• Sept 11, Tuesday 7PM to 9PM – PTO Meeting, Thompson Library
• Sept 11, Tuesday 6PM to 8PM – Pick up Woodwind, Brass and Percussion instruments, Ottoson Middle School
• Sept 13, Thursday 6PM to 7PM – Arlington EATS Community Dinner, Thompson Cafeteria
• Sept 13, Thursday 6PM to 8PM – Pick up String Instruments, Ottoson Middle School
• Sept 15, Saturday 10AM to 3PM – Arlington Town Day
• Sept 17, Monday 6:30PM to 8:20PM- Curriculum Night
• Sept 19, Wednesday – Yom Kipur (NO SCHOOL)
• Sept 28, Friday – Spirit Day – Thompson Pride

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.

The Arlington Public School Calendar is @ http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/calendar/

We are off and running!  Well, walking inside the school for sure…hahaha!  It has been a great start to the school year as we welcomed 510 Students and 60+ Staff to Thompson this week.  For the first time in 5 years, I felt like I wasn’t “new” and dealing with modulars, construction, moving, etc.  I may just have the hang of this thing!

I wanted to take a moment to introduce the new staff members we have here at Thompson:

Grade 5                Lauren D’Intino
Grade 4                Megan Crowley
Music                   Cori Smith & Immei Wong
Library                 Jamie Webster
Social Worker     Brittany Orlandi

Teaching Assistants:  Gary Collins, Lianne Dusek, Melissa Thomas, Tara Prior

This month the school will be focusing on the concept of Manners.  We will be utilizing the book “Do Unto Otters” at all grade levels, and in all spaces.  You will likely see these books in all of the spaces of the school.  Some of the basics we will teaching students is around saying “Please” and “Thank you”, holding the door open for the person behind you, and keeping the school tidy.  Be sure to ask your child about it!

And speaking of thank yous…a big thank you goes out to our custodial staff of Mr. Brahim, Ms. Janeil, and summer helper Karla for all of their hard work both inside and outside of the building.  As well as to Ms. Vicki for getting students registered, toured, and supplies in to classrooms as they came in just to name a few!

We are all looking forward to an amazing year ahead, and value the home school connection as a cornerstone of all that we do.

Be a Pineapple:  Stand Tall, Wear A Crown, and Be Sweet on the Inside!

Karen

The PTO board is looking forward to planning another year of amazing programs and events for our children and the Thompson community.  At 510 students, we are excited to welcome the largest Thompson student body in recent memory!

We kicked off the year with the annual Welcome Back Breakfast the first week of school and I was delighted to see many new and familiar faces. Thank you to all the parents who stopped by.
Looking forward to the fall, the Enrichment Team is on a roll planning field trips and scouting multi-grade programs for the year.  Programs will start in October to allow time for students to settle into their new grades. We have field trips in store for grade 4 and kindergarten.

For community events, here is a sneak peek: Walk-Bike to School (Oct), Movie Night (Oct), Picture Day (Oct), Book Fair (Dec), Literacy Night (Dec), and Holiday Help Program (Dec).  Watch this space for additional details about these events.
The first major PTO event of the year is the launch of the Arlington Community Card (ACC). The ACC is the primary fundraiser for the PTO, raising over $16,000 in 2017-2018.  The $10 wallet-sized card provides discounts to local restaurants and stores for an entire year.  We have a goal to sell 1,000 on Town Day, Saturday, September 15^th. Stop by the booth to buy your card and sign up online (see link below) to volunteer for Town Day.

Besides the ACC, here are other easy ways to help raise funds for our school on an ongoing basis:

• If you shop on Amazon, please use the Amazon banner on the PTO website (www.Thompsonschoolpto.org). Last year the PTO earned $2,400 through the Amazon Associates program. The PTO earns a percentage of sales at no cost to you. Check out the FAQ: tinyurl.com/AmazonFAQThompsonSchool.

• Stop & Shop A+ Rewards: Register your Stop & Shop Card online at https://stopandshop.cpm/school-rewards/ and support the PTO with every purchase.

At the beginning of the school year, we recruit Room Parents for all of the classrooms, and starting this year, for our Specialists – Gym, Art, Music, and Library. If you would like to help your child’s classroom or one of the Specialists, please contact Christy Murphy-Macinta (cembc99@yahoo.com).

A large student body means many helping hands are required to plan and organize events. Please take a moment to fill out the Volunteer Survey below so we can identify parents who may be interested in and available to help with events and various tasks.

The first PTO meeting of the year is on Tuesday, September 11^th from 7-9pm in the library. Join us to meet the new board, learn about plans for the year and how you can help. This event is for parents only.

Keep in touch with the PTO by subscribing to the weekly newsletter.  The newsletter keeps you up-to-date on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and relevant information from the larger Arlington community.  Sign up here: https://thompsonschoolpto.org/parents/newsletter-sign-up/.  Also follow the PTO on FB: www.facebook.com/ThompsonSchoolArlington and Twitter: @ThompsonPTO.

I look forward to seeing you at Thompson!

Nandana Mewada
Co-President

Instrument Pick Up 

WOODWIND, BRASS, and PERCUSSION Instrument Pick Up Night will be held on Tuesday, September 11, at the Ottoson Middle School in the Cafeteria, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM

The STRING INSTRUMENT Pick-Up Night will be held on Thursday, September 13, at Ottoson Middle School in the Cafeteria, from 4:00-7:30 PM for any grade 3 students who signed up for String Instrument lessons.

Curriculum Night: Monday, September 17th

6:30-7:10 PM    Classroom Presentations Grades 3-5
7:15-7:35 PM    Meet and Greet in Gym with Specialists
7:40-8:20 PM    Classroom Presentations Grades K-2

This is an opportunity for parents to meet their child’s teacher and to hear more about what is being taught this year.
Classroom presentations begin promptly at 6:30 and 7:40 PM.

Support Thompson

Please remember to use the Amazon link on the PTO Website for your back-to-school shopping!

Join us to Launch the 2018-2019 Arlington Community Card!

Saturday, September 15th at Town Day (Arlington Center, 10AM-3PM)

Help us kick off our most important annual fundraiser, the Arlington Community Card! This $10 wallet-sized card, produced and sold exclusively by Thompson PTO, provides customers with ongoing discounts at 40 Arlington restaurants and stores. All proceeds from the sale of the cards benefit our PTO. last year we sold 1,000 cards on Town Day, which was nearly double from only two years ago, and accounted for 60% of our annual card sales.

How can you help us meet, or even break, that record again? Come on down to the Community Card booth on Town Day and buy a card, AND/OR sign up to help sell the cards.  We need about 12 volunteers per hour, between 9AM and 4PM.

Sign up here: tinyurl.com/TownDay2018

Can’t do a shift on Town Day? Here are other ways to help: tinyurl.com/ACCOtherWaysToHelp2018

For more about the card: www.arlingtoncommunitycard.org
Questions? Contact Ashley Lorenz: ashley.e.lorenz@gmail.com

Room Parents play an important role at Thompson! One to two volunteer Room Parents collaborate to support each class teacher and specialist. Room Parents may be called up to: communicate important class and PTO information to families, organize supplies for special class projects, organize class celebrations, recruit volunteers and organize class gifts for the teacher. The role does not require you to be present at school during school hours.

If you would like to volunteer to be a Room Parent or have any questions about Room Parents, please contact Christy Murphy-Macinta, cembc99@yahoo.com

We are looking for parents to help during the 2018-2019 school year for roles large and small. If you are just a little bit interested, please check off the position(s) in this survey. This simply shows your interest, it doesn’t commit you to the position! The PTO board will correspond and/or meet with interested parents.

Thompson PTO Involvement 2018-19

Thank you for your interest!

Arlington EATS Community Dinner

Join us for a new school year of sitting down to eat dinner together

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 6PM – 7PM
THOMPSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CAFETERIA

Arlington EATS Community Dinners are held on the second Thursday of each month.

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.