OPR Weekly Update
January 5, 2024
Dear OPR Families,
Happy New Year! The first four school days of 2024 have been highly productive. Students are focused and engaged in their learning and experiencing success every day.
The Student Council Spirit Day OPR/Walpole Day is on Thursday, January 11th! Everyone should show their spirit by wearing OPR/Walpole clothing or colors!
Reminder: There is no school on Friday, January 12th or Monday, January 15th.
Click here to watch today's OPR Video News.
Sincerely,
David N. Barner, Principal
Email: dbarner@walpole.k12.ma.us
Instagram: OLDPOSTROADSCHOOL_WALPOLE
Twitter: @oprschool
OPR Website
JANUARY
8 PAC sponsored Discovery Museum Forces and Motion Program for Kindergarten
10 PAC Meeting, STEM Lab at 7:00 PM
11 Student Council Spirit Day: OPR/Walpole Day! Wear your OPR or Walpole clothing or colors!
12 No School for Students - Professional Development for WPS Staff
15 No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
22 Term 1 Grading Ends
25 PAC sponsored STEM Night for Grade 2 Students and Parents in the Cafeteria from 6-7:30 PM. This experience is free for families. See Sign Up Below.
FEBRUARY
1 PAC sponsored STEM Night for Grade 3 Students and Parents in the Cafeteria from 6-7:30 PM. This experience is free for families. Sign Up Coming Soon.
5 OPR Kindness Week!
7 PAC Meeting, STEM Lab at 7:00 PM
9 Early Release: Dismissal is at 11:55 (beginning at 11:49)
9 PAC sponsored Stay on the Half Day
9 Term One Reports Cards Viewable in the Aspen Family Portal
9 Student Council Spirit Day: OPR/Walpole Day Again! (Wear Walpole or OPR clothing or colors to show your spirit.)
16 Student Council Spirit Day: Color Day! Each grade wears the col,or assigned to them: Kindergarten - Red, Grade 1 - Blue, Grade 2 - Green, Grade 3 - Orange, Grade 4 - Yellow, Grade 5 - Purple
19-23 No School - February Vacation
29 PAC sponsored STEM Night for Grade 4 and Grade 5 Students and Parents in the Cafeteria from 6-7:30 PM. This experience is free for families. Sign Up Coming Soon.
Arrival: 8:15-8:25 AM
Tardy Bell is at 8:25 AM. (Students must be signed in at the office by an adult if tardy.)
Early Release Dismissal: 11:55 (Dismissal begins at 11:49)
Dismissal: 2:55 PM (Dismissal begins at 2:49)
If your child is going to be absent or tardy, please call the OPR office before school (508-660-7219) and press 1 for the absence line. The automated attendance verification system is in use. Those students marked absent and who have not called in will receive an automated phone call.
Extended Day February Break Camp Information
Where: Boyden Elementary School
When: February 20-22, 2024 (Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursday)
Cost: $80/day (10% discount for educators or siblings)
Registration Link: https://forms.gle/TujRsqvz3vsMHzw39
STEM with Mrs. Morris
Happy New Year! The end of 2023 brought many opportunities for students to continue practicing their coding skills in STEM. Grades 2-5 had the chance to participate in Hour of Code week at the beginning of December. Hour of Code week gives students a fun introduction to computer science and has become a global learning event and celebration. Students were given the opportunity to choose which activity they would like to complete.
Students in kindergarten, first, and second grade completed lessons using the Sphero indi robot. The Sphero indi robot uses colored tiles to empower students to design and build their own mazes while learning the basics of coding and problem solving. It is a great robot for teaching computational thinking skills.
The students in third, fourth, and fifth grade were finally able to display their parade floats they have been designing for several weeks. It was great seeing their hard work building their lego floats and coding the parade route finally shared with their class. This week students have been using time to reflect with their partners on the engineering design process they followed for this lesson and sharing their experiences with a Google slides presentation.
Digital Learning with Mrs. Milnamow
Happy New Year, OPR Digital Learners! Our students were so successful last calendar year, I can only dream about what they will accomplish in 2024!
Our Kindergarten students have been working hard using a program called SeeSaw. This is an interactive platform where teachers can create assignments, students can complete them, and magically send them back to their teacher! They are learning to take photos with their computer, click and drag, resize images and text, add and edit text boxes, etc.
In grade one, one class used AI (Artificial Intelligence) in Canva and ChatGPT to create a book in Book Creator. It is a sequel to Caralyn Buehner’s Snowmen series called “Snowmen at School.” We were able to have the computer generate the illustrations and the rhyming couplets based on what we described. We had a blast making it. All three first grade classes are beginning their Community Interviews project and we will be creating another sequel. Stay tuned! First graders are also getting started with Math Fact Lab- a great program that blends visual models with fact practice.
Second grade has recently begun using Typing.com. Being able to type accurately and efficiently is a critical skill in our ever-changing technological landscape. This program provides individually paced lessons to teach students where to place their fingers and how to use the features of the keyboard. Students learn to type with both hands and still maintain focus on the screen. Keep working hard!
In third grade, our Would You Rather podcast has been a hit! Students are given two options and debate each other using reasoning skills to respectfully argue their opinion.. Additionally, Math Fact Lab has taken off and our students are solidifying their addition and subtraction facts and will soon be moving into using visual models to develop fluency with multiplication and division facts as well.
Fourth graders are giving our green screen a try. They have been working on Extreme Weather slideshows and some students are acting out a “first hand experience” with the type of weather they researched. Then, we use a program called DoInk to put a realistic stormy background behind them so it looks like they are really there, experiencing the elements!
Grade five continue to grow with their digital skills. We have added in Math Fact Lab to a few more classrooms to build that basic fact fluency and connect basic facts to more complex problems. One grade five class is using Book Creator to build student portfolios, so families can see some work samples from their students. What a great idea!
We have plenty of new digital adventures coming your way!
News from the Nurse
If your student can not participate fully in physical activity (P.E. class is a required part of the curriculum) during the school day, please submit a Doctor’s letter to the Health Office with their physical activity restrictions. As we understand that your student may not feel 100% on some days, we need to ensure your child is safe at school and under medical care. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
As always, please contact your pediatrician with any medical concerns.
Request an absence excusal letter from your provider when your child has been under their care. We understand that absences related to medical needs are unavoidable and with these medical letters, their absences will be excused.
Please have your Emergency Contacts up to date in case your child becomes ill at school! Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!
Bonnie Kowalsky, M.ed. BSN RN
OPR School Nurse
99 Old Post Road
East Walpole, MA 02032
phone: 508-660-7219 ext 5804
fax: 866.809.6567
Here is a link to the WPS Health Services website. On this site you can find links to forms (i.e. medication administration, over the counter medication consent forms), medication policies, and information regarding illnesses, concussions and injuries.
PAC NEWS
Please join us for the OPR PAC Meeting on Wednesday, January 10th at 7:00 PM in the OPR STEM LAB or virtually via ZOOM: https://zoom.us/j/96242172132
The PAC meeting agenda is attached.
Who loves OPR? We do! Sign up here to volunteer to coordinate one of our great events or fundraisers this year. PAC Coordinator Sign up:
https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/9040e49a4aa2ba2fb6-oprpac1
mabel's labels
https://mabelslabels.com/en_US/fundraising/support/
Starting to lose those water bottles? Put a label on it! Please navigate to Support a Fundraiser and select Old Post Road Parent Advisory Committee.
Box Tops
Download the App for BoxTops for Education and scan receipt within 14 days of purchase. Assign Credit by selecting the Star and entering the Teacher’s Last name before you hit submit.
PAC Socal Media / Contact Info.
Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OPR.PAC
please add: Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oprpacwalpole
Email with questions: oprpacwalpole@gmail.com
OPR Textile Bin Donations
Massachusetts no longer allows clothing to be disposed of in the trash. Clothing must be donated or recycled. RECYCLE your clothing and textiles in the OPR Collection Bin and OPR receives money.
The collections resulted in the following:
2022 Calendar Year Total - $907.50
January 2023 - $102.00
February 2023 - $83.25
March 2023 - $95.50
April 2023 - $93.00
May 2023 - $88.20
June 2023 - $126.90
July 2023 - $100.20
August 2023 - $92.40
September 2023 - $118.80
October 2023 - $90.60
November 2023 - $113.70
December 2023 - $81.30
2023 Calendar Year Total - $1210.60
Multilingual Learner PAC (MLPAC) Meeting
Please contact the Multilingual Learner Family Engagement Center at mlfec@walpole.k12.ma.us or at (508) 660-7257 ext. 5033 for further information.
WPS Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) MEETING
SEPAC MEETING: Jan 8, 2024 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86805248716
Meeting ID: 868 0524 8716
Please note the following contact information for Walpole’s Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC). Co-Chairs are Sue Pace and Deborah Mulroy. The SEPAC can be reached by email at walpolesepac@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/walpolespedpac. Notices of future events can be found in this Weekly Update as they are scheduled.
About Us
OPR Mission Statement
The Old Post Road School community educates all students to excel and become productive citizens.
OPR Vision
OPR students will be motivated to learn in a supportive and safe environment. The faculty will foster self-confidence in the students and encourage them to make positive choices. Students will learn to accept responsibility for their behavior and will mature into responsible citizens and lifelong learners. All students will appreciate that they are part of a diverse, global society.
Instagram: OLDPOSTROADSCHOOL_WALPOLE
Twitter: @oprschool
Email: dbarner@walpole.k12.ma.us
99 Old Post Road
East Walpole, MA 02032
508-660-7219
