive a dismissal tag.

All car pick and parent pick up must present their tag and wait for their child to be called at dismissal. Please do not walk over to where the children are waiting to get your child before they are called, as we cannot confirm your identity. We understand that this may take a little longer, however, we want to ensure that everyone goes homes safely. Thank you for your cooperation

Visitors on Campus

All visitors to campus will be required to present an ID and receive a visitors badge through the Raptor system in order to come into the building during the school day. We understand that this may not be convenient, but it is necessary in order to ensure safety.