THE BEST
Building Excellence Successfully Together
{click translate at the top of the newsletter to view in multiple languages}
May 8, 2026
CALENDAR DATES
May 13 - Talent Show
May 14 - Chorus Concert
May 15 - Field Day
May 18 - K and 4th Grade Class Parties
May 19 - 1st and 5th Grade Class Parties
May 20 - 2nd and 3rd Grade, and AU Program Class Parties
May 21 - Last Day of School/5th Grade Promotion Ceremony
KEY NEWS FOR EXPLORER FAMILIES
With the exception of a few make-up sessions, Georgia Milestones testing is complete. We are proud of our Explorers who gave it their ALL! Due to new standards that were implemented this year, official results for math and science will not be available until mid-summer, and ELA scores not until fall. Once all results are in, we will look for trends as well as review subgroup data. Our focus has remained on improving the percentage of students reading on grade level so that will be a data point we review closely. Thank you to Mrs. Levine, Ms. Evangelista, and the entire staff who oversaw and managed a successful two weeks!
This week Mrs. Bauer, our METI, received the exciting news that Northwood is the District's April winner for the highest number of minutes read and logged! Northwood Explorers logged 76,371 minutes last month on Beanstack! The trophy will return to our campus! WAY TO GO NES!
We also had a very well attended final All Pro Dad meeting this morning! Thank you, Mr. Chaffer, Mr. Asher, Mr. Devlin and team for planning, organizing, and leading the monthly meetings. We celebrated the fifth grade students and families who attended their last Northwood APD meeting today.
It's Nurse's Appreciation Week and we're very grateful for the support of our Cluster Nurse, Jayna Brosmer as well as the dynamic duo in our clinic, Mr. Don Venn and Mrs. Kelsey McKeaige. They support our Explorers in so many caring and kind ways!
With this weekend being Mother’s Day, take a moment to celebrate the moms and mom figures in your life!
Fondly,
Heather Rucker, principal
ESOL EXPLORERS
Our ESOL students have had an exciting year! From kindergarten to 5th grade, students have been busy expanding their vocabulary, learning letters and sounds, practicing high frequency words, decoding difficult words, and comprehending fiction and nonfiction texts, poetry, and drama. This year, the ESOL department "adopted" a cow, and her name is Clementine. She was born in August 2025, at Big Sandy Creek Dairy Farm in Madison, GA. Our ESOL students have acquired knowledge about the daily life of a dairy farmer and dairy products. In addition, our multilingual learners have also learned about the growth and development of Clementine. During the year, she has grown bigger and stronger, just like our ESOL learners have thrived during the school year.
NORTHWOOD RECIEVES TOP INSPECTION SCORE
CONGRATULATIONS to Mack Ervin for leading Northwood's custodial team to one of the highest inspection scores in the entire district! His work ethic has been repeatedly recognized for excellence. Mack, along with Michael Perman, Northwood custodian, and the contract crew are to thank for this amazing accomplishment!
MEDIA CENTER BOOK RETURN
The end of the school year is just around the corner. Please start to look at your house, in your cars, and backpacks for loved library books! All books are due this upcoming week (May 11-15). Thank you for supporting our Media Center and our love for reading this year!
ALL IN ON ATTENDANCE - FINISH THE YEAR STRONG
The school year isn’t over yet! Every day matters for review, projects, and preparing for the next grade level. Students with strong May attendance are more likely to retain skills over the
summer. The late bell rings at 7:40am. Students should be in their classroom ready to learn at that time. Please email northwoodattendance@fultonschools.org and copy your child’s teacher when your child is absent.
Parents of performers may attend on show day, May 13th.
READY, SET, VOLUNTEER: NORTHWOOD ELEMENTARY FIELD DAY NEEDS YOU!
Northwood Elementary is hosting its annual Field Day on Friday, May 15th, 2026, and we’re seeking parent volunteers to help facilitate the events. Only parents that are on campus in a volunteer capacity will attend to support Field Day. Parents will be assigned a station and will not rotate with their child.
• Session #1: Grades 1, 4, 5, and AU will have Field Day from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM.
• Session #2: Grades K, 2, and 3 will have Field Day from 11:45 AM to 1:45 PM.
Please click on the link below to volunteer and help us create a fun and memorable Field Day experience for all our students!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084DABAD28ABFC1-63234994-2026#/
Scan the QR code below to preorder your 26/27 school supplies!
FCS KINDERGARTEN AND NEW STUDENT REGISTRATION
AVID GOAL OF THE WEEK
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 be a good sport and encourage my classmates.
INFINITE CAMPUS CENSUS UPDATE
Beginning April 1, families can complete census verification through Infinite Campus Online Registration. Fulton County Schools requires families to review and update their emergency contact information each year. For safety and security purposes, we ask that all updates be completed prior to the start of the upcoming school year.
Please click the link below to view the flyer for instructions on how to update your Explorer’s emergency contact information in Infinite Campus.
PICKUP PATROL: NEW DISMISSAL SYSTEM AT NORTHWOOD
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.
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.
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.
CAFETERIA NEWS
NEW CAFETERIA PRINCIPAL ACCOUNT FUND
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.
MENU CALENDAR
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.
MISSING SOMETHING?
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. May's date is Thursday, May 21st.
HAVE YOU JOINED THE PARENT PORTAL?
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.
YEARBOOKS ARE HERE
Thank you to all the amazing 4th and 5th graders who submitted artwork for this year's Yearbook Art Contest. Contest winners, Katherine Khambatta, Eva Joshi, Dhriti Garg and Ryan Malas are featured on the front cover, back cover and front page. Honorable mentions also have artwork displayed throughtout the yearbook.
A big thank you to Kathryn White, Stephanie Dover and their entire yearbook team for creating this year's masterpiece! We appreciate your creative vision, hard work and all that you do to pull together such a memorable yearbook.
COMMUNITY AND CLUSTER NEWS
ABOUT US
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