We recognize students who follow the Northwood Code (Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Ready to Learn) and have positive attendance. At the end of the month, teachers nominate two students from each classroom. The selected students parade through the building at the beginning of the month.

At Northwood Elementary, we continue to focus on attending school every day and promoting positive school attendance each month. We held another random drawing to win a gift card for perfect attendance. Two lucky winners took home a certificate and gift card of their choice! We will hold our next drawing at the end of December!

World Kindness Day is observed annually on November 13th. It was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of kindness organizations from around the globe. The purpose of this day is to highlight good deeds in the community, focusing on the positive power and common thread of kindness that binds us together. We celebrated by wearing words of kindness to remind ourselves of the importance of being kind to one another and its impact on individuals and communities.

Hooray! The kindergarten students celebrated learning their ABCs by parading through the building while the rest of the classes lined up in the hallways to cheer them on. Great job on your hard work, kindergarteners!

With the rush of the holidays, the glimpse of hope for a well-deserved break, and the opportunity for our school to give back and support our community was our focus for the November Service Learning Project. Northwood Elementary Shining Stars worked closely with Student Ambassadors to hold a food drive. This food drive began on November 6th and ran until Friday, November 22nd. Northwood will give all items to agencies that help our local West Seneca families. Our students and their families donated over 275 items. Pictured below are Student Ambassadors sorting and counting donations. We appreciate all of their enthusiasm and commitment to not only our community but our school too!

This month, twenty-five fourth and fifth-grade girls from Northwood were able to participate in a Volley Power program. Two clinics were held at Northwood, and then a Friendship Tournament at the ROCK facility, where they competed against the other West Seneca Elementary Schools. The Champions Project, a non-profit organization sponsored by the Ralph Wilson Foundation, offered this free program. All participants also received a free t-shirt and volleyball to practice at home. The Champions Project introduced the girls to a new sport, and they had a lot of fun! Way to go Northwood!

In Mrs. Giglio's (AKA Mrs. Frizzle) second-grade classroom, students had a fun-filled day of learning about fast and slow land changes on Earth.

We are excited to announce that every classroom will participate in community-building meetings this school year! Community building meetings are an engaging way to start each day, help build a strong sense of community, and help set children up for social and academic success. Each day, students and teachers will gather together for five to ten minutes and interact with one another to focus on a specific social skill. Each week, we will focus on a new social skill and reinforce the skill throughout the week.

Goals of Community Building Meetings:

• Set the tone for respectful and engaged learning in a climate of trust.
• Build a positive community by fulfilling students’ need to belong, feel significant, and have fun.
• Model and practice social-emotional skills.
• Learn and practice critical social skills in real-time.

Skills:

Sept. 16th - Sept.20th: Introducing Yourself

Sept. 23rd - Sept. 27th: Listening

Sept. 30th - Oct. 4th: Following Directions

Oct. 7th - Oct. 11th: Asking for Help

Oct. 14th - Oct. 18th: Kindness and Appropriate Ways of Speaking to Each Other

Oct. 21st - Oct. 25th: Setting a Goal

Oct. 28th - Nov. 1st: How to Make Friends and be a Good Friend

Nov. 4th - Nov. 8th: Having Conversations

Nov. 11th - Nov. 15th: Understanding and Knowing Our Emotions and Feelings

Nov. 18th - Nov. 22nd: Zones of Regulation

Nov. 25th & 26th: Saying Thank You

Dec. 2nd - Dec. 6th: Recognizing and Understanding Another’s Feelings

Dec. 9th- Dec. 13th: Coping with Uncomfortable Feelings & Disappointments

Dec. 16th - Dec. 20th: Gratitude

Consider joining the Northwood PTO! Please check out all the events on the calendar for the year. The Merry Moose Shop/Holiday Party will occur on December 17th, from 5 PM to 7 PM. The next PTO meeting will be on December 3rd at 5:30 PM. We hope to see you there!

All school breakfasts and lunches are free for the 2024-2025 school year!

Sign up to add money your child's My School Bucks account for snacks or additional lunch items through Parent Portal or here -- https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/getmain?requestAction=home

• December 3rd - PTO Meeting, 5:30 PM
• December 6th - Half Day, Carlane dismissal begins at 10:50 AM, Bus Dismissal begins at 11:00 AM
• December 12th - Half Day, Carlane dismissal begins at 11:35 AM, Bus Dismissal begins at 11:45 AM
• December 13th - No School, Parent/Teacher Conferences
• December 17th- Merry Moose Shop/Holiday Party, 5:00 PM
• December 23rd - January 1st - No School, Winter Recess (School Resumes January 2, 2025)

The Fall iReady Family Report for grades K-8 are now available to view in the Document Library within the Parent Portal. You can find both the 24-25 Math & Reading Assessments there separated by assessment subject.

To access:

• Log in to the Parent Portal (this is best done from a web browser and NOT the app)
• Under the Navigation column on the left - select Document Library

Once there, please locate the following titles/descriptions:

• "24-25 Fall Reading Assessment"
• "24-25 Fall Math Assessment"

To view & download your student's assessments, please click on the PDF icon that can be found in line with the assessment report title/description(next to the date column).

Please visit the i-Ready Family Center for more resources to help you interpret and use these scores. A document called Understanding Student Data for Families is also attached. If you still have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child's teacher.

• Safety is a top priority. ID is always required when entering the building.
  
• Please note that pets are not permitted on the property during school hours.
  
• A note is required if you allow your child to walk home from school. All notes are kept in the main office.
  
• Please keep an eye on the weather. If it's thunder or lightning, and you do not see staff outside, please use discretion when releasing your child/children from your vehicle.
  

Thanks for your patience with Northwood Elementary these last few days through arrival and dismissal. As the busing situation improves, we hope the parent drop-off and pick-up line will be more manageable.

Just a few reminders:

• If you have an assigned bus number, please consider using district transportation. Things should be running closer to on time this week. This will alleviate car traffic on campus.
• Please stay in your car for arrival and dismissal to keep the line moving. An adult will walk your child into school. Please consider buckling up quickly to keep the line moving.
• Parent pick-up will begin at 2:55 PM. Please refrain from coming early.
• If you plan on picking up your child, please send in a note to the teacher. If you have a set pick-up plan or schedule, please also communicate this by submitting a green form.
• If you walk to school or are dropped off in the morning, please use the front door entrance and avoid the bus loop.

Thank you for being so cooperative. We are hopeful everything will be running smoother this week.

One of the best ways to keep track of school work, schedules, assignments, grades, attendance, lunch money, etc., is the Parent Portal. Each parent may have one account, attaching multiple children/students. You must know your child's PowerSchool Access ID and Password to create an account. Please call your child's school to retrieve this information. For more information on how to access this account for your children, please visit this link -- https://www.wscschools.org/parentportal

The parent portal is a "one-stop shop" for student information. We are sharing that all report card information, transportation, and food service information will be provided through the Parent Portal.

The West Seneca Central School District PowerSchool Parent Portal can be found at https://powerschool.wscschools.org/guardian. You must know your child's PowerSchool Access ID and Password to create an account. Please get in touch with the Northwood Elementary Main Office at 677-3640 if you need this information. To create a new Parent Portal account, please follow our Parent Portal Page instructions.

The district code is GPNR.

**School contact information can be found here - https://www.wscschools.org/domain/1291

Other helpful Links:

District Website

Download the Apple IOS PowerSchool Mobile App

Download the Android PowerSchool Mobile App

How to Use the PowerSchool Mobile App

PowerSchool Mobile App provides on-the-go visibility to assignments, grades, comments, and student progress from any iOS or Android device. District Code: GPNR

Regular school attendance is crucial for academic success and overall development. Attending school helps students stay engaged in learning, develop good habits, and build a strong foundation for future educational and career opportunities. Please use the "Note to School" notepad if your child misses school.

To safely promote family engagement, we ask any parent/guardian interested in volunteering in our buildings to complete the "Parent Volunteer Orientation." Volunteers include, but are not limited to, classroom helpers, classroom readers, PTA volunteers, etc.

Any adult entering the building during the school day must view the entire slideshow and complete the Annual Acknowledgement Form. Upon completing the slideshow, you will find the Acknowledgment Form by clicking the icon specific to your building.

To get started, please follow this link to the webpage:

https://www.wscschools.org/Page/23819.

If you have COVID-related questions or any other health-related concerns, please contact the school nurse, Mrs. Pisto at 716-677-3644 or via email at mpisto@wscschools.org.

NYS mandates that we have physical exams on file for all children in UPK/Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade. New York State also requires all students new to the district to have a physical on file. The physicals must be less than a year old. They can be mailed, dropped off, or faxed to our office (716-674-3505).

The West Seneca Central School District has Apps that allow parents to track their child's bus.

**Bus 1-23 will use the First Student App-Firstview

Bus 60 and higher will use the district App Here Comes The Bus (HCTB)

**Firstview parents will need their student's ID found on the parent portal. HCTB parents will need their student ID from the parent portal and our district code, 86979.

West Seneca Central Schools Mission

"We are an educational community that encourages kindness, inspires confidence, and instills the belief that together we can achieve anything."