Dear Thacher Families,

Thank you to our PTO and all the families that participated in this week's Teacher Appreciation Week!

Our third and fourth-grade students will be taking the math MCAS next week. The school community did a great job of letting them take the ELA MCAS without distraction in April. Please help us make sure the same is true next week.

Sincerely, 

Frank Rich, Principal

Sarah Desautel, Asst. Principal

Hello Thacher Elementary School families,

Wow! What a busy few weeks it has been for students in music class at TES: it is truly starting to feel like the “home stretch.” As I sit down to write this Panda Press entry, it is really sinking in that this is the last full month of school for the 2024-2025 academic year… and what a year it has been! Please enjoy some updates as well as some photos and videos below…

• Our youngest students (K-2) have continued to sing, say, dance, and play through their learning goals in music class. A big highlight was our recent The Four Seasons performance which took place just before April vacation. For any grade 2 families, please check out the link here to see the performance (or feel free to send the link to a loved one who couldn’t see the show). In non-performance news, we are speeding through our music objectives each and every week: I have been blown away as students continue working on their beautiful, tuneful singing, learning more complex melodies and perfecting our pitch matching, reading basic rhythm notation, improvising rhythm patterns, using our bodies for rhythmic movement and dance steps, and improving our instrument technique on mallet and non-pitched percussion instruments. We have even been using manipulatives like velcro strips to help us “feel” (literally) the direction of pitch–as our voices slide up, we trace a velcro strip up and as it slides down we trace the strip down–this was a favorite amongst our younger Insights students this week!

• I know I have said this exact phrase in previous editions of the Panda Press, but our upper grade students have truly blown me away these past few weeks. This past Friday, many of our grade 4 students participated in Carnival of the Animals where students practiced dramatic script reading, mallet instrument and recorder performance, and singing. We were touched at the audience response and the kids are still talking about how cool it was they got a standing ovation! It truly was a full display of the many skills we work on in music and I am so lucky to witness the immense student growth in the areas of singing and instrument performance. We are also continuing our music literacy journey as we learn more rhythmic symbols and start a deep dive into reading music on the staff. Our third-grade students are working equally as hard to prepare for their upcoming field trip to Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence, where students will sing and dance and play their recorders along with the professionally-staffed Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. The students will be singing one song in Portuguese, and two in English, while they also listen and play along to classical music titans like Beethoven and Strauss. Grade 3 families: if you have not yet turned in your permission slip, please do so soon. The field trip takes place on Thursday May 22 and it is not one for the kids to miss!

Stay well and go make some music!

Musically yours, 

Mr. Chippo, M.M.Ed

jchippo@attleboroschools.com

WE NEED YOU!!! We have open board positions that we need to fill. Please consider joining the team as we need as many hands as possible to make our PTO as great as it can be.

Join parents of other English Learners for an ELPAC meeting on May 13, 2025, at 5:30 PM. Parents/Guardians who attend will learn about the different ways to use the Aspen family portal. 

• Complete the survey! Responses will inform what Aspen topics are discussed during the meeting.  

• Take the survey here: https://forms.gle/ucwkPqipQu8JxJzP6  

• Interpreters must be requested by Friday, May 9, 2025, by texting or emailing: 

• 508-431-0396 

• Welcome@attleboroschools.com   

• Childcare will NOT be provided for this meeting. Children may attend and sit quietly at the table with their parents in the meeting. 

• Each family who attends will have the chance to win a GIFT CARD! 

• Click the link for more information: https://www.smore.com/n/um3yf    

25-26 Transportation Application is Open! All eligible students, including Kindergarten and First grade, who wish to ride the bus to/from any of the Attleboro Public Schools MUST complete the Transportation Application. The only exception to this is for those with specialized transportation needs listed in an IEP. New this year, payment will be due upon submission of the application. Families should refer to the email sent on April 4, 2025, or visit the APS Transportation website for details: https://www.attleboroschools.com/o/apswc/page/transportation 

May 12: PTO Meeting

May 16: Early Release Day - Dismissal at 12:25

May 23: Boosterthon Fun Run

May 30: Thacher Insights Olympics

June 6: Kindergarten Last Day

June 13: Grades 1-4 Field Day

June 20: Grades 1-4 Last Day of School/Early Release Day - Dismissal at 12:25