| Save The Date |
| *New* Jan 25, Friday – Spirit Day – Be a Superhero! Jan 26, Saturday – Thompson Winter Parents Party Jan 30, Wednesday – Conversation on the Arlington High School (AHS) Rebuild 7:30 pm Jan 31, Thursday – Having Courageous Conversations About Race Feb 1, Friday – Green Team meeting, 2:30 pm Feb 6-8, Wednesday-Friday – Schoolwide enrichment, Bash the Trash Feb 8, Friday – Game Night Feb 13, Wednesday – PTO meeting, 7-9 pm Feb 14, Thursday – 1st grade enrichment, Veronica Robles Mexican Dance Feb 14, Thursday – 4th/5th grade enrichment, author Holly Goldberg Sloan Feb 14, Thursday – Arlington EATS Community Dinner Feb 15, Friday – Spirit Day: Mismatch Day Feb 18-22, Monday-Friday – NO SCHOOL, Winter Break |
| School Calendar Click here 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 @ www.arlington.k12.ma.us/calendar |
| PTO Spotlight |
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Parents Winter Party! Saturday, Jan. 26 @ Arlington Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.-12 a.m.
From the Winter Party Planning Committee: The Winter Parents’ Party is almost here!!! Invitations and FAQ flyers went home in your child’s backpack earlier this week. If those items somehow got lost in the shuffle, the attached announcement has all the details. The best thing about this event? You can enjoy it however you like. Wear what you want. Come when you want. Stay for as little or as long as you want. Bring yourself. Bring friends! All (21+) are welcome. If you don’t want to dance, don’t worry! Check out the raffles, enjoy food and drink with your fellow parents, and enjoy a night out with our beautiful Thompson community. Further questions? Reach out to this year’s party organizers: Anne Moore amoore26@gmail.com or Don Mei donald.mei@3b9.com. ***FYI*** It will NOT be just couples, there are a number of parents planning to go stag. In fact, groups are forming by grade and/or neighborhood to meet up beforehand and then go up to the party together. If you would either like to (a) coordinate a meet-up, or (b) get connected with a group, send an email to Judy Hu at hudyju@gmail.com. |
| Thompson News & Events |
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Bash the Trash!
The
PTO is excited to bring Bash the Trash to Thompson for a school-wide
enrichment event on February 6, 7, and 8. Bash the Trash has been
building, performing and educating with musical instruments made from
recycled and reused materials for almost 30 years. You can check out
their video here! All students will view an assembly performance, and
each class will have a musical-instrument building workshop as well. We will need parent volunteers to help with the workshops, so watch for chances to sign up coming soon. We will also need all students to bring in some trash from home to construct their instruments. Below is a list of materials that we will use so you can start collecting at home. Please don’t send them into school yet, as we have limited storage space. Tin cans – many sizes – careful of sharp edges! No soda cans. Plastic bottles or cans with removable tops (like coffee cans, soda bottles, smaller containers etc). Please include the tops. “Shaky stuff” for building shakers – beads, pebbles, paper clips, aquarium rocks etc. No food. Rubber bands – all different sizes Cardboard tubes – paper towel, gift-wrapping, plastic wrap, etc. Cardboard or Styrofoam Boxes – all sizes – nothing too flimsy – shoebox size is OK; no cereal boxes, please Various plastic buckets, oatmeal barrels, drum-like or bell-like items, etc. Please, nothing that can be dangerous if broken (by enthusiastic drumming, etc). Plastic straws Old spoons or forks that can be placed on styrofoam. Short metal pipes or tubes (8-16”) that can be placed on styrofoam – no rust or sharp edges! |
| Having Courageous Conversations About Race with Our Children: 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31 Join parents and guardians of students from all elementary Arlington Public Schools to learn more about the challenges and opportunities in talking about race and racism in our families. This educational forum will be lead by Dr. Liza Talusan, a nationally recognized educator on issues of diversity and inclusion. Opening remarks will be given by Dr. Roderick MacNeal, Assistant Superintendent of APS. Register at https://tinyurl.com/CourageousRegister and ask the speaker a question at https://tinyurl.com/CourageousQuestion. |
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2019 Thompson Schoolwide Yearbook Ordering / Picture Preference / Opting Out
We
are pleased to announce the annual Thompson Schoolwide Yearbook will be
making a return for the 2018-2019 school year! Helping our children
hold onto memories of friends from all across the school, the
soft-cover, 24-page, color book will display every class (K-5) with the
individual school portraits taken by Coffee Pond earlier this year,
along with the teachers and administration. The price is $14.85. A form
was sent home in your child’s folder last week that should be returned only if
your child had a retake photo or if, for any reason, you do not want
your child’s photo in the book. If you have any questions please direct
them to Kate at katejoycemurphy71@gmail.com or Lisa at lisaslomba@gmail.com. For easy online ordering until Feb. 4: Go to Coffeepond.com Under Order Central, select Yearbooks Enter school password: Thompson2019 |
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Game Night Is 6-8 pm Friday, Feb. 8
Come with the kids and join the fun! Bring
your favorite game(s) or try demo games from local company Gamewright.
Eat dinner before you come, or bring a picnic-style dinner to eat in the
cafeteria. Additionally, we will have healthy snacks, baked treats, and
drinks available for purchase. We will sell used games donated by
Thompson families and new Gamewright games. All profits go to the PTO. To donate a game or puzzle, bring it to the designated bin in the front lobby. Sign up to volunteer and/or donate food. |
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Thompson Drama Project
We
had a record 126 students audition this year, and have had two great
weeks of rehearsals! This year, we are producing two versions of The
Phantom Tollbooth, a novel by Norman Juster. The play adaptation, by
Susan Nanus, is rehearsing on Tuesday afternoons. The musical adaptation
has rehearsals on both Tuesday and Friday afternoons, with different
actors attending on different days. If you ever have a question about
where and when your child should be rehearsing, please reach out to us!
We look forward to sharing these productions with the Thompson community
in April! Karen Roth LoRusso, and Tonja Bishop, Co-producers thompsondramaproject1@gmail.com |
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Green Team News
For Superhero day, the 25th, Ms. Dichter’s 2nd graders will be teaching Don’t Dump Trash song to Thompson, and the 4th graders will meet to prepare for Bash the Trash
and get Thompson ready to transform trash into musical instruments and
environmental action! All can dress up, and parents and teachers can read a story about an environmental superhero!. (A box of green team books will be available at the front desk.) ACMi will run it’s first Podcast for the Planet workshop in a 5th grade classroom on the 23rd. Come to Green Team meeting after school Fri. Feb. 1 Rm 210 to get involved! Green Team contact: Elizabeth Rocco at egrocco@gmail.com. |
| Get Involved |
| Join the PTO Team! Are you interested in helping with the weekly newsletter, organizing an upcoming event, or using your skills in another way for the benefit of the Thompson School community? Email pto@thompsonschoolpto.org to get involved! |
| Community News & Events |
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Free Parent Forum Smoking and Vaping: Preventing Teen Trends Tuesday, Jan. 22 @ 7-8:30 p.m. at the Ottoson Cafeteria (snow date Jan. 24). Presented by Vaughan W. Rees, PhD. Learn more. |
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Arlington High School (AHS) Rebuild Project
Questions? Concerns? Looking to Get Involved? Jan 30 @ 7:30 pm On Wednesday, January 30, from 7:30-9:00 pm, Precinct 5 town meeting members will sponsor a forum led by Jeff Thielman, AHS Building Committee Chairman. This is an opportunity to learn about what is at stake, address concerns, and see how residents can help to build Arlington’s future. Location: 20 Park Street – residence of Precinct 5 member Pat Hanlon. All Thompson parents welcome! Please RSVP: patrick.m.hanlon@gmail.com | 703 967 6720 |
| Arlington EATS Community Dinner Join us for a Community Meal on Thursday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m. and for School Vacation Lunches Tuesday-Friday, Feb. 19-22, from 12-1 p.m. We have a limited number of open volunteer slots for vacation lunches. Sign up here. And save the date for Beats for EATS: Saturday, March 23, 2019, 7-11 pm at Town Hall. More information coming soon! |
| Support Thompson |
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Shopping on Amazon? Last year the PTO earned $3,500 through the Amazon Associates program with a percentage of sales at no cost to you. Click here and start earning now! Read more. |
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Stop & Shop A+ Rewards: Register your Stop & Shop card and support the PTO with every purchase. |
| Box Tops: We collect Box Tops throughout the year. Each box top is worth 10 cents for Thompson. Drop off your box tops @ the Thompson lobby. |