Fall Festival

The TMA community celebrates the advent of fall every year with a Fall Festival, a fun-filled event featuring a wide variety of activities sponsored by TMA classroom communities. Parent volunteers make this event possible and better year after year by taking a leadership role organizing the event and coordinating classroom participation as activity booth sponsors. Individual classrooms sponsor and provide manpower for a myriad of activities to match a family's energy and involvement level. Those with a high energy level enjoy the climbing wall; bounce house, and sack races. Those wanting to take a break from the more vigorous activities enjoy the train and pony rides or a visit to the petting zoo. The favorite activity, by far, for elementary students is the jail as they take great pleasure in purchasing arrest warrants for a teacher, administrator or parent! This year's addition of a Dunking Booth also proved to be a popular use of student tickets. The purpose of the event is primarily community building so the focus is on food, fun, and community building for everyone.

Classroom International Feasts

TMA uses the Thanksgiving season to be thankful for and to celebrate its cultural diversity through classroom international feasts. In addition to North American cuisine, parents provide dishes reflecting their cultural heritage. The result is that the entire school community is treated to a two-day buffet of international delights prior to the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Music Program

In the spring of each year, the school community celebrates with an annual music program at nearby UTA Irons Hall. The Preschool music program consists of individual classroom performances, with selections chosen by classroom teachers. Parents assist in choreography and costuming. The selections frequently are celebrations of cultural diversity as songs are often sung in a number of languages and choreography includes ethnic dances and movement. Individual or small group elementary student instrumental performances provide a segue from the Preschool program into the Elementary program. The school community is treated to an elementary student performance of a full-blown musical complete with costumes. All Elementary students are actively involved with upper level students taking the lead speaking roles. Students also design and produce set backdrops in Art classes for this celebration of the fine arts.

International Feast and Auction

Our primary fundraiser occurs in the spring and continues the theme of cultural celebration with food, decorations, entertainment, and auction items. This event would not happen without the energy, dedication and creativity of our parent volunteers! Parent volunteers not only organize and run the event; they coordinate classroom contributions to the auction. Each classroom contributes a student art project and the creation of a themed basket(s) for auction. Each year the art projects get better and better. Some of the most spirited bidding occurs as classroom parents are driven to "own" their classroom's art project which vary from beautiful quilts to painted furniture pieces to a book of photographs of TMA children worthy of a place of honor on anyone's coffee table. Held at the Arlington Museum of Art, parents spend the early part of the evening eating, visiting, bidding on silent auction items, and enjoying multi-cultural entertainment. A live auction completes a wonderful evening of celebration, giving and community building.

Stepping Up Ceremony and Family Picnic

The milestone of the completion of another year of learning for all students is celebrated in May with a Stepping Up Ceremony and Family Picnic at nearby Veterans' Park. Parents make themselves comfortable on the grassy banks overlooking the outdoor amphitheatre while enjoying student skits, songs, and speeches. The school's graduates are recognized and lead the full-school procession through a vine-covered arch signifying another year of growth for all students. Families then continue the celebration with a pot-luck picnic dinner under a covered pavilion. Community members also participate in election of representatives to the Board of Directors.