Welcome to Week 21 - Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida!

We are excited to kick off the Celebrate Literacy Week with various activities that are planned at North Elementary School. Students will have virtual guest readers, some classrooms will do an author or a book study, and everyone gets to dress up as their favorite book character on Friday. Thank you Mrs. Colleen Smith for coordinating these activities!

Students in grades 3-5 will be participating in a English Language Arts diagnostic assessment this week to help us measure their progress towards the end of the year learning goals. Please consider joining us for the Parents Information Session on Thursday to learn more about this assessment, and to understand how to read your child’s assessment report. We are hoping to be able to send home the reports on Thursday.

With many assessments taking place digitally, we are also in a need for more headphones. If you can, please send a set of headpbhones to school for your child to use.

Individual Academic Parent Teacher Team (APTT) meetings continue this week. All meetings are held virtually or over the phone. Individual meetings are held to discuss your child’s overall performance in class, and allow you to provide input. Thank you parents for attending these important parental involvement meetings!

Our after school tutorial in grades 3-5 continues on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Friday, January 29 is the first day of the 11 day student attendance count period for the purpose of determining school funding. As much as we would like to encourage all students to be in attendance, we would like to remind parents that it is more important that we keep students home when they are sick. Students who are on quarantine due to the Health Department guidelines will NOT be marked absent. However, they will be expected to participate in school work during their quarantine. Students who do not participate will be considered absent.

Parents Information Session - Thursday, January 28, 5 PM

On Thursday, we will be holding our monthly Parents’ Information Session. This time, we will be discussing the APM assessment that students are taking in grades 3-5. We will explain how to interpret the assessment results, and the next steps. We hope you can chime in!

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81245687233?pwd=R3BkT2d2U2FkQnlYYXkvMnRCeU1CZz09 

Meeting ID: 812 4568 7233

Passcode: 162084

Jump Rope for Heart

We are another week closer to the Jump Rope for Heart event that will take place on February 5. Fundraising envelopes were sent home with students. To participate, students should fill out and return the Youth Consent, Release, and Indemnification form along with a $5.00 donation to the American Heart Association. All paperwork should be turned in to Coach Kacy Hackett during PE. Students can also register online at Heart.org/KHC. All donations and permission slips are due on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 (or online by February 5). Thank you for supporting the American Heart Association!

Weekend Meals

Weekend meals continue to be served at North Elementary School! Breakfast and lunch for Saturday and Sunday may be picked up (from the convenience from your car) at North Elementary students drop off and pickup loop (south side of the school) from 3:30 to 5:30 PM. Please do not line up prior to 3:20 PM as out student dismissal goes until 3:15 PM. Additionally, please use the interior lane for food distribution and exterior lane for aftercare pickup.

School Lunch Menu This Week  

Lunch and breakfast are free to all students! 

Important Dates

01/25/2021 Celebrate Literacy Week Florida

01/25/2021 APM ELA Assessment - 3rd Grade ELA

01/26/2021 APM ELA Assessment - 4th Grade ELA

02/26/2021 APM ELA Assessment  - 5th Grade ELA

01/28/2021 Parents’ Monthly Information Session: Understanding Your Child’s APM Assessment Report

02/01/2021 APM Math Assessments Week in grades 3-5

02/03/2021 Progress Report Day

02/05/2021 Early Release Day

02/05/2021 Jump Rope for Heart Event

02/15/2021 Presidents’ Day - No School

Additional Learning Activities and Resources

• NEW! Students in grades 3-5 can access their Acaletics practice tests at http://www.acaletics2.com/ under Math Club Portal. This includes video tutorials for items that they missed on their test.

• All district programs are accessed at https://launchpad.classlink.com/okeechobee

• Tutorials on Florida Standards are available at http://www.floridastudents.org/

• Video tutorials and practice for core subject areas on each grade level are available at https://www.khanacademy.org/

• Students are encouraged  to complete math practice in Reflex Math (access through launchpad) until they reach a green light, and read at least 20 minutes each day.

Required Self-Screener

Self-screening is required prior to entering campus. Students exhibiting these symptoms at school will be sent home and may return according to the guidelines from our clinic.

• Temperature 100.4 degrees F or higher 
• Sore throat
• New uncontrolled cough that causes difficulty breathing (for students with chronic allergic/asthmatic cough, a change in their cough from baseline)
• Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or abdominal pain
• New onset of severe headache, especially with a fever
• Chills
• Shortness of breath
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• New loss of taste of smell
• Congestion or runny nose

And/or,

• Had close contact (within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes) with a person with confirmed COVID-19

Additionally,

• Temperature checks are conducted for students and staff
• Walk in visitors are not allowed - always call ahead for an appointment
• Parent meetings are held virtually when at all possible
• Drop off of non-instructional items is not allowed.

School Safety

Reports concerning unsafe, potentially harmful, dangerous, violent, or criminal activities, or the threat of these activities, can be made to appropriate public safety agencies and school officials using the following link: https://getfortifyfl.com/Tip.html. All students have access to this reporting tool on their Chromebooks at school.

Sincerely,

Dr. Tuuli Robinson

Principal of North Elementary School
robinsont@okee.k12.fl.us