Thompson School News : April 2, 2018

Save The Date

* New *

  • April 2, Monday 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM – Gibbs Parent Forum @ the Stratton Cafeteria
  • April 5, Thursday – Thompson Play, 6-9 PM
  • April 6, Friday – 1st Grade Trip to Discovery Museum in Acton
  • April 6, Friday – Thompson Play, 9 AM to 12 PM for school; 6-9 PM
  • April 9, Monday – All Town Band Concert
  • April 11, Wednesday – PTO Meeting – Parents only, 6-8 PM
  • April 12, Thursday – Arlington EATS Community Dinner, 6-7 PM
  • April 27, Friday, Spirit Day: Wacky Socks
  • April 27, Friday, 3rd Grade Trip to Plimoth Plantation

School Calendar

Click http://tinyurl.com/ndp8spb for Thompson’s Google Calendar to get school holidays, early release days, and PTO events on your own calendar. Click http://tinyurl.com/y7u5k2on for a printable version of this month’s calendar.

Thompson News & Events

Ice Skating Party

Sunday, April 22nd, 11:50 am – 1:50 pm

Join your friends at the Thompson Skating Party! Sunday, April 22nd from 11:50 am to 1:50 pm at the Ed Burns Arena. Bring your own helmet and skates or rent them for $5/pair. Pizza and drinks will be available for sale. Entry to the event will be $3 per skater. Please note, the paper calendar incorrectly lists the event on Saturday, April 21st.

Run or walk a 5k and support Thompson PTO

The 5K run/walk, Cause + Event Boston, is coming back to Arlington on Sunday, May 13 (Mother’s Day) at 8:00 am.

C+E Boston is a fun, family-oriented event that celebrates health and wellness, the spirit of philanthropy among the runners, and the work of the nonprofits in our community. This race is unique – at least 50% of each runners’ registration fee is donated to their charity of choice. You can select the Thompson PTO or your favorite charity.

Over the past three years, Cause + Event has donated almost $1000 to the Thompson PTO as a part of the $60,000 donated to participants’ selected charities. This is the goal race for the FitGirls program so there will 250+ 4th and 5th grade girls running the 5K including 45 from Thompson!

Register today at www.causeandeventboston2018.racewire.com, and do it soon, last year the race sold out a month early!

You can learn more about the race at the Cause + Event Boston website. Questions? Feel free to contact Sara Wilkinson @swilkie49@hotmail.com.

Thompson Green Team

The Thompson Green Team will not be meeting the first Friday of the month in April. We will be meeting later in the month to get prepared for gardening, learn more about Food Link and back the fourth graders strawless campaign. Contact: Elizabeth Rocco at egrocco@gmail.com to be involved or get more information.

Community

Gibbs Parent Forum

The Gibbs Parent Forum has been rescheduled to Monday, April 2 from 7:00-9:00 pm in the Stratton cafeteria.

Based on feedback from parents, we will wait to open the parent portal until April 3. Previously, we had scheduled the portal to open on March 26, a week following the last forum, in order to give parents the opportunity to learn more about the course options and to have the opportunity to ask questions. While the portal will open the day after the forum, it will be open for close to two weeks.

The new closing date will be Friday, April 13 at 11:59 pm.

Arlington After School Care Survey

This is a short survey to determine what the current needs are for after school care at various elementary schools in Arlington. We will release the results of the survey once we have data from all schools in the district. Thank you in advance for your time!

Please complete survey.

AHS Building Project

Arlington High School 00Design Progress Forum, April 4, 7-9pm, Town Hall

The public is invited to learn more about proposed spaces and early preliminary designs for the future renovated/rebuilt High School.
AHS Principal Matthew Janger and HMFH Architects will discuss proposed spaces within the new school, highlighting how current and future programming needs will impact the design. In addition, early preliminary design options and information about the site selection will be discussed.
This is the fourth in a series of five public forums. The final community forum will be held in June and will further discuss design options.

Visit www.ahsbuilding.org for a summary of previous public forums or to learn more about the AHS Building Project.

School Librarian Information & Advocacy

Wednesday, April 11, 6:30 PM @ Robbins Library Community Room

School Librarians 2018 04 11 aFind out what school librarians do and how we can get them back into Arlington Public Schools at this information session open to all.

School librarians teach research skills, safety online, digital citizenship, and information communication skills. They are essential partners for teachers.

School Librarians 2018 04 11 bSchool library programs staffed by qualified school librarians have a positive impact on student academic achievement.

See School Library Advocacy Fact Sheet 2018 04

Volunteer Opportunities

The Thompson PTO has many volunteer needs both small and big. If you’re looking for a way to give back to Thompson, here’s a list of ways you can help.

Annual Picnic Organizers

Spring is here and with it, one of our favorite events of the year – the school picnic. In addition to the dunk tank, bounce houses and of course the cake walk we are adding some activities this year and could use your ideas and help to make this the best picnic yet! Join the team!

Contact: Kate Murphy, thompsonschoolvolunteers@gmail.com

Ice Skating Party

A few volunteers are needed to help with set-up, clean-up and concessions at the party. Could be a great excuse to attend but not have to lace-up skates!

Sign-Up Here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f49adad2aa0f49-thompson9

School Library Needs Help!

Help out at the Thompson Library! Miss Mak is looking for volunteers to help with book shelving and library upkeep on Thursday afternoons and Friday mornings. Please email amakrianis@arlington.k12.ma.us if you’re interested or have any questions!

Join the Community Card Team!

Believe it or not planning begins NOW for the 2018-19 Community Card! This is Thompson’s second biggest fundraiser each year, bringing in $16K+ annually for School Enrichment.

Spring to-do’s include:

  • get contracts signed
  • confirm our advertising plans
  • start planning for Town Day and beginning of new school year sales

The Team is is looking for:

  • task-rabbits
  • brainstormers
  • AND a 3rd Co-Chair (shadow for a year and poise themselves to take over for Gaggi in 2020)

Whether you’re totally ready to take something on, have some good ideas to pass on, or are just curious about what’s involved before committing to anything, please email the co-chairs:

Ashley Lorenz (K,3,5) at ashley.e.lorenz@gmail.com
Gaggi DeStefanis (3) gaggi@rcn.com.

Help Throughout the Year

To check all current volunteer opportunities: http://tinyurl.com/ThompsonPTOVolunteers

Connect with Us

THOMPSON PTO BOARD

Nandana Mewada, Co-President
Diana Trudell, Co-President
Yael Beals, Vice-President
Danielle Gottesman, Communications Chair

If you have news to share with the community, please email ThompsonPTOevents@gmail.com by Thursday at 12 noon to be included in the next newsletter.

Please note that we will only include news from the Thompson School and Town of Arlington. Announcements of interest to the Thompson community from other non-profit organizations may be included at our discretion.

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