Northwood Hills News
March 6, 2025

Northwood Hills News is the school newsletter written by campus leadership. You'll find important dates and information about upcoming activities including evening events, school-wide assessments, and RISD area events. The newsletter will go out via email on Thursdays of each week. Please ensure your email addresses and phone numbers are up-to-date in Focus so that you receive each week's updates in a timely manner.
A Note From Mrs. Smith
Hello NHE families,
Spring Break is almost here! It's hard to believe we are entering the last quarter of the 2024-2025 school year. Springtime is such an exciting, busy time for all! It's the season of our annual spring state assessments, field trips, grade-level events, Field Day, 6th-grade graduation, and end-of-the-year celebrations. We are committed to supporting every child in making academic growth and having a strong finish to this school year.
Enrollment for the 25-26 school year is OPEN! Don’t miss the chance to enroll your student early and streamline the process for the next school year.
It has been announced that due to the number of banked instructional minutes in the RISD student academic calendar, the district will not need to use April 18 or April 21 as snow make-up days, and both days will remain student and staff holidays.
Have a great week and a wonderful spring break!
Best regards,
Jenni Smith
Principal
Coming up @ NHE
Please be aware of the upcoming events at NHE!
March 6 - Kindergarten Round-Up
March 7 - SOAR Awards for Quarter 3
March 10-14 - Spring Break
March 20 - Open House, PTA Meeting, Pancake Supper
March 21 - First-grade field trip
March 28 - Fourth-grade field trip
March 29 - NHE PTA Auction & Gala
2025-2026 NHE Kindergarten Round-Up
Northwood Hills Elementary will host a Kindergarten Round-Up on Thursday, March 6th from 5:30-6:30 PM in the NHE cafeteria. Parents and prospective 2025-2026 kindergarteners are invited to hear about NHE and the online enrollment process, as well as tour the school during this event.
If you have a prospective 2025-2026 NHE Kindergartener, please RSVP at https://s.risd.org/NHEKRoundUpRSVP25 including regrets, for Kindergarten Round-Up. Once you complete this form, you will receive an email with detailed enrollment information.
RISD’s online enrollment process begins on February 25, 2025. All 2025-2026 students must be enrolled online at https://web.risd.org/enrollonline/.
Lunch Reminders
Food deliveries from third parties such as Door Dash, Uber Eats, etc. are NOT accepted on campus.
Student lunches should only be delivered by a parent and others who are listed on the student's emergency card only.
Students will not be called from class to pick up a lunch, they can only receive their lunch during their lunch time. Please communicate with them prior to school if you will be dropping food off for them during the day.
Lost and Found
Please Label Student Belongings
Please be sure to label all belongings that your children bring to school, including sweaters, water bottles, backpacks, lunchboxes, sweatshirts, etc. We have several items in our lost and found that do not have names on them, so they cannot be returned. Remind your student to look through the lost and found for missing items.
Enroll Today for the 2025-2026 School Year
NHE Open House: March 20th
NHE will host our annual Open House on Thursday, March 20th from 5:30-7:00. The PTA will hold a general membership meeting and host our annual pancake supper. We can't wait to see everyone there!
NHE PTA Auction & Gala
Capturing Kid's Hearts Focus for March
Courage
Our Kids Heart Challenge program has come to a close and we are so grateful for your support and dedication!
A heartfelt thank you to our Northwood Hills Elementary School families for your engagement and involvement in any way you were able! We are so grateful for what you have helped our community achieve- we are thrilled announce that our school had
We raised $6,047.41of our $3,000.00 goal!
22 Families engaged in Kids Heart Challenge
3 Families completing Finn's Lifesaving Mission
$6,047.41 were raised to support the American Heart Association
We are proud of our partnership with the American Heart Association, their impact affects us all, things like:
· The tobacco buying age
· Nutrition access
· CPR Trainings
· Congenital Heart Defect Research (1/100 babies are born with CHD!)
Nuestro programa de Kids Heart Challenge ha llegado a su fin y estamos muy agradecidos por tu apoyo y dedicación.
¡Muchas gracias a nuestras familias de la escuela Northwood Hills Elementary School por su compromiso y participación de cualquier manera que haya podido! Estamos muy agradecidos por lo que ha ayudado a nuestra comunidad a lograrlo. Estamos emocionados de anunciar que nuestra escuela
¡Hemos recaudado de nuestra meta de $3,000.00!
22 de Familias involucradas en el Kids Heart Challenge
3 Familias completaron la Misión de Salvavidas de Finn
$6,047.41 se recaudaron para apoyar a la Asociación Americana del Corazón
Estamos orgullosos de nuestra sociedad con la Asociación Americana del Corazón, su impacto nos afecta a todos, cosas como:
· La edad para comprar tabaco
· Acceso Nutricional
· Capacitación en RCP
· Investigación congénita de defectos cardiacos (¡1/100 bebes nacen con CC!)
Afterschool Tutoring Information
Students who are invited to attend tutoring will receive a permission form. Bus transportation is provided for tutoring. If your child brings home a tutoring invite, please make it a priority to have them attend. We are committed to closing instructional gaps and providing the support necessary for each student to meet their growth goals.
Tutoring Dates:
March18, 25
April 1, 8
Spring After School Club Information
Upcoming Assessment Dates
STAAR Dates:
April 15: STAAR RLA (grades 3-6)
April 16: Make-up STAAR RLA (grades 3-6)
April 23: STAAR Science (5th grade only)
April 24: Make-up STAAR Science (5th grade only)
April 29: STAAR Math (grades 3-6)
April 30: Make-up STAAR Math (grades 3-6)
*Please avoid scheduling any doctor's appointments or out-of-town travel on these dates. We want every student to have the opportunity to show what they can do on these important state exams.
Calling All Dads!
We need your help to make pancakes for the NHE Pancake Supper on March 20.
Scan the QR code or click here.
Thank you in advance from your kids and the NHE PTA!
Future Falcons
Attention Future Falcons! We have lots of fun events coming up this Spring and would love for you to join us! Please let me know if you can attend or would like to be included on our email list! Also don't forget to follow us on Facebook at NWH Falcons & Friends!
Partners Programs
Building a Trusting Relationship Around Food: Picky Eating 101
RISD Special Students Services invites parents to register and attend this dynamic parent training opportunity with guest speaker Jenny McGlothlin on March 20, 6:30pm-7:30pm. Jenny is a certified Speech Language Pathologist and Certified Lactation Counselor specializing in feeding for newborns through adolescence. Her passion is working with caregivers to give them confidence and competence to be their child’s best feeding and communication partner. Childcare is available with advanced registration by March 7th.
RHS Eaglettes Spring Mini-Clinic
April 5th 9am-12pm w/Parent Show-Off at 11:30am
Online registration- $40
Pay at the door- $50
Grades K-5 will learn a fun dance
Grades 6-8 will get a drill team prep session
If registration is paid online, attendees will receive a goodie bag, snack, water, and a t-shirt!
Helpful Parent Resources
- Create a Focus account – RISD provides electronic access to a student’s attendance, grades, and other information via the Focus school software system. . https://web.risd.org/focus/
- Please go to RISD Voly to fill out an application. Please make sure you select NHE as your school. This process needs to be completed every year!
All of RISD will be utilizing Talking Points for classroom communication. Please download the free app to get started communicating with your child's teacher!
You can find more information online at this link
Download SchoolCafe app – RISD’s school cafeteria payment system is called SchoolCafe. https://www.schoolcafe.com/
Download RISD Mobile Parent app – Access student information, view the latest news, receive important alerts, review archive of parent messages sent by RISD, view school menus and lunch account balances, find your bus stop, access student schedules, assignment grades, attendance and more via the RISD Mobile Parent app.
District Links
Focus Parent Portal
Library Opt-Out Program - Elementary
SEL Opt Out 2024-2025
Lunch Visitors
Beginning next week, visitors are welcome to join their students for lunch. Here are a few reminders when planning to visit for lunch.
- Due to space in our cafeteria we are asking that parents who wish to have lunch with their child do so only once per week.
- Arrive before your child's scheduled lunchtime.
- Bring your ID to be screened at check-in. You will be given a visitor badge to wear at all times while on campus.
- Visitors should sit at the designated visitor table with their child and are not permitted to sit at the class cafeteria tables.
- Lunch visitors may eat lunch with only their child. Friends will not be permitted to join another parent for lunch.
- We request that visitors follow a no-cell phone policy to ensure student privacy and quality time with their child. Taking pictures or videos in the cafeteria that include any other students or staff is not permitted.
- When your child’s lunch period is over, visitors should exit the building from the front or office doors. Lunch visitors should NOT walk their child back to class.
- If a visitor who is not a parent or guardian comes to eat lunch with a student, we must have permission ahead of time from the parent or guardian or they will not be permitted to eat with the student.
These guidelines may need to be adjusted from time to time. Updates will be communicated as needed.
NHE Recurring Links and Information
NHE Volunteers & Visitors
Safety and security is a top priority for us. You must complete a background check yearly if you will be volunteering for ANY school activities. Please go to RISD Voly to fill out an application. Please make sure you select Northwood Hills Elementary as your school. Again, this process needs to be completed every year!
All visitors must show a government-issued ID every time you are either visiting school or volunteering and will need to have a Verkada Badge. The great thing about our new system is that you can use the QR Code from home in the morning, and your badge will be waiting for you when you arrive. Please wait to access the code until 7 am the day that it is needed so that the badge doesn't time out. This is a requirement for any activity we will have during the school day.
Before entering the building, you will need to push the doorbell. Our office staff will ask how they can help you before letting you in. This is a requirement for everyone even if our office staff knows who you are. We appreciate your support and patience with this process.
Parents and Families On Campus
With the increased need for security on all campuses, NHE will continue to use Verkada to sign in all visitors on campus. If you plan on visiting campus, please make sure to bring your driver's license to the front office to be scanned by our RAPTOR system.
During occasions when we have a big event, we will send out a QR code ahead of time for you to complete to help speed up the check-in process.
If you plan to volunteer on campus, please complete the additional background check with VOLY. It is best to complete the VOLY application as soon as possible. VOLY requests can take up to 72 hours to complete. Please call the Northwood Hills office for any help needed with completing VOLY. Sign up to volunteer at risd.voly.org
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