Hello Elm Street School Families and Friends!
We had another busy and engaging week at the Nest! Thank you to all the families who joined us this morning to engage with Mrs. Torigian and hear more about math instruction at Elm. There was so much rich information shared and we had a great time being students ourselves and noodling over a challenging math exploration with toothpicks!
In classrooms this week our Kindergarteners were working on vowel sounds while our second graders worked on closed syllable exceptions and third graders began a new reading unit that focuses on building knowledge about how people use words to express themselves, with a focus on the poetry genre and letters. Our fifth graders began switching classes for social studies, science, and foundational skills to help start to prepare them for middle school. You can find more detailed information about curriculum updates specific to your child(ren)'s classroom in weekly or bi-weekly updates from their teacher.
In this edition of our weekly newsletter you will find information about:
- upcoming dates and celebrations for October
- September/October Counseling Newsletter
- Essentialists' Update: Art
- October Coffee and Conversation Follow Up
- MCAS Scores
- Battle of the Books Update
- SEPAC Meeting
- Multilingual Learner Family Meet and Greet Dinner
I hope everyone enjoys the weekend and has a chance to check out the Walpole 300th Anniversary parade and festivities this weekend. We will see all our Eagles back at the Nest on Monday for another full week of engagement, growth, and joy!
Jen
Upcoming Dates and Celebrations: October
At the beginning of each month I will share a calendar of some upcoming Elm events as well as upcoming cultural celebrations and heritage months with hyperlinks to more information if you are interested in learning more. Below is information for the month of October.
If there are cultural celebrations that are important to you and your family that you would like to share with the adult Elm community, please email me so I can be sure to include them in upcoming newsletters. If you have any questions about anything you see on our calendar, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly.
10/1 Learning Disabilities Awareness Month begins
10/2-4 Rosh Hashanah
10/3-12 Navaratri
10/4 Coffee and Conversation: K-5 Math Learning at Elm
10/10 6:45p School Committee Meeting
10/11 Early Release Day, National Coming Out Day
10/11-12 Yom Kippur
10/14 No School: Indigenous People’s Day, Columbus Day
10/16-23 Sukkot
10/17 7:00p Elm PAC Meeting
10/21-27 Scholastic Book Fair
10/22 3:15p Elm School Council Meeting
10/23 6:00p Multilingual Learner Family Meeting and Greet Dinner
10/24 6:00 - 8:00p Elm Book Fair Night, 6:45p School Committee Meeting
10/27 12:00 - 3:00p Elm Fall Festival
10/31 Halloween
October Coffee and Conversation Update
This morning we had a great turn out for a super informative and engaging presentation from Mrs. Torigian all about math learning at Elm Street School. She shared information about our curriculum (Bridges) and supporting resources (ST Math and Math Fact Lab). She also shared lots of resources for families to learn more about and engage in math learning at home through our Math Family Website. This site truly is a treasure trove of resources so if you haven't explored it yet, please take some time to click around.
If you missed this morning you can access the information shared through this shared slide deck.
Save the date for our next Coffee and Conversation on November 8th where our topic of conversation will be executive functioning and homework at Elm.
MCAS Scores
This coming week, the Walpole Public Schools will be mailing MCAS results home to families. It is important to understand that the MCAS are one of the many ways we measure student progress, growth, and achievement across the curriculum. We also use many ongoing assessments in classrooms not only to measure student progress but also to assess the success of our district curriculum. Family-Educator conferences will be taking place in November and this is a great opportunity to hear about specific aspects of the grade-level standards that going well for your child and other areas that may be a challenge.
At Elm we utilize this data in conjunction with other data points to identify areas of improvement in our instruction and students who may need additional support in and out of the classroom. We have already begun to analyze the data as a team and will continue to spend some time in the coming weeks looking at this information as we design instruction for all students.
Battle of the Books Update
This morning all of our grades 3-5 students logged on in their classrooms to livestream the announcement of Battle of the Books teams and coaches. There was so much excitement building up to today's announcement and students were eager to get started and connect with their teammates.
Our first Battle of the Books meeting in teams is next week and book check out from the library for the Battle titles will start on Monday. For students who are not participating in each grade they will spend time together engaged in independent reading during the 5 battle meetings leading up to the competition in January.
You can learn more about Battle of the Books on our Elm Street School Battle website.
Walpole 300th Anniversary Parade
The Walpole's 300th Anniversary Parade is a few short week's away. The Parade will kick off on October 5th at 11am from the Norfolk County Agricultural High School and proceed up Main Street to the Town Common and then turn and proceed up Common Street to Walpole High School which will allow for 2 miles of viewing. Downtown we will have food trucks around the common. Join us as we watch bands and performance groups from around the region celebrate our hometown.
Multilingual Learner Family Meet and Greet Dinner
Walpole Public Schools MLPAC invites families of multilingual learners who are currently or were formerly in an English Language Education (ELE) program to attend the Multilingual Learner Family Meet & Greet Dinner. Come for dinner at the new Walpole Middle School and stay to meet faculty, staff, and other multilingual learner families in our Walpole school community.
ML FAMILY MEET & GREET DINNER INFORMATION
DATE: Wednesday, October 23, 2024
PLACE: Walpole Middle School Cafeteria (625 Washington Street, Door #1)
TIME: 6:00 - 7:00 P.M.
Bring your whole family!
Cheese pizza, salad, and water will be provided!
You are welcome to bring a favorite food item (appetizer, main/side dish, dessert) to share!
Please label all food items with a list of the ingredients due to food allergies.
Please contact the Multilingual Learner Family Engagement Center at mlfec@walpole.k12.ma.us or at (508) 660-7257 ext. 5033 for further information.
Nest Connections
Email: jbuller@walpole.k12.ma.us
Website: https://www.walpole.k12.ma.us/o/ess
Location: 415 Elm Street, Walpole, MA, USA
Phone: 508.660.7374
Instagram: ElmStSchool