2024-2025 School Year:

• 12/4- Red Robin Dine & Donate- see flyer below
• 12/6- Progress Reports go live in Home Access Center
• 12/6- Conference Day- No School for Elementary Students
• 12/10- Barnes & Noble Night- 5:30 -8:30 pm- Neshaminy Mall
• 12/9-12/13- Holiday Shop- in school only- See schedule below
• 12/12- Winter Concert- 7:00 pm- Poquessing Auditorium
• 12/24-1/1- No School- Winter Break
• 1/24- Bingo- hosted by Ferderbar Staff
• 2/1- Bingo at Assumption- hosted by 4th Grade Committee
• 2/17- No School- President's Day
• 2/14- Half day for students- 11:10 am dismissal
• 2/18- No School- Teacher PD Day
• 3/31- No School- Eid al-Fitr
• 4/17 & 4/18- No School- Spring Break
• 4/21- No School
• 4/21-4/25- PSSAs- English Language Arts
• 4/28-5/2- PSSAs- Math & Science
• 5/20- No School- Election Day
• 5/26- No School- Memorial Day
• 6/11, 6/12, 6/13- Half Days
• 6/13- Last day for students

Congratulations to the following winners who showed they can be respectful, responsible, and safe!

Come support Ferderbar Elementary School!

Tuesday, December 10th 5:30 – 8:30 pm

Barnes & Noble @ Neshaminy Mall

Storytime featuring many of our teachers! Scavenger Hunt! Get a picture with our mascot, Shadow! Proceeds from all sales will support our reading initiatives!

♪ ALL 4th grade students are a part of the chorus and will be performing in BOTH concerts this year.

♪ Winter Concert date: Thursday, December 12th

♫ In-school concert – 9:30 am in PMS auditorium

♫ Night time concert – 7:00 pm in PMS auditorium

♪ Singers will report to their riser spots at 6:40 and check in with the attendance person for their class

♪ Singers in orchestra should report to orchestra!

♪ Concert Dress (for students only in chorus) –

♫For night concert:

GIRLS: dress shirt & dress pants/skirt, or nice dress, dress shoes; all color patterns welcome!

BOYS: Dress pants (no jeans!), dress shirt (tie optional), dress shoes (no sneakers!); all color patterns welcome!

♪ You must attend concert unless you are very sick, absent from school, or there is an emergency. Please let Mrs. Patrick know if your child is unable to attend.

The latest edition of Mrs. Parker's newsletter is below.

Topics include:

• Winter Kindness calendar
• Hot cocoa breathing technique
• Winter sensory bottle

Check Out Our Minutes!

Congratulations to all of our students that have been entering their reading-at-home minutes into Ferderbar’s Reader Zone app. For the month of November, Mrs. Mednick’s fourth grade class had our most reading minutes. Their class has earned the “Reading Belt” for the month. Here are out top reading classes for each grade level for the month of November:

Kindergarten – Mrs. Chakler’s class

First grade – Mrs. Faust’s class

Second grade – Mrs. Brown’s class

Third grade – Mrs. Haughey’s class

Fourth grade – Mrs. Mednick’s class

Please be sure you are recording your reading minutes into the app.

Our reading code for the Reader Zone app is 2379a

Each week, we will be sharing 1-2 vocabulary words with the students. Students are encouraged to look for these words in their reading, use them in their discussions, and try to incorporate in their writing.

Here are our 2 words for this week: hectic and tranquil

Each day our students earn Class Dojo points for being respectful, responsible and safe in the cafeteria. Below is the list of our November winners for the Golden Fork (first place) and the Golden Spoon (second place).

Golden Fork Winners:

Kindergarten: Cosenza

First Grade: Mitchell

Second Grade: Matika

Third Grade: Cariola

Fourth Grade: Fleming

Golden Spoon Winners:

Kindergarten: 3 way tie for second- Ms. Shields, Mrs. Cochran, Mrs. Chakler

First Grade: Osborn

Second Grade: Brown

Third Grade: Dillon

Fourth Grade: Cwiklinski

Neshaminy School District is implementing a new communication platform called School Messenger. This system will allow important text messages and emails from the district and your child's school to be sent to you as they have been in the past.

The texts and emails will come from a different number that past text alerts. Please do NOT opt out of this alert to continue receiving updates from Neshaminy. If you select opt out, you will no longer receive important messages from the district or your child's school.

If you have any problems with this new system, please reach out to the Main Office for assistance.

Important Reminders:

• Students need to come to school with a charged laptop everyday.

• All cellphones and smartwatches will be placed in student bookbags at the start of the day and will remain powered off during the school day.
• No stickers can be placed on the district device.
• Students need to have headphones.

Please see the following attachments for additional information and expectations.

Good attendance is essential for students to succeed in school.

Please remember to send in a note or an email to your child's teacher after every absence. If you go to the doctor for a sick visit, well check, specialist, or dentist, please ask for a note and bring that in. All absences are marked unexcused, until a note is provided. Families can use the attachment below to provide details about their child's absence.

Who needs to obtain volunteer clearances?

Any adult applying for or holding a volunteer position who is responsible for a child's welfare or has direct contact with children during curricular or co-curricular activities needs to obtain volunteer clearances. Examples include classroom volunteers, Home & School activity volunteers, or field trip chaperones.

If you have any questions as to whether a clearance is needed for a particular volunteer role or activity, please contact our main office, 215-809-6370.

Don't Wait!

Act 34 - the Pennsylvania State Police Clearance - can take 2 to 4 weeks to process and Act 151 - the Child Abuse History Clearance - can also take 2 to 4 weeks.

You will NOT be allowed to volunteer or chaperone a school trip unless all appropriate volunteer paperwork is complete and submitted.

Click the link below to access additional information and links for each clearance.

https://www.neshaminy.org/Domain/2376

Breakfast is free for the 24-25 school year. Students can purchase a second breakfast.

Neshaminy uses School Café for payment. You will need to register at https://schoolcafe.com You can check balances, set balance alerts, set recurring payments etc. A 5% convenience fee will be charged on all online payments.

Food Service Website

Please visit the Food Service webpage for additional information:

https://www.neshaminy.org/domain/18

To apply for the Free & Reduced Meal Program:

Read the letter to Neshaminy families for information about the 2024-2025 Free & Reduced Meal Program

Visit https://www.schoolcafe.com/ or use the free School Cafe app to apply quickly and easily online.

Though we encourage our families to apply online, paper applications are still available and can be found below. They are also available at the Main Offices of each of our schools and can be filled out and returned there.

Pennsylvania Free Reduced Application (English)

Aplicación reducida gratuita de Pennsylvania (Español)

If you need help or want to fill out an application in person, the Main Office staff at each school can assist you during their normal business hours.

Do you have questions about this application or the Free & Reduced program at Neshaminy? Call 215-809-6542.

Do you have questions about this application or the Free & Reduced program at Neshaminy? Call 215-809-6542.

Please Note:

• Families must complete a new Free & Reduced application each school year.
• Paper applications are no longer distributed at school.

Did you know...

• Free and Reduced Meal applications are available in 48 languages (call for information)
• If you qualify for free meals, you may be eligible for affordable internet from Comcast (see below) and the chance to purchase lower priced laptops or computers
• You can go to any local library within your community and use their computers to apply for Free and Reduced Meals

Additional Programs

If you receive Free & Reduced benefits, your children may qualify for other programs as well. To make it easier to find out about these, we can share your information with these other programs but need your permission to do so. Completing the forms below will not change whether your children get free or reduced price meals:

Elementary information sharing permission form (fillable PDF form)

The link for our Universal Elementary Student/Family Handbook is below. In preparation for the upcoming school year, all families should review the information.

Ferderbar is a treat free school for all birthday celebrations. Families can send in items like pencils, erasers, stickers, and any non-food items.

Important Dates:

• August 28th- First day for K, 5 & 9
• August 29th- All grades report to school
• September 2nd- District closed for Labor Day

Vice President- Amy Schnauffer: amyschnauffer5@gmail.com

Treasurer: Noelle Grebe: Noellegrebe@gmail.com

Secetary: Jill Langhorne: Jill.langhorne@gmail.com

Check out the HSA's webpage to learn more about the events and activities throughout the year.

https://www.neshaminy.org/domain/997

Upcoming Dates:

• 12/4- Red Robin Dine & Donate
• 12/9-12/13- Holiday Shop- see schedule for shopping below.
• 12/16- HSA Meeting- 6:30 pm- in library

We are excited to start planning for the end of the year events and will be collecting 4th grade dues of $40 to cover the costs. The dues will help pay for your child to have a party, year book and a gift.

We will also be hosting a few events throughout the school year to help fund raise; however, we will be unable to provide everything for the children without the dues.

If you are experiencing financial hardship and are unable to contribute the full amount of the 4th grade dues or would like to contribute a different amount, please indicate that on the form below with the amount enclosed by February 21, 2025.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Madeline Hendricks at madeline.hendricks18@gmail.com or Jeanne Neal at jciccone85@gmail.com.

The school store will run every Friday from 8:50-9:10 in the back of the cafeteria. One grade level goes per week.

School Store Schedule:

• 12/20- First Grade
• 1/3- Kindergarten
• 1/10- First Grade

Check out the flyers below for information on events and programs in our community.