Northwood News

We are grateful to the staff, students, and families for making Northwood a great place to be! Staff and students represented various ways we are thankful this year. Thank you, Ms. Vlahoff, Mrs. Bicherl, and Mrs. Strell for putting this together as a gesture of our gratitude.

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 will nominate three students from each classroom. The selected students will parade through the building at the beginning of each month.

At Northwood Elementary, we continue to focus on regular school attendance and promoting positive attendance each month. We will hold our first random drawing to win a gift card for perfect attendance in October. Two lucky winners will take home a certificate and gift card of their choice! All students with perfect attendance will be displayed on our bulletin board.

School Resource Officer Rybak has been working in the kindergarten classrooms, providing the D.A.R.E. Jr. program. This program benefits our kindergarten students by discussing ways to stay safe in school, at home, and in the community. These lessons help build a positive connection with community helpers, especially our School Resource Officer. We thank you for all you do for our school and community!

As part of our PBIS cafeteria rewards, classes can earn cafeteria rewards by following our Northwood code (Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Ready to Learn). Once classes earn 20 stars, they can spin the cafeteria wheel. Here are some rewards classes earned this month!

Hooray! The kindergarten students celebrated learning their ABCs by parading through the building, while the rest of the classes lined 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, the November Service Learning Project was our focus. Northwood Elementary Shining Stars worked closely with Student Ambassadors to hold a food drive. All items will be given to agencies that help our local West Seneca families. Our students and their families donated over 200 items. Pictured below are Student Ambassadors sorting and counting donations. We appreciate all their enthusiasm and commitment not only to our community but also to our school!

Mrs. Bicherl’s classroom is Northwood Elementary’s Recycling Team (A.K.A. The Green Team).

As part of the Green Team, Mrs. Bicherl’s class works with Northwood’s custodial team to gather paper and cardboard. Once a week, the class breaks into teams to cover both building levels, collecting from the classrooms and offices. Our Green Team school job is a great team-building opportunity that reinforces the cooperative learning skills used in the school, as well as skills we will use for the rest of our lives—leadership, communication, creative problem-solving, listening, building self-esteem, and a sense of community service and engagement. Our students take great pride and ownership of their role at Northwood.

On November 12th, Mrs. Bicherl's class took a community-based instructional trip to the WIVB Channel 4 studio in Buffalo. Mr. Mike Doyle, News 4 meteorologist, took the class on a tour of Buffalo, NY's oldest television broadcasting station. During the tour, Mr. Doyle not only taught our students how he uses numerous computer models to come up with his weather reports, but the class was also able to meet news anchors, see the various news departments, story editing areas, the podcast streaming studio, the production/directors' booth, and the news studio set, only to name a few. The students experienced firsthand the green-screen magic used in weather reports and watched a live noon news broadcast anchored by Jeff Preval and meteorologist Todd Santos. Fun fact to share- did you know there are no camera people in the studio? The cameras are fully automated by innovative technology. Our class was then featured on the 11 pm and 6 pm newscasts.

Many thanks to Mr. Mike Doyle, Channel 4 meteorologist, for taking us on the tour, and Mrs. Nans for arranging this fun and exciting trip! This was surely a "core memory" for all of us!

During November, Northwood students had the opportunity to earn a free book. By solving math problems on their bingo boards, students practiced important math skills in a fun and engaging way. When students achieved a bingo, they were rewarded with a book of their choice as a celebration of their effort and learning.

The Northwood Student Ambassadors hosted a collection of items to help our furry friends housed at the West Seneca SPCA. We received over 80 items to help support this great cause. Many thanks to all who contributed!

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. 15th - Sept.19th: Introducing Yourself

Sept. 22nd - Sept. 26th: Listening

Sept. 29th - Oct. 3rd: Following Directions

Oct. 6th - Oct. 10th: Asking for Help

Oct. 13th - Oct. 17th: Kindness and Appropriate Ways of Speaking to Each Other

Oct. 20th - Oct. 24th: Setting a Goal

Oct. 27th - Oct. 31st: How to Make Friends and be a Good Friend

Nov. 3rd - Nov. 7th - Having Conversations

Nov. 10th - Nov. 14th - Understanding and Knowing Our Emotions and Feelings

Nov. 17th - Nov. 21st - Zones of Regulation

Nov. 24th -Nov. 28th - Saying Thank You

Dec. 1st - Dec. 5th - Recognizing and Understanding Another’s Feelings

Dec. 8th - 12th - Coping with Uncomfortable Feelings & Disappointments

Dec. 15th - 19th - Gratitude

Jan. 5th - 9th - Completing Assignments

Consider joining the Northwood PTO! Please check out all the events on the calendar for the year. Our Merry Moose Event will take place on December 16th. The next PTO meeting will be on December 10th at 5:00 PM. We hope to see you there!

All school breakfasts and lunches are free for the 2025-2026 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 5th - Half Day, Carlane Dismissal at 10:50 AM, Bus Dismissal at 11 AM
• December 10th - PTO Meeting, 5:00 PM
• December 11th - Half Day, Carlane Dismissal at 11:35 AM, Bus Dismissal at 11:45 AM
• December 12th - No School, Family Conferences
• December 16th - PTO Merry Moose Event, 5 - 7 PM
• December 22nd - January 2nd - NO SCHOOL, Winter Recess/New Year's Holiday

• 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.
  

Just a few reminders:

• When you enter the “drop off zone,” no matter how many cars are ahead of you, please have your child ready to exit when you stop.
• 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.

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 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."