Dale Street Blog: January 2021

Friday, January 29, 2021

January 29, 2021 - Week 17

Hello Dale Street,

Wow, was there a lot of awesomeness packed into this cold, last week of January! Take a few minutes to scroll through and check out some of the scenes.....

Congratulations to Caroline on receiving a positive referral for demonstrating exceptional compassion. Way to go! #CoreValues

On Monday, Grade 4 students in Mr. Douglas' class worked collaboratively in breakout rooms to use math skills to solve challenging problems. It was so cool to see how seamlessly students in-person (Cohort A) worked with students learning remotely (Cohort B). Great work!

On Wednesday, February 10th, Dale Street students will have the opportunity for a Q&A with the storytelling company The Rhode Island Black Storytellers. All students will have the opportunity to view virtual storytelling performances next week and students will then meet the storyteller for a Q & A session on February 10th. The students and staff at Dale Street would like to thank our generous PTO for funding this great program.

Grade 4 - 10:00 a.m. on 2/10/2021

Grade 5 - 10:30 a.m. 2/10/2021

Valentine's Day is fast approaching....how exciting! Enjoy a “Party in a Bag!” Have your child decorate a brown paper lunch bag in a Valentine’s theme. Once decorated, fill it with a few of your child’s favorite food items. Some examples are: juice box or mini water bottle, small salty snack, fun sweet snack (cupcake, cookie), additional items could be a piece of fruit, a small yogurt, or any additional healthy snack. We will not be exchanging Valentine’s cards in school this year. Therefore, adding a Valentine note to your child's bag will definitely make them happy! Students will be able to enjoy their “Party in a Bag” snacks at a designated time during their classroom celebration on their in-person day:

Cohort A - Tuesday, February 9th

Cohorts B and D - Friday, February 12th.

On Wednesday, Ms. MacDonnell's Grade 4 students 'visited' Hogwarts to practice multi-step word problems. So proud of our hard-working Rockstars! What a fun way to learn!

Beginning on February 10th, Wednesdays will become a half-day of in-person learning for alternating cohorts. These days will be fully synchronous for the cohort not in-person. This will allow for more in-person learning and students at home will still be participating in real-time.

Beginning this week and continuing through the month of February, I will be reading a brief story about bold women in black history. Using this amazing book, I will share stories of trailblazing black women. Students and families can locate these read alouds (and our Daily Dale newscast) in my Bitmoji office in their grade levels virtual notebook.

Our Student Council initiative to support local restaurants during the pandemic continues! Each week, 2 restaurants will be sponsored by the Dale Street Student Council and their classmates. Be sure to help our local restaurants! For our final week next week, our sponsored restaurants are Jing's Garden (Ms. Slachta's class) and Takara (Ms. Sager's class).

Do you need an idea for dinner? Is it a special day? Well, you're in for a treat because Jing's Garden II is always ready! Jing's Garden II is a great Chinese place in town. Jing's Garden II has takeout and delivery and has a very safe pickup station. They are located at 16 N Meadows Rd. (Rt. 27). Their hours are from 11:30 am to 10:00 pm on Monday - Thursday, 11:30 am - 11:00 pm Friday and Saturday, and 12:00 pm - 10:00 pm on Sunday. They have appetizers, soups, rice, Pu Pu platters, and more! They also have a website to order on www.jingsgarden.com or call 508-359-8272. Go to Jing's Garden II, or you are really missing out!

Do you want some really good Japanese food? Well, you should head to Takara in Medfield! It is located on 1 Green Street and it is open every day of the week! It is open Monday through Thursday for Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and then it reopens for dinner from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday Takara has the same hours except it is open until 11:00 p.m.! On Sunday Takara is open for dinner from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.!

Takara has some really awesome specials too! Their specials include Tuna Bibimbab, Salmon Bibimbab, Beef Don, and Katsu Don. If we were to choose we would definitely get the Beef Don. Do you want to know even more about Takara and what they serve? Click here. You can also call Takara at 508-359-7887.

As part of a Student Council initiative, Dale Street students will be creating cards for residents of the Thomas Upham House for Valentine's Day. What a wonderful community connection!

All cards are due in the office by 12:30 p.m. on Friday, February 12th.

Today, students in Ms. McKenzie's fifth-grade class (Cohort A and B) used time at the beginning of Writer's Workshop to compose a 'Quick Write.' Their topic: Write about how your life would be different without technology. Such great responses!

Please read this important COVID update from the school nurse.

Congratulations, Mr. D!

This week, our fourth-grade students explored conductors and insulators. They even thought about materials around the classroom that could conduct electricity! Bravo, scientists!

Math Challenge #8 is now available. It is due February 4th.

Students are free to solve as many problems as they can and will have about a week to turn in their work. Students can hand in a hard copy of the challenge to the office or email it to Mrs. Perachi (bperachi@email.medfield.net) prior to the due date.

More information, including a calendar of important dates and a link to download and print the challenges and solutions, is available here. Questions regarding the math challenge program can be directed to Dale Street math specialist, Mrs. Perachi.

Medfield Talk Presents.....

Zoom information will be available soon.

Mrs. Nee's fifth-grade students used the computer program Jamboard to share out topic sentence ideas during Writer's Workshop. Great work, young learners!

Join us! MCPE is looking for new board members-men and women from the Medfield community with various skill sets and interests who want to have a voice in the improvements that reach our classrooms! Board members do not need to have kids currently in the school system—just a desire to support and enrich the Medfield Schools. Board members will serve a 3-year term and attend meetings one evening a month during the school year. The time commitment required to join the Board can be organized to fit the schedules of both stay-at-home and working parents. Interested? We’d love to hear from you! Apply here by March 8th: https://www.medfieldcoalition.org/volunteer-application-form

Feeling stressed, down or anxious? Need to talk to someone about it? Medfield Outreach is offering drop-in hours. Check out this flyer for details.

Thank you to our incredibly caring PTO for dropping by Dale Street on Thursday to put out some yummy treats. We very much appreciate the efforts of our PTO and the families who support the PTO.

You are invited to join the Medfield Cares About Prevention Community Coalition and help us make change in the Medfield community. To learn more about how to get involved, email Meri Haas at mhaas@medfield.net.

Check out this digital electric circuit that Mr. Davanage's fourth-grade Cohort D students created this week in science. Great job, young learners!

I continued to be impressed with our students and PE teacher, Mrs. Nawrocki. Although there are still restrictions on what students can do in PE, the activities that are presented at Dale Street are fun, educational, and rewarding.

Tuesday, February 2 - Cohort A report cards distributed

Wednesday, February 3 - Cohort D report cards mailed home

Thursday, February 4 - Cohort B distributed

Tuesday, February 9 - Pajama Spirit Day & Class Parties (Cohort A)

Wednesday, February 10 - First In-Person Wednesday

Friday, February 12 - Pajama Spirit Day & Class Parties (Cohort B)

Friday, February 12 - Thomas Upham House Valentine's Day cards due

February 15 - February 19 - No School (February Break)

As always, thank you for reading. Have a great weekend!

Steve

Respect * Compassion * Collaboration * Continuous Growth

Friday, January 22, 2021

January 22, 2021 - Week 16

Hello Dale Street Community!

Thank you! I want to start with these 2 words to share my gratitude and admiration to students, staff, and families as we started synchronous learning this week at Dale Street. Although the first hour on Tuesday was not terrific, the interruptions were rectified quickly and the rest of the week was amazing. As I walked around the school this week, I was in awe of the teaching and learning that was happening all around our school. Not only that, but the modeling of our school's Core Values: Respect, Compassion, Collaboration, and Continuous Growth were all so present at Dale Street as well as by our students and families at home. I am blessed to work in Medfield in the Dale Street community. Thank you! Here are a few photos, updates, and reminders for you as we head into the weekend.

This week in Mrs. Ross' and Mrs. Seaver's fifth-grade class, students shared screens and viewed stories in breakout rooms then collaborated on deep thinking about a text. Wow!!

As a follow-up to the email that went out to parents this week from Dr. Marsden, beginning on February 10th, Wednesdays will become a half-day of in-person learning for alternating cohorts. These days will be fully synchronous for the cohort not in-person. This will allow for more in-person learning and students at home will still be participating in real-time.

The Dale St Wednesday schedule beginning on February 10th will be as follows:

9:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m.

Lunch will be served to students at 12

Dismissal will be at 12:30 p.m.

This week 3 outstanding educators were recognized by the MCPE and the PTO as Heroes Under the Mask. Congratulations to Ms. Plympton, Ms. Slachta, and Mrs. Hauptman!

Our Student Council initiative to support local restaurants during the pandemic continues! Each week, 2 restaurants will be sponsored by the Dale Street Student Council and their classmates. Be sure to help our local restaurants! Our sponsored restaurants next week are Italian Groceria (Ms. Plympton's class) and Subway (Mrs. Ross and Mrs. Seaver's class).

First, Italian Groceria has seen an increase in business since not a ton of people wanted to dine in, but everyone wants take-out. Next, there is their chicken parm and pizza. Trust me when I talked to them, I got their food. It is the best!!! Finally, they have a great sense of what to do because of covid - 19. They have hand sanitizer. They wear masks and when you type in your pin there is plastic on the numbers.

Ever on the way from a late sports practice and need a quick meal? Well, no need to worry, go to Subway in our very own town. They have delicious Subs and you can get just about any delicious combo you want. Subway is open from 8:30 pm to 9:OO am. Subway also just got new protein bowls! Sounds delicious And who could forget about the desert? Subway has cookies that will just melt in your mouth!

Check out the great article highlighting this amazing Student Council project.

Dale Street Student Council Takes on Project for Local Restaurants

Here are some Dale Street Rockstars promoting Sethjis Indian Meals-to-Go!

We had a great Student Council meeting on Wednesday. I thoroughly enjoy hearing students' feedback and ideas - they are AMAZING leaders! At our most recent meeting, the Student Council has decided it would like to create cards for residents of the Thomas Upham House for Valentine's Day. What a wonderful community connection! Here are some things Student Council representatives and alternates will be sharing with their classmates:

As we do not have the names of the residents, cards do not need a 'Dear XXXX' introduction Cards can be generic with sayings like 'Happy Valentine's Day', 'Thinking of you', etc.
Be creative: possible ideas - make a poem, make a drawing, share kind words that may put a smile on their face
Student Council members can create a space in their classroom to collect cards as students complete them.
Cards are due by 10 a.m. on Friday, February 12th. Please bring all class cards to the office by 12:30 p.m. on 2/12.

The Student Council also voted to have a Pajama Day Spirit Day on Tuesday, February 9th (for Cohort A) and on Friday, February 12th (for Cohort B). Cohort D students can pick whichever of the Spirit Days works best for them.

On Thursday, students in Mrs. Flynn's classroom paired up to solve multi-step math story problems on a choice board. Students showed all information, operations, equations, drawings, and final answers on their answer sheets. Live-streaming success!

Please join me in welcoming Joe Davanage to our Dale Street staff. Joe will be teaching our Gr 4 Cohort D students. Mrs. Dowd will continue to teach our Grade 5 Cohort D students. Welcome, Mr. Davanage!

Math Challenge #8 is now available. It is due February 4th.

This week Grade 4 students in Ms. Slachta's class had fun using Komodo dragon fun facts as they learned more about Chunk It reading strategies to summarize non-fiction texts. Bravo, young learners!

Reminder: The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is removing the requirement for flu vaccination for attendance in childcare/preschool, primary, secondary and postsecondary education. Preliminary data show that this has been a mild flu season to date, presumably as people have received their seasonal flu vaccine and have been adhering to mask-wearing and social distancing due to COVID-19. Given the intensive Commonwealth-wide efforts regarding COVID-19 vaccination, DPH wants to alleviate the burden to obtain flu vaccination and focus on continuing our COVID -19 vaccination efforts.

DPH continues to strongly recommend that everyone age six months and older receive their seasonal flu vaccine each year.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Thompson at kthompson@email.medfield.net

On Day 2 of live streaming, students in Mrs. Nee's fifth-grade classroom created fantastic projects highlighting their Notice and Note reading signposts.