Celebration theme was “School Lunch Snapshot” … sharing the best, real images of today’s school lunch programs.

Abington Schools celebrated National School Lunch Week with principals and staff donning cafeteria garb as they and school lunch staff served nutritious lunches to students. National School Lunch Week recognizes the National School Lunch Program and the 30 million children it serves every day. The program in Abington emphasizes the healthy foods that are offered daily at Abington Schools. During this week lunch program staff pointed out that school lunches are healthier than ever, with more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and less fat and sodium. The federally-funded National School Lunch Program provides nutritionally balanced, healthy meals to students every day.  The program, which has been serving the nation’s children for over 60 years, requires school meals to meet federal nutrition standards like offering fruits and vegetables every day, serving whole-grain rich foods, and limiting fat, calories, and sodium.

Shown here, principals and staff members help celebrated the week by serving lunches in our schools.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and the District 1 Committee recognize Abington Senior High School with the “Sportsmanship: The Only Missing Piece is You” award for the 2014-15 school year. The groups identify Abington’s administration, coaches, athletes, cheerleaders and fans as “the epitome of good sportsmanship.” Then at the October Executive Meeting for the Suburban One League, Abington was honored with the Sportsmanship award for the National Conference for 2014-15. Our senior student-athletes and coaches share in celebrating these awards and the commemorative banners.

Last night the Abington School Board honored Abington students whose artwork has been selected for display in the School District Administration Building.  Now in its eighteenth year, selected beautiful student artwork has been on display in the Administration Building.  The elementary and secondary art teachers, in conjunction with Mr. Howard Baxter, Supervisor of Music and Coordinator of Elementary Art, selected the artwork, which is placed on display for four years and then returned to the student.  Last night Mr. Baxter and the art teachers presented the artwork to the Board of School Directors and the community and provided certificates to the student artists to honor their handiwork.

The following students and their art teachers were honored last night – note that the grade listed is the student’s grade last year when the artwork was created and selected:  Sofia Alenkina, 4th Grade – Overlook Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mrs. Margaret Johnson; Cameron Edwards, 4th Grade – Willow Hill Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mr. Anthony Shelton;  Brandon Fehnel, 2nd Grade – Rydal Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mrs. Natalie Haertsch; Cassidy Foster, 2nd Grade – Roslyn Elementary School, Art Teacher – Ms. Chelsea Schryver; Aeryn Gibbons, Kindergarten  – Roslyn Elementary School, Art Teacher – Ms. Chelsea Schryver; Hannah Gillespie, 5th Grade – Copper Beech Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mr. Michael McKeough; Crystal Guzzi, 11th Grade – Abington Senior High School. Art Teacher – Ms. Nicole Caracciolo; John Harbison, 3rd Grade – Copper Beech Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mr. Michael McKeough; Collin Henry, 12th Grade – Abington Senior High School, Art Teacher – Mr. Stephen Lupo; Aidan Kaye, 5th Grade – Copper Beech Elementary School, Art Teacher – Ms. Chelsea Schryver; Madelaine Kneipp, 7th Grade – Abington Junior High School, Art Teacher – Mr. Fabio Tulli; Renee Krier, 5th Grade – Highland Elementary School, Art Teacher – Ms. Patricia Forrest;  Isabella Martinez, 6th Grade – Willow Hill Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mr. Anthony Shelton; Joshua Masri, 7th Grade – Abington Junior High School, Art Teacher – Mrs. Julia Rix; Brigid McDonald, 4th Grade – McKinley Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mrs. Donna Zar; Dariya Medynska, 12th Grade – Abington Senior High School, Art Teacher – Mr. Richard Metz; Nicholas Orzhykhovsky, 12th Grade – Abington Senior High School, Art Teacher – Mr. David Ferro; Sophie Poor, 5th Grade – Rydal Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mrs. Natalie Haertsch;  Gianni Rodriguez-Caceres, 7th Grade – Abington Junior High School, Art Teacher – Mrs. Julia Rix; Michael Schaible, 4th Grade – McKinley Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mrs. Donna Zar; Olivia Schrecengost, 8th Grade – Abington Junior High School, Art Teacher – Mr. Fabio Tulli; Jessica Sokolski, 6th Grade – Copper Beech Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mr. Michael McKeough; Ashley Spence, 3rd Grade – Overlook Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mrs. Margaret Johnson; Miciah Washington, 2nd Grade – Highland Elementary School, Art Teacher – Ms. Patricia Forrest; and Chloe Winters, 6th Grade – McKinley Elementary School, Art Teacher – Mrs. Donna Zar.

First grade students at Roslyn Elementary School created Pumpkin Book Reports this October.  Each student chose a book and decorated the pumpkin to look like the main character of the book.  First grade teachers Mrs. Jessica Adamski, Mrs. Stephanie McCuen, Ms. Jamie Shore, and Mr. Todd Shuster worked with students to create pumpkin patches of book characters as well.

Specific book characters are shown in photos of the Curious George Pumpkin, the Cat in the Hat Pumpkin, the Pinkalicious Pumpkin, the Pete the Cat Pumpkin, and the Magic Tree House Pumpkin.

Kristi Price, a modern day Philadelphia matchmaker,  counseled the cast of the play that features a matchmaker from the 19^th century.

     “The Matchmaker” – an uproarious farce about love and money, stars the irrepressible busybody and marriage broker, Dolly Gallagher Levi. Through Dolly’s subtle machinations, several unlikely couples come together to find happiness in 19th-century New York. Horace Vandergelder, a widower who is determined to find a woman to “manage” his household, gets a run for his money from Mrs. Levi, since she intends to marry him herself!

     It occurred to Kristen Caiazzo, Abington’s faculty director, that the current high school generation may know of e-harmony, zoosk.com, and match.com, but they generally use social media like Facebook and Instagram and texting to meet potential loves …so they don’t know matchmakers like the heroine in this 19^th century play. 

     Kristi Price – a real, live, Philadelphia area matchmaker – was invited to visit during the cast’s rehearsal to counsel cast members about the joy and tribulations of matchmaking to a generation that probably does not really know what modern day matchmakers do or how they work.

     The questions and discussion of modern day matchmaking were fascinating.  Abington Senior High School student cast members asked how successful and widespread is matchmaking today …  how much does it cost?  … has Kristi Price – like Dolly Levi – ever fallen for a client? … how old is the oldest client Kristi has worked with? … is international matchmaking successful?  … and much more.

The play, “The Matchmaker,” will be performed November 12, 13, and 14, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at Abington Senior High School – 900 Highland Avenue, Abington, PA.  Tickets are $10 general admission and $8 for students and seniors.  

In the photos:

• Kristi Price discusses modern day matchmaking with the Abington Senior High School cast of “The Matchmaker” during rehearsals. 
• Cast photo features cast performers in background and in the foreground, left to right:  21^st century matchmaker Kristi Price; 19^th century Dolly Gallagher Levi cast member Samantha “Sami” Robertson; and faculty director Kristen Caiazzo.

Kindergarten students at Copper Beech enjoyed breakfast and reading with their special guests.  Students invited parents, grandparents, or other important adults in their lives to read with them and share breakfast. Thank you to the Copper Beech PTA for sponsoring this great event!

On Wednesday October 21st, students and staff members at Roslyn Elementary School wore orange to show support, hope, and unity that we are united against bullying and united for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion.  Each student traced his or her hand on orange construction paper. Together, we united to place the labeled hands on a unity tree that is displayed in our school lobby.

Unity Day is a movement in which students recognize that the end of bullying begins with them. This is connected to PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Month in October. It’s a time when communities can unite nationwide to raise awareness of bullying prevention through events, activities, outreach, and education. The goal is to raise awareness and increase understanding of how to respond to bullying.

Last Friday close to 100 people signed up for and participated in the Abington Educational Foundation (AEF) Annual 5K Walk/Run, ranging in age from toddlers to adults.  The overall winner of the event was Luke Schrader, a 7th grader at Abington Junior High School. Other age group winners were: Mike Staszkiw (age 20-29), Laurie O’Connor (age 30-39), Tiffany Turner (age 40-49), and Mike Zanetti (age 50+). Each winner received a gift card and all participants received an awesome AEF tee-shirt and were able to enjoy water, juice, and snacks following the walk/run.  The event raised approximately $1500, which supports students in Abington Schools, enhancing their educational experiences and opportunities.  Everyone had a fun, fantastic time!

Anyone who has resided in Abington Township or the Borough of Rockledge for a minimum of one year and is interested in being appointed to the Abington Board of School Directors may express such interest in a letter and include a resume.

Please click the following link which will take you to information regarding the Notice for the School Board Director Appointment.  This notice provides the required information to express your interest in being appointed to the Abington Board of School Directors.

Notice – School Board Director

Anyone who has resided in Abington Township or the Borough of Rockledge for a minimum of one year and is interested in being appointed to the Abington Board of School Directors may express such interest in a letter and include a resume.

Please click the following link which will take you to information regarding the Notice for the School Board Director Appointment. This notice provides the required information to express your interest in being appointed to the Abington Board of School Directors.

School Board Director Notice

Abington School District’s “Educating with STEAM”
Featured on Life to the Max TV Show

The STEAM programs, different than traditional STEM programs, have had tremendous success in motivating, encouraging, and educating young people in their public school education.

The Life to the Max TV Show in Minnesota featured Abington School District’s “Educating with STEAM” programs.  (Abington School District – Abington, Pennsylvania)

 The video was produced over a period of several days in Abington Schools by Lifetouch Media Productions, highlighting Abington School District’s program that adds an “A” for “the Arts” to STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  The story also was a feature at the National Conference on Education in Nashville.

The narrator in the “Educating with STEAM” video begins with “The Abington School District near Philadelphia is making waves among school districts across America, led by a superintendent who understands the key is putting students first.”

    The video shows segments in Abington of:

• SCIENCE – analyzing mocked-up samples from crime scenes; and life in moving water
• TECHNOLOGY – using student response “clickers” for interactive education;  and employing technology for communication with students with special needs
• ENGINEERING –  featuring underwater robots engineered and built by Abington Senior High School students with materials supplied by outside organizations and a low cost 3D printer
• ARTS – featuring musical groups beginning at very young age ion elementary schools and continuing through high school performance groups as well; and the graphic and visual arts
• MATHEMATICS –  featuring a kindergarten class lesson using digital white boards (and very enthusiastic teacher!); a high school class using graphing calculators;  and a “statistics presentation on students’ use of their non-dominant hand” by an elementary school student!

See the program on YouTube:

Roslyn Elementary School students from grades 3-6 learned about Ireland, its culture and its sports from representatives from the Gaelic Athletic Association from Ireland.  Students learned some of the history of Ireland, the Irish impact on the United States, and some traditional Irish activities.  The boys and girls then went outside and learned traditional Irish sports such as hurling and Gaelic football.  A film crew from Irish television recorded the program and the sports instruction and practice as part of a program to be shown in Ireland.  It was educational and fun at the same time!

The Abington Senior High School Marching Band won Best Color Guard, Best Drum Line, And Best Visual Effect In the Yankee “A” Division In the State Championships at Downingtown West last weekend.  The Marching Ghosts placed Second Overall In the state for its show, “Cirque-Ish,” featuring music from Cirque Du Soleil’s La Nouba Production under the direction of Mr. Joseph Detato And Gregg Rosenfeld. 

Notice – School Board Director Meeting

Internet Explorer 9 & 10

1. Press and release the ALT key on your keyboard to display the Menu bar at the top.  You can also click the gear  icon if you have one.
2. Click Tools and select “Compatibility View settings.”
   
3. Select “k12.pa.us” or “www.abington.k12.pa.us” under “Websites you’ve added to Compatibility View.”
4. Click Remove.

Internet Explorer 8

1. Open the Tools menu at the top and select Compatibility View Settings.
   
2. Select “k12.pa.us” or “www.abington.k12.pa.us” under under “Websites you’ve added to Compatibility View.”
3. Click Remove.

The Abington Senior High School Athletic Department, administration, teammates, and fellow students today recognized and celebrated Abington’s student-athletes’ accomplishments.  Six students and their families and coaches were honored for successfully signing with colleges. Abington Senior High School alumna Madlyn “Maddy” Whitney Evans, who is currently playing professional women’s soccer, was the guest speaker.

The six students who signed today were:

• Leah Simmons – Girls Volleyball to Canisius
• Samantha Lochner – Girls Basketball to St. Peter’s
• Mikki Raymond – Girls Lacrosse to LaSalle
• Emma Garg – Girls Lacrosse to Kutztown
• Kirstin Pedicone – Girls Lacrosse to Millersville
• Nicolette Ray – Softball to Bloomsburg

Guest speaker Maddy Evans, accompanied by her parents and boyfriend, is an American soccer midfielder and defender currently playing for Boston Breakers in the National Women’s Soccer League.  In her talk, she gave the celebrated students some advice on college, athletics, and life.  Maddy attended Abington Senior High School where she was a two-year letter winner as a freshman and sophomore. During her junior and senior years, she opted to play varsity lacrosse. After Abington, Maddy attended Pennsylvania State University and played for the Nittany Lions from 2009 to 2012. During her senior year, she served as the team captain and played a pivotal role in leading the Nittany Lions to the College Cup Final. Maddy finished her collegiate career with 11 goals, 9 assists, and 31 points.

Rydal Elementary School-East students, staff, the Frankel family and friends, school district administrators, and Rydal PTO parents gathered yesterday to dedicate the Shane Frankel Playground in honor of Rydal Elementary School alumnus Shane Frankel.  Sean and Rachael generously donated the new playground in memory of Shane, who passed away much too early in life.

Dr. Sichel thanked the family for their generosity, saying that Sean and Rachel Frankel’s tribute to Mr. Frankel’s brother, Shane, has been initiated with compassion and thoughtfulness. She said, “They have made this beautiful playground possible as a loving tribute to Shane, who passed away at an early age. The benefit of this playground for the Rydal School and all of the children who will have an opportunity to play here will last a long time.” Dr. Sichel said that In addition to our appreciation for what they have donated, she hopes that they have set an example for others to be benefactors, providing donations to our schools that benefit our students.

Rydal Principal Mrs. Marbury thanked the family for its wonderful donation, describing how the students have anxiously watched the playground equipment being installed and waiting excitedly for the joy of using it.  Mrs. Marbury continued: “The gorgeous new equipment will serve the children and families of the Rydal community for many years. They are a monument to the dedication of many caring people in the Abington community who turned a dream into a reality. A reality that was made possible by the generosity of Sean and Rachel Frankel. The Shane Frankel Playground is a powerful symbol of the love one brother has for another and reminds us of the importance of family as we prepare to celebrate this Thanksgiving.”

Rydal student council president Ben Fall thanked the Frankel family and gave them a basketful of “thank you” notes from the Rydal students.  Rydal students enthusiastically cheered when the Frankel family unveiled the sign at the playground.

Dr. Sichel said “At this time of Thanksgiving, when families come together to celebrate joy and to give thanks, it could not be a more fitting time to dedicate the Shane Frankel Playground.”

After the formal presentations the Frankel family hung the tribute plaque in the school lobby.

In Washington D.C. this week, the co-presidents of Abington Senior High School’s H2O for Life Club had the honor and privilege of attending the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Water for the Poor Act.

H2O for Life was founded in 2007, in Minnesota, by teacher Patty Hall.  She inspired Abington students to become involved in the humanitarian effort and provided a cause for Abington students to make a significant impact on the welfare of people around the world who do not have access to clean, safe, drinking water.  Abington students have also made an impact in Montgomery County and Abington through their many projects.  Since the beginning of H2O for Life, Abington students have helped to fund almost a dozen projects from Nicaragua to the Philippines.  Abington students have helped to lobby Congress for the Water for the World Act and have participated in events at the United Nations and the World Bank.  In addition, Abington students have helped to clean and restore stream banks throughout their own community.

Abington students were probably the youngest participants at the 10th Anniversary Celebration, but they were no less respected – or effective – in the work of saving people’s lives.  The Abington H2O for Life Club continues to be at the forefront of local, national, and global water advocacy.

Pictured here in photos taken in the Kennedy Caucus Room in the United States Senate are the co-presidents of Abington Senior High School’s H2O for Life Club Jordan Brown (left) and Alex Azuelos (second from right), both seniors; Mrs. Mary Rodgers, H2O for Life Advisor and Service Learning Facilitator (second from left); and Ms. Ellyn Walter (right) of WASH Advocates (WASH Advocates, Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative dedicated to helping solve global safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges.)

The Abington Girls Basketball team has a tradition of adopting a family in need for the Holiday season. Over the years, the Lady Ghosts have collected food, gifts, and money for those in unfortunate situations at this time of year. This year, the Ghosts will be helping an Abington family at the December 18th Girls Basketball game against Council Rock South at 7:00 PM.

Programs culminated in the international “Hour of Code” – the largest single international learning event in history.  A novel cooperative activity took place between Advanced Placement (AP) computer students in Abington Senior High School teacher Mr. Dave Daubenspeck’s computer class and sixth grade students at Roslyn Elementary School..

Yes, it’s novel that 6^th grade students are learning code … and that it includes 6^th grade girls.

Twenty AP computer students from the high school taught computer coding (Javascript) to 18 Roslyn 6^th graders (9  girls and 9 boys) over a period of  six weeks on Thursdays after school in a Computer Coding Club organized by teacher Mr. Todd Shuster

The six weeks culminated in the students participating in the global “Hour of Code” event, the largest learning event in history, where 100 million students in 180 countries around the world wrote one hour of code during the week.

Additional Abington schools participating were:

• Willow Hill Elementary School – Students were instructed on coding during flex time
• Overlook Elementary School –  A coding club operated during lunch/recess with sixth grade students mentoring first graders
• McKinley Elementary School – An after-school coding club provided instruction for fifteen sixth grade students over six weeks
• Copper Beech Elementary School – fifth and sixth grade students learned computer coding in the morning and second grade students learned and practiced in the afternoon.

These students are using block code and typing code to control the movements of their characters in the software being used.  A recent article on the local economy stated that the federal government says the U.S. faces a shortage of hundreds of thousands of computer programmers.  Congratulations to these students, our future, who are heeding the advice of President Obama: “Don’t just play on your phone, program it.”

Here are several quotes about the Hour of Code from students in Mr. Tague’s 5th grade class at Willow Hill Elementary School:

“In math it helps me with algorithms to step by step solve a problem.” – Roman Clayton-Hopson

“Coding can help you with math and communication arts.  It helps you with math by teaching order of operation. It can help you with communication arts by teaching you how to follow directive notes. Learning code in elementary school can be beneficial.  It is beneficial because it helps if you want to be a computer coder or if you want to create games or make websites.” – Richard Wesh

“The code makes it fun to learn how to work with computers.  Some of the things I  did was Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies.  They were fun ways to learn. “When you notice details in the code you notice details in other things.” – Sarah Lyles

“Learning about code will help you in different subjects because you have to follow directions carefully while computer coding and you have to be efficient and doing code will be good practice on following directions and being efficient. Learning computer coding can benefit you because if you want a job that involves coding it would be easy because you’ve already learned how to do it. If we learn how to do it now we will be prepared for the future.” – Fanta Sillah

“It should be taught at elementary schools because it is fun and very educational.” – Tyrese Whitfield