Hello Elm Street School Families and Friends!
This was a huge week for volunteers! Thank you to all of the Elm families who volunteered to support the successful Fall Festival on Sunday afternoon and the Book Fair, and all those who came in over the past couple of weeks to support grade level and classroom craft days. Without all the many hours you have all put in we wouldn't be able to run such engaging programming and activities for the students and families in our community. THANK YOU!
Our Eagles were hard at work this week in the Nest! Our Grade 5 Student Council had their first meeting and were bursting with fantastic ideas to improve student voice and culture at Elm. Across our Kindergarten classrooms students focused on understanding and breaking words into syllables. Third graders started a new unit in Science about Invisible Forces where they are focused on learning all about the forces of pushes and pulls. Fourth graders were challenging themselves to go back to a familiar text and strengthen their understanding of the parts of speech (such as pronoun, noun, and adjective). Students in second grade engaged in coding challenges in the STEM room that required them to collaborate and utilize all their problem solving skills. And our first grade students explored the life cycle of a pumpkin.
In this edition of our weekly newsletter you will find information about:
- upcoming dates and celebrations for November
- November Counseling Newsletter
- Essentialists' Update: ART
- November Coffee and Conversation
- Fall Educator-Family Conference Sign Ups
- Multicultural Potluck sign up
- Staffing Update
- Winter Gear and Holiday Assistance
- November 5th Professional Development Day
As a reminder, school is closed for students on Tuesday, November 5th. Don't forget to turn your clocks back on Sunday morning and maybe use that extra hour to read together at home! We will see all our Eagles back at the Nest on Monday!
Jen
Upcoming Dates and Celebrations: November
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 November.
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.
- 10/31 - 11/1 Diwali
- 11/1 Native American Heritage Month begins, All Saints Day, School Photo Make-Up Day
- 11/1 - 2 Day of the Dead
- 11/2 5:00 - 8:30p Diwali Celebration
- 11/5 Election Day, School Closed- Staff Professional Development Day
- 11/8 8:30a Coffee and Conversation- Homework and Executive Functioning
- 11/11 Veterans Day, School Closed
- 11/12 5:00 - 7:00p Family Educator Conferences
- 11/14 5:00 - 7:00p Family Educator Conferences, 6:45p School Committee Meeting
- 11/15 Early Release Day- Family Educator Conferences
- 11/20 6:30p Elm Multicultural Potluck, Transgender Day of Remembrance
- 11/21 7:00p Elm PAC Meeting
- 11/22 Elm K-5 Assembly (Students and Staff Only)
- 11/27 Early Release Day
- 11/28 - 29 School Closed
- 11/28 Thanksgiving, National Day of Mourning
November Coffee and Conversation SAVE THE DATE
Our next Coffee and Conversation will take place this coming Friday, November 8th where our topic of conversation will be executive functioning and homework at Elm. Be sure to stop by to hear more about our work this year on aligning grade level homework and how we will be gathering data and feedback to create an informed and developmentally supportive approach to homework Kindergarten - Grade 5. We also spend some time talking about executive functioning skills and highlight work being done at Elm to teach and practice these skills as well as ways you can strengthen them at home.
Fall Family-Educator Conference Sign Ups
As a reminder Family - Educator Conferences will take place on November 12th between 5:00 - 7:00p, November 14th between 5:00 - 7:00p, and on the Early Release Day on November 15th between 1:00 - 3:00p. All conferences are in person. If families need a virtual conference they should reach out directly to the educator to arrange that option.
Links to individual educator appointment pages were shared in an email on Wednesday with all Elm families. Please check your email for additional information and the links if you haven't signed up already.
Staffing Update
On Friday, November 1st we said goodbye to our P.E. teacher Ms. Heather DeLude. She is transitioning to a Physical Education role in Foxborough at the high school level.
I am thrilled to share that Mr. Geoff Iadarola will be returning to Elm to serve as our Physical Education teacher! We are finalizing his official transition date and anticipate it being around the end of November. In the interim we will be filling the role internally and appreciate you sharing with your child(ren) our expectation of them being flexible, respectful, and helpful in the gym space during this transition time.
Winter Gear and Holiday Assistance
Each year we reach out to all of our Elm families to offer assistance with winter gear (coats, hats, mittens, gloves, boots, snow pants) and holiday meals and gifts. If your family is in need of assistance this year because of financial hardship please reach out to myself (jbuller@walpole.k12.ma.us) or a member of our Guidance Team (Jessica Simpson- jsimpson@walpole.k12.ma.us Tori Dore- vwintersdore@walpole.k12.ma.us). Because of the generosity of our community here in Walpole we are able to support all families with need. When contacting us please share the ages and gender identity/expression of anyone living in the home under the age of 18, coat sizes, and the total number of people living in the home. Please know that all information will be kept confidential amongst myself, Mrs. Simpson, and Mrs. Dore.
November 5th Professional Development Day
On Tuesday November 5th our school will be closed for students while our team of educators will be deeply engaged in professional development. Below are some of the topics our educators will be engaged with on this day:
- Using What We Know about Teaching Writing to Plan for Effective Instruction
- Social emotional disabilities: understanding and best practices
- Reviewing Assessments and Supporting Students with Literacy Goals
- Identifying and Addressing Systemic Barriers in Our Schools
- Strategies to Promote Classroom Success for Students & Staff
- New IEP Training with Allan Blume
- Collaborative Planning Time With Middle School
- and so much more!
Our team is feeling energized by this day and the opportunities to implement our learning and work with students this year!
Nest Connections
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
Instagram: ElmStSchool