March 28, 2013

Greetings Roderick Community!

Please take a minute to scroll through this week's blog to see some of the great things that happened and to view some important upcoming dates.

We have completed the scheduled days of MCAS testing here at the Roderick School.  Our fourth, fifth, and sixth graders worked very hard, and we are so proud of them.  We will begin make-up testing on Monday, April 1st for any students who have missed any of the test sessions. 

The 5th Annual Family Literacy Night will be held on Thursday, April 4th from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM in the Roderick School.  Teachers from the Delaney and Roderick Schools have put together a wonderful evening for all students.  Creative and exciting new programs have been added this year as well as some of the most popular activities from previous years.  In addition, literacy night will include author/illustrator Natalie Douglas who will be assisting with a watercolor painting activity.  Our PTO will again be organizing a book swap in the cafeteria.  We hope to see you all there! 

Mrs. Farrell's Grade 4 classroom invited me to their Writing Celebration this afternoon.  Students had the opportunity to share the wonderful writings that they have been working on over the past few months.  Writings included: narratives, persuasives, riddles, and biographies.  Congratulations to all of the students for their brilliant writing!

 

  
We recently completed the third week of Read Across Wrentham ~ this marks the halfway point in the program.  I would like to congratulate all the students who are participating.  Additionally, I would like to thank the teachers and parents for making this program a priority.  Classrooms with the highest minutes read for the third week include:

Mrs. Marazzi's Class (8,347 minutes read - total to date is 27, 466)

Mrs. McGee's Class (8, 052 minutes read - total to date is 24,755)

Miss Maloney's Class (5,688 minutes read - total to date 16,713)

Special thanks to Cathy Denholm and all of the parent volunteers who make this information possible.

Students in Mrs. Poirier's Grade 4 classroom used their math time on Thursday to work with equivalent fractions.  Students worked collaboratively during a hands-on activity to create and record equivalent fractions.  

  

A special thanks to the Roderick students, their families, and our staff for their generous donations during our Term III Spirit Day.  There were many birthday items collected today.  I feel extremely fortunate to belong to such a caring and generous community.  The students and staff also enjoyed spending the day sporting their favorite color.

Students in Mrs. Haughey’s class had a Math Egg Hunt today.  Students found eggs hidden around the Roderick filled with percentage math problems.  

Congratulations to our DI teams who competed in the regional tournament last weekend.  All of the participants represented the Wrentham Elementary School very well.  I am happy to announce that all of our teams did exceptionally well and our defending Global Final's team of Thomas Cyr, Faye Veilleux, and Melanie Veilleux will be advancing to the state tournament this Saturday in Worcester.  Best of luck to this team!  A special thanks to all of the coaches and DI Coordinator, Mrs. Linda DeVore for all of your time and energy.

On Tuesday, April 2^nd, the Roderick School will be participating in World Autism Awareness Day.  Students will be receiving stickers to wear throughout the day, blue balloons will adorn each of the entry ways, and the event will be recognized by our students during morning announcements.

 

·         Buildings around the world, including the Empire State Building participate in a unique global initiative called Light it up Blue.  Check out some of the locations that have “gone blue” to bring awareness to autism. http://www.lightitupblue.org/Markslist/waysToLight.do?pageId=361

PTO News

The Spring Fundraiser (Yankee Candle & Mixed Bag catalog) sales will go through next Friday, April 5th.  The money raised by the PTO is used to run activities such as Literacy Night, subsidizing student field trips, and much, much more.  The classroom with the most sales will receive a pizza party!  Thank you in advance for supporting our PTO.

The SADD club at King Philip High School is planning a basketball tournament on April 10th from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM at the KP Middle School.  Students in grades 4 - 6 from Wrentham, Plainville, and Norfolk are invited to come and play basketball with players from the high school.  There will be pizza served and the cost is $5.  

• No School Tomorrow, March 29th 
• School Council Meeting - Wednesday, April 3rd at 3:00 PM - Delaney Teachers' Room
• Literacy Night - Thursday, April 4th - 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
• Noon Dismissals  - Tuesday, April 9th & Thursday, April 11th (Conference Days)
• April Vacation - Monday, April 15th - Friday, April 19th   

Thanks for reading and have a great long weekend!

Stephen S. Grenham, Principal

March 22, 2013

Dear Roderick Community,

After more snow this week, it was hard to believe that we welcomed spring on Wednesday.  Now that we are officially in the season, let's hope we get some nicer weather. 

 Miss White’s class and Mrs. Moon’s class participated in Rate Contests this morning.  In teams of four, students worked together to find unit rates and ratios as the contests were completed.  Contests included: stuffing as many marshmallows in your mouth in 10 seconds, hopping on your left foot/right foot for 60 seconds, bouncing a basketball waist high for 30 seconds, and blowing as many bubbles as possible in 2 minutes.  The objective was to get the best rate for each event.  Congratulations to both classes for a job well done!

 
Roderick School students Marina, Jenna, Kiley, Avery, and Allison recently developed a plan to repaint the girls' bathroom on the O'Connell Wing.  Thank you to these outstanding students for taking their free time last Friday to make our school a nicer place.  We are very proud of them and the bathroom looks great!

Nicole, Maria, and Abby from Ms. White's sixth grade class visited me this week with their unbelievable Traveling the Continents book.  These students wrote this book for the Kids are Authors contest.  Great job, ladies!

The 6^th grade classes recently completed their unit on Earth Science. As a culminating activity on the Changing Earth, students in Miss Maloney’s, Miss White’s, Mrs. Moon’s, and Mrs. Cederbaum’s classes worked in cooperative groups to create their own volcanoes. The groups made their volcano out of student-made playdough and a water bottle. The students watched as the volcanoes erupted -- some with a small fizzle and some with a bang!

As a reminder, please refrain from entering the bus circle from 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM and 2:30 PM - 3:00PM.  In the last month or so, there have been numerous vehicles trying to enter the bus circle during the times mentioned above.  This creates a serious safety issue for students, staff, and parents.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

DI Wildcats

Our DI team will be competing in a regional tournament tomorrow, March 23rd at Medfield High School.  The tournament is free and all are welcome.  Our students' first presentation starts at 9:00 AM.  This year's Roderick members include: 

4th grade - Aidan B., Harry B., Brady L., Peyton M., Brianna M., Andrew P., and Keelin S.

5th grade - Erin C., Amanda C., Thomas C., Roxanne H., Robert H., Brenna K., Sophie M., Evelyn M., and Faye and Melanie V.

6th grade - Katie C., Tyler D., Abby H., MacKenzie M., and Ashanti T.

For more information about the Wrentham DI Wildcats, please contact DI Coordinator, Linda DeVore. 

Congratulations the KP 5th Grade Girls Basketball Team.  Last weekend they won the Eastern Mass State Championship.  What a great accomplishment!  

  

Next week continues our Spring 2013 ELA MCAS Administration for our fourth and fifth graders.  Thanks for making sure the  students are well rested, in school on time and ready to take the MCAS test on their MCAS days!

Next Thursday, March 28th the Wrentham Public Schools’ will participate in a “Random Act of Kindness” Spirit Day.  

We would like to donate “Birthday Bags” to our local Food Pantry so that all children have the chance to celebrate their birthday!

We need each grade to bring in items to help make the bags complete:

·        Grade 4:  frosting and cake mix

·        Grade 5:  tissues/ribbons

·        Grade 6:  party favors (horns, hats, gum, candy, etc.)

**Please remember to come to school on Thursday, March 28th wearing as much of your favorite color as you can! 

 Thank you in advance for your Random Act of Kindness!



WEST would like to thank Dr. Marsden, Wrentham Community Events, The Wrentham Lions and all of the students and parents for their generous support of WEST in The Dancing with the Wrentham Stars event.  WEST received over $8,000 in fundraising dollars for the event!  All of this money will benefit the children of the Wrentham Elementary Schools as WEST continues to fund educational grants.  Thank you!  Also, congratulations to Tyler Medeiros of Miss Williams's Kindergarten class for winning the Electric Razor Scooter in the "Buy a Star" for Dr. Marsden fundraiser.  Finally, congratulations to Jamie and Kelly Snead for winning the Davios gift basket raffle while supporting Dr. Marsden in his dancing debut!
 

 Conference schedules will be arriving home soon.  Please crosscheck the date and time and respond back as soon as possible. 

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

Respectfully,

Stephen S. Grenham, Principal