Mountain Lion Minute
Week of December 7th
Mountain Lion Families,
As you are aware, North Penn schools will reopen to hybrid, in-person learning on Monday, December 7. Monday will be a “Hybrid 1” day. This Friday, December 11th, Hybrid 2 students attend school. Dismissal on all Fridays is at 1:40.
Please continue to do everything you can to keep yourself and others safe and to stop the spread of COVID-19. I ask staff and students to stay home when sick and notify our school immediately if you are a confirmed case. As a reminder, if you elect to have your child learn via virtual mode on a day when your child is eligible to attend in person (based on your selection of hybrid option weeks ago), you will not be relinquishing your spot for hybrid eligibility. If your child has been learning virtually each day since the start of school, he or she will remain learning from home. Please continue to make the best choice for your child. If your child is absent, please contact Mrs. Faia at 215-368-6614 or at faiaea@npenn.org.
As a reminder, I will be on leave until we return from winter break on January 4th. Mr. John DeSimone will be in charge of the building in my absence. If you need to contact Mr. DeSimone, please call Montgomery or email him at desimojd@npenn.org.
A Message from Mr. DeSimone
Dear Mountain Lion Families,
I continue to be honored and excited to work at Montgomery Elementary School as the School Climate Coordinator. Our school is a warm and welcoming place. I truly enjoy working with the students to help instill character values and maintain a positive school climate. I'm looking forward to my new role this month as I will be filling in for Mr. Seidenberger during his brief absence. Feel free to contact me at any time if you have any questions or concerns.
Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights
Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights and commemorates the miracle of oil. More generally, it is a celebration honoring all of those who have fought to keep the Jewish faith alive despite persecution. In that vein, Hanukkah also teaches us to never be afraid to stand up for what is right. As our menorahs shine light into darkness, we too should be a light of hope - fight for justice where we see injustice, and for liberty where we see oppression.
We begin our Hanukkah traditions with decorating our house with lights and the colors blue, silver and gold. At sundown, we say special prayers as we light candles in our menorahs. We first light the shamash (or helper) candle and use that one to light one candle on the first night. On the second night we light two candles with the shamash and so on for each of the eight nights. Normally we like to go to our synagogue on the first night to light our menorahs along with our friends. We also usually have a night where Franklin’s cousins come to our house and another where we go to their house to light our menorahs. This year we will join others virtually to light our menorahs.
Each night after lighting candles, we exchange gifts with each other, friends and family. Some of my favorite years have been when we give Franklin a piece of his big gift each night to see if he can guess what it is. Since Hanukkah is the miracle of oil, we eat a lot of fried foods! The favorites in our house are latkes (potato pancakes) with applesauce and Pop Pop’s homemade sufganya (donuts). Traditionally sufganya are jelly-filled, but Pop Pop puts chocolate candies like Hershey bars or Reece’s cups in the middle. We also play dreidel with chocolate coins called gelt. Depending on how the dreidel lands, you have to put a coin into the middle, you get to take all or half of the coins, or you do nothing. While it’s a fun (and delicious!) game, it dates back to when Jews were prohibited from worshiping. Jews who wanted to study Torah would pretend to play dreidel to fool soldiers into thinking they were just gambling. Today we use it as a sneaky way to teach math without the little kids knowing.
We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season and cannot wait until we can celebrate with huge hugs again!
Ms. Nancy Hahn
Mrs. Emily Kline (H&S President)
"Mrs. Emily Kline, our Montgomery Home & School President, is one of this week's Mountain Lions. Emily has a heart bigger than anyone I know and she cares deeply about all of the children and families and staff at Montgomery Elementary. She strives to bring the home and school community together and keeps educational fun and experiences for the students at the forefront. She finds unique fundraising opportunities that greatly benefit the students and teachers of Montgomery. She is a proponent of supporting the community as well and finds ways of having the students participate in outreach programs to build awareness and understanding for every age level. If you need anything, and I mean anything, Emily finds a way to make it happen! Multitasker is her middle name and her organizational skills are second to none. The Montgomery Elementary community is blessed beyond words to have her! Thank you for all you do Emily Kline!"
Mrs. Sherri Bennett
Sherri has been a treasured coworker who has dedicated herself to supporting the students of Montgomery for many years. We can only hope that she will continue to be a part of the Montgomery family for many years to come!"
Holiday Giving!
International Children's Film Festival
If you attend the festival, please email your photos to emilyakline@gmail.com for use on the Montgomery and WTC social media pages.
Join Us for a Dine Around at Bertucci's!
On Thursday, December 17, a portion of the proceeds for all carry-out, dine in, and catering orders will be given to our school! Click here for details on how this promotion applies to Bertucci restaurants all across the country!
6th Grade Class Fund Raiser: Stocks Pound Cake!
Click here to see flavors, icing options, and details on how to order outside of MTK.
Any questions, reach out to Diane at dbradley112@hotmail.com or Denise Matlack at dmatlack3@verizon.net
Home and School Leadership
Emily Kline - President
(c) 912-308-5808
emilyakline@gmail.com
Marci Ramos - 1st Vice President
(c) 610-405-6619
marcisomar@gmail.com
Katie Hersh - 2nd Vice President
(c) 267-984-8633
kathryn.hersh@icloud.comOpening in a new window
Deb Dancer - Vice President of Ways and Means
(c) 215-485-3564
debradaley@hotmail.com
Michelle Judge – Treasurer
(c) 267-227-8556
michelle.m.judge@gmail.comOpening in a new window
Jayme Maitz - Secretary
(c) 215-880-7565
jaymemaitz@yahoo.com
Montgomery Elementary School
Mrs. Lorraine Oliver, Principal's Secretary
Mrs. Beth Faia, Building Secretary
Mrs. Toby Sterling, Counselor
Mr. John DeSimone, SCC
Website: https://montgomery.npenn.org/
Location: 1221 Stump Road, North Wales, PA, USA
Phone: 215-368-6614
Twitter: @MontgomeryNPSD