Parents Archives - Page 5 of 7 - North Point Elementary

2024 Young Authors’ Conference, Books & Bots

This year P-H-M Education Foundation’s Young Authors’ Conference is partnering up with the Next Gen Robotics event to bring you Books & Bots! This event blends literary innovations with robotic creations. It’s a wonderful opportunity for P-H-M students in Kindergarten – 5th grade. Click here to view photos on Facebook from last year’s Young Authors’ Conference; click here to view photos of the 2023 Next Gen event.

The event will start at 9:15 a.m. in Penn’s Fitness Center. There will be the three rotations at three locations within Penn High School. Families and students will visit each station for 45 minutes, with a 15 minute break in between. The rotations will be an author visit, reader’s theater, and fun with the bots! Next Gen (the bots area) will be open until 1:00 p.m. Registered participants will receive a S’more with confirmation details the week of February 26. You and your student’s rotation schedule and starting location will be provided in the S’more. If you have any questions after receiving the email, please contact ccussen@phm.k12.in.us.

Please enter Door D. Parking is available in the front of Penn, at Schmucker Middle School, and in the parking lot near River Valley Church. Click here to access a Penn Building Map. Once inside Penn, look for “Books and Bots” signage and please arrive at your room between 9:00-9:15 a.m. With record attendance expected, plan plenty of time to park and walk to your designated area.

Books & Bots is completely FREE! Thank you to the P-H-M Education Foundation and P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker and his wife Donna Thacker for covering the cost of the YAC for the second year in a row from the proceeds of #GivingTuesday donations.

NEW THIS YEAR … both events will be held at Penn High School!

While the events are FREE, registration is required!
Registration is NOW OPEN! Click here to register today! Registration closes Friday, February 23.
One parent only must accompany students! Younger siblings may not accompany adults. Due to the planned activities and available space, this experience is for your young author and one parent.

As part of the morning activities, students will participate in two rotations: one with well-known children’s author and speaker, Carolyn Crimi; and the other with Jocelyn Dupuis. Following these rotations, students will enjoy spending time exploring technology, with an opportunity to share a piece of their piece of writing on a FlipGrid or online writing platform.

Thanks to Better World Books, parents can purchase ahead of time Carolyn Crimi books online and then bring them to the March 2 event. Click here to preorder your student(s) books.

As a way to support Better World Books’ mission of providing books to children around the world to do their part in achieving global literacy, a collection box will be set up near Penn’s Door D for families to donate their gently used books.

BACKGROUND ON CAROLYN CRIMI:
Carolyn Crimi enjoys snacking, pugs, Halloween, and writing, although not necessarily in that order. Over the years she has published 19 books for children, including Weird Little Robots, Secondhand Dogs, Don’t Need Friends, Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies, Where’s My Mummy?, There Might Be Lobsters, and I Am The Boss of This Chair. When she’s not snacking, Carolyn enjoys giving author talks to elementary schools all over the country.

BACKGROUND ON JOCELYN DUPUIS:
Also as part of Young Authors’ Conference, participants and parents will also enjoy an interactive experience with P-H-M’s extraordinary Jocelyn Dupuis. Jocelyn has a passion for music education and the performing arts. As a music teacher, she has taught many students to enjoy music as well.
*Questions, please contact Candace Cussen at ccussen@phm.k12.in.us.

IDOE Recognizes Northpoint for IREAD Results

Our school, along with Prairie Vista Elementary School, was celebrated for outstanding IREAD-3 achievement rates. Third grade teacher Nichol Mondy attended with Principal Lorraine White.

With Northpoint students having a 98.00% pass rate and Prairie Vista students achieving 95.30%, the schools were among 241 Indiana elementary schools to receive 95% or higher on the 2023 IREAD-3 assessment.

A celebration took place Thursday, February 15 at Indiana State House South Atrium. Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner was on hand along with President Pro Tempore of the Indiana Senate Roderic Bray and Speaker of the Indiana House Rep. Todd Huston.

These accomplishments are not only a credit to our students and families, but also of course to our K-3 teachers, aides, and educational assistants.

Penn Orchestra Performs Elementary School Pops

“Captain Jack Sparrow” made an appearance at Penn High School today (Tuesday, January 30) performing the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song for 4th and 5th grade students. This mini concert is a great way to introduce students to instruments they might not be familiar with as they think about what possible instrument they might want to pursue in middle school. In P-H-M middle schools, students can pursue orchestra, band or choir as a Fine Arts elective.

Students got a real treat … the Orchestra’s drummers performed a song written by Senior Clayton Hopper; it was called “March of the Clumsy.” All the drummers performed it together to demo percussion.

Orchestra performing at Penn Elementary Pops Concert — Penn Orchestra Elementary School Pops Concert

Penn Orchestra Elementary School Pops Concert performance — Penn Orchestra Elementary School Pops Concert

Due to scheduling logistics, only half of P-H-M elementary schools participated and traveled to Penn for this year’s show. The other half attended last year. That way every P-H-M student will see the show in either 4th grade or 5th grade.

2023 Cereal Box Food Drive a Success

Thank you to everyone who donated to this year’s Cereal Box Food Drive, it was a huge success. Northpoint families donated more than 1,500 boxes of cereal for Clay Food Pantry.

We continued our tradition of setting up the boxes like dominos in the hallways and knocking them down. The students always love it. Take a look …

“Back to School” Boys Basketball League

Boys in grades 2nd to 8th are invited to participate in “Back to School” Basketball League at Penn High School.
2nd – 6th grade League
DATES: September 24th; Oct. 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd 29th

LOCATION:

2nd-4th, Penn Fitness Center
5th-6th, Main Arena/West Balcony/Aux Gym Time

TIMES:

2nd-4th, Sundays, Noon – 4:00 p.m.
5th-6th, Sundays, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

COST: $99

Click here to register online.
7th & 8th grade League
DATES: September 10th, 17th, 24th; Oct. 1st, 8th

LOCATION: Penn High School

TIMES: Sundays, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

COST: $79

Click here to register online.

Questions? Please contact the League Director Coach Smith if you have any questions at jsmith5@phm.k12.in.us

Fall 2023 Penn Youth Girls Basketball League, 3rd-8th grade

Penn Girls Basketball Head Coach Kristi Ulrich is once again offering a fall youth basketball league

The “Junior” League is open to girls in 3rd – 6th grades. The “Senior” League is for student-athletes in 7th & 8th grades. All those participating in the ”Senior” league MUST live in the P-H-M District or attend a P-H-M School.

Sign-ups are on Sunday, September 10 from 12 – 2 p.m. in the Penn High School Main Arena. Enter Door D.

The League runs September 17th – November 12th with a single elimination tournament for all age groups.

All games will be played on Sundays at Penn High School in the Main Arena, Auxiliary and West Balcony courts. Tournament times may vary on Nov. 12th.

Weekly Game Times are:

3rd & 4th grades: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
5th & 6th grades: 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
7th & 8th grades: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

2023-2024 District Activities CalendarArchived

The 2023-2024 District Activities Calendar was mailed to the homes of P-H-M families the last week of July.

The calendar provides key dates for testing, recess breaks, and school specific events (for the schools that provided the information).

You can click here to view a PDF copy of the calendar. You can also view a one-page of the 2023-2024 school calendar that shows the school year at a glance.

The P-H-M District online (Google) calendar is the most up-to-date. You can add this district and any school calendar to your own personal Google calendar.

Each of our 15 schools also maintains an online calendar that is updated frequently with the school’s scheduled activities and event details. You’ll need to visit your school’s website to add that calendar to your personal Google calendar.

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2026-27 Elementary School Cell Phone Protocol: What families need to know about the new cell phone policy.

People posing in front of a sign that says "safe school helpline" and includes a phone number.

Running is Elementary DetailsArchived

Running is Elementary races were postponed until Wednesday, May 3 due to the weather on Monday, May 1.

The races will still take place at Elm Road Elementary, 59400 Elm Rd, Mishawaka.

WHEN: Introductions start at 2:50 p.m.
Race Order
5th Girls: 3:00 p.m.
5th Boys: 3:20 p.m.
4th Girls: 3:40 p.m.
4th Boys: 4:00 p.m.

PARKING INFO:
South Bend Orthopedics: 60160 Bodnar Blvd, Mishawaka
Grissom Middle School: 13881 Kern Rd, Mishawaka
Shuttles start at 2:30 p.m.

ALL Runners picked up no later than 4:30 p.m. at Elm Road Elementary School. Runners may leave following their run and checking out with the coach.

One Book, One SchoolArchived

“I Love to Read” month is back! Our goal for the month is to read 1,000,000 minutes–schoolwide of course. Every child will read and record their minutes. Collectively as a school, we will record the minutes read on the beautiful windmill bulletin board created by Mrs. Leizsler and Mrs. Misch. Click the video below to see the bulletin board.

If the school meets the 1,000,000 goal, students be rewarded with a schoolwide assembly with fun activities.

All Northpoint students received a copy of the book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind as our “One Book, One School” portion of the challenge.

Thanks to our PTO, we kicked off our “I Love to Read” month with a virtual visit from The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind author William Kamkwamba, all the way from Malawi in Southeast Africa. William is the co-founder of the Moving Windmills Project along with being a New York Times bestselling author! Since writing the book he’s also become a TED Fellow, and IDEO.org Global Fellow. Our Stars found him to be very inspirational!

Below are a few pictures from the virtual visit.