Water bottles: It is especially important to send your child(ren) in with a water bottle every day as the weather warms. There are faucets in the classrooms and two filling stations in the school for bottle refills. The water fountains are closed due to COVID Safety Plan.

Snacks: Please remember to send a snack in with your child daily as well. The nurses have been getting a lot of visits from hungry students lately. We need to strictly limit nurse visits to sick or injured students only. You may also want to consider sending in an extra snack or two to supplement your child's lunch if they are purchasing from the cafeteria. Students do not get a choice in their sides since this year they are bagged lunches, and may not like what is served. We think this may be contributing to hungry bellies.

Spare Clothing: It is a good idea to keep a spare set of clothing in your child's backpack, as accidents and spills happen from time to time. This is especially important for K-1 students.

Tawanka Elementary was proud to present Autism Awareness Week from 12/12-12/16. The students and staff participated in a variety of activities and lessons that promoted autism awareness. On Friday, the students, and staff "lit it up blue" with their Be-Kind shirts. The Tawanka community was able to raise $1,060 for We Make Foundation. We Make helps provide jobs and work program for adults with autism. Way to raise awareness Tawanka!

To support Autism Awareness Week, all Tawanka staff were invited to participate in “Spirit Week.” Each day if a staff member participated they were entered into a prize raffle where they could win a gift card to various restaurants or stores. Congratulations to all 5 of our winners!

Mrs. Banks’ class and Mrs. Cozza celebrated our Friday with a teachers vs kids dance battle. The battle was tight but the kids were declared the winners 😊

SRO Zaffino presented an assembly on bike safety over zoom to our first grade students.

The students in 1st grade were kicking off Autism Awareness Week by making a project about themselves and wearing their favorite team jerseys.

In honor of Autism Awareness month, The learners in Ms. Atwater’s class read The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin. The story explains the life of Temple Grandin, who was born with autism. Temple did not speak for a long time. She struggled in school. Finally, Temple found her way when she went to visit her aunt’s farm. Temple could relate to how the cows on the farm felt and went on to invent a way of herding cows that made them feel safe. She became a public speaker and earned many degrees!

From the story, we learned about autism and how those with autism may behave. We showed off what we learned by writing it on a puzzle piece and decorating them for the classroom.

3rd Grade students were comfy in their pajamas for "Be Comfortable with Autism Pajama Day"

Fourth graders participating in Autism Awareness "Be a Good Sport Day"

Coby made a presentation all about Autism Awareness. Our class asked tons of questions and we learned a lot from Coby today.

Tawanka children are practicing throwing and catching with frisbees (flying discs). Tawanka students are enjoying sunny days outside. They are learning the importance of getting in the habit of spending some time outside. They are getting free vitamin D just by being in the sun.

Mrs. Vacca teaches 3th and 4th grade students in Learning Support at Tawanka. She has been teaching at Neshaminy in special education for over 15 years and has always best loved working with children with unique learning needs. She claims to learn something new from her students every single day! Her daily focus is her students. Her main goal is providing them with individualized based instruction and teaching grade level standards while maintaining a caring, nurturing classroom environment so each can reach their full potential.

When Mrs. Vacca is not writing IEPs, planning multisensory lessons or building in Canvas, she loves spending time with her husband and two teenage children. She also enjoys being active and is an avid reader. Mrs. Vacca lives right here in this community and has children who attend Neshaminy schools. Her commitment to the school district is both personal and professional. Mrs. Vacca considers herself very lucky to be a part of such a great school and neighborhood community and hopes to do so for another 15 years!

Safety of all students and staff is a top priority at Tawanka, and so we have strict safety procedures in place. A reminder of the following:

Building Entry: All visitors must scan their driver's license or state issued ID at the kiosk in the front vestibule and wait for entry. This is required at every visit, or access will be denied.

Early Dismissals: Please notify the teacher if your child will be picked up early. If being picked up by someone other than a parent/guardian, please specify who will be picking up your child. Students will only be released to individuals listed on the emergency card, but the office must be notified prior to pick-up. Students must be signed out in the main office. Again, driver's license or state issued ID is required to pick up a student. Please schedule early dismissals no later then 2:30 to avoid afternoon dismissal traffic.

Tuesday April 20th from 3-9pm: Mama Russo's Night! Mention you are with Tawanka and the PTO will get credit for your order. It applies to both dine-in and take-out orders!

April 9-26th: Nothing Bundt Cakes Mother's Day Fundraiser

April 12-26: Best Darn Kettlecorn

Now through April 23: Spring Bizzare Basket Raffle

Please see attached flyers for more information:

Don't forget that the PTO is still collecting Box Tops! This is an easy way to help earn money for Tawanka - download the app today! For more information, go to https://www.boxtops4education.com/.

You can also register your ShopRite Price Plus card at shopriteformyschool.com and designate Tawanka Elementary to receive your earned eBoxTops. When you buy participating products and swipe your Price Plus Card, eBoxTops are credited to Tawanka, adding to the check we receive from Box Tops for Education.