Dear Thacher Families,

We're looking forward to seeing everyone at Saturday night's Someone Special Dance! Session 1 runs: 4:00 - 6:00. Session 2 runs 7:00 -9:00.

Also, next week is our final week of our spring food drive. Please see the flyer below with each grade's requested items.

Lastly, report cards were published in the Aspen Family Portal on Wednesday afternoon. If you have not already done so, please log in and view the report card as soon as you can as they're only available in the portal for another few days. Please reach out to the office if you have any issues logging in or viewing them.

Sincerely, 

Frank Rich, Principal

Sarah Desautel, Asst. Principal

Congratulations to Jace and Daniel who received PAWsitive office referrals this week for showing they were ready to learn. Keep up the good work!!!

Congratulations to all of our Golden Ticket winners who showed Patience over the course of the month of March.

Hello Thacher Elementary School families,

Greetings from Mr. Chippo and students of the music room. Term 3 has officially started and we are working diligently to end the year strong, learning a ton of new things, and in some cases preparing performances for our Thacher families. To that end…

• Grade 2 families, this is a friendly reminder that our Grade 2 performance, The Four Seasons, will take place on Thursday, April 17, 2025 at 2:30 PM in the TES auditorium. Not only have students prepared several musical selections for you to enjoy, they have also been hard at work with Ms. Maglione creating costumes and sets, and 16 students have been working on narrating the story of our show with Thacher’s instructional coach, Mrs. Marcotte. You won’t want to miss it!

• Grade 4 families, I am happy to announce here that the final night show for our Grade 4 Chorus students, Carnival of the Animals, will take place on Friday May 2, 2025 at 6:00 PM in the TES auditorium. Students have been prepping animal-themed songs including sea shanties, and pop tunes like Blackbird, Crocodile Rock, and more! This performance will also show off some of our dramatic chops as students perform two brief mini-plays that incorporate mallet instruments, recorders, other percussion instruments, AND singing. You won’t believe what these kids are capable of doing! I will send physical invitations and electronic communication reminders in the coming weeks.

In classroom news,

• Sing, say, dance, and play is one of our mottos here in TES music and our younger grades are doing plenty of each! Students are constantly learning new songs like a current favorite Bluebird or Little Butterfly to build singing skills and increase our tonal vocabulary. Through speech-like rhythmic activities, students are learning a rather complex skill: improvisation! Students have loved taking one of our puppets and having a rhythmic “conversation” with me–it is amazing to see how even kindergarteners can engage in this skill very effectively. Lastly, movement is of course always embedded into our lessons. Students continue to learn how to maintain a steady beat and also how to move creatively and expressively to selected tunes. 

• Our upper grades continue to blow me away with their continued musical prowess. As we prepare for concerts in several grade levels, I am reminded of each child’s growth from the beginning of the year to now. Now only has our singing gotten more tuneful and expressive, but we are able to do things like sing in parts! Grades 3 and 4 have even begun working on rather complex skills like differentiating between tonic and dominant tonal patterns… if you have no idea what that means, check in with your kid and see if they know! Instrument activities are always a time of great fun and learning. Students use percussion and mallet instruments and/or their recorders to build ensemble skills and develop playing technique. We learn to read music while singing and playing instruments, but also engage in a fair amount of improvisation when able. We have continued to learn new dances and movement concepts–recently some grade 4 students have even choreographed their own dances and taught them to the rest of the class–an impressive display of growth, independence, and collaboration from our students!

As always, please enjoy some pictures below. Stay healthy and go make some music!

Musically yours, 

Mr. Chippo, M.M.Ed

jchippo@attleboroschools.com

These are the students who have received the ST Math Perseverance Shout-out from their teachers. These students were recognized for their determination to complete a level,  worked hard and did not give up while learning on ST Math. Way to Go! 

If you are interested in your child attending preschool at the ELC for the 2025-2026 school year, please sign up for a screening by clicking the link below.

To participate in the program a child must be:

• A resident of Attleboro on the day of the screening

• Three years of age by September 1, 2025

• If your child will be 5 by September 1, 2025, they are eligible to attend Kindergarten

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D45A4A62EA7F9C52-52796202-2025#/

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

March 29: Someone Special Dance

March 31: Crayola Crayon Day

April 7-8: MCAS - Gr. 4 ELA

April 9-10: MCAS - Gr. 3 ELA

April 21-25: No School - Spring Break