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Thompson School News : April 23, 2018

Save The Date

* New *

  • April 23 – 27, Earth Week Activities at school
  • April 24, Tuesday, Yoga 4th Grade
  • April 25, Wednesday, Administrative Professionals Day – Ms. Vicki
  • April 26, Thursday, Yoga 5th Grade
  • April 27, Friday, Spirit Day: Wacky Socks
  • April 27, Friday, 3rd Grade Trip to Plimoth Plantation
  • April 27, Friday, Yoga 5th Grade
  • April 30, Monday, Grade 3-5 Enrichment, ImprovBoston Anti-Bullying workshop (rescheduled)
  • May 1 – 31, Tuesdays, Not Your Average Joe’s Fundraising Event
  • May 1, Tuesday, Yoga 4th Grade
  • May 3 & 4, Thursday & Friday, Yoga 5th Grade
  • May 9, Wednesday, PTO Meeting – Parents Only, 6-8 PM

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.

Principal’s Update

Dear Thompson Families,

Happy Spring! I think I can finally say that after the fabulous weather these last couple of days. There’s nothing better than being outside, in the sunshine, watching kids play. One of my favorite sights to see is so many families and friends playing and talking after school on the playground. There’s so much value in those moments – and fostering our community is one of them.

Baseball season has officially kicked off in our house, and with that will come driving from field to field, dinner on the run, and me helping to “coach” from the sidelines! I’m sure I will be crossing paths with many of you on those evenings.

On another note, I’d like to ask the parent community for some support. Over the past few weeks I have seen an increase in some challenging and concerning behaviors in many grade levels. With our students having access to technology – YouTube, Gaming Systems with game Chat enabled, and messaging – I have seen more and more incidents of students “trash talking” to each other, making aggressive statements that they may or may not fully comprehend, and challenges to the authority of our lunch and recess staff. Please continue to have frank conversations with your children about the importance of being respectful of themselves, each other, and all adults that work at Thompson School. I appreciate your support!

With the end of April break comes the craziness that is the last two months of the school year. We continue with MCAS in the month of May, PTO sponsored Field Trips are happening at every grade level, Staff Appreciation Week, Field Day, and the Family Picnic to name a few! We are also looking ahead to next year and will be sending out our Parent Input Form for Class Placement in 2018-2019. We also begin the events that will welcome our newest students, while saying goodbye to our oldest. Please mark your calendars – the 5th Grade Celebration of Learning will be June 19th.

At this time of year, I also like to ask for families who know that they will not be returning to Thompson for the next school year to please email Vicki at vrose@arlington.k12.ma.us. This will help us plan accordingly for class sections and sizes. At this time, we already have 80+ students registered for Kindergarten and 8-10 new registrations for the other grades. Thank goodness we have our addition!

I hope you and your families had a wonderful week, and the transition back will be smooth for all of us. These next 45 school days will fly by…be sure to hold on tight and enjoy the ride!

See you on the field,

Karen

Highlight of the Week

Thompson Green Team

Earth Week April 22nd-27th

April 23rd-27th- 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! Can Thompson match or collect more than the 272.6 lbs of textiles donated last year? Drop off your textiles (all old, worn, torn clothes, shoes, bedding, stuffed animals, etc) to the Bay State Textiles collection bin outside your school.

April 23rd-After school Green Team 5th Grader meeting
April 25th- Zero Waste Assembly 9:30 am

including skits and speeches about the 4th graders’ “Strawless Campaign” and 5th graders’ “Zero Waste Campaign”!

April 26th- Zero Waste Day

Parents please pack a zero waste snack and lunch with your students! Zero waste lunch= lunchbox with reusable containers and silverware and a water bottle. No disposable straws, juice boxes, plastic bags, food cups or snack bags ideally. More information on how waste free lunches save money: http://www.wastefreelunches.org/what-is-a-waste-free-lunch-program.html#what-does-it-look-like?

April 23rd-27th – Parent volunteer class opportunities!

Sign up to read books on Earth Day themes in K-1 classrooms! Featured book is “One Plastic Bag”at http://oneplasticbag.com/. Books will be available at the front desk.
Sign up to help with trash clean up with 2nd grade classes!
Sign up to help the 4th and 5th graders with their Zero Waste Assembly!

More information about textile recycling:

  • 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 textile recycling competition, you can contact Rachel Oliveri, School Sustainability Coordinator, at roliveri@arlington.k12.ma.us.

Goods News! Arlington Garden Club is awarding $200 toward the Thompson school garden revival. Contact Fiona Ehring at fionaehring@gmail.com if you are interested in helping with the garden.

If you have any questions about the Thompson Green Team, contact Elizabeth Grace Rocco @ egrocco@gmail.com.

Thompson News & Events

Community Collection Drive​

We are piloting a mid-year Community Collection Drive to help equip our teachers with materials they need for their classrooms. Our goal is to make this a Thompson Community effort so families can contribute new or gently used items. (Specific teachers were not listed because donations will be shared.)

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.

The Thompson School Council Needs You!​

Thompson School Logo

For the 2018-2019 school year, we will be electing a new School Council. The School Council is a separate body from the PTO. If you are interested in becoming a School Council Member please email nmewada@gmail.com and diana_lutz@yahoo.com a brief bio and a statement of interest. The PTO will hold elections after the spring break.

The Thompson​ School Council is a representative, school-based committee composed of the principal, parents, teachers, and community members. School Councils were established by the Massachusetts Education Reform Act to improve and provide support for public schools. The School Council acts under the supervision of the Arlington School Committee.

The School Council members are elected and is comprised of equal numbers of parents and teachers. This year, we will hold an election for 2 Parent Representatives. We will meet once a month in the afternoon or early evening. Meetings of the Council are public, and all interested members of the ​Thompson community may attend.

The School Council is charged with planning, goal setting, and budgeting for improvements at ​Thompson​. Specific responsibilities of the School Council include:

  • Adopting educational goals for the school that are consistent with local educational policies and statewide student performance standards
  • Identifying the educational needs of students attending the school
  • Formulating a school improvement plan.

Not Your Average Joe’s

Not Your Average Joe'sComing in May! Thompson Tuesdays at Not Your Average Joe’s. Eat or get take-out at NYAJ’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 – a win-win!

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.

Join The Annual Picnic Team

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

Teacher Appreciation Week

Teacher Appreciation Week is coming! The week of May 7th through May 11th teachers will once again enjoy a Tuesday luncheon, a Thursday breakfast plus a few additional surprises… watch for a sign-up genius to help out that week coming your way in the next few days.

Join the Community Card Team!

Believe it or not planning begins NOW for the 2018-19 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 looking for:

  • task-rabbits
  • brain-stormers
  • 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

Community

Arlington EATS NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Arlington EATSThe School Snack Program is growing by the day, and our kids are making good use of it. Students are encouraged to snack on fruit, which is generously supplied through our community partner, Food Link. However, the rest of the snacks offered are purchased. Helping us continue to offer this program and meet growing demands is as easy as adding another item or two to your grocery list and dropping it off in one of our marked bins.

For more information about our School Snack Program and a list of approved snacks, here’s our School Snack Program Fact Sheet. We appreciate your support!

Dallin Auction

Looking for a fun evening out? Come to the Dallin Elementary School Auction at Town Hall on Friday, April 27th, 7-11pm. We have so many great auction items this year. Beverages and bidding all to benefit the Dallin PTO. Always a great evening! You can purchase tickets online HERE or by mailing in a check with the ticket form available on http://dallinpto.org/ . Questions about the event can be directed to: DallinSchoolAuction@gmail.com

Grandparents Support Group

The Town of Arlington offers a Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support Group which now meets on the second Wednesday of each month from noon to 1:30 at the AYCC offices in the Whittemore-Robbins House behind the Robbins Library. Prospective members should email LAugust@town.arlington.ma.us or call the Council on Aging, 781-316-3410, for a short telephone interview before attending the group.

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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PTO Meeting Minutes – Feb. 14, 2018

Introductions – All

Minutes were approved

Family Folk Chorale: Elizabeth Rocco proposal

Family Folk Chorale has 75 members, their mission is to learn songs and sing with children/community. They have community sings at Kickstand Café and invite the public. Elizabeth wrote a grant in the fall for funds for teaching, singing together, and building community. She had MLK day in mind, was too late. She is interested in ideas from the Thompson community on how the FFC can do a community sing here. The Folk Chorale is trying to develop relationships. Some ideas – director teach everyone same song, have a picnic, everyone sings together. We could do this at end of year picnic. It would be fun idea like Ms. Brayfield used to teach everyone dance – build comradery. Parents could learn songs as well. Another idea was to do it at beginning of field day? Music class doesn’t allow time teach outside the curriculum. Could this be an idea for the international festival for next year? Songs from around the world etc. It was asked if the chorale could come sing at school during the day – yes, but school and work restraints. Another idea is to a dress rehearsal at Thompson or with Arlington Eats? 3rd option, director come in and do a sing-a-long at a community event. 5th grade worked with Ms. Havelin last year and did surprise sing at graduation, “Hey Jude,” parents joined in. Maybe start with 5th grade, more manageable? Please share any ideas you have with Elizabeth.

Financial Updates: Sara Wilkinson

  • We are under budget; revenue this year was exceptional with direct drive, around $30,000. Lots of families work for companies that match donations.
  • Kids wrote really nice thank you notes that got sent to people who paid on paypal and didn’t get a receipt. This would be nice to do for everyone. It would be nice to put one of the notes on social media.
  • Book fair earned $2,100. School pictures $1,500.
  • Helena’s earned $95, there was a conflict with Ottoson concert, women’s shelter fundraiser there a week before. Would it be a good idea to move to near Mother’s Day?
  • Amazon so far is $400, but does not include December yet.
  • We are still looking for someone to take over managing the Amazon marketing.
  • There was an idea to post a kid on social medial explaining Amazon, how to use etc.
  • On Facebook you can pay to boost a post. Shows up on friend’s feeds, gets the word out for events, community cards etc. Community outreach, Danielle and others using the boost, please let the treasurers know, they are trying to figuring out how to budget for this.

Enrichment Updates: Tonya

  • Need to pay for buses for some field trips, town buses were already book. PTO has room in the budget.
  • 3/2 Author visit – Jessica Garret “Oh, Ick” – science theme
    Karen asked for programs on Kindness, empathy, anti-bullying, and also community service
  • Nora Buly – author, appreciating differences, storytelling K-2
  • Improve Boston 3-5 anti-bullying
  • Think, give program – teacher driven, pushed to do something nice, up to you what you do.
  • PTO do a community service day – something to think about for next year. 5th grade did this last year, Gaggi, organized. Kids came up with ideas and they voted on. 5th graders made birthday cards for kids in a shelter. Were encouraged to do more.
  • Encourage Thompson to make a relationship with an organization for community service. Ideas discussed included Birthday Wishes – throws birthday parties for children in shelters. Kids understand/relate. Singing at the nursing homes. Food link has 4th and 5th graders do sorting. Animal shelters look for old blankets, no sew blankets etc.
  • Green team sometimes does Thompson trash pick up – grabbers are in the PTO room.
  • 3rd grade Colonial day – 3 days, each day a different topic, colonialist, slavery, Native American. Royal House will come and do a program. Tiffany to coordinate with teachers and room parents.

Debrief:

Winter Party – Ashley & Gaggi

  • Bigger team next year 4-5 people.
  • What is realistic to budget? Do every other year? It is a lot of work. Little money, no rules at ACC to more money and rules at Town Hall. Planning began in October, driven by Gaggi and Ashely.
  • Turnout was around 130. Crowd felt bigger than last year. We lowered the ticket price to try to get more people to come, charged for drinks.
  • We will have a budgeting conversation at the next board meeting on the party
  • Online survey will be sent to parents with targeted questions.
  • There were 11 sponsored tickets purchased, 2 claimed.
  • Spent $3,200, profit of $1,386
  • Should we consider having an off year or having smaller event in the “underground” at the Regent – only 100 tickets/capacity?
  • Kuddos to Jodie for her help, donated time.
  • It was a success!

Community Card Fall Sales – Ashley & Gaggi

  • Starting to think of contracts for next year. Who will resign? If there is room on the card, closed business, look for new businesses.
  • Looking for someone to shadow Gaggi and Ashely and take over eventually. Put a note in the newsletter calling for someone interested. Someone interested in talking to businesses, building relationships.
    March 8 informational meeting in the morning.
  • Put up a poster before the science explo.
  • Sold around 1,600 cards and ordered 2,000. It has been our best year.

Spirit Wear – Judy

  • 414 items sold – $1,324 profit
  • there are extra t shirts ordered by the pto for those who couldn’t afford it, 12 extra – wait and see if people respond to hand out
  • Should we put in newsletter that are available for sale?
  • Or give t shirt to new families who move to Thompson in the middle of the year? Goes with community card? Or give car magnet?
  • Idea of doing every other year

Sponsored funds

  • We need to think about keeping track of sponsorship funds, have a sponsorship pool
  • Spirit wear, 9 extra tickets from parents’ party etc.
  • Extra money from spirit wear went to sponsoring books at book fair.
  • Message to parents on how PTO spends funds. A blurb in weekly email about March events sponsored by PTO. Do every couple of months? Not being asked to pay for fieldtrips, enrichment. Teachers blog, tweet about events.
  • Idea that we should keep movie night free, don’t charge admission, just popcorn pizza. Idea of having an outdoor movie night.

Sarah Burd Guest Speaker – Nandana

  • Gave a talk on social and emotional learning at the last meeting. She would love to hear from parents.

PTO Sponsoring an Arlington EATS Community Meal – Nandana

  • We raised $150 from the community, PTO matched contributions for a total of $300.
  • 82 meals served
  • Other schools want to do something similar
  • For next year the idea is for a PTO sponsored meal around October and another later in the year. Keep a line item for this going forward.
  • Idea of kids doing a change drive, having older kids help at EATS meal.

Teacher Survey & Teacher Help Program – Nandana

  • Survey was sent to teachers asking how they spend stipend, enrichment feedback, identify 3-5 items needed in the classroom
  • PTO will do a drive for teachers for new supplies, teachers help program, similar to holiday help.
  • Will this be part of spirit and appreciation?

Volunteer Needs – Kate

  • PTO parent handbook coordinator (digital copy), community card, teacher wish list coordinator, game night, science explo. Put out on Facebook and twitter after the break.

Calendar:

Ice Skating Party April (yes or no?)

  • Do we want to do it this year? Budget about $600, Rink charges $400. We sell pizza. Not a big turn out last year, it was Good Friday. Year before, better turn out. They give us one date.

Not Your Average Joe’s (yes or no?)

  • Who wants to lead?
  • We need to advertise to public to mention “Thompson PTO” at night. We raised $300-$400 last year. Tuesdays of a month (June) people mention Thompson, PTO gets 10%, can also use community card 10% discount.
  • Advertise to do a graduation night dinner- meet friends there?
  • Maybe Christy would be interested in running? Ashely will call about availability.

End of the Year Picnic

  • Who wants to lead? Sarah Gupta stepping down, Danielle doesn’t want to have the lead.
  • Proposal to add a program (Knucklebones)
  • Advertise after explo. Try to get one person from each grade. Hard to schedule that many people to meet?

Upcoming Events (BREAKOUT GROUPS)

Game Night: March 2nd, Diana Trudell & Shauna Pellauer

  • We are currently collecting used games – donation bin in lobby.
  • Rooms? We need the cafeteria and gym, do we want to use the multipurpose room?
  • There will be baked goods and hot coco for sale.

Spring concert morning of Friday, March 16

Science EXPLO!: March 17th, Yael Beals & Chris Pacheco

  • There are still a lot of volunteer spots that need to be filled.
  • We have been getting donations from MIT museum, Science museum for baskets.
  • Catered food, but no dessert. Thinking of having a bake sale.
  • Science week, science facts on morning announcements, “Oh Ick” author coming in, talk to teachers about parents coming in to do science experiments?
  • Add “Saturday” to Science explo announcements
  • Huge push for volunteers after break

Upcoming PTO meetings- Wednesday, March 14th from 7 to 9 pm, Thompson Library.

  • Guest: Kirsi Allison Ampe , School Committee Budget Presentation