Panda Press
March 24, 2023
Dear Thacher Families:
You should have received an email alerting you that your child(ren)'s report card is viewable in the Aspen Family Portal. If you have any questions about accessing the report card, please contact the office. If you have questions about the report card itself, please reach out to your child(ren)'s teacher.
Apptegy Opt Out & In – All of the District’s SMS messages are sent from the same number: 98900. If you accidently opted out and would like to opt back in, you can text START to 98900. Users must be in our Apptegy database to opt-in. Users can opt-out by texting STOP to the number. It's important to note that opting out means you will no longer receive Snow Day alerts or other urgent messages sent by the school or district.
Sincerely,
Frank W. Rich
Principal
This Week in Health
Students have learned about the importance of bullying and the affect it can have on someone else or themselves. All students learned a basic acronym called “BOO” to define what bullying is. Our definition we used is being mean to someone, on purpose, over and over again. Students brainstormed examples of bullying and learned the 4 types of bullying which include; physical, verbal, social and cyber. Students then finished with an activity named the “Big Bad Bully.”
Students were also taught the importance of self care in the classroom and in the gym. Students learned how to use any equipment in the self medical care kit which includes items like bandaids, vaseline, and tooth boxes. Some examples we covered in self care include small wounds, lips being dry, losing a tooth, runny or stuffy nose, tips for a headache, and tips for a stomach ache.
Thank you to our PTO and nurse Lisa Kilfoyle for supplying all of our classrooms with self medical care kits!!
Dear Families,
We hope this letter finds you in good health and spirits. As the school year progresses, we want to remind you about the importance of keeping your child at home when they are unwell. This not only safeguards their health but also that of their classmates and teachers. It is our collective responsibility to ensure the safety of everyone in our community.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health recommends the following guidelines to keep children home from school:
- Fever: Temperature of 100.0 or greater - Your child must stay home for 24 hours after the fever has dropped and no fever reducing medication has been given in a 24 hour span of time.
- Diarrhea: Your child must stay home until there is no more diarrhea for 24 hours.
- Vomiting: Your child must stay home until vomiting has stopped for at least 24 hours.
- Cold symptoms: Frequent cough, runny nose, sneezing (not necessarily associated with a fever)-Please test for COVID 19. If negative, please use your best judgment when sending your child to school. If positive, please call the health office.
- Remind your child to cough or sneeze into elbow and not into hands. Encourage frequent hand washing.
- Contagious illnesses: (Strep throat* - see below, conjunctivitis), Your child needs to have taken at least 24 hours of prescribed medication before coming back to school.
- Rashes: Rashes need to be evaluated by a doctor to determine cause and treatment
* According to the Centers for Disease Control, the symptoms of strep may include:
- Fever (100.0 or higher)
- Sore throat with or without swollen, red tonsils
- Difficulty swallowing
- Headache, when combined with sore throat
- Stomachache, when combined with sore throat
- Body aches
It is important to note that not all sore throats are caused by strep throat, and a lab test is needed to confirm a strep infection.
We understand the difficulties that arise when keeping your child at home, but we urge you to prioritize their health and safety. With your cooperation, we can create a safe and healthy environment for everyone.
Sincerely,
Attleboro Public School Nurses
From the Music Room
This week in music, we are (as usual) hard at work making serious fun! Lower grades have been on a quest to find our tennis ball puppet, Bobo. Using musical learning experiences and games, students have gone on a mystical journey through forests and mountains, meeting talking owls and lions and riding on trains in search of our classroom friend. Next week, we will finally locate poor Bobo. In using this “story framework,” students may not even realize we are hard at work using instruments, increasing our tonal and rhythm vocabularies, learning new ways to move to music, and memorizing songs and chants along the way.
Upper grades are also continuing to expand on the many playing, singing, reading, and movement skills we have been working on throughout the year. Every two-three weeks, we learn a new note on the recorder and reinforce prior knowledge. Students have also been learning several group folk dances and musical games. Additionally, concert preparation is going excellently for the fourth-grade chorus. This week, we ran through our concert program and discussed some ways that we can calm nerves when we experience performance anxiety.
Our Insights classrooms have been wrapping up a unit this past week. During the unit, students have continuously learned to wait patiently for a turn to play (and maybe even sing) with a ukulele. Students also work hard at skills like… recognizing different parts of the body, moving to music, exploring different instruments, echoing rhythm patterns with our voices or bodies, and more. The students have particularly enjoyed our bubble activity, where we count as we pop bubbles, as well as our “Alligator Al” activity, where we identify various parts of the body and hear the A vowel sounds.
Musically yours,
Mr. Chippo
P.S. Check out these short video clips of classes in action!
Upcoming Spirit Day
Monthly Meeting
Come and join the monthly PTO meeting in the cafeteria. Learn about what events/areas are being supported and find out ways to volunteer at Thacher/ELC.
Tuesday, Apr 4, 2023, 06:30 PM
Peter Thacher Elementary School, James Street, Attleboro, MA, USA
Other Important Information & Upcoming Dates
March 24: Term 2 Report Cards Published in Aspen Family Portal
March 27: School Council Meeting
March 29: 4th Grade District-Wide Choral Concert at AHS
March 31: Spirit Day: Wear Your Favorite Color for National Crayon Day
April 3 & 4: MCAS - Grade 4 ELA
April 5 & 6: MCAS - Grade 3 ELA
April 6: Clothing Giveaway @ Willett (See flyer above)
April 7: No School - Good Friday
Thacher Elementary School
Email: frich@attleboroschools.com
Website: http://tes.attleboroschools.com/
Location: 160 James Street, Attleboro, MA, USA
Phone: (508) 226-4162
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thacherelementary