Wednesday Folder – January 16, 2019

Happy Wednesday Thunderbirds!

Please note there is no school on Monday, January 21st in honor of Martin Luther King Day! We encourage our families to read about Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement and talk about the importance of continuing his work today. You are also invited to attend the AISD MLK Celebration at Kealing Middle School on Saturday, January 19th. By remembering Dr. King and his message, we are inspired to continue our work ensuring that our community is one of love, acceptance, and quality for all!

Lower Grade Assembly Switch — this Friday.

Friday, January 18
PK will join Lower-Grade Assembly (K-1st) this week. Parents are welcome to join! Assemblies begin at 7:40 and end at 7:55. Don’t forget to show your Thunderbird pride by wearing your THES t-shirt! Need another one? Shirts will be sold before the assembly on Friday, January 18. Only kids sizes are still available and are on sale, two for $5!

Prospective Parent Tour — this Friday.

Friday, January 18

Prospective parents are welcome to join us for assembly in the gym and then on to the tour at 8 am. Please be a THES advocate and help spread the word about how wonderful the Thunderbird Community is by telling your friends, neighbors, and co-workers about our Prospective Parent Tours. There will be one last tour on January 29 at 8 am. Recruitment is key for keeping our school at capacity and thriving! Please share our FB event page.

Prime Time Returns

February 4 — March 29

Classes take place after school from 3:15-4:15. Students are provided a light snack before their class and will be assigned to ONE class, based on availability. We will do our best to place students in their first choice, but classes are filled on a first come, first serve basis.

Please complete the choice sheet that was sent home with your student today and turn it into the office as soon as possible to have the best chance at getting your preferred class!  All applications are due no later than Friday, January 25. Late applications will not be accepted. Please contact Mrs. Guerra in the office with any questions at 512-414-4495 or kelly.guerra@austinisd.org.

Coffee Chat

Friday, January 25 @ 8am

Please join us in the library for coffee and light breakfast! We will continue our previous discussion about bullying and talk about current and future school safety procedures.

PTA Meeting

Wednesday, January 30 @ 6pm

This meeting will be in the cafeteria and is open to all families, regardless of whether you are a member of the PTA or not. We will be discussing campus safety and security, including the new signage for drop off & dismissal, revamping the student Safety Patrol, and future plans for improving campus safety.  We will also cover upcoming PTA events, the PTA budget, and fundraising! Childcare will be provided — students will enjoy a movie night and snacks during the meeting (parents can join after the meeting).

Don’t forget, It’s time to register for the 2019/2020 school year!

All returning students must register online for the upcoming school year. A Parent Cloud account must be created before you can access the online registration system. For parents creating new accounts, please use an email address you will have access to for several years (i.e. no work emails). If you already have an account but do not remember your username or password, you can request it to be sent to you. If your child is not registered online, they will not be placed in a classroom for the 2019/2020 school year.

For complete registration information, click here

Dual Language Applications are due January 31st.

Applications to the Dual Language Program are now available at the THES office or on the main AISD website. Neighborhood and transferring students wanting to apply to the THES Dual Language Program must submit a completed application packet and all required documents back to THES no later than the end of business on January 31, 2019. Packets submitted after this date may not be considered. Students who are already in the DL program do not need to reapply—parents just need to register for the next year.

All items needed to complete the application packet can be found here.

Another big Appreciation Pump for our Cultural Fest & Tamalada rock stars!

The Cultural Festival was organized by Jen Barrera and featured a fabulous Mercado and cultural tables representing Mexico, Iraq, Afghanistan, Taiwan, England, Sweden, and Brazil! Big thanks to our Mercado vendors and table hosts, to Mrs. King and the THES Choir for their performance, to the Kung Fu performers, to Jason Molin for emceeing.

Big thanks to the 35+ people who showed up to make tamales under the guidance of parents Gabi Rivera and Carmen Clavel, with huge help from the cafeteria staff and donations from El Milagro, HEB, Guero’s, and Polvo’s. We also had volunteers from Travis High School help with childcare and wrapping tamales. We sold around 800 tamales at the Cultural Festival and gave the extras to teachers and staff. Please be a part of these great school traditions next December! Volunteer positions open for 2019 — for more info please visit our THES volunteering page.

Are you on Class Dojo?

Since August, we’ve been using Class Dojo to communicate directly with parents and send out campus-wide news and reminders. This free app compliments Social Emotional Learning, which is a major component of our Whole Child Pillar. A huge Appreciation Pump to the parents who are using Class Dojo! If you haven’t joined yet, we invite you to download the app to your phone and create an account. If you need help creating a new account or would like instructions on how to do it, please talk with your teacher or come by the office – we can help you download the app and set up an account!

If you would like to opt out of paper fliers, please be sure to check the box on the front of our child’s Wednesday folder. Please help us reduce waste and save money!

Do you have information or an event to submit to THES’s Wednesday Folder? Please visit our Folder FAQ page for submission requirements and guidelines.

To subscribe to Wednesday eFolders and have the eFolder delivered to your inbox, please use the subscribe form in the footer of the website.

While our goal is to move most communications to digital methods some documents need to be delivered in hard copies so please continue to check your paper Wednesday Folder every week, sign, and return it on Thursday.

Thank you!