Hello Elm Street School Families and Friends,

I hope that you all have some opportunities to engage with activities that spark joy for you over this upcoming long weekend.

This week our educators engaged in diving into some of the data we have that helps inform our instructional practices and work to meet the diverse needs of all our learners. Our grades 1-5 educators worked alongside our literacy specialists to analyze iReady data on Monday during Grade Level Team meetings and our whole staff participated in the first part of a data inquiry cycle looking into our MCAS data. Today on our early release day our Essentialists and Specialists engaged in department meetings with colleagues from across the district. Our K-2 educators attended a district wide literacy meeting focused on improving instructional practices around vocabulary acquisition and early literacy screeners, while our grades 3-5 educators attended a district wide math meeting focused on launching and supporting ST Math and examining Bridges assessment data.

In this week's News from the Nest below you will find information about:

• Upcoming events in October
• October 3rd episode of Soaring Speakers
• Weekly Essentialist Newsletter: Art
• Halloween at Elm Street School
• MLPAC Meeting
• Sign ups for Family/Educator conferences
• The new PAC website
• Book Fair information and volunteer sign ups
• Diwali Celebration
• Elm Street School Online Apparel Shop

Have a safe and restful long weekend and we will see everyone back at school on Tuesday!

Jen

As I shared in September, 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. Naming these events and celebrations and linking them to resources for community members to learn more allows us to work towards a more inclusive, safe, and affirming community for all. The events and celebrations listed do not necessarily coincide with what we are engaging with inside our curriculum and lessons. If we are going to engage in any all school celebrations or directed learning activities regarding any of these events we will communicate that out to the community.

Also you are welcome and encouraged to access grade level curriculum resources to get some windows into what students are learning here each day at Elm in addition to the resources that our counselors share each month regarding our SOAR lessons.

• 10/1 Learning Disabilities Awareness Month begins
  

• 10/2 National Custodian Day

• 10/6 Early Release Day

• 10/9 No School: Indigenous People’s Day, Columbus Day

• 10/11 National Coming Out Day

• 10/12 6:45p School Committee Meeting

• 10/15-24 Navaratri

• 10/18 6:00p MLPAC Meeting

• 10/19 7:00p Elm PAC Meeting

• 10/23 - 29 Scholastic Book Fair

• 10/25 6:00p Evening Family/Educator Conferences

• 10/26 6:45p School Committee Meeting

• 10/27 Early Release: Family/Educator Conferences

• 10/29 3:00 - 5:00p Elm Fall Festival

• 10/31 Halloween

Please take a moment to listen to our first Soaring Speakers episode of the 2023-2024 school year. Students from Ms. Spinello's class interviewed some of our newest staff members of the Elm Street School team. Get to know them a little better by listening here.

At the end of this month students who celebrate Halloween will be invited to participate in the annual Elm Street School Halloween parade. This event is for students and staff only. Students who do not celebrate Halloween or who may not want to participate will have a different activity planned and provided for them.

Please read the following expectations:

• Our parade will take place at the start of the day.

• Students can wear costumes to school. They will not be allowed to call home if anything is missing.

• Students may wear black and orange and participate in the parade if they do not want to wear a costume.

• Halloween masks and any type of inflatable costume are not allowed, given safety concerns.

• We ask that you refrain from applying make up and face paint as it can not be removed when it is time for costumes to be removed.

• No weapons (real or toy) are ever allowed in school. This includes “parts of costumes” such as a fire fighter’s axe, a cowboy’s guns, Robin Hood’s bow & arrow, etc. If you have a question about it, it's best to leave the item at home. Any items that violates this guideline will be stored in the main office and an adult caregiver will need to pick it up at the end of the school day.

• Students will change out of their costumes after the parade and should bring in a bag for their costume- please label with your child’s name to minimize mix-ups.

• School staff are not responsible to monitor that all costume pieces are returned home that day or for the condition they are returned in. (i.e. spills, rips, etc.)

Please note: to minimize disruptions, and for safety concerns, no visitors or volunteers will be allowed in the building until all students are back in their classrooms.

Walpole Public Schools invites families of multilingual learners to attend MLPAC to discuss opportunities for the educational success of students who are currently or were formerly in the English Language Education (ELE) program. It is also a time to network with other families as we continue to build collaborative partnerships.

MEETING INFORMATION

DATE: Wednesday, October 18, 2023

PLACE: Walpole High School Media Center

TIME: 6:00 - 7:00 P.M.

AGENDA

• Announcements

• Speaker: Meet the ELE Department

• Discussion: MLPAC Bylaws & Leadership

• Questions / Suggestions

Please contact the Multilingual Learner Family Engagement Center at mlfec@walpole.k12.ma.us or at (508) 660-7257 ext. 5033 for further information or to request an interpreter or child care for the event

The Elm Street PAC has re-hosted our website with a new provider, same address! Please visit www.elmstreetpac.org today to register yourself and students! Registration will drive the online friend finder and email directory. Due to privacy and functionality, no users or emails were migrated from the former site.

Come check out a preview of our Scholastic Book Fair coming to Elm Street School from October 20th through October 30th. Here you can learn about the ewallet where funds can be added to an online account that can be used by your student to shop at the Book Fair. There are also opportunities to pre-order the hottest books and preview the awesome selection of books and swag!

In partnership with Day Street Sports, Elm PAC has opened an online apparel store with both Walpole logo options! New merchandise has been added in addition to what we had last year! Start shopping today as the store will close on October 27th so that orders are available before the holiday season! Come check out the apparel!

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