Thomas Timberwolves
School Community Newsletter ~ 1/2/22
Safety~Connection~Instruction
Hello, Parents and Guardians,
Happy 2022 to you! We hope your winter break was restful and enjoyable. The TMS staff returned to the building today and participated in professional development sessions on NWEA MAP assessments and our Ruler Social Emotional Learning curriculum. We are feeling energized and prepared for the second half of the school year. The winter break provided time to replenish our resources and we are excited to connect our students tomorrow.
Next week, on Wednesday, 1/12/22 at 7 PM we have a PTA meeting and hope you'll consider joining us. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO RSVP! We hope to connect with you as well.
In this newsletter you'll find new highlights on the following items:
Health Office Information
A Note of Thanks and Reflection on 12/17/21
Building Student Skills and Fostering Independence
8th Grade Class of 2022 Graduation Photo Information
We sincerely appreciate your continued partnership and support!
Thank you and take care,
Lori, Greg, & Nick
HEALTH OFFICE INFORMATION
We recognize that the pandemic continues to impact our community in a variety of ways. Please reach out to the TMS nurse, Laura Toussaint, at ltoussaint@sd25.org to report your child's symptoms or if you have any questions or concerns. Here is the link for the TMS online student absence reporting form.
Mrs. Toussaint and the Health Office Team work tirelessly to support our community and will respond to your inquires as soon as they can. For now, we ask that if your child is symptomatic they remain at home. We continue to closely follow required masking and social distancing protocols as well as exclusion procedures. As Dr. Bein mentioned in her 12/30/21 email, we are aware of the recently revised CDC guidelines recommending shortened periods of isolation or quarantine for those not experiencing symptoms and we are preparing to implement those new guidelines once we receive approval from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
We strive to send Academy letters for students in isolation before 8:15 a.m each morning. Thank you in advance for your patience as we intake cases from winter break.
A NOTE OF THANKS & REFLECTION ON 12/17/21
Winter break provided an opportunity to step away from the building and reflect on things. As we all experienced, Friday, 12/17/21 was a day filled with great emotion. As if the angst and anxiety of the social media information weren’t enough, the fire alarm certainly added to the chaos of what should have been pure holiday joy. As we look back upon how things unfolded and the role that everyone played in following our protocols for situations like this, there is much to celebrate and feel good about!
The timing of this faulty smoke alarm was awful and we apologize for the additional stress it may have created. However, it’s important to know how incredibly well our systems functioned in the moments that followed the fire alarm signal. The school crisis team took the lead to search the building and report information to the 911 dispatcher as well as communicate essential information to our district office to prepare to share information with the community. The students followed the staff and efficiently exited the building just as crisis team members worked with the Arlington Heights Police and Fire Departments to enter the building. The students and staff remained calm and demonstrated great patience as we worked to uncover the facts of the situation which allowed us to share out accurate information in the minutes that followed the alarm. Many thanks to the TMS staff and students for their diligence in following the training protocols. We are extremely proud of the responses displayed.
We share all of this because we understand and respect feelings of fear and concern regarding school safety. We want you to know that we are working as hard as we can to be prepared and to ensure your child's safety is our #1 priority, especially when emergencies arise. We hope you find comfort and relief in knowing that our students and our staff are armed with the essential knowledge to keep everyone safe and that we will communicate the facts with you in an effective manner. We hope that this information helps with conversations that you have with your children. Thank you for trusting us and partnering with us to support our school community. We are especially grateful for the kind emails and messages that were sent to us following this event. It is situations like this that demonstrate the strength of our Wolf Pack!
Building Student Skills & Fostering Independence
To foster independence and build student skills, we encourage you to consider the following:
- Promote Prompt Arrival Time at School - Effective time management skills are essential to life success. At the middle school level, students may need some assistance inc creating morning routines that allow them to wake up, prepare for school, and arrive at school on time. Students are encouraged to arrive at TMS between 7:30-7:45 a.m.
- Avoid dropping off items at school - We serve free breakfast and lunch each day at TMS. We also have drinking fountains and provide cups for students to get water. In addition, we have phones in each classroom and students can call home from our main office. As a result, please refrain from dropping off items such as cell phones, lunches, and water bottles that have been forgotten at home. Students can bring these items the following day.
- Promote Proper Hygiene - Handwashing and proper mask-wearing are essential. Please speak with your child about making sure hands are washed before and after lunch and as frequently as needed. Hand sanitizers are located throughout the building as well.
- Pack Extra Masks - Student safety is our top priority and having additional masks is helpful in the event that your child's mask is broken. While the office has extra masks, we encourage all students to have 2-3 masks in their backpacks.
8th Grade Class of 2022 Information
8th Grade Graduation Photos - Monday, January 10th - All 8th graders will have an opportunity to take a gown photo at school. A TMS gown will be provided for each student to utilize during the photo.
Ordering Graduation Photo - The ordering is completed online and a hard copy reminder flyer below will be given to each 8th grader this coming week.
Make-Up/Retake Day: Should your 8th grader be absent on picture day, we have set up February 14, 2022, as the make-up/retake day.
8th Grade Elective and Career Pathway Night - SAVE THE DATE: Monday, 1/3/22
Hersey and Buffalo Grove District 214 High Schools have designated January 3rd for the 8th Grade Elective and Career Pathway Night.
- Click HERE for a copy of the Hersey High School newsletter with more details on this event.
- BGHS representatives met with the BGHS bound students on Monday, 12/13/21, and handed out the high school packets. Please speak with your 8th graders about this event.
FREE Breakfast at TMS!
WHEN: Monday - Friday from 7:30 AM until 7:45 AM
WHERE: Students should enter the building and tell the door supervisors that they are going to breakfast in the Commons Extension.
Parent Resources
These resources are designed to help families build on areas of knowledge pertaining to mental health, social-emotional learning, academics, technology assistance, resources, and self-care.
Link to the Webinar recording of the Parent Presentation on Understanding and Responding to Stress and Anxiety, How to Support Your Child by Jackie Rhew.
(THIS IS A MUST-VIEW!) Link to the Glenbard Parent Series November presentation "What Do You Say? How to Talk with Kids to Build Motivation, Stress Tolerance and a Happy Home" by William Stixrud, PhD and Ned Johnson.
D25 partners with The Link Together Coalition which is a co-sponsor to webinars through the Glenbard Parent Series: www.glenbardgps.org. Check out the list of upcoming presentations.
Parent Presentation on Understanding and Responding to Stress and Anxiety, How to Support Your Child with Jackie Rhew:
- Click here for a link to the RECORDED WEBINAR PRESENTATION
- Please click here to view Jackie's slideshow
Shield Testing Information
As a reminder, throughout the school year, you can always enroll your child in or unenroll your child from the SHIELD testing process. Please click the links below and fill out the Shield form if you would like to enroll or unenroll your child.
At TMS, Shield Testing is conducted on Monday afternoons. TMS students enrolled in Shield Testing are responsible for going to the LMC during their homeroom's assigned time. A reminder for the testing schedule is posted in the Morning Announcements on Mondays.
eLearning Information for TMS
- Students will be able to log into eLearning from any device as long as they use their first and last name.
Students will find “eLearning” folders on each of their teacher's Schoology pages.
Inside the “eLearning” folder will be the “eLearning Zoom Link” for that class period.
Extra Help Is Available
Please encourage your child to attend Office Hours/11th Hour/Homework Club and to reach out to teachers if they need help or just want a place to work on their academics after school. This support is FREE and can be extremely helpful.
TMS PTA - Meeting 1/12/22 @ 7 PM Join us In-Person or Via Zoom!
All parents, guardians, and staff are welcome to be members of the PTA. As a member of the PTA, you are welcome to attend the monthly meetings, share suggestions, discuss events, and volunteer your time.
The Parent-Teacher-Association meets monthly on the following dates:
Wednesday, 1/12/22 - 7 PM PLEASE CLICK HERE TO RSVP!
Tuesday, 2/15/22 - 7 PM, March - TBD, Tuesday, 4/12/22, May - TBD
2021-2022 PTA Officers:
President: Amy Hoffman
President-Elect: Suzanne Krause
Vice President: Melissa Teuscher
Treasurer: Kelly Spokas
Secretary: Deborah Oiler
Do you have questions for the PTA? Email the PTA at: thomasmiddleschoolpta@gmail.com
SAVE THE DATE... 4/30/22 - 10th ABC/25 Get Burbed Challenge!
Mark your calendars for April 30, 2022 for the 10th ABC/25 Get Burbed Challenge! We are looking forward to having our district students, families and staff together again for our 5K and 1 Mile events! The ABC/25 Get Burbed Challenge is the only district wide event and raises money to provide grants to teachers and staff through the ABC/25 Foundation. Please follow ABC/25 Get Burbed Challenge on Facebook or Twitter for all race information or visit us at abcchallenge.org. We hope to see everyone there!
Join the ABC/25 Foundation
Please consider joining the ABC/25 Foundation.
The link to join is: JOIN ABC/25.
The cost is $25 for staff members and $40 for families to join.
The ABC/25 Foundation provides powerful grants that schools can earn which can benefit all students.
If you have questions, please contact:
Ann Poyer
ABC/25 Foundation President
847-989-9802
GENERAL D25 BUS INFORMATION
If your child is a bus rider, the bus information and bus passes are sent to you by Laura Comastro from our transportation department.
Her contact information is:(847) 758-4888 or lcomastro@sd25.org
Please direct all transportation and bussing questions to Laura Comastro.
NOTE: Students are now required to show their bus pass each day.
Illinois State Report Card - Thomas
Thomas Middle School
Email: tmsadmin@sd25.org
Website: https://www.sd25.org/Domain/9
Location: 1430 N Belmont Ave, Arlington Heights, IL, United States
Phone: 847.398.4260
Twitter: @AHSD25Thomas