A Message from the Principal

Parents and Caregivers,

I am so happy to be back at school with our entire staff to welcome you to the 2023-24 school year. I hope your summer was lots of fun and filled with the activities you enjoy most.

If you have any changes to your contact information or any family updates that our office should be aware of, please reach out to Karin in our main office.

We welcome the following new teachers to the Northern team:

Macy Allen - Grade 2 Teacher

Ashley Theisen - Grade 1 Teacher

Mattea Carlson-Dybing - Special Education Teacher

This year our school is doubling down on literacy. Being able to read at least a third grade level is a goal we have for every child before they move on to fourth grade. Be on the lookout for detailed information about how your child is progressing, and how you can help at home.

We found GREAT SUCCESS last year in a few classrooms who piloted UFLI. UFLI is a word study program designed to accelerate reading, spelling, and writing with sequential instruction and spiraling review. All teachers will be incorporating these strategies into a daily word study block this year. Your child's teacher will send home details about the program and some quick and easy ways for you to guide your child's practice at home.

A change is coming this year in our specialist calendar. Each day every student has 30 minutes of physical education and 30 minutes of another specialist block - art music, or tech. Bemidji students are very lucky to have daily blocks of physical education. Healthy bodies support ready learners.

In prior years, we assigned art, music, and tech on specific days of the week. This year we made a change. Your child will have music for a week, tech for a week, and art for a week in a three week rotation. This continuity lets students complete a project or a unit in these content areas over a shorter span of time. This rotation also means that students may have up to 5 hours less of music or art over the course of the school year. We are piloting the schedule format this year and will be collecting feedback to chart our course for future years.

Children will be delighted to see familiar faces back in our specialist classrooms. Mr. Thompson and Mr. Amdahl are back in the gym, and Mr. McKeown returned again this year to teach music. Ms. Fellman, our talented art teacher is also returning and will take on tech instruction for our school. She will teach art one week and tech the next.

I am very excited about the great things happening at Northern Elementary School and look forward to a joyful year ahead.

See you on Tuesday,

Principal Worden

September

8 - Vikings opener - wear your football spiritwear

21 - Fundraiser kickoff - Candy bars!!!!

October

2 - NO SCHOOL - STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY

12 - Family Reading Night at Northern 5:30-7:00pm

19-20 - NO SCHOOL - MEA

We have a new traffic pattern to make you aware of. Our school entrance becomes very unsafe in the mornings when traffic is forced to sit on Irvine Avenue. To avoid that safety hazard, we are enforcing the following rules about using the DROP and GO lanes in front of our school.

The Drop and Go zone is for students who can exit the car without parent assistance. Students coming to school should be seated on the passenger side so they open the door and get out right on the sidewalk. Parents who pull up along the curb or along the barricades must stay in their vehicle.

If your child is not able to grab their gear and get out of the car without help, please pull into the lot labeled "Parent Out of Car" and assist your child. You are welcome to walk them to the door or they can make their way along the barricades in the area marked as a crosswalk. We will have an adult watching the crosswalk area at 7:35 most days. Mr. Thompson enjoys saying good morning to students and giving a cheerful fist bump to start the day.

It takes everyone following the directions to make our system safe and smooth. We have witnessed multiple incidents of frustrated drivers move at high speed in our parking lots and exit area. If we are unable to maintain quick drop offs and get the long line of sitting traffic off Irvine, we have been advised that we will need to close the Drop and Go entrance each morning and have all children dropped at the far parking lot/crosswalk.

We will be outside with reminders if needed. Please do your part to keep all students and their families who drive them safe. I have included a map to help you understand our Drop and Go system.

We encourage each family to be actively involved in their child’s education. Support comes in many ways. Families and caregivers can become active with our parent teacher organization, volunteer in the classroom, or simply designate a special time each night to talk about your child’s day and spend 15 minutes reading together.

I believe we do our work best when communication is open and frequent. Please reach out to me should you have any questions about our programs and opportunities at Northern Elementary School. We are glad you are here!

Email: amy_worden@isd31.net
Website: https://www.bemidji.k12.mn.us/northern/
Location: 8711 Irvine Avenue Northwest, Bemidji, MN, USA
Phone: 218-333-3260
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Northern-Elementary-Bemidji-106725388823026