Principal's Corner
Satchel Pulse Social Emotional Screener
Elementary students and teachers will once again participate in the Satchel Pulse Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Screener, a tool to help us monitor and improve the social-emotional skills of all our students. Teachers of students in grades KG-5th will complete the screener about their students, while students in grades 3rd-5th will complete the screener about themselves. SEL skills include developing healthy habits, managing emotions, setting and achieving goals, developing empathy for others, establishing and maintaining supportive relationships, collaborating with others, and making responsible and caring decisions.
Satchel Pulse is a student-friendly screener with 25 simple questions, which will be administered during October and February. Students and teachers will complete the screener which includes self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship, and responsible decision-making questions. Information gained from this screener will provide our school teams with additional insight to best support our students’ social, emotional, and academic growth. If you have any questions related to the Satchel Pulse screener, please contact your building principal.
Unity Day
We’re excited to celebrate Unity Day on Wednesday, October 21, with a day focused on kindness, empathy, and inclusion—core values at Elm School. Let’s turn our school orange! Students are encouraged to wear orange to show their support for kindness and a bully-free school.
Throughout the day, students will enjoy a read-aloud, reflect on the meaning of Unity Day, and talk about ways we can build a kinder, more inclusive community. As a school, we’ll also create a paper kindness chain, with every student and staff member adding a link to represent our commitment to kindness and the important role each of us plays in making Elm a welcoming place for everyone.
Technology Ambassadors
We are pleased to embark on the fourth year of the Tech Ambassadors leadership program at Elm School. Students who complete the application process and are chosen as Tech Ambassadors will serve as leaders within our school and district.
Grades 2-3 will meet during lunch/recess once a month
Grades 4-5 will meet every other Friday morning before school
Goals and Mission of the Tech Ambassadors:
• To develop leadership skills in order to help their school community
• To serve as technology integration leaders in their school
• To foster positive digital citizenship
We ask both new and returning students to indicate their interest in the program by October 23rd. Please discuss this opportunity with your child prior to starting the application process. If your student would like to apply for the Tech Ambassadors program, please have him/her complete this Google Form by October 23rd. We cannot accept applications submitted after this date.
One-Day School-Wide Collection
On October 27th, in conjunction with our author visit from Aaron Reynolds, author of Creepy Pair of Underwear!, Elm will be hosting a one-day underwear drive to benefit BEDS Plus. Underwear is currently BEDS Plus’ most requested item, so we thought this would be a fun and meaningful way to connect our author visit with an opportunity to help our community, which is our October SuperHero Theme, "Be a Hero to our Local Community." We encourage our families and students to participate by sending in new, packaged underwear on October 27th. All sizes are welcome!
