Save The Date
* New *
- May 21 and 22 – Science MCAS Grade 5
- May 22, 29 – Thompson Tuesdays at Not Your Average Joe’s
- May 22, Tuesday – Incoming Kindergarten Visit, 1:30-2:30 PM
- May 24, Thursday – In School 3rd Grade Enrichment
- May 25, Friday – Field Trip Grade 3
- May 25, Friday – Spirit Day – Red, White and Blue
- May 28, Monday – No School
- May 29, Tuesday – All School Enrichment: “One Day Song”
- May 30 and 31 – Field Trip Grade 3
- May 30, Wednesday – Green Team’s End of Year Dinner (RSVP below)
- May 31 Thursday – Thompson Art Show
- June 1, Friday – PTO Coffee Thank you to Volunteers
- June 3, Sunday – Kindergarten Meet Up, 3-5 PM, Thompson playground
- June 4, Monday, 7-9 PM – AHS Building Project Forum, Town Hall
- June 7, Friday 5 PM to 8 PM – Thompson Picnic
- June 7, Thursday – Field Trip Grade 4
- June 12, Tuesday or June 15, Friday – Kindergarten Screening 20 min appointments
- June 14, Thursday – Field Day (Rain date June 21st)
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 here for a printable version of this month’s calendar.
Highlight of the Month
Save the date! The annual school picnic is coming!
Thursday June 7th from 5-8pm. (Rain date Friday, June 8th)
New this year the PTO is adding a Playspace by Knucklebones! There will still be the traditional favorites: Cake Walk, Dunk Tank and Bouncy Houses as well. And this year’s even will include a special Community Sing of the song “One Day.”
What’s for dinner? This year you can pre-order a picnic dinner from the Fuller Cup (more details on menu and ordering coming next week), purchase pizza at the picnic or plan to bring your own food.
As always we will need a number of volunteers to pull all of this off! Consider volunteering for a short shift selling concessions, helping with an activity or donating a cake.
You can sign-up here: https://tinyurl.com/ThompsonPicnic18
Thompson News & Events
Thompson’s Art Night
Please save the date for Thompson’s Art Night on Thursday, May 31st from 6:00-7:30pm. All student’s will have artwork on display and there will be artmaking activities for the entire family.
Students have been practicing with art media, learning new techniques, finding inspiration from other artists and reflecting on their artmaking processes since September to prepare for this show. We hope you will join us to spend some time talking with your student about their artwork and to view all of the creations coming from Thompson’s Art Studio.
This year, the art teachers have switched to a Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) model. This philosophy focuses on student choice. Students generate their own ideas and work to solve visual problems. For more information on this philosophy, please visit: http://teachingforartisticbehavior.org/
We look forward to seeing you there!
Deb Campagna and Melody Wolfe Thomas
Green Team News
Thompson Green Team Integration Ensures a Win for National and State Recognition for Green Ribbon Schools Award!
Rachel Oliveri, APS Sustainability Coordinator, and the Thompson Green Team will give a presentation “Becoming a Green Ribbon School” at the upcoming School Committee meeting this Thursday. Contact Elizabeth Rocco @ egrocco@gmail.com if your student wants to participate.
APS Green Team’s End of Year Dinner and Celebration!
You are invited to join us as we celebrate an exciting year of making a difference for our schools and our planet! When you RSVP by signing up, please note how many will be attending and Thompson School! https://www.signupgenius.com/g o/20f0a4dacac2fa64-green1
Date: 5/30/18 (Wed)
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Location: Thompson Cafeteria
Arlington Schools Win the U.S. and Massachusetts Green Ribbon School Sustainability Award
It is such an honor for the Arlington Public Schools to receive both the Massachusetts and U.S. Green Ribbon School Award. This is a well-deserved recognition of all the important work happening across the district to promote environmental education, wellness, and positive change.
Thompson Elementary School was featured in several places in the district’s winning application, with energy efficiency and water conservation in the school rebuild, no idling signage in front of the school, and mindfulness programming. The winning application even concluded with the Thompson Green Team song lyrics: “We are awesome, we are powerful, we can change the world!” Three Thompson students, parent and Green Team lead Elizabeth Rocco, Rachel Oliveri, the school district’s sustainability coordinator, along with district officials, received the State award.
Green Ribbon School Award Winner
Arlington Public Schools Named 2018 Massachusetts Green Ribbon School District
Not Your Average Joe’s
Only Two Thompson Tuesdays Left!
Eat or get take-out at Not Your Average Joe’s on any Tuesday in May, mention Thompson when paying the bill, and 15% of your check will go to the PTO Enrichment Fund! You can use your Community Card to save yourself 10% too – SAVE and GIVE at the same time! Excludes alcohol. Arlington location only.
Thompson Community Sing
Chris Eastburn, the artistic director of the multigenerational Family Folk Chorale, will teach Thompson students and staff Matisyahu’s hopeful and uplifting song, “One Day,” on the mornings of May 29th and June 5th.
All parents are invited to attend the June 5th 8:40 am rehearsal and join the Community Sing of “One Day” at the annual PTO picnic Thursday June 7th. Link to “One Day” is here.
Please contact Elizabeth Rocco at egrocco@gmail.com if you want to help with the Thompson Community Sing project.
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.
Videographer Needed!
We are looking for a individual to take video of one of the “One Day” rehearsals on Tuesday May 29th. Times are 8:30-9:30 or 9:35-10:20. We also need video of the performance on at the picnic June 7th. If you can help with one or both events, let us know!
Contact: Kate Murphy, thompsonschoolvolunteers@gmail.com
Field Day
The annual Field Day is set for Thursday June 14th this year! The whole school will get together to participate in traditional outdoor summer games. We will need parent volunteers to help Ms. Brayfield to set up, help the teachers to supervise the kids and keep them together eating their lunch outside while the teachers go inside the school to have lunch. If you have time to spare that day please sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/ThompsonFieldDay18
Help Throughout the Year
To check all current volunteer opportunities: http://tinyurl.com/ThompsonPTOVolunteers
Community
Snacks Needed For Thompson Kids!
When you are doing your weekly grocery shopping, consider grabbing one extra box of pretzels or rice chex or a box of apple squeezers or something from the list below.
- Fruit
- Baby carrots
- Nutrigrain bars (only the Kellogg’s Nutrigrain brand)
- Applesauce (squeezers preferred)
- Single serve fruit cups in fruit juice
- Triscuits
- Wheat Thins
- Pretzels
- Craisins
- Plain Cheerios (please use Cheerio brand)
Drop the snacks off in the labeled Arlington EATS tote in the front office or please contact Sarah Gupta at sarah@arlington-eats.org if you would like to arrange an alternate drop off or even have someone pick up your snacks. THANK YOU for you continued support and donations! They are all greatly appreciated!
The Arlington EATS program provides snacks in all schools across Arlington. “Arlington Public Schools offer free and reduced price lunches that feed more than 650 students on school days. When school is not in session, family food resources are stretched. Arlington EATS’ mission is to help our students Eat All Through Summer and the school year.”
The 20th annual Read to Ride Program
The Read to Ride Program, sponsored by Dependable Cleaners, is kicking off this week! We welcome students at Thompson School to enter to win a bicycle and other prizes by reading each week during summer vacation. It’s a great way to encourage children to read. To date, more than 70,000 books have been read! Click here for an entry form with rules.
5th Grade Social
Friday, June 8th
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Ed Burns Arena, 422 Summer Street
Come celebrate with old friends and meet new friends!
Click HERE for details and to purchase tickets.
Arlington High School Building Project Forum : Design Feedback
Monday, June 4th, 7-9 PM, Arlington Town Hall
Get up to speed with the AHS Building Project and let the Building Committee know what you think.
The Building Committee will be submitting the Preferred Schematic Design Option for the new/rebuilt high school in July and is seeking community input.
At this Forum
- HMFH Architects will present more details about the four design options
- MSBA process and decisions to-date will be reviewed
- The Building Committee will outline criteria for choosing the preferred design
- Feedback will be gathered for future Building Committee decisions
Can’t attend? A forum recap and feedback form will be available by June 7th on the www.ahsbuilding.org web site.
Interested in Playing Ice Hockey in Arlington?
Registration is now open for the Arlington Hockey Club’s (AHC) 2018-2019 Mite, Squirt, PeeWee, and Bantam Inter City Travel Programs. Teams in this program play local teams in the greater Boston area, providing a fun, competitive hockey experience for children born between 2011 (Mites, 2010 – 2011) and 2004 (Bantams, 2004 – 2005). Boys tryouts for all teams will occur in September. Girls tryouts have already occurred, however, if you are interested in playing please contact us through the website at arlingtonice.com.
Registration for AHC’s no-checking learn-to-skate/ instructional, developmental, and in-house hockey programs will open in September and play begins in October. AHC practices USA Hockey’s American Development Model in its program.
Please see our web-site at www.arlingtonice.com for more information.
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.