News from the Nest

Hello Elm Street School Families and Friends,

I hope that you are all continuing to enjoy these last moments of the summer break. Thank you to everyone who took the time to either meet with me during a Tea and Talk session or stop by during the Principal Playground days this past week. It has been so wonderful to get to know the community a little bit better and begin to have the picture of Elm come into clearer view as we get ready to start the year together.

As I continue my transition to Elm I will be continuing to offer listening sessions for families, staff, and students through the fall. Be on the lookout in an upcoming weekly newsletter for additional time slots for Tea and Talk sessions in October and November.

I will be in touch again next week with some additional reminders for the start of the school year. In the meantime, if you have any questions or feedback to share, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.

Hang onto these fleeting moments of summer and I will see you all soon!

Jen

We invite all of our new families in grades 1-5 to stop by Elm between 1:00 - 3:00p on Thursday August 24th. There will be opportunities to tour the building, connect with our guidance counselors, and get any questions answered as you prepare to start your journey with us here at Elm!

The first day of school for our students in grades 1-5 is Wednesday August 30th. On Thursday August 31st we invite our kindergarteners and their families to come in for a sneak peek to meet our kindergarten educators and see their kindergarten classroom before officially starting on Tuesday September 5th. The schedule for this sneak peek is below:

Thursday August 31st 9:00 - 9:30a Kindergarteners with Last Names beginning with A - L

Thursday August 31st 9:45 - 10:15a Kindergarteners with Last Names beginning with M - Z

Please join me in welcoming our newest members of the Elm Street School team! Our amazing educators will be engaged in new staff orientation for three full days next week as they get acclimated to Walpole Public Schools and the Elm community before they join up with the rest of our team on August 28th. We are still in the hiring process with a few other positions and I hope to share an update about those positions in my next newsletter.

• Lauren Morton: Grade 5 educator

• Samantha Fundinger: Art educator

• Natasha Kelty: English for Multilingual Learners educator

• Tina DiCicco: Nurse

• Alyssa Burke: Partnership Educator (new position!)

• Beth Green: Kindergarten Aide

• Stephanie Richard: Kindergarten Aide

Join me at 7:30p on Zoom on the night before school (Tuesday August 29th) to listen to a read aloud, see old and new friends, and have a shared experience as we all get ready for our first day of the new school year together. Come in your pajamas, with your family, while eating dinner or brushing your teeth, whatever makes you most comfortable. Hope to see you all there!

(a link to the Zoom will be emailed to all Elm families on Monday August 28th)

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