Thompson School News : January 29, 2018

Save The Date

* New *

  • January 31, Wednesday – Deadline for ordering Thompson Yearbooks
  • January 31, Wednesday – Talk by Sara Fernandes Burd, Arlington’s new Director of Guidance & Social Emotional Learning
  • February 2, Friday – Green Team Meeting
  • February 8, Thursday – Arlington EATS Community Dinner sponsored by the Thompson PTO
  • February 14, Wednesday, 7-9PM – PTO Meeting, Parents only
  • February 16, Friday – Spirit Day – Mismatch Day
  • February 17-25 – No School
  • February 20, 21, 22, 23 – Arlington EATS Lunches

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.

Thompson News & Events

Traveling Science Workshop

1st graders became meteorologists when the Discovery Science Museums visited on January 22, 2018.  In addition to creating three types of clouds using shaving cream, students watched thermometers at work, learned about the water cycle, and saw a suspended cloud made with dry ice.  Thanks PTO!

Flu Vaccine Still Available

Flu ShotThe CDC is reporting an increase in flu activity and predicts there will be weeks more to come. It is not too late to receive the flu vaccine. The Arlington Board of Health still has a supply of both adult and child vaccine. If you are interested in receiving the vaccine please contact Jessica Kerr, Public Health Nurse at 781-316- 3140.

Talk by Sara Fernandes Burd

Director of Guidance and Social-Emotional Learning for the Arlington Schools

Wednesday, January 31st, 7-8 pm at Thompson School

Join us for a conversation with Sara Fernandes Burd, Arlington’s new Director of Guidance and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and learn about SEL. Discover what SEL actually looks like for your student!

Mrs. Burd will share information about the field of SEL, discuss how Arlington is supporting the SEL skills of all their students and provide tips and resources on how families can support their students in and out of school. Q & A to follow.

Socks Please!

Socks 01Nurse Christina would appreciate sock donations as many children are coming in from recess with wet feet – thank you!

School Yearbook

2018 Thompson School Wide Yearbook
Ordering

Don’t forget: Yearbook orders for the school wide yearbook are due on Wednesday January 31st!! If you’d like to take a look at last year’s yearbook it’s available to view at the front desk.

For easy online ordering until Jan. 31st, go to: Coffeepond.com, Under Order Central, select: Yearbooks, Enter School Password: Thompson2018
The price is $13.00

If you have any questions please direct them to: Lisa: lisaslomba@gmail.com

Arlington EATS Community Meal Sponsored by the Thompson PTO

Arlington EATSFebruary 8th from 6 -7pm @ Thompson Cafeteria

Arlington EATS is a local organization whose mission is to address childhood hunger in our community. Through its various programs, the organization has been working in the Arlington Schools since 2014. Did you know that EATS started its work at Thompson and its founding members include a Thompson teacher, a staff member, and parents? One of its programs is the monthly Community Meal. Launched in 2017, the meal provides community members an opportunity for a freshly prepared, sit-down dinner. The Thompson cafeteria is transformed into a pop-up restaurant and resonates with camaraderie and communal goodwill. Approximately 80-100 number of meals are served during the dinner.

As a host school for this program, the Thompson PTO will sponsor the February Community Meal, which will be held on Thursday, February 8th from 6-7pm. Thompson families can participate in this evening of community service by volunteering to help during the meal. Please sign-up http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0549a9a62fa4ff2-eats1 to volunteer. Children are welcome to join!

If you would like to help sponsor the meal, click https://thompsonschoolpto.org/fundraising/help-the-pto-sponsor-arlington-eats/ to make an online donation or send in your contribution (check or cash) in an envelope marked Thompson PTO/Community Meal in your child’s backpack by February 5th. Checks should be made out to the Thompson PTO.

Arlington Ecofest Trashformations

On Friday Feb 2 and March 2, the Green Team will be working on ideas for the March 24 Arlington Ecofest Trashformations.

      
This year’s theme is “Ecosystem Superheroes.” Thompson will focus on decomposers, nature’s recyclers!

Thompson classrooms and families will have an opportunity to submit a 100% non-recyclable trash sculpture of their “Ecosytem Decomposer Superheroes.”  Students can study the “superpower” adaptations of these decomposers: fungi, bacteria or animals, such as mushrooms, earth worms, bacteria or scavengers.  Along with their superhero trashformation, students can include a comic strip about their animal, fungi or bacteria superhero.  Trashformation entries should be no bigger than 5 x 5 x 5″. Comic strips should be no longer than one side of 8.5 x 11″ paper and (ideally on the back of reused paper.)
The Arlington Ecofest happens March 24th at Town Hall.

Green Team meets on the first Friday of the month 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm in the Conference Room. Please Contact Elizabeth Rocco at egrocco@gmail if you are interested in being a Green Team parent volunteer!

Game Night is back!

Game NightFriday, March 2, 6 – 8 pm

Have you been purging your house after the New Year?

Well, this is your chance to get rid of all the games and puzzles that your kids have outgrown. Donate them to the PTO to be sold at Game Night. A designated box will be located in the school’s front lobby during the whole month of February. Thanks in advance for your contribution.

Gibbs Parent Advisory Committee Thompson Representative Update

Hello everyone,

I am the Thompson parent representative on the Gibbs Parent Advisory Committee. We sent the following to Superintendent Bodie and Principal DeFrancisco on January 24, 2108 and we want to share it with the community. If you have further questions or concerns please let me know.

Juliet Moir, juliet.moir@gmail.com

**********
The Gibbs Parent Advisory Committee aims to be a resource to the district by offering the perspectives and feedback of parents prior to decisions, announcements, and public meetings. To this end, we met to outline agenda items for our next meeting with APS leadership and a future Community Forum. This list includes both our questions and ones we have received from the community.

Items/Questions for APS:

We recommend that you lead the next public meeting with a presentation of the educational vision and mission for Gibbs. Can we discuss the next iteration of this vision and mission before the next public meeting?

  • What’s the current thinking on personalized/individualized learning at Gibbs?
  • Is this still part of the vision and if so how will it be implemented?
  • What is the plan for stocking the Gibbs school library?
  • What is your vision for the PTO at Gibbs?
  • Can you please create a sample 4 day/6 day schedule for us to review before the next public meeting?  Be explicit about the trade-offs to avoid “surprises.”
  • What educational philosophy and development considerations drove the decisions and choices?
  • Can you please create a definition/ explanation document for Gibbs courses/ schedule for review?
  • What (if any) bootcamps for students/parents do you intend to offer? Examples subjects might include S-E learning, RC, Technology, Project-based Learning, Personalized Learning. Many of these subjects will be new to parents who are not familiar with trends in curriculum and instruction, and information sessions will be a helpful means of parent orientation.
  • What is the plan for special education; what’s the plan for students with IEPs and their service providers?
  • What is the staffing plan for the Gibbs?
  • What is the timing for decisions?
  • What is the schedule for the remaining community forums leading up to the school opening? Can we get a schedule nailed down now?
  • What is the final transportation plan?
  • What is the after-school plan?
  • What is the communications plan for the Gibbs? (Facebook, Newsletter, Websites?)

We share your mission to make these forums and other community events successful. We also recognize the amount of work that goes into the planning and execution of these events. We encourage you to see us as a team willing to help craft your messaging around the plans for the Gibbs school. To that end, we ask that the Gibbs Parents Advisory Committee please have an opportunity to review and provide feedback on presentation materials in advance of the next public meeting. Our aim is to provide constructive feedback or highlight areas of potential confusion for community members who have not been as immersed in this process as we all have.

Signed,

The Parents of the Gibbs Parent Advisory Committee
(Marian Hanley, Jenny Cutraro, Emily Logan, Charles Toulmin, Juliet Moir, Rebecca Arnold, Jane P. Morgan, and Scott Lever)

 

Community

Kid Care Preschool 2018 – 2019

Arlington Recreation Kid Care Preschool 00The Arlington Recreation Department welcomes your preschooler (ages 2.9 – 5 years old) to join us in our licensed preschool program. The program is located at 352 Mass Avenue. Registration opens to NEW families on 2/1/2018. (Registration is currently open for EXISTING families.) Come visit during one of our OPEN HOUSES on January 17 & 18. Click HERE for more information and to register.

Arlington EATS

Arlington EATS Beats 2018Arlington EATS Beats 2018 Purchase TicketsArlington EATS Beats 2018 Register

Come join us for February Vacation Lunches! Tuesday, February 20- Friday, February 23.

Chess Lessons

Does your child play chess, or are they interested in learning?

Ari Marcovski, 5th grade parent and elementary school teacher, teaches group lessons in his home in East Arlington on Mondays between 3 and 4:30 and Tuesdays between 4:15 and 5:45, from September to May. Cost: $120 per 8-lesson session (or inquire about pro-rated partial sessions). 10 students maximum. “Not only is Chess fun, but it teaches many essential skills, like time management, peaceful conflict resolution, spatial reasoning, prioritization, and thinking ahead and blending strategy and creativity.”

617-953-6656, arimarcovski@gmail.com

Black Girls CODE Boston Chapter Presents: Sphero Workshop!

Saturday, March 10, 2018, 10am-4pm @ University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 William T. Morrissey Boulevard , Science Center (not the Integrated Science Complex), Boston MA 02125 Check-in begins at 9:15 AM.

Sign Up

Volunteer

No prior programming experience is required. All girls age 7-17 are welcome.
This workshop will teach participants to understand the motion sensors of a Sphero through drag & drop block learning and Javascript.

Participants do not need to bring their own laptops. Lunch will be provided.
Stay updated on all Black Girls CODE student and volunteer opportunities by visiting our website and joining our mailing list.

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.

Game Night

Looking for board game enthusiasts to help us with this year’s Game Night. Join the planning team!

Contact diana_lutz@yahoo.com.

Thompson Parent Handbook Volunteer

The PTO is looking for a parent volunteer to put together an updated electronic Parent Handbook. There is a paper version from a few years back that needs updating with current information. This will be the place where parents can find useful information such as drop-off and pick-up procedures, contact information for teachers, field trip information and all the things you wish you knew as a new parent to Thompson. If you’d like to volunteer from the comfort of your own home doing some typing and copying and pasting – this is the project for you.

Interested? Contact: Kate Murphy, thompsonschoolvolunteers@gmail.com

Help Throughout the Year

To check all current volunteer opportunities: http://tinyurl.com/ThompsonPTOVolunteers

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.

Thompson School News : January 22, 2018

Save The Date

* New *

  • January 22, Monday – Grade 1 Discovery Museum (in School Program)
  • January 23 @ 7 PM – Science Explo Organizational Meeting
  • January 26, Friday – Spirit Day, Color by Grade: K- purple, 1- green, 2- blue, 3- yellow, 4- red, 5- Rainbow-ALL the colors!
  • January 27 – Thompson Winter Parents Party (Parents Only)
  • January 31, Wednesday – Deadline for ordering Thompson Yearbooks
  • January 31, Wednesday – Talk by Sara Fernandes Burd, Arlington’s new Director of Guidance & Social Emotional Learning
  • February 8, Thursday – Arlington EATS Community Dinner sponsored by the Thompson PTO
  • February 20, 21, 22, 23 – Arlington EATS Lunches

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,
As I write this update, out of the view of the TV, the Patriots are clawing their way to what will hopefully be a comeback victory!  I love a close game, in both professional sports and with my own kiddos, but I do like to have a little bit of a cushion in the score!
Now that the first round of snow piles are out of our way, we need to have a talk.  On numerous occasions, I got reports from our Traffic Supervisors that they were having a challenging time keeping our children safe.  I ask that you please follow their instructions, and respect their authority.  I also ask that you respect the parking guidelines for TEACHER ONLY parking in the Purcell Lot and the spots on North Union.
Have you heard?  Our very own Ms. Jette is going to have her first book published!  We are so proud of her and all that she has accomplished!  Please take a moment to read this article about her and her book.
This year grades 4 & 5 will be testing online for MCAS and grade 3 will take the paper based.  The dates for testing are below:
Grade 5 – Online
ELA   –   April 10th & 12th
Math –   May 7th & 9th
STE  –    May 21st & May 22nd
Grade 4 – Online
ELA  – April 9th & 11th
Math – May 8th & 10th
Grade 3 – Paper Based Testing
ELA – April 3rd & 5th
Math – May 15th & May 17th
And speaking of clawing one’s way back….unfortunately, I will be having another surgery on my foot this Wednesday.  My plan is to return on Monday, Jan. 29th – back on my scooter.  Watch out!  There will be an administrator available during my absence as a resource to staff.  I will do my best to reply in a timely to any emails I receive.
With 1:40 left on the clock, the Patriots are up!  We are all stuck in our spots as we are a bit superstitious around these parts!

Thompson News & Events

Kidstock Creative Theater

KidStock 2018Kindergarten students enjoyed a visit from Kidstock Creative Theater on Friday, January 12. They watched and acted in three shows: Ferdinand, The King and The King, and Boy, I Love to Dance! The shows were chosen to teach the children about diversity, or celebrating the ways in which people are all different.

Talk by Sara Fernandes Burd

Director of Guidance and Social-Emotional Learning for the Arlington Schools

Wednesday, January 31st, 7-8 pm at Thompson School

Join us for a conversation with Sara Fernandes Burd, Arlington’s new Director of Guidance and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and learn about SEL. Discover what SEL actually looks like for your student!

Mrs. Burd will share information about the field of SEL, discuss how Arlington is supporting the SEL skills of all their students and provide tips and resources on how families can support their students in and out of school. Q & A to follow.

Socks Please!

Socks 01Nurse Christina would appreciate sock donations as many children are coming in from recess with wet feet – thank you!

School Yearbook

2018 Thompson School Wide Yearbook
Ordering / Picture preference / Opting Out

We are pleased to announce that the annual Thompson School Wide Yearbook will be making a return for the 2017-2018 school year!

Helping our children hold onto memories of friends from all across the school, the soft-covered 24-page book will display every class (K-5) with the individual school portraits taken by CoffeePond earlier this year, along with teachers and administration. The price is $13.00.

For easy online ordering until Jan 31st, go to: www.coffeepond.com.
Under Order Central, select: Yearbooks
Enter School Password: Thompson2018

A form will be sent home in your child’s folder this week that should be filled out and returned if your child had a retake photo or if, for any reason, you do not want your child to be included in the book.

If you have any questions please direct them to Lisa at lisaslomba@gmail.com.

Thompson Winter Parents’ Party! – Saturday January 27th

Party 01

Tickets: $15 in advance ($17 at the door)
Cash Bar: Beer $3, Wine $5
Raffles*: $10 per item
All profits will go to the Thompson PTO Enrichment Fund

To purchase Tickets onlinehttps://tinyurl.com/ThompsonWinterPartyTickets

To purchase Tickets by cash or check, and/or request sponsorship: tinyurl.com/WinterPartyCashCheckSponsorFAQ

To make song requests (including international selections!): tinyurl.com/WinterPartySongRequests

To submit a *Raffle Item: If you have a service or talent you’d like to offer as a raffle item, please do! Submit by Wed Jan 24 to yael.beals@gmail.com.

Help is also still needed with party set-up, welcome table, selling raffle tickets, etc.  Many of these tasks require only 30 minutes of your time, and some are excellent ways to casually mingle and get to know other parents. Go here to sign up: https://tinyurl.com/ThompsonWinterParty

Can’t wait. See you there!

Calling All Science Enthusiasts : Science Explo March 17th

Are you a professional in a scientific field or just a lover of all things science related? We need volunteers to set up and run interactive tables at the Explo in March! We are having an organizational meeting at Thompson on Tuesday, January 23rd @ 7PM if you are interested in participating.

Contact: Yael Beals and Chris Pacheco at thompsonexplo2018@gmail.com

Community

 Kid Care Preschool 2018 – 2019

Arlington Recreation Kid Care Preschool 00The Arlington Recreation Department welcomes your preschooler (ages 2.9 – 5 years old) to join us in our licensed preschool program. The program is located at 352 Mass Avenue. Registration opens to NEW families on 2/1/2018. (Registration is currently open for EXISTING families.) Come visit during one of our OPEN HOUSES on January 17 & 18. Click HERE for more information and to register.

Arlington EATS

Arlington EATS Beats 2018Arlington EATS Beats 2018 Purchase TicketsArlington EATS Beats 2018 Register

Come join us for February Vacation Lunches! Tuesday, February 20- Friday, February 23.

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.

3D Printer Help

The PTO is looking for a parent experienced with 3D printers. If you have the expertise and some time available, we need someone that can tinker with the Thompson 3D printer, get it up and running and write up some basic operation instructions for teachers wanting to use it. Contact: Kate Murphy at thompsonschoolvolunteers@gmail.com

Game Night

Looking for board game enthusiasts to help us with this year’s Game Night. Join the planning team!

Contact diana_lutz@yahoo.com.

Winter Parent’s Party – Jan 27th

Submit a Raffle Item

Do you have a talent or service you’d like to contribute as a raffle item? Submit your proposal by Wed Jan 24 to yael.beals@gmail.com.

Lend a Hand

Help is still needed with crucial things like set-up, break-down, checking people in, selling raffle tickets, etc. Most of these tasks require only 1/2 hour of your time, and are great ways to mingle and get to know other parents.
Winter Party sign-up: https://tinyurl.com/ThompsonWinterParty
Contact: Kate Murphy at thompsonschoolvolunteers@gmail.com

Amazon Coordinator

The PTO needs someone to help promote the PTO/Amazon fundraising link. Thompson School earns 4-10% back on purchases made through the Thompson/Amazon page but shoppers must use the link on the PTO website.

Interested in helping get the word out? Contact: Kate Murphy at thompsonschoolvolunteers@gmail.com

Help Throughout the Year

To check all current volunteer opportunities: http://tinyurl.com/ThompsonPTOVolunteers

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.