Northlake Notes

Happy 2024, Northlake Elementary Fam! 🥰

I can't believe how quickly the days have flown by. Even with losing some instructional time to the cold weather day, we've had a lot going on at Northlake in January and so much to CELEBRATE for the new year. 🤩

Mrs. Easter is already making an indelible mark at Northlake with her calm, kind and consistent demeanor in her approach to all situations; our students and staff alike love her. Many of you have asked about Ms. Kellagher. She had a successful knee replacement surgery on January 8th and is already walking with a cane and undergoing demanding daily physical therapy. She sends her love and wishes everyone well, just as we all continue to send her our love and best wishes for a strong recovery. ❤️‍🩹

Our Northlake Team is working as hard as ever getting MAP testing, MAP Fluency, MClass, and CIRCLE testing completed as well as starting exciting new units of study in all our subjects. With the close of Golden Ticket and holiday celebrations in December, our PBIS, Inclusion, and AVID Site Teams have been hard at work planning and implementing a myriad of activities: the 2nd 9 Weeks Assemblies, Principals' 100, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Holocaust Awareness Week, Black History Month, Lunar New Year, K-6 7 Up Club parties, AVID campus-wide initiatives focused on collaboration and organization, the Spelling Bee, LHJH field trips for 5th & 6th grades, and more (whew 😅).

Thank you to the PTA who have been instrumental in supporting these endeavors. February will be an even busier month, so please be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom for important dates. Please read on below for more detail on the many causes we have to celebrate Northlake Elementary, the AVID Showcase School of Richardson ISD. 🙌

Gongxi Facai 🧧 & Happy 2024 🎉

Kylee Wall

Since 2018, Northlake has been committed to the AVID framework PreK-6th. In 2022-23, Northlake became the first AVID Showcase Elementary in Richardson ISD. This year, we have repeated that honor of being recognized as an AVID Showcase Elementary School as well as continuing to be recognized as an AVID Site certified school.

Thank you, parents, for your partnership in achieving this feat. This cannot be done without you looking at and signing planners each night, reading with your children, and ensuring they come to school prepared each morning to learn. We appreciate your continued partnership in the learning success of all of our students.

Thank you also to our amazing AVID Site Team, our Northlake Team, and our awesome student AVID Ambassadors for daily implementation, follow through, and accountability in all things AVID.

For more information on AVID, please visit explore.avid.org/what-avid-is/.

You may have already noticed from the marquee announcements: this year's Teacher of the Year at Northlake Elementary is Mrs. Sara Turner of 2nd Grade. 🥳

This Tech Raider staff favorite was nominated by and voted as Northlake's Teacher of the Year by the Northlake Team and the Site Based Decision-making Committee made up of Northlake community members. In December, her students, peers and husband surprised her with the results! When asked how she felt to be chosen for this honor, Mrs. Turner replied, "It is an honor to be recognized because I work with the best of the best at Northlake."

When she isn't teaching 2nd graders and working as a campus leader, Sara loves traveling (most recently she was in South Africa), playing mahjong, and cooking. In the rare instances you find her relaxing, it is most likely near a beach or lake - anywhere to catch some sun.

Congratulations Sara Turner, we are so very fortunate to have you on the Northlake Team! You bring us to Next Level Excellence!

Congratulations to all the students that received certificates at the 2nd Nine Weeks Assembly for the categories of:

• Perfect Attendance
• A & A/B Honor Roll
• Most Academic Growth
• Hard Working
• Self Managers
• PTA Reflections
• Cocoa Cup - given by the Specials Team: Art, PE & Music
• Character Traits - November: Gratitude & December: Integrity

We also recognized the Northlake Cheer Team facilitated by Ms. Ducre for all the school spirit they imbue at Northlake. Students were celebrated, recognized, and played a game versus their teachers. Sadly for the teachers and happily for the students, the students were able to win in both the K-2 and the 3-6 games at the assembly.

K-2 Assembly Slideshow

3-6 Assembly Slideshow

For the 3rd Nine Weeks, our PBIS Campus-wide Incentive is Principals’ 100. ANY staff member can nominate ANY student for a P100.

Students can earn a P100 for exhibiting any Northlake ROAR Characteristic Traits:

• Respect – Treating others how you want to be treated & acting with care and using kindness in all you do.
• Ownership – Engaging in your own learning and taking control of your choices.
• Acceptance – Understanding each other’s differences & building connections within diversity.
• Responsibility – Being accountable for your actions and following school expectations to keep everyone safe.
  

Students that receive a P100 nomination will receive a certificate, a positive phone call home from a principal, a shout out on the morning announcements, and a polaroid photo to add to the P100 bulletin board.

The PBIS (Positive Behavior Incentives and Support) Team just wrapped up the Golden Ticket store in December. This year, thanks to the support of PTA and our community, we were able to give out over 720 Golden Tickets to our students! Wow!! 🤩 Students then exchange their golden ticket for a gift for themselves or a loved one at the Golden Ticket store which also provides complimentary gift wrapping service. Thank you to all the volunteers that came and worked at the Golden Ticket Store gift wrapping and the NLE PBIS Site Team who stayed long hours after school to put the store together.

In other PBIS news, Ms. Bohling's ECSE class won the door decorating contest with her 9 lovable students all attending to one of the 9 reindeer from Rudolph through Blitzen. I mean, how could you not vote for all that cuteness?

Congratulations to all the homeroom finalists that participated in our school-wide spelling bee facilitated by Mr. Kimo Aleman, our LITE. The finalists participated in a spelling bee in front of their peers in an intense battle of wits sans spellcheck. The Northlake Champion Speller this year is 6th grader, Isla Fielder in Ms. Baumgartner's homeroom. Congratulations Isla!! 🥇

Shout out to Gaby Sotelo, Reflections Chair, and the student winners of the PTA Reflections Contest!

We want to thank you all for your participation in RISD Reflections. All participating students were recognized at the 2nd 9 weeks assembly. Those recognized in the categories of Excellence and Merit were also recognized at an RISD district Art Exhibition. Students brought home a certificate and ribbon for their artwork. This year was the most entries and winners ever to represent Northlake! And 2nd Grader Della Ring's project was selected to go on to represent us at the state level!

Thank you again to Gaby Sotelo who chaired this committee and all the students that worked so hard on their projects.

Congratulations! 🏆

Kinder - 6th Graders take the MAP test in Reading and Math at the beginning, middle and end of each school year. As an AVID school, our Wildcats set growth goals in order to stay focused and work on intrinsic motivation. Our teachers and students have worked hard all fall semester and the results are in...

In Kinder -6th Grade, over 90% of our students grew from their beginning of year testing score to this middle of year mark.

Students that grew by 7 or more points in either Reading or Math (or both) attended the 7 Up Club celebration where they got to enjoy a snack and drink provided by our PTA. Those that made progress in either MAP test (but were not at 7 points yet) were treated to a bag of chips as they continue to "chip away" at their goals.

January 9th was Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. We all wore blue to support Officer Missael Covarrubias (Officer C for short) who keeps us safe each and every day. Our students also created a banner to celebrate him.

Officer C goes above and beyond the call of duty, checking in with students that he has become a natural mentor for, racing with kids at recess while on patrol, and helping deescalate any difficult situation that may occur. He is everywhere and vigilant at all times while relatable and personable to our students, staff, and community.

Thank you Officer C for all that you do for our students and for us. We appreciate you! 💙

Reminder that no crocs or "croc-like" shoes are allowed at school. Many croc-related incidents end up in the Nurse's clinic. Please do not make us have to be the "crocs police", as this rule is part of our district Elementary Dress Code. Please be sure your students are dressed appropriately for school each day. Thank you for your help keeping all our students safe! 👟

Parents are welcome to bring a small birthday treat to celebrate their child's birthday. Here are a few reminders:

• Treats must be store bought or baked (cupcakes and cookies are best). We ask for store bought so teachers can see the ingredients listed in order to be mindful of any allergies students may have.
• We do not pass out drinks, party bags or balloons.
• Parents may drop treats labeled with child's name, grade and homeroom teacher, off in the main office, and we will get them to the classroom.
• We will not call students out of class to come to the office for pictures with their treats.
• Teachers will pass treats out at the end of the day.

To have your child's name added to the marquee for their birthday for just $10, please use this link to the PTA website. www.northlakepta.com/birthday-marquee

The district policy is that grades are not printed and sent home; however, you may view your child's grades on the Parent Portal in Focus. Progress reports and current grades will be available to you the week of January 29th. If you have not signed up for a Parent Portal Account, please see the information below.

Please be sure to sign up for your Parent Focus Account. This will give you access to all kinds of important student information. Most importantly, you will have access to your child's grade.

web.risd.org/focus/

Parents are welcome to come visit during lunch to eat with their students. We ask that you sign up for a day and time using the sign-up genius. In order to keep students safe and to accommodate everyone, please read through these reminders for visiting Northlake for lunch:

• Sign up for your visit using the Sign Up Genius.
• No Siblings, due to limited space on the stage.
• You may eat lunch with your child only.
• Please do not take pictures of your child while at lunch.
• When you are finished with lunch, please check out through the office. Parents may not go back to class with their children to visit.

bit.ly/NLESpring24LunchSignUp

The school day is from 7:50-3:10.

• The building opens at 7:30.

• Breakfast is served in the classroom from 7:30-7:50.

• Your child is tardy at 7:51 and will receive a tardy pass to get to class.

• Your child is late for school after 8:05 and a parent will need to sign them in at the office.

• If your child arrives to school after 9:00 AM they are counted absent for the day.

• If you child is absent for any reason, please be sure to send a note to school on the day your child returns, letting us know the reason for the absence. Any excuse notes must be received within 3 days of returning to school in order to receive an excused absence.

If you have any questions regarding attendance, please email lorrie.ford@risd.org.

If you would like to volunteer at Northlake Elementary, you must complete a volunteer background check EVERY new school year. Volunteering could include helping with class parties, attending field trips with your children, working in the library, helping at Field Day, or many other activities. We will not allow anyone who has not completed and passed the volunteer background check to volunteer.

Please click on this link to complete the background check. You MUST also watch the very short powerpoint at the end to complete the entire background check. Failure to watch the powerpoint will make your application incomplete and you will not be able to volunteer.

We are so fortunate to have a wonderful PTA. They have been working so hard all year.

Please be sure to check out their website for different ways you can help out. You can also reach out to Amanda Hinders at President@NorthlakePTA.com for more information about PTA.

We need your help! We are working hard to grow our PTA membership. It costs $8 to join PTA and there is no time commitment needed. We always need volunteers at PTA school events such as Carnival, Multi-Cultural Night and Buddy Fun Day. But, we are flexible and you can work as much or as little as your schedule allows.

You can find more information out about our PTA on their website. Thanks in advance for supporting our school! https://www.northlakepta.com/

Parents must apply for their child/children to receive free or reduced breakfast and lunch. Last year everyone received free school breakfast but this year families must apply to receive free or reduced breakfast. The application must be completed as soon as possible to ensure that there is no interruption to their meal service. This application needs to be filled out every year. Please click on the picture or link below to get to the lunch application.

Students are welcome to pack a nutritious lunch from home or a lunch may be purchased in the school cafeteria. If your child happens to forget their lunch from home, please drop it off in the front office by 10:30 AM. This will ensure that the lunch will reach your child by their lunch time. Please refer to the RISD Child Nutrition website for menus, pricing and payment options.

In the interest of safety & security, every visitor to a Richardson ISD campus must present a valid form of identification and be processed through the Raptor background check system each visit, regardless of previous checks. Please be sure that you have your valid identification with you every time you visit Northlake Elementary. Thank you for your patience and understanding as RISD works to ensure the safety of students and employees. Volunteer questions may be directed to the office of Strategy & Engagement.

Additionally, the front office staff will use the intercom system to ask visitors to identify themselves and the purpose of their visit before granting access to the office. This is part of our heightened security measures. Please be cooperative. As you enter the building, do not allow others to enter with you or to follow you through the doors as you enter or leave. Everyone who enters should ring the buzzer and speak to someone in the office before entering the school building. Thank you!

February - Black History Month

Feb 1st - 100th Day of School!

Feb 2nd - 101st Day of School!

Feb 5-9th - National School Counseling Week

Feb 5th - 5th Grade Fine Arts Field Trip to LHJH & 102nd Day of School!

Feb 6th - STAAR Stand Alone Field Testing (3-5 Spanish, 6 RLA)

Feb 8th - Crossing Guard Appreciation Day

Feb 9th - Community Garden Day

Feb 10th - Lunar New Year

Feb 13th - Interim Testing (5th Science)

Feb 14th - Valentine's Day Parties

Feb 15th - College Shirt Day; Early Release Day (ECSE/PreK/Buses 12:50, Walkers 1:00, Cars 1:05)

Feb 19th - No School for Students, Staff Development Day

Feb 20-21st - TELPAS Testing

Feb 22nd - 6th Grade Dallas Holocaust Museum

Feb 27th - Interim Testing (3-6 Reading)

Feb 29th - Interim Testing (3-6 Math)