Northridge Elementary Weekly Blast

Mar 09-13 - Bus Cancellation #58

Mar 09-13 Conferences

Mar 9-13 Knock Down Hunger Challenge - donate cereal!

Mar 13 Popcorn Friday

Mar 13 Read-A-Thon Slime Day

Mar 16-20 Spring Break

Mar 25 - DBC Meeting

Spring conferences are just around the corner, scheduled for the week of March 9–13.

To get your meeting on the calendar, please use the document linked below, which includes sign-up links for each teacher.

A Quick Reminder on Scheduling:

• One Slot per Student: To ensure every family has the opportunity to connect with us, please sign up for only one time slot per student.

• Split Households: For students with split families or multiple households, we kindly ask that you coordinate to share a single conference time.

• Please avoid making appointments that require student absences during the testing window.

• For more information about state mandated assessments, please visit the NRE website: NRE State Mandated Assessments

• 25-26 State Assessment Excusal Form Walkthrough Parent/Guardian

On Tuesday March 3rd, many of our 4th graders will be taking the National Assessment of Academic Progress (NAEP) assessment in either math or reading. For more information about this assessment please visit: Colorado Department of Education - NAEP.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our brand-new Volunteer Coordination Website! We know your time is precious, so we’ve created a "one-stop-shop" designed to make supporting our school simpler than ever.

Whether you have an hour to spare or want to lead a major event, this platform allows you to:

• Browse at a Glance: See all upcoming opportunities across the entire school in one organized list.

• One-Click Sign-Up: No more digging through old emails or paper flyers; just click, claim your spot, and you're set!

Our community is powered by the incredible energy of our families. We invite you to head over to the new site today to see how you can help make Northridge Elementary an even better place for our students!

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting a Wellness Night for students and families on April 30th from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. This event aims to promote self-care, emotional well-being, and healthy habits in a fun and interactive way. Throughout the evening, we’ll have various stations and activities focused on mindfulness, relaxation, healthy habits, and emotional support. It’s a great opportunity to learn new ways to support mental and physical health as a family.

We are looking for parent and community volunteers who would like to host a booth or activity during the event. If you have a skill, hobby, or area of expertise related to wellness—whether it’s art, yoga, nutrition, or mindfulness—we’d love for you to share it with our school community!

If you're interested in volunteering or have ideas for a booth, please reach out to Halie Snider at hsnider@dcsdk12.org. We look forward to working together to make this a memorable and valuable event for all!

Potential Booth Ideas Include:

• Mindfulness and Relaxation Stations
• Crafts/DIY projects (e.g., calming jars, positive affirmation cards)
• Movement and Active Play Stations (e.g., yoga, dance breaks)
• Nutrition and Healthy Snacks
• Mental Health and Self-Care Education
• Creative Expression (e.g., art or music stations)

Our 6th Grade Students are enjoying using their new Chomp Saw to design, build and add artistry to their original airplanes. The Chomp Saw was purchased through our PTO Grant - THANK YOU PTO!!!

Join NRE by bringing in boxes of cereal to share with the Backpack Society! We will create a fun domino chain on Friday to KNOCK DOWN HUNGER in community! You can bring boxes of cereal all week!

There will be a table in the front lobby! Pop by any time! We will film the Domino chain on Friday morning and put it in the Blast next week!

PTO In Action

Read-A-Thon

WOW NORTHRIDGE!! You knocked the Read-A-Thon out of the park last week!! Not only did you somehow read OVER 105,000 minutes, you also raised over $17,000 for your school! You are all so AMAZING! Because of all your hard work, Mrs. Lehnert, Mrs. Armijo, and Mr. Kirk will be SLIMED on Friday, March 13!!

This year’s Read-A-Thon was such an overwhelming success all thanks to you! We really loved to see all the wonderful reading and deeply appreciate the support of Northridge! The DBC and PTO are assembling all the prizes you earned, and they will be coming your way on March 12 and 13.

Thank you to everyone who read, donated, and helped during the Read-A-Thon - Northridge is the BEST!

New PTO Board Members Needed!

PTO is searching for some NRE parents who are interested in serving the community as a PTO Board Member for the 26/27 school year. PTO Board Members serve from May to May. Several positions will be open, please email PTOpresidentNRE@gmail.com if you are interested in learning about the opportunities! It’s a fun and rewarding experience!

“Treasure Box” Donations

PTO is willing to help you clean out your toy bins! We are collecting small toy items to restock our prize “Treasure Box”. Think of small toys your kids might get as prizes from Chuck-E-Cheese, birthday party favors, valentines, etc. Items might include: rubber duckys, bouncy balls, fidgets, unused stickers or temporary tattoos, unused pencils/erasers, etc. If you’ve got some items you’d like to recycle, please donate them to PTO! It is a win-win-win, you have less clutter in your house and PTO saves money by not needing to buy new prizes! (Although, we can’t promise you that those prizes won’t end up back at your house at some point!) Drop off your items at the office anytime. Thank you!

Upcoming Events

Family Dance

“Wassup” Northridge! Our Family Dance is happening TONIGHT from 6:00-7:30pm in the NRE Gym!! This blast from the past, 90’s theme dance promises to be “all that and a bag of chips!” In addition to dancing in the gym, there will be several other activities in the Cafeteria and Library. JC Jackman will be the DJ and Rocky Mountain Sister Bears will be onsite selling custom NRE stuffies!

Admission for the Dance will be $5 per family. Admission includes desserts and drinks. Tickets will be available to purchase on MySchoolBucks - we hope to see you all there tonight! Click here to get your ticket!

Silent Auction

The annual PTO Silent Auction will take place April 10-17 and will culminate at the SweetPlay Family Night Out on April 17. PTO is asking each grade level to help make a basket for the Auction. Please click the following links and look for ways you might like to contribute:

Kindergarten

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th & 6th Grade

Restaurant Nights

Local restaurants host “spirit nights” where a designated portion of the proceeds from your order will be generously donated back to NRE PTO. All you have to do is mention NRE when ordering. It’s a win-win-win: you get a night off from making dinner (or treats), local restaurants get our business, and PTO receives a donation. Stay tuned for more dates - we are adding more to the calendar all the time!

3/12/26: Fujiyama

3/13/26: Desert Donuts

3/13/26: Kona Ice

Volunteer Opportunities

NRE has a new volunteer site to see all available volunteer opportunities. Please check it out here!

Ongoing Fundraisers

Celebrate Your Artist!

Do you have piles of amazing art from your student at home and nowhere to display it!? Would you love to have it all in a beautiful and convenient book to enjoy? Plum Print has given Northridge the opportunity to support our school while we transform our children’s artwork into custom books! Not only will they donate 20% of the sale back to Northridge but they have also provided a $25 off code for us! Please take a look at the flyer below and use the code NORTHRIDGE when you place your order. This will give you $25 off your order and send 20% back to NRE!

NRE SWAG!!

NRE PTO is partnering with a company called “Mostly For Nerds” (MFN) to provide NRE Swag! You can now purchase tshirts, hoodies, hats, etc. MFN is also generously donating $5 per item sold back to NRE PTO. More items will be available in the future, and if you have a request for items that you’d like to see available, please let us know. Check out the online store now!

Paint the Rock - Reserve the Rock to celebrate a special occasion. First sign up for your date here, then make your $20 donation to PTO through MySchoolBucks.

Additionally, PTO has volunteers who are willing to paint the rock for you if you’d like! Follow the steps above, then email PTOpresidentNRE@gmail.com to inquire about volunteer availability. When we find a volunteer who can paint for you, then you can make an additional $50 donation to PTO.

King Soopers - Did you know!?

King Soopers donates back to the community through their Community Rewards Program. Through September 30th, there were 45 families enrolled in the program to direct their King Soopers Community Rewards to NRE PTO. Between January 1 and September 30, 2025, the rewards generated by those 45 families totaled over $2200!! That is FREE and EASY money for NRE! There is no cost to families to participate and it takes 1 minute to link your King Soopers account to NRE PTO! We are really hoping to take full advantage of this great community partnership! See the very easy steps in the flier below.

Dear Northridge Families,

It has been an incredibly busy week here at Northridge! We have so much to celebrate, from theatrical masterpieces to record-breaking fundraisers. Here is the latest scoop:

A Trip Through the Biomes

The 2nd-grade performance of "Biomes" was nothing short of amazing! This was a milestone for our school, as it was the first time we have ever performed this play. It took a tremendous amount of work to bring this new production to life, and our students blew us away with their knowledge, creativity and acting skills.

A massive thank you goes out to the entire 2nd-grade team for their hard work and to Mrs. Bush, our music teacher, for hitting all the right notes. We also want to extend our gratitude to the PTO, who provided the funding for our beautiful new costumes through a teacher-requested grant. It’s a performance we won’t soon forget!

Read-a-thon: Bring on the SLIME!

The results are in, and they are staggering. Thanks to your incredible generosity and our students' dedication to reading, we raised $17,000! Because we hit our goal, it’s time for the "reward." Mr. Kirk, Mrs. Armijo, and myself are officially bracing ourselves—we are ready to get slimed! The big day is Friday, March 13th. I am sure there will be lots of pictures so stay tuned.

Shining Bright: Students Show Their Skills

We have two important assessments happening across different grade levels this week.

Kindergarten Reading Risk Assessments: Our "Kindies" showed off their growing reading skills this week! This is a newly required assessment designed to help us identify students who may struggle with reading early on. By identifying these needs now and providing targeted interventions immediately, we can close the achievement gap early and set our youngest learners up for a lifetime of literacy success. Thank you to our Kindie Teacher and aids for making this happen this week!

4th Grade National Testing: Some of our 4th graders worked hard on the The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) this week. Our school was randomly selected to participate this year. The NAEP is known as The Nation's Report Card, is the largest continuing, nationally representative assessment of U.S. student achievement in core subjects. While we don’t know how the students scored, we could see that they were working hard, using strategies and doing their best work!

Bittersweet Milestones: Graduation Pictures

Another big milestone took place this week as our 5th and 6th graders took their cap and gown pictures. This is always a difficult one for me personally; seeing them in those gowns is a reminder that we are that much closer to them leaving NRE. However, it is a true rite of passage, and it was wonderful to see our students standing so proud as they look toward their next chapter.

Snow Way We Were Missing This!

The snow may have been falling outside, but things were heating up at Friday night's Family Dance! We are so grateful to the PTO for sponsoring such a fantastic event and to all the families who joined us despite the weather. With so many activities to engage in, there was never a dull moment. Thank you for making our school community feel so vibrant and connected!

Have a warm weekend!

Smiles, Erin

NOTE: Lego Club for Grade K-2 is now full. We have limited space available for Grades 3-6.

Grades 3-6 on Tuesdays

Grades K-2 on Thursdays

2nd Semester: February 10th & 12th through May 5th & May 7th

7:45 am – 8:20 am

Location: Library

(On meeting days, please meet at the front door of the school and

wait for a club leader to let you in at 7:45am.)

Please visit My School Bucks to sign up and pay the $30.00 fee.

The Lego Club provides a safe and challenging environment to promote creativity and critical thinking. Students will be invited to participate in weekly building challenges or are able to free build.

Please remember that participants should…

• Demonstrate PRIDEful behaviors

• Be a positive influence to others

• Listen and follow the directions of the club leaders

• Participate in cleaning up

• Be respectful of others and only work on another person’s project when asked

• Remember that Lego Club materials stay at NRE

***ATTENTION ALL 6TH/7TH/8TH GRADE ATHLETES***

Mountain Vista HS Middle school strength camp!!!

Open to all CURRENT 6th/7th/8th grade athletes

Presented by MVHS Boys Football and Girls Flag Football

Coached by Head football coach Garrett Looney (who is also the girls flag football OC) and Head Flag football coach Ken Ortega (who is also the DC for the boys football team)

Join us for a 10 week strength camp with sessions 2x per week!

Please see info below and please follow us on instagram @mvhs_gridiron

****LINK FOR REGISTRATION****

Registration & Payment

Looking for fun, engaging, unplugged summer activities for your child this summer? Consider Stone Canyon's Summer Camp programs! Join us for a summer of fun, adventure, and friendship. Find registration links and more information here: https://www.stonecanyonedge.org/summercamp

Located in Larkspur, we offer week-long Overnight Camps for 9-15-year-old campers and 3-day Day Camps (including transportation to/from camp out of Castle Rock) for 6-9-year-old campers.

How to Receive Emergency Messages from DCSD

Log into the Infinite Campus Parent Portal and click on the “person” icon in the top right-hand corner of the page. Navigate to “Contact Preferences” and review your contact information. If you see an incorrect phone number or email, please update it in Infinite Campus, or contact the registrar at your child’s school to request an update.

If one of your New Years resolutions is to "volunteer more",

I have some great opportunities for you! :)

Lunchroom Volunteer Sign Up

We are asking for volunteers in the lunchroom again this semester.

The Lunchroom staff is in need of another person in the

lunchrooms most days for the rest of the year.

Please look over the dates and see if you can help out! We would love to have you! The lunchroom staff appreciate you so much!

Please consider signing up for a regular weekly shift if you can or just sign up when you have a day free :)

*Please see the sign up genius for guidelines while

volunteering in the cafeteria.

Cancellation Week 10

March 9-13 Bus #58

Cancellation Week 11

March 23-27 Bus #53

Cancellation Week 20

May 26-29 Bus #58