News From The Nest: Issue #26

Hello Elm Street School Families and Friends!

What a busy week at the Nest! Our week began with a visit from 8th graders in the chorus, band, and orchestra at Walpole Middle School who demonstrated the different options for music classes for our 5th graders as they start to prepare for their big transition to middle school. Tuesday started off with an "electrifying" performance for our grades 3-5 students from the National Theatre for Children focused all on energy conservation and renewable resources. Thank you to our PAC for supporting this performance through the Cultural Arts team!

Our Book Fair ran all week with open shopping hours on our two conference evenings and the early release day. A HUGE THANK YOU to Becca Costello, Jillian Viani, and all the volunteers who helped set up, joined book previews with classes, and ran the registers during open shopping hours.

In this edition of our newsletter you will find more information about:

• upcoming dates and celebrations for March
• Elm Street School Counselor March Newsletter: topics include- Growing self esteem, Assistance for Elm Families, Grandparents raising grandchildren, SEL lessons for March
• Essentialist Newsletter: PHYSICAL EDUCATION
• Elm Street School Coin War for Dana Farber Update
• Elm PAC Parents Night Out
• Principal's Office Podcast: Digital Learning and Citizenship with Kim Farley
• April Vacation and Summer Camp Opportunities
• Family Feedback for Class Placement 2026-2027
• SEPAC Upcoming Meeting 3/25 (Supporting Your Neurodivergent Child Over the Summer and Beyond)
• Walpole High School UNICEF Club Fundraiser
• Reminders from previous newsletters: Attendance, Arrival, Dismissal Form, 2026 - 2027 School Calendar, MCAS 2026 Dates, Attendance Information, Walpole Food Pantry
• Lunch Menus
• Walpole Virtual Backpack (community notices)

It was wonderful to see so many of you at Educator/Family conferences this week! Thank you for taking the time to come to the building or meet virtually to learn more about your child(ren)'s progress and goals for the rest of this school year. Hopefully you left your time here with a deeper understanding of your child(ren)'s strengths and growing edges and some thoughts and ideas about how to support their growth at home.

Enjoy the weekend!

Jen

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 March.

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.

March

• 2/18 - 3/19 Ramadan

• Women's History Month

• Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month

• 3/2 - 3/3 Purim

• 3/3 Holi

• 3/8 Daylight Savings Starts (turn clocks ahead one hour)

• 3/10 Family/Educator Evening Conferences, 4:00 - 8:00p Book Fair Shopping Open

• 3/12 Family/Educator Evening Conferences, 7:00p School Committee meeting, 4:00 - 8:00p Book Fair Shopping Open

• 3/13 Early Release Day, Family/Educator Conferences, 1:00 - 4:00p Book Fair Shopping Open

Our Coin War fundraiser has concluded. Thank you to everyone who sent in coins for this friendly competition to raise money for Dana Farber.

This year we raised $1,744.53. In second place, earning a pajama day for the grade, is FIRST GRADE! In first place, earning an extra recess for the grade is KINDERGARTEN!

Join the Elm Street PAC At Napper Tandy’s Walpole on Saturday, March 28 at 7 PM for our annual Parents’ Night Out! Tickets are $10 and include appetizers. We will have a 50-50 raffle, some great raffle baskets, and a few great auction items. Come for a drink or stay the whole night, but we hope to see you there! Get your tickets at www.elmstreetpac.org.

This month on the Principal's Office Podcast Kim Farley, the Elm Digital Learning Coach, shares about how we approach digital learning and citizenship here at Elm Street School. The episode kicks off with 5 Elm Eagles sharing about their experiences with technology in and outside of school. Mrs. Farley then joins to share about ways we help keep students safe while online at school, Walpole Public Schools approach to AI (Artificial Intelligence), and more. Head on over to Spotify to give it a listen!

2026 April Vacation Camp:

The Walpole Extended Day Program is excited to host our 2026 April Vacation Camp at Boyden Elementary School for all Walpole students in grades K-5! Camp will run from Tuesday, April 21st - Thursday, April 23rd. Camp hours are from 8:00am-4:00pm each day. Families who are registered for the camp option may also register for AM Extended Day (7:00am-8:00am) and PM Extended Day (4:00pm-5:00pm).

Registration opens on Thursday, March 5th. For more information, please visit the February and April Vacation Camps page on our website.

2026 Summer Camp:

The Walpole Extended Day Program is excited to host our 2026 Summer Camp at Fisher Elementary School for all incoming first-sixth grade Walpole students! This year, the camp will run for four weeks:

Week One: Monday, June 22nd - Friday, June 26th

Week Two: Monday, June 29th - Thursday, July 2nd (Closed on Friday, July 3rd)

Week Three: Monday, July 6th - Friday, July 10th

Week Four: Monday, July 13th - Friday, July 17th

Camp hours are from 8:30am-3:30pm each day. Families who are registered for the camp option may also register for AM Extended Day (7:30am-8:30am) and PM Extended Day (3:30pm-4:30pm).

Registration is open and we expect spots to fill up quickly! For more information, please visit the Summer Camp page on our website.

If you have any additional questions regarding registration for these programs, please reach out to Dan Santangelo (dsantangelo@walpole.k12.ma.us) and Evan Storlazzi (estorlazzi@walpole.k12.ma.us).

Starting now in March, we will devote a great deal of time, care and thought to creating the following year’s classes. This letter describes our class placement process. The goal of the placement process is to create balanced and equitable classes that provide the optimal learning environment for both the individual child and the group of children as a whole. We strive to create groupings that provide academic peers for each student and make it possible to provide high quality instruction and the most effective delivery of student services. As we balance classes, we create clusters as follows:

• Each class will have students who can spark each other, have common interests, and will work well together.

• Each class will have students with varied learning strengths, and students may be clustered to facilitate service delivery.

• Given sufficient numbers, students will not be isolated in terms of gender, race or ethnicity

Friendships are considered, and our primary focus is to provide appropriate learning peers for each student, understanding that each year brings new opportunities for friendships. We know that classroom communities in which students feel safe and supported allow for increased academic growth and achievement and we are committed to working with each cohort that we construct in the coming year to build and support those communities.

Class building is a team effort to which we devote a great deal of time and thought. Grade-level teachers, literacy specialists, instructional coaches, special education teachers and related service providers, our Multilingual Learning teacher, guidance counselors, and myself will all work together on our placement process over the next two months.

Family Role in the Placement Process

Our placement process includes an opportunity for families to provide information or share unique circumstances that you feel are important. We respect your right to advocate for your child and understand that you know your child best over time. If you feel that you have additional information that the placement team is not aware of, you are invited to fill out our Class Placement Feedback form. (Formulario de ubicación de clase en español, Formulário de colocação de classe em português)

All information must be submitted via the form no later than Friday, April 10th.

Completing the form is optional. The same care and consideration will be given to every child during the placement process whether or not a parent/guardian submits input. If you do complete the form, your information will be shared with the placement team. Please remember that our primary objective is to ensure that each student will be assigned to a class that they can learn and grow academically and socially, and to build classes that function as lively heterogeneous cohorts. Requests for specific teachers in writing or in person will not be considered as part of this process and will invalidate the form. We take our responsibility seriously and, therefore, allocate ample time and care as we engage in reflection while looking forward to planning for next year’s classes.

Want to have your own Easter Egg Hunt without the hassle of filling the eggs? Let the members of the WHS UNICEF Club prepare your candy-filled eggs for you.

We have two options available:

1. We can quietly scatter the candy-filled eggs in your Walpole yard in the evening of either Friday, April 3rd or Saturday, April 4th.

OR

2. We can drop off the bag of candy-filled eggs for you to scatter yourself.

The sign up form (https://forms.gle/3ghcx2aTVmdYjqjP8) is officially open and you can reserve a time slot and place your order for 25 eggs for $25, 50 eggs for $45, or 75 eggs for $65 for one of those days. You can also purchase special (larger) eggs (for $5 each) which will contain small easter toys such as squishies, tattoos, and stickers. Please see the flyer for more information including a QR code linked to the sign up form. Email the WHS UNICEF Club advisor, Mrs. Vanessa Hackett at vhackett@walpole.k12.ma.us with any questions. Thank you for your support!

We have officially transitioned to our new online reporting tool, the Elm Student Notification Form, to report absences, late arrivals, and changes to dismissal plans. You can also find the link to the form on the main page of our website by using the button labeled "ATTENDANCE"

• For ABSENCES and TARDIES, we ask that families do their best to complete this form as soon as possible in order to communicate with the main office. You will no longer need to leave messages on the Elm attendance line. We will be phasing out this number in the week after break.
• For EARLY DISMISSALS and CHANGES TO DISMISSAL PLANS, we ask that families complete this form no later than 2:00p when the form will be locked. This will minimize our front office staff calling and interrupting instruction. If there is an URGENT change in dismissal plans that occurs after 2:00p, families must call the main office to communicate the change.
• If families are reporting absences, tardies, early dismissals, and/or changes to dismissal plans for multiple students at the same time, please complete the form separately for each student.

By notifying our team in advance and centralizing information in one online platform we will be able to avoid interrupting instruction and avoid confusion and errors during dismissal.

Below is the schedule for MCAS that will take place in the Spring of this school year. We will share more information about MCAS and testing dates as we get closer. For now, please mark these dates in your calendar and help ensure that your child(ren) are present for each testing session for their grade level.

Grade 3

ELA Session 1: Tuesday March 31

ELA Session 2: Wednesday April 1

Math Session 1: Tuesday April 28

Math Session 2: Wednesday April 29

Grade 4

ELA Session 1: Thursday April 2

ELA Session 2: Tuesday April 7

Math Session 1: Thursday April 30

Math Session 2: Friday May 1

Grade 5

ELA Session 1: Wednesday April 8

ELA Session 2: Thursday April 9

Math Session 1: Tuesday May 5

Math Session 2: Wednesday May 6

STE Session 1: Wednesday May 13

STE Session 2: Thursday May 14

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.

The Walpole Food Pantry continues to support local families in need throughout the year. Donations of non-perishable food items, household essentials, and grocery store gift cards are always appreciated. You can help by dropping off contributions at the pantry during open hours or at one of the collection boxes located around town. Every donation—big or small—makes a meaningful difference for our neighbors in need.

https://www.wcfp.org/receiving-food

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