THE BEST

October 12 - Holiday, No School

October 14 - Vision Screening (Grades 1, 3 & 5 only)

October 14 - PTA Dining for Dollars, Marlow's

October 21 - Boosterthon Kickoff

October 21 - Hearing Screening (Grades 1, 3, & 5 only)

October 22 - PTA Fall Mornings, Last Names A - M

October 23 - PTA Fall Mornings, Last Names N - Z

October 29 - Fun Run

October 30 - Book Character Parade

It’s been a great week at Northwood, capped off with a fantastic All Pro Dad meeting this morning! As we look toward October, Northwood is excited to celebrate Kindness Month. Thank you to our school counselor, Mrs. Weeks, for coordinating the events this month. Included in the graphic below are specific days to wear special colors as well as opportunities for our students to practice kindness at school, at home, in the community, and toward themselves.

It’s important to highlight Fulton County Schools’ recent communication regarding the review of elementary school capacity and utilization in Geographic Region C (North of the Chattahoochee). Driven by declining enrollment and underutilized facilities, the process will evaluate attendance zone adjustments and potential school consolidations and/or closures to better align enrollment with available capacity. The process will include three community forums to gather stakeholder input on potential attendance zone adjustments and school consolidations and/or closures designed to improve enrollment and facility utilization. Details regarding upcoming community meetings, dates, and locations can be found on the FCS website at fultonschools.org/redistricting. Northwood’s attendance lines are not currently part of the review, but it is important that all families remain informed throughout the process.

Today is National Custodian Day, and I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our amazing custodial team for all they do to keep Northwood clean and looking its best. We appreciate your hard work, dedication, and commitment to our school each and every day.

With gratitude,

Heather Q. Rucker, Principal

A huge congratulations to our first grade classes for raising the most money during Piggy Palooza! As our winning grade level, first grade has earned a special Jeremiah’s Italian Ice party! 🍧

We are also thrilled to announce that, together, Northwood reached our $15,000 fundraising goal! Thank you to every student, family, teacher, and staff member who donated, participated, and filled the week with so much excitement and school spirit.

A very special thank-you to our wonderful sponsor, Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, for supporting Piggy Palooza and treating our winning grade level to an Italian Ice party! As an additional thank-you from Jeremiah’s for participating, every student will receive a buy-one, get-one-free coupon in their Friday folder today. We are so grateful for Jeremiah’s generosity and partnership!

We are incredibly proud of what our Northwood community accomplished together. Way to go, Explorers!

We have been working hard this quarter to master new skills in math! One way we are able to practice those skills is by playing math games. Mrs. Evangelista, our Curriculm Support Teacher, made us a whole kit full of different games that target specific concepts we are learning. Students are playing games that show their knowledge of multiplication facts. Our current unit is focusing on finding the factors and multiples of numbers, so the games perfectly support our learning. Thank you Mrs. Evangelista!

Fifth Grade Science Sleuths 🔬: Fifth grade science standard S5L4 asks us to "Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how microorganisms benefit or harm larger organisms." It was a great opportunity to use our "Glo Germ" kit of special powder and blacklights to observe how difficult it can be to see microorganisms like bacteria and viruses. It also promoted some great conversations about how germs can be spread through touch and shared objects. Students have now become big proponents of hand washing and keeping surfaces clean.

As you may be aware from a recent district message, Fulton County Schools will consider changes to attendance zones and evaluate school capacity through a redistricting/consolidation/closure process this fall. The process involves Geographic Region A (schools located south of the City of Atlanta) and Geographic Region C (schools located north of the Chattahoochee River). Because our school is located within one of these regions, we encourage parents and community members to stay informed, learn more, and provide input. Information about upcoming community forums is available at www.fultonschools.org/redistricting and in the attached flyer.

Have you ever wondered what the School Governance Council (SGC) does and how it supports our school? Our SGC is made up of our principal, parents of students, community representatives, as well as appointed teachers and staff, who work together to support student success and help our school continue to grow and thrive. By bringing together our different perspectives, the council gives our entire school community a voice in important decisions.

What Does The SGC Do?

The School Governance Council has five key areas of responsibility:

• Strategic Planning - Helping establish school priorities and goals based on the needs of our students and school community.
• Budgeting - Providing input on how resources and funds can be used to support our school’s goals and make the greatest impact for students.
• Operational Flexibility – Exploring opportunities and innovative approaches that allow our school to better meet the unique needs of our students.
• Performance Feedback – Reviewing progress toward goals and providing feedback to help ensure our initiatives are making a positive difference.

Our SGC’s work can be seen through programs and initiatives that directly benefit our students, including STAR Readers and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination). These initiatives support academic growth while helping students develop a love of learning, strong organizational habits, goal setting skills, independence, and confidence.

At the heart of the SGC is a shared commitment to our students. By bringing us together the SGC helps ensure that decisions reflect the needs of our school and support an environment where every student has the opportunity to learn, grow and succeed.

In the Media Center, students have been learning about how to be safe, responsible, and respectful online. By the end of October, all students in grades K-5 will complete Digital Citizenship lessons from Common Sense Media on the following topics:

• ​Healthy Habits​
• ​Privacy and Safety​
• ​Cyberbullying and Online Harm​
• ​Information and Media Literacy

As students spend more time online — whether learning, socializing, or entertainment — parents play a key role in reinforcing positive digital habits at home. By staying informed about topics like online safety, screen time, cyberbullying, and media literacy, parents can support their children in making smart choices and becoming responsible digital citizens. For conversation starters and family tips, please visit the resources linked above, including Common Sense Media’s Family Tech Planners and Tips & Resources page. These tools are designed to inspire meaningful conversations about technology use within your family.

We’re excited to offer an optional way for you to support your child’s reading at home through Beanstack, our school’s reading log platform. You can help by logging your child’s reading minutes each time they read—it's quick and easy!

Each month, the homeroom from each grade level with the most logged minutes will receive special recognition and be eligible for quarterly prizes! Thank you for encouraging a love of reading at home!

Login Info:

• Download the Beanstack mobile app
• Search for Northwood Elementary
• Sign in With Classlink
• Search for Fulton County Schools to be directed to our Classlink site
• Username: Your child’s student ID
• Password: Your child’s date of birth (MMDDYYYY)

Click here for a video tutorial: ​​Logging on to the Beanstack App​

Northwood is proud to be an AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) school. AVID Elementary equips students with the foundational skills and mindset needed for future success. Our staff is focused on enhancing instructional consistency, fostering a college and career readiness mindset, increasing student engagement and building organizational and study skills.

As part of this, each week Northwood will be focused on one goal as a school. Be sure to ask your child about it!

Next week's AVID goal is: to look people in the eye when listening and speaking.

Let's liven up Carpool on a Friday morning. Please review the available slots and sign up. Just check in with the front desk when you arrive, turn up the music and enjoy welcoming the students as they arrive.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4AA4AB2AA2FA7-65661692-apddad#/

Northwood has partnered with PickUp Patrol to help us track dismissals. PickUp Patrol provides families with a convenient way to make changes to your child’s dismissal plans and helps ensure that students are accurately and safely dismissed each day.

If you need to change how your child should be dismissed, you should submit that information via PickUp Patrol before 1:30 pm on the day of the change, and our staff will be notified. We no longer accept dismissal requests via email or paper notes. Please do not email teachers directly.

All dismissal information and changes must be entered into PickUp Patrol.

If you have any questions, please first check the PickUp Patrol Parent Guide. If you need additional assistance, please reach out to Mrs. Robertson at Northwood’s front desk, robertsonl1@fultonschools.org.

Fulton County Schools uses SchoolCash Online as their preferred method of payment for school fees — from field trips and yearbooks to athletic fees and more. It's free, secure, and takes less than two minutes to set up.

Get started here: https://fultonschools.schoolcashonline.com

Looking to volunteer? All volunteers will need to complete the Fulton County Schools online registration process. For more information and to begin the process, please click the link below.

https://www.fultonschools.org/community/become-a-volunteer

Did you know free and reduced-price meal applications benefit your family and your school? Families may qualify for free or reduced-price school breakfast and lunch. A NEW application must be completed for the 2026-2027 school year.

If you have not completed a Free and Reduced application for SY26-27, had a change in income or had an increase in household size, please take this opportunity to complete an application. Free and Reduced Meal Applications are available online at www.myschoolapps.com. Families may obtain a paper application from any school cafeteria. If able, families are encouraged to complete an online application to help expedite the application approval process.

Did you know? Our school community has a Cafeteria Principal Account Fund. This account will be used to fulfill any meal costs for students that reach an account balance of zero. We often have families and extended family members that ask if or how they can pay off lunch balances or support our students in this way, now the process of doing so is easy!

Should you be interested in adding to the Cafeteria Principal Account Fund, just send a check or cash to school in an envelope to Mrs. Rosa Gutierrez, our cafeteria manager, and notate that the funds go to the Principal Fund. Please reach out to Mrs. Gutierrez, gutierrezabr@fultonschools.org, if you have any questions.

The Fulton County School Nutrition Program is dedicated to serving all students nutritious, safe and customer acceptable meals in support of academic achievement. Click the link below to see what thery are serving up today.

Nutrition.fultonschools.org/MenuCalendar

Parents, please encourage your students to check regularly for lost items in the Lost and Found. Please mark all student belongings clearly with the child's name so that it can be identified. Unclaimed items are donated to local charities after the last school day of every month. October's date is Friday, October 30th.

The Infinite Campus Parent Portal provides quick and easy access to information for all enrolled students in their household. Find grades, attendance, assignments, schedules, ID numbers, school announcements and more. If you haven't already joined, please do so today as Fulton County Schools is transitioning to managing everything via the portal.

For more information, access the Parent Portal Booklet for Infinite Campus here.

The Dining for Dollars crew is back with another opportunity to send a percentage of every purchase back to Northwood! Kick back and let Marlow's do the work! As always, we thank you for being a part of the Northwood community.

Where: Marlow’s Johns Creek, 3719 Old Alabama Road, Johns Creek, GA 30022

Please be sure to mention Northwood when checking out!

Michelle Levine, Assistant Principal

Together We SHINE!

Email: NorthwoodAttendance@fultonschools.org
Website: https://northwood.fultonschools.org/
Location: 10200 Wooten Road, Roswell, GA, USA
Phone: 470-254-6390
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NorthwoodElementaryPTA/
Twitter: @FCS_NWES or @NWES_Principal