Friday, January 30, 2026

Principal's Message

Nord Families,

Thank you for your continued support as we navigate winter weather conditions. It was wonderful to have students back in the building yesterday, and we look forward to settling back into our routine in the weeks ahead!

Congratulations to the students recognized below for Second Quarter Academic Achievement! Your hard work and leadership help make Nord a wonderful place to learn and grow.

As we look ahead to February, we have many exciting events coming up at Nord. Our PTO Marco’s Box Night will take place on Wednesday, March 4th—students have been working hard on their fantastic designs in Art class! Also coming up next week are our PTO Book Fair and the rescheduled Steele Strikes Cancer Fundraiser. Please see below for additional details.

As a reminder, Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on February 11th. Your child’s homeroom teacher will be in contact with more information.

Take care and stay warm,

Nick Toney

Principal, Walter G. Nord School

Fifth Grade Puberty Lessons- Caregiver Notification

Dear Caregivers,

Our 5th-grade students will soon participate in an important health lesson about puberty. Mr. Austin Johns, our Nord Physical Education Teacher, will present to boys, and Mrs. Becky Gwin, our Nord Clinic Aide will present to girls. This lesson is part of our district’s health education curriculum and is designed to help students understand the physical and emotional changes they may begin to experience during this stage of development.

The materials used in this lesson will help students:

Understand that the physical and emotional changes of puberty are a normal part of growing up.
Learn about the body changes that occur for all students.
Understand personal hygiene and the importance of self-care.
Learn how girls manage menstruation.
Explore healthy habits, positive decision-making, and ways to navigate new feelings.
Identify trusted adults they can talk to about questions or concerns.

We encourage you to use this topic as a starting point for conversations at home. Caregiver resources and materials related to the lesson are linked below for your review.

The presentations will take place during specials on:

Tuesday, February 24th-Tuesday, March 3rd

If you prefer that your child not participate in this instruction, please email Mrs. Kremer, school counselor, at chandler_kremer@amherstk12.org by Wednesday, February 11th to opt out.

Thank you for your continued partnership in supporting our students’ health and well-being.

Math Mania!

Next Wednesday, February 4th, fourth and fifth grade students will be representing Walter G. Nord School at the Lorain County Math Mania Competition. This fun-filled day includes a great variety of mathematical reasoning challenges with lots of games, prizes and raffles! Student will compete in teams of three. The primary goal of this event is to encourage mathematically talented students to take risks and use collaborative teamwork skills to solve problems of various types. Students have been coming in before school and during recess to prepare for this exciting event. Best of luck to our amazing Nord students, listed below, who will be representing our school!

Fourth Grade Math Mania Representatives: Adeline Baker, Audrey Bendlak, Zachary Coughlin, Logan Folop, Ember Hunter, Kaitlyn Krase, Jordan Sheldon, Shealyn Swartz, Sophia Toth, and Joe Zabrecky

Fifth Grade Math Mania Representatives: Alina Carrion, Aubrey Duffala, Maddie George, Alyssa Harigan, Brooklyn Hollingsworth, Tim Hui, Oskar Kalchert, Brayden King, Nicholas Kucbel, and Kira Velez

All students will have the opportunity to compete through our Nord in-house competition in the Spring, led by Marion L. Steele's National Honor Society students. More details will be shared at a later date. Thank you to Miss Backman and Mrs. Bailey for leading our students!

Fourth Grade Field Trip

Permission Forms for the upcoming fourth grade field trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History were sent home by homeroom teachers yesterday. Click the button below for a digital copy of the form. Please reach out to your child's homeroom teacher or the Nord main office at 440-988-4441 with any questions. Below is a list of important dates regarding the field trip:

Thursday, February 12th: Permission Form and Payment Due
Tuesday, February 17th: Chaperones Notified
Thursday, March 5th: Backman, DelVecchio, Maria, Watkin, Zajkowski, Costello Teams Trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Friday, March 6th: Antush, Burman, Hershiser, Mullen, Smith, Stellwagen Teams Trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Steele Strikes Cancer Nord Fundraiser

The Marion L. Steele Blood Cancer Fundraising team of Corrinn Kinser, Emma Kucbel, and Emma Timko is bringing an exciting opportunity for our Nord students! Students will be able to spin the wheel to purchase PBIS passes and enter a raffle to silly string a teacher. All proceeds goes to the Marion L. Steele Strikes Cancer campaign. Please see the flyers below for more information.

Please note, this event has been rescheduled for next week due to our school closures this week. Students can redeem any purchased passes on Friday, February 6th.

Nord Valentine's Day Parties- Thursday, February 12th

Walter G. Nord School will be hosting Valentine's Day Parties on Thursday, February 12th. Homeroom teachers will be sharing more information on times and parent chaperones in the upcoming weeks. Due to student privacy reasons, we will not be sending home lists with student names. Homeroom teachers will provide the number of students in your child's homeroom class. If you are sending in any food items, please make sure these are pre-packaged. Feel free to contact the Nord main office of your child's homeroom teacher with any questions.

Kids Heart Challenge is Coming to Nord!

The American Heart Association Kids Heart Challenge is coming to Nord!

Our students and staff are going to have fun learning all about how to keep our hearts and bodies healthy and how we can help other kids with special hearts.

Kids Heart Challenge will kick off with a heart-themed spirit week February 17th-20th. Students will also be participating in an assembly on Thursday, February 19th on heart health. During the challenge, Mr. Johns will be teaching heart health facts in Physical Education classes!

Reading with the Comets

Our Nord students have a book they think you should read! Check out their podcast Reading with the Comets with their Book recommendation of Mick Harte Was Here by Barbara Park. Shout out to Danny, Slone, and Mrs. Schwartz!

Walter G. Nord PTO

Our Walter G. Nord School PTO is proud to support our students, staff, and families of Nord through fun events, volunteer opportunities, and community connections. We would love to have you join us at our next meeting on Monday, February 9th at 9:30am. If you would like to join virtually, please complete this form. If you have any questions about our Nord PTO, please feel free to contact us at nordpto1@gmail.com.

Please join us next Wednesday, March 4th for Nord PTO's Marco's Pizza Box Night to order pizza boxes created by our very own Walter G. Nord students!

Walter G. Nord Staff Spotlight

This edition of Nord News features the fourth grade team of Miss. Backman, Mrs. Delvecchio, and Miss Maria!

Miss Backman teaches fourth grade math at Nord and is currently in her sixth year teaching in the Amherst Exempted Village School District. She knew she wanted to become a teacher as early as kindergarten, and her passion for education has remained strong ever since.

Miss Backman runs the Math Mania program for fourth grade math students and serves as the cheerleading advisor at Amherst Junior High School. Outside of the district, Miss Backman is a member of the Ohio Gifted Advisory Council. Her goal is to help all students build confidence in math by strengthening problem-solving skills and fostering a growth mindset.

Mrs. Delvecchio is a fourth-grade science and social studies teacher at Nord with more than 31 years of experience in education. She has two grown sons who live on the East Coast. This year, she hopes to build independent learners who take responsibility for their work and are able to connect their learning to real-world situations. She will be finishing her career in education soon and has truly enjoyed her more than 25 years with Amherst Schools.

Miss Maria teaches fourth grade ELA at Nord and is currently in her third year in the district. She began her time in the Amherst Exempted Village School District as a year-long substitute at Amherst Junior High, where she taught 8th grade ELA, before moving to Nord to teach 5th grade ELA. As a student, English classes were always her favorite, and she is grateful for the opportunity to now share her love of ELA with her students.

Miss Maria also co-leads the Nord Puzzle Club alongside Mrs. Hershiser, where she has enjoyed seeing students come together to form new friendships and share a love of puzzles. One of her goals this year is to find new ways to use technology to enhance student learning. She has enjoyed experimenting with different tools to create interactive and engaging activities and looks forward to continuing to explore new possibilities. Miss Maria is very grateful to be at Nord and looks forward to helping her students strengthen their literacy skills throughout the rest of the year.