| Save the Date |
| *New items are in bold* Apr 22-23, Monday-Tuesday – MCAS ELA 4th Grade Apr 22-26, Monday-Friday – Earth Week Activities Apr 24-25, Wednesday-Thursday – MCAS ELA 5th Grade Apr 24, Wednesday – PTO Meeting, 7-9 pm, Library Apr 25, Thursday – 3rd Grade Field Trip: Plimoth Plantation Apr 26, Friday – Spirit Day: Backward Day Apr 26, Friday – 1st Grade Field Trip: Franklin Park Zoo *May 2, Thursday – Kindergarten Enrichment: Tidepool Program* *May 2-3, Thursday-Friday – MCAS Math 5th Grade* *May 6-7, Monday-Tuesday – MCAS Math 4th Grade* *May 6-10, Monday-Friday – Teacher Appreciation Week* *May 8, Wednesday – PTO Meeting, 7-9 pm, Library* *May 8-9, Wednesday-Thursday – MCAS Math 3rd Grade* *May 9, Thursday – Arlington EATS Community Dinner, 6 pm, Cafeteria* *May 10, Friday – 1st-3rd Grade Author Visit: Toni Buzzeo* *May 16, Thursday – 1st Grade Enrichment: African Drumming* *May 20-21, Monday-Tuesday – MCAS Science 5th Grade* *May 22, Wednesday – Incoming Kindergarten Parent Orientation, 8:30 am, Gym* *May 23, Thursday – School Art Show* |
| 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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Important News About Amazon Fundraising
As of April 2019, the Thompson School PTO
is no longer part of the Amazon Associates program. But you can still
support the school with Amazon Smile!
Amazon Smile is operated by Amazon and
provides the same product selection, pricing, and convenient shopping.
When you start your Amazon shopping at smile.amazon.com
and choose Thompson PTO as your charity of choice, the Amazon Smile
Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the
Thompson PTO. Amazon makes a direct deposit into our PTO bank account each month. We then use that money to support all of the school programming the PTO organizes: enrichment, field trips, school supplies, and more. Your Amazon Prime membership still applies, too! |
| Thompson News & Events |
| Monday, April 22 – Friday, April 26: All-Schools Textile Recycling Competition All Schools will be competing to collect the most textiles during the competition week and to win a prize and town recognition. Drop off your textiles (all old, worn, torn clothes, shoes, bedding, stuffed animals, etc.) to the Bay State Textiles collection bin outside Thompson School (Everett Street side) from April 22-26. Here is more information about textile recycling and why it’s important: https://www.mass.gov/guides/massdep-textile-recovery https://www.smartasn.org/SMARTASN/assets/File/resources/SMARTInfographTextileRecycling.pdf https://www.smartasn.org/SMARTASN/assets/File/resources/SMARTDoubleLifeofRecycledTextiles.pdf For questions about the competition, contact Rachel Oliveri, School Sustainability Coordinator, at roliveri@arlington.k12.ma.us. |
| Green Team News Happy Earth Day! Thompson school cares about the Earth! For Earth Week we will focus on stewardship by creating pollinator habitats, planting native wildflower gardens, watering the trees, adding compost to the soil and cleaning up trash. Sign up to help the kindergartners make fairy “pollinator” houses on Thursday! (Kindergarten is collecting pine cones, bark, sticks, rocks, stones, shells, etc.) Sign up to help the 1st graders make native wildflower seed balls on Wednesday! (1st grade is collecting bamboo poles, hollow sticks, pinecones, untreated wood, and logs, ideally to fit nicely in an 8-inch deep shelf. Wood can have 5-6 inch drilled holes.) Sign up to help the 2nd graders plant gardens of native wildflowers and other pollinator plants on Friday! Sign up to help 5th graders make a bee and bug hotel and sell pollinator habitat kits on Wednesday and Friday! Send your K-1 students in with sustainable garden treasures! BEE a steward of the Earth and sign up for our first all-school garden day on Wednesday after school, 2:30-6 pm! Bring a wheelbarrow to buy compost for your garden! Buy native wildflower seeds to plant your own pollinator garden! Learn how to make a DIY bee and bug hotel and guerrilla garden! Sign up your 4th grader for an urban tree and watering workshop and your 5th grader for a pollinator habitat workshop, 2:30-3:30 pm. |
| Thompson Diversity and Inclusion Group One aim of the Thompson Diversity and Inclusion Group (DIG) is to share resources and local events that support parents as they talk to their kids about diversity and inclusion. If you’re looking for great books to read on topics from gender equality to disability rights to racial justice, check out this site: https://booksforlittles.com/category/identity/gender/ Or consider making it out to Drag Story Hour for Kids of All Ages at the Robbins Library on April 28, 3-4pm. Want to get involved? Join us at ThompsonElementarySchoolDIG@gmail.com |
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Cause + Event Boston: Support Thompson PTO Cause + Event Boston is coming back to Arlington on Sunday, May 12 (Mother’s Day) at 8 am. Over the past four years, this 5K run/walk event has donated almost $1,500 to the Thompson PTO. This is the goal race for the FitGirls program, so 250-plus 4th and 5th grade girls will be running the 5K, including the Thompson team! Register today and learn more at the Cause + Event Boston website. Not a runner but want to get involved? Consider volunteering! It takes about 100 amazing volunteers to make this race happen each year. Questions? Want to volunteer? Contact Sara Wilkinson: swilkie49@hotmail.com |
| Community News & Events |
| Arlington Hockey Club Registration Now Open Interested in playing ice hockey in Arlington? Registration is now open for the Arlington Hockey Club’s (AHC) 2019-2020 hockey programs. These programs are no-checking. Practices are held at Ed Burns arena, while games are held at Ed Burns arena and/or in the greater Boston area, depending on the selected program. AHC’s focus is on providing a fun and safe environment to learn and play hockey for boys and girls at all ability levels. If you are interested, please visit our website for more information and registration at Arlingtonice.com. AHC practices USA Hockey’s American Development Model in its program. |
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Boston Kids Comics Festival Saturday, April 27, 10 am-5 pm @ Pine Manor College Children, parents/guardians, educators and librarians discover and explore “kid-friendly comics,” graphic novels, and hybrid books. Special guests include Erica Henderson, Raul the Third, and Joel Christian Gill Workshops: Dynamic comic creators including Marika McCoola, John Lechner, Tak Toyoshima of Wondermore, and Dan Moynihan are scheduled to run a range of hands-on workshops on comic creation, drawing, digital comic creation, using comics in the classroom and your library, and more! Panelists: Superheroes She-Hulk, Black Panther, Star Lord, and Jack Frost (from the Rise of the Guardian comics), and A. David Lewis Food trucks: Bon Me, Melt, Chicks and Dogs Young Artists table for youths to sell their kid-friendly comics. The event is accessible via the MBTA Chestnut Hill Line with a shuttle bus running between the station and Pine Manor College. |
| More Courageous Conversations About Race With Our Children (Corrected) Tuesday, April 30, 7-9 pm @ Brackett Auditorium Dr. Liza Talusan, a nationally recognized educator on issues of diversity and inclusion, is returning to lead us in a follow-up workshop that will further our learning about the challenges and opportunities in talking about race and racism in our families. Here is an interview of Liza talking about the first event: https://acmi.tv/videos/talk-of-the-town-liza-talusan/ Please join us whether or not you attended the first workshop! Register here: http://tinyurl.com/CC2-register |
| Plant a Street Tree! This spring, the Town of Arlington wants to plant 50 new street trees in the Thompson School area (out of 150 total new trees being planted in Town this spring). Request one now – click this link! The Tree Warden will select an appropriate tree for the location, and the Town will plant it with a Gator bag for watering. You’ll just need to water the new tree for a few growing seasons so it can get established. If you have any questions, please email Phil Tedesco at philip.tedesco@gmail.com. |
| Support Thompson |
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Amazon Smile Designate Thompson School PTO as your favorite Amazon Smile charity of choice, and Smile will automatically donate 0.5% of the purchase price of any qualifying products to the PTO. (As of April 2019, we are no longer part of the Amazon Associates program.) |
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Box Tops for Education We collect Box Tops throughout the year. Each box top is worth 10 cents for Thompson. Drop off your box tops at the Thompson lobby. |
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Maxima Gifts’ My School Program Every time you make a purchase, 5% of the pre-tax sale price goes to your school of choice. To sign up, see the My School webpage for details. Maxima will add an additional 2% of your purchase to your school when you sign up and make your first purchase. |
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Stop & Shop A+ Rewards The Stop & Shop A+ Rewards program for the 2018-2019 school year concluded on March 19. Schools will get paid in June, and we can sign up and start earning again in September! |