Northwoods News
A Message from Principal Nixon--Week of October 14, 2019
Dear Northwoods Families,
It's hard to believe that we are already halfway into the month of October! I'd like to thank everyone that participated in Walk-to-School Day on October 2nd. We had a great turnout, and we were even joined by Mayor CJ Cawley of Morrisville and Mayor pro tem Lori Bush of Cary!
We have a lot happening over the next couple of weeks, so please take a few minutes to read through the updates and information below. Additionally, I am excited to announce that the Town of Cary will be presenting a Teacher-of-the-Month award to one of our teachers on October 28th. The finalists for the award are Teresa Combs (3rd Grade), Rosemarie Martin (Special Education Teacher), and Renee Vaughn (Media Specialist). I will announce the winner in my next newsletter! Please join me in congratulating all three of these deserving teachers!
Upcoming Events & Important Information
Cafeteria Staff Shout-out
Our cafeteria staff (pictured left) do an amazing job preparing meals for over 400 students each day. Their tireless efforts have have transformed our breakfast participation from 16 breakfasts served daily at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year to 97 breakfasts served daily currently. That's a 600% increase! Please join me in thanking them for all that they do! Our school couldn't function without them!!
Cafeteria Snacks--Update to School Policy
As most of you know, our cafeteria provides snacks (chips, cookies, ice cream, etc.) as an optional add-on to the daily meals they prepare. We have noticed over the past couple of weeks that many students are purchasing excessive amounts of snacks with, or in place of, their meal. Students are sometimes distributing those snacks to their friends or eating them all in one setting. To help ensure that students are purchasing balanced meals, we are limiting them to one snack per day. Parents may set additional restrictions by accessing their student's online lunch account at myschoolbucks.com
National School Lunch Week
October 10th - 14th is National School Lunch Week. Our staff will be working to celebrate this NSLW by having students draw and write about their favorite foods in the cafeteria. Student responses will be hung in the cafeteria. Please see the flyer below for more information.
Other News and Information
Updated Student Check-Out Procedures
Over the last few weeks, WCPSS has been conducting comprehensive school security assessments to help identify potential areas of improvement. Based on information from their initial assessment of Northwoods, we will be making a major change to our procedure for student check-out. In addition to using the Ident-a-Kid computer system in the front office, we will now require parents/guardians to present an ID so that our office staff can ensure that each child is being picked up by an approved adult. This new procedure will go into full effect on November 1st. We will be sending home a small informational flyer prior to November 1st and will also post signage near the doorbell. Between now and then, please make sure that you have your ID with you when picking up your student from school.
Morning and Afternoon Carpool Procedures
Parents, please use BOTH carpool lines when queuing in the morning and afternoon. This will help reduce the amount of vehicles we have overflowing onto Chapel Hill Road.
Halloween Costumes
As a friendly reminder, Thursday, October 31st is now a make-up day for students. Please do not send students to school in Halloween costumes. In addition to being a distraction from academic times, they are actually considered a fire code hazard by the county Fire Marshall.
Spelling Bee
After consulting with many other schools in our area, we have made the decision to discontinue our school Spelling Bee. This decision reflects our commitment to ensure that all school-based programming compliments the current academic standards and areas of focus. While correct spelling is certainly important, it is no longer an explicit component of the K-5 English/Language Arts curriculum.
Spirit Week
We will have our first Spirit Week of the 2019-2020 school year the week of October 28th. Please see the flyer below for specific information.
Northwoods Elementary PTA Information
Adopt-a-Spot
On Sunday, November 17th, join us for Adopt-a-Spot to give our campus landscape a little love from 2:00-3:00. We’ll be working in the rain garden, doing general tidying up and maybe a bit of mulching. From 3-5 join us in the Northwoods School Garden to help finish out planting for our winter garden! Hope to see you there!
The "Run and Done" fundraiser is here!!
Starting on Oct 21st through Nov 6, 100% of the money donated by our school community goes directly back into our school and the PTA supported programs. Some of the programs include cultural arts assemblies, teacher funding and classroom setups, technology support and so much more. Donations can be cash, check or can be made online at https://northwoods.memberhub.store/. Click on the donation button on the left hand side of the screen. Soon all students will receive a donation sheet with instructions but if you have any questions, please contact northwoodsfundraising@gmail.com
Box tops collection day is coming up!
Thank you for your support! Please send in all of your unexpired box tops to your child's teacher by October 25th. We will continue to collect unexpired box tops throughout the year. Our next big collection day will be in the Spring.
As a reminder, clipped box tops are being phased out and replaced by digital box tops. Box tops may now be automatically added to our school's account when you download and use the new box tops app. Get started today! The app may be found here: https://www.boxtops4education.com/
Recess in the Garden is in full swing!
We'd love some more volunteers to help students enjoy the garden, water the beds, harvest food and help maintain this treasure of ours! Please email koalatygarden@gmail.com for more information on how to get involved and/or check the Signup Genius for available slots: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A48AAAE2BA6F49-recess3
Help us gain our PTA School of Excellence Award for 2020/2022: Please complete our baseline survey if you have not already: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VQ5Z2QJ
2019-2020 Cultural Arts Performances
We are pleased to announce that the PTA has arranged 3 Cultural Arts performances throughout the year. The dates, times, and information for each show is below. Please Note: Due to increased student numbers and limited space, parents will not be invited to watch the performances this year.
Dates:
November 15, 2019
January 17, 2020
April 28, 2020
Times:
All assemblies are scheduled in the afternoon:
Grades K-2 from 1:15pm to 2:15pm
Grades 3-5 from 2:30pm to 3:30pm
Artists and performances:
11/15/19
Yasu Ishida - Japanese Magical Journey
Combining traditional Japanese theatre, lion dance, music, origami, magic, and storytelling, Yasu will guide audiences to the enchanting land of Japan. He will share excerpts from a Japanese traditional folktale with origami, a Japanese traditional vaudeville act with the playing of a traditional flute, and a Japanese lion dance. Yasu's programs include stories that he performs with lots of audience interaction and participation.
To learn more about Yasu Ishida and his performance, you can visit his website at:
01/17/20
Rick Brown - Meet Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton makes a guest appearance to talk to students of all ages about his life, and how he changed the world of science. Sir Isaac will bring his Laws of Motion and Theory of Gravitation to life for your students. He starts by telling the students about his early life and about the famous the story of the apple falling on his head. Since man has always wanted to move things, so Sir Isaac shows how they got better at doing just that. Students try to break the third Law of Motion which deals with action-reaction. Using students to help, Sir Isaac demonstrates his three laws of motion in fun and exciting ways. He marvels at all the ways that the Laws of Motion have been used for by mankind including especially the space travel that has taken place during the last 60 years.
To learn more about Rick Brown and his performances, you can visit his website at:
https://www.scienceedventures.com
04/28/20
Trent Arterberry - Think Bigg
Think Bigg blends mime, storytelling and puppetry into a hilarious show of kid-friendly stories and characters. Featuring lots of audience participation, students learn about non-verbal communication and specific mime techniques both onstage and in their seats. "In short episodes as a racing-car driver, a pilot, a robot, a digital dude, a puppet named Mr. Bigg and the classic man-trapped-in-box scenario, he fascinates his young audience and involves them in trying some of his moves and realizing the power of the imagination." - NOW Magazine, Toronto
To learn more about this artist and his performance, you can visit his website at :