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Finishing October Strong

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The kids and staff really seemed to have a great week! The spirit week was a huge success with lots of creativity. Thank you to the Student Council for organizing it! Thursday's Costume Parade was equally outstanding fun! I think it's amazing that Mrs. Brais can pull together a marching band and it was great to see everyone in their costumes. I was especially excited to debut our mascot courtesy of the PTA. We will have to work with the students to come up with a name for our Warrior. What a great way to celebrate school pride! There are great pictures from the school's activities for the whole week on our Instagram page (@tpswarriors).  For the last two weeks, Leroy Watkins and his partners have been keeping the cafeteria and recesslively! The kids have been very excited, culminating in this morning's Viking Challenge. The kids had a blast navigating the obstacle courses and bounce houses. Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause and the PTA for bringing in this

Fun full steam ahead!

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As we wind down the month of October, next week promises to be a ton of fun! The Student Council has planned a Spirit Week for next week culminating with the MS Dance Friday night. The whole school is invited to participate in Spirit Week but the dance is only for Middle Schoolers. Remember that Thursday will feature a short Costume Parade at 9:00. Friday will have the students participating in the PTA Viking Challenge during their specials.  The week's themes:  Monday- Pajama Day Tuesday - Mix and Match Day Wednesday - Sports Jersey Day  Thursday - Costume Day  Friday - Color Wars Day  8th: Red 7th: Green 6th: Black 5th: Blue  4th: Yellow 3rd: Orange 2nd: White 1st: Purple K: Gray Staff: Pink I have had many communications and conversations since my email on Tuesday. I do want to reiterate to everyone, my highest priority is student and staff safety. I do not take this responsibility lightly. I am honored that people trust me to keep their children safe here at school. To this e

Big things happening!

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  A Note from Mrs. DiFonso This week I had the pleasure of eating lunch with some first graders who were our very first "Artists of the Month". We ate in the conference room where their art is displayed and boy did we have fun!  Each month, Mrs. Finkler will select some student artwork for me to display in our TPS conference room. The artists and I will celebrate by having lunch together and enjoying their impressive efforts!  Staff and families will have the opportunity to enjoy these pieces of art during meetings at the school!  This is surely something to be proud of and excited about!  I cannot wait to see what talents our Warriors have in art class!  Every year, middle schools from across the commonwealth nominate an 8th grader to Project 351 . Project 351 (the number of cities/towns in the state) is a non-profit organization that focuses on student leadership. As a school, we look for a quiet leader who works hard and is an "unsung hero." This year, we are thr

Happy Long Weekend!

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It has been so great to see parents coming in and meeting with staff about their children! The connection between home and school is critical in student learning. As is the students' awareness that we are all working in concert for them. Finally, when parents make time for conferences, it signals to students that the work they do here is important. These are all the messages we want our students to have. Thank you. It is great to be a partner in their learning.  A Note from Mrs. DiFonso This week, we welcomed a new addition to our TPS playground!  We now have a Buddy Bench! Last year, the TPS PBIS Committee was looking for ways to promote building relationships and friendships in school.  The addition of a Buddy Bench will allow students to make new friends, identify a classmate who may not have a peer to play with, and encourage empathy and belonging. The location of the bench is perfect, too, right near the play structure! A special thanks goes out to our PTA who funded this proj

October is here!

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This week was an interesting one but also an important reminder of our focus on student safety. It started with our Wednesday fire alarm evacuations and it ended this week with our ALICE drill. This drill was planned in collaboration with the Princeton Police and Fire Departments over the summer. These drills are more dynamic than the traditional "lockdown drills" and fire drills. For these drills, I announce something is unsafe at a specific location in the building and the staff makes a decision based on this information, their location, and students' abilities, etc. to either lockdown or evacuate. Teachers have been gently preparing students for this drill since the start of the school year. The intent is to prepare students but never to scare them. There is confidence in preparation. However, it is always a somber discussion that these drills are necessary. If you ever have any questions about how or why we complete any of these drills, please don't hesitate to re

Upcoming events!

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A note from our awesome Art Teacher, Mrs. Finkler:  "Dear Families, Your talented child has been creating artwork for you that you will see in their personalized catalog coming home! Celebrate your child's artistic achievement! Money from this fundraiser goes directly back into the art room to buy more awesome supplies that are above and beyond what the district buys and the students have loved all the extras this has provided in the past. You'll be able to order timeless keepsakes to cherish for years to come. Check out www.square1art.com/shop for gift ideas!  Also, I love having family volunteers in the art room. Please let me know if you are ever interested in volunteering during your child's class. You need to have a CORI on file in the office and then we can find a time that works."  We've been getting requests for Cruiser (the Princeton Police Therapy Dog) gear. While the school does not sell these, the students have seen a good amount of staff walking

All are welcome!

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It was a fun-filled week of learning here at TPS! Of special note was the opportunity for our students and staff to show off all they are doing and learning. As a district, we started the practice of Administrative Learning Walks. Thursday was our turn to host and I couldn't have been prouder touring my fellow principals and the central office staff through our school. If your child came home talking about all the principals in their room at some point they were not exaggerating. The feedback we received was very positive. The group was focused on learning environments and clearly showed everyone our staff's love and care for our students.  A reminder that we have our Open House scheduled for next Thursday with the schedule below.  Our focus is to get parents into the building and show you where your students spend many of their waking hours.  To this end, teachers may provide you a handout or information about the curriculum, but our goal is really to give families a chance to