Monthly Newsletter

Oct. 8 - End of 1st Quarter

Oct. 9 - NO SCHOOL

Oct. 14 - Early Release at 1:10pm

Oct. 16 - All school field trip to Walter's Pumpkin Patch

Oct. 20-22 - Book Fair *Sign up here to volunteer.

Oct. 20 - Parent/Teacher Conferences 3:30-7:45pm *Sign up here to help provide supper for teachers!

Oct. 22 - Parent/Teacher Conferences 3:30-7:45pm

Oct. 27 - Fall picture retakes

Oct. 30 - NO SCHOOL

• Attendance matters! If your student will be absent from school, please call the office to let us know. No call ins will be an unexcused absence.
• Meal accounts - If a student takes a milk with their home lunch, they will be charged $0.65. Make sure there is money on your student's account. Low balance reminders can be set up in your Infinite Campus parent portal.

Kindergarten is off to a great start! We have been busy learning the names and sounds of the letters M, H, A, and D. We have also learned to read 15 sight words and are working hard on blending sounds together to read words. We had so much fun during Apple Week! The students made applesauce, taste-tested different apples, and learned about apple orchards. We also practiced our math skills with apple-themed activities and enjoyed reading stories about how apple trees grow from tiny apple seeds. We are looking forward to our Pumpkin Patch field trip in October and are thankful for the cooler weather that makes recess even more enjoyable! It has been a wonderful start to the school year, and I am so proud of all the learning and growth happening in our classrooms!

First graders have been hard at work already! In math, we have moved on to adding numbers within 20. We have been really working on all sorts of different strategies to help us add or subtract numbers. In reading, we are continuing to work on blending words together. We will soon begin practicing with blends (sl, sw, br, fl, etc) in our words. This is a tricky concept for us, so it will be great to practice and challenge the first graders! We have started practicing writing sentences and will continue this through the end of the year, making sure we add our capital letters at the beginning, finger spaces between words, and punctuation at the end. All this is getting us ready for the first nine weeks grade cards that are coming up all too quick! Students have been eager to learn new things this year! We love to see them making connections and growing their brains.

-Ms. Wedel & Mrs. Wittman

In September we kicked off weekly spelling lessons and Emerge lessons focused on building comprehension and foundational skills for constructing words and sentences. We focused on “How can community members and leaders improve their communities?” and why we need equal rights for everyone. For math we worked with picture graphs, bar graphs and gathering data. We also began adding and subtracting two digit numbers up to 50 and then will work up to 100. We celebrated Constitution day on the 17th learning about the constitution and Bill of Rights. We learned what a citizen is and why it is important to have rights and rules to follow.

Mrs. Entz & Mrs. Black

September has been a wonderful month of learning and growth in 3rd grade! As our classroom routines and expectations become more familiar, students are becoming more confident, independent, and comfortable in their learning. In literacy, we are continuing to strengthen reading comprehension and fluency while developing our writing skills. In math, students are building their multiplication skills through arrays, strategies, and fact practice. We are also exploring communities in social studies and learning what it means to be a responsible and contributing member of a community. It has been exciting to see students challenge themselves, support one another, and continue growing each day. We are looking forward to all the learning and adventures still ahead this year!

4th grade is wrapping up adding and subtracting numbers up to one million while slowly leading into our multiplication where we will be learning to do 4x1 and 2x2 problems. October is going to be a busy month with conferences, the pumpkin patch, and Halloween right around the corner.

IR SPED K-2 has started the school year well with working on UFLI and Countdown lessons for reading. We have also been working on Touchpoint Math. The students really enjoy it, and they are doing great!

Kindergarten: We are so excited to have our Painted Lady Butterflies arrive and are ready to watch them grow!

First Grade: We have been learning about day and night patterns so far this year. Recently we have focused on moon phases and the sun.

Second Grade: We have been learning about habitats and what kinds of animals live in different habitats.

Third Grade: We have been learning about hurricanes and are just starting to build our hurricane houses. The kids are hoping that they will engineer a strong house and it will survive the hurricane!

Fourth Grade: In Fourth grade we have been learning about energy and working with circuits.

Greetings, Northridge readers!

This is a reminder that grades K, 1, 2, and 4 have checkout every Monday. Third grade has checkout on Friday. Ms. Baeza's class is reading books and doing activities related to fall themes. So far, Northridge students have checked out 461 books!

Ms. Schmidt

🍂What’s Happening in Speech & Language!

We are officially diving deep into our speech goals with some fun, fall-themed activities! Lately, we have been using apples and pumpkins to spark our learning. The students are already getting excited, talking about their Halloween costumes and counting down the days until the holidays begin.

Want to keep the momentum going at home? Here are a few quick and easy ways to practice together:

• For Speech Sounds 👄
  • Board Games: Play games like Hi-Ho! Cherry-O. Have your child practice their target speech sound every time it is their turn to move.
  • Books & Songs: Hunt for words containing their target sounds while reading a book together, then sing songs incorporating those words to make practice playful and natural.
• For Language Skills 🧠
  • Ask "Wh" Questions: Ask who, what, where, and why questions during story time or daily routines.
  • Sort Categories: Have your child sort fall items into categories (e.g., separating pumpkins and corn from farm animals or tools).
  • Compare & Contrast: Pick two objects and ask your child to list how they are the same and how they are different.

Thank you for partnering with us to help your child grow!

Kindergarten is off to a great start, we are working on our new routine, listening to each other and being a good friend. We read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and made our own alphabet coconut tree. We have also went on a bear hunt around the school - so we are familiar with where things are! We have been working with math tools such as connecting cubes, pattern blocks, and colored counters with 5-frames. We will dive into learning our letters next week. Full days of Kindergarten can be a lot of work, make sure you are getting lots of rest and a good breakfast!

First grade has been off to an amazing start! We have started to settle into our classes. We have been busy learning procedures and expectations. In our classes, we have old friends and new friends and are enjoying working together and in groups.

In reading, first grade is learning all about vowel town. We are learning all the vowel sounds and the spellings of them. We have started to put these into practice, and have started spelling words and reading! In math, we have started our year with some addition and subtraction within 10. We are taking surveys and collecting data, getting to learn about each other AND work on our math. First grade is spending time working on our handwriting, making sure our letters are formed correctly.

We have been so excited to be back to school and look forward to the year to come!

Ms. Wedel & Mrs. Wittman

We have had a wonderful start to the 26-27 school year in 2nd grade. It has been such a joy to learn more about each student and all the wonderful gifts they bring to our Northridge school family. We started off the year learning all about what it means to be a 2nd grader using activities that helped us further understand how to be respectful, responsible, safe, and ready to learn! We have spent some time talking about feelings and how to handle all the different feelings we feel throughout our days! We will explore and practice all these topics all throughout the school year so that all our 2nd graders feel safe and respected as they learn and grow. We are now diving into all our 2nd grade standards as we begin working with our reading series learning about how stories and poems reflect our experiences and learning new spelling patterns to help with our reading and writing. Math began with a little review on our basic facts and we are now diving into graphs and diagrams as we learn how to organize and understand information! Our days are full of learning, but full of lots of laughs too!

Mrs. Black and Mrs. Entz

August has been a wonderful start to third grade! We have spent lots of time getting to know one another, building our classroom community, and learning our daily routines. Our classes have made a strong start and are working hard each day. In math, we are beginning to build our multiplication fact fluency with 2s, 3s, and 4s. In Emerge, we are working hard on strengthening our reading comprehension and fluency.

After three hot weeks of school, fourth graders aren’t sweating it. We have had some time to reconnect and get back into the routines of school. We spent some time learning how to pay attention to our minds and bodies as we navigate the fun and stress that school can bring. We spent a morning eating pancakes and practicing how to “flip our thoughts.” We have been reading and learning to write personal narratives about small memories. In math, we are reviewing and extending our knowledge of place value and rounding to number in the millions. Students and teachers are excited for a field trip to Kaufmann Museum and Bethel College in a couple of weeks. It’s a great feeling to have kids back and see all the things these kids have already been learning!

We have had a great start to the year in our IDD classroom! In August, we focused on getting back into routines, navigating our school, and getting to know our friends and teachers. Some of our highlights so far have been going on a Bear Hunt, learning new songs, and making muffins! As we move into September, we look forward to diving more into our curriculum, and working hard to reach our goals. We are happy to be back at school!

Mrs. Baeza

The school year is off to a great start in 3rd and 4th grade! Students are settling into their routines and are already working hard toward their individual learning goals. We are already focusing on strengthening reading fluency and comprehension, building math skills, and developing confidence and independence in the classroom. I am excited to see the growth our students will make throughout the year!

Students are learning about personal and social responsibility, including following directions, making safe choices, showing respect, working together, and taking responsibility for their actions. We will practice encouraging others, being a good teammate, using equipment appropriately, and giving our best effort. These skills help students become responsible, respectful, and confident both in PE and throughout the school day! Up next, we will begin our Fitness and Nutrition unit!

Updates from Music

• During the month of August we have reviewed and practiced expectations.
• We have been working on reviewing and practicing basic rhythms and pitches.
• We have been learning so muchh from our amazing student teacher, Mr. Jesse!
• Our composer for the month was Brahms (sadly we did not eat ice cream).

Upcoming Events

1st and 2nd Grade Concert

November 10, 2026

6:30 pm in the NR Gym

Hello, Northridge families!

I'm Kate Bremerman, principal at Northridge Elementary. This is my fourth year at Northridge and my 7th year as a building principal, and I'm excited to continue building strong relationships with our students, families, and staff. Before becoming a principal, I taught 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 6th grade. My husband, Joel, and I have four daughters, including two who get to come to Northridge with me!

I believe that strong partnerships between home and school help every child thrive, and I look forward to working together to make this an incredible school year!

Kate Bremerman, Principal

Be sure to follow us on Facebook. We will post updates and information here throughout the year. Just click on the link below to navigate to our page.

Northridge Elementary School Facebook

Class lists should be completed by Friday, August 7th. We will have class lists available at our Meet Your Teacher Night on Tuesday, August 11 from 5:00-6:30pm. Parents can log into their Infinite Campus parent portal to see their childs schedule on Monday, August 10.

Wondering what school supplies your student will need for class at Northridge this year? Click on the link below to see what supplies are needed for each grade level.

School Supply List

Are you wondering about when school starts, what supplies your student needs, what is the school calendar, how to I sign up for transportation, and more? Visit the school district Back to School website for all of this information in one place.

Newton Schools Back to School Link

We are looking forward to having all of our students and families at Northridge Elementary School Meet Your Teacher Night. Class lists will be available and you will be able to meet the awesome Northridge teachers and staff. We can't wait to see you there!

The schedule for the first days of school with students is listed below. 1st-4th grade students will have a half day on Wednesday, August 12 from 8:00am - 12:00pm. Students will eat lunch at school and be dismissed at 12:00pm.

Incoming kindergarten students will come for an ASQ (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) appointment between Aug. 12 - 14. Kindergarten students will then attend half days (8:00am - 12:00pm) on August 17 - 19. The first full day of school for kindergarten students will be Wednesday, August 20.

August 11 - Meet Your Teacher Night, 5:00-6:30pm

August 12 - First Day of School for Grades 1-4 Students - ½ Day with Students, Students

Dismissed at 12:00pm, Students will eat lunch before dismissal

August 13 - First full day of school with students (grades 1-4)

Aug 12 - 8 am to 11 am ASQ appointments

Aug 13 - 12 pm to 7 pm ASQ appointments

Aug 14 - 8 am to 12 pm ASQ appointments

Aug 17 - 8 am to 12 pm, Kindergarten students attend 1/2 day

Aug. 18 - 8 am to 12 pm, Kindergarten students attend 1/2 day

Aug. 19 - 8 am - 12 pm, Kindergarten students attend 1/2 day

August 20 - First full day of school for kindergarten students

September 3 - Fall Fun Night (5:30-7:00)

Included is the Newton School District Attendance calendar. The school district is implementing an early release schedule nine times again during the year to allow for teacher collaboration and professional development. Students will eat lunch at school on these days and be released at 1:10pm. These dates are indicated in orange on the attendance calendar.

Early Release Dates (students dismissed at 1:10pm):

September 16

October 14

November 11

December 9

January 13

February 10

March 3

April 7

May 12

USD 373 is entering into a Food Service contract with the company, ChartwellsK12. We look forward to their implementation soon. You can view their menu offerings at the link below.

USD373 Locations Menu

Arrival Procedures:

The front doors open at 7:35 am for breakfast. All students must arrive through the front. If your child is not eating breakfast at school, they can go to the gym for walking club. Students may go into their classroom at 7:50. Please do not let your students out of vehicles before 7:35 am, as there is no supervision, which creates a potentially dangerous situation for students. We ask that you use the circle drive for drop-off and remain in your car. Pull forward as far as possible to allow your child to exit your vehicle safely and for other vehicles to pull up behind you. If you are walking your child to the door, only park in designated areas and not in the circle drive as this may block other vehicles, creating congestion and potentially unsafe conditions for students. Please note that parents are not allowed to walk their children into the building during drop-off and pick-up times. You are welcome to call 316.284.6540 to schedule an appointment if you need to speak with a staff member.

Dismissal Procedures:

Families will be issued two gold student pick-up name cards. Please have your name card displayed in your front window or carry it with you if you are walking up. This will ensure that dismissal is as safe and efficient as possible. All students will be dismissed out the Gym Doors AFTER 3:10

1. If you are walking up to get your student, please park at the church or on Clover Lane do NOT park on Normandy, the circle drive or the pick-up lane as this causes congestion.

1. Please have your student name sign displayed for students and staff to see

2. Students will walk out the West doors in a line and then to guardians

3. Do not ask your students to run across streets or parking lots. No students will be allowed to cross the street without a parent.

2. If you are driving up to get your student please pull forward to the first available cone, students will walk out to the cones

1. Please have your student name sign displayed in your front window of car

2. Students will walk out the south door.

3. Traffic should line up going down Normandy

3. If you are going to arrive after 3:20 pm, please call the office. If you are going to come after 3:20 pm each afternoon, Clubhouse is available and can be arranged by contacting Newton Recreation Center. We do not have staff available to stay beyond 3:20 pm for late pick-up.

• On 1:10 dismissal days students must be picked up by 1:20 Clubhouse is available and can be arranged by contacting Newton Recreation Center. We do not have staff available to stay beyond 1:20 pm for late pick-up
• If your child is picked up by someone else, please contact Kelsey or Courtney at the office, 316-284-6540. We must have notification from the parent or guardian for the student to go home with someone else, and we will ask for ID.

NRC Clubhouse is Newton's before and after school program. It is run by the Newton Recreation Center and is available for Northridge students. The link for more information about this program is included below.

Northridge Clubhouse Information Link

Enrollment for the 2026-27 school year opens July 1. Parents will need to log into their Infinite Campus parent portal to get started. If you have not logged on or need assistance with a username or password, please call the office for help as soon as possible. Courtney & Kelsey will be in the office until June 5th and will not be back in the building until late July.

Enrollment Help Sessions at Newton High School

July 15, 2026 | 10:00 am – 7:00 pm

July 16, 2026 | 7:00 am – 3:00 pm

Enrollment One-Stop Event at Newton High School
July 29, 2026 | 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm

In-Building Enrollment Assistance Available
Beginning July 22, 2026

🍕Student Fees and Meal Account Balances 🥛

Be sure to log into your Parent Portal to pay any remaining student fees and meal account balances for the 2025-26 school year. Any extra money in their meal account will transfer into the next school year! Call the office if you have any questions, 284-6540.

Our Extravaganza night was a success! Thank you to all the families that came and enjoyed the activites and food.

The 4th graders ended the year with Gold Rush. Mr. Voth brought two of his own donkey's for the event. Such a fun way to celebrate the last day!

Kindergarteners are definitely ready for summer break! They are excited to go swimming, play

all day, and go on fun vacations with their families. This last month of school has been a

whirlwind full of exciting activities and memories. We had a wonderful time on our field trip to

Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, and riding the carousel was definitely the highlight of the trip!

We also enjoyed our Spring Concert, and the students did an amazing job singing the songs

they learned with Mrs. Tolle. Water Day was another favorite activity as students splashed in the

pools, slid down the slip-n-slide, and ran through the sprinklers. While we have played hard, we

have worked hard too! Students have made tremendous growth in reading decodable books

and learning sight words. Their writing skills have also developed so much since the beginning

of the year, and they are now able to write two or more complete sentences independently. In

math, we are counting past 100, adding and subtracting within 10, and counting objects up to

20. We are so proud of all the growth the kindergarteners have made this year! We hope

everyone has a Wonderful Summer break!!

This year in first grade went by so fast! We are working on finishing up our grade card assessments and sending off these soon to be SECOND GRADERS!!! These kids have learned and grown so much in our classes this year from learning several different long vowel sounds (ai, ay, oa, ea, ee), reading multisyllabic words, working on 2 digit addition problems, mastering our addition and subtraction to 10, and MUCH MUCH MORE. The maturing that happens from the beginning of the year to now never ceases to amaze me. We hope you have an amazing summer and don't forget to keep practicing ALL these skills so they don't forget before next year 😉

- Ms. Wedel & Mrs. Wittman

P.S. We have sent home a summer practice packet to make practicing these skills even easier!

2nd graders had fun learning about how the pioneers traveled to the free land and what life on the prairie was like. We have been reviewing all of the math skills we have learned throughout the year. We worked on an informational text for our last writing assignment. We started a poetry unit and finished our last week of spelling. We have been busy working hard at the end of the year to get ready for 3rd grade! We are ready for summer break but will miss our 2nd graders! Good luck next year!

Mrs. Entz and Mrs. Black

Third grade has had a fun and exciting month of May! Students enjoyed visiting the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home, participating in Kansas Kids Fitness Day at Bethel College with surrounding third grade schools, and having a blast at Field Day at Fischer Field. We also explored downtown Newton during an art walking tour where students learned about local art opportunities at Prairy, The Carriage Factory Art Gallery and Gallery Mostaza. Students especially enjoyed connecting Newton’s history and Eisenhower’s involvement in the interstate system to the historic carriage displayed inside the gallery. As we wrap up the year, we are so proud of our third graders for becoming proficient in multiplication facts through 100, strengthening their reading fluency and comprehension, and working hard on research and biography writing. We hope everyone has an incredible summer!

4th grade has ended the year strong with Arts Partners, getting to go to Meadowlark farm, a trip to the Art museum and Wichita State University for an art scavenger hunt. Ending the year with bowling and getting those special last days in elementary school!

IR SPED K-2 has finished out the school year strong! Every student has been celebrated in their success. They have all made progress! They had a pizza party and brought home a certificate stating their success. They have much to be proud of! 💜💜

We have had a great end of the year! Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade had their science field trips. We also hatched ducklings and chicks in class. The kids had a chance to watch them hatch and then enjoyed having them in the classroom!

📚Well, it’s that time of year. Library books were to be returned by Friday, May 15. If you find any books after school is out, you can still drop them off at the office until June 5 when the admin assistants are still in the building.

Thank you for your support this year and I hope you read some great books this summer! 📚

Dear Families,

Thank you for a wonderful school year! Summer is a great time to keep building speech and language skills through fun, everyday activities. Learning can happen anywhere — while reading, playing, creating, or simply talking together!

📖Read Together

• Ask questions about the story
• Practice retelling events in order
• Look for rhyming words and new vocabulary
• Encourage your child to describe pictures and characters

🎶Use Music & Songs

• Sing favorite songs and nursery rhymes
• Play rhyming or guessing games in the car
• Clap syllables in names and words

🎲Play Games

Board games, card games, scavenger hunts, and “Simon Says” all help with:

• Following directions
• Turn-taking
• Vocabulary
• Social skills
• Problem solving

🎨Get Creative

Drawing, painting, and crafts encourage language too!
Ask questions like:

• “Tell me about your picture.”
• “What did you make first?”
• “How did you create that?”

👄Talk Throughout the Day

Everyday routines are full of opportunities for conversation:

• Cooking together
• Grocery shopping
• Nature walks
• Car rides

Encourage your child to use complete sentences, describe what they see, and share their ideas.

Most importantly — have fun and enjoy time together this summer! Thank you again for all of your support this year.

Mrs. Brown and Ms. Janay

Kindergarten is finishing the year strong! In ELA we have really been trying to read words and books. In Math we are counting objects, and working on addition & subtraction within 10. We are still having Arts Partners and are looking forward to our field trips coming up! We have also got a lot of fun events and projects coming up!

First grade has been busy, busy, busy! We continue to keep up our first grade work, but have an eye on where we need to be to enter second grade.

We have been learning and working on vowel teams in spelling, and will start multisyllabic spelling very soon! We are practicing our reading fluency, hoping to meet end of the year word counts. Be sure to have your student read out loud to you at home! In math, we have spent time measuring and working with numbers greater than 120. The students enjoyed measuring friends and comparing their lengths! We are starting to learn about shapes and time, to wrap up the year. With time, we focus on time to the hour and half hour. Each student has chosen an animal and is wrapping up their research and writing project on it soon.

We are cherishing our time together, while also looking forward to a summer vacation!

Ms. Wedel & Mrs. Wittman

April is our last full month of 2nd grade and we are starting to set our sights towards being 3rd graders. Our annual ABC Countdown to Summer began on April 15. We will have a fun activity or treat for each of our last 26 school days to help celebrate and reflect on a wonderful year together.

In math this month, we are reviewing all the skills we have worked on throughout the year to ensure that we have a good solid foundation. In reading we are continuing to work on fluency skills and will wrap up this month with a poetry unit. We will learn about different types of poems and all sorts of vocabulary related to poems and figurative language. Our spelling words are focusing on prefixes and our last social studies project this year will be thinking about early Kansas and what life was like for the pioneers that settled here and comparing that to life today.

We will also wrap up our time with Arts Partners this month where we have been focusing on the book Crabbylegs and The Three Shells. We have learned about the importance of taking care of our Earth and keeping our oceans clean. We will take a culminating field trip to the Sedgwick County Zoo to celebrate.

We are soaking up all our moments together and enjoying all the days we have left as a class family!

Mrs. Black & Mrs. Entz

It’s been a busy and exciting month in 3rd grade! We’ve successfully completed our State Assessments in both Math and ELA—great job, students! We’ve also been diving into biography writing and research, while finishing up our measurement and time unit. Next up, we’re exploring geometry and shapes! We’re looking forward to a fun-filled May with field trips and special activities just around the corner.

Fourth graders are busy soaking up the last few weeks of being at Northridge. State assessments are done and we have been getting some opportunities for experiential learning. All fourth graders went to the art museum in Wichita. They were able to view works of art from local artists, as well as artists from around the country. Students are also preparing for their transition to 5th grade. Band and orchestra teachers visited Northridge and students decided if and what instrument they would like to play next year. We will soon take a trip to visit Santa Fe, where many students will be attending next year. Hopefully some of the nervousness is being replaced with excitement about new possibilities for next year. We will end the year with a bowling trip and Goldrush activity, which many students look forward to. We are proud of what these students have done this year and are proud to send them on to their next school adventure!

We are having a fun and busy Spring in the IDD room! Our students continue to work on phonological skills blending and segmenting words, sight word recognition, and numbers and addition. We have made so much growth this year! As we wind down the year, we have started our ABC countdown with a new activity each day that corresponds with a letter of the alphabet. Not only does it help solidify our letters and letter sounds, but we get to do new fun activities with it! We have also been taking lots of trips such as going to the Donut Shop and adapted playground at Slate Creek, going to the Adapted PE field day, and we look forward to going to Tanganyika in May. We're excited to see what the rest of the year brings us!,

As we head into the end of the year, third and fourth grade students are continuing to build confidence and independence in both reading and math. In reading, they are focusing on comprehension strategies such as identifying the main idea, making inferences, and using text evidence to support their thinking, while also working to improve reading fluency through accuracy, pace, and expression. In math, students are strengthening their skills with multiplication, division, and problem solving, and are building math fluency to increase speed and accuracy with basic facts. It has been exciting to see the growth they have made this year, and they are finishing strong as they prepare for the next grade level.

Students have been working hard on their soccer skills in P.E.! We’ve been focusing on dribbling, passing, and control while building teamwork and game awareness. It’s been great to see their confidence grow as they practice and apply these skills in fun activities and small-sided games.

We’ve also been having a blast with our parachute unit! Students are enjoying cooperative games that build teamwork, communication, and coordination—all while having lots of fun together.

Reminders:

• KKFD (3rd Grade ONLY): May 1st, 8:30–11:30 a.m. at Bethel
• Field Day (K–4): May 6th, 12:30–2:30 p.m. at Fischer Field

In music, we have been doing a lot of review! Fourth graders are getting ready to play instruments next year in fifth grade, third graders have been learning the ukulele, second graders have been working a lot on playing new rhythms with instruments. First grade has been working really hard on listening and recognizing rhythm and kindergarten is getting ready for their concert music and cookies as well as IDD class.

We have been very busy in kindergarten! Students will begin bringing home new reading bags with decodable stories to practice their reading skills at home. We are working hard on reading sentences and using correct punctuation when writing our own sentences.

In math, we are practicing counting by 10’s and building fluency with addition and subtraction facts up to 10.

We are also getting excited for Easter! Students are looking forward to our Easter egg hunt and class party—it will be a fun way to celebrate together!

Thank you for your continued support at home!

First grade is gearing up for the last 9 weeks of school! We are working hard so we can send some good readers off to second grade next year. We already have a good chunk of students meeting our end of year goal for reading passages, YAY! After the much needed break, we are working on measuring in math. Students have had a lot of fun measuring their friends and the zoo animals that got loose in our classrooms! In social studies we have started talking about the differences between a good or a service.

Overall, we have been doing so much learning! And we still have so much more to go! As always, don't forget to practice your spelling words and read nightly with your students.

- Ms. Wedel & Mrs. Wittman

Second graders have spent some time talking about what a good citizen does and what rights and responsibilities that we have. We have also learned about the lifecycle of a dollar bill. We worked on our map skills and Famous American research projects for Social Studies. In math we wrapped up 3 digit addition and subtraction then we moved on to learning about equal groups and odd and even numbers. In spelling we are continuing to work on multisyllable words with tricky suffixes and endings and contractions. We hope everyone had a good spring break and is ready for the last nine weeks of school!

Mrs. Entz and Mrs. Black

March has been an exciting and busy month in third grade! Over the past nine weeks, students built a strong foundation in economics, learning about money, the free market, and key vocabulary. This learning all led up to one of the highlights of the month: Market Day, where students brought the unit to life by creating and running their own small businesses. It was such a fun and meaningful experience! Reading and writing skills continue to grow as students deepen their comprehension of both fiction and nonfiction texts while also developing their opinion writing. In math, students are strengthening their understanding of multiplication and division strategies and beginning to explore fractions. As we transition into spring, we are looking forward to more opportunities for learning and enjoying time outdoors!

March has been a busy and exciting month in 4th grade! We wrapped up our work on fractions and had a great time learning about and presenting biographies of famous people. Now, we’re shifting our focus to preparing for state tests, diving into decimals, and getting excited for all the fun end-of-year festivities ahead. We’re proud of all the hard work our students are putting in as we head into the final stretch of the school year!

IR SPED K-2 continues to make great progress! Students have met their IEP goals! Kindergartners have started UFLI lessons, and it is going well. The students are shining bright! 💜

In library, the fourth graders have been reading like crazy! Many students will recheck a book several times as they work their way through it. It makes me so proud that they want to finish the story even if it takes two to three weeks.

Keep reading to your student at home!!

Several grades will be having their science field trips in April! Second grade will be going to the Ag Festival at the fairgrounds on April 17th. First grade will be going to the Sedgwick Zoo on April 24th. Kindergarten will be going to Great Plains Nature Center on April 30th. Be on the lookout for the field trip form to come home! Third grade is just starting a unit on Simple Machines. We are getting ready to build with the Vex kits. Fourth graders are starting to learn about tectonic plates and volcanoes.

Hello families!

Spring is in the air, and we’ve had a wonderful and productive month in speech therapy! Here’s a look at what we’ve been working on and how you can continue supporting your student at home.

🌱March Highlights
This month, we have been focusing on evaluating student progress toward their individual speech and language goals. It’s been exciting to see the growth students are making!

We’ve also been talking through and practicing strategies that students can use outside of the therapy room—helping them carry over their skills into everyday conversations at home, school, and in the community.

To keep learning fun and engaging, we’ve incorporated seasonal activities with spring, weather, and holiday themes. Students especially enjoy interactive games, themed crafts, and storytime that bring speech practice to life!

📚Keep Practicing at Home
You play an important role in your child’s success! Here are some simple and fun ways to support speech and language development at home:

• Read books together and talk about the story

• Sing songs and practice repeating phrases

• Play games that encourage talking and turn-taking

• Use flashcards to reinforce vocabulary and sounds

Remember—learning happens best when it feels like play!

Wishing you a fun and sunny spring! 🌺🌻
— Amanda and Janay

Kindergarten had so much fun in February celebrating Groundhog Day and Valentines Day. In reading and phonics we are still practicing our letters, sounds, and writing the letters correctly. We are working really hard to blend sounds to make CVC and CVCe words, read words, and read sentences. In Math we have been practicing our teen numbers, addition and subtraction within 5, and story problems, and counting to 100. We use ten frames, drawings, expressions, and other manipulatives to help us learn these concepts! Arts Partners is still going on, we have been making many fun art projects and using instruments to create tunes to go along with our story. Our story is also teaching us how we can regulate our bodies when we have big emotions by breathing, dancing, and thinking of things we are grateful for.

Wow the third nine weeks have just flown by in first grade!! We have been busy practicing our sight words, learning our spelling patterns, and learning about place value!

First grade continues to learn new spelling patterns and apply those skills to our writing. The kids have loved spotting our spelling words on signs or in books. For math, we continue to work on place value, identifying tens and ones. We will be using tens and ones to work on double digit addition, working to break numbers into tens and ones or how many to "fill up" to make a ten. First grade has been enjoying our work with Arts Partners of Wichita, using art and music to learn some ELA skills. They are looking forward to it culminating in a field trip in May!

Ms. Wedel & Mrs. Wittman

February has been a busy and exciting month in 2nd grade filled with fun celebrations and meaningful learning! We celebrated many special events, including the 100th day of school, Groundhog’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Student-Led Conferences. To mark 100 days of 2nd grade, students rotated through activity stations in both classrooms, celebrating all the growth and progress they’ve made so far. We were a bit disappointed when the groundhog predicted more winter, as we love being outside on warm days without all our winter gear! Valentine’s Day gave us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the friendships that make our classrooms so special. We also spent time preparing for Student-Led Conferences and were excited to share our learning and progress with our families. We are especially thankful to end the month with sunshine and warmer temperatures.

In reading and writing, our current unit focuses on heroes, famous Americans, and good citizens. In spelling, we are working on reading and writing multi-syllable words. In math, we are exploring numbers to 1,000 and learning new strategies to help us confidently add and subtract larger numbers. The learning never stops!

We look forward to continuing our growth and exploration in March.

Mrs. Black and Mrs. Entz

February is a busy month in 3rd grade! In Math, we are learning about fractions—understanding equal parts, representing them in different ways, and comparing them—while continuing to build fluency with multiplication. In English Language Arts, we are exploring poetry and its elements, as well as reading nonfiction texts to practice identifying main ideas and key details. In Writing, students are strengthening their opinion writing by clearly stating their opinion and supporting it with strong reasons. In Social Studies, we are gearing up for our exciting Market Day as students learn about goods and services, producers and consumers, and basic economic concepts. Thank you for your continued support!

We have spent 1/3 of our days working on reading skills such as theme and point of view, 1/3 of our days working on writing biographies, 1/3 of our days learning about regions of the United States and 1/3 and a third of our days working on fractions. Hopefully by now, your fourth grader can tell you that math doesn’t work out. Fourth graders have also been working hard to prepare for their music concert on March 2.

Hello families!

We are ready for Spring in the IDD room! In February, we spent lots of time talking about love and friendship. Our students have a great foundation of letter sounds, so we have been working more on building up our CVC, CVCC and CCVC words, as well as some of our sight words. Our counting by 1s, 5s and 10s has been going great, and we are working at learning the process for adding and subtracting. We have been loving our visits from Arts Partners, where we read stories, play new instruments, and have fun with music and movement. Be on the lookout in the upcoming months for news on field trips and other Spring activities!

Mrs. Baeza

As we move further into the second half of the school year, our students continue to make meaningful progress toward their individual goals. During February and going into March, we are focusing on strengthening foundational skills in reading fluency and comprehension, math fluency, and written expression while building independence and confidence across academic settings.

In reading, students are working on building our phonics skills, identifying key details, determining main ideas, and using text evidence to support their thinking. In math, we are reinforcing multiplication and division fact fluency, exploring fractions, problem-solving strategies, and applying concepts to real-world scenarios.

We are also emphasizing self-advocacy, task persistence, and positive learning behaviors as we prepare for upcoming spring assessments.

PE classes have been full of energy as students practiced striking balloons and other equipment, focusing on control, accuracy, and proper technique in a fun and safe environment. Students jumped into jump rope activities that improved coordination, timing, and cardiovascular endurance while building confidence and a love for movement.

In 3rd and 4th Grade music we are preparing for our concert which is March 2 at 6:30 pm!

2nd Grade students have been learning new songs and playing lots of instrument parts all together.

1st Grade students are working on learning rhythms and this week they get to try their hand at composing.

Kindergarten students have been working on knowing their right from left so that we can play instruments that will use right and left hand patterns.

Our composer of the month is George F. Handel. He is best known for his music "Hallelujah Chorus".

Kindergarteners were so excited about the snow. They loved the snow day and they had a great time sledding, stomping, and even shoveling snow!!

We have been busy and learning a lot in kdg. for the last 100 days! In reading and phonics, students are practicing uppercase letters and blending sounds to read words, sentences, and short stories.

In writing, students are working on writing sentences in our journals, focusing on using letters and words to share their ideas.

In math, we are practicing recognizing teen numbers and working on adding and subtracting within 5. We are also counting to 75, which is our goal for the 3rd nine weeks.

Arts Partners has started in our room on Fridays. Students are learning about setting and characters through Music. Mr. Trevor is bringing in a lot of different instruments and students get to play them, they are having a lot of fun!

First graders came back from winter break ready to learn! We made sure to review expectations of what it should look and sound like to be at school so everyone has a respectful learning space. We are working hard on some trickier spelling patterns. We have even started learning how to decode multisyllable words. Students are excited to apply this knowledge in their reading, so be sure to practice with them at home so they can show you how far they have come! In math, we are working on 2 digit numbers and learning their place value. Soon, we will start adding those numbers together. During this 3rd quarter we have joined up with Arts Partners of Wichita again this year as we read the book "Come Outside and Play". Students are always thrilled to see when it is an Arts Partners day on our schedules, whether it will be Ms. Daria coming to lead art or Ms. Megan coming to lead music.

-Ms. Wedel & Mrs. Wittman

2nd graders are getting back into the swing of things after winter break. We started a new unit in math over shapes. We learned how to identify shapes and partition them into halves, thirds and fourths. We are also learning time within five minutes. We have been exploring how children around the world are different. We learned about different cultures and their traditions, holidays, games that they play, food they eat and how they do things at their schools. Kansas day is coming up and we are excited to learn about the history of Kansas!

Mrs. Entz and Mrs. Black

Third grade is off to a great start this January! Students are working hard to become fluent with multiplication facts and are learning how multiplication and division relate to each other. During reading and writing time, we are focusing on deeper comprehension and building stamina so students can read closely, think carefully, and write for longer periods of time. In social studies, we have begun our economics unit and are excited to continue learning as we work toward our student shops in March. Opinion writing has also begun, and students are learning how to share their thoughts with clear reasons and strong examples. We’ve also been enjoying the unusually warm winter days and taking advantage of the sunshine with recess outside!

In 4th grade, we officially switched from long division into full fraction mode. Take the extra time to practice these with your kiddos at home as they are working really hard here in the classrooms. We have also begun our famous person research biographies in writing this nine weeks, where there are tons of excited kids and research being done. We are really excited to see how these projects turn out!

IR SPED K-2 has been making great progress! Students have been dismissed or had services reduced due to much improvement! Kindergarten has been working hard with Countdown lessons and only has one more unit to go. Once completed, my intention is to start UFLI lessons with them. Seeing all the growth being made is rewarding! 💜

Fourth grade is studying the human brain and nervous system. We are having fun building our body and brain models using clay. Third grade has just started learning about inherited traits. We are looking at why people and plants look similar to their parents. Second grade is learning about the earth's features and erosion. We made maps and are looking at google earth's land features before moving on to erosion. First grade is studying animal adaptations and why baby animals look like their parents. Kindergarten just started learning about structure function with our bodies. We made lungs and learned how they work.

We have begun a unit on Internet safety. All grades (K-4) will be participating and I can already tell there is a need for this information. The students are enjoying the activities that go along with the lessons - Privacy Bingo, What's the Password?, and Caring for our Devices, for example. Several 3rd and 4th graders have become shelf owners. Their name is on a shelf tag and it is their job to keep their library shelf looking good. Many are enjoying the responsibility and check their shelves whenever they are in the library.

Welcome back to Speech!

Our speech therapy sessions are off to a great start. Students have been working toward their speech and language goals through play-based learning, conversation activities, and structured practice. These engaging approaches help students build skills while staying motivated and confident.

Many students are currently focusing on individual speech sounds, such as the “s” sound, as well as language goals like identifying the main idea versus supporting details. These skills can be easily reinforced at home and in the classroom using books, discussion, and simple activities like coloring sheets.

Some seasonal books we recommend include Sneezy the Snowman, which is great for practicing “s” blends and "s" while discussing the story’s main idea or theme, and How to Catch a Snowman.

We are all hoping to see some real snow soon to go along with our winter learning themes!

Kindergarten is working hard on our letter sounds and blending the sounds to read words! We have started addition and subtraction and are practicing everyday. We have been making winter crafts and are excited for our Winter break! Please send your student with a heavy jacket as the temperatures get colder!

First grade has been busy, busy, busy!!! We have been working hard on learning some new material, completing our benchmark assessments, finishing up things for our progress reports, and throwing some fun projects in where we can!

In math, we have been working on adding and subtracting numbers 0-20. We will start working with place value in the new year, which will lead us into adding even bigger numbers! In reading, we have continued to work on our spelling words. First grade has started practicing long vowels, and will continue this in January.

Ms. Wedel & Mrs. Wittman

This month 2nd grade is wrapping up a successful first semester. We are taking our reading and math benchmark assessments so that we can show our families how much we have learned so far this year. We are also learning about holidays around the world and the different traditions that communities celebrate for our social studies focus. Reading has us talking and learning about the sky and what we can see in both the day and night sky. We also spent some time talking about different ways we express ourselves. We continue to learn different and more complex spelling patterns each week as we focus on our reading, writing, and spelling. In math we are working on numbers to 1000 and different ways that we can demonstrate and compare numbers with 3 digits.

The first semester ends on December 18th and progress reports will be ready for families to view after December 19th. We can’t wait to see what 2026 has in store!

It’s been a busy and productive December in 3rd grade!
In math, we’ve finished our addition and subtraction unit and are beginning to learn about multiplication and division.
In writing, students wrapped up their procedural “How To” pieces and did a great job explaining steps clearly.
In social studies, we completed our map unit and are looking forward to starting economics next quarter.
In reading, we’ve been practicing different comprehension strategies while reading a variety of genres.

It has been a busy Holiday season in the IDD room! We have been building up our fluency skills reading new books, focusing on our sight words and CVC words, and beginning the processes of addition and subtraction. We have also explored a lot with our senses as we have made several Christmas crafts and ornaments! As many days have become hectic with fun, but busy activities, we are working hard to stick to our classroom routines each day. We look forward to rest and time with our families, and can't wait to see everyone again in January!

Our PE classes have “striked” up something fun! Students are learning the fundamentals of bowling—everything from proper form and aim to teamwork and sportsmanship. At the end of the unit, we’ll wrap up the fun with a special cosmic bowling celebration! 🎳✨

Updates from Music

• We have enjoyed playing Winter music games and instruments in all grades.

• We have learned about the composers Aaron Copland and Peter Tchaikovsky.

• The 1st and 2nd graders gave a great concert back on November 11!

• The 3rd and 4th graders did a great job caroling at the Presbyterian Manor on December 11!

Upcoming Events

3rd and 4th Grade Concert

March 2 @ 6:30 pm

Northridge Gym

Our annual Thanksgiving feast was a success. We are thankful for Grace Community church for allowing us to use your facilities. We are thankful for all of the food donations made by our families along with Dillon's for the turkey's and hams. We are especially thankful for the parents that volunteered their time to serve food to everyone and help with cleaning up afterwards, it was greatly appreciated! HUGE shoutout to our teachers that organized and planned to make all of this possible, you are amazing! 🤩

From our Northridge family to yours, have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

In kindergarten, we’ve been busy learning and growing every day! We are practicing counting all the way to 50 and beginning to explore addition and subtraction. In reading, we’re sounding out words and adding new sight words every week. As we learn together, we’re also taking time to talk about what we’re thankful for. Some of the things kindergartners are thankful for are: food, toys, family, friends, house, and pets! We’re feeling grateful, excited, and full of anticipation as Thanksgiving approaches!

First grade has been busy with our spelling words, adding to 20, and soon we will be learning about maps in Social Studies! Our spelling rule will continue to get tricky each week, so be sure to practice at home with your student as well as read each night! We are really finding our groove at this point in the year but the students and teachers alike are ready for our Thanksgiving break! -Mrs. Wittman and Ms. Wedel.

2nd graders have been working hard on their 1st Thanksgiving projects. Each group has been working collaboratively on their topic to learn about what the first Thanksgiving between the Wampanoag Indians and Pilgrims was like. In math we are using number lines to compare numbers and make estimates. We also used number lines to add and subtract and to show the difference between numbers. We studied a little bit of poetry and narrative nonfiction stories. Our question in focus has been “How can people help out their community?” In spelling we are diving into the tricky vowel teams and r controlled vowels. We will be ready for Thanksgiving break after all of this hard work we had been doing!

Mrs. Entz & Mrs. Black

November brought strong growth for our third graders. In math, students practiced multiplication and rounding, building key skills they’ll continue to use all year. In reading, they worked hard on strengthening their comprehension. For social studies, we began taking virtual trips to each continent as we learn about our world and maps. A favorite moment this month was our school-wide feast. Third graders made mac and cheese and mashed potatoes with gravy—using their multiplication skills, following procedural steps, and collaborating as a team. We’re excited to keep this momentum going in the months ahead!

This month in fourth grade we have finished multi-digit multiplication, and have finished up our section on poetry. During this month we have also done some work with the Midwest, along with learning more deeply about the Pilgrims. The students got the opportunity to role play and "live" the life of a pilgrim moving to the New World. Also in the works, the students have been producing amazing opinion writings on whether or not kids should get paid for doing chores.

IR SPED K-2 has been working hard with Countdown and UFLI. They continue to make gains in their reading and phonological awareness. Eureka Math has also been helpful in learning math concepts. Seeing all the growth does my heart good!

Fourth grade is just finishing up their egg cars where they test to see if they can protect a raw egg in a car crash. Third grade just had their field trip to Exploration Place and are getting ready to start a unit on fossils. Second grade has been having a blast learning about interactions by doing science experiments. First grade just started a unit on sound and light as is learning how sound is created. Kindergarten has been doing a lot of building and pretending to be engineers. We just built Turkey Hideouts to protect the turkey from the farmer that wants to eat it for Thanksgiving.

We spent a week learning how to turn pages in a book correctly and safely. Fewer children read books now and it is a skill that must be learned. As I watch the students read, I am seeing a big improvement!

We are now starting each class with a review of behavior expectations: I will listen, I will keep my eyes on the speaker, I will raise my hand to speak and I will keep my bottom on the chair/floor. We then do slow box breathing to assist students in becoming calm and ready to work.

You may have seen your first graders pictures of Crankenstein. We made predictions based on the cover and then read the story. Many students were nervous about drawing a picture, but they discovered how easy it was when they took it one step at a time. I thought they were beautiful . . . for a monster. :-)

Hello Families!

Our Speech team has been busy helping students work toward their IEP goals through fun, engaging activities that include music, books, and fall-themed lessons. This past month, our students especially enjoyed reading Spookley the Square Pumpkin and Pete the Cat: Falling for Autumn. These stories gave us great opportunities to practice speech sounds, answer questions, and build vocabulary—all while having fun!

Now that we’re moving into November, we’re excited to kick off some “turkey-themed fun” in speech sessions! We’ll continue targeting each child’s individual goals through playful and meaningful learning experiences that make communication come alive.

Ways to Support Speech Goals at Home

Here are a few simple and enjoyable ways to continue speech and language practice outside of school:

• Word Searches – Great for our readers to find target words and practice pronunciation.

• Picture Scavenger Hunts – Hunt for objects or pictures that include your child’s speech sounds.

• Craft Activities – Perfect for following directions, sequencing steps, and learning new vocabulary.

• Music & Books – Singing songs and reading aloud together are always powerful ways to support communication!

We are so proud of our students’ progress and can’t wait for all the learning and laughter that this month will bring.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful November full of thankful talk and turkey fun!

Warmly,
Your Speech Team

Students and staff had a great time celebrating Halloween together. Thank you to Kidron Bethel Village for having our students parade through your building to visit your residents! The students also got the chance to cheer on their teachers while they raced in their inflatable costumes.

Kindergarten has been learning our lowercase letters and sounds. We have begun to blend and segment CVC words. We are working really hard to learn our new sight words and practicing our Quarter 1 sight words. In math we have worked hard on comparing groups, writing our numbers and sequencing numbers. We had so much fun at the pumpkin patch and are looking forward to all of the upcoming Fall events!

First grade has finished up a great first quarter! We had a fun time at the pumpkin patch this month and look forward to some more fun events coming up.

In math, first grade is continuing our fact fluency within 10, and will start adding and subtracting within 20, soon. We are learning our friends of ten, to help us with future math problems! First grade has started spelling! They will get 8 words each week, and we will spend time practicing! Each week there will be a different spelling rule. First grade will continue learning different phonics and spelling patterns. Please spend some time practicing each week, and don't forget to read!

October in 2nd grade has been spent celebrating the arrival of Fall. We celebrated Fire Prevention Week complete with a visit from the Newton Fire Dept. and of course our favorite firefighter, Sparky. We had dress-up weeks to recognize Kindness Week and School Attendance Week and we had a blast on our field trip to Walter’s Pumpkin Patch. We end October with a Halloween parade and a trip to Kidron Bethel to show off our costumes and do a little trick-or-treating.

We have been working hard in 2nd grade on learning new spelling patterns and practicing with our spelling words each week as well as learning all sorts of things about multisyllable words, reading assorted genres from expository text to fables and realistic fiction and in math, working on two-digit addition and subtraction. We are now working on measurement and enjoying learning about different units, tools and ways to measure.

It was so good to have our families in the building this month for parent-teacher conferences. We enjoyed sharing our students' progress with families!

Mrs. Black & Mrs. Entz

October was a fun and busy month in 3rd grade! In math, we learned about area and multiplication, and in writing, we continued working on our “How To” pieces. During ELA, we explored several different genres and learned about the continents in social studies. We also had some exciting experiences this month—our field trip to the pumpkin patch was a big hit, and we loved meeting author Sandra Nickel during her visit. To top it all off, we had an excellent turnout for parent-teacher conferences. It’s been a great month of learning and connection!

With the second quarter under way, fourth graders are continuing to build skills. In math, they are learning to multiply large numbers. We hope that students will be able to multiply just about any numbers by the end of the semester. We continue to read all kinds of authors and writing. They have really enjoyed the opportunity to read a couple of reader's theaters. Watch out parents, because they will soon be honing their persuasive skills, by working on a holiday themed persuasive writing project. We are looking forward to many busy and fun days with activities that come during the holiday season.

October has been a spooky fun month in our IDD classroom! We have made applesauce, practiced trick-or-treating, and read lots of pumpkin books. Our students have been working hard at increasing their sight words, building more foundational skills in phonics, and solidifying their counting and skip counting skills. We're looking forward to November as we prepare for Thanksgiving and dive into more social/emotional lessons about being thankful and our families.

In the third and fourth grade IR classroom, students are actively engaged in targeted learning to strengthen key foundational skills in both reading and math.

In reading students are working on their fluency, comprehension, and phonics skills.

In math, students are reviewing and reinforcing their skills in addition and subtraction to ensure mastery of these fundamental operations. This review helps solidify their number sense and prepares them for more complex concepts.

At the same time, students are beginning to explore multiplication. This exploration includes understanding multiplication as repeated addition, learning multiplication facts, and applying these skills to solve problems. This foundational work in multiplication sets the stage for success in higher-level math topics.

Overall, the classroom environment supports focused, skill-based learning tailored to each student's needs, helping them build confidence and competence across reading and math.

In PE, students have been developing their throwing, catching, and dribbling skills through fun games and partner activities. These exercises help improve hand-eye coordination, teamwork, ball control, and overall motor skills!

Updates from Music

• Students are diving deep into music!

• We have already learned about 3 different composers since school started! Francis Scott Key, George Gershwin and Sofia Gubaidulina

• 1s and 2nd Graders are working hard on their concert music for their presentation of “Friends”.

• 4th graders have started their long, but exciting unit on ukuleles!

Upcoming Events

1st and 2nd Grade Concert

November 11 @ 6:30 pm

Northridge Gym

Kindergartners are finally getting in the groove. We have come a long way since the first day of school. We are working hard on learning new letters and sounds and learning our numbers 1-10. We are also working hard on making new friends, learning to work together in groups, and making it all day without wanting a nap!!! 😴

We had a fun “Apple” week by counting, measuring, weighing, and eating apples. Not to mention the yummy applesauce!! Not all students loved the applesauce, be sure to ask your student if they liked it or not!

In first grade we are learning all about the expectations at school, long and short vowels, word problems, and how to write a sentence. This week in particular we have focused on Johnny Appleseed and his success story. Students created pictures of Johnny in art to hang with their writing about what he did for people. We learned all about apples and their parts, tasted the different colors, voted on our favorite color of apple, and even made homemade applesauce! Kids are making lots of fun memories in first grade! We would like to remind you to read 20 minutes a night with your student to help support their reading fluency.

- Mrs. Wittman & Ms. Wedel

In September we kicked off spelling lessons and weekly wonders lessons. We focused on “How Friends Depend on Each Other” and “What Happens when Families Work Together” as our essential questions in ELA. For math we worked with picture graphs, bar graphs and data. We also began adding and subtracting two digit numbers up to 50 and then will work up to 100. We celebrated Constitution day on the 17th. We learned what a citizen is and why it is important to have rights and rules to follow and about the 3 branches of government. We have been working in groups on Apple research that will be presented on google slides!

Third grade is full of exciting learning! Students are diving deeper into reading by practicing strategies that help them understand stories in new ways. In math, we are building fluency with multiplication facts, which will help us tackle more complex problems. Our social studies lessons are focused on learning about the community around us and the important roles people play. We are also becoming authors by writing personal narratives, sharing our own experiences and voices through writing. It’s a busy and wonderful time in third grade!

This month the 4th graders have finished up addition and subtraction with multi-digit numbers. They have been working really hard at finding the main idea in selected texts and learning about the Three Branches of Government. We had an exciting and wonderful time learning at the Kauffman Museum and Bethel college on our field trip.

Going forward into the next month, we will be introducing 4-by-1 and 2-by-2 multiplication, poetry and we will begin working with the regions of the United States!

IR SPED K-2 has started off the school year strong with UFLI for 1st and 2nd grade. Kindergarten has started a new curriculum called "Really Great Reading-Countdown." It has been so exciting to see 1st and 2nd graders take off in their reading. Kindergarteners are also making gains in hearing letter sounds and phonological awareness. It truly makes my heart happy to see all the growth in a short amount of time!

Library has started off well. The students are taking the time to look for new books in places they do not usually go - the biography section, history, and poetry, for example. It is wonderful to hear how much they enjoyed the books when returned!

Please remember to have all students bring their library books to school on Wednesdays. They are then prepared for check out, whether it occurs on Wednesday or Thursday. Thank you! Next week (Oct. 6-Oct. 9), however, please have your child bring their library books for check out on Monday. I will not be in the building on Wednesday. 🙁

Thank you for your continued support of the Northridge Library! 📖

We are really getting into the groove in science. Fourth grade just had their science field trip to Kauffman Museum and Bethel College. We had a blast! Watch for notes coming home for the third grade field trip in the next few weeks. We will be heading to Exploration Place in November. Second grade just planted our fall garden in the raised beds. We hope to have a salad party in a few weeks and enjoy eating what we have grown. First grade has been studying the sun, moon, and stars. We will be using marshmallows to make constellations and Oreos to look at the moon phases. Kindergarten was excited that our caterpillar larva came last week. We have been watching to see how they will grow through their life cycle.

Meet Our New SLPA, Ms. Janay Jacobs!

We’re excited to welcome Ms. Janay Jacobs, our new Speech-Language Pathology Assistant (SLPA), to the team! Ms. Janay comes to us from Northern California, where she grew up on an organic dairy farm. She’s thrilled to be part of the Northridge community and has already brought wonderful energy and creativity to our sessions.

This month, we’ve incorporated fun and meaningful themes inspired by both the ocean and the farm—reflecting Ms. Janay’s background and helping to keep students engaged while working on their communication goals.

Students have been targeting their speech and language goals through a mix of structured and play-based activities—many of which can easily be adapted for home. Some examples include:

• Playing board games to practice taking turns and working on speech sounds.
  
  

• Reading books together to answer WH- questions (who, what, where, etc.) and identify the main idea.
  
  

As always, we encourage you to reach out if you’d like suggestions for supporting your child’s speech and language development at home!

-Mrs Brown, and Ms. Janay

Kindergarten is kicking off strong with learning how to be at school! We are working on our daily routines, writing names, and building our fine motor skills (hand muscles). We are diving into learning our letters and numbers. We like to keep things fun in Kindergarten so we went on a "bear hunt" to learn all the different areas of our school! One of the best ways to help your child thrive is by ensuring they get a good night’s sleep so they come to school rested and ready to learn!

First grade has been off to an amazing start! We have started to settle into our classes. We have been busy learning procedures and expectations. In our classes, we have old friends and new friends, and are enjoying working together and in groups.

In reading, first grade is learning all about vowel town. We are learning all the vowel sounds and the spellings of them. We will start to put these into practice and start spelling words and reading! In math, we have started our year with some addition and subtraction within 10. We will soon get into some data, and start working on collecting our own data and making graphs. First grade is spending time working on our handwriting, making sure our letters are formed correctly.

We have been so excited to be back to school and look forward to the year to come!

Ms. Wedel & Mrs. Wittman

We have had a wonderful start to the 25-26 school year in 2nd grade. It has been such a joy to learn more about each student and all the wonderful gifts they bring to our Northridge school family. We started off the year learning all about what it means to be a 2nd grader using activities that helped us further understand how to be respectful, responsible, safe, and ready to learn! We have spent some time talking about feelings and how to handle all the different feelings we feel throughout our days! We will explore and practice all these topics all throughout the school year so that all our 2nd graders feel safe and respected as they learn and grow. We are now diving into all our 2nd grade standards as we begin working with our reading series learning about how families are alike and different and learning new spelling patterns to help with our reading and writing. Math began with a little review on our basic facts and then soon we will dive into graphs and diagrams as we learn how to organize and understand information!

Our days are full of learning, but full of lots of laughs too!

Mrs. Black and Mrs. Entz

Third Grade has kicked off the school this month, we have been working on getting used to our school routines and learning expectations. We also dove head first into multiplication and are working hard on those facts!

We have had a great start to our school year in our IDD classroom!

Everyone has been getting back into the groove of school as we practice our routines, learn about our emotions, and get to know our friends and teachers. With the help and support of our awesome school staff, we have been able to spend a lot of time focusing on individual skills right away, and we are seeing great things happen!

We look forward to diving more into our curriculum this month, and enjoy some Fall activities as the weather gets cooler. It's great to be back together at school!

In the third and fourth grade IRR, the students have started to work towards making gains on their goals. The kids are working on their phonics, reading and math fact fluency, reading and math comprehension skills. The kids have already have been working hard in the 3/4 IRR room!

Welcome to an exciting year of Physical Education (PE)!

My goal is to help every student grow stronger, move smarter, and develop lifelong healthy habits. Physical Education is about building skills, teamwork, and confidence through movement.

For the past couple of weeks, we have been reviewing procedures and doing personal and social responsibility activities.

Updates from Music

• It’s so fun to be back with our Northridge students!

• To get going this school year, we will review and practice music classroom expectations.

• We will also review and practice music concepts we have already learned.

• This year’s concerts will focus on the theme of “Friendship”.

Upcoming Events

1st and 2nd Grade Concert

November 11 @ 6:30 pm

Northridge Gym