Boyden Weekly Update

March 21, 2025

Dear Boyden Families,

Thank you for joining us at last weeks parent/teacher conferences. It is always great to have these conversations about our students, their progress and our goals for the rest of this school year. If you didn’t get an opportunity to meet with your student’s teacher, please contact them directly to schedule a meeting.

On Monday, we welcomed another cultural assembly to Boyden with the Harney Academy of Irish Dance performing for the whole school. It was an amazing performance and it was fun to see current and past Boyden students put on a great show

Have a nice weekend!

Brendan

Book Fair

Thank you to the Boyden community for making our Scholastic Book Fair such a success! Because of your hard work and enthusiasm, we were able to create a wonderful experience for our students and families while encouraging reading. Thanks to the success of the fair, the proceeds will help us purchase valuable resources for the media center and classrooms, benefiting students throughout the school. Thank you to Casey Feeney and the Boyden PAC for all your help and support.

March Mathness is in Full Swing

If your student has been buzzing about March Mathness, it’s because our exciting, math-filled tournament is in full swing! This school-wide competition, inspired by NCAA’s March Madness, has classes competing to solve the most ST Math puzzles and advance in the bracket. But here’s the best part—every class stays in the game! Wild Card opportunities and Honorable Mentions keep all students engaged, celebrating their hard work and progress throughout the tournament.

You may be wondering—why do we focus on ST Math puzzle progress? 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.

What are the Students Learning in Media/STEM?

Have your kindergarten students mentioned Pebble Go? They are beginning a unit on research and started by discussing what it means to be curious. This week students explored PebbleGo, a wonderful, developmentally appropriate database designed to spark curiosity and a love of learning in our young students. Students can explore topics like animals, science, social studies, and biographies. This tool encourages independent learning while fostering inquiry. They will use Pebble Go as a source for an upcoming animal project.

The first day of spring is here but for first grade and third grade it was a little chilly. These students began their engineering units using Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s I Am STEM, STEM I Am lessons. These hands-on activities encourage our learners to explore the engineering design process in exciting ways. First Grade read the book Ten on the Sled and discussed the problem in the story. They brainstormed how to create a sled which would hold 10 animals in place as it traveled down a hill. They will continue using the problem solving process in the next few weeks. Third Grade read John Rocco’s Blizzard and also discussed the problem in the story. They might be asking if anyone remembers the Blizzard of 1978! They brainstormed how to create a snowplow that attaches to a Dash Robot. Second graders are familiarizing themselves with nonfiction text features as they prepare for their animal research project. Grades 4 and 5 are reinforcing their DASH robot block coding skills. They will utilize coding in their upcoming projects.

Boyden School Report Card from DESE

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 school’s report card is available at https://reportcards.doe.mass.edu/2024/03070010

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 students are meeting or exceeding expectations at a higher percentage in English Language Arts, Math and STE than students across the state. To improve student performance in our school, we have implemented an intervention block in each grade to best meet the varying needs of our students in both English Language Arts and Math. In addition, we are focusing on student attendance to reduce chronic absenteeism this school year.

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.

Finally, if your child attends a school that receives federal Title I funds, you also have the right to request the following information about the qualifications of your child’s classroom teachers:

Whether your child’s teacher is licensed in the grade levels and subject areas they teach,
Whether your child’s teacher is teaching under an emergency license or waiver,
The college degree and major of your child’s teacher, and
Whether your child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

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 your building principal or district administration. To see our district’s report card or to search for other schools’ report cards, visit https://reportcards.doe.mass.edu/

What is Number Sense?

Number Sense is a person’s ability to:

Compose and decompose numbers
Compute mentally using a variety of strategies
Make reasonable estimates
Recognize patterns and relationships in numbers
Solve problems efficiently

From learning to count to tackling complex math problems, strong Number Sense helps students approach math with confidence. In addition to ST Math, students build these skills daily through Number Corner and classroom activities.

Want to support Number Sense at home? Check out these links:

Developing Number Sense at Home – Activities for car rides, meal prep, or while waiting at a restaurant
How to Build Number Sense: Simple and affordable ideas for the busy parent (video)(at the end of the video, she mentions the Starfall app which our students have access to through their school web page.)
What is Number Sense?

As we near the finish line of March Mathness, the energy in our classrooms is electric! The puzzle progress goal for March is 62%, and we’re aiming for every student to complete at least 80% of their grade level’s ST Math journey by June. This tournament is helping 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!

Literacy Resources

Book Recommendations

At Home Support

Support w/ High Frequency Words- shares information about what HFW words are, the way the brain learns to read them, and a routine families can try at home to support their child’s reading automaticity of these words!

Tapping and Blending- this video of me teaching a virtual Kindergarten Fundations lesson will show families how to support their child in tapping and blending to decode words

Early Literacy: Gamified - here are some websites families can check out if they are looking for a digital option

Boyden Running Club

As the Spring arrives it is time for the Boyden Running Club. Below is all the information and click on the link to register

Register Here

Extended Day Summer Program

Extended Day is excited to announce that Extended Day will be running a Pilot Summer Program this upcoming summer and registration is now live. We are anticipating registration to fill quickly and will do our best to enroll as many waitlisted students as possible.

This year, the camp will run for 4 weeks at Fisher Elementary and offer an Extended Day PM option for families. Registration will be open for incoming first through sixth graders. Registration will be available for individual weeks and families will have the option to register for all 4 weeks at a discounted rate.

Please see the attached PDF regarding Summer Camp Information and Registration Information for the Summer of 2025 and reach out to Dan Santangelo (dsantangelo@walpole.k12.ma.us) or Evan Storlazzi (estorlazzi@walpole.k12.ma.us) with any questions.

CLICK HERE for all the information

PAC NEWS

Next PAC Meeting is Wednesday, April 9th at 7:00 PM in the Boyden Media Center

Boyden/Walpole Apparel

The Run House, located at 15 West St, Walpole, MA, is proud to be the official retailer for Boyden Elementary School, with 20% of all profits going back to the Boyden Elementary School PAC. Chcek out all the great gear!