The North Andover Merchant's Association, along with the Joseph N. Hermann Youth Center, are proud to host the 1st Annual North Andover Junior Merchant's Expo.  This event will provide an opportunity for kids to sell their handmade crafts and artwork to promote their business services.  The event is open but not limited to: musicians, lawn care service, computer experts, photography services, and bakers.  You will be able to sell your products and promote your business by handing out business cards and showing photos or videos of the service you provide.

We hope this community event supports children as creators and entrepreneurs and encourages them to work with their hands, learn project management skills, put mathematics to use and explore their creative self-expression. 

Event Date and Time:  April 6, 2019 9 AM- 12 PM

Event Location: Joseph N. Hermann Youth Center 

Contact: finnimore@verizon.net  

Rules and Requirements:  

Open to children in grades 4-12 who live in North Andover  

Artwork must be made by the artist 

Participants must provide their own table and chairs

All children under 15 must be accompanied by an adult

Online application link:   https://goo.gl/forms/ERIaMq1oGlBuAZo03  

Or request a printable application at finnimore@verizon.net

Hello and welcome to the Private Albert E. Thomson Elementary School -Home of the Tigers! We are pleased to update you this month on some happenings at the Thomson School. We believe it takes the collective efforts of all to ensure a supportive and rigorous learning environment for our students. We appreciate the work of our entire parent community, our PTO, the many parent volunteers who coordinate and assist at events, and we especially want to recognize our hard working and dedicated staff. They work hard each day to further each child  down the road to academic success and social and emotional development. Our children are the beneficiaries of the tremendous staff we have at Thomson. 

The Thomson PTO sponsors numerous fundraisers and events during the year that directly support our school, staff, and students, and we couldn’t do the work we do without them. Some events have included our twice-a-year book fair, ice cream social, monster mash/trunk or treat, holiday fair, vendor fair, and fall and spring clean ups. The spirit of volunteerism was very evident at our fall clean up when almost 60 volunteers turned out to clean up the Thomson School grounds. In addition to our many parent volunteers, we welcomed several members of the NAHS Honor Society and an environmental science class who turned out to help us clean up this fall. Our PTO has been active in supporting our school library through the purchase of many new books. These books, combined with expanded volunteer hours, have increased our overall circulation by well over 1,000 books. We love all that extra reading and the excitement that a good book brings!

We continued our tradition of honoring our local veterans in November during our Veterans Day program. Through speeches, songs and presentations, we welcomed our veterans to Thomson and wanted them to know how much we appreciate their service. 

Several other events (some old and some new) have occurred this year. Through the efforts of our PE teacher, Mr. Morgan, over 100 Thomson students turned out at the high school in October to secure the “Knights on the Run” trophy for the 3rd year in a row. We also invited 4th and 5th grade students to participate in the Thomson Globetrotters. Each year thousands of schools in the United States participate in the National Geographic Bee using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society. The contest is designed to inspire students to be curious about the world. The Thomson School entered the 2019 National Geography Bee Competition. 

The Thomson Globetrotters met for several weeks to expand their knowledge of geography and prepare students for competition. We had over 40 students participate during the months of December and January. Many thanks to grade 4 teacher, Ms. Gilmartin, who spent many hours before school, after school and during recess time getting students ready for the competition. They learned a lot and had lots of fun. A picture of Ms. Gilmartin with some of the finalists appears in this month’s newsletter.

Other events that are new to Thomson included our grade 5 students going to Brightview Assisted Living Facility in December. Our students brought a snowman craft they had made as a gift for a resident, they sang songs, and shared conversation with the residents. The feedback was tremendous, and we are looking forward to going back next year. Another new event is the creation of a drawing club facilitated by our school guidance counselor, Ms. Foster, one day per week for students in grades 3, 4 and 5. Our students have enjoyed the opportunity to attend and make new friends with a common interest. With over 20 students participating from each grade each week, it's been a huge success!

We have several hardworking staff members volunteering their time to serve on our RAISE/SEL Committee. This year we are supporting a kindness campaign at Thomson, consulting with our district SEL coordinator, Nikki Murphy, supporting professional development in SEL for our staff and looking for ways to increase student voice at Thomson. Our students developed an anti-bullying kindness skit, new banners, and presented at all school community meetings to kick off our Coats for Kids drives and our Pennies for Patients campaign. We were thrilled to place 3rd in the state in the coats' drive, and as we write to you for this newsletter, we surpassed our $2,000 Pennies for Patients goal by over $1,000.  We are proud that all these efforts and the presentations came directly from our students. 

Finally, we would like you to know about our wonderful noon attendant, Shirley Kern, who celebrated her 90th birthday this year. She dedicates herself to doing her very best for our students each day during lunch and recess. It makes us smile to see her sitting with students at lunch talking with them or just listening to a story. We celebrated her birthday at Thomson this year as a whole school and appreciate all that she does for our kids each day. 

Did you know that our North Andover Public Schools students and their families speak over 35 home languages?  Many of our North Andover families are bilingual in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Gujarati, Hindi, Korean and many more languages! As a school system, we are so excited to have the gift of such wonderful language diversity in our schools.  

The mental flexibility involved in knowing two languages is a strong asset. Some of these students are part of our English Learner (EL)Program. Our English Learner (EL) programming services approximately 100 students across our eight schools with EL tutors working in every school in North Andover for 

this programming. The students focus is  developing skills in the four domains of language:  listening, speaking, reading and writing, and teachers and tutors work with students both in and outside of the classroom  to best meet the developing needs of students in acquiring and developing their academic language in English. 

All EL students in grades 1 through 12 are tested annually in the ACCESS (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners) test, the results of which are used to inform instruction and measure the progress of EL learners.  

The Role of the ETL 

The Evaluation Team Leader or ETL works in a collaborative manner to guide the special education process through Team meetings. The ETL requires certification as a special education teacher or specialist who possess years of experience navigating the state and federal special education laws. The primary duty of the position is to ensure compliance with all special education timelines and regulations.  The responsibilities and duties of the ETL include: ensuring best practices; processing the evaluation paperwork that is required in the area of special education; collaborating with all teachers, specialists, administrators, and parents; and establishing positive relationships for student success. Special education paperwork includes processing all referrals for special education and adhering to the timeline that is in place for such referrals.  Once a student’s evaluation is complete and a Team Meeting is scheduled, the ETL will organize/send the evaluation reports to the parents at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting.  

The ETL will coordinate and chair all subsequent evaluation  and annual review meetings to ensure the student’s needs, as defined by the Individual Education Plan, are being met in the least restrictive environment. Upon completion of a special education team meeting, the ETL will summarize the meeting and oversee the completion of the IEP, assuming the student is/continues to be found eligible for specialized instruction through special education services. The ETLs related special education responsibilities include holding/attending regularly scheduled meetings with the building-based special education staff, principals and central office administration, along with assisting in the transition of students from one level to the next or to a specialized program through collaboration with other ETLs and school staff in other buildings. The ETL is always available to provide insight to the special education process and best practices to achieve positive student outcomes. 

fundamentals of coding, physics, and engineering. The committee was so impressed with how engaged the students were and how quickly they learnedwhy something did not work the first time and how to correct it. The supplies were all purchased from a STEM grant obtained by STEM Coordinator Kara Larcome. We are looking forward to having a future school meeting at NAHS, to see its new History Lab and the Scarlet Knight school in action.

Finally, the committee also approved next year’s school calendar, which has a start date of Tuesday, September 3, 2019 and an ultimate worst-case end date of Friday, June 19, 2020.

Enjoy the last few weeks of winter!

Respectfully,

Holly Vietzke-Lynch, Chair