Dock Mennonite Academy is pleased to welcome the following new faculty members for the 2019-20 school year:

• Ms. Natalie Slick will teach 3rd grade. Ms. Slick is a recent graduate of Grove City with a B.S. double major in Elementary and Special Education. She is a member of Bridge Community Church in Lansdale.  
• Mrs. Christine Dando will be one of our Kindergarten teachers. Mrs. Dando has an Associate Degree from Hesston College and a B.A. in Elementary Education from Goshen College. Mrs. Dando has teaching experience in schools in Quakertown, Skippack, and most recently in a Catholic school in Philadelphia. She is a member of Blooming Glen Mennonite Church. 
• Mrs. Mysel Gomez-Landis will rejoin our team as part-time Middle School Spanish Teacher. She is a Dock graduate and has a B.S. from Eastern Mennonite University.  Mysel taught for several years at our school previously. She attends Calvary Church of Souderton.
• Mrs. Missy Camilleri will serve as our EC-Grade 8 Librarian. She is a Dock graduate and has a B.A. in Elementary Education with a Reading Concentration from Eastern University. Missy is a member of Deep Run East Mennonite Church. 
• Mrs. Michele Finger will remain in our Learning Support department for the full year with elementary classes. Mrs. Finger served as our Learning Support long-term sub last year. Mrs. Finger brings experience as both an elementary teacher and learning support teacher in several local districts. She has an M.A. in teaching from the College of New Jersey and attends Bridge Community Church. 
• Mrs. Rachael Grim will join our Early Childhood program as the Pre-K teacher. She was a student teacher at Dock in Grade 3 with Mrs. Amy Rodriquez last year. She has certification in Pre-K to Grade 4. She worked most recently at Collegeville Bright Horizons. Rachael holds a B.S. in Elementary Education from Western Governor’s University and attends an Episcopal church in Harleysville.
• Mrs. Sandra Curry will be teaching kindergarten during two kindergarten maternity leaves. Mrs. Curry is a parent of a Dock 9th grader and a graduate of Temple University. She has taught a variety of grades in the Central Bucks School District and directed the preschool education program at her church, Keystone Fellowship. 
• Ms. Maddie Clemens will serve as our high school Social Studies teacher. Maddie is a 2012 Dock graduate and has a B.A. in History from EMU with some additional coursework from Gwynedd Mercy University. She is certified for grades 7-12 in Social Studies. She attends Blooming Glen Mennonite Church.  
• Mrs. Michelle Sensenig joins our team as the High School Choral Director.  Michelle and her family will move into our area from Chestertown, MD. She has a B.S. in Music Education from Messiah College and a Masters of Music in Music Education from Colorado State University. Michelle has several years teaching experience at Belleville Mennonite School (her alma mater) and taught middle school music at Penn View from 2002-2005. Michelle also spent four years with MCC in Indonesia as Music Lecturer at Satya Wacana Christian University. She worked most recently as choir director and pianist at a church in Chestertown.  
• Ms. Emily Rush joins Dock as part-time High School English teacher. Emily has a B.A. in English from Bluffton University and is certified in 7-12 Adolescent Young Adult Language Arts. She is a member of West Swamp Mennonite Church.
• Mr. Andrew Zetts will join the Middle School (7^th/8^th grade) team. Mr. Zetts has been teaching in the Jenkintown School District since 2013. He holds a Master of Arts in History from Villanova University and a Bachelors of Arts from Eastern University.  Mr. Zetts has certification in 7-12 Social Studies. He attends Salford Mennonite Church.

Pictured (l to r, below): Natalie Slick, 3^rd grade; Rachael Grim, Early Childhood; Maddie Clemens ('12), Grades 9-12 Social Studies; Missy Camilleri, EC- Grade 8 Librarian; Mysel Gomez-Landis, Middle School Spanish; Michele Finger, Elementary Learning Support; Michelle Sensenig, Grades 9-12 Music; Emily Rush, Grades 9-12 English; Christine Dando, Kindergarten. Not pictured: Andrew Zetts, Middle School

The launch meeting of the Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce Professional Development Committee (previously the Education Committee) took place recently. The committee is a collaboration between Chamber members and local schools to provide educational opportunities for both members and students. Dock is grateful to the Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce for continuing to build community collaboration and helping to provide educational opportunities for students.

We are excited to announce that for the 2019-20 school year, our middle school will begin a one-to-one Chromebook program! Each student will be assigned one device, labeled with their name, available each day for use at school.   

Chromebooks are essentially internet browsers in a laptop shell that run Google's Chrome operating system and integrate with Google Apps. Our students and teachers have been using Google accounts and many of their collaborative features for several years, via carts of Chromebooks. As the use of these devices has increased, we began to investigate the option of providing one Chromebook per middle school student instead of having roaming carts. 

Benefits of the one-to-one approach:

• Increased access to technology resources on a daily basis, not restricted by cart availability.

• Enhanced ability to integrate learning between various content areas in our PBL model

• No time wasted in finding and relocating carts

• More flexibility in use throughout the school day

• Stronger procedures for teaching responsibility, organization, and accountability for technology use.

• Better security, privacy controls, and maintenance procedures.

Devices will not go home and will be charged at school overnight. The Chromebook model we chose is the ASUS Flip C302CA for its exceptional build quality, multitouch capability, and other features. Click here for more information on the ASUS Chromebook.

 Our teachers and technology staff are working on guidelines and procedures for middle schoolers. Please watch Schoology for more information about our Middle School 1:1 Chromebook program, expectations, and appropriate uses of technology.

Starting with the 2019-2020 Season, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra is moving its home to the performing arts center at Dock Mennonite Academy's Early Childhood to Grade 8 Campus at 420 Godshall Road in Souderton. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra is the regional professional orchestra for Montgomery and Bucks Counties and surrounding regions and features performances throughout the year of the great masterworks of symphonic music with world-renowned guest artists. For the past decade, the Symphony has performed mainly at Lansdale's Trinity Lutheran Church. 

Audiences for the Orchestra's 2019-20 season will be welcomed to a fully accessible performing arts center with no partial view seating, wonderful acoustics, and a great concert experience. 

"We are thrilled to begin this new partnership with Dock Mennonite Academy, and to bring our audience and music-making to this wonderful hall," said SPSO Music Director Allan R. Scott. The 2019-20 Season is specifically designed to welcome audiences from throughout the region on this new journey with the Symphony. The 48th Season opens on Saturday, September 28 with "A Night in Italy," including memorable opera highlights, Italian film music, and fun Italian songs. The season also includes:

• "Heroic Beethoven & Bruckner's Romantic Symphony" (November 9, 2019)
• "Mozart in Paris" (March 7, 2020) 
• "Fiesta Latina" (May 9, 2020)

Guest soloists include internationally-renowned violinist Robyn Bollinger, acclaimed organist Colin Howland, and several opera stars from throughout the country. Read more about the SPSO's 2019-20 season and purchase tickets here.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Orchestra was founded in 1972 as the North Penn Symphony Orchestra. It was created to provide performances of the highest caliber to entertain and educate audiences, and to enhance, enrich, and expand the cultural lives of the residents of the North Penn area. In 2008, the Board of Directors rechristened the orchestra the Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra to reflect its new regional focus, professionalism and vision. 

For more information about SPSO, please follow them on Facebook or visit www.spso.info. 

Dock middle school teachers, along with several 8th grade students, are participating in Genius Camp at the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit this week. One of the highlights so far was a teacher vs. student competition in which each team created an amusement park, complete with lots of rides. Other activities included making brochures with 3D printers, green screens and cameras, as well as sewing shirts and stuffed animals.

The Genius Camp experience brings students and teachers together in a MAKER ENVIRONMENT to take charge of their own ideas and growth with challenging, but fun stations like circuitry and storytelling, robotics, wearable technology and coding. Teachers will leave this week excited to begin implementing maker learning into their classrooms while using questions that encourage students to become independent learners. Students develop the ability to be creative and reflective in their thinking when solving complex problems.

Photo, above: Dock middle school teacher Mrs. Claire Wanamaker ponders a problem-solving exercise with students (clockwise) Julia Rosario, Jonah Kuhn, and Dylan Jernigan during the MCIU's Genius Camp.

It’s hard to believe that six weeks of Summer Camps are already coming to an end, but what a summer of FUN it has been! Among many other things, our summer campers:

• Showed incredible creativity, thoughtfulness, and collaboration in creating marble roller coasters complete with steep drops, twists and turns, and loop-de-loops in Design & Build This
• Fashioned their own homemade binoculars to use as they hiked and explored the EC-Grade 8 Campus Nature Trail in Let’s Go Camping!
• Made some crazy cool sock and finger puppets in Dock's Got Talent
• Designed, built, and then tested their own DaVinci Flying Machines during the Discovering DaVinci camp
• Experienced the wild and wonderful imagination of Dr. Seuss on "Wacky Wednesday" during Seuss Camp
• Made their own mini-trampolines during Inventors Camp, and became roaring lions at Circus Camp.
• Developed their skills in basketball, baseball, soccer, flag football, and volleyball during a series of Cal Sports Camps

We have barely scratched the surface of all the fun that our summer campers enjoyed these past six weeks! View some photos from Summer Camps at the link below, and look for more photos and stories on our EC-Grade 8 Facebook page. Be sure to check our web page at dock.org/summercamps to stay in the loop about our 2020 Summer Camps!

2019 Summer Camp Photos

Dock 2019 Summer Camp Lineup

Under the Big Top!

Exploration with STEM/STEAM

The Amazing Race Camp

Culinary Creations

CAL Sports Coed Basketball, Soccer, Volleyball, and Sports Explorers

Afternoon Adventures

All Things Summer

Inventor's Workshop

Coed Sports Explorers

Summer with Seuss

Discovering Da Vinci

Rockin' Recreation

Around the World

Dock's Got Talent

Once Upon An Adventure

Skipping Through the Seasons

Let's Go Camping!

Design and Build This!

Gaming Our Way Through Math

Fantasy Land

Get in the STREAM: Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art & Mathematics

A group of Dock faculty, staff, and administrators from both campuses attended the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in Philadelphia June 22-26. ISTE is a passionate community of global educators who believe in the power of technology to transform teaching and learning, accelerate innovation and solve tough problems in education. ISTE attendees from Dock included (standing, l to r) EC-Grade 8 Principal Mrs. Bronwyn Histand, EC-Grade 8 Librarian Mrs. Missy Camilleri, Director of Technology Mr. Darwin Zehr, 4^th Grade Teacher Mrs. Kipp Glass, 1^st grade teacher Mrs. Trish Landis, Grades 9-12 math teacher Mr. Marcelo Mast, Assistant Director of Technology Mr. Jason Sprunger; (kneeling l to r) Grades 9-12 Principal Mr. Martin Wiens and middle school teacher Mr. Nathaniel Freed. Not pictured (because she was taking the photo): Mrs. Sharon Fransen, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction.

Teachers reflected on their ISTE experience and said it is clear that many teachers are "ditching" textbooks in favor of using online resources for student learning. "This means not being tied to a textbook chapter by chapter, but using online projects and resources to target the required content," said Marcelo Mast. Another big takeaway from the conference for him is the emergence of artificial intelligence as the new frontier in technology education. "One seminar focused on ways to use Alexa-type devices in the classroom, both as a tool to retrieve content as well as a means for students to present their findings," he said.

Jason Sprunger was also interested in an area of the show floor that featured iPads with sample classroom material using augmented and virtual reality.

 "This was my first time at ISTE, and it was a whirlwind of new technology—unique displays and screens, 3D Printers, robotics of all kinds, as well all sorts of software for students, teachers and administrators," he said. "Everything here was in the service of improving how kids learn, improving engagement, and fostering an environment of creativity and innovation.

Mast said he was impressed by the number of apps and programs available for teachers to generate classroom learning experiences, and for students to use to demonstrate what they have learned. For example, he saw video programs that create professional-looking short videos based on the topic and basic information a teacher enters. He also was impressed with programs that create animated GIFs that can be incorporated into presentations; a program that students can use to easily create a beat and music; programs to create virtual reality or augmented reality worlds; and many more. Most of these are free, he added. "It is amazing what students (and teachers) can create!" he said.

Sprunger said the trick is to successfully integrate these technologies and programs into the learning experience. "Technology isn't magical on its own—effective integration is key," he said. "If educators can successfully integrate technology into their classrooms, it can be more than just novelty; it can make us more efficient, expressive, and engaging. At the end of the day, ISTE gave me so many exciting ideas for ways in which technology can boost our learning and make what's good into something that's great."

Dock Mennonite Academy's 4th Quarter Honor Roll has now been posted for both the EC-Grade 8 and Grades 9-12 campuses. To see the qualifications for Honor Roll as well as the list of middle school and high school students earning this academic honor, visit the Honor Roll page of the Dock website.

See 4th Quarter Honor Roll

School is almost out, and if you have not yet made summer plans for your children, consider summer camps at Dock Mennonite Academy!

There are lots of options to choose from for ages 4-14, including sports and non-sports camps. A few NEW camps being offered this year include Dock's Amazing Race, Inventor's Workshop, Design and Build This!, and Once Upon An Adventure. There are lots more to choose from!

Act quickly and you could receive a FREE coupon for a quart of Rita's Water Ice. Use our NEW ONLINE REGISTRATION process, which makes signing up even easier.

Click here to link to camp schedules, descriptions and registration

First grade teacher Mrs. Trish Landis just completed an amazing week with her students centered around Design Thinking, Math, Character Analysis, Vocabulary, and Vowel Teams. They visited different Mario “worlds.” Outdoors, for example, students were given a sight word and had to find the gold coin with the same word and squirt it with water. "Underground," students worked on addition, missing addends, and place value. In the Classroom, students broke open question boxes to find vocabulary words written within sentences to figure out the meaning of the word. The class even "played" Mario Kart: students designed their own cart that could hold their gold coins without using their hands. The class went to the gym and used their carts to solve math equations using mental math skills. Giving students unforgettable experiences and memories, intertwined with rigorous academics, makes them more inclined to have a growth mindset and challenge themselves!

More Mario photos