Northpoint families-

Our staff has recently had an opportunity to revisit

our mission and vision for Northpoint. It was a great

exercise in reflection on our purpose and where we want to

go in the future.

Our newly refined mission is: Northpoint students,

teachers, staff, and families work together to inspire

individuality through social, personal, and academic

excellence. Our vision is to provide a safe, caring,

stimulating environment where our students will achieve their

fullest potential, so they may become lifelong learners.

We also developed a student friendly version in an

acrostic poem form from our mascot Knights. I have

included this on the last page of our newsletter.

September was a great month and our Knights enjoyed

our annual book fair. It was exciting to see the enthusiasm

on their faces as they picked out new books to read. I

would like to thank all involved in our book fair.

October will be busy with parent teacher conferences

and fall festival parties. I invite each of you to participate

in parent teacher conferences. You know your child best,

and by attending conferences and partnering with us, we can

provide the best learning experience for your child. If you

have not scheduled a time please contact the office.

Mr. Matt Harr Principal

October 2014

October Events

10/7 PTO meeting 6:00

10/8 Late Start 9:45

10/13 No School– Columbus Day

10/16 Fire Drill/Evacuation drill to First Baptist Church 10:30-11:30

10/21 Code Red drill 9:00-9:30

10/21 Student Council meeting 3:30-4:15

10/21 3rd/4th grade music concert. 3rd-5:30/6:30, 4th-6:30/7:30

10/22 Late Start 9:45

10/23 Picture Retakes

10/24 Parent - Teacher Conference Day - No School

10/31 Fall Festival Parties and Costume Parade 2:30-3:30

Looking Ahead

11/4 PTO meeting 6:00-7:00

11/5 Late Start 9:45

11/6 Hearing and Vision Testing

11/7 Hearing and Vision Testing

11/18 Student Council meeting 3:30-4:15

11/19 Late Start 9:45

11/26 Early Dismissal 2:35

11/27 - 11/28 No School - Thanksgiving Break

2602 E. College Ave

Bloomington IL, 61704

Phone: 309-557-4420

Attendance 309-557-4469

Northpoint Mission and Vision

"Knights are Respectful, Responsible , and Ready"

M c l e a n C o . D i s t r i c t # 5

Northpoint Knights News

Parent Pickup/Drop Off

As we enter the influenza season, I

would like to remind you of the guidelines for

school attendance when students are ill. The

2014-2015 McLean County Unit District No.

5 Elementary Handbook (p. 26) outlines the

times when children should not be in school.

These times include when students are

experiencing:

A fever within the last 24 hours

Vomiting or diarrhea within the last 24

hours

A frequent or disruptive cough or other

sign of an acute respiratory infection

Any contagious illness such as “strep

throat” that requires antibiotic therapy.

Once a student has been fever free

without the use of fever-reducing

medications and on antibiotics for 24

hours, he/she may return to school.

Any undiagnosed skin rash. A student

with a rash may attend school upon

presenting a physician’s note stating the

rash is not contagious.

Pronounced lethargy or fatigue that

interferes with participation in learning

activities.

Also included in the handbook is the

information for having medication at school

(p.27-28). Remember, medication CANNOT

be administered at school without a note from

the prescribing physician completed and on

file at school. This includes OVER-THE-

COUNTER and PRESCRIPTION medications.

Cough drops containing menthol also require a

note from the doctor.

For further information on the influenza type

and season, please click on the link below.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

Thank you for helping us to have healthy

children at school!

As the weather is turning cooler,

we are seeing an increase in drop offs.

Student safety is always our number one

priority, efficiency is also

important. The “white zone” can easily

hold 10 cars, if everyone pulls forward.

If your child is NOT independent

in exiting your car, which leads you to

assist them, consider pulling into a

parking spot and walking your child(ren)

to the entrance. Our hope is that all

students would be unloaded in 40

seconds or less.

Nurse’s Notes

Mrs. Murray

PBIS

We continue to use PBIS at

Northpoint. PBIS stands for Positive

Behavior Intervention and Supports.

Students can earn individual

Northpoints and classes can earn class

points for respecting the hallways.

Every day on the announcements

we remind our Knights to be Respectful,

Responsible, and Ready. Students are

taught the expectations and given

updates as needed.

If expectations are not followed

students may receive speeding tickets

for a violation.

Get your Arrrmor on!

A NOTE FROM THE NORTHPOINT PTO – October 2014

Hope everyone is ready for the cool Autumn weather. This year is off to a fantastic start! Thank you to everyone who helped make our Northpoint Book Fair a success. I love to see all the kids in there recommending books to one another – it makes me smile, and I hope everyone is enjoying their new reads! Fall Festival parties are coming at the end of the month, which will be a great opportunity for the kids to show their costumes. Hope you can all come to watch the costume parade.

We are still in need of some volunteers to fill important committee positions. Let me know if you’d like to learn more.

KARNIVAL COMMITTEE – Participate on a committee with 5-6 others to plan and organize the great-est school carnival in Bloomington-Normal (ok… I may be a bit biased, but the carnival IS really fun and the kids LOVE IT). We already have two members, but we need more to successfully pull off the PTO’s biggest event of the year.

BIRTHDAY BULLETIN BOARD COMMITTEE – If you are creative and love to celebrate birthdays, this is the position for you! There are already two fabulous parents on this committee, but we are looking for one more to join the crew. This position involves designing and decorating the bulletin board to recognize all of the kiddos at Northpoint who are celebrating a birthday in a given month.

Our next PTO meeting is on Tuesday, October 7nd at 6:00pm in the IMC. Last month, we were thrilled to have several new faces at our PTO meeting ~ don't hesitate to join us. See you then!

Heidi Briney

PTO President brbhaf@frontier.com

2014 – 2015 PTO MEETING SCHEDULE

October 7, 2014 February 3, 2015

November 4, 2014 March 3, 2015

December 2, 2014 April 7, 2015

January 6, 2015 May 5, 2015

PTO Information

BOX TOPS

Keep collecting those Box Tops! Check the message from September 5th in

the Skyward Family Access for collection sheets you can use, which helps

count and organize the Box Tops for submissions. The first submission dead-

line is fast approaching, so please turn in your Box Tops before Thursday, Oc-

tober 30th. They can be turned into your child's teacher or into the school

bus in the main office. Keep up the great work!

If you are planning to join your student for lunch, please call the office

ahead of time so we can notify the kitchen. The price for adult/sibling

lunches is $2.50. We are no longer able to charge student lunch ac-

counts for guest meals. Please try and have exact change when you

pay for the lunches in the office.

Hello Northpoint Families!

The School Directory information is being compiled and I would like to give you

an opportunity to opt OUT of having your family’s information in the directory if

you choose.

The 2014-2015 Directory should be coming to you soon. Please let me know by

October 8th if you do NOT want to added to the directory.

Thank you,

Denise Kilby

denisekilby@gmail.com

636-352-6832

SUBSTITUTE NURSES NEEDED!

Unit 5 is looking for registered nurses interested in working as substitute nurses. This oppor-

tunity offers school hours and the chance to work with the students in our schools. Please call Michele at the Unit Office at 557-4025 today if you are interested or talk more with your

school nurse. We would love to add you to our list!

Chess Club enrollment is now closed. All members should have received a confirmation letter

including details of the new season start date.

October 20th will be our first day. All Chess Club Members (Rookies, Knights and Royalty)

will meet in the multi-purpose room immediately after school.

Parents are asked to arrive at 4:15pm in order to receive club information and meet the Chess

Board and Coaches. Parents and players will be dismissed at the same time. Please email or

call Corie.Leon-Hill@hotmail.com 309-830-0465 with any Chess Club questions.

Market Day's online coupon code "NEWFIVE" is still alive!!! First time buyers

can use it to save $5 off of their $25+ order. Offer applies to the entire order in-

cluding sales and clearance items.

Visit www.MarketDay.com Enter Acct# 6071 and Promo Code

"NEWFIVE" to save now!

Northpoint Spirit Wear

Thank you to everyone that helped support our annual Northpoint Spirit Wear

sale! We had great participation and cannot wait to see everybody showing off their

Knight Pride! All items will distributed directly to your student the week of Oct.

6th. If you have any questions please contact Laura Burrows at 310-1219 or Laurie

Dunne at 312-560-9476.

Northpoint Knights Knights Get your Arrrmor on!

Northpoint Community Pride Inspiring Life Long Learning Guiding Individual Excellence for All Students Home to school Connections Teamwork Student Centered Success

Each day at Northpoint a PBIS challenge is given to the classes. If they meet

their goal they may add a piece to their class display on our front bulletin board.

For the month of September, the class built an apple tree.

Here are some of our class trees!