The Walden Weekly

We have had quite an eventful week at Walden School! With two very hot days where we stayed indoors followed by a school cancelation from Tuesday's night storm, it was definitely a week where we learned about being flexible. Our students and staff did a wonderful job pivoting this week and we are grateful for what looks like sunny days ahead!

We ran our annual bus evacuation drills on Thursday where students had the opportunity to board a bus and learn about bus safety and evacuation protocols. An informational sheet was sent home earlier in the week regarding our safety measures. Feel free to review at home with your child.

We hope to see you at our PTO Ice Cream Social on Wednesday at 6:30!

As a reminder, we have no school on Monday for Labor Day. Have a great long weekend and we'll see you back at school on Tuesday!

- Stephanie Strenger

Parents and Guardians are all invited to join me on Tuesday, September 24th from 7pm-8pm for a parent event where we will be discussing information shared in the book, The Anxious Generation. Please see my email shared on Tuesday for more information. You do not need to have read the book to attend.

RSVP below.

Building students’ social-emotional learning (SEL) skills is important at Walden. As a part of the learning process, we ask students in grades K-8 to reflect on skills related to social-emotional learning and the school environment. The fall survey will be administered to all students between September 3rd and September 20th and it should take no more than 20 minutes to complete. Per policy, if you would like your child to opt out of taking the survey, please contact me no later than Tuesday, September 3.

D.I. is a project-based STEAM learning program where students work in teams, mentored by parents and teachers, to complete both long-range and fast-paced challenges. The program teaches problem-solving, creative thinking, perseverance, collaboration, project management, and much more! There will be a Zoom meeting on Tuesday, 9/3 from 7:30-8:00 PM for parents with 4th and 5th grade students who are interested in participating in Destination Imagination this year. Join us at this link for the meeting. A recording will be made available for anyone unable to attend. Contact DI District Coordinator Kelly Jahng kjahng@dps109.org with any questions.

New grade, new library rules! The number of books students can check out was raised for most grades this year. Here are our LMC checkout guidelines by grade:

Students can renew books for more time. Please help your child(ren) take good care of our library books!

Please make sure you are saying goodbye to your child behind the entrance doors. We ask that parents do not call to their child or child's teacher once your child has entered into the building. We also ask that parents do not peek into classroom windows at arrival since this is very distracting to our classroom routines. Thank you!

Save the date for your child's music show!

3rd Grade: Thursday, November 21st @ 6pm

1st Grade: Thursday, January 23 @ 5:30pm

4th Grade: Wednesday, February 12 @ 6pm

2nd Grade: Wednesday, March 12 @ 6pm

Kindergarten: Thursday, April 17 @ 5:30pm

5th Grade: Thursday, May 1 @ 6pm

Have you checked out our new AI chatbot, Scout? Visit dps109.org, and Scout will appear on the bottom left-hand corner of your screen. Scout is on a two-month trial from now until the end of September. The more you help train him (ask him questions), the faster he learns and "scouts" our website to help find the answers to your questions! Please use the feedback button and star rating system to help us decide if Scout is here to stay.