Mr. Ward’s Message:
As we welcome in Spring and the brighter, warmer days ahead our Freetown Foxes continue to engage in rigorous tasks in the classroom. Whether the students are practicing their phonics skills, responding to text based questions, or completing math word problems, scholars are thinking, working together, and reflecting to become the best versions of themselves. The month of March tends to be a long month for our students but the Freetown staff is very impressed with the students' efforts and responsiveness to the tasks given to them each day. Keep up the great work Freetown Foxes!
Please be reminded that we have an opt-in opportunity for our students to participate and view the Solar Eclipse taking place on Monday, April 8th. FES sent out permission slips on March 20th and we have a firm deadline of a March 27th return date. No exceptions can be made. The day of the Solar Eclipse students will go outside at a designated time in which they will be provided with protective eyewear. The students will be supervised by an adult in small groups. ONLY students who have returned their signed permission slip will be able to participate.
Upcoming events:
March 29: No School - Good Friday
April 1: Early Release Day: Students will be dismissed at 12:15 PM.
April 12: No School
April 15-19: No School - April Vacation Week.
Other events coming up shortly…
April 1 is an Early Release Day for students as voting will take place at Freetown Elementary School. Please be advised that dismissal for April 1st will be altered for Parent Pick-up to ensure the safety of all. Students will be dismissed out the doors at the end of the long hallway to the doors that face Bullock Road. Therefore, parents will be able to park on the large playground blacktop (gates will be open) and walk up the designated path leading to the grade 3 doors. Please be patient as we work together to keep all staff, students, and FES families safe.
FES News and Happenings…
A gentle reminder that our Grade 3 Students will be completing their Grade 3 ELA MCAS on April 9 & 10. Students will again participate in their Math MCAS on May 14 & 15.
Our students are prepared and will be ready to shine on their upcoming MCAS exams. We will have an MCAS Pep Rally on Friday, March 31st. At Freetown Elementary School we make every effort to ensure a testing environment that is worry-free, stress-free, and one where students have an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge. We are proud of all of our Freetown Foxes and they will put their best foot forward and that is all we ask of our students…to try their best and be proud of their work. Believe to Achieve!
PTO Corner:
PTO meetings will be held in person and virtually. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 8th beginning at 6:30 PM. The meeting invitation will be shared a week prior to the meeting.
FES PTO website is...https://freetownelementarypto.weebly.com/
Attendance Matters Weekly Update:
Goal: 94% of the FES student population will attend school daily.
March’s Daily Student Attendance Percentage:
March 1: 92%...Did not quite make our goal - Only day 1.
March 4-8: 94%...Met goal!
March 11-15: 94%...Met goal, two weeks in a row.
March 18-22: 94%...Met goal, three weeks in a row! Now we are rolling!
In and around the classrooms of Freetown Elementary for the week of March 18-22:
Pre-School: This week in preschool we continued our study of authors and illustrators, with a focus on Jann Brett. We read Hedgie’s Surprise, The Umbrella, The Mitten, The Hat, and Berlioz the Bear. We practiced sequencing this week. We also learned about the letter u and the sound it makes.
Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten our letters for formation, PA and phonics were Gg and Ww. Our HFW were they and of. We produced rhyming words and continued with phoneme blending and isolation. We discussed/confirmed predictions and also talked about problem/solution in a story. In math, we counted to 100 by ones.
Grade 1: This week first grade started unit 4 in Wonders. We learned about the vowel teams ai and ay. For comprehension, we reviewed retelling stories and describing major events in a story. In writing, we are working on responding to a text. For math this week we worked on adding tens to any number. For science, we finished the plant unit and began seasonal patterns.
Grade 2: This week in second grade reading we worked on author’s purpose and learned about how authors use reasons to support their ideas. We also learned about cause and effect. In phonics we worked on spelling and reading words with the long /o/ sound spelled with double vowel teams “oa”, “oe”, and “ow” as in coach, grow and toe. In math we solved word problems involving the lengths of various objects. We worked on writing personal narratives and fictional narratives. In Science we learned about building blocks of matter.
Grade 3: In reading, students explored a new essential question: how can others inspire us? Students read a variety of stories to explore this question. In writing, students read a practice MCAS story called, "The Snow Walker.” We modeled some of the students’ highlights with their written responses to this story. Students did a wonderful job using great reading strategies! In math, students are continuing to find the area of a given shape. In social studies, students are continuing to learn about the American Revolution and the importance of Paul Revere.
Art: Kindergarteners learned about warm and cool colors and painted warm and cool color paper to then cut and make an adorable sun project. Grade 1 is exploring texture by drawing original pictures and then adding color and texture with crayon rubbings. Grade 2 is exploring basic weaving with yarn. Grade 3 drew pineapples from observation. The focus is giving the look of texture (implied texture) with pattern and different values with oil pastels.
Physical Education: Students finished the second half of the mini golf course while practicing their grip, stance and putting.
Music: This week, students K-3 have started the 2nd week of their unit on musicianship. Grade 1 and Kindergarten are practicing elements of the beat. 1st grade will also practice rhythms. 2nd grade will expand their musicianship with Sol Mi patterns. 3rd grade will be writing and reading music for their recorders and practicing pitch patterns.
Library: In library class this week, students are learning about computer programming and development by playing a coding game called Coding with Awbie on the iPad. Students are learning how to build algorithms by using the Coding with Awbie coding blocks.