May 13, 2016 - Week 34

Greetings Dale Street Community!

On Thursday, we have a spectacular day for Hunter's Run/Walk fundraiser to raise money for Children's Hospital.  As I have very quickly grown accustomed to, their was an outpouring of support from our Dale Street families and the Medfield community.  If students choose to voluntary seek donations for the laps they completed, we will collect money up until Friday, May 20th.  If you are making out a check, you can make it out to Children's Hospital.  Thanks again for your support!  Please enjoy a few sights from the day.

Happy Nurses Week to Mrs. Thompson!

Students in Ms. DePisa's fourth grade class spent some time working with angles this week.  Students had fun with 'Guess My Angles?'  Nice work!  

Medfield's Ngoma Dzakanaka Marimba Band is having a concert to raise money for the Lowell Mason House Restoration Fund on Thursday June 9 at 6:00 pm at Blue Moon Cafe. The suggested donation is $5.00. Rain date for the concert is Monday, June 13th (same place and time).  Please consider stopping by to enjoy some coffee, bagels and lively music.

Thank you to the PTO and all of the volunteers who treated Dale Street staff to a delicious staff appreciation luncheon today.  It was absolutely delicious and we can't thank you enough for your generosity.

Students in 4Crable, 4Foley, and 4DiPesa did a fantastic job presenting their state reports today.  Great job boys and girls!

The Dale Street Art Show is scheduled for Monday evening, May 16th from 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM.  The fantastic art displays will be in the Dale Street gymnasium.  I hope that you will have the opportunity to stop in to see the students' phenomenal art work.    

Ms. Hayes' fourth grade class took time to visit Mrs. Read in the library this week.  Students had the opportunity to create a virtual photo gallery based on the book Half A Chance by Cynthia Lord! Looks like a great time!  

Students in Ms. Bertschmann's class took advantage of the beautiful weather this week to take their Writer's Workshop outside.  Bravo to these amazing writers!

The Grade 5 Celebration has been scheduled for June 21, 2016 at 10:00 AM.  The Celebration will take place in the Dale Street gymnasium. 

PARCC Testing Schedule 

Math - Grade 4
Monday, May 16th, Tuesday, May 17th, and Wednesday, May 18th

Math - Grade 5
Thursday, May 19th, Friday, May 20th, Monday, May 23rd, Tuesday, May 24th 

Thank you for taking the time to read this week's blog.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Steve

May 6, 2016 - Week 33

Hello Dale Street Community!

Congratulations to this week's Positive Referral!  Thank you for making Dale Street such a great place!

Thank you to Blake Middle School teacher, Ms. Diane Horvath for visiting Dale Street and teaching students and staff Google Read and Write.  We truly appreciate the collaboration!  

I am extremely happy and very excited to announce that Mrs. Kerry Cowell has been hired as the new Library/Media Specialist at the Dale Street School for the 2016-2017 school year.  I asked staff back in January to share the characteristics that they were looking for in the new Library/Media Specialist. The recurring themes were:

*someone with experience as a teacher

*someone who can assist students and teachers

*someone savvy and knowledgeable in all areas of the MA curriculum

*someone who will promote reading and research skills

*someone who is technology literate and can bring technology to life

*someone who is enthusiastic and has lots of new ideas

*someone with the knowledge about latest books students are interested in

There is no question in my mind that these phrases wonderfully define Mrs. Cowell as an educator. I have every confidence Mrs. Cowell will do great things as the Dale Street Library/Media Specialist.

The Dale Street School community is excited about assisting the Medfield community and Hunter's Run. A student group at Dale Street (MAD - Make A Difference) and the Student Advisory Council have teamed up to have initiate a run/walk fundraiser to support Hunter's Run and Boston Children's Hospital. Our fundraiser will take place on Thursday, May 12th (rain date May 20th) during students' recesses. Beginning yesterday, students had and will continue to have the opportunity to purchase a pledge card for $1. Pledge cards are sold at lunch. In addition, students will have the opportunity to voluntarily secure pledges for each lap they complete. Please visit the Dale Street website to view a student-made commercial (Thank you Mrs. Cowell's class) to see more information.

Mrs. LeVangie's fourth grade students learned more about and celebrated ¡Feliz cinco de mayo! 

I would like to welcome and introduce Mrs. Christy Gilbert to the Dale Street community.  Mrs. Gilbert will be  filling in as Mrs. Hamilton’s substitute teacher until the end of this school year.  This is the seventh year of Mrs. Gilbert's teaching career. She has taught Special Education for Grades 6-8 for all seven years and prior to that was a counselor at all grade levels.  Most recently, Mrs. Gilbert worked at the Blake Middle School.  We are very happy to have Mrs. Gilbert joining Dale Street.  

If you have any questions or comments for Mrs. Gilbert, please feel free to contact her at cgilbert@email.medfield.net.

Please click the PTO link for updates from our PTO.

There has been a recent surge to the cafeteria and nurse's office during snack time and during after school activities.  Please make every effort to send your child(ren) to school with a snack each day.  In addition, students who participate in after school help and/or after school intermurals should come prepared with a snack.  We will always have something for students who forget their snack, but we have seen a large uptick in visitors over the past weeks.  As always, thank you in advance for your support.    

Our fifth grade classrooms visited the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State University this week.  Using the concept of simulation as an instructional tool, the Challenger Center program created an exciting, cooperative learning environment for students at Dale Street to better understand the challenges of teamwork, problem-solving, communication, and decision making.  Every crew member (student) was assigned to, and trained for, a specific role. They took their positions in either Mars Control or the Spacecraft and assumed control of an exciting two hour mission simulation to Mars.

MCPE's Fall Ball is SOLD OUT! Many thanks to those who bought a Fall Ball ticket. To add your name to the wait list, please visit www.medfieldcoalition.org. You can also join in the fun and help us raise important funds for Medfield's five public schools by participating in the pre-event online auction which will begin on Saturday, September 17th.

FALL BALL - ART CONTEST Deadline May 5th:  Have your Medfield public school students design a poster for the MCPE Fall Ball, and the winners will have their artwork on display at the big event for all to see.  Instructions and art paper were handed out to students in grades PreK-5. Students in grades 6-8 received packets in advisory, and those in grades 9-12 can pick up instructions and art paper at the front office. Please submit entries to your school's front office by Thursday, May 5th. Prizes will be awarded to the two winners from each grade (PreK-12). More information can be found here: medfieldcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MCPE-Fall-Ball-art-contest-flyer.pdf

FALL BALL - COMMUNITY HELP:  One of the ways we hope to raise funds at the Fall Ball is through both an online and a live auction of desirable items and exciting experiences. We're thinking outside the box and hoping you can help us take our auctions to the next level. Please click on the Sign Up Genius link (signupgenius.com/go/70a054bacab2faa8-mcpe/) to see if you're able to contribute to this very worthy cause. Thank you, in advance, for making the success of our schools a community effort. If you have something you'd like to donate that is not listed, or have any questions regarding the Fall Ball, please contact Wendi Ayer wendiayer@mac.com or Kim Price kimprice73@me.com.

May 10th - Grade 4 PARCC (Math)

May 11th & 12th - Grade 5 MCAS Science, Engineering, & Technology

May 13th - Half Day - 11:35 Dismissal 

May 16th - Dale Street Art Show

May 24th - Grade 4 & 5 Orchestra Concert

May 30th - No School Memorial Day

June 10th - Dale Street Field Day

June 22nd - Transition Day

On behalf of all of the employees at Dale Street, I would like to wish all of the mothers and grandmothers a Happy Mother's Day.  

As always, thank you for taking the time to read the Dale Street School Blog.

Best,

Steve

April 29, 2016 - Week 32

Hello Dale Street Community!

The students and staff had a very busy week the first week back after vacation.  Please take a minute and see some of the great things that took place this week and please make note of some important upcoming dates.

Our fourth graders and fifth graders showed great effort completing their first units of the PARCC testing this week. Bravo boys and girls!!!!!! Testing in both grades will continue next week.   

Dale Street fourth graders had a wonderful time on their field trip to the Museum of Science this week. Thanks to all of the parents who took time to chaperone.

Please click on the MCPE link for information about the upcoming LCR dice event at the American Legion and the Fall Ball Art Contest.

On Monday afternoon, Grade 5 teachers worked with Math consultant, Mrs. Shephali Fox.  Grade 5 teachers participated in a lesson study observing a math activity in Ms. Bertschmann's class.  Awesome Professional Development!  

Bravo to Art teacher, Mrs. Deveno and Dale Street students who had artwork displayed at the Zullo Gallery this week.  The artwork and the night were fantastic!

Please click the PTO link for updates from our PTO. 

On a visit to Mrs. Lowerre's classroom today, students were using Keva Planks to better understand engineering and spacial skills  Great job! 

* A group of 16 Dale Street staff members have been participating in a professional book group each month since October.  The group is reading, discussing and taking part in activities surrounding the book, Mindset by Carol Dweck.

*There will be a half day of school (11:35 dismissal) on Friday, May 13th.

*Transition Day will take place on Wednesday, June 22nd.  More details will be forthcoming closer to the date.    


*Our last day of school is scheduled for Thursday, June 23rd.  There will be an 11:35 dismissal on this day.  

As always, thank you for taking the time to check in and read the Dale Street Blog.

Enjoy the weekend,

Steve