Second grade students who already attend West Bloomfield Schools or who are within the West Bloomfield School attendance area, are invited to test for placement into the program each winter. The Magnet program is not a criteria-based school of choice program. 

Criteria to get into program includes; CogAT Screener, NWEA Reading and Math scores and Bridges Assessments.  Teachers also submit a teacher recommendation form for each qualifying student. The teacher recommendation includes rating students on a variety of habits of mind and academic characteristics. 

Students remain in the program for all three years and then move back to West Bloomfield Middle School. All students attending the Magnet program, who live in district, are offered transportation via school bus. 

The Magnet Program began in the 1978-1979 school year.  The Program had an initial budget which gradually decreased over a number of years so as to be fully integrated into the normal funding of each West Bloomfield school. The first year of the program had 92 students in grades three through five.  The initiative to begin this program was a direct result of the growing body of knowledge dealing with Gifted Education.  Students wishing to attend the program were given a battery of tests in academic areas.  Parents and teachers were given the opportunity to nominate students through written narratives as well as through questionnaires.  Selection was based upon those students receiving the highest cumulative scores. 

Mrs. Kristi Law

I attended Michigan State University receiving my Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education in 1998 and my Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Teaching in 2002.  I completed my Education Specialist Degree through a cooperative effort of Oakland University and the Galileo Leadership Consortium, in May 2007.  I began teaching in the fall of 1999 at Roosevelt Elementary School.  I first taught first and second grade before becoming a teacher in the Magnet Program.  In 2002, I married Kevin Law, we welcomed our first child, Carley, in 2006 and our second daughter, Jordyn, in 2009.  I enjoy the day-to-day challenge Magnet students present as I guide them in their learning.  I love teaching in the Magnet Program and find it to be a very rewarding experience.  I also serve as the District Elementary Lead Mentor, servicing new teachers or teachers looking to improve a particular area of their craft.  This amazing position allows me to affect the district on a larger scale and I love it!

Ms. Sara Rich

I am very excited to be working at Roosevelt Elementary School!  I have been teaching in the West Bloomfield School District since 2009.  I have taught Kindergarten, First Grade, and Third Grade.  I went to Michigan State University and graduated with a major in Elementary Education and a minor in mathematics and history.  I also completed my Master's of Arts in Education with a concentration in Leadership from MSU.  I attended West Bloomfield schools from Kindergarten to 12th grade.  I enjoy working in the same district I went to school.  I love working with the families and staff here at Roosevelt.  My goal is to allow children to mature as learners, socially and academically.  I have created environments where this goal can become a reality.  My learning community blossoms when all children remember that they are part of a team!

Mrs. Christina Sipila

I live right down the street from Roosevelt in Sylvan Lake with my husband, Keith, and three children; Samantha, Benjamin and Ellie. I am a graduate of the University of Michigan, where I received a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature. I then earned a Master’s degree and teaching certificate from Wayne State University.  While working with the Galileo Teacher Leader Academy, I also competed my Education Specialist Degree from Oakland University.  I have been working in the West Bloomfield School District since 1999. I spent two years working as a paraprofessional at Abbott Middle School, followed by five years of teaching 5th grade at Doherty Elementary, and have been at Roosevelt ever since.  I thoroughly love teaching and am thrilled to be a part of the Roosevelt staff.

Lifelong Learners

The graduates of the Magnet Program are dispersed throughout the country as distinguished professionals. It is the projects, simulations, explorations, and discussions that validate their love of learning and satiates their quest for knowledge. Being in a classroom with others of similar intellectual ability allows learning to take place at a broader and deeper level. To be challenged mentally early in life engrains in these students the value and excitement of creating, discovering, problem solving, and critical thinking.  This excitement and need for learning becomes an integral part of what they value and who they are.   

Project-Based 

Research shows that people learn best when they are physically as well as mentally engaged.  For this reason, a project-based curriculum has been developed so that the students are actively involved in their learning.  Utilizing this valuable method of teaching allows students not only to meet curricular expectations, but gives them the freedom and ability to pursue and explore their own talents and interests.  Projects vary from team initiatives to individualized studies.  Students will engage in projects that span across the content areas.  From science fairs to senate simulations, drag car racing to 3-D models of the United States; students will take their learning to new heights.  

Relationships 

Students find the Magnet Program provides the opportunity in which they can find a true friend.  It can be the first time that they connect intellectually with same age peers and/or find students with similar interests. These relationships are nurtured over the three years that students spend in the program.  Many of the Magnet students remain lifelong friends.  Having the students for three years allows the teachers to fully know and understand each student.  For this reason, the teachers are able to enhance the students’ strengths, conquer their weaknesses, and further develop their personalities.  Teachers and parents develop a strong relationship over the three years as they work together to ensure success for each child. 

Multi-Age

The Magnet Program is an all-day, every day program for third, fourth, and fifth grade students.  In some curricular areas students are placed in family groupings (where children from different grade levels are taught the same information; however, are given different expectations) while in other curricular areas they are placed by ability.  The uniqueness of a multi-age environment is that students work and learn with others of different ages and gender. Working and playing together eliminates these natural barriers.  Students learn to appreciate and respect differences in ability rather than using age and gender as dividing factors.  

Academically Gifted Children  

Academically Gifted children learn in ways that are different than other students.   They yearn to learn broader and deeper and have the capability of learning faster and sooner.  In the Magnet Program, the students receive a curriculum that allows them to be challenged at their intellectual level, as well as having the learning be meaningful and enjoyable. Equally important, the Magnet Program provides students the opportunity to work and learn with other students with exceptional talents.  For this reason, this program can foster an environment that challenges the students to reach new intellectual heights as well as allowing them to connect socially/emotionally with people similar in age.