Tiger Tales
​
Monthly Newsletter of the
Matthew Thornton Elementary School PTA
Volume 31, Issue 6: March 2017
LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT
by ​Aaron Duffy
Dear Matthew Thornton Families,
We have had a bit of everything when it came to the weather in the month of February. We hope you
have been enjoying all the snow and then the mild weather and that you had a great February vacation.
Due to snow, we had to cancel our February PTA meeting. Our next meeting is scheduled for March
9th
​ ​, 6pm in the library. We would love to have you join us as we talk about all the exciting MT events
coming up in spring!
I wanted to take a moment to recognize three students that received an award at the Statewide
Reflections Art Program.
●
●
●
Megan Plaza won second place for dance.
Grace McElroy won honorable mention for visual arts.
Rachel Hutchinson won honorable mention for photography.
Congratulations to our students and a BIG thank you to Vanessa Rashid for making sure our students
had the opportunity to participate in this program. We hope that you will come out to support these
students and others at the Reflections Art Exhibit on March 8th
​ ​ from 6-8pm at Hood Middle School in
Derry.
Our annual Turn-off-the-Screens week will be from March 13​th​-17th
​ .​ Stay tuned for details about this
fun-filled, screen-free week!! There will be many activities for all students, including PE night, a Beach
Party Dance and the Book Fair! There is no school on March 17th
​ ​ due to Parent-Teacher Conferences
but the Book Fair will remain open in the Library for parents, teachers and students. The Book Fair will
also be open during the day on the 15​th​ and 16th
​ ​ and during the dance on the evening of the 16th
​ .​
We hope you enjoyed ordering items with your child’s beautiful art work on it! These make wonderful
gifts for family and friends. Ms. Pichette does a great job with the Art To Remember fundraiser and the
funds that are raised through this allow the 4​th​ graders to take a field trip to the Currier Museum.
Thanks to Linda LeBlanc for her help as well and to those of you that ordered art! Your support is
appreciated!
Aaron Duffy
Regan Sochanek
MTPTA President
MTPTA VP Fundraising
MARCH HAPPENINGS AT MT
March 9
Popcorn Sale during lunch recess $ .25
March 9
PTA Meeting
March 13-17
Turn Off the Screens Week
March 14
PE Night
March 15/16/17
Book Fair
March 17
Parent-Teacher Conference Day/No School for students
•PTA Sponsored Staff Lunch
March 15
School Store Grades 3-5 during recess, Grade 1 during snack
March 16
School Store Grades 3-5 during recess, Grade 2 during snack
March 31
Drama Club Performance of “The Wizard of Oz” at 7:00pm
NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY
By​ ​Jean K. Sand​ ​(603) 432-6937 ext. 6508
Did you know...?
●
First and second grade​ classes listened to biographies during their storytime in February, as
well as, learning to understand what a glossary is.
●
Third grade​ classes completed a unit on castles. Students practiced taking notes from books
about the features of medieval castles. The culminating activity was to compare and contrast
the features of castles with homes today.
●
Fifth grade​ classes started to prepare to write the text for the wordless picture book –
Unspoken, which is about the Underground Railroad. Classes practiced notetaking and learned
the importance of a bibliography to avoid plagiarism.
●
Fourth grade​ classes continued to learn about wind energy finding information from books and
websites. Some classes were able to finish the unit by writing a paragraph stating their opinion
of whether a wind farm should be built in Londonderry. We may have some future community
leaders here!
●
Ms. Ball’s ​fourth grade​ classes came to the library for a mystery book talk, while Mrs. Murphy’s
class came for a book talk about biographies.
PAWS NEWS
by​ ​Jean K. Sand
PAWS ​Behavioral Expectations Program
P​ositive Attitude
A​ct Responsibly
W​ork and Play Safely
S​how Respect
The PAWS program at Matthew Thornton is a program to maintain and support positive school
behaviors. If your student arrives home with “PAWS” stickers, it indicates that they were observed
demonstrating a positive behavior in areas such as the hallway, cafeteria, classroom, library, etc.
The focus for the month of January was safe and respectful behavior on the school buses. All classes
who received the most “PAWS” stickers received a “Hat Day.”
Winning classes announced at the beginning of February were:
1st
​ ​ grade
Mrs. Blanch
rd​
Mrs. Mack
th​
Mrs. Reed
3​ grade
5​ grade
2nd
​ ​ grade
th​
4​ grade
Mrs. Larochelle
Mrs. Murphy
During the month of February, we continued to focus on positive bus behavior. The classes who
received the most “PAWS” stickers at each grade level will receive a “Board Game” reward. They will
have the opportunity to play a variety of board games during their reward time.
Additionally, “PAWS” stickers are given in the Cafeteria to class tables who demonstrate positive school
behavior. When a table receives fifteen stickers, that class receives a 15 minute recess. When an
individual class receives 30 stickers the reward is again a 15 minute recess. Other special awards will be
given as tables accumulate more Cafeteria stickers. Be on the lookout for future PAWS information and
please continue to reinforce positive behaviors with your children at home.
A POP assembly for the entire school was held on Wednesday, January 25th
​ .​ The program included a
video on growth mindset, reviewing positive bus behaviors, reading of the book “Flying High” by Julian
Edelman, an original song written by Mrs. Gilcreast, and recognition of students who received a “Tiger
Up” Award.
DRAMA CLUB
By ​Brooke Nadeau
Matthew Thornton Drama Club proudly presents ​The Wizard of Oz
TM
March 31st at 7pm & April 1st at Noon & 7pm
Ticket sales will be in the lobby:
➢ March 17th
​ ​ ~ Noon-2pm.
➢ March 20th
​ ​& 22nd
​ ​ ~ 3-4pm
th​
➢ March 28​ ~ 5-6:30pm
Advance tickets are $8 adults & $5 students.
Any questions please call/text Brooke at (978) 201-0499.
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PTA REFLECTIONS EXHIBIT
2016-2017
WHEN: ​Wednesday, March 8, 2017, 6:00 to 8:00pm
WHERE: ​Gilbert H. Hood Middle School, 5 Hood Road, Derry, NH 03038
Snow date​: Thursday, March 9, 6:00 to 8:00pm
Postponement will occur if school is cancelled in Derry on March 8 or if poor driving conditions are
expected, and will be announced on the NHPTA Office phone (1-877-701-4782 or 603-965-4942), on the
NHPTA Website (​www.nhpta1.org​), NH PTA Facebook page, and email will be sent to Reflections Chairs
and PTA Presidents.
SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR
By ​Susan Fletcher
Campers – Are you ready for s’more reading adventures?
Campers will be getting ready to climb Mt. Readmore at the Matthew Thornton School Book Fair
Wednesday, March 15th through Friday, March 17th
​ ,​ 2017.
Families are welcome to come along and join in the adventures while visit the book fair on Wednesday
evening during the PE Night from 6 – 7:30!!
While camping, the children will have a chance to find some great books and try their hand at some
camping games. All money collected from the games will be donated to A
​ ll for Books​, which Scholastic
matches and will benefit school libraries in need.
Questions?? Want to Volunteer?? Please contact Book Fair co-chair, ​Susan Fletcher.​
BEACH PARTY DANCE
By​ ​Lynn Hoyt
It is that time of year for our annual Beach Party dance at MT!! Be sure to come in shorts, t-shirts, flip
flops, sandals, sundress or other summer attire (no swimsuits)!! It will be held Thursday March 16th
​
from 6:30 pm -8:00 pm. Parents please attend with your students and please donate a baked good
(individually wrapped), snacks or water/juice boxes to our Bake sale!! Any questions please contact
Lynn Hoyt​.
BOOKS AND BEYOND - Reading is Out of This World!
By​ ​Lisa Burns
Books and Beyond readers have been busy! We have 434 students participating (80% participation
rate) in the program so far. Our busy readers have reached a total of 15,010 hours! A little over 40% of
our participants have already earned a gold medal that they will receive in the special Books and
Beyond end of the year assembly.
Our third graders earn the gold star for the most time reading with over 4,500 hours read. Fifth
graders have topped 3,200 hours. First, second, and fourth graders are doing well, each with around
2,500 hours read. Keep up the great reading and remember to bring in those log sheets!
Children earn prizes after reading for a total of 5 hours, 15 hours, 25 hours, and 35 hours. For every 5
hours of reading after that, they earn another entry in the end of the year raffle, which has some great
prizes.
Our next log sheet pick-ups are Wednesday March 8th and Wednesday April 5th. Additional log sheets
are available on the school’s website or on the PTA's FaceBook page.
by​ ​April Betty
Campbell's Labels For Education™ Program Awards Free Educational Merchandise. Towards the end of
the last school year, we were informed that the Campbell’s Labels for Education was winding down the
program. There is still time to collect and bank points towards products needed for Matthew
Thornton! As of August 1, 2016, only UPCs with the Labels for Education logo will be accepted and
redeemed for points into registered schools’ bank accounts. There is a drop off box labeled in the front
lobby or send them in with your child.
SKI CLUB PHOTOS
Members of our Ski Club having a blast at McIntyre’s Ski Area. Photo submitted by Regan Sochanek.
​
EDITORIAL NOTE
by​ ​Caroline Edwards
Tiger Tales is a monthly publication of the Matthew Thornton PTA and is sent out to parents and
guardians of every student.
To advertise in the next Tiger Tales, there is a $15 monthly charge. If you’re interested in advertising in
the April 2017 issue, please contact me at ​[email protected]​ by March 24​th,​ 2017.
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