March 28, 2014

Dear Roderick Families,

MCAS

Students in Grade 4-6 participated in the ELA MCAS over the past two weeks.  They worked extremely hard and should be commended for their perseverance and determination.  I'm so proud of their efforts.  Great job boys and girls!

TERM III Spirit Day!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who donated items for the Term III Spirit Day. The response was fantastic! We are excited and extremely grateful for the generosity of the individuals at the Roderick School.  Items will be distributed to families of Wrentham and the Wrentham Recreation Department.

Check out the students dressed as the profession they would like to be when they get older!

I had the great opportunity to visit Mrs. Marazzi's class on Wednesday.  The students were working on comparing, adding, and subtracting fractions.  Great job, boys and girls!

 

Thank You!

Thank you to all the people who attended this morning's Principals' Coffee.  We enjoyed the opportunity to go through the 2014-2015 placement process. To access the Power Point presentation from this morning, please click here.  Our next Principals' Coffee will take place on Friday, May 30th at 8:30 AM in the Vogel Auditorium.  Dr. Martes will be discussing the budget.  We hope to see you there!

Grade 5 students have been working diligently on their Invention Convention projects.  Students in Mrs. Kane's class had some spectacular ideas!

March Madness Update

Week one is in the books.  There were some great competitions.  Week two begins on Monday, March 31st.  Congratulations to Grade 6 participant Jack from Miss White's classroom for going 12 for 12! Amazing!

Mrs. Heather Fox and Ms. Kimberly Kost will present an
Internet Safety Information Night for Parents Only (Sensitive topics will be discussed)

When: Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Where: Roderick Elementary School Library
Time: 7:00—8:00 PM

Agenda:

• An overview of what is taught in class to the students
• Discuss the extra step you can take to keep your child safer on the Internet
• Share resources to help learn about private settings and popular social media apps
• Kimberly Kost, school psychologist, will share some of the themes that are discussed during the school-widebullying lessons regarding Internet activity. She will also be available for a question and answer sessionfollowing the presentation.

New Redcat FM Systems Installed

In December, WEST provided us with a grant to purchase 4 new FM systems to be used in special subject classrooms including Music, Art , Library and Health. We received and installed them last week. The Redcat FM systems not only help students with hearing loss, but those with fluctuating loss due to colds, allergies, etc... as well as auditory processing difficulties. They allow the teacher’s voice to be heard above background noise and are very beneficial to all the students. We would like to once again thank WEST for their generosity and support of the Wrentham Public Schools. 

WOW!!!  Thank you to all who participated in the Pennies for Pitman challenge.  Students in grades K-6 dug into their banks and wallets and brought in a total of $1,311.67 to support Mrs. Pitman as she participates in Dancing with the Stars on behalf of the Wrentham PTO.  The competition was fierce as students filled their grade level jars silver coins and contributed pennies and paper bills to other grades to deduct from their totals.  In the end, grade 6 came out on top. Congratulations to all and thank you for supporting this great cause.

 

Tuesday, April 8th 8:30-3pm & 6pm-8pm

Wednesday, April 9th 8:30am - 4:30pm

Thursday, April 10th 8:30-3pm

Where:  Vogel Auditorium

  

Attend our Fiesta Festivities Tuesday night! 

Guess "How Many Nachos in the Jar" 

New this year, after school hours Wednesday!

Payments can be made by cash, checks (made payable to Wrentham PTO) and major credit/debit cards. Plus, don't forget the tax!! (6.25%) We appreciate your continued support and we look forward to seeing you at the Book Fair!

As always, thank you for reading.
Have a fantastic weekend!

Sincerely,
Stephen S. Grenham, Principal

 

March 21, 2014

Greetings Roderick Families:

Congratulations to the students pictured below.  These nine students were the top scoring students in each grade for Mrs. Fox's Minute to Win it typing challenge. 

Next week continues our Spring 2014 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!

Congratulations to the Wizards, the Spurs, the Liberty, and the Sun for making it to the intramural championship games.  The come from behind Wizards defeated the Spurs to take the Boys’ Championship. The New York Liberty defeated the Connecticut Sun for the Girls’ Championship.  Thank you to all of the Roderick students who participated in the after school basketball program and helped make another memorable season.  

 Congratulations to this week's Positive Referrals!  Thank you for making our school such a great place! 

Principals' Coffee - Friday, March 28th

On Friday, March 28th we will be hosting our third term Principals’ Coffee.  During this time, we will talk about the process we will use for placing students in classrooms for 2014-2015 school year. This Principals’ Coffee will be held on Friday, March 28th at 8:30 AM in the Vogel Auditorium.  Please note that if you are stuck for child care, please feel free to bring your little ones.  We hope that you will be able to stop in after you drop off your child(ren) on this day.  Food service director, Mrs. Judy White Orlando and her staff will be providing refreshments for this presentation.


Ms. Downing’s class celebrated Pi day (the date, March 14^th, represents the famous number 3.14) last week by enjoying pies of another kind!

 

The DI Region 8 Tournament is this coming weekend. We have 30 students this year!  The students are all from Roderick and we have a few at KPMS.  The tournament will be on Saturday, March 22nd at Medfield High School and the Blake Middle School.  Please contact Linda Devore with any questions.  

Term 3 Spirit Day

 

The Roderick and Delaney Schools will have their Term III Spirit Day on Friday, March 28th.  Schools will be collecting new or gently used sports gear/supplies for children who can't afford their own. Collections will begin on Monday, March 24th and will continue through Friday, March 28th.  In addition to donating sports supplies, students are encouraged to participate in "Profession Day" on March 28th. "Profession Day" is when students dress up as what they would like to be when they grow up.  Our past two Spirit Days have been extremely successful and we hope this one continues the trend!

In anticipation of the 2014-2015 school year, you are cordially invited to attend an orientation for parents of incoming 7th graders at the King Philip Middle School.  The middle school will be holding an orientation for first time middle school parents on Thursday, March 27th, at 7:00 PM in the middle school auditorium.  School administration, school nurses, and counselors will be in attendance to assist in preparation of your child/children moving on to middle school.  Please contact Middle School Principal, Dr. Susan Gilson with any questions.


Save the date…

Mrs. Heather Fox and Ms. Kimberly Kost will present an
Internet Safety Information Night for Parents Only (Sensitive topics will be discussed)

When: Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Where: Roderick Elementary School Library
Time: 7:00—8:00 PM

Agenda:

• An overview of what is taught in class to the students
• Discuss the extra step you can take to keep your child safer on the Internet
• Share resources to help learn about private settings and popular social media apps
• Kimberly Kost, school psychologist, will share some of the themes that are discussed during the school-widebullying lessons regarding Internet activity. She will also be available for a question and answer sessionfollowing the presentation.

Thank you for taking time to view the blog.  Enjoy your weekend!

Stephen S. Grenham

March 12, 2014

Hello Roderick Community,

Reminder...

On Friday, March 14th there is NO SCHOOL for students due to a staff development day.  Please mark your calendars.

Students in Grades 4 - 6 continued to prepare for the English Language Arts MCAS tests that they will take over the next two weeks.  Please refer to our school calendar for each grade level's specific dates.  I know that the students and staff have been working extremely hard throughout the year, and I am confident the students will do well.  I wish all of them the best of luck!

On Tuesday night, some members of the Student Council appeared before the School Committee make a status update presentation.  The students did a fantastic job!  

Also on Tuesday night, School Committee member Lynn Desrochers attended her final School Committee meeting.  Mrs. Desrochers has served on the Wrentham Elementary Schools' School Committee for the past 3 years.  Thank you for helping move our district forward.  Thank you for all of your hard work!

Dear Parents of 4^th Graders:

Please be reminded that 4^th grade physicals are due.  Notices were sent home on 3/12/14 with all students who need an updated physical on file in the Health Office.  If you received a notice, please send in a copy of your child’s physical (dated 3/1/13 or later) to Mrs. Prew in the Health Office as soon as possible.  Thank you for your cooperation!

 At their February 11^th meeting, the Wrentham School Committee reaffirmed its support of utilizing cameras on our school buses.  Since that time, the Holmes Bus Company has been installing the cameras.  As of this posting, cameras have been installed on Wrentham buses.  There are two cameras on each bus, one at the front and one located near the middle of the bus.  There is a sign at the front of each bus letting everyone know that the cameras are operating.  The Superintendent and building principals are the only individuals with authority to view the tapes.

The School Committee also voted a “Security Camera” policy that articulates the use on school buses and the cameras that we have on our school buildings to monitor outside activity.  We are in the process of obtaining signage to be displayed at the entrances to our schools.  The policy is posted on the School Committee section of our website (www.wrentham.k12.ma.us ).  If you have any questions, please contact me.

Ms. Frizzell's after school book group took advantage of the great temperatures earlier in the week.  The group is currently reading Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

Sign ups are currently going on for this year's March Madness Foul Shooting Contest.  This contest is open to all fifth and sixth grade students.  This year's tournament begins on Monday, March 24th.  Please contact Mr. Adam Moon with any questions.

Warm regards,

Stephen S. Grenham, Principal