October 2024 Recap

Roosevelt Elementary

Kindergarten Pumpkin Carving

1st Grade

Mrs. Price's class learned about the different attributes of pumpkins! We compared the height, circumference, and weight of different pumpkins. We also tested out if our pumpkins float or sink!

2nd Grade

Miss Scherr's second grade class wrapped up their Ancient Asian Civilization unit. They reviewed map skills, wrote numbers in Chinese, drew the Great Wall of China and ended the day with fortune cookies and the movie Mulan.

3rd Grade

A note from Mrs. Abrahamson:

GRANDMA!!! You can hear echoing in the classroom on mornings when Johanne Vinson shows up at Roosevelt Elementary. Students smile from ear to ear on their faces, running and hugging her to the point of almost knocking the 87-year-old down. Johanne is a volunteer who has dedicated 69 years to helping children become successful with their education.

Johanne came from a little town in northeast Montana. She started teaching at the age of 18. Grandma Johanne taught overseas in Japan and Germany, then in several states, before coming to Gladstone, North Dakota, and on to Dickinson, where she retired from Berg Elementary. However, she didn't stop there; she continued to help Dickinson Public Schools by subbing and now volunteering in the classroom as 'Grandma.'

Twice a week, she comes in and helps support 3rd graders with their reading, writing, and anything they need help with. It has come full circle as she started teaching in my mother's room in Scobey, Montana. It's an extra special year, as again one of those 3rd graders is her great-great nephew!!

Johanne is constantly asked, "WHY?" She always smiles with goosebumps and says, "These young students inspire me!" Little does Grandma know how much joy and inspiration she brings to them.

There are so many advantages to having volunteers come into my classroom, which includes but not limited to: a retired teacher, grandma, parents, high school students, college athletes etc. They provide so much, including assisting in the classroom, the ability to have more engaging and active activities, it also improves my morale having these resources available.

My favorite advantage is research shows that children that has worked with a volunteer has better grades and perform better on tests. They're also better behaved, have better attendance, and are more likely to graduate and continue their education. When I was reading about all the advantages of volunteers in the classroom, I found it interesting that high school students benefit the most from this. Empathy, communication, are just a few of the skills they acquire.

We sure love having ‘Grandma’ with us this year again!

4th Grade

This last month the 4th graders have been learning about the Middle Ages in CKLA. Upon completing the unit, they celebrated with a Medieval Festival Day. This festival day started with soap carvings. The students worked diligently with this, creating butterflies, bears, and turtles out of bars of soap! After their soap carving, the students moved on to making beautiful stained-glass art using bold marker colors and transparent paper and framing them into a black frame. Before the final festival event, the students joined clans with a gathering of eating medieval bread and cheese. After the gathering it was time for the festival's main event, jousting! It was a true battle of the clans.