April 5, 2013

Dear Roderick Families,

Term III report cards were sent home today.

 

Congratulations to this week's Positive Referral.  Julia, Thomas, and Molly were hard-working, helpful, and diligent.  We are very proud of them!  Thanks for making our school a better place!

On Monday, the fourth grade classes celebrated the opening day of baseball season with their annual sunflower seed spitting contest. Each class entered their top three spitters into the final round! Congratulations to our winners: David L, Bryce D, Lucas G, and Mr. Cederbaum who won for the teachers! Play Ball!

Students in Mrs. Farrell's fourth grade class used different adaptations of the story Cinderella to find similarities to and differences from the original. 

On Thursday, the Wrentham Public Schools celebrated Family Literacy Night.  Thank you to all of the families who attended.  Special thanks to school librarian, Robin Panchuk for organizing a great evening, all of the staff members for hosting the activities, and the PTO for collecting and organizing the book swap.

Congratulations to Kayley (Mr. Marshall's Class) and Ryan (Mrs. Haughey's Class) who were honored on Thursday night by the Lions Club for their Peace Poster submissions.  Kayley took home first place while Ryan finished second.  Way to go!

  

Special thanks to Mrs. Cormier (mother of Marin and math coach in the Westwood Public Schools) who came in on Friday to work on fractions with Mrs. Coleman's Grade 4 class.

 

The Roderick DI team of Melanie, Thomas, and Faye finished FIRST at the state DI tournament in Worcester last weekend.  This is the second year in a row that this team won the state tournament.  These three individuals and their coaches will be traveling to Knoxville, TN to compete in Globals.  We are very proud of these students and wish them the best of luck at Globals!   

Mr. Peter Woicik from All Town Mobil in Wrentham (across from the outlets) visited our school on Monday with a $500.00 donation for the Wrentham Public Schools.  Mr. Woicik, manager of this branch, made this generous donation in conjunction with Mobil's Educational Alliance Math and Science grants.  Their station selected our school as this year's recipient.

The annual Student v. Staff basketball game was held on Wednesday night.  After a tough, hard-fought battle, the students edged out the staff in a very tight game.  Below are some highlights from the game.

As a reminder, Tuesday and Thursday of next week will be half days due to spring parent-teacher conferences. 

Thank you for taking time to read this week's blog. 

Best wishes for a great weekend,
Stephen S. Grenham, Principal

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