The Weekly Update 11/25/2025

As the leaves have fallen and the air grows cooler, we are reminded that this is a special time of year—a time to pause, reflect, and give thanks. At our school, we are grateful every day for the bright smiles, curious minds, and kind hearts that fill our hallways.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the little things: a shared laugh with a friend, a helping hand from a classmate, a cozy moment with family, or even the joy of learning something new. These moments remind us how thankful we are for our amazing students, supportive families, and dedicated teachers and staff.

As we head into the holiday break, we hope your homes are filled with warmth, comfort, and togetherness. Whether you’re enjoying a big family meal, watching a parade, playing games, or simply relaxing, we hope your Thanksgiving is full of joy.

From our school family to yours, we wish you a safe, restful, and very Happy Thanksgiving!

-Tawanka Elementary School

Thank you so much for your support with the food drive. Because of your immense generosity, we were able to provide 18 Tawanka families with a full Thanksgiving feast and all the trimmings. Thank you Tawanka Community!

Tawanka students are receiving Tawanka Tokens at an incredible rate! We love to recognize Tawanka students who are respectful, responsible, and safe with a token. At the end of each month, all the students who earned a Tawanka Token are entered into a raffle and a winner per grade level is chosen. These individuals were the winners for October! Congrats to all the winners and all of the token recipients from those months!

If your child must receive medication while at school, these rules must be followed:

• A doctor’s note must accompany all medication including over the counter medication.
• Any prescribed medication must be in the original prescription bottle with the child’s name on it.
• Non-prescription medicine must be in the original container.
• An adult must deliver the medication to school. It cannot be sent in your child’s backpack!

As the weather gets colder, it’s important for everyone to stay warm and safe during the winter months. Just a friendly reminder that we will go outside for recess even when it gets cold outside. We are thrilled to share that, thanks to the local Rotary, our school is able to help provide winter jackets for students who need them!

If your child is in need of a new (not used) warm winter jacket, please reach out to our school nurse. We’ll make sure they get the right size and have a cozy jacket ordered just for them.

We want every student to feel comfortable and ready for the season, no one should have to be cold this winter!

To request a jacket, contact the school nurse (Carol Alexis – Calexis@neshaminy.org) directly. We’re always here to help!

The Third Annual Dax Pact Toy Drive kicks off December 1–16, and this year we’re going global — with toy collections happening across the U.S., London, and Paris!

The Dax Pact Foundation is proud to continue this special tradition of giving. Toys collected locally will benefit the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House Charities program, founded right here in Philadelphia.

This year, our goal is to collect 3,000 toys locally, and we’d love your help! You can drop off a new, unwrapped toy at Tawanka Elementary School, or shop directly from our unique Amazon Wish List to make giving even easier. Link Here!

Every donation helps brighten a child’s holiday and honors the joyful spirit of Dax, whose legacy inspires us to spread kindness and find beauty in everyday life.

Let’s make this our biggest year yet — one toy, one smile, one act of kindness at a time! Donations can be dropped off in the main office!

The buddies were at it again! The Kindergarteners from Mrs. Banks's class and the third graders from Mrs. Tryon's class met for a Thanksgiving activity. They listened to a Thanksgiving story and then played a drawing game by rolling a dice to create some beautiful turkeys!

We know there was some technical difficulties with the 1st grade field trip slideshow from last edition. This link below should work.

These students in Mrs. Atwater’s class reached their goal of reading for 15 minutes for 25 nights! They are well on their way to completing 100 nights of reading by the end of the 100 Book Challenge! Congratulations readers!!

Second grade and fourth grade buddies with Ms. fisher's class and Mrs. Woltemate doing "I'm thankful for" turkey Craft

The students in Second grade have been busy reading. They are hoping the Philly Phanatic will come to celebrate their hard work. These students, who met the first goal, are from Mrs. Wendling's class.

Students in Ms. Schautz's class were able to show off their creativity and engineering skills for their final project in science on their unit on balanced sculptures!

Thank you to the Bucks County Conservation District for lending us a model stream table to play with and learn about. Our 4th graders had so much fun applying their science curriculum to the table! Our science curriculum is currently in a piloting phase so we will be borrowing the table again in the early spring when our other 4th grade classes get to these standards in their curriculum.

Math Challenge is a program we participate in where students see how they can do on different types and levels of math problems. Run by the AE Teacher, Mrs. Morecz.

Feel free to explore with your kids!

Math Challenge Link - Neshaminy Elementary Schools

Some of our kids planned a trap to catch a "turkey" as a STEM activity after reading How to Catch a Turkey.

They worked together with $200 to buy their design's supplies and then put it together. They had an option to use a pulley system to drop the trap or rig it with a string in some way.

We are learning about color!

4th Grade students on their way to the high school for junior honors chorus!

Tawanka students are learning and practicing pickleball in the gym

What's happening in library:

This month in kindergarten we're diving into the exciting world of fiction vs. nonfiction- learning how stories can take us on magical adventures while factual books teach us amazing things about the real world.

Each week first grade listens to a fiction story and works together to uncover the four important parts that make every tale come to life: characters, setting, problem, and solution. With lots of teamwork, discussion, and excited hands in the air, students are learning how stories are built.

Second grade is coming to the end of their mystery unit. They have become quite the junior detectives as they listen to an exciting story each week and gather clues along the way. Students work together to identify suspects, make predictions, and ultimately crack the case by solving the mystery! If they guess correctly, they get the option of a bookmark or sticker.

Third and fourth grade have been working hard learning how to find their way around the library like pros. Students are exploring how books are organized, practicing how to read call numbers, and using our library software program, "Destiny", to search for topics and titles that interest them.

SCHOOLS WILL BE CLOSED ON.......

• Wednesday, November 26: Act 80 Day
• Thursday & Friday, November 27 & 28: Thanksgiving