News From The Nest: Issue #25

Hello Elm Street School Families and Friends!

Our first full week back was certainly full of engagement and learning! Our week kicked off with our grade 2 students attending at STEM focused field trip to Gillette Stadium where they got a chance to tour the Patriot's Hall of Fame and interact with engineering design challenges in small groups. Across our grades 3-5 classrooms students began to interact with practice MCAS test questions in preparation for their upcoming sessions in ELA. They gained familiarity with the format and types of questions and received feedback and coaching from their teachers and peers on test taking strategies. We closed out the week with several classes previewing the Book Fair and Science by Scientists visiting grade 4 to support their study of energy.

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: ART
• Elm Street School Coin War for Dana Farber
• Elm PAC Parents Night Out
• WHS Career Day
• Math Coach's Corner: March
• Elm Street School Report Card
• April Vacation and Summer Camp Opportunities
• Family Feedback for Class Placement 2026-2027
• 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)

There is A LOT happening around the Nest next week. We have our Family/Educator conferences, the Book Fair, and our Student Council sponsored Coin War fundraiser for Dana Farber. Be sure to send in your nickels, dimes, and quarters to help your child(ren)'s grade level(s) come out victorious at the end of the week. The grade level with the highest total (dimes and nickels add to the total, quarters subtract), will win an extra recess for their grade level and the grade with the second highest total will win a pajama day.

Have a great weekend and I hope to see you next week in the building at our Book Fair and Family/Educator conferences!

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 for Dana Farber is returning! Last year we raised over $2,000.00 and we are setting our fundraising goal this year at $2,500.00.

There will be bins for each grade level in the main lobby the week of March 9-13th. Dimes and nickels ADD to the grade level's total and quarters SUBTRACT. No pennies or paper bills will be allowed this year. The goal is to be the grade level to have the highest total by the week's end so students will want to put dimes and nickels in their grade level bin and quarters in other grade level bins. We will announce totals at the end of each day.

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.

Walpole High School is hosting a Career Day on March 13th from 7:30-11 AM and we are looking for a few more people to present to the students. This can be done both in person and virtually.

We are asking community members to speak to our students about their careers for 10-15 minutes per session followed by Q&A.

The day will run as 4 sessions from 7:30-11:00 AM. If you are available, please feel free to sign up for as many or as few as you would like. Here is the sign up sheet.

Next week marks the beginning of our annual ST Math, March Mathness School Competitions. This school-wide competition, inspired by NCAA’s March Madness, has classes competing to solve ST Math puzzles and reach their weekly goals. There’s a new twist to the competition this year. Instead of focusing on which class has the highest puzzle average, classes will earn points based on the percentage of students who reach their weekly goal. This new focus not only keeps all classes in the competition throughout the whole month, but it also encourages classes to work as a team to make sure all students hit their goal to help the class earn points. Classes will earn spots on the prize wheel each week based on their points earned.

You may be wondering—why do we focus on ST Math puzzle progress and why now? It’s more than just solving puzzles. ST Math builds essential problem-solving skills, perseverance, and most importantly, Number Sense—a critical foundation for mathematical thinking. Since ST Math has no written directions, students must analyze patterns, think critically, and apply what they’ve learned to help JiJi cross the screen. The challenges get progressively harder, encouraging students to build connections and deepen their understanding. Besides the fact that the timing lines up with the NCAA March Madness competition, this time of year is a crucial time for students to make progress through their ST Math journey. The ST Math puzzles in each grade level provide students with both previews and reviews of math content taught in our core Bridges Curriculum. Research shows that when students reach at least 60% of their grade level journey they can increase their state test scores by up to 10 percentile points regardless of their subgroup. A recent impact study done by Brown University on the One8-funded ST Math schools reports:

• Emerging findings suggest that students in One8-funded ST Math schools have greater math learning gains than academically and demographically similar peers in other schools. These impacts are similar across student groups.

• Impacts on test scores appear to be concentrated in classrooms where students make more progress in the program, with no diminishing returns to usage.

• Student learning gains are highest in grades in a school where the average student completes more than 80% of puzzles. In these grades, ST Math is associated with a 0.06 standard deviation improvement in MCAS math test scores, or a little more than a month of learning.

The puzzle progress goal for the end of March is 60%, and we’re aiming for every student to complete at least 80% of their grade level’s ST Math journey by June. This tournament helps so many students take positive steps toward that goal, and we love seeing their enthusiasm for math grow. Thank you for your support—we can’t wait to celebrate all their hard work!

Every year, each public school and school district in Massachusetts receives a report card. Just as your child’s report card shows how they are doing in different subjects, the school’s report card is designed to show families how our school is doing in different areas. A link to our district’s report card is available at: https://reportcards.doe.mass.edu/2025/DistrictReportcard/03070000. A link to our school’s report card is available at: https://reportcards.doe.mass.edu/2025/03070005.

The report card includes multiple measures of a school’s performance – more than just MCAS scores. It represents a new way of looking at school performance, by providing information on student achievement, teacher qualifications, student learning opportunities, and more.

Report cards are designed to be useful tools for everyone connected to our school. Families can use the information to have meaningful conversations with us about what the school is doing well and where there is room for improvement. Community and education leaders can use the information to better understand how to support students and our school.

You will notice on our report card that more students at Elm are meeting or exceeding expectations in both ELA and Math as compared to last school year. You will also notice that we are improving our student attendance year to year and reducing excessive absences which impact student engagement and performance. To improve student performance in our school, we are focusing on improving writing instruction this year, strengthening our approach to science instruction aligned with the standards, and consistently providing differentiated instruction and tiered supports that meet each individual student's needs. We encourage you to become involved in helping us improve our school. We see parents as critical partners in the success of our students and school, and we are grateful for your continued support.

If you have questions about our school’s report card, would like to become involved in school improvement activities, or would like to request information about the qualifications of your child’s classroom teacher, please contact me (jbuller@walpole.k12.ma.us). To see our district’s report card or to search for other schools’ report cards, visit reportcards.doe.mass.edu.

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.

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