News From The Nest: Issue #5
September 26th, 2025
Hello Elm Street School Families and Friends!
We are certainly off and soaring through the start of this school year! Our week consisted of emergency preparedness practice with our friends at the Walpole Police Department, welcoming families to our Elm Street School Curriculum Night, and our first all school assembly on top of all of the rich and engaging learning opportunities all across kindergarten through grade 5. To say we've been busy would be an understatement!
In this edition of our newsletter you will find more information about:
- upcoming dates and celebrations for October
- Elm Street School Counselor September/October Newsletter- Topics include: navigating separation anxiety and upcoming themes for SEL classroom lessons
- Lice Prevention and Remediation (October 15th Family Workshop)
- Curriculum Night Follow Up
- September Assembly
- Reminders from previous newsletters (Math Corner, Bus Expectations, Attendance Information, front office reminders)
- Lunch Menus
- Walpole Virtual Backpack (community notices)
I hope you all have a great weekend and experience some opportunities to get outside and enjoy the start to the autumn season. I look forward to seeing many of you at this week's upcoming Elm PAC meeting on Tuesday (9/30)!
Jen
Upcoming Dates: 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 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.
October
10/1-2 Yom Kippur
10/6-13 Sukkot
10/9 6:45p School Committee Meeting
10/10 Early Release Day
10/11 National Coming Out Day
10/13 School Closed: Indigenous People’s Day, Columbus Day
10/16 7:00p Elm PAC Meeting
10/23 6:45p School Committee Meeting
10/24 Glow Run Launch
10/28 3:45p Elm School Council Meeting
10/31 Halloween
Lice Prevention and Remediation
With a few cases of lice in the building here at Elm and entering the time of the year that we tend to see lice cases rise we want to offer some reminders and suggestions for lice prevention and remediation.
For cases in the Elm Street School community we follow guidance and protocols put forth by the CDC, National Association of School Nurses, and the Walpole Public Schools. You can read that guidance here.
In order to help you identify and treat cases of lice at home please take a look at this resource. Through regular checks, proactive measures such as tying back longer hair, and thorough treatments at home we can reduce the incidences of cases within the community.
Additionally, join us for a free presentation on October 15th at 6pm with Camille Merian, the owner of Close Nit Family in Norwell. This presentation will offer parents a thorough, science-based guide to understanding head lice. It will clear up common myths, provide effective prevention strategies, and recommends proven treatment methods. Emphasizing the importance of accurate information and regular head checks to become an advocate for your family.
About the presenter: Camille Merian is the founder of Close Nit Family, a professional lice removal service. Drawing from her own experience managing head lice in her family, Camille combines compassion, expertise, and non-toxic treatments to help families quickly return to their normal routines. With a team of professional moms, medical assistants and hair stylists, Camille is dedicated to reducing stress, educating families on lice prevention, and turning the "lice panic" into a manageable and empowering experience.
CloseNitFamily
Head Lice Treatment & Education Centers
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Call/text: 781-741-LICE
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Curriculum Night Follow Up
Thank you to all of the families who were able to join us on Thursday evening for our Elm Curriculum Night! We enjoyed having you all in the building and sharing about our goals for the upcoming school year.
If you were unable to join us and/or missed the Family Meeting session in the cafeteria, you can review the slides here. In the slides are some important reminders about bus safety and expectations, discipline at Elm Street School, as well as important upcoming dates through December.
As always, please don't hesitate to reach out with any follow up questions or feedback!
September Assembly
Each month we gather together as a whole school to be in community with each other and celebrate our hard work and accomplishments together. We follow this same format each month:
- Greeting
- Share
- Announcements and Celebrations
- High Fives
Many of you got a chance to practice some of our favorite greetings at Curriculum Night ("what's shakin' bacon" and "what's the deal lemon peel"). We switch them up each month and even take student suggestions such as the popular banana split greeting last year.
During our "Share" section each grade level will get a chance over the course of the year to come up on the stage and share about something they are learning about in class. Our "specials" classes also have an opportunity to share as well. For September our "Share" was some practice and reminders about expectations for all school assemblies.
During announcements and celebrations we talk about upcoming events (such as Walpole Wednesdays and the Glow Run), hear from our Grade 5 Student Council leaders, and celebrate in and out of school accomplishments of our students (such as dance competitions and championship teams). We also have used this time to showcase some of our students' incredible talents from playing the piano to yo-yo tricks and so much more!
We wrap up each assembly by calling up students who received high fives for the month and inviting them to come through our "high five tunnel" of grade 5 leaders and then receive their paper high five from me as they exit the stage. High Fives are given out to students who have gone above and beyond in showing our SOARing expectations, experienced achievement, growth, and/or success in their academic pursuits, and/or shown extraordinary kindness, helpfulness, and empathy in our school community.
Though we wish we could invite you all to join us at the assemblies we are limited by space as just with students and our team of educators we fill every last bit of space where we gather so our assemblies are students only at this time. I will give updates each month about our assemblies and you can follow up with your child(ren) about what they experienced. You can also check out some of our team's Instagram pages for some photos of the assemblies.
Math Corner
Welcome to the Math Corner of the Weekly S’more! Each month, we use this space to share helpful tips, resources, activities, and insights related to elementary math across the district. We’re our district’s elementary math coaches - Sheila Rinaldi-Boyden/OPR (srinaldi@walpole.k12.ma.us) and Jennifer Torigian Elm/Fisher (jtorigian@walpole.k12.ma.us) - working to support students, teachers, and families in building a love of math. If you ever have a topic or question you’d like us to explore, feel free to reach out to us via email and we will do our best to include it in a future Math Corner of the S’more!
Every September, we like to share our Math Family Website, a resource for families that supports all components of our elementary mathematics curriculum here in Walpole. For Parents and Caregivers, you will find resources on:
For students, we offer quick access to:
Our school year is off to a strong start! Students are already solving puzzles with JiJi in ST Math, finding new patterns in their Number Corner Calendar Grids, mastering their facts with Math Fact Lab, playing new Work Place Games, and diving into their Bridges investigation lessons. We are excited for a great year of mathematical learning, growth and excitement!
Bus Expectations
Since the start of the school year we have had several incidents of unsafe behavior on the buses and the need for some reminders for students about expected behavior on the bus. Please review the bus conduct and safety rules which can be found in the WPS Elementary Handbook and Code of Conduct with your child(ren) if they ride the bus. Our goal is to ensure a safe ride to and from school for everyone who utilizes this service.
The handbook also includes disciplinary action that could be taken if students continue to not meet expectations.
Violations of these procedures could result in the following actions
A. FIRST VIOLATION: Upon receipt of a Bus Conduct Report, the Principal will issue a warning and inform Central Office and the driver, as well as the parents of the child.
B. SECOND VIOLATION: A second violation will result in a suspension of bus privileges for a minimum of five (5) school days.
C. THIRD VIOLATION: A third violation may result in a suspension of bus privileges for the remainder of the school year.
D. The Walpole School Department, through the Superintendent of Schools or his designee, retains the right to suspend the bus privileges of any student for behavior or misconduct that endangers the safety of its students, the driver, or the bus at any time. Parents, bus driver and Central Office will be notified of all suspensions in writing by the Principal. Further disciplinary action may be taken by School Administrators depending on the severity of the
offense.
Please discuss these rules and procedures with your student and contact Jen Buller if you have any questions or concerns.
Front Office Reminders
Absences: If your student is going to be absent or tardy, please call the absence line and let us know in advance. You may call this line at anytime and leave a message. The telephone number is 508-660-7374 and then press 1
Early Dismissals: Please send a hand written note with your student in the morning or email the classroom teacher and Ms. Torigian in the main office (atorigian@walpole.k12.ma.us)
Afterschool dismissal changes: If your student is changing their typical way of leaving Elm Street School at 3:30pm, please send a note into school with the plan that morning.
*If you haven't already filled out the dismissal plan form sent by Ms. Torigian, please do so as soon as possible.
Attendance Matters at Elm Street School
What is Chronic Absenteeism?
A student is considered Chronically Absent when they miss 10% of the school year. In Massachusetts, this means a student who misses 18 or more days, regardless of an excused or unexcused reason, is classified as chronically absent. Just two missed days each month can lead to this status.
Why is school attendance so important?
Students who are in school consistently are more successful learners. Per the National Center for Education Statistics: A missed school day is a lost opportunity for students to learn and interact with their classmates. Students who attend school regularly have been shown to achieve at higher levels than students who do not have regular attendance. This relationship between attendance and achievement may appear early in a child's school career. Greater absenteeism during the school year can lead to lower achievement in reading, math, and general knowledge. Poor attendance has serious implications for later outcomes as well. High school dropouts have been found to have exhibited a history of negative behaviors, including high levels of absenteeism throughout their childhood, at higher rates than high school graduates.
If your child starts to accumulate absences, we will work with families to figure out the best way to help improve your child's attendance at school.
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