Ferndale Upper Elementary School

The FUEL Girls On The Run Club completed a 5K this weekend. The coaches wrote a heartfelt congratulations:

To our awesome girls on the run: Fantastic job this weekend! We are so, so proud of you for training so hard all season and going all out for our 5k. Even as the temperature rose and the breeze stopped, the girls kept pushing through and finished strong. They went 3.1 miles! It has been such a pleasure coaching for you amazing girls this season. Congrats on completing your first 5k, and we hope to see you run many more. Great work on an awesome season: Alma, Chloe, Phoebe, Frankie, London, Kyra, Alona, Charlotte, Chelsea, Miriam, Violet, Margot, Apple, Izabella, Brooklyn, Tyler, and Sophia!

With love, your coaches: Coach Sophie, Coach Kyla, Coach Danielle, and Coach Adam

Superintendent Goodrum, her cabinet, and several members of the Board of Education surprised select teachers and support staff with gifts this week as part of a Teacher and Support Staff of the Year award presentation. You can view photos of the honorees below. We are so proud of these outstanding educators and team members who make student growth so spectacular at Ferndale Schools.

FECC Teacher of the Year: Shelby Martin

FECC Support Staff of the Year: Jennifer Krycian

Ferndale Lower Elementary Teacher of the Year: Glynis Tyler

Ferndale Lower Elementary Support Staff of the Year: Megan Meloche

Ferndale Upper Elementary Teacher of the Year: Anton Gjonaj

Ferndale Upper Elementary Support Staff of the Year: Raequan Allen

Ferndale Middle School Teacher of the Year: Bridget Guerra

Ferndale Middle School Special Education Teacher of the Year: Brad Tanguay

Ferndale Middle Support Staff of the Year: Geraldine Perry and Katelyn O'Bear

Ferndale High School Teacher of the Year: Michael Hand

Ferndale High School Teacher of the Year: Kandis Pagonas 

Ferndale High School Support Staff of the Year: Sharon Stone

University High School Teacher of the Year: Lauren Thomas

UHS Support Staff of the Year: Flaudia Quaker (unpictured)

TCEC Teacher of the Year: Ellie Kotulis

TCEC Support Staff of the Year: Roger Hunt (unpictured)

Central Office Support Staff of the Year: Tammy Foster

Bus Driver of the Year: Wendy Gambill

Bus Driver of the Year: Erricka Thomas

Bus Driver of the Year: Nikki Anderson

Students in Mrs. Nagaj's class is so excited to be learning with new Smart Robots and coding Micro:bits! At a recent Computer Science and Robotics bootcamp, 3rd Grade Teacher Shannon Nagaj learned about Michigan's K-12 Computer Science curriculum. As additional encouragement for teachers to bring this into their classrooms and equitable share these learning opportunities, Oakland Schools partners with MiStem Network  and Square One Education to offer classroom grants. Mrs. Nagaj wrote a grant and was one of five teachers selected to receive a classroom kit (15) of tiny cars and Micro:bits. Her students have unplugged & plugged coding lessons weekly and are looking forward to building and programming their Tiny:bit Smart Robots and Micro:bits. We can't wait to see these tools in action!

Ferndale Area District Library staff were on hand last week to host 2023's 5th grade Battle of the Books competition!  The 3 Musketeers (Everett MacAuley, Madeline Weakley, & Helen Zamborsky) came out on top in a very competitive trivia-style competition where nearly THIRTY teams competed!  We also want to give a shout out to the team voted "Best Name" by our Ferndale Librarians - congrats to The Perfect Loaves (Jasmine & Jocelyn Gooden-Bulger, Leonard Graves & Morgan Karnick). 

Each year, FUEL 5th graders are challenged to read and study 5-6 novels and become "Battle Book Experts!" This year's selections included a diverse cast of characters, cultures, and formats, including The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell, Sea Sirens by Amy Chu & Janet Lee, Once Upon an Eid by S.K. Ali & Aisha Saeed, The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, Rick by Alex Gino, and Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac. 

Participants were able to keep their copies of the books at the end of Battle.  Many thanks to our Ferndale librarians for their incredible creativity in putting this together this year, as well as to our 5th grade students and teachers for all of their reading and hard work leading up to the Battle!  Shout out also to our family volunteers for helping put on the event!