News From The Nest: Issue #19

Friday, January 17th, 2025

Hello Elm Street School Families and Friends!

What a week it has been at the Nest! Some highlights from this week include an energy packed all school assembly with our Booster partners to get us excited about our fundraising goals and progress, kindergarten and grade 3 buddies meeting together to learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and collaborating on a project, second graders engaging in reading fables that are written as dramas, the kick off of ReadBowl in several classes across the grades, docent presentations in 5th grade about Georgia O'Keeffe, and first graders sharing their "All About" books in their book museum in class.

Our educator team focused on continuing our literacy professional development as we move deeper into the implementation of our new curriculum. Some of our team participated in learning walks this morning to help guide our professional development needs and hone our literacy teaching practices. (Learning walks are a great way to get a short glimpse into learning across grade levels and classrooms from multiple lenses and perspectives.) All of our K-5 educators then spent the afternoon of the early release day engaged in professional development focused on instructional routines in the upper elementary grades and differentiation within foundational skills instruction for our lower elementary teams. Keep your eye out in next week's News From the Nest for more information about how you can learn more about literacy learning at Elm during our next Coffee and Conversation.

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

upcoming dates and celebrations for January
counseling newsletter for January
Essentialist Newsletter: ART
Cold Weather Gear Reminder
Glow Run at Elm
January Spirit Day
Math Update: Productive Struggle
Student Support and Attendance December Newsletter
Private Lessons Through WPS Music
Walpole Scholarship Foundation Trivia Night

On Monday school is closed in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The MLK holiday is the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of Service- a day on rather than a day off. We encourage all of our Eagles and families to think about ways they can be of service to our community this coming Monday. If you are looking for ideas and more information on the Day of Service please visit the AmeriCorps website.

I hope you all have a safe and reflective extra long weekend and we will see everyone back in school on Tuesday, January 21st!

Jen

Upcoming Dates and Celebrations: January

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 January.

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.

1/1 New Year’s Day

1/2 School Reopens from Winter Break

1/6 Three Kings Day

1/9 6:45p School Committee Meeting

1/10 Battle of the Books Competition

1/14 3:15p Elm School Council Meeting

1/16 7:00p Elm PAC Meeting

1/17 Early Release Day- PD

1/20 Martin Luther King Jr. Day (School Closed), Inauguration Day

1/21 6:00p Public Budget Hearing

1/22 Day 90 HALFWAY DAY

1/23 6:45p School Committee Meeting

1/27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Elm Glow Run, Report Cards released to families

1/29 Lunar New Year

1/31 8:30a K-5 Assembly (students and staff only), Favorite Sports/Hobbies Spirit Day

Essentialist Newsletter: ART

Counseling Newsletter: January

Cold Weather Gear Reminder

Please help your children remember to bring cold weather gear to school. Boots, snow pants, a hat, and gloves/mittens are needed if children want to play in the snow. If they do not bring this gear they will be able to enjoy recess outdoors on the blacktop. Since we go out in the colder temperatures (unless the weather is extreme) it is important that all students have at least a warm coat, hat, and gloves/mittens.

Glow Run at Elm

We are at 66% participation and our goal is 85%. Can you help us reach our goal?

You can now sign up for our Elm Street Glow Run on 1/27! This event will be held during school hours. Sign your students up at MyBooster.com to get them going. Then, share near and far and gather donations from friends and family all over! Can we get sponsors from all 50 states?

Our goal is to raise $30,000 for cultural arts programs and school improvements. As of this morning we were just shy of being halfway to our goal!

Online Signup - OPEN NOW!

Fundraiser Kickoff in school - January 15

Glow Run Event - January 27

Signing up is easy and free! We are grateful for your support. Follow our social media pages and check your email for updates on this fundraiser.

January Spirit Day

On Friday January 31st, we will have our January Spirit Day and invite everyone to dress up to show their favorite hobby or sport. Wear a favorite jersey, your riding boots, dress like a chess board, don your favorite cooking apron- whatever it is, we want to see you representing the thing(s) you love to do outside of the Nest!

And don't forget: Every Wednesday- Walpole Wednesdays: we invite all students every Wednesday to show off their Walpole pride by wearing blue and orange, Walpole gear, Elm gear, Walpole sports jerseys, or other clothing that represents Walpole.

Math Update: Productive Struggle

When the calendar turns to January, while we might not be excited about the cold, teachers get excited about the amount of learning that is about to happen. January, February and March tend to be the most productive months of the school year. Routines have been well established, there are fewer interruptions in the school calendar and students and teachers are ready to dig deeper into the curriculum. Therefore it is a great time to talk about “Productive Struggle” in the math classroom. Productive struggle is the, “Process of effortful learning that develops grit and creative problem solving.” When students are involved in productive struggle they are more engaged with their work, making connections and trying different solutions and strategies. The focus turns away from getting it “right” to what are different ways to get there and show the thought process that got you there.

As teachers and parents, we can fall into the trap of providing too much help or too many hints because productive struggle can be uncomfortable. Our students are getting more and more used to immediate gratification with how technology has advanced over the years. If we truly want our students to grow as mathematicians and problem solvers, we need to take a step back and provide them with the opportunity to work through challenges. If we do, the benefits will include deeper conceptual understanding, enhanced problem solving skills, and a stronger growth mindset allowing students to overcome obstacles and think more creatively.

To promote productive struggle at home, when students are looking for help or hints you can try things like:

Asking them what they know about the problem and provide a scaffold from that point
Offer strategies and different starting points instead of hints
Praise effort and perseverance over correct answers (it is okay if they bring in an incorrect answer; it often is the start of a great math conversation!)
ClassDojo and Stanford University's PERTS research center created a three episode video series about perseverance, that your child can watch and discuss with you at home. These brief perseverance videos are also linked on The Power of Yet student page on our WPS Elementary Family Math site for future reference.
As your child works on a challenging problem, ask things like:

What is the question asking?
What information do you have?
Is there a tool or strategy that could help you?

The sense of accomplishment your student will feel after persevering and working through a tricky problem will be incredible and give them the energy to face the next challenge. If you’d like to read a little more about this topic, check out some of the articles below.

Productive Struggle & Math Rigor

The Power of Productive Struggle in the Math Classroom

Productive Struggle

Student Support and Attendance December Newsletter

Private Lessons Through WPS Music

The Walpole Public Schools Music Department is pleased to announce the spring session for our Private Lesson Program for students in grades 4 - 12. If your child is interested in taking private instrument or voice lessons, here is your chance. Lessons are offered in flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone horn, tuba, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello, guitar and voice. All lessons are taught by accomplished performers on their respective instruments. Some lessons are currently being taught virtually.

Session 2 will run February 3 to June 13. Registration is open Friday, January 10th through Monday, January 27th.

For more information, visit:

https://sites.google.com/walpole.k12.ma.us/wpsmusic/private-lesson-program/overview

To register, visit:

https://forms.gle/YGBjnmVE1V57US2m9

For questions, email:

Tim Fleming (K-12 Music Coordinator) at tfleming@walpole.k12.ma.us