Hawk Herald

As you know, I am a very opinionated person. And I have a lot to say. For this month’s message, I am going to be quiet and ask that you listen to Dr. Martin Luther King’s Christmas Eve Sermon from 1967. It was his last Christmas Eve. He was murdered a few months later by someone who wanted to shut him up. We celebrate Dr. King because one of the most beautiful things about our country’s culture is that we don’t like oppression. We don’t like tyranny. And we don’t like being silenced.

Please listen to the sermon in Dr. King’s voice. I listened to it this morning driving to work with my daughter in the car. Listening is very different than reading the words – you will hear his emotion and his emphasis, and it’s a different experience. It is powerful, humbling, and comforting. We can right this ship with love.

In this troubled, divided time, please listen to the man whose life’s work we will both celebrate and commit to carry on this weekend.

Kristin

Kristin Bailey

kbailey@nsd.org

Changemakers Assembly

Join us in the Gym on Jan. 20 at 2:05pm for Changemakers Assembly in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Guests need to sign in outside the Gym and get a visitor sticker before entering the Gym.

Kindergarten Enrollment has begun!

We are thrilled to welcome our Hawk Class of 2039! Please find more information regarding Enrollment on the district website below.

https://www.nsd.org/schools/get-started/enrollment

Please call the office if you have any questions.

From the Office

As winter weather approaches, this is a good time to remind our Northshore community about the District’s snow, ice, and hazardous road condition response. The decision to close or delay schools due to inclement weather is made by the District as early as possible, typically by 5:30 a.m.

Northshore is a large district that covers over 60 square miles. While conditions may seem normal in your neighborhood, it may be unsafe in others. All of this is taken into consideration when a decision is made to cancel, delay, activate snow routes, or keep everything on a normal schedule.

If the district does not make an announcement, it means schools are open and buses are operating normally.

For more information please visit the district’s closure and delay webpage.

Health Room News

Flu and Respiratory illnesses are circulating in our region

There are currently very high levels of respiratory illness and flu circulating in the Metro Puget Sound area (King, Pierce, Snohomish counties); while Covid-19 levels appear to be low. Please review the following CDC guidelines for respiratory illness:

You can go back to your normal activities when both of the following have been true for at least 24 hours:

•   Your symptoms are getting better overall, and
•  You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication).

If your student requires medication in the morning to feel better, whether or not they have a fever, they are probably not ready to return to school. You can always call the office or nurse in the morning to discuss.

Head Lice in winter

Head lice is a year around issue, but spikes are often seen after winter break due to increased close contact with others during travel and holiday gatherings. Also, winter means more indoor living in heated environments which lice prefer.

The best way to prevent head lice is to check your child regularly, at least monthly, especially during cold weather seasons when we bundle up more. The school district web site has very good information on how to identify and treat head lice. Parent and community education is what helps prevent the spread of head lice. Informing playmates, daycare, friends and family, and others your child is in contact with, is essential to limit the spread of lice.

Tips to help keep your child lice free:

      Teach your child never to share hats, combs, brushes.

      On sleep-over’s teach them to not share pillows or sleeping bags.

      Keep long hair up in a braid and use hair products. Lice don’t like hair products

      Do not wash hair every day, lice attach easier to a clean hair shaft.

      Check regularly, especially checking nape of neck and behind ears

      Recognize symptoms: itching scalp, red bumps to neck or scalp

      Lice neither jump or fly but require head to head contact

If your child has head lice please inform the school nurse at 425 408-4006. Once your student has been treated, please send them to school. We ask that you check in with the nurse on returning to school before going to class. The removal of nits (eggs) should be done daily for at least 2 weeks and until you are certain the lice and nits are eliminated. We can go over how to do this if needed.

Health room Clothing

If your student borrowed clothes from the health room, we appreciate if these could be returned so we have a supply for students who need them.

Please consider putting extra clothes in your student’s backpack on these very wet days!

If your student did not pass the vision screening done in October, you were sent a letter via USPS. Please let the nurse know if you have followed up with an exam from a vision provider – whether or not your student was given a prescription for glasses. If you need assistance with finding a provider or glasses, please let us know.

Please see the following NSD link if you need any resources for your student or family:

https://www.nsd.org/resources/support/assistance

Contact: Cindy Mato

Health and Nursing Supervisor

425-408-7728

cmato@nsd.org

Stay healthy,

Anne Janssen, RN

ajanssen@nsd.org

425.408.4006

Library News

Author Visit January 29!

Watch your student mail and email for information about Leslie Barnard Booth’s visit to Arrowhead on January 29. You and your child may want to purchase a signed book! We will have an all-school assembly and learn about American Crows and how she wrote the book I Are We: How Crows Come Together to Survive. Thanks to Third Place Books for bringing this author to us!

Scholastic Book Fair Wrap Up – 

A HUGE thank you to all our wonderful volunteers who helped make our Scholastic Book Fair in December a success. We made $3876.30 in Scholastic Dollars (approximately $2000 in cash) for our efforts. These funds will go to enhancing and renewing our library collection! Thanks to the generosity of our community, we were also able to assure that students in need could get a book. I appreciate you all so much! 

Reading with Rover at Arrowhead! It has been fun to see our 4-5 students (Ms. Sperka’s class to start) reading to Hudson and Montey, wonderful golden retriever and golden doodle doggies. We hope to give all interested students an opportunity to read with a dog this year!

More Books!

It’s traditional at Arrowhead for Kindergartens to start checking out TWO books per week starting in the new calendar year! Please help them get their books returned on time!

Feeling generous? Donate a book to our library! Please find the link for our wishlist.

Follow on instagram at arrowheadhawksread.

Hope to see you soon @ the library!

Ginny Allemann, Teacher-Librarian

vallemann@nsd.org

PE News

Thank you, Volunteers!

Hawks Program Volunteers

A huge thank you to Trevor H. who helped us at lunch recess recently!

Field Trip Volunteers

Field trips would not happen without our numerous chaperones who lend us their time and patience on these fun days.

PTA made our December Book Fair possible! We are so grateful for recent SEC grants that support field trips in class presentations, materials, and math supplements.

Our amazing weekly Library volunteers keep our Library in top shape, checking books in and out, helping find that just right book, and assisting Ms. Ginny with special projects.

PTA Corner

Arrowhead Elementary Parent Teacher Associations mission is to positively impact the lives of all children and families within the Arrowhead community. We strive to support and advocate for our children by partnering with staff, families and the wider community to create a safe, inclusive and healthy learning environment allowing our students to excel personally, academically and socially.

Next PTA General Meeting is Tuesday, January 13: At 6:45pm in the Arrowhead Library. Childcare for children 3 yrs and older is provided free!

PTA Meeting Minutes:

View past PTA meeting minutes 

Password: H@wksAw3s0me20

All-School Dance!

Mark your calendars for our Winter school dance on Friday, January 23rd. Watch for more details!

Arrowhead Game Night!

Mark your calendars for our second school game night on Friday, January 30th. More details to come.

Help our kids fly! Budget cuts have made on-campus volunteers more important than ever, and we’re inviting all grown-ups to step in and support Arrowhead students during the school day. Whether you can give 30 minutes or a whole day, your presence helps keep our kids safe and our school running smoothly.

Be a part of the Hawks team and make a real difference—sign up today at ptaarrowhead.org/volunteer or email Karina Kirkpatrick at kskats@gmail.com for more info!

-Welcome students off busses

-Work room making copies and helping teachers with projects

-PE support

-Lunch line support

-Dismissal-help students in bus and car zone

-Crosswalk

-Teacher/staff requests may arise as needed

Complete Level 1 volunteer status

-An overview of what to expect in the 2026 legislative session

-Post-election changes in the legislature

-Known session protocols

-How to best engage with the 2026 legislature during this short session.

Time to speak up for our students!

Focus Day on Jan. 19 in Olympia. We need to show up and raise our collective voice! During this short legislative session, it is vital that there are no cuts for kids and a long-term plan to amply fund K-12 moving forward! The event is free. The schedule and additional information is available on the Focus Day event page. Bring your kids and your PTA friends!

If you're interested in attending please email execteam@ptaarrowhead.org

Families—please mark your calendars now! This fun and enriching experience happens right after mid-winter break, so keep those dates in mind as you plan your travels.

A spectacular performance combining poetry, stagecraft, daring acrobatics, and technology explores the delicate balance between people, animals, and the world we all share. 

Special Offer for Arrowhead Elementary PTA Family/Friends: Use this link to save up to 20% off select seats/dates. For VIP Packages & Groups of 10+, contact Sarah.Hudson@cirquedusoleil.com for details + added savings.

Here is a video preview of the show, if needed.

ECHO Official Trailer | Cirque du Soleil

Remember, becoming a PTA member does not require volunteering. However, all the events and programs that PTA supports would not happen without volunteers! If you are interested in finding an open position, you can view open volunteer positions or if you don't find what you're looking for, email Whitney at  vpprograms@ptaarrowhead.org

Our weekly newsletter provides the latest on what’s going on through the Arrowhead PTA and helps you stay connected! Please find the link for subscription.

Arrowhead Hawks SOAR by being Safe, Kind, and Responsible

At Arrowhead, we create resilient and empathetic learners who confidently navigate their world through being innovative, creative, critical thinkers.

Northshore School District is enriched by the many experiences and perspectives each individual member brings to our District and community. Therefore, our District prohibits discrimination based on age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, honorably discharged veteran or military status, or the presence of any sensory, cognitive, or physical disability or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability.