Northridge Elementary Weekly Blast

Mar 16-20 Spring Break

Mar 25 - DBC Meeting

Apr 10 - PTO General Meeting

Apr 10 - Popcorn Friday

Apr 15 - SAC Meeting

Apr 17 - Parents' Night Out - Auction

Apr 24 - No School

Apr 30 - Wellness Night

Due to the massive sliming this afternoon, this area of the playground may be slippery for a few days. Please use caution in this area.

This week, Tessa and I had so much fun passing out rubber duckies to our amazing staff for a special Spring Break activity. We’ve challenged our teachers to take their ducks along on their break "adventures" and send back photos of their travels!

Whether they are jet-setting to a far-off destination, enjoying a relaxing morning in the backyard with a cup of coffee, or simply catching up on some reading, we want to see where those ducks end up. Once everyone returns, I will be compiling all the photos into a fun "Duck Adventures" video to share with the whole school!

Calling All Students! When the kids saw the ducks, they were so excited and wanted to join in the fun. While we unfortunately didn't have enough ducks to give one to every student, we realized that the kids can—and should—absolutely participate!

If your child has a rubber duck at home, or even a favorite "stuffy" (stuffed animal) that they love, we want them to join the challenge. Please encourage your child to take a picture of their duck or stuffy on their Spring Break adventures—big or small—and email it to me at eslehnert@dcsdk12.org.

We can’t wait to see what our students and staff get up to over the break!

~ Erin

• 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)

PTO In Action

Family Dance

Thank you to everyone who braved the weather and came out for the Family Dance! If you missed it, be sure to put it on your calendar for next year - it’s a night you won’t want to miss again! This was another wonderful PTO event thanks to the many volunteers who helped make it happen, most especially our Family Dance Committee Chairperson, Lauren Zaba! Thank you Lauren!

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. We are searching for the next PTO President and a few other positions. 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, slinkies, etc. If you’ve got some items you’d like to recycle, please donate them to PTO! It is a 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!

iPad or other Tablet Donation Request

PTO is looking for an older iPad or tablet to use at events when we need to collect credit card payments. If you have one at home that you’re no longer using, please consider donating it to the PTO If you’re willing to donate, please email PTOpresidentNRE@gmail.com.

Upcoming Events

PTO General Assembly Meeting

All are invited to attend the final PTO General Assembly Meeting of this school year. Come and hear about what’s going on and share your ideas. Bring a friend! Friday, April 10 from 8:45-10:15 in the NRE Library.

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

SweetPlay Family Night Out

Join us for a night of fun at SweetPlay on Friday, April 17. SweetPlay will be closed the public and there will be many fun activities to do in addition to the normal fun things at SweetPlay. This is a NRE PTO Fundraiser - SweetPlay will donate a large portion of the proceeds from the evening back to NRE! Information for buying your family tickets will be coming soon. Additionally, the Silent Auction will culminate at 7:30pm on April 17 while we are together at SweetPlay. Don’t miss this fun community night out!

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!

4/3/26: Kona Ice

4/9/26: Fujiyama

4/10/26: Desert Donuts

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.

Thanks to everyone who brought in the many boxes of cereal this week! The Knock Down Hunger event was a success. We brought in 122 boxes! Mrs. Strickland's Class was able to help and cheer us on as we knocked down all the Cereal Dominos! Thank you!

Dear Northridge Families,

It has been an incredible and high-energy week here at school! As we head into our break, I want to share some of the amazing highlights and celebrations that took place across our campus.

Slime Time: Read-a-thon Celebration!

We had a "Big Day" celebration to reward our students for their hard work during the Read-a-thon. As promised, because our students exceeded their goal, they got to watch Mrs. Armijo, Mr. Kirk, and me get slimed! It was a messy, green, and hilarious afternoon that the students (and staff!) truly enjoyed. Thank you for supporting our young readers!

3rd Grade Global Research Presentations

Our 3rd graders showed off their hard work this week with a special project researching various countries in Africa and their significant influence on the United States. The students created detailed posters and gave presentations to share their findings. It was wonderful to see their growth as researchers and public speakers.

Knock Down Hunger

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in our "Knock Down Hunger" event for the Back Pack Society. Your generosity helps ensure that students in our community have access to the food they need. We are so proud of the heart our Northridge families show for others.

Happy Pi Day! 🥧

Tomorrow is Pi Day (3.14)! Some of our students got a head start on the celebration today by enjoying some delicious pie and learning about the significance of this mathematical constant. It was a sweet way to wrap up the week!

PTO and Sponsor Appreciation

We want to extend a massive thank you to our wonderful PTO and all our local sponsors. Your support provided incredible meals for our teachers and staff during a very busy conference week. We felt very cared for and fueled up to support our families!

Wishing You a Safe Spring Break

Finally, Spring Break is officially here! Whether you are traveling or enjoying a "staycation," I wish every one of our families a safe, relaxing, and joyful week off. We look forward to seeing everyone back at Northridge refreshed and ready for the final stretch of the school year.

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.