Dear Thacher Families,

We hope you had a great break and are as excited as we are to turn the calendar to 2025. It's hard to believe we're nearing the school year's halfway point. The timeframe between January 1 and March 1 is in many ways the most crucial chunk of time we have left as once we hit March we begin the season of interruptions between MCAS, field trips, and all of the events that occur near the near of the school year. It's the last large timeframe without distractions. With that in mind, it's important for students to be in school as much as possible. Please take a moment to read the nurse's update below as it provides helpful recommendations for deciding whether your child should attend school, even if they aren't feeling 100%.

Lastly, we're so proud of our Thacher artists! If you can, swing by the Attleboro Public Library and check out their artwork which is on display (see the two images below).

Frank Rich, Principal

Sarah Desautel, Asst. Principal

A huge congratulations to nearly 100 students who made the choice to commit to reading over the recent holiday break! Your dedication to continuing your learning even during the break is truly inspiring. Special shout out to our Grade Level Winners who received a new book to read and a poster of their choice. 

You’ve all demonstrated incredible Panda Pride, and we’re so proud of you!

Hello Thacher Elementary School families,

Welcome back to school for our first full week since winter break. I hope everyone had a joyful holiday season filled with opportunities to rest and recharge. It has been wonderful to see all of the students again. Here are some highlights from music class these last few weeks:

• Our youngest students are continuing to sing, say, dance, and play in a variety of ways which build their musicianship skills. This week, we met a new barn owl friend (don’t worry–she is a puppet) who is helping us find our singing voices. We apply this skill all throughout music class. We’ve also begun to learn dances with a more formal structure, which helps us keep a steady beat and allows us a chance to work together. I’ve been particularly impressed with the little ones’ mallet instrument skills. We’ve been working very hard to make up our own melodic patterns while playing along with the book Jump Frog, Jump… it sounds genuinely quite beautiful! 

• Upper grades have been working on many of the same skills, but in more age-appropriate ways. Complex dances engage the students and we have taken some time to reflect and appreciate how far we’ve come this year–dances that would have taken us weeks to learn in September are now taking a mere ten minutes! Our recorder skills are improving rapidly–I must admit that I’ve never had a group of students move so quickly into switching between three different notes at a time. Of course, we have been practicing lots of great songs with our singing voices. If you got the opportunity to attend our Winter Holiday Sing-Along performance, you certainly saw some evidence of this. On that note, I want to give a final big shout out to the fourth-graders for creating such a fun, and musical final product. I am so proud of them!

As always, please enjoy some pictures and videos below. Stay healthy and keep on rocking on!

Video Link: Ms. Frank’s Class Playing Along with Jack B. Ninja (McCanna, 2018)

Musically yours, 

Mr. Chippo, M.M.Ed

jchippo@attleboroschools.com

Attleboro Public Schools invites you to participate in Phase II of our Strategic Planning process. Your input is valuable, and we welcome your participation in shaping the future of our District.  Please complete this form by December 20, 2024 if you would like to engage in developing the plan.  

For more information, please visit the 2030 Strategic Planning landing page on our website: https://shorturl.at/VFgVf” 

Attleboro Families:

Attleboro High School greatly appreciates the support of families at all AHS sporting events.   While most students are there to watch the games and enjoy the event, a number of students have been left/dropped off unsupervised. This has created safety concerns and disruptions for other fans in attendance and game management staff. 

Moving forward, ALL middle/elementary school aged students and younger MUST be accompanied by an adult at all high school events.  We appreciate your support keeping all in attendance supervised while allowing an enjoyable environment for all. 

Please know this expectation is currently in place for AHS events moving forward.

We look forward to seeing you all soon and thank you for supporting AHS!

Thank you.

Kate Campbell- AHS Principal

Mark Houle - AHS Athletic Director

Visit the APS Community Fliers page to view the most recent events, opportunities, and resources happening within the Attleboro Community. 

January 13: School Council

January 17: Early Release Day: Staff Professional Development

January 20: No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day