THE BEST

March 8 - Daylight Saving Time (Clocks Ahead One Hour)

March 13 - All Pro Dad

March 16 - Professional Development Day (Students No School)

March 20 - PTA Blooming Mornings

March 27 - PTA Bingo Night

March 31 - Spring Pictures

April 3 - STEM Day

April 6-11 - Spring Break (No School)

April 17 - All Pro Dad

April 29 - May 1, 5-8 - GA Milestones Assessments

Opening the month of March with Read Across America Week has been such fun! It’s been great to see the students participate in the theme days. Another highlight of the week were the amazing surprises planned for the students including NFL Minnesota Vikings Quarterback Mystery Reader, Max Brosmer. Max is a former Northwood Explorer and attended Haynes Bridge Middle School, and Centennial High School. On Wednesday, we had a parade to celebrate our Reading Bowl Team that took third place in the Regional Competition. We are SO very proud of their preparation and teamwork! Throughout the week we hosted several guests including Mrs. Gillespie, Fulton County School Board Member, Mrs. Brumley, Roswell City Council, and some Centennial High School football players who read to a few classes. I know there were additional classroom mystery readers, too. We are ending the week full of excitement as we await Monday’s big reveal of the ‘Northwood Masked Readers’ mystery! The students enjoyed making their predictions all week. Thank you to Mrs. Bauer, Media Specialist, and Mrs. Imhulse, Literacy Coach, for planning and leading the fun each day!

Next week we look forward to celebrating Exceptional Children’s Week at Northwood. Exceptional Children’s Week (ECW) is a national, week‑long celebration that honors youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. It was created by the Council for Exceptional Children to raise awareness, celebrate strengths, and highlight inclusive practices that support students with exceptionalities. Northwood Elementary will participate in ECW with recognition opportunities that build understanding and celebrate diversity. Each day students are encouraged to wear different colors as they learn more throughout the week about what makes us all unique and the same!

Monday: wear green

Tuesday: wear blue

Wednesday: wear white

Thursday: wear yellow

Friday: wear red

Remember, Daylight Saving Time is Sunday – time for clocks to spring ahead.

Fondly,

Heather Rucker, principal

Second grade TAG students have been enjoying their TAG unit, “Toy Adventure Awaits” where they are exploring all things related to toys. They recently completed a study about toys around the world and spent some focused time learning about Kokeshi dolls - traditional, handcrafted Japanese wooden figures originating from the Tohoku region in the mid-19th century. The students then created their own replica of this doll using clay.

Minute to Win It: PBIS Edition!: To celebrate students who met their February PBIS expectations, we hosted a schoolwide Minute to Win It event for grades K–5! Students rotated through a series of fast one‑minute challenges that encouraged teamwork, strategy, and friendly competition. Activities included stacking blocks as high as possible, racing pom‑poms across a finish line using straws, sliding coins with accuracy, keeping balloons in the air, building cup towers with quick reflexes, and guiding ping‑pong balls into targets. Our students had a blast working together and celebrating their positive choices!

We have successfully launched our new system called PickUp Patrol to help us track dismissals. PickUp Patrol provides families with a convenient way to make changes to your child’s dismissal plans and helps ensure that students are accurately dismissed each day.

If you haven't signed up, please email Mrs. Lorraine Robertson at Northwood's front desk, robertsonl1@fultonschools.org, and she will resend the registration email from PickUp Patrol with a link to set up your account. Moving forward, this is the only way to make dismissal changes. Please note that dismissal requests will no longer be accepted via the Northwood Dismissal email, teacher inboxes, or paper notes.

How It Works:

1. Your child’s regular dismissal plan will be entered into the system. This is considered their Default Plan.
2. Whenever your child is doing something other than their Default Plan, you’ll submit a Plan Change via PickUp Patrol.
3. Examples of a Plan Change:
• Your child normally rides the bus but needs to switch to carpool for the day.
• Your child is getting picked up by someone other than yourself (must be an emergency contact in Infinite Campus).
• Your child has a doctor's appointment and will be leaving early.
4. When the change is submitted, a notification will be sent to the front office and their teacher.

The parent portal is free to parents and can be accessed from your phone or computer. The link in your registration email will be live for 48 hours. As soon as you receive it, please log in and confirm your child’s default plan.

Thank you for using PickUp Patrol to make safety a priority and to ensure our dismissal process is efficient for all! Parents can access all of their children in the same account as long as the same email address is used. Once you are registered you do not need to re-register for each child, you will simply log out and back in again to view all children in the app.

If you have any questions, please first check the PickUp Patrol Parent Guide & if you need additional assistance, please reach out to Mrs. Robertson, robertsonl1@fultonschools.org.

What can I do to help my child prepare?

• Be certain your child gets plenty of sleep and has a healthy breakfast.

• Be certain your student is at school on time, so they are not worried about being late.

• Remind students that cell phones and smart watches will be collected and stored in the secure testing room during test administration times. It’s best for students to leave them at home if possible.

• Get information and practice using this link: Georgia Milestones Resources (gadoe.org)

• Experience the online testing session. See below for more details, and use this link: www.gaexperienceonline.com

What happens if my child is absent?

• There will be rolling make-ups throughout the testing window. Please do not send your child in if they are sick.

Can visitors be in the building?

• During GMAS testing, we will not be allowing visitors in the building before 11:30 am; and there will also be no lunch visitors these days.

Georgia Experience Online

Georgia Experience Online is a practice site that can be used for students to learn more about the structure and content of the Georgia Milestones Assessment, experience online testing, and practice using online testing tools. Parents are welcome to explore this site and use it to practice with your child.

Please note that the EOG Test Practice site will have ELA and Math questions while the EOG Study Guide for Students and Parents only focuses on Math and Science (5th grade only).

Below you will find an attachment with directions and the link to access the site. Please contact your child’s teacher or our CST, Danielle Evangelista if you have any questions.

The Northwood Foundation is seeking a couple of new members to join our team! Our mission is to raise funds for innovative programs and facilities that enhance the educational experience and opportunities for students and faculty, thus enhancing the quality of life for the greater community. As a board member, you would play a vital role in our school community by coordinating and attending the annual Fun Run events and overseeing the stewardship of donated funds.

If you are passionate about supporting our students and faculty, we would love to hear from you. Interested parties should send a short biography to northwoodfoundationga@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

What is a School Governance Council?

The purpose of a School Governance Council (SGC) is to provide parents, school staff, and community members with a leadership role through monitoring and implementation of the strategic plan.

What is the commitment?

All School Governance Council members serve two-year terms. Time commitment varies from school-to-school, but expect 2 to 3 hours per month which includes meetings, trainings, and school and community events.

When are the 2026 elections?

Candidate Declaration: February 2 - March 27

Voting: April 22 - April 29

Where to declare candidacy?

Visit the SGC website and click on Elections for a candidate guide and/or declaration. Elections - Fulton County School System

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

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

Next week's AVID goal is: to hold the door open for people.

We can help you celebrate your child's birthday with his/her classmates by offering the purchase of ice-cream for $1.00 per child. Please go online and add money to your child's GENERAL LUNCH account based on the number of students in the classroom. Then email your child's teacher and our Cafeteria Manager, Chisthal Austin, at austinc4@fultonschools.org to let us know what date you would like to celebrate it. We will take care of the rest!

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

Should you be interested in adding to the Cafeteria Principal Account Fund, just send a check or cash to school in an envelope to Ms. Cristhal Austin, our cafeteria manager in training, and notate that the funds go to the Principal Fund. Please reach out to Ms. Austin, austinc4@fultonschools.org, if you have any questions.

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

Nutrition.fultonschools.org/MenuCalendar

Parents, please encourage your students to check regularly for lost items in the Lost and Found. Please mark all student belongings clearly with the child's name so that it can be identified. Unclaimed items are donated to local charities after the last school day of every month. March's date is Tuesday, March 31st.

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

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

Don’t miss Northwood’s Family Fun Night on March 27 at Centennial HS.

Only 350 tickets available

Our Silent Auction opens March 20 — raffle packages available soon!

Grab your tickets before they’re gone!

It’s time to pre-order your 2025-2026 Northwood Yearbook—celebrating our 30th anniversary with this year’s theme: REWIND! Reserve your copy now for just $41.

Click here to order: yearbookordercenter.com/job/26362.

Questions? Email us at Yearbook@northwoodpta.com.

Michelle Levine, Assistant Principal

Together We SHINE!

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