Notes from the North Park Hive

Dear Families,

Happy Spring! I think we can all agree that is was a long, sometimes challenging Winter season. I am thankful for the sunshine and warmer weather that we are experiencing!

We have two weeks until Spring Break. We are working hard to maximize each day with our students - they are still learning so much and mastering skills each day.

Tomorrow is the deadline for ordering group pictures. Info for ordering those pictures has been in the newsletter for weeks. Just scroll down and you will find it near the bottom of the newsletter.

Friday is a fun BEE THEMED high attendance day. Wear yellow/black, a shirt with a bee, a North Park shirt, dress like a bee....anything is great as we celebrate BEE-ing at school and having a great day.

Next week (not this week), we will have a March Madness themed week with simple things to do each day as we lead up to our March PBIS reward (basketball time in the gym) and have some fun with March Madness for students and staff leading up to Spring Break. More info on that to come!

Farmer Steve (and his petting zoo from White Mills) will be at North Park with his farm animals for preschoolers to visit tomorrow! This was rescheduled from last week due to the frigid temperatures and snow. All of preschool attending school on Friday (M/W/F and 5-day students) will be attending a field trip to Bluegrass Sportsplex this coming Friday in Elizabethtown. Preschool families, please note there is no preschool NEXT MONDAY on March 30th.

Have a great week!

Please call the NPES office at 270-351-4464 or email laurabeth.hayes@hardin.kyschools.us if I can help you with anything!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hayes (principal)

This has been a great year for procedures and routines, but we do need to shore a few things up. It's easy to become a little lax with procedures in the spring months, so we want to stay strong with our expectations and procedures all around. This makes drop-off and pick-up procedures a more pleasant experience for EVERYONE.

• Reminder - the front doors are only for preschool and preschool families who have both a preschooler and a kindergarten student. Unless the car rider line has closed, kindergarten students should be dropped off in the car rider line exclusively.

• The car rider line shuts down at 7:27. It has always closed at this time. This is because all students are supposed to be in the building with instruction starting at 7:30 AM. If we left the lane open past 7:27, students would be tardy.

• School begins AT 7:30. So, any amount of time beyond 7:30 is considered tardy. My office staff must enforce this, so please understand that when they are signing you in. This is clearly stated in our handbook. It does not say 7:31, it clearly states that 7:30 and beyond is considered tardy. We do try to hurry students in if we can as the bell is ringing to help you out, but that is not always possible. It is always best to try to be at school on time. We know that things come up, but some students have accumulated 10, 20 and even 50 tardies. This makes your child's start to the day VERY challenging and discombobulated. At this young age, they thrive on routine. Please help us as much as you can so that your child can have a great start to the day.

• Please remember to have car tags visible. The line slows down significantly when you have an ID and they have to radio in to verify. It is best to come inside the front doors if you do not have the tag. We know that some days you forget or don't realize until you get in the line. That is ok. But if you know you don't have the tag, please plan to contact the office or just come in the front doors.

Help NPES receive money to help our students at no extra expense to you. You are already purchasing the items. Just scan your receipt and if there are any Box Top items NPES will receive $0.10 per qualifying item. Download the app and help us help your children!

In the month of February we earned $18.20 with your help. Let's see how much we can earn in March!

The March lunch menu is attached below.

We LOVE seeing students reading at home with their families!!!! Our tree is looking a little sad - it needs more LEAVES this month. Read together at home and send in your leaves!

Kindergarten graduation will be May 20th at North Hardin High School (gymnasium) in the evening. We will have TWO sessions: one for 1/2 of the classrooms and one following for the other 1/2 of kindergarten classrooms. There will be a ticket limit per family. This is required in order to control the crowd and allow for it to be a pleasant experience for everyone. As future Trojans, it is very special for our students to "graduate" at North Hardin. There are many reasons why we conduct this event inside instead of outside. This is our third year in keeping this tradition and we have the event very streamlined and organized. We will share more specific information closer to time. We are very firm on our guidelines regarding graduation and will stick to those guidelines for everyone's best interest - especially our students. We will live stream the graduation via HCEC-TV, just like the high school graduations. This is a HUGE event (over 3000 people attended last year), and we appreciate your support and cooperation so that it is a great night! MORE DETAILS WILL BE SHARED AFTER SPRING BREAK.

When we share about kindergarten graduation, we often receive many questions about a preschool graduation. Graduations are typically held when a student "leaves" a building (5th grade, 8th, grade and 12th grade). Since our kindergarten students leave our building to go to the feeder elementary schools, we only have a kindergarten graduation at North Park. We are excited that our preschoolers stay with us for kindergarten! Each preschool teacher has a celebration with students in the classroom. They will share more information with you closer to time.