Freetown Elementary School

Pre-School:  This week in preschool we continued our study of weather with a specific focus on wind, clouds, and rain.  Projects included counting raindrops and making windsocks.   In science, students made predictions about whether or not objects would fly in the wind, and then used a fan to find out.  

Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten we viewed phonics and phonemic awareness for the letters i, n, k, o, d. We were introduced to s blends /sn/, /st/, /sp/. We also reviewed HFW- and, do, go, to, you. We completed more practice with rhyming and blending/segmenting sounds. Our Ready math lesson was an introduction to subtraction. We learned that subtract, minus and take away all have the same meaning. We continue to practice writing in sentences with an uppercase to start a sentence, punctuation and to use describing words for more interesting sentences. 

Grade 1:  This week in first grade we reviewed digraphs and blends. For comprehension we reviewed understanding a text by rereading and asking questions when we don’t understand something.  For math this week we are continuing to make a ten to add and making a ten from 3 numbers. In science we are working on the light unit. In writing we are continuing the how-to unit. 

Grade 2: This week in second grade in reading we worked to determine the author's purpose. We talked about how authors write to inform by describing or explaining something. In phonics we learned about a new syllable type (r-controlled syllables) and worked with r-controlled vowels /or/ and /ar/. In math we continued to use strategies to subtract 3-digit numbers with regrouping. In writing we worked on narrative writing. In science we explored properties and states of matter.

Grade 3: This week, third graders all finished their math and reading diagnostics.  It was amazing to see how much growth they made since September!  In math, students learned how to write and draw equivalent fractions.  In reading, students read short passages that explored the question: should humans or robots explore space?  After analyzing and discussing these passages, students organized their own ideas in a graphic organizer about whether or not they thought humans or robots should explore space.  

Art:  Kindergarteners traced circles, cut, glued, and then painted to add adorable snowmen to the colorful backgrounds they made last week.  Grade 1 completed their primary and secondary color popsicle projects.   Grade 2 drew adorable baby Emperor penguins and added different values with a charcoal stick.  They cut these out and glued them to the Antarctic sky that they painted last week.  Grade 3 painted in a decorative way to finish their folk art owls. 

Physical Education: Students performed both the step and stretch band routines and had a health lesson. Third graders learned about their muscles. Second grade students learned about how fruit is nature’s candy and how the vitamins in fruit help the body. Grade 1 students learned how families are alike and how families are different. Kindergarten students learned about anger and how to deal with strong emotions.

Music: This week, students K-3 have started the 2nd week of their unit on listening. Grade 1 and Kindergarten will listen to music for dynamics, tempo and directions as well as music from Haydn. 2nd grade will listen to music of Beethoven and respond to vocal and instrumental musical elements. 3rd grade will be receiving recorders this week. 

Library: During library class this week, students listened to articles in Pebble Go and Britannica Early Elementary about Martin Luther King Jr. Kindergarten and first grade students responded to the articles by typing and drawing what they learned into Google Drawing.  Second and third grade students wrote their responses in Google Slides.