NEWS from the NEST

Woodland Families:

Thank you to everyone for making this very unpredictable week happen! We were only in the NEST two days, but there were a lot of things that were accomplished. Everyday in the building is an opportunity for your student(s) to move forward!

NTI vs. Weather Day Info: Please take a look above at the NTI & Weather Day information. We had numerous families out of school on Friday. Sickness is understood, but everyday we are in session is important to your student, especially regarding attendance and truancy. Remember that a House Bill now exists that requires the school district to report families when attendance becomes an issue. Being late to school, tardies, can equal up to full days of missed instruction. We are trying to be proactive and let families know, but when your student misses school habitually we must follow the law. The Bill in its entirety can be viewed below in the Student/Family Handbook Spotlight.

Library Fundraiser (from Mrs. Tabb): We will be participating in the Reading for Education fundraiser this week. This fundraiser is to help us raise money for library books and provide books for our teachers' classroom libraries. Your child will be bringing home a lanyard (shown below) with directions on Tuesday.

Just for participating, your child can earn a participation prize--ask them about the Book Buddies stuffed animals that they saw on the announcement last week. In order to receive a participation prize, simply follow the directions on the lanyard and send it back with the prize code you received upon completion written on the back. Thank you for supporting our library!

There is also a screenshot below showing what the email invitation page looks like once you sign up. If you have any questions, please reach out to rebecca.tabb@hardin.kyschools.us

Woodland Winter Gala (Rescheduled). The Woodland Winter Gala has been rescheduled for February 6th from 6:30-8pm. The link below is still active if you would like to purchase a ticket for your Eagle.

iReady Family Meetings: The nighttime meeting has been rescheduled for next Wednesday at 5pm. If the weather prevents this from taking place we will reschedule. I have included the presentation shared during the daytime meetings that took place on Tuesday. iReady Informational Slides

NTI (Non-Traditional Instruction): All students present at school on Friday were sent home with NTI packets for Day #3, #4, and #5. If your student was absent several messages were sent out to families including a video message from me explaining the importance of trying to pick these up on Friday. If you were unable to pick these up and need to access them from home, they are available on the school's district website. Click here to access all grade levels for NTI work.

Woodland NTI Page

OOD (Out of District) students: If your Eagle is currently an OOD student their attendance and behavior are huge contributors in order to remain a student at Woodland. Students that are out of district must be transported to and from school or a transporation method has to be arranged. Families that are OOD students will be contacted before the end of March if they need to prepare to attend their Eagle's home school for the 26-27 school year.

If you have an additional Eagle that might be joining the nest or a family friend that may want their student to attend Woodland, they will need to complete an OOD request. This must be completed before the end of February. Non Resident Application

Filling out the application does not guarantee that your student will be able to attend Woodland. We must keep space available for the students that are zoned for our school. The NEST is only so big and we must ensure appropriate classroom sizes for both our students and staff.

I'm hoping that everyone is staying safe and warm.

Here's to ANOTHER great week in the NEST!

Eagles Fly Because They Try!

Mr. Thompson

Principal - Woodland Elementary

brandon.thompson@hardin.kyschools.us

At Woodland. student safety is always our top priority, both in the building and on the way to and from school. We kindly ask families to take a moment to review safe bus behaviors with your student(s) at home. Practicing expectations such as staying seated while the bus is in motion, keeping aisles clear, using kind words, keeping hands/feet to oneself, and following the driver’s directions helps ensure every child enjoys a calm and secure ride each day.

To reinforce these expectations, Mr. Thompson & Mrs. Aubrey are hosting bus reminder sessions throughout the school day. These sessions allow us to revisit proper bus procedures, discuss the importance of respectful behavior, and clearly outline the consequences for unsafe choices. Our goal is to partner with families to create a consistent message that riding the bus safely is everyone’s responsibility.
Thank you for your continued support in helping every Woodland student travel safely and confidently.

Mrs. Aubrey

Assistant Principal - Woodland Elementary

precious.aubrey@hardin.kyschools.us

1/28/26 iReady Data Family Meeting @ Woodland (Nighttime)

1/28/26 4th Grade BOYS Championship Game (TBA)

2/6/26 Woodland Winter Gala 6:30-8pm

Library Fundraiser: We will be participating in the Reading for Education fundraiser this week. This fundraiser is to help us raise money for library books and provide books for our teachers' classroom libraries. Your child will be bringing home a lanyard (shown below) with directions on Tuesday.

The Competency for the Month of January will be Engaged Learner. Each teacher will choose a student from their classroom and throughout the month of December, we will recognize those Eagles for exhibiting characteristics of being an Engaged Learner on our LIVE Google Meets Friday mornings. Please look below at what it takes to be an Engaged Learner.

A trip to the Office is not always a BAD thing. These Eagles were shouted out by going above and beyond and received a Positive Office Referral. Just another way of positively promoting our Eagles!

Section II – ATTENDANCE

Because of the close relation of attendance to academic achievement, the teachers and office staff closely monitor attendance at school. When students are late, absent, or checked out early, there are many missed opportunities.

As one means of encouraging prompt and regular attendance, the school will send written notice to parents when their child has 3 days of absence without a valid excuse. Students arriving late will be given an admittance slip to take to the teacher. Likewise, when a parent picks up their child before school dismisses, those procedures will be followed.

Late arrivals and early pickups are deemed an unexcused tardy in the attendance system. If your student is absent from school, upon return, send a note to the office stating the reason for the absence signed by the parent or guardian.

A student who is absent because of illness and goes to a doctor should present the doctor’s statement upon returning to school or within five school days. The district will no longer allow doctor’s notes after 5 school days upon return of the student.

A parent note serves the purpose of keeping the teacher informed; however, the parent note will not validate more than six (6) absences. Phone calls do not count as an excuse for the absence. Even though it is understood that every illness does not merit a trip to the doctor, a written excuse from a doctor is required to be “excused”.

Attendance reports will display the number of days that the student was tardy and the total number of accumulated absences (the sum of all event percentages).

Students having absences must make up the missed work. It is the student and/or parent/guardian’s

responsibility to contact the teacher concerning make-up work during the teacher’s planning periods or after school hours. For every day the student misses, the student will receive the same amount of days to complete the make-up work.

Woodland Elementary follows the Hardin County Schools policy which states the acceptable reasons for excused absences. Please view the Hardin County Schools policy found in the Code of Conduct handbook.

TARDY

Students will be counted tardy for the following reasons:

1. Student is not in his/her classroom by 7:30 a.m.

2. Student is checked out of school before dismissal at 2:15 p.m.

ABSENCE

Students are not present for an instructional day or days. If a student is absent, whether excused or

unexcused, it still counts towards their overall attendance.

CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM

Kentucky defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10 percent or more of the enrolled academic year for any reason (excused and unexcused). That means a student missing 2 days per month of school over the course of a school year results in being chronically absent. This differs from truancy which counts only unexcused absences and tardies. When students miss school, they miss out on learning, friendships, and so many other opportunities.

TRUANCY

KY Legal Statute on Truancy

Our truancy officer may contact parents/guardians of students who have more than 6 unexcused absences and/or tardies. Parents/Guardians are permitted to use 6 parent notes to excuse absences. Please reference the 2025-2026 Hardin County Schools Code of Acceptable Behavior and Discipline for additional information. In order to receive an education, students must attend school.

HOW WOODLAND WILL COMBAT AGAINST TRUANCY & CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM

Starting in the 25-26 school year at Woodland we will begin a process when a student reaches 9 unexcused absences or a total of 15 absences either excused or unexcused you will receive a letter with a scheduled Parent Engagement Meeting or (PEM). The meeting will be a mandatory meeting and a response will be required. We are partnering with the Central Kentucky Community Action Council to help find solutions to chronic absenteeism by supporting families in a variety of ways.

Every Tuesday (School-WIDE) all Eagles practice their Reading Fluency. Eagles are given so many minutes to read to a partner, then the partner gives them feedback. Then they changes spots. Each person gets to read aloud to another student. This encourages reading fluency so our Eagles can become stronger each day! Here is the link to the slideshow used school-wide. You can practice with your Eagle at home as well!

6 Minutes to FLUENCY.

We cannot do this without the support of our families! Our attendance this year has been SO much better than last year. Thank you! Our Eagles are soaring because of support from home!

Each day a homeroom class has the opportunity to earn a Tardy Tater piece. How do they earn it? It's all tied into Attendance. Students must be present (not tardy) in order for the class to add a piece. After 10 day of only have one student missing from their class, the class receives a Tater Chip Party. We are wanting our Eagles to be at school each and everyday. We miss them when they are not here!

Students will once again be eligible to earn EGGcellent Eagle Tickets for work they do from the Reading Passages and Math Fluency sheets posted on the Family Newsletter. Students can simply get a note from a family member stating that they read the reading passage for the week. Students can also complete the math problems (show your work) on a blank sheet of paper and send those in as well. Please do not keep the printing from allowing your student to complete the work.

Students needs their first and last name and their homeroom teacher's name on their paper when turning these in. Can students complete work outside of their grade level? YES!

I will award students for grade level work that is either 1 grade level above or below the grade level that they are currently in.

For every Reading Passage a student reads = 2 EGGcellent Eagle Tickets

For every 10 math problems a student completes = 1 EGGcellent Eagle ticket

EGGcellent Eagle tickets will be drawn on Monday mornings this school year for a snack and prize.

1st Grade Reading Passage (A Bee's Busy Day)

2nd Grade Reading Passage (What are Mushrooms?)

3rd Grade Reading Passage (Keeping the Windows Clean)

4th Grade Reading Passage (A Superhero Teacher)

5th Grade Reading Passage (The Amazing Spring Peeper)

All grades levels have a fluency standard.

The KY Math Standards state that students should be fluent in the following areas:

1st Grade Math Fluency Sheet

2nd Grade Math Fluency Sheet

3rd Grade Math Fluency Sheet

4th Grade Math Fluency Sheet

5th Grade Math Fluency Sheet

Please look above at the APP that you will need to download in order to stay in contact with Woodland via Rooms. Rooms is inside the HCS app. The only people that will be automatically entered into Rooms will be a student's guardian(s) that are listed in Parent Portal. All family members can still download the app and see all things Woodland. If you find yourself having trouble with Rooms and need assistance, please reach out to us so we can help you. Please also make sure that your correct phone number is listed in Parent Portal so you receive the text messages that the district and Woodland sends out.

Follow the directions in the link to obtain a Parent Portal. All families are encouraged to make sure that they have access to their student's Parent Portal. This is where all attendance and grades are housed for your student.

https://www.hardin.kyschools.us/parents/parent-portal-account-how-do-i-get-one

All educators in the state of KY in the public school systems must use the Kentucky Academic Standards. All of the programs that we use at Woodland align to these standards. If you are ever wondering why your student is learning a specific skill or concept in their grade level, you can look to these for guidance.

Do you want to help, but you don't want to go out and buy and drop it off at the school? Click here to help send supplies directly to the school. Thanks in advance!

https://a.co/6QhXhhx

Woodland does have a Wellness policy that is a SBDM (Site Base Decision Making) policy about no outside food coming in for birthday celebrations. We do celebrate every student in a monthly celebration on the last Thursday of the month. Students are given a treat provided by the cafeteria, we sing Happy Birthday, and each child gets a Happy Birthday pencil. If you would like to do something additional, please reach out to your student's homeroom teacher. You are always welcome to send in a trinket/prize/pencil for the students in the class. You can also contact the school and come and eat lunch with your student if you are able to do that. With the ever growing number of students with known and unknown allergies, we do not allow large batches of food (cupcakes, brownies, etc.).

Some suggestions in lieu of food:

• Stickers
• Glow bracelets
• temporary tattoos
• Bubbles
• Play-doh
• Side walk chalk

Thank you for your understanding and support.

If there is a change in your student's transportation, please fill our the form linked here. We must have transportation changes in writing for documentation purposes.

The link is https://forms.gle/39qw9qqqjnXccMtR9

Here is the important information regarding how parents can view and pay for field trips and complete permission slips for their students.

To get started, parents need to complete a two-step sign-up process:

1. Create a free SchoolCash Online account.

   • Visit https://hardin.schoolcashonline.com and click on "Register."
   • Fill in your first name, last name, email address, and create a password.
   • Choose a security question.
   • Select "Yes" to receive email notifications (no promotional emails will be sent).
   • Check your email for a confirmation message (remember to look in the Spam folder if it doesn’t appear).
   • Use your email and password to log in.

2. Add your student(s) to your account profile and make a payment.

• Sign in at https://hardin.schoolcashonline.com.
• Navigate to "My Account" at the top of the page.
• From the dropdown menu, select "My Students."
• Click to add a child:
  • Type your school board name and choose your school from the list.
  • Enter your child's details (up to 8 students can be added).
  • Click "Confirm."
• Select the item you wish to purchase and click "Add to Cart."
• Once finished adding items, click "Continue" to make a payment.

Are you looking for child care after school? The district provides child care, at a low cost, to families. Please visit the link to check it out and fill out the application or you can call 270-769-8800 and ask to speak to Amy Wood. If you are interested please act quickly. Spots do fill up. Thank you!

https://www.hardin.kyschools.us/school-aged-child-care-sacc-1

If you are interested in being a volunteer, this video explains how volunteers can complete a background check (which they need per law and policy).

https://youtu.be/jd8mltg9bmM

Some points of note:

• HCS will send a request for a background check to the Administrative Office of the Courts EVERY FIVE YEARS. The AOC charges the district a $10 fee for each check administered. We ask the volunteer to pay for that background check processing fee.
• We will only ask for a processing fee every five years instead of every year. We ask for the background check form to be completed each year in order to maintain a clear record of the current school year's volunteers.
• The background check will not be processed until the Superintendent’s office has received $10 for the background check and a copy of the receipt issued by the school. For instance, if an adult who has never volunteered becomes a volunteer in 2024, they will not have to pay for another background check until 2029.