Northwoods News

Northwoods Families,

It was great to see everyone at our Meet the Teacher event last Thursday! We are so excited to launch the 2023-24 school year with you tomorrow!! To ensure that you and your families are ready for a great start to the school year, please review the information below.

Upcoming Events:

• Monday, August 28th--First Day of School!!
• Monday, August 28th--Kindergarten Staggered Entry (for select students)
• Tuesday, August 29th--Kindergarten Staggered Entry (for select students)
• Wednesday, August 30st--Kindergarten Staggered Entry (for select students)
• Thursday, August 31st--Kindergarten Class Lists Posted
• Thursday, August 31st--Kindergarten Meet the Teacher
• Monday, September 4th--Labor Day (No School)
• Tuesday, September 5th--First Day of School for All Kindergarten Students
• Monday, September 11th--PTA General Meeting
• Friday, September 15th--Hispanic Heritage Month Begins
• Tuesday, September 19th--Spirit Night at Chipotle

Our goal is for each of our students to have a positive experience at school. However, as parents/guardians, we need your help and support at home. Please review the list of tips below to help ensure your child has a positive and successful start to the school year.

Establish Consistent Nighttime Routines: Elementary students need an average of 9-11 hours of sleep each night to ensure healthy brain development. Help your child develop consistent nighttime routines to ensure they come to school well-rested and ready to learn.

Place Limits on Screen Time: As parents, it is important to model healthy use and limits of screen time. Designate device-free time at home, and ensure that your child's device is charged outside of his/her bedroom.

Check Your Child's Backpack Daily: Checking your child's backpack daily ensures that you will receive communication from the school and your child's teacher in a timely fashion. Graded work, interim reports, and report cards are sent home weekly. Additionally, parents should ensure that students do NOT bring toys (pokemon cards, plushies, etc) or dangerous objects/substances (knifes, gel blasters, bb guns, vape pens, etc.) to school.

Leave Unneeded/Distracting Items at Home: We ask all parents to ensure that their child(ren) leave distracting items (purses/cross-body bags, makeup, cologne/perfume, etc.) at home. Though trendy, these items can cause significant distractions during the school day. We reserve the right to confiscate personal items when misused at school. If confiscated, these items will be taken to the front office and will remain at school until a parent picks them up. Students may bring a small, discreet pouch for hygiene items if needed.

Monitor Social Media Usage: Pay attention to the apps your child is using, especially social media. Monitor your child's social media posts. They may reveal apprehension or anxiety about the upcoming year or alert you to bullying or social pressures. Be sure the apps they are using, or sites they are visiting, are safe and don’t contribute to emotional distress.

Monitor Emotional Wellbeing: Watch for signs of stress and anxiety in your child when school begins. Mental health challenges often become apparent at the beginning of the school year. Indications of stress/anxiety may present themselves as struggles with interactions with teachers or peers, difficulty with academics or organization, issues during transportation to and from school, and feeling pressured to fit in with other students, including wearing the right clothing and/or accessories.

Teach Coping Skills: Help your child learn strategies for coping with stress. While there are many tools, some fairly simple examples are: listening to music, journaling, being assertive, reading, enjoying a hobby, creative art activities, being outside, getting some exercise, deep breathing and other mindfulness techniques, and talking with a trusted friend or therapist.

Stay Connected: Keep the dialogue open and stay connected to your child. Be an active member of your child’s life. Make yourself available if they have questions, need to talk, or just need a hug.

Kindergarten Staggered Entry:

All kindergarten students will participate in staggered entry. This means they will only attend school on one day during the first week of school between August 28th and September 1st. Your child's assigned date for staggered entry was included in a staggered entry information letter, which was mailed out last week. If you did not receive a letter, please contact the school and we will help identify your child's assigned date.

Kindergarten Class Lists:

Class lists for Kindergarten will not be finalized until we have completed Staggered Entry. Lists will be posted near the front office doors on Thursday, August 31st. As a gentle reminder, I do not accept parent requests for specific teachers.

Kindergarten Meet the Teacher:

Our Meet the Teacher event for kindergarten students and families will be held on Thursday, August 31st from 5:30 - 6:15 PM. Please bring your child's school supplies during Meet the Teacher.

Vaccination/Health Forms:

Per state law, we are required to collect vaccination records and student health forms for each kindergarten student. Student vaccine records and health forms are due no later than the first day of school. Forms may be scanned and emailed to Crystal Hartzell at chartzell@wcpss.net, or they can be dropped off directly at the school.

2023-24 Bus Routes:

Bus Routes for the 2023-24 school year have been posted. You may view the list at the link below. Please DO NOT assume that your child's route number and/or bus stop are the same as last year. Arrival and departure times will may vary significantly from day-to-day. Please understand that individual schools have no control over district transportation processes. We appreciate your patience.

• WCPSS Bus Routes

Important Change to Bus Route 3 and Route 4:

Routes 3 and 4 will be completed by the same bus driver. For efficiency purposes, the bus will take students assigned to Route 4 home first. The bus will then return to pick up students assigned to Route 3. Please be aware that this will change the time that students on Routes 3 and 4 are dropped off. Please plan accordingly.

2023-24 School Meal Prices:

Meal prices for the 2023-24 school are noted below. If your family is in need of meal assistance, I strongly encourage you to complete and submit an application for Free/Reduced Cost Meals. Applications will be mailed out to all WCPSS families in the coming weeks and will also be available during our Meet the Teacher event at the start of the year.

• Breakfast Cost--$1.50
• Lunch Cost--$3.25

Pre-Pay for Meals Online:

The easiest way to pay for school meals is to create an online account at www.MySchoolBucks.com. Please remember, you will need your child's student ID number to register. Once registered, parents may load money, set spending limits, and set-up auto-loading so that your child never runs out of lunch money.

Free/Reduced Price Meal Application:

Families in need of meal assistance must reapply every school year if they are interested in receiving meal benefits. Applications may be submitted online at https://www.wcpss.net/Page/1849. Paper copies are also available at the school.

Parent Visitors at Lunch/Outside Food:

As we prepare for the beginning of the school year on Monday, August 28th, I would like to remind everyone that parents/guardians will not be permitted to eat with their child during his/her lunch time for the first 30 days of the school year. It is essential that we have this time to help students and teachers build clear, consistent expectations. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation with this matter. Additionally, as a friendly reminder, outside food from local restaurants is not permitted during parent visits.

Student Medications:

Please remember that students cannot receive medication (prescription or over-the-counter) at school without a signed 1702 form. The 1702 form is linked below and must be signed by a licensed medical doctor before being submitted to the school.

• Form 1702--Parent's Request and Physician's Order Form for Medication

All prescription medication must be in original packaging with a pharmacy label. OTC medications must be in the original packaging and labeled with the student's name. Medications may be dropped off at school at our Meet the Teacher event in August.

School Visitors/Student Check-Out Requirements:

The safety and security of our students and staff are of utmost importance. In accordance with district recommendations as well as to maximize school safety, school staff will follow the procedures outlined below for ALL visitors, including all recognized parents and district staff members.

• All visitors will be required to ring the doorbell near the front office prior to gaining entry.
• A front office member will greet visitors, ask their name and the purpose of their visit.
• All visitors will also be required to present a valid photo ID.
• After obtaining their name and purpose, and ID, a front office team member will permit entry. If a visitor refuses to provide a name, purpose, or identification, or if the staff feels uncomfortable with the interaction, the visitor will be denied entry and access to the building.
• Upon entry, all visitors are required to sign in on the Verkata Visitor Management System in the front office and will be issued a visitor's badge before being permitted to move throughout the building.
• Students will NOT be dismissed from their classroom for early dismissal until all processes and procedures noted above have been satisfied.

Carpool Procedures (AM & PM):

To help increase traffic flow on our campus as well as to reduce traffic congestion on Chapel Hill Road during our arrival and dismissal times, our campus has been designed with two carpool lanes. If you plan to drop off or pick-up your child via carpool, we ask that you observe the following rules:

1. Incoming traffic should queue in both carpool lanes (pictured below).
2. Follow the Chick-fil-A (zipper merge) method of alternating vehicles (left side, right side, etc.) when merging at the designated merge point.
3. Be patient and give grace. Allowing other vehicles to merge in front of you won't significantly impact your wait time.
4. Have your child's car seat positioned on the passenger side of the vehicle so that we can safely screen and unload from the safety of the sidewalk.
5. To help carpool run more smoothly, please make sure your child has his/her backpack, lunch, and water bottle ready so they can quickly exit the vehicle after their screening.

PTA General Meeting:

Our first PTA General Meeting will be held on Monday, September 11th from 6:00 - 7:00 in the cafeteria at Northwoods. All parents/guardians are invited to attend. During this meeting, our PTA leaders will work to approve the 2023-24 budget, spending/fundraising priorities, and ways that you can help! Please join us! Your voice matters!

Spirit Night at Chipotle:

Save the Date! Our first Spirit Night of the 2023-24 school year will be on Tuesday, September 19th at Chipotle (Village Market Place location). A portion of online and in-store sales will be donated back to the school. See the flyer below for more details.