Panda Press

May 31, 2024

Dear Thacher Families,

As we wind down the school year, our days are packed with celebrations, field trips and fun events. This past week we had our Grade 3 Wax Museum, Insights Olympics, Panda Pride Assembly and Senior Grad Walk which were all AMAZING!

Make sure you keep up to date with everything going on...next week's events:

Tuesday: Gr. 4 Visits the middle schools

Wednesday: Kindergarten Field Day and their last day

Friday: Field Day - Grades 1-4

Sincerely,

Mr. Rich, Principal

May's Golden Ticket Winners

This Week in PE

Kickball: WOW……what an exciting past month of school we have had. Students have been participating in our annual Kickball unit followed by our annual Staff vs 4th grade kickball game. Every year our 4th graders compete in a Kickball Tournament. Mrs. Basslers 4th grade class narrowly knocked out Mrs. Franks 4th graders and won the opportunity to lose against the teachers in front of the entire school. GREAT GAME….. GREAT SPORTSMANSHIP!

Special Olympics: Thank you to everyone who was able to come out and cheer on our Special Olympians. Special shout out to our Attleboro Police Department, Mrs. Frank's 4th grade class, Mrs. Johnson's 2nd grade and our Thacher Student Council for acting as our Panda Pals and assisting those students to achieve their Olympic goals.

Field Day is quickly approaching and we have been practicing all the events preparing for the big day. Hope to see as many of you as possible for our final school wide activity of the year!

Thank You: On behalf of the Specialists here at Thacher, Thank You for your continued support of the Arts. Our programs and school wide initiatives would not be possible without your support and dedication to your children and our community. Looking forward to next school year!!

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ST Math

Great news! We earned our 80% Acheivement Banner. Excitingly, each school that earns the banner this year will have our own Sofia Greene's design adorn it.

100% Club

From the Music Room

For the final time this year: hello to all of our wonderful Thacher families. Below are some updates from the music room!

We are officially in the “home stretch” of the school year, but our Thacher students are continuing to learn and make artistic sounds in the music classroom. All levels have continued to sing, say, move, and play to a variety of different musical styles. Younger students have been starting to learn basic mallet technique to prepare for further xylophone/ metallophone instruction next year, while we have also been singing and dancing to increasingly complex tunes. Second grade students have also continued refining their mallet instrument skills, have begun to learn folk dances and play parties (which will become much more prominent next year in third grade) and have been working on their music reading and performing skills. They recently rewrote song lyrics to thank their classroom teachers for all of their hard work during teacher appreciation week. I hope you find as much joy as I did watching those videos below! Third grade recently had a very successful field trip to Veterans Memorial Auditorium where they sang, listened, and played recorder along with the prestigious Rhode Island Philharmonic–the kids performed and behaved far above my expectations and had a blast doing so! Meanwhile, our fourth grade students have been preparing for our upcoming Move-Up ceremony on Wednesday, June 12. They are so excited to share three songs with you–I am so impressed with their musical growth this year. Not only have they worked on their singing, but they have become excellent music readers through composition activities, play-along videos on YouTube, and through recorder performance. We will miss our fourth graders but wish them luck in middle school! Finally our insights classes are rounding out the year by continuing to work on our vocalizing, movement, percussion instrument performance, and play skills!

As always… keep on rocking and enjoy the pictures below.

Musically yours,

Mr. Chippo

Music Specialist

Thacher Elementary School

Check out our second grade teacher appreciation week songs below!

Check out this clip from the third grade students’ field trip with the Rhode Island Philharmonic!

RI Philharmonic Third Grade Clip #1

RI Philharmonic Third Grade Clip #2

First grade students had a blast learning to write patterns in duple meter using a common household and craft item: popsicle sticks!!!

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Third and fourth grade students were thrilled to share their hard work writing out different rhythm compositions in triple meter. Not only was the students’ writing beautiful, but they were each able to accurately read patterns out loud as well!

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Second grade students are moving and grooving as we practice different ways and weights to move around the room (like hopping, stomping, crawling, etc.) and learn various accompaniments to learned songs on our mallet instruments… the xylophone and the metallophone!

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Finally, enjoy some pictures taken at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium with our wonderful third graders!

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Kindness Closets needs donations:

Boys and girls gently used/new pants sizes 7, 8, 10

Boys and girls gently used/new shorts size 6, 7, 8

Girls short sleeve tops size 6, 7, 8

Boys and girls gently used/new sneakers sizes 11, 12, 1, 2

Warm weather Tips

Protect from heat: Never leave children unattended in the car even if the window is cracked open.

Dress for the weather: The children should dress in protective clothing that is cool and comfortable. Keep in mind, students do go outside for recess and there is limited shade. Encourage your child to wear hats with brims and sunglasses.

Reduce your risk of sun exposure: Reduce your risk: limit outdoor time between 10am-4pm when the sun’s rays are strongest; apply sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher in the morning before school.

Protect against Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac: Children should wear appropriate clothing to protect skin exposure to poison ivy, especially in wooded or grassy areas. Showering after being outdoors is also a good practice to prevent irritation. Over-the-counter medications can provide relief from minor symptoms. But when the rash affects the face or eyes, contact your doctor.

Stay hydrated: Proper hydration is essential for good health in warm weather as the body works to regulate temperature. Please encourage your child to have a full glass of water with breakfast and provide a water bottle for your child each day. Be sure to wash reusable water bottles daily.

Protect against bug bites: Ticks and mosquitoes can spread vector-borne infections such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus. Reduce your risk: wear long sleeves and pants; use mosquito repellant on exposed skin and clothing when mosquitoes are active; check your body for ticks after spending the day in wooded or tall grassy areas; if you find a tick, remove it with tweezers and disinfect the area.

Protect against injuries: Protect against concussions and head injuries by making sure your child wears a helmet when riding their bikes and scooters and using skateboards and roller skates. Make sure your child is monitored at all times when riding in places where there is traffic.

be kind and be well,

Lisa Kilfoyle, BSN, RN, NCSN

School Nurse

Community Resourse & Support Liaison

Thacher Elementary & ELC

lkilfoyle@attleboroschools.com

Grade 2/Tri-County STEM Project

Second Grade classrooms participated in an engaging morning of STEM learning guided by the Engineering students from Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School. Many thanks to Mrs. Batt and her high school students for encouraging an interest and curiosity in Engineering/STEM in our classrooms.