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North Wales Elementary School Sixth Grade Math Class Constructs Ferris Wheel
Mrs. Mohr's sixth grade math class built a K'nex Ferris Wheel. The finish project was over six feet tall and was a hands-on way to learn about following directions, problem solving, angles and engineering. For more pictures of the construction project, please click here. |
North Penn School District Community Education Program Announces Online Registration Now Open
The entire North Penn community and surrounding areas can now register online for the Spring 2014 North Penn School District Community Education program at www.northpenncep.org.
Classes feature courses in aquatics, arts and crafts, baking and cooking, computer, continued learning, dog training, financial seminars, leisure, photography, planetarium programs, sports and fitness, trips and much more, including an entire section just for kids!
Weekday classes begin February 24 and Saturday classes begin March 1, unless otherwise noted.
Save the date for a special in-person registration scheduled for Monday, February 10 from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Educational Services Center, located at 401 E. Hancock Street in Lansdale. A 5% discount will be given to everyone who enrolls with cash or check during this in-person registration that may be used toward one of the Spring 2014 courses.
Those who wish to register online during this night using a credit card can enter the Promo Code, ONLINE, respectively. Registrations can be mailed in and completed online prior to the on-line registration night - they just will not be eligible for the discount.
Registration for courses fill up quickly, so it is advised to sign up soon.
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Inclement Weather Means Busy Days for NPSD Facilities and Transportation Departments
Thank you to members of the NPSD Facilities and Transportation departments for the superlative effort in readying the facilities and buses for school after these most recent storms. When the area is affected by bad weather, members of the transportation staff often work until close to midnight to get the snow off of the tops of the buses and members of the snow plowing crew work through the night, finishing at close to 4:30 a.m. to get all of the snow plowed from the parking lots and sidewalks. Thank you for such a tremendous effort!
NPSD would also like to thank the local municipalities, law enforcement, power supply companies, local landscapers and more for their hard work to ready our schools and community for students after the latest winter storm.
 | | Snow Day at the Bus Garage |
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Montgomery Elementary School Holds Mini-THON
On Saturday, February 1, 2014, Montgomery Elementary School sponsored its first annual Mini-THON to benefit The Four Diamonds Fund. The Mini-THON is based on the Penn State Dance Marathon, the largest student run philanthropy in the nation where dancers and organizations raise money for The Four Diamonds Fund. Montgomery students and families more than doubled their goal, raising over $21,000! Congratulations on this momentous accomplishment! Click here to for more pictures of the THON.
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Register for NPAGE's Super Saturday
Registration will be opening soon for NPAGE's annual fundraiser, Super Saturday. Super Saturday will be held March 15 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Penndale Middle School. Super Saturday is open to all students in kindergarten to sixth grade. The morning will include fun workshops covering dance, robotics, chess, karate, arts and crafts, and more. Visit the NPAGE website for more information. |
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Keep up-to-date with NPSD Board Meetings
NPSD Board of School Directors Meeting
January 7 Agenda
January 7 Video
January 16 Agenda
January 16 Video |
To view agenda attachments and minutes from past meetings, please click here.
To access the list of meeting dates scheduled for 2014, please click here. |
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NPHS School Store is Online! | |
Stock up on all your NPHS apparel with an online order. To visit the School Store's website, please click here. |
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Want to know the latest news, events and highlights from North Penn?
Click the links below
to follow us
on Twitter and visit various
NPSD websites that
showcase up-to-date information most
important to YOU!
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In an effort to improve communications, the district has created "Say What" to provide people with a place to get answers to questions and to address rumors and inaccurate information that sometimes circulate throughout the community.
Click on the logo above
to check out NPTV's
media library. New content daily!
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The North Penn School District uses Phanfare, npsd.phanfare.com,
to upload and share its
photos and videos.
NPSD families, staff and community members are encouraged to submit their photos and videos here. Please check with your school to ensure that no students in the pictures are on the publicity refusal list.
For additional information, or questions about how to submit pictures through this site, please contact Chris Doerr at [email protected].
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To give feedback or suggest story ideas, please email [email protected].
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 Dear Community,
The start of February means we begin the second half of our school year. The secondary students have taken their mid-year exams and the elementary students are finishing up the second trimester. In classrooms throughout the district, students and teachers are preparing for many different assessments such as PSSAs, Keystones or an end-of-the-week spelling test.
On Monday, March 10, parents, guardians and community members are invited to attend a community forum explaining the North Penn School District assessment programs. Members of my administration team and I will talk about our assessment programs and the benefits it provides our students and staff. The community forum will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at North Penn High School, located at 1340 Valley Forge Road in Lansdale.
Assessments, whether it is a diagnostic test like the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) or a summative final exam, provide a way to measure a student's growth or mastery of the curriculum and skills taught. It provides the students and parents with feedback on the knowledge and skills their student attained as a result of instruction. Our staff evaluates this data to ensure that the instruction is aligned with the student's need and that their program best supports the individual student's growth and learning.
These programs also help the curriculum department and administration develop programs and interventions, based on identified student needs. This constant review of the data allows us to ensure that every child performs at, or above, grade level and is challenged to reach peak performance levels.
I hope you will join us on Monday, March 10 to learn more about the assessment programs and how they provide the district and our students with continued success. As always, the evening will allow time for parents and guardians to ask me and members of administration questions. The more informed parents and community members are in the day-to-day dealings of our students, the more support we can provide in their student's academic achievements.
Sincerely,
Curtis R. Dietrich, Ed.D. Superintendent, NPSD
[email protected]
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NPSD Announces Changes to the 2013-2014 School Calendar |
Due to days missed during the first week of February because of weather and because of forecasted snow this week, NPSD is adding two instructional days to the calendar as follows:
* Monday, February 17, 2014 (President's Day) will now be an instructional day for students. It was originally a day off for students and staff.
* Tuesday, May 20, 2014 (Election Day) will now be an instructional day for students. It was originally a day off for students and an In-service day for staff. Please note that district administration and school staff will work with the board of elections to ensure the safety of our students on this day. Measures include deploying extra security staff and changing the location of polling sites within the schools.
Given the weather patterns, additional make-up days may be needed in the future and will be considered for the dates of Monday, April 21 and Wednesday through Friday, June 18 to 20.
As a reminder, these changes are in addition to revisions previously made to the calendar due to three snow days that occurred in December and January.
These changes are below:
- Friday, February 14, 2014 will be an instructional day for all students. This was previously a day off for students.
- Secondary report cards will be issued on February 18, 2014 instead of February 10, 2014.
- At this point, the end of the 2nd trimester at the elementary level (March 14, 2014) and the date elementary report cards are issued (March 28, 2014) remain the same.
- Monday, March 31, 2014 will be a full instructional day for NPHS and middle school students. It will be an early dismissal day for elementary students, providing time for a limited number of elementary school parent teacher conferences. This day was originally a day off for all students.
- Wednesday, April 16, 2014 will now be a full day of instruction for all students. It was previously an early dismissal day for elementary, Northbridge and NPHS students and a full day for middle school students including sophomore orientation for 9th graders.
- Thursday, April 17, 2014 will now be an early dismissal day for elementary, Northbridge and NPHS students. Middle school students will have a full day of school including sophomore orientation.
In order to balance instructional time for our kindergarten students, changes have been made to early dismissal dates in terms of which kindergarten session (AM or PM) attend on those upcoming dates. Also, the date at which point PM kindergarten attends school on delayed openings has changed to Tuesday, February 18, 2014.
The document containing specifics on these kindergarten schedule changes is can be found at here.
NPSD thanks parents, staff and students for their cooperation and understanding as we adjust the calendar. The negative impact on instruction and student achievement caused by the loss of these days is a serious concern to NPSD. Mastery of grade level content, Keystone Exam proficiency, PSSA proficiency and Advanced Placement results are at risk if our students do not receive the appropriate instructional time to succeed. NPSD staff members also need adequate time to prepare students. After considering all options, speaking with staff and surveying parents via Facebook, NPSD administration feels that adding days back into the calendar sooner rather than later is best for students.
Please watch NPTV (Comcast Channel 28, Verizon channel 29) and log onto www.npenn.org for further changes to our calendar in the event of snow days. |
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NPSD Invites Families to Register for My Payments Plus |
 North Penn School District strongly encourages each of our families to take advantage of the many tools available at www.mypaymentsplus.com to manage your student's meal account. Funds can be deposited online and reach your student's account in a matter of minutes. There is a minimal transaction fee to deposit funds online or pay off an outstanding balance. You can avoid this fee by sending cash or checks to school with your student.
At absolutely no cost, you can use MyPaymentsPlus to:
- Check your student's account balance.
- Monitor what your student has been purchasing.
- Receive FREE email reminders when your student's account balance is low.
- Set up the MyPaymentsPlus APP on your iPhone or smartphone.
Visit www.mypaymentsplus.com today to take full advantage of these tools today! |
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NPSD Educational Foundation Invites Community to Bonefish Grill Luncheon | |
North Penn educators, families, friends and community members are invited to support North Penn schools by attending the NPSD Educational Foundation Charity Luncheon at Bonefish Grill on Saturday, March 8 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
This fun and charitable event features a sampling of Bonefish Grill specialties including bang bang shrimp, chicken marsala, salmon with toppings, tilapia, steak and more.
Tickets are just $30, with the proceeds benefiting the NPSD Educational Foundation and the staff and students of the North Penn School District. This is a great opportunity to support North Penn schools, learn about the Foundation and interact with district personnel who have implemented innovative grants.
Bonefish Grill is located at 27 Airport Square in North Wales, PA. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here or contact 215-853-1020. |
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Sixth Grade Students at North Wales Elementary School Study Maglev Trains | |
The sixth grade students at North Wales Elementary School study Magnet and Motors unit as part of their science curriculum. As part of this unit, they researched magnetic levitating trains (maglev) and the possibility of maglev trains being built in the United States. Maglev trains are already used in Japan, China, Malaysia and Germany. They travel, on average, about 310 miles per hour and can accommodate up to 1,000 passengers.
The North Wales Elementary School students presented their research on building a maglev train from New York City to San Francisco and its cost. Students thought of five stops for the train to make and where to lay the track, considering the land's geography. One student group's maglev train stopped in New York, Chicago, Houston, Denver and San Francisco and cost approximately 21.3 billion dollars. In each presentation, the students had to discuss the popular tourist destinations at each stop and create a map of the overall route.
The students made model maglev trains using Styrofoam and magnets. The students at North Wales Elementary School then raced students from Spring-Ford School District in competition for the Maglev trophy. A team from Spring-Ford was victorious in the competition with the winning time of 3.25 seconds. A team from North Wales Elementary School was in a close second at 3.28 seconds.
After the race, the two schools held a debate to discuss whether the United States should build a proposed Maglev train from Baltimore, MD to Washington, D.C. at the cost of eight billion dollars. Students also discussed the negatives in this project, including the expensive cost of tickets, maintenance, environmental concerns and long term construction costs.
This lesson, planned by Mr. Fickert is a great example of the ways the North Penn School District teachers challenge students in interdisciplinary lessons on current events. Click here for pictures of the Maglev event.
 | | North Wales Maglev Project |
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NPSD Held Information Night Regarding 6th Grade Math Placement |
The transition from the elementary to the secondary level can be confusing for both students and parents alike. There are often many questions regarding math at the middle school and high school levels. Therefore, the NPSD held a parent/guardian information night on January 29 to better explain the process and what can be expected as students progress from the elementary to middle school levels in this subject area.
Below is the power point that was shared that evening. To view handouts and rubrics presented at the meeting, please click here. For questions or more information, please contact NPSD K-12 STEM Curriculum Supervisor Stephanie Schwab at [email protected].
 | | 2014 6th Grade Math Placement Overview |
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Save the Date for Upcoming Community Conversation with Dr. Dietrich |
The North Penn School District and NPSD Superintendent Dr. Curt Dietrich are excited to once again offer its families and community members the opportunity to speak one-on-one about important issues involving NPSD schools. Community Conversations, a series of informal meetings, gives attendees the chance to talk freely with Dr. Dietrich and share their suggestions for the North Penn School District.
In addition to addressing participant questions, Dr. Dietrich will give summarized updates on school district news and ask for feedback and input on important district issues while allowing time for open questions from parents/guardians and community members. NPSD is working on multi-year solutions that focus on student success, staff development, financial security and a safe, healthy and orderly environment.
Save the date for the next Community Conversation scheduled for Thursday, February 13, 2014 from 7 to 8 p.m. at the NPSD Educational Services Center, located at 401 E. Hancock Street in Lansdale. To view the dates, locations and times of the remaining Community Conversations of the 2013-2014 school year, please click here. For more information and to register, please contact 215-853-1020 or [email protected].
All North Penn community members, whether they have children in North Penn schools or not, are invited to attend these informative Community Conversations with Dr. Dietrich. |
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New Opportunities Available through NP ADvantage Program |
While 2014 has only just begun, the NP ADvantage Program is already planning for the 2014-2015 school year. Over the next few weeks advertising space in next year's activities calendar will be made available, along with a design mockup. The calendar will feature a local business each month and will provide NPSD community members with monthly coupons for each business. For more information on the 2014-2015 Activities Calendar, contact Erin Crew at [email protected] or 215-853-1027.
New to the NP ADvantage Program is the Prom Show Sponsorship package. Be a part of history as the Prom Show sponsor and your business will receive a minimum of four mentions during the filmed Prom Show, a banner ad during the show's transitions and breaks and receive a small ad on the NPHS website for four months leading up to prom! Other Prom Show opportunities include product and good sponsorships. |
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NPSD School Nutrition Services Participate in Programs to Promote School Breakfast |
The majority of Americans feel breakfast is important, but hectic mornings make it difficult to fit the meal in every day. In fact, 40 percent of parents say that their child does not eat breakfast daily, according to a national survey. To garner increased participation in the School Breakfast Program, North Penn School District schools are participating in two breakfast appreciation events.
Earlier this year, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and First Lady Susan Corbett issued a challenge to all Pennsylvania schools to increase participation in their school breakfast program.
Far too many students aren't getting the nutrition they need in school and when kids skip breakfast, it can affect their health as well as their ability to learn in school.
Schools that take part in the PA School Breakfast Challenge can receive technical assistance and equipment to improve their breakfast programs. The schools that see the largest gains in participation will receive cash prizes and other incentives when the challenge ends in the spring.
National School Breakfast Week, held March 3-7 2014, is a weeklong celebration aimed at increasing awareness of the School Breakfast Program among students and parents. The 2014 National School Breakfast Week theme, "Take Time for School Breakfast" encourages parents to consider the school breakfast program as a time-saving option for those busy mornings. The theme will appear in school cafeterias during National School Breakfast Week, March 3-7.
"Too many children are showing up at school hungry, and hungry children can't learn," said Pamela Gallagher, Coordinator of School Nutrition Services. "Eating breakfast at school can help families save time in the morning. And knowing that school breakfast is healthy and a great value is a huge relief for parents."
Cafeterias will promote school breakfast with special menus and decorations, activities and events all week. North Penn is inviting parents to join us for this special event. Information regarding the parent breakfasts will be available from your student's school.
Every school day, North Penn School District's breakfast program offers students a healthy breakfast that they need to get set for a busy school day. For example, we offer fresh fruit and hot breakfast sandwiches every day. Every school breakfast served meets federal nutrition standards limiting fat, calories and sodium. |
NPHS Engineering Academy Seniors Present at Philly Materials Day |
North Penn High School seniors in the Engineering Design and Development class in the Engineering Academy were invited to present their research at the Philly Materials Day at Drexel University on Saturday, February 2.
The students presented their research to more than 1,000 visitors who came to the university to learn about materials science and engineering. The students presented their current research topics that range from concussion monitoring to transparent to particle encapsulation for cancer and disease therapies.
Congratulations to these students for their presentations and research. Engineering Academy teachers received positive feedback from the visitors, parents, college students and professors. NPHS teacher, Mr. Michael Boyer, said he was impressed with the professionalism and ability of the students to match the content of their presentations to the age level and appropriateness of the audience as the visitors circulated through their presentations and demonstrations.
The students' research would not have been possible without the generous grants awarded by the NPSD Educational Foundation. For more information about the Foundation or to support programs like this grant, please click here.
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January North Penn News Update from NPTV |
North Penn Television (NPTV) students produced updates on what was happening around the North Penn School District during the month of January. This month's video update includes coverage the North Penn Dream Team and the Harlem Wizards, NPSD Parent Keystone Information Night and a NPTV News Update. To view the video library, please click here.
 | | NPN Evening 1 30 14 |
 | | Harlem Wizards vs NP Dream Team |
 | | NPSD Parent Keystone Information Night |
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