During Black History Month, we highlight African-American leaders in science, the arts, math, sports, and history to name a few. The curriculum and supplemental resources that we use for instruction represent our district's goals of diversity and inclusion. Throughout the year and across content areas, we read texts about African-Americans, women, men, and people of diverse cultural heritage. This provides students with a mirror in which to see themselves and a window into the worlds of others. At Haverford, we celebrate the contributions of all people who make our community and the world better.

Please click on the image below to view our Virtual Library. The library provides access to high-interest stories for elementary students.

Chestnutwold Elementary School once again participated in the week-long, worldwide Great Kindness Challenge during the week of January 24-28th. The all-school book, Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers, drove the discussion and exploration of the impact kindness can have upon ourselves, our relationships, community, and our world. Students, teachers, and staff came together throughout the week to identify acts of kindness that they can implement to make a difference in their lives, the school, their homes, the community, and the world. Chestnutwold dressed for the occasion each day, showing off how they are powered by kindness, work together to team up for kindness, dream of kindness, fill their hearts with kindness, and celebrate the fact that kindness matters at Chestnutwold.

Each year, Chestntuwold engages in a fundraising or community service project as an important part of The Great Kindness Challenge. This year, Chestnutwold Elementary partnered with The People's Emergency Center (PEC), a resource located in West Philadelphia for families, children, and youth experiencing homelessness.

Chestnutwold Elementary collected new hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves to be available for the children who utilize The People's Emergency Center services. Chestnutwold students also created cards and pictures of kindness and friendship to be packaged along with the items to brighten another child's day and let them know that they have friends at Chestnutwold Elementary School.

At Coopertown Elementary our school counselor and a team of teachers collaborated to develop a daily focus for the school community throughout the week. The kick-off activity was a video of the Coopertown staff reading portions of the book Master of Mindfulness, How to be your own superhero in times of stress, by Laurie Grossman.

On consecutive days, each of these four pillars was explored:

• Empathy - To put ourselves in someone else's shoes and connect with a time when we felt the same way as they are feeling)
• Resilience - TO discuss the ability to keep going and persevere even when things are challenging
• Social - To build relationships and make connections with others)
• Emotional - To understand feelings, emotional regulation, and self-awareness).

Everyone learned "shark fin breathing", a technique to help calm ourselves. A relevant collection of read alouds and whole-group activities were prepared and shared for both primary and intermediate levels. Optional daily affirmations and brain breaks including mindfulness and yoga video clips were also among the resources shared.

The Sports Broadcasting club aims to give students a hands-on introduction to the world of sports media. Students will learn the skills necessary to not only commentate for live broadcasts of Haverford sporting events, but they will also become familiar with the technical aspects of producing a live broadcast from managing audio and video feeds to compiling and processing data in real-time. It’s a student-run and managed club so they’re building a lot of professional skills in the process as well.

Corey Bloom's goal, HHS faculty advisor, is for the students to get first-hand exposure to what a career in media entails. "There are lots of avenues for careers in sports broadcasting that don’t involve being in front of the microphone or camera, and I hope this club allows them to see and explore those routes". The club is also fortunate to have HHS and PSU alumni Andrew Field helping the students progress and learn about the world of broadcasting by giving them the full picture with the experience and knowledge of the industry.

Starting on February 8th the community will be able to watch games through the Haverford Athletics YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSscthr_BK5BtqjS9pCUnFg). You can follow them on Twitter @whhssportslive and Instagram @whhssportslive

The HHS Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is our student-athlete leadership group that takes part in leadership training, volunteering, community outreach, and mentoring of our HMS students. On January 28th, HMS students had the opportunity to ask our Student-Athletes about sports and club opportunities at HHS. HMS students then had the option to "sign" with the High School. Attached is a list of extracurricular clubs and athletics teams available at the high school.

Manoa Elementary School students collected food items for local food pantries, gently used books for Teachers Teammates, and soda tabs for Ronald McDonald House.

Ed Croce joined the district in 1982 in Facility and Maintenance Operations. Some of his roles included the head custodian at the middle school during the renovation project then later joining the high school as a maintenance mechanic. Ed's father was also an employee at Haverford! The students, staff, and administration will always remember Ed's helpfulness, friendly demeanor, and commitment to the district. We thank him for his years of service and wish him the best in his retirement.

The School District of Haverford Township utilizes BoardDocs, an online, paperless resource for all school board meetings. Here you can find the agenda, meeting minutes, video replay, and board policies. The meetings are live-streamed on YouTube.

Regular School Board Meetings will be held at Haverford High School and Committee Meetings will be held at the Oakmont Administration Building.

Upcoming Meetings:

• February 10: Finance & Facility Committee Meeting
• February 17: Regular School Board Meeting
• February 24: Policy Committee Meeting (Canceled)

Past Meetings:

• January 24: Policy Committee Meeting
• January 27: Curriculum Committee Meeting
• HHS Financial Literacy Presentation
• February 3: Regular School Board Meeting

All presentations and videos can be found on BoardDocs.