News From The Nest: Issue #34

Friday, May 16th, 2025

Hello Elm Street School Families and Friends!

We had another busy week at the Nest as we head into this final stretch of the school year! Our grade 5 students completed the Science, Technology, and Engineering (STE) MCAS bringing our state testing season to a close. This coming Monday and Tuesday we will run make up sessions for any students who still need to complete sessions of STE and Math MCAS.

Wednesday evening we welcome our incoming Kindergarten families and friends to the Nest with a family meeting. We had new and familiar faces join us in person and online to learn more about Kindergarten at Elm and get some questions answered before we start screening appointments this coming week.

We wrapped up the week with our penultimate all school assembly of the 24-25 school year. Our kindergarteners did a fantastic job presenting in the share and sang us all a song about their growth over the year. School council shared announcements about this week's upcoming Penny War fundraiser for Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Wellness day at the end of the month. We ended the assembly with a round of high fives for students in kindergarten through grade 5 who accomplished goals, have been leaders in our community, and consistently demonstrate our SOARing expectations.

Our educators spent a lot of time this week on class placement for the 25-26 school year. We will make some additional adjustments in the coming weeks to help ensure that cohorts for next year are a balanced mix of students who can positively spark and support each other. As a reminder, class placement information and teacher assignments are shared via the Family Portal in August.

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

upcoming dates and celebrations for May
Essentialist Newsletter: MUSIC
counseling newsletter for May/June
School Start/End Times and School Calendar Update
Spring Concerts at Elm Information
Penny War for Dana Farber
Student Support and Attendance Newsletter
Keeping Kids Safe Online: A Project Childhood Presentation for Parents
2025 - 2026 School Year Calendar

We are excited to welcome back on Monday former Elm Street school students who are currently Seniors that are graduating to participate in the Senior Clap out. This is such a special tradition in our community and we are eager to help celebrate in this special season for our Seniors!

Jen

Upcoming Dates and Celebrations: May

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 May.

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.

Asian American, Native Hawai'ian, and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month
Mental Health Awareness Month
5/1: Grade 4 Math MCAS Session 1, Kindergarten Field Trip, 6:45p School Committee Meeting
5/2: Grade 4 Math MCAS Session 2
5/5: Cinco de Mayo, 7:30p Town Meeting
5/5-9: Educator Appreciation Week
5/6: Grade 5 Math MCAS Session 1
5/7: Grade 5 Math MCAS Session 2, 6:00p District Wide Art Show
5/8: Spring Photo Day
5/12: Vesak
5/14: Grade 5 STE MCAS Session 1, 6:30p Incoming Kindergarten Family Meeting
5/15: Grade 5 STE MCAS Session 2, 6:45p School Committee Meeting
5/16: Early Release Day, Elm Spirit Day (Mismatch Day)
5/20-21: Incoming Kindergarten Screening Days
5/20: 3:15p Elm School Council Meeting
5/23: Grade 5 Field Trip
5/26: Memorial Day SCHOOL CLOSED
5/27: Grade 3 Field Trip
5/29: Spring Concerts (Grade 3- 1:15p, Grade 4- 1:50p, Grade 5- 2:25p)

Essentialist Newsletter: MUSIC

Counseling Newsletter: May/June

School Start/End Times and School Calendar Update

Next year Elm Street School will switch to being a "late school". Every 3 years the elementary schools in Walpole rotate late and early school hours. For the 2025 - 2026 school year we will have an official start time of 9:00a and an end time of 3:30p.

Doors will open at 8:50a for arrival
We will begin dismissal at 3:20p in the afternoon
Early Release Dismissal will be at 12:25p

For a full list of start and end times for all Walpole Public Schools please click here.

The full school calendar will be available after the May 1st School Committee meeting.

Spring Concerts at Elm

Spring Concerts Are Coming!

We’re excited to invite families to our End-of-Year Spring Concerts, happening May 29th and June 3rd!

This year, we’re introducing a new concert schedule. Instead of the usual three days of concerts, concerts will happen across two school days (May 29th and June 3rd), and we are shifting to an afternoon schedule.

This change is designed to minimize the impact on families' busy schedules and make it easier for families with children in multiple grades to attend all of their kids' performances. With this new format, we hope you have more flexibility to enjoy each concert!

Concert Dates & Times:

Thursday, May 29th – Grades 3, 4, and 5

1:15pm: 3rd Grade
1:50pm: 4th Grade
2:25pm: 5th Grade

Tuesday, June 3rd – Grades K, 1 and 2

1:15pm: 2nd Grade
1:50pm: 1st Grade
2:25pm: Kindergarten

Over the last few weeks students in Grades K-5 have been reviewing songs and activities learned this year in preparation for their upcoming grade-level concerts. Performances will feature the culmination of their work demonstrating skills and concepts learned throughout the academic school year. Students are enthusiastically looking forward to sharing a “snapshot” of their musical experiences using song, instruments, improvisation, and movement. It has been a complete joy for me to hear and see them be so inspired to showcase their musical talents! I'm so proud of their accomplishments and I know you will be too. I hope you can join me in applauding our young musicians.

Due to traffic concerns, guests will not be allowed to enter the building until 5 minutes before the start of their child’s concert.

Thank you for supporting our amazing young musicians—we can’t wait to see you there!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at

jveneto@walpole.k12.ma.us

Jessica Veneto

Music Teacher

Penny War for Dana Farber

Our Grade 5 Student Council will be sponsoring a "Penny War" to raise funds that will be donated to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

The friendly competition will run from Monday May 19th - Friday May 23rd.

The rules are:

Each grade level will have their own collection bin located in the main lobby of the school
Pennies placed in a grade level bin count as positive points
Silver coins or paper bills placed in a grade level bin count as negative points
The grade level with the most positive points at the end of the week will win an extra recess

We will tally points each day and make an announcement in the afternoon updating students on the totals. We will also be keeping track of the overall amount of money raised. The student council has set our overall goal at $500

Student Support and Attendance Newsletter

Keeping Kids Safe Online: A Project Safe Childhood Presentation for Parents

The United States Attorney’s Office will be hosting a virtual internet safety presentation for all adults who wish to keep children safe online. Assistant United States Attorney Luke Goldworm and Victim Witness Specialist Lauryn Mackey will be joined by Special Agent Andrew Kelleher from Homeland Security Investigations Child Exploitation and Digital Forensics Unit to present a Webex Webinar:

Keeping Kids Safe and Secure Online: A Project Safe Childhood Presentation for Parents

Wednesday, June 4th from 6:30 – 7:30 pm.

A Q & A session will follow the presentation. The presentation will bring awareness to how predators are sexually exploiting children online and how to keep them safe.

Advanced registration is required. You may register for the webinar at the link below:

https://usao.webex.com/weblink/register/r4617269953953d7a4aaa839f6c3e110b

Fore more information visit this link.