This grant will be used
in the six elementary schools to
provide computer coding opportunities for students and training for
Neshaminy staff to help them incorporate these skills into the
elementary curriculum.
According to the PDE, seven out of ten new jobs in the Commonwealth will require computer science skills during the next decade. This curriculum (along with other STEM initiatives) will help the District to begin preparing our students even at the youngest ages. Senior tax assistance program expands
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| Superintendent Jones
once again honored District staff who made significant
contributions to fulfilling the District's mission or advancing the
implementation of the Neshaminy Strategic Plan. Those honored during in January include (click on their names to see nominating information): |
 |
- Jessica Giblin, Reading Specialist, Carl Sandburg Middle School
- Kim Katona, Secretary to the Assistant Principal, Neshaminy High School
- Cheryl Kornicki, Special Education Department, Neshaminy High School
- Patricia Murray, Main Office Secretary, Neshaminy High School
- Hank Oppenheimer, Science Teacher, Neshaminy High School
- Donna Tull, IT Building Technician, Maple Point Middle School
|
Select Upcoming
Events
Thursday, Feb. 7: Course Information Night for 8th graders, Neshaminy HS, 6 pm Friday, Feb. 8: PTO Forum with Superintendent Jones, Maple Point, 9:30 am Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 18-19: Presidents Day holiday Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 20-23: Maple Point MS musical Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 20-23: Poquessing MS musical Friday-Saturday, March 1-2: Gym Night, Gym 3, Neshaminy HS Please
check the District website, school websites and District Facebook page
for more information and additional events throughout the year!
|
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Neshaminy Education Foundation
The Wizards are coming!
Save the date - the Harlem Wizards are returning to Neshaminy Saturday, April 6, 2019 at 7 pm at Neshaminy HS. to take on our Dream Team of teachers, administrators and support staff! |
News
From Our Schools
|
Pearl S. Buck Elementary School
Kindness is fundamental
First-graders at Pearl S.
Buck ES sorted and gathered items to be donated to the Barkann Family
Healing Hearts Foundation and for the Tiny Paws Organization in
January. This was part of a month-long first grade project to Spread
Kindness, which also included writing and performing original skits,
singing songs, book reading and even kindness math word problems. The
children were asked to record their thoughts about completing this
project. A few of their responses:
- "I help my neighbor. This makes me feel happy.
- "It feels good to give and not just get."
- "If you give, there is a feeling you get. Giving gives kindness to you and others."
- "If someone needs help, help them."
Artmobile exhibit bridges science, creativity
The always-popular
Artmobile visited Pearl S. Buck Elementary in
January. Operated by Bucks County Community College, the Artmobile
visits schools throughout the county. The exhibits change every two
years -- the current exhibit explores the connections between art and
science with an emphasis on bees and pollination.
Joseph Ferderbar Elementary School
Collaborative project is magnetic
 |
Students
in Denise Mednick's fourth-grade class worked together to create a
magnetic train track where their "train" will hover and be able to move
down the tracks. They applied their knowledge of magnets and balancing
weights to create their collaborative project. After designing and creating their projects, they then had to then test and alter their projects to make them successful. |
EarlyAct supports clean water project
The Early Act Club is
building awareness of world cultures and environmental issues by
raising money to help people in Kenya to have easier access to
clean water. On Thursday, January 24 and Friday, January 25, they sold
blue water-colored leis for $1 outside the cafeteria. All money
collected will be sent to the Eckenywa Foundation to help with building wells so
they can have clean water in their villages and schools.
Herbert Hoover Elementary School
Young musicians take to the stage
The Beginner Orchestra held their first performance in January. We look forward to seeing them learn and grow in the Neshaminy music program!
Hoover Book Fair at Barnes & Noble February 6
On February 6 (5:30 to 8
pm), Hoover Elementary will hold a Book Fair at the Barnes and Noble
store in Neshaminy Mall. Come out and meet Marnie Schneider, who is the
author of Football Freddie and the
Fumble Dog. She will sign copies of her book.
Walter Miller Elementary School
Book time soars thanks to Phillies reading program
The students at Walter Miller are “Phanatic About Reading!" In January, challenge was to see which class averaged the most minutes read. Here are the winning classes and the average minutes read for the month:
- Kindergarten- Mrs. Frisch’s class read an average of 263 minutes per student
- Grade 1- Mrs. Betteli’s class read an average of 438 minutes per student
- Grade 2- Mrs. Stanley’s class read an average of 400 minutes per student
- Grade 3- Mrs. O’Rourke’s class read an average of 352 minutes per student
- Grade 4- Mrs.Hunt’s class read an average of 526 minutes per student
Each class was awarded a “Phanatic About Reading” certificate as well as a special treat of Tastykakes (courtesy of Giant supermarket in Feasterville) for every student in the class.
Mug contest teaches business skills through art
Students in the third
grade explored the business world during art class with a hot chocolate
challenge. Students developed a company name, logo, and advertising
posters for a fictional beverage company. The top “selling” hot cocoa
companies won ceramic mugs for each company member with their logo on
it and a hot chocolate mug party. Great job to everyone for their hard
work and creativity!
Families enjoy an evening book fair
Walter Miller families and teachers turned out at the Barnes & Noble store January for a Book Fair. Students listened attentively to humorous tales read by their teachers and Principal Troy Bodolus and joined in some playful poetry activities.
Albert Schweitzer Elementary School
Service Learning Club shares Valentines project
The Service Learning Club
at Schweitzer is designed to enable students
to use academic knowledge and skills to address genuine community needs
of our school and the surrounding community. Mrs. Exner is leading the
Club with fourth grade students and other staff volunteers. The Club
just had its introductory meeting to brainstorm new ideas to help our
school and the community. Additionally they completed their first
project of providing Valentine wreaths and placements for the Senior
Center. The wreaths turned out so well, that the Service Learning Club
created wreaths to hang up around the building.
Penguins paintings and pizza prove popular
On January 24th,
Schweitzer hosted a Family Paint Night to benefit the art department
and the 4th grade class. They had 50/50 raffles and raffle baskets for
families to win along with pizza and snacks. Each student painted a
featured penguin Beanie Boo with the art teacher, Mrs. Todd that
students replicated and made their own. It was a successful fundraiser
and a great way to be together and raise money for our school
community!
Tawanka Elementary School
Families enjoy a night of activities
On Friday the 25th of
January Tawanka held its annual grade 3-4 Family Engagement
Night. The night was full of fun with families participating in
the Brain Show game and parents and guardians taking on staff members
at volleyball. An additional Family Engagement Night for grades K-2 is
coming in March.
Fly, Eagles Fly
By the time you read this, the Eagles will no longer be the reigning Super Bowl champions. But they advanced further in the playoffs than most of us expected, and these students celebrated by wearing their Eagles gear before the final playoff game. Of course...there's always next year!
Maple Point Middle School
MLK Day project helps Angels in Motion
Students from Maple Point
and some from Neshaminy High School spent time on Martin Luther King,
Jr. Day
(observed) January 21 compiling 1,600 'blessing bags' from thousands of
items donated by the Maple Point and Neshaminy community for Angels in
Motion.
This is a charity that reaches out to addicts living on the street with
the ultimate goal of steering them into treatment. The bags contain
food and other items that build a bridge between the addicts and Angels
in Motion volunteers to help them reach that goal. Students also made
sandwiches for the charity to hand out and wove recycled plastic bags
into 'plarn' which can be used to make weatherproof mats for the
homeless.
The project followed several weeks of gathering thousands of food donations and contributions to make the day possible.
The project followed several weeks of gathering thousands of food donations and contributions to make the day possible.
Can you help? Maple Point is a finalist for $25K grant
 |
The Physical
Education Department at Maple Point is excited to
announce that the school is entered in the Project Fit America $25,000
grant competition. This grant would provide state of the art outdoor
and indoor fitness equipment from the Dannon Company. Voting begins
February 2 and ends February 28 on the Project Fit website below. |
Basketball team wins BCL championshipCongratulations to
the Maple Point 8th grade girls basketball team.
They beat the William Penn team in the Bucks County League
Championship. Coaches Ken Gurysh and Fred Gross led the team to an
undefeated league championship.
|
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Poquessing Middle School
Poquessing celebrates MLK Day with a week of projects
Poquessing Middle School
turned the MLK Day of Service into an entire week of community-oriented
activities involving classes, clubs and teams. On Friday,
January 17, members of the Interact and Environmental Science clubs
visited K-2 students at Ferderbar Elementary School to read stories and
encourage their younger counterparts to participate in clubs and
community activities when they get to middle school.
Mindful Mondays promotes focus, introspection
| Middle
school can be noisy and fast-paced. Poquessing Counselor Grant Passman
is offering some students an opportunity to learn meditation and
mindfulness techniques during a weekly half-hour visit to a math class.
Passman says that meditation can help students to be less "reactionary"
and more mindful to better cope with distractions and emotional
challenges they encounter. He has taught meditation to a variety of
groups, from martial arts classes and police officers to school bus
drivers and the high school wrestling team he coaches. |
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He plans to expand his
sessions at Poquessing to include additional interested students in
class or as an optional activity during their WIN (Whatever I Need)
period.
Carl Sandburg Middle School
Inclusive tricycles round out MS cycling program
| Every fall and spring, middle school students throughout the District participate in a mountain bicycle program, taking to the parking lots and trails around their schools. Thanks to a $3,000 Neshaminy Education Grant submitted by Sandburg MS Physical Education teachers Donna Ferro, Hank Coleman and Terry Martian, more students will be able to to participate in this fun, popular activity with the delivery of six new Schwinn Cruiser adult tricycles. Students who are not able to ride a conventional bicycle will now be able to join their classmates. |  |
Though the grant
originated at Sandburg, the tricycles will be shared with the
District's two other middle schools in the spring once the cycling unit
is complete at Sandburg.
Chorus performs at Owls game
The Carl Sandburg MS
Chorus sang the National Anthem at a Temple basketball game at the
Liacourus Center in Philadelphia on January 27.
Neshaminy High School
#FTK! MiniTHON raises over $14K
Congratulations to
Neshaminy HS MiniTHON volunteers who raised $14,674.86 to benefit Four
Diamonds, fighting childhood cancer and helping young cancer patients
with expenses. The amount revealed at the end of the program was an
increase of over $3,000 from last year -- it's For The
Kids!
Spotted lantern fly app wins accolades for NHS coders
| Four Neshaminy High School students traveled to Harrisburg on January 8 with Environmental Science teacher Brian Suter to present their concept for a spotted lantern fly educational mobile app. The group won a Bucks County Intermediate Unit hackathon competition recently which earned them the trip to the state competition. In the video linked below, they describe their app, which they will have the chance to fully develop if they win. |  |
Mustangs finish their season with a banquet
The Bucks County Mustangs
capped another successful season with a banquet on January 14 at
Georgine's Restaurant in Bristol. The flag football program matches
high school football players, coaches and cheerleaders from Neshaminy
and other nearby high schools with special needs players and
cheerleaders from the area for a season of Sunday practices and games
at Harry E. Franks Stadium. The program was started 12 years ago by Bob
and Joan Wargo.
Grant to expand Microsoft certification at NHS
The Business Computers
and Information Technology Department at Neshaminy received at $950
award from the Buxmont Chapter of the PA Society for Tax and Accounting
Professionals (PSTAP) in January. PSTAP has awarded funds to schools to
support business/accounting classes.
The funds will purchase test vouchers for all current BCIT Information Technology 2 students to take the Microsoft Excel specialist exam. Neshaminy High School has maintained a 100 percent student passing rate over the past three years. Unfortunately, the number of students who have capitalized on the opportunity to earn this designation is small due to the cost of the exam, which is over $80.
This grant will enable all students in the course to sit for the exam in May. The grant helps them to acquire professional certifications that validate competency and skills.
The funds will purchase test vouchers for all current BCIT Information Technology 2 students to take the Microsoft Excel specialist exam. Neshaminy High School has maintained a 100 percent student passing rate over the past three years. Unfortunately, the number of students who have capitalized on the opportunity to earn this designation is small due to the cost of the exam, which is over $80.
This grant will enable all students in the course to sit for the exam in May. The grant helps them to acquire professional certifications that validate competency and skills.
Volunteer effort a slam dunk for NHS basketball team
On Sunday, January 27,
members of the Neshaminy High School girls basketball team and their
coaches
volunteered their time at the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia.
NHS athletes reach major milestones
Neshaminy girls
basketball team member Brooke Mullin (above, right) scored her 1000th
varsity point during a game January 4. She was joined by teammate
Allison
Harvey (center, below), who scored her 1000th point for Neshaminy
during a varsity game
at William Tennant HS January 8. Wrestler Colton Jordan won his 100th
varsity match on January 26. Congratulations to all three!
NHS presents Jekyll & Hyde
Audiences were treated to
a powerful show as Neshaminy presented the Broadway musical adaptation
of the Robert Louis Stevenson book, Jekyll
& Hyde January 31 - February 3. This musical, which made its
Broadway debut in 1997, is notable for a number of intense lead
performances.
| Neshaminy Update is published monthly during the school year and distributed to the Neshaminy community via email and web. To submit comments, suggestions or news items for consideration, please email Chris Stanley, Community Relations Coordinator. |
|
Neshaminy School District
2250
Langhorne-Yardley Road
Langhorne,
PA 19047
Joseph
Jones III
Superintendent
(215)
809-6000
|
Neshaminy
School Board
of Directors
Marty
Sullivan - President
Stephen
Pirritano - Vice President
John Allen Cyndie
Bowman
Irene M. Boyle Bob Feather Tina
Hollenbach
Adam
J. Kovitz
David Marrington |
Mission Statement
The Neshaminy community builds
futures by empowering each child to become a productive citizen
and a lifelong learner.
