Wiss Watch

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Wiss Nation is psyched as our home team heads to the Super Bowl! Stay tuned for some fun pictures of students and staff celebrating over the coming weeks (especially after the Birds win)!

Lower Gwynedd 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Williams, and her son, Jayden, LGE 5th grader, got a special surprise at the game on January 26! Jayden, who was born with chronic kidney disease, underwent a kidney transplant surgery in June after his mom tested and reported to be a match for a kidney donation. Inspired by their story, Commissioner Goodell surprised them pregame with a trip to New Orleans and two tickets to Super Bowl LIX! Having these two special guests at the Super Bowl is sure to bring the Eagles good luck!

Thank you to our parents/guardians, students, and staff who attended the presentations by Robert Hackenson Jr., of Dynamic Influence, to learn about social media landmines and ways to develop and support a healthy and positive online experience.

More than 100 parents attended the two evening events, “Parenting in a Digital Age,” while all students in 5th, 6th, and 7th grades attended a presentation during the school day on “Social Media Landmines.”

Mr. Hackenson, an edutainer who used magic tricks, comedy, and storytelling to engage the audience, discussed the effects of social media and screentime on mental health, the challenges of digital technology, and our digital footprint. He also provided tips and resources to support students and families. Keep an eye out for a separate email where we will share these resources with our families and staff.

Kudos to Keziah LaTorre, Director of Equity and Cultural Responsiveness, for spearheading this event.

At a ribbon cutting ceremony on January 7, Blue Bell Elementary celebrated the completion of the new cafetorium, classrooms, bus loop and parking areas. Students, families, staff, School Board, and community members attended the grand opening celebration, followed by a tour of the new area, and the first band and choral concert held in the cafetorium. “This amazing new space, especially our "cafetorium," is already making a huge difference,” said Principal Angela Farlow. “This addition is about more than just the space—it’s about creating the best possible environment for our students to learn, grow, and thrive.”

A huge shoutout to Dr. Sheldon’s class at LGE, who won 2nd place at the Citizenship Challenge finals sponsored by The Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Engagement. For the competition at the Constitution Center, the class transformed a winning essay on the topic of keeping or eliminating the electoral college written by Keira Cloud and Maguire Shields into a presentation. Each student spoke a line that explained the decision to eliminate the electoral college, then performed a song they wrote set to the tune of the Beach Boys song, "Wouldn't it be Nice?

This whole experience showed tremendous collaboration and teamwork among the 27 students in Dr. Sheldon’s class! The students learned about our government and voting process, demonstrated critical thinking as they discussed important topics facing our country, and showed true teamwork and dedication. The students also answered challenging questions by the judges.

The class was presented with a $500 check by the Philly Phanatic and got to tour the Constitution Center. What a memorable learning experience!

Congratulations to the January District Artist of the Month, Blue Bell 5th grader Lila Greb. While studying Mexican and Central American art, Lila and her classmates sketched and colored sugar skulls or calaveras, a traditional symbol of the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. They also made skulls with clay. Lila said the artwork was challenging because it had to be symmetrical. To help with this, students created half of the skull, then folded their paper and traced the other half over a bright light. Principal Farlow and Art Teacher Mrs. Pawloski congratulated Lila.

Congrats to our WHS band teacher Maggie Oswald and students who hosted the Pennsylvania Music Education Association (PMEA) District 11 Band Festival on January 23 and 24. This exciting occasion brought together talented students, staff, and community members from more than 40 high schools in Montgomery and Bucks Counties to celebrate talented musicians. The event culminated with a concert on January 24. Special shoutout to our students who competed for regionals and performed at the concert: Shuman Yuan, Josiah Feng, Brandon Furman and Lauren Heinsen.

Feng, Furman and Yuan were selected to advance to the regional competition. Shoutout to our orchestra students who are advancing to regionals: Josiah Feng, Hannah Kang, Hannah Yum and Monica Yang. Good luck to our chorus students competing at District Choir on February 6 - 8.

Shoutout to WMS Librarian Jennifer Ingerto who organized a Wiss Writes author display, spotlighting the works of our very own WSD staff! The bios and books/articles of the staff were on display throughout December and January for the enjoyment of students and other staff.

Check out the amazing variety of their work which includes everything from children's books to adventure fantasy to veterinary expertise to a poetic memoir to cycling articles to a teen novel to historical fiction.

Mark Jones, Shady Grove School Nurse

Matt Heppe, 12 Grade Social Studies Teacher

Randi Golub, Shady Grove 5th Grade CSA

Jennifer Hedrick (AKA Frenchie Hart), PACE Classroom Assistant

Whit Yost, WMS English Teacher

Chad Towarnicki, 8th Grade ELA Teacher

Frank DeRuosi, BBE Teacher

Kudos to our authors and to Ms. Ingerto for highlighting our talented staff members! (There are other authors amongst our staff, but these were the ones who agreed to participate in the display).

WHS and WMS students had fun at this year’s Music Fest - an event for WMS students to meet the WHS music directors, experience a rehearsal, and gain a better understanding of how band/chorus/strings can fit in their high school schedule. The 7th/8th grade band and string students traveled to WHS to meet Band Director Mrs. Oswald and had a rehearsal with the high school musicians while the 7th/8th grade chorus students met with Choral Director Mr. Conahan and learned a new song with members of the high school choir.

Mrs. O’Brien’s 4th grade class at Stony Creek had the honor of having the Poet Laureate 2024 Lisa DeVuono visit their classroom. Mrs. DeVuono is a local resident of Ambler and has been visiting classrooms in Wiss Nation. She is an award winning poet and has made an impact on the community through the written word. The 4th grade writers had a great morning of writing and sharing poetry together.

Ms. Hickey's 5th graders at LGE had a Q&A meeting with a French class in Strasbourg, France. The students asked each other various questions to discover similarities and differences in culture and daily life. They learned a lot about a typical school day, classes, foods, sports, music, movies, and hobbies.

Ms. Swift's 5th graders at LGE had a GREAT time studying ecosystems. Everyone wanted to add a worm to the class ecosystem as their living organism!

Shoutout to Mr. Sandor, SCE Health and Physical Education teacher, for highlighting the lessons and activities in his classes via a new Instagram (only open to SCE families). This is a great way to showcase how much fun students have learning about fitness, health, and nutrition. Check out some of the featured posts and pictures:

• Our Hulk Smash Ball record holder is Mikey- 47 reps with a 25lb ball. Determination and Grit personified!
• Our 5th and 4th Grade push up record holders, Avery and Zoe. Sam cracks the leaderboard today!
• Our K-2 kids have started learning about our skeleton and names like femur and humerus.
• The Spooky Shipwreck obstacle course. What a blast!

Fifth-grade enrichment students from each elementary school participated in an exciting design challenge alongside other schools in Montgomery County! In teams of 3-4, students addressed a real-world need using the design thinking process. The specific challenge was revealed to them on the day of the event, adding an element of surprise and excitement. With a variety of Makerspace materials provided by the MCIU, students invented prototypes aimed at assisting people with special needs.

This experience allowed them to use critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity to not only create their products but also design advertisements to showcase their innovations. After submitting their advertisement creations to the MCIU, students had the opportunity to view all the projects from participating teams and cast their votes. It was a wonderful experience that encouraged teamwork and creativity!

WHS is gearing up for the second annual Career Pathways Expo at WHS on March 11. All of our ninth graders will participate in the expo as part of their Freshman Seminar curriculum covered during one marking period of their freshman year. Our tenth through twelfth graders are invited to attend after school to connect with representatives from a large number of different fields.

The Wissahickon Board of School Directors welcomes residents and community members to attend its monthly public meetings (e.g., work sessions, regular meetings, and committee meetings). These public meetings are held in-person at the District Administration Office and/or virtually via Zoom and YouTube. Click here to learn more about the school board.

School Director Recognition Month

In celebration of School Director Recognition Month this January, the district shared an animated video series that highlights the WSD School Board, their role and responsibilities, and ways for our community to engage with the board. We encourage you to watch the videos to learn more.

• Getting to Know the Wissahickon School Board
• School Board Role and Responsibilities
• School Board Meetings and Community Involvement

Two Things to Know about the January 27 Board Meeting: Watch the Board Meeting

1. The Board heard a presentation on the Blue Bell Elementary Primary Educational Thinking Skills (PETS) Program for 1st grade presented by Enrichment Teacher Mrs. Wendler and BBE students (pictured below).
2. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Dawan and Director Teaching and Learning Jen Schmidt provided a districtwide overview of the state assessment results from the 2024 PSSA and Keystone Exams.

Upcoming Board Meetings

• February 3, Regular Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
• February 24, Work Session, 7:00 p.m.
• March 3, Regular Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m.

Thank you to the fabulous presenters at Stony Creek’s World Day for Cultural Diversity on January 28! Stony Creek parents and WHS students taught SCE students about their culture, including the different types of food, music, dances, holidays, traditions, animals, and more! Every student was exposed to at least three different presentations about cultures and countries including Spain, Mexico, South Korea, India, China, Korea, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, and more! WHS students from the Hispanic/Latine Association, Black Student Union, Asian Student Association, Italian Culture Club and Muslim Student Association presented - a great way for our younger students to learn about the affinity groups at our high school and meet other students.

For World Braille Day, January 3rd, LGE 5th graders learned about Louis Braille and how the Braille alphabet was created and has helped millions of people around the world. All the students made name tags using the Braille alphabet.

Our schools are proud to incorporate lessons and activities that support social emotional learning (SEL) skills - self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making. SEL leads to long-term improvements in students’ skills, attitudes, prosocial behavior and academic performance. January's district SEL theme was Goal Setting.

All schools are implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) this year. Appropriate behavior, school rules and expectations are taught, modeled, practiced and acknowledged with positive reinforcement.

Wow! Hootie turned 61 but hasn’t aged a bit! Stony Creek students celebrated at an assembly on January 10 where they talked about goal setting (January's SEL theme), played musical chairs with Hootie and sang Happy Birthday, of course! So much fun!

LGE held a PBIS Refresh assembly where the staff & students reiterated what LEAP stands for and then played an exciting match of “pull the paper” with previous LEAP ticket winners randomly selected to play against the teacher who gave them the LEAP ticket! The 2 players sat in chairs with long paper strips between them and had to use only their feet to see who could pull the paper toward themselves first!

Shady Grove's January PBIS activity encouraged students to reflect on how they can be more responsible, respectful, and safe in the new year. Each student shared their response, which was proudly displayed for the entire school to see and read. Check out some of their ideas!

Every Saturday throughout the school year, we share a quick tip with email subscribers to help your baby, toddler and pre-schoolers learn to love reading! Literacy tips are tailored to specific age groups: babies (0-1), toddlers (2-3), and preschoolers (4-5). Children learn the alphabet and letter sounds, expand their vocabulary, and develop critical thinking skills. Your child's love for reading begins with you! Click to Subscribe

Wiss nation is proud to be a part of the GIANT Feeding School Kids initiative! From January 1 – March 31, you can round up at the register to support meal programs for our students.

In previous years, the district has received funding ranging from $8,000 to $13,000 as a result of our school community rounding up when they shop at GIANT.

Parents/Guardians often wonder where to turn with a question or a concern regarding their child or other school issues. Starting "too high up the ladder" often requires information backtracking and can leave valuable allies out of the loop. Here are some handy guidelines to use:

Classroom problem? Start with your child’s teacher. They are in the best position to address classroom-related issues. If the problem is outside the teacher’s area of expertise or control, the teacher will refer you to the right person.

Not able to resolve your problem with the teacher? Go next to the school principal or supervisor who usually will be able to resolve your problem or refer you to the right person.

Issue or inquiry is not being resolved at the building level or isn’t a building level issue? You might be referred to a member of the Wissahickon School District administration. You may also consult our list of administrative departments to determine whom would be the most appropriate person to contact, depending on the nature of your inquiry. View Administrative Contacts

Watch our video shorts series "Did You Know?" to learn more about Wiss Nation programs, services, events, activities, resources and more. Our students narrate each video which is 30 seconds or less!

WATCH NOW

Nominations are now open for the 2025 WHS Alumni Hall of Fame which honors alums with exemplary post-graduate achievements. By induction into the Alumni Hall of Fame, they will forever be recognized as representing the best of Wissahickon. Their success is a reflection of the opportunities provided to them throughout their high school experience as a Wissahickon Trojan.