Thomas Community Newsletter
May 16, 2023
Dear TMS Community,
Many thanks to the TMS PTA volunteers and all the community members that contributed to a wonderful Staff Appreciation Week. We truly enjoyed your generous gifts and the delicious luncheon. Yum Yum! The TMS Student Council members also thanked staff with a much-appreciated SNACK CART. In addition, the members of the Student Council Exec Board brought out their culinary skills and made a homemade Taco Bar for the TMS Custodians. This heartfelt expression of their gratitude as well as their enthusiasm is inspiring. #BeTheGood
New Items in this Newsletter:
- 11th Annual Pride of the Wolf Pack Assembly & Click HERE for the Online Auction
- 8th Grade End-Of-The Year Celebrations & PTA Surfer Project
- 7th Grade Outdoor Education Field Trips
- 7th & 8th Grade Diversity & Equity Lesson
- PTA Information
- Modified Schedule - 6th & 7th Grade Last Day of School
- REVISED Calendar for the 2023-2024 School Year
- Author Maria Scrivan visited TMS
Thank you for your continued partnership!
Lori, Nick, & Greg
TMS Administrative Team
11th Annual Pride of the Wolf Pack
Last Monday TMS hosted the 11th Annual Pride of the Wolf Pack All-School Assembly and Recognition Breakfast. Click here for a recording of this event. The Pride of the Wolf Pack event symbolizes all the amazing things we do at TMS! At this assembly, we highlighted many of the accomplishments of our current 6th, 7th, & 8th graders, 24 high school senior scholarship applicants including the 2 scholarship winners, and inducted 2 new members in the TMS wall of fame.
Click HERE for the Pride of the Wolf Pack Online Auction, which contains a variety of items including the following items which will be open for bidding until May?:
The Pride of the Wolf Pack GOLF OUTING is on July 21st, 2023 at Arlington Lakes. All are welcome to join in the festivities for this TMS FUNdraiser supporting the Pride of the Wolf Pack Scholarships. Special thanks to our Pride of the Pack Program Coordinators, Anthony Kuch & Greg Keadle.
7th Grade Outdoor Education @ Sunrise Lake
- Delta Team - Thursday, May 18th
- Gamma Team - Friday, May 19th
Students should dress for outdoor weather conditions.
7th & 8th Grade Diversity & Equity Lessons
Dear Thomas 7th & 8th Grade Families,
In February of this school year, the TMS 6th-grade Social Studies teachers guided the students through a 2-day lesson on diversity and equity. At this time, the Thomas Administration and the social studies teachers have created lessons that target these objectives for our 7th & 8th grade students and focus on treating each other with respect. The 7th & 8th grade student learning objectives for this lesson are as follows:
I can identify what a “safe space” is when interacting with other people.
I can define terms related to the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
I can explain how to identify appropriate and inappropriate conversations about our differences.
I can identify how to be an upstander and respond appropriately to situations I encounter involving differences.
It is important to help create an environment where our students feel safe to be themselves at Thomas, and in order to do that we need to ensure we are not treating students in our community with disrespect. The Thomas Middle School motto Be The Good stands for an environment we aim to create within our building and our community where we demonstrate kindness and compassion while seeking to understand and support one another no matter our background.
As a part of our continued partnership between school and home, we want to share the objectives of this information with you in advance so you can support this important conversation at home. The 7th graders will experience a 1-day lesson on either Thursday or Friday of this week during Social Studies, which ties in nicely with the team-building activities of Outdoor Education. The 8th graders will participate in these lessons during Social Studies before the end of the school year.
Please reach out if you have any questions. Thank you for your time and continued partnership!
Thomas Middle School Administration
Author Maria Scrivan visited TMS
PTA Information
Jennifer Hill and Connie Gonzalez for organizing the AMAZING Staff Appreciation luncheon. Many helping hands went into the events last week and we are grateful to have such a supportive community.
Upcoming PTA Volunteer Opportunities:
- 6th & 7th Grade Parent Clean-Up Crew Volunteers - 6/1/23 from 2:45-4:00
- 8th Grade Parent Party Volunteers & Items to donate - 6/1/23
THANK YOU 2022-2023 PTA Executive Board Officers! We are incredibly grateful to the amazing parents who served on our PTA Executive Board this year and generously gave their time to help organize and facilitate so many special events for the TMS students and staff. Your dedication to supporting the TMS Community is greatly appreciated!
- President: Suzanne Krause
- President-Elect: Megan Puzen
- Vice President: Nora Muenkel
- Treasurer: Kelly Spokas
- Secretary: Deborah Oiler
NEW PTA OFFICERS - Congratulations to the newly elected 2023-2024 PTA Executive Board Officers:
- President: Megan Puzen
- President-Elect: Kris Dugan
- Vice President: Nora Muenkel
- Treasurer: Diane Beardmore
- Secretary: Joclyn Katz
REVISED Calendar for the 2023-2024 School Year
At the May 9 Board meeting, a REVISED calendar for the 2023-2024 school year was approved. Please note the following changes. Please also note that the updated calendar has the word REVISED at the top in red:
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 is a Non-Attendance Day | Election Day
Monday, April 1, 2024 is a Staff Attendance Only | School Improvement (SIP) Day
Monday, April 1,2024 is an Emergency Day 1
Friday, April 5, 2024 is a School Attendance Day
Monday, April 8, 2024 is a School Attendance Day
Please download and print this calendar linked here for your reference.
This calendar is also available on our website at www.sd25.org/Calendar.SAVE THE DATES 2023-2024 School Year
- 6th Grade Orientation: Friday, 8/11/23
- All School Locker Set-Up Date: Friday, 8/11/23
- First Day of School and Welcome Back Event: Thursday, 8/17/23
- 6th Grade Curriculum Night: Wednesday, 8/30/23 @ 6 PM
- 7th & 8th Grade Curriculum Night: Wednesday, 9/6/23 @ 6 PM
Registration for the 2023-2034 School Year - Attention Current 6th & 7th Grade Families!
Please CLICK HERE to complete the online registration at your earliest convenience. Our goal is to have all of our students registered by May 31st, 2023.
Questions or issues with registration: Please contact Andrew Benton, Data and Systems Specialist, AHSD25 - 847.758.3013 or abenton@sd25.org
AHSD25 School Resource Officers
School District 25 has a wonderful partnership with the Arlington Heights Police Department and we are very fortunate to have two outstanding School Resource Officers that support our schools. The SROs attend various TMS events throughout the school year and they are an essential part of our Wolf Pack.
Please know that you can report concerns or social media incidents to the school administration and or school social workers. In addition, our School Resource Officers from the Arlington Heights Police Department are available to address your concerns and the police station is open 24-7 to report incidents that occur outside of TMS after school hours and on the weekends.
Officer Danny Malik & Officer John O'Leary
School Resource Officer
Arlington Heights Police Department
dmalik@vah.com & joleary@vah.com
M: 847-878-2949
W: 847-368-5393