October 23, 2015 - Week 8

Happy Friday!

As another week comes to a close, I'm happy to share some of the great things happening at Dale Street. Please take a moment to read about both past and upcoming events and enjoy a few highlights from the week.

Students in Mrs. Curran's and Ms. Condon's fifth grade classes (with the help from Art teacher, Ms. Deveno) used the information that they learned about Aztec masks to create their own.  Wonderful job, boys and girls!  

Ms. DiPesa's students took time this week to study different author leads to assist them in their writing.  

Halloween at Dale Street

The Dale Street staff met this week to talk about how we could work together to make next Friday, October 30th safe, exciting, and consistent for all students.  Following our discussion, it has been decided that all of our classrooms:

• encourage all students to dress up in their costumes.  Please note that students’ faces may not be covered with a mask, hood, or other item. Please do not allow your child to bring fake weapons into school to accompany his/her costume, and particularly violent themes should be avoided.  
• will have Halloween themed activities.  Activities will be teacher-directed and run throughout the day.
• will have classroom snacks sent into school on October 30th.  The Head Room Parent will be coordinating this effort.  Please keep food and drink to these four categories: something salty, something sweet, healthy fruit, and water.  Additionally, please be sensitive of allergies within classrooms.  The snack time and the Halloween themed activities will take place at different times depending on students’ schedules.  

We understand, and are happy that the children will receive a plethora of treats on Saturday.  Come Monday, the staff at Dale Street encourages healthy foods for student snack times to help promote optimal learning.  Thank you in advance for your continued support.  

Special congratulations to fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Julie Lowerre who was selected to present at MassCue this week.  It is a great honor and we are lucky to have Mrs. Lowerre at Dale Street!

Thanks to K-5 Literacy Specialist, Jamee Callahan for leading a workshop model discussion for Dale Street staff on Tuesday!

A representative from the Angel Run visited the lunches this week to talk with our students about the upcoming Angel Run. Have you registered? Online registration is now open for the 10th Annual MFi Angel Run on December 6, 2015. Visit http://medfieldfoundation.org/angel-run/.

On a visit to Mrs. Foley's classroom today, students were engaged in a fantastic coding lesson.  These children are SO talented!

A BIG THANK YOU to all the families that supported the Dale Street Book Fair at Park Street Books and the Yankee Candle fundraiser!  We appreciate all your help!

4^th GRADE KIDS NIGHT OUT FALL BASH

Friday, November 6^th  7:00-8:30 pm.  This is a drop off event and will cost $5 per student.  Please contact Maryanne Sullivan if you would like to volunteer or if you have any questions at 508-359-2098 or maryannesullivan5@gmail.com. The permission slip for this event is in the THURSDAY PACKET.

5^th GRADE HOLLYWOOD KIDS NIGHT OUT

Friday, November 20^th  7:00 – 8:30 pm.  This is a drop off event and will cost $5 per student.  Please contact Liz Dewar if you would like to volunteer or if you have any questions at 508-359-6918 or lizdewar@verizon.net The permission slip for this event is in the THURSDAY PACKET.

HALLOWEEN TRASHER DASH

The registration deadline for the Trasher Dash is Monday, October 26^th.  The cost is $10 per child or $25 per family.  Please make checks payable to Medfield K-8 PTO.  Click here for the registration form http://www.medfield.net/images/tpacket/trasher_dash_with_registration.pdf

We are asking volunteers to help us fill the concession stand with goodies and treats available for purchase at the event.  Please click on the Sign-Up Genius link if you can help. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c44afa82f4-concessions

MEDFIELD SPIRIT WEAR: Have you been looking for Medfield Spirit Wear??? It is coming soon!  More information to follow in the next month.

DALE STREET PTO MEETING:  Friday, October 23rd @ 10:30 am 

SOCIAL MEDIA: Please like us on Facebook Medfield K-8 PTO, follow us on Twitter MedfieldK8PTO, and check out our website http://medfieldpto.weebly.com

This morning, it was a pleasure to meet with parents during the first Principal's Coffee of the school year. The topics of discussion were MCAS and parent/teacher conferences. Thank you to all who were able to attend and to the food service staff who provided coffee and snacks. If you were not able to attend, the PowerPoint can be found on the Dale Street website. The next coffee will be held on March 4th. I hope to see you there.

Ms. Walunas' Halloween writing is Spooktacular!

Don’t Miss Our Community Trivia Night Raffle! (Valued at over $500.) Enter for your chance to win a fabulous Gourmet Wine and Dine Gift Basket, which includes: 3 bottles of exceptional wine handpicked by Matt at Medfield Wine Shoppe, $100 gift card to Zebra's Bistro, plus a cheeseboard and stemless wine glasses. Buy your tickets at MedfieldCoalition.org. $5 each or 5 tickets for $20.  Winner need not be present to win.

Mark Your Calendars...

November 6th: Global Giving Assembly

November 6th: 4th Grade Kids Night Out 

November 10th: 11:35 Dismissal - Parent/Teacher Conferences 

November 11th:  No School - Veterans' Day
November 19th: 11:35 Dismissal - Parent/Teacher Conferences
November 20th: 5th Grade Kids Night Out 

Thank you so much for reading.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Stephen S. Grenham, Principal 

October 16, 2015 - Week 7

Hello Dale Street Families,

Our school participated in a bus evacuation on Tuesday.  Students who did not take the bus to school were placed on a bus to go through this important exercise.  Special thanks to Officer Manganello for her assistance with this bus evacuation. 

Students in Mrs. Lowerre's fifth grade class took some time this week to use their atom models to discuss the parts and explain their thinking.  Bravo to these talented students!​

Today the our fifth grade students attended a morning assembly on Digital Citizenship (Grade 4 will attend next week).  Mrs. Cowell, Mrs. Fromen, and I spoke about communication, privacy & security, cyber-bullying, information literacy, and digital reputation.  Students will talk about these important topics throughout the year.  Please ask your child(ren): 
What do you want your digital footprint to say about yourself?

What will you do if you are uncomfortable online?

Why did they use toothpaste at the assembly? 

Grade 4 Kids Night Out will be held on Friday, November 6th from 7 PM - 8:30 PM.  Permission slips will be sent out soon.  This event is in need of volunteers.  Please contact Maryanne Sullivan with any questions.  

NEXT WEEK...Dale Street Parents are invited to join me at the first Principal's Coffee event of the year on Friday, October 23rd in the Dale Street cafeteria at 8:45 a.m.  During this time, I will be sharing a summary of the Spring 2015 MCAS results for students in grades 4 and 5 and talking about November's Parent/Teacher conferences.  I hope to see many of you there!

Students in Ms. Bertschmann's class made dioramas of their favorite scene from the book Number The Stars.  Awesome job, boys and girls!

Registrations Continue for the Student Trivia Challenge. This great event, open to students in grades 6-12, is back and will take place on Tuesday, November 10th. Teams of teachers will increase the challenge and add to the fun! Held in the high school cafeteria, teams will compete for prizes in either the Blake or MHS division. The cost is $40 per team of four players. Blake students should arrive at 2:40. MHS students should arrive at 4:00. Spectators are welcome. Concessions will be available for purchase. Don’t delay, seating is limited, and the event is filling up. Click here for more information and to register: MedfieldCoalition.org. 

Don’t Miss Our Community Trivia Night Raffle! (Valued at over $500.) Enter for your chance to win a fabulous Gourmet Wine and Dine Gift Basket, which includes: 3 bottles of exceptional wine handpicked by Matt at Medfield Wine Shoppe, $100 gift card to Zebra's Bistro, plus a cheeseboard and stemless wine glasses. Buy your ticket at MedfieldCoalition.org. $5 each or 5 tickets for $20. * Winner need not be present to win * 

Ms. Krauss' students spent time this week playing longitude/latitude battleship in social studies trying to locate continents! 

• A BIG thank you to all families that supported the Dale Street Book Fair at Park Street Books and the Yankee Candle fundraiser!  We appreciate all your help!
• Kids Night Out:  Save the date!  4th grade - November 6^th and 5th grade - November 20th.  More details to come soon.
• Halloween Trasher Dash: Registration deadline for the Trasher Dash is Monday, October 26^th.  The cost is $10 per child or $25 per family.  Please make checks payable to Medfield K-8 PTO. 
• Click here for the registration form http://www.medfield.net/images/tpacket/trasher_dash_with_registration.pdf 

• Dale Street PTO meeting: Friday, October 23rd @ 10:30 am in the Teacher’s Lounge.
• Bay State Textiles: The Bay State Textile Fundraiser for Town Wide PTO continues to be a great success!  Just a reminder as you clean out your closets for fall that the bins accept clothing, shoes, pocketbooks, linens, accessories, and stuffed animals are as long as they are in clean and dry condition.  This helps the PTO fundraise, helps the town save on disposal fees and helps the environment! Last year we raised $3,000 for our schools! Please keep those donations coming!  If the bin at your school is full, please feel free to drop off at any school or at the bin at the Transfer Station.
• Social Media: Please like us on Facebook Medfield K-8 PTO , follow us on Twitter MedfieldK8PTO and check out our website http://medfieldpto.weebly.com

This week Ms. Walunas' class presented their cartographer challenge.  What great creations!  

3v3 Basketball Tournament Registration NOW OPEN FOR 4th - 7th GRADE BOYS AND GIRLS!

The Big Blue Basketball team is expanding their 3v3 tournament for Boys and Girls in 4th - 7th grade on Wednesday, November 11th.  The is a holiday for the Medfield Public Schools.  Registration forms can be found and printed from the Medfield Youth Basketball website at www.medfieldbasketball.org.  REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT MUST BE RECIEVED BY OCTOBER 30th!  $25 per player.  Multiple games guaranteed, prizes awarded for 1st place in their division and Most Spirit award.  Schedules of team playtime will be sent out by November 9th.  Contact Jack Madej at 508-359-4629 or email at nmadej@att.net with any questions.

PLEASE NOTE:  6th and 7th Grade may only have 2 travel players per team.  Please see FAQ and Rules for more information or email nmadej@att.net.  Registration and Payment are due no later than October 30th.  Schedules will be finalized, posted and communicated to Team Captain by November 9th.

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,
Stephen S. Grenham, Principal

October 9, 2015 - Week 6

Greeting Dale Street Families!

A number of our classes are taking part in this year's 'Global Read Aloud'.  The book for this year is Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.  Classes all over the world are reading this book over the next 6 weeks.

Mrs. Flynn's class listening to a Fish in a Tree.

Thank you to all the students and families who visited the Book Fair on Wednesday. A big THANKS to our fantastic PTO, Mr. Jim James, and our guest readers who helped to make the fall Book Fair a success.

On Tuesday after school, Ms. Strekalovsky and Mrs. Vancura led a social thinking presentation at our Dale St. faculty meeting. Thank you for sharing this very important message regarding social thinking with the staff.

Congratulations to our Summer Reading Winners!

• Kids Night Out:  Save the date!  4th grade November 6th & 5th grade November 20th.  More details to come soon.
• Volunteers Needed: Halloween Trasher Dash: This fundraiser honors the memory and spirit of the beloved former Memorial School teacher and principal, Andrea Trasher who passed away last October. The fun-filled family event will take place in the athletic fields between Memorial and Dale St. School from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. on Halloween Day. We are currently looking for volunteers to help make this event a success! We need help with planning concessions, decorations, and are hoping to find people or groups willing to "captain" the activities along the way. It is a great opportunity for Dale St. School, Blake Middle School students and service groups to help out and earn community service! Money raised will be split between the K-8 PTO and the Andrea Trasher Scholarship Fund. If you are interested in helping out with the event - either in the planning or volunteering on that day - please contact Jill Herrick at jillherrick@gmail.com.
• Dale Street PTO meeting: Friday, Oct 23rd @ 10:30 am in the Teachers’ Lounge.
• Bay State Textiles: The Bay State Textile Fundraiser for Town-Wide PTO continues to be a great success!  Just a reminder as you clean out your closets for fall that the bins accept clothing, shoes, pocketbooks, linens, accessories, and stuffed animals are as long as they are in clean and dry condition.  This helps the PTO fundraise, helps the town save on disposal fees and helps the environment! Last year we raised $3,000 for our schools! Please keep those donations coming!  If the bin at your school is full, please feel free to drop off at any school or at the bin at the Transfer Station.
• PTO Dues: Thanks to all who have sent in their PTO dues! If you haven’t yet sent in your dues, please do so. You can send them to any school and Dale Street will get their share through the Town-Wide PTO.

Attention 5th Grade Parents: Would you like to help with the 5th Grade Yearbook? We are still looking for volunteers for this committee! Help us put together a great book of memories from Dale Street School. We also need parents to take pictures at school events. Please contact Julie Scheck at jdscheck@gmail.com if you are interested. The first planning meeting will take place in the Dale Street Teachers’ Lounge on Thursday, October 15th at 10:30am. All are welcome to attend and find out more information!

Positive Referrals!!!

These students received a Positive Referral this week for demonstrating outstanding behavior.  Keep up the good work!

Fourth grade students spent time this week working on their throwing and catching skills in Physical Education class.  

MCPE’s Community Trivia Night is almost sold out, and sign ups continue for the Student Trivia Challenge.These events promise to be fast-paced and humor-filled, testing your knowledge in geography, sports, music, science and history. The Community Trivia Night (21 and over) is set for Friday, November 13th, and the Student Trivia Challenge will take place on Tuesday, November 10th. Don’t delay! Click here to register.  

Registrations Continue for the Student Trivia Challenge. This great event, open to students in grades 6-12, is back and will take place on Tuesday, November 10th. Teams of teachers will increase the challenge and add to the fun! Held in the high school cafeteria, teams will compete for prizes in either the Blake or MHS division. The cost is $40 per team of four players. Spectators are welcome. Concessions will be available for purchase. Don’t delay, seating is limited. Click here to register: MedfieldCoalition.org. 

Don’t Miss Our Community Trivia Night Raffle! (valued at over $500) Enter for your chance to win a fabulous Gourmet Wine and Dine Gift Basket, which includes: 3 bottles of exceptional wine handpicked by Matt at Medfield Wine Shoppe, $100 gift card to Zebra's Bistro, plus a cheeseboard and stemless wine glasses. Buy your tickets at www.medfieldcoalition.org. $5 each or 5 tickets for $20. * Winner need not be present to win * 

  

 On Friday, October 23rd I will be hosting a Principal's Coffee.  During this time, I will go over the recently released MCAS data and preview the upcoming parent/teacher conferences. This Principal's Coffee will be held on Friday, October 23rd at 8:45 AM in the Dale Street cafeteria.  Please note that if you are stuck for child care, please feel free to bring your little ones.  I hope that you will be able to stop in after you drop off your child(ren) on this day.  Our food service department will be providing refreshments for this presentation.

With cold and flu season on the horizon, please click here for some helpful information regarding the flu.   

Enjoy your long weekend and we look forward to seeing the kids back on Tuesday!

Sincerely,
Stephen S. Grenham, Principal