Updates!

As promised, I have more information to share about Nurse Karina. She is coming to us from Paxton school so send positive vibes their way as they try and search for a replacement. Their loss is certainly our gain. Meanwhile, we have a pair of sub nurses sharing the role. 

Hello! My name is Karina Abbascia and I am so excited to be joining the TPS team as your school nurse! I have heard nothing but great things about TPS and look forward to working with you all. I graduated from Worcester State University with a degree in Psychology & Spanish and worked in research for several years before deciding to return to school to get my bachelor's degree in nursing from MCPHS University. Upon graduation, I worked at St. Vincent Hospital for several years before making the transition to the school setting in August of 2020. I have been working at PCS since this time and I have met some extraordinary educators, students, and families. The change has been a bittersweet one and, as much as I will miss my wonderful coworkers and students, I am also excited to create some new relationships and experiences with everyone at TPS. On a personal level, my husband and I have a 3-year-old son, Geno, who keeps us on our toes! In my free time (which is close to non-existent with a little one!) I enjoy gardening, reading, and metal detecting! I am looking forward to meeting you all soon! -Karina

Next week we will begin our use of the Panorama assessment. We use this data to determine the climate and culture of our school and to provide individual social and emotional supports when necessary. That was my cliff notes version of the information provided below. If you would not like your child to take part, please reach out to me and let me know. 

"We thank you and your family for being our valued partners as we work together to

educate the children in our district. As you may already be aware, building our social-emotional learning skills is an important goal for our school this year. Over the next several weeks, students and teachers will participate in several exercises to better understand these concepts and to reflect on how they perceive these skills in themselves. 

We will be asking for your child to reflect on their own mindsets and approaches to learning via an online survey they will be completing at school. The survey shouldn’t take more than 20-30 minutes to complete.

We are asking that all of our students participate in the surveys, as their responses will provide invaluable insights into their experiences and how we can improve and adapt our district to their needs. If a student doesn’t feel like they have enough information to answer a question, they will be able to skip the item altogether. The responses to these surveys will be completely confidential.

The Panorama student surveys will be given 3 times per school year, and they will provide information about the student experience in Wachusett Schools (Grades 3-12). The data will be used at the school and district levels as one data source to help shape our Social-Emotional Learning planning"

I'd like to congratulate all the middle schoolers who ran for student council this month! The desire to serve their fellow students in a leadership role is commendable! Having the courage to stand up in the front of the cafeteria and explain why they want to serve and what they bring to the table is equally impressive. I'm proud of all who "threw their hat in the ring." Congratulations to our Student Council members: 6th Grade - Cameran W, Miles C, Aubrey J, and Jude H. 7th Grade - Lindsey R, Lucia C, Hero M, and Erik D. 8th Grade - Gabe M, Nalina L, Declan F, Megan D, and Madalena A. 

I look forward to including student voice, through the council, in school decisions moving forward. 

As next week brings us into October, I wanted to put a date on the radar for parents of Kingerteners through 3rd graders. We have scheduled our annual Fall costume parade for October 31st to begin around 9:00. My understanding is this is a long standing tradition here at TPS. Parents are welcome to attend and view the parade from the parking lot. Students in grades K-3 can wear their costumes to school that day but should bring a container to place their materials in after the parade to make sure nothing is lost before the evening town events. For planning purposes, please remember any costumes should limit the gore, for safety we need to be able to recognize the students, and the building needs to remain toy weapon free (this includes lightsabers, blasters, cowboy guns, etc.). If your family has beliefe that inhibit participation in this event, please do not hesitate to reach out as we will plan alternative experiences during this short parade. If your child would like to be in the parade but does not dress up we can absolutely allow this as well. 

Next week, the PTA is sponsoring our first Spirit week of the school year! Students are encouraged to participate but it is not mandatory and should not become a hardship for families. This also kicks off their Spirit Wear sale. The days are as follows: 

• Monday  
• Crazy hat/hair day
  
• Tuesday 
• Crazy sock day and TPS Spirit wear day (If you have't purchased a shirt yet just wear red)
• Wednesday 
• Sports day (wear your team jersey, favorite sports team jersey, pull that TPS gear out again)
• Thursday 
• Book Character Day (dress as your favorite character from a book)
• Friday - Colors day!
• K - Rainbow
• 1st - Red
• 2nd - Blue
• 3rd - Yellow
• 4th - Orange
• 5th - Purple
• 6th - Green
• 7th - White
• 8th - Black
• Staff - Pink

Order Spirit Wear here

A message from Mrs. DiFonso

I am excited to announce that we are working hard to bring back some after school activities for our TPS Warriors! I met with Jaime Greenland (Princeton Rec Director) this morning to get the ball rolling on getting some aferschool activities planned and organized for all ages here at TPS. Is there something you would be excited to offer? Is there a hobby that you have that you'd want to share with the TPS students? Is there someone you know that would love to offer a course?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, we want to hear about it!  Maybe you love baking, lego robotics, art, books, crafting, model building, a specific sport, chess, math or science! Share this interest with the kids! Since the rec department will be helping to facilitate these offerings, there will be/can be payment for your time! 

If you are interested in offering a class/course, please email Jaime (Recreation@town.princeton.ma.us) the following information:  Course Title and desciption, age group you'd like included, length of course (by weeks), time of course (ie/ 3:00-4:15) and estimated budget.   I am really excited and cannot wait to see what kinds of fun we can bring back to the kids!  Thanks Princeton Recreation & Jaime!

New- PTA Spirit Wear flyers

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The week ahead: 

• Tuesday (10/4) 
• Cross Country meet at Mountview

Learning is fun!

Learning can be and should be fun! Mrs. DiFonso and I have the priviledge of roaming the halls each week and popping in to see the great work our students and teachers are doing together. This week, we wanted to highlight some of our favorite activities and we thought it would be even better to hear about it from the students themselves. We've invited a few guest bloggers to let you in on what they are doing. 

5th Grade Book Tasting: 

"Fifth grade had a book tasting and their first book club this week. In the morning when we came into class, the tables were covered with table cloths. On the tables were four different books on each table. Each table had a different book to taste, all of the books are nonfiction with facts. Each group got to preview and sample each book. We focused on the front and back text and answered some questions. It felt like we were in a cafe! 

On the day of the first book club we got assigned groups base on our interests. Each group had an adult to learn about the book. The adult also asked us questions about the book as well. We felt like our first book club was a success because we got our questions done and got to read some of the book." 

Levi B & Cameran R

6th Grade STEAM:

"In 6th grade science we constructed a tangle free earbud holder. The goal of the project was to use the Engineering Design Process to research, design, build, test, improve our design, reflect on our build and share our final product with our classmates. First we identified the problem, which is: earbuds often tangle when you leave them somewhere out of a case. It was our job to solve that problem. Our group ended up having three basic designs and we decided to build two of them. After we built our first design, we discovered it didn't work well. We then tweaked this design so the earbuds would fit better into the holder, even though it wouldn't look as good as we had hoped. Meanwhile, we were working on our second design. We found that the second design was sleek and smaller. One flaw in our second design was it was more difficult and time consuming to put the earbuds in it. We had our designs finished and we weren't too sure on how we wanted to present our earbud holders. We ended up deciding to make a rap and an infomercial style presentation to share with our classmates.

These are the lyrics to our rap.

Rap:

Listen up! I'm less, less tangled than you, fox holder and new earbuds too.

I'm less, less tangled than you, less tangled than you and you too.

In conclusion, we used the Engineering Design Process to effectively build a tangle free earbud holder that looks good and fits in one's pocket."

Cameron W, Dexter S, & Eldon G

Curriculum Night: Thursday night is a return to our "in person" curriculum night and we couldn't be more excited to welcome everyone back in the building. This is traditionally an adult only event and, for the most, part we would like to keep it as such for this year. That being said, if you do not have childcare, we'd rather you bring your student(s) than not come at all. Grades K through 6 will have two 30 minute presentations so you can plan your evening and try to attend multiple presentations if you have children across the grade levels. Grades 7 and 8 will have shorter presentations (approximately 10 mins) as there are 5 teachers. The timelines are as follows:

• K/3 - 5:00-6:00
• 1st/2nd/6th - 5:30-6:30
• 4th/5th - 6:00-7:00
• 7th/8th - 6:30-7:30
• Specials/Special Education 5:45-6:45

Proof of Sundae: Today was the final culmination of promises made in regards to the PTA fundraiser. The kids did a great job and did in fact earn their pajama day. Plus, each student earned a topping to place on their administrators heads. I think this may have been the highlight for some of them. I submit here for you the photographic evidence that Mrs. DiFonso and I do, in fact, make good on our promises. I hope it puts a smile on your faces as well.

Electronic Folder

New: Monty Tech Flyer

Looking ahead:

• Wednesday (9/28) 
• Half Day PD Day - Dismissal at 11:55
• Thursday (9/29) 
• Curriculum Night
• Friday (9/30) 
• TPS Pride day! Wear your TPS gear or Red to support the Cross Country Team as they prepare for the Wachusett Invitational Saturday! 

Fun Running!

Now that we're into the year, I feel like I should share my purpose in these weekly communications. My intention is to send them every Friday to keep you informed on the logistics of the school and share some of the great learning taking place inside these walls. As a father myself, I find it nearly impossible to find out what happened in his day. Hopefully, some of the pictures and stories I share here can spark conversation at home and you'll get more information than I do! 

Fun Run: Today was the big day and it seemed to come quickly. Thank you to the PTA andBoosterThon for organizing our Fun Run/Color Run! I think it's safe to say it was a huge success! Besides being a ton of fun, the PTA was able to raise nearly $17,000 in a short span to reinvigorate their coffers and eclipse their goal of $9,000. Remember, all this money raised goes directly back into the school to support our children's education through enrichment opportunities, technology, and more. The students crushed all the goals set before them. The overall percentage of people registering earned them a pajama day next Friday. Surpassing the original monetary goal will give them the opportunity to turn me into a human ice cream sundae. The added stretch goal of $14,000 "sweetened" the deal as Mrs. DiFonso will join me. We are finalizing the logistics of this one. 

Attendance and Dismissal: A quick note from the office. If your child is going to be absent please make sure you call the nurse or email her cc'ing Mrs. Nourse in the front office. We can let teachers know but it is easier on this end to pass the information on than it is for teachers to do so with all their students in front of them. Ultimately, Mrs. Nourse and the nurse are responsible for tracking this information. If you are changing transportation, please just call or email Mrs. Nourse. While discussing the nurse, I also wanted to let you all know that our school nurse, Heather Moore, has accepted a position outside of the district. This new job represents a great opportunity for her and her family. We are already searching for her replacement and will let you know once one is found. Meanwhile, I know you will all join me in congratulating her as well as thanking her for keeping our building healthy these last few years!  

Cross Country: This week, our 6th through 8th grade Cross Country team took to the course and raced for the first time this season. When I came to TPS, I hadn't even thought about the idea that we would have sports teams. It was a wonderful surprise! And what a team we have. Coach Larry has great participation and the team showed great camarderie. I was proud to watch them all!

Music Electives: Last call for Chorus, Band, and Strings Sign-ups for students in grades 5 through 8. You can sign up here. 

Electronic folder

New additions: SEPAC - Instrument Rental - Screening Opt-out

Looking ahead: 

• 
  Monday (9/19) 
• Library Volunteer Meeting
• Tuesday (9/20) 
• Bus Evacuation Drills
• Thursday (9/22) 
• Student Council Speeches
• Friday (9/23) 
• Pajama Day! (Thank you PTA and donors!)

Fun Runs

Boosterthon:  Hopefully, your students came home this week talking about some fun videos they watched in school and special guests we had around the building. The PTA is working with Boosterthon to fundraise and host a fun run a week from today. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the fundraiser. If nothing else, registering an account could earn the school a pajama day. By Wednesday, we were already a thrid of the way towards our goal. Throughout the week, Boosterthon will be joining classrooms, encouraging kids to participate and we will have special prizes throughout the week. The PTA is starting from scratch so this fundraiser is really important for them to be able to provide the enrichment activities they have in the past. If the school raises $9,000, I have agreed to become a human sundae! 

Fire Drill: If you saw the fire trucks in front of the building today, please do not panic. We had our first fire drill of the year today. Students and staff did wonderfully, emptying the building quickly and accounting for everyone. Safety is a priority for us and this was a great sign moving forward. I'd like to also thank the Princeton Fire Department who supported us through this drill. 

Curriculum Night: After several years of "virtual" events, I am happy to say we will once again be hosting an in-person Curriculum night on Thursday September, 29th. Hosting an event for Kindergarten through 8th grade is its own logistical challenge. The goal is to allow families to attend all the grade level presentations that they have children in. To this end, and for your planning purposes, we are planning on the following schedule: 

• K/3 - 5:00-6:00
• 1st/2nd/6th - 5:30-6:30
• 4th/5th - 6:00-7:00
• 7th/8th - 6:30-7:30
• Specials/Special Education 5:45-6:45

Band, Strings, and Chorus: In grades 5 through 8, we are lucky enough to offer some musical electives. Students in these grade levels can choose between Band, Strings and Chorus. Unfortunately, due to scheduling, students may only choose Band or Strings and not both. However, students may still participate in Chorus with either instrument option. A brief description of each can be found below. Please sign your student up for the ensemble of their preference here. 

• Band If your child is interested in playing flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, percussion (drums and pitched percussion), they should sign up for band!  Band students meet during school for a lesson on their instrument and also rehearse with the full band.  Band students will perform in two concerts per year as well as at other TPS community events.
• Strings If your child is interested in playing violin, viola, cello, or string bass, they should sign up for strings!  Strings students will meet during school for a lesson on their instrument and during their afternoon special to rehearse with the full orchestra.  Strings students will perform in two concerts per year as well as at other TPS community events.
• Chorus Chorus will not be starting right away, but please select chorus if your child is interested, and more information will be forthcoming.  Students may participate in BOTH Chorus and an instrumental ensemble.

Staffing: I am happy to announce we are now fully staffed! 

Heather Belmonte has officially completed the HR process and has joined us this week at the long term substitute in 1st grade for Ms. Kurzanski. She comes to us with experience both teaching and completing long term substitute roles in 1st grade. We are pleased to have her join our team through the start of December. If you see her at dismissal be sure to give her a wave. 

Lisbet Kzmieczak also joined us in a paraprofessional role. She will work to support students throughout different grade levels. We are excited to have her aboard! 

Electronic Folder

New additions: Internet Safety - Boosterthon flyer - Touch-a-Truck

Looking Ahead: 

• Monday (9/12) 
  
• Class with the most donations gets silly stringed
• Tuesday (9/13) 
• Class with the most donations duct tapes the Booster team
• Wednesday (9/14) 
• Class with the most donations earns mystery prize
• Thursday (9/15) 
• Grade with most donations watches the Booster team get pied
• Friday (9/16) 
• Fun Run K-5 / Color Run 6-8!

3 Great Days!

The First week (or at least 3 days) is in the books! It was a great start. I wanted to thank our returning Student Council members who came in and "Chalked the Walk" to brighten our entryway. Thank you Declan, Kailyn, Lena, Nalena, and Megan. Walking through the halls and meeting kids, I see excitement and joy throughout the building. Teachers are busy teaching expectations and creating routines and the gentle hum of the building confirms we are back in business. 

If your kids are anything like my son, they come home and won't say anything about school, but when he does I find myself wondering, "Did that really happen?" Well if any of your students came home talking about petting a dog in the building, that probably did happen. Every Thursday and Friday, our School Psychologist comes in with Lady, the certified therapy dog. Its amazing to watch the student's (and staff's) faces when she walks in. It is hard to find a face without a smile and Lady gets petted all day. This picture was taken at the beginning of the day and I'm not sure who was happier, the kids or Lady. She is truly a great addition to our community!

As we move through the year, we are trying to streamline some processes. One of the things that we've noticed is dismissal messages are getting lost in the shuffle. If you are making a change to your child's dismissal, please make sure Tracy Nourse (tracy_nourse@wrsd.net), in the main office, is included in your communication. Oftentimes, teachers don't get to their emails while teaching our students. 

Remember our first PTO meeting is occuring on Tuesday at 6:00! Come join us and find out about the first few days of school and of our upcoming events. We'd love to have you be a part of the process and discussion! Coming to the meetings is not a commitment to future events...though we'd love to get you involved. All are welcome to attend. 

A note about Picture Day! When we return from the long weekend, we will be having our annual picture day. This year, we did not recieve paper envelopes in time to distrubute. However, you should have recieved two emails from O'Connor Studios already. This online format allows you to pick your picture package while limiting paper consumption. If you did not receive an email, please check your spam box. Another/final email will be going out on Monday at 7:00 pm. If you still have not recieved information from them, fear not. O'Connor Studios intends to take everyone's photo and there will be envelopes afterwards for anyone that needs them. 

The Cafeteria has asked me to remind everyone that, once again, breakfast is free! Unlike last year, we aren't able to do "grab and go" so please make sure you let your student(s) know that they can come into the cafe for breakfast each morning.

A note from the Town Librarian seeking teen readers: 

Teen Library:To all 7^th and 8^th graders:

My name is Nicole Abady from the Princeton Library and I want to invite you to join T.A.B. - Teen Advisory Board (there will be snacks!)

 

T.A.B. is a volunteer group of teens who help us make the library a better place! They help with programming, come up with new ideas, help choose books and have a lot of fun. You will get volunteer hours that you can use for getting a job, National Honor Society, applying for colleges, or just the good feelings you get for helping others.

 

I have A LOT of fun ideas for TAB this year and I’d love for you to come to a meeting or two and see what I’m planning. Did I mention there will be snacks?

 

We are rethinking the teen space and would love some input. We have volunteer opportunities for things like Saturday Storytimes, a circus themed event for Trunk or Treat, plus so much more!

 

T.A.B. meetings will once a month, on a Thursday night at the Princeton Library. The first meeting will be on September 8^nd at 6:00pm.

 

Sign up here…and please tell your friends! 

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Looking Ahead: 

• 
  Monday (9/5) 
• No School - Labor Day
• Tuesday (9/6) 
• First Day of Middle School Track
• Picture Day! 
• Election Day in the Gym
• PTO Meeting at 6:00
• Wednesday (9/7) 
• PTO Fundraiser Kickoff at lunch
• Friday (9/9) 
• Patriot Friday! The Pats will take on the Dolphins Sunday!
• Grade 8 Panoramic Picture