Freetown Elementary School

Mr. Ward’s Message:

Freetown Elementary School is a proud recipient of the United Way of Greater Fall River’s Teachers’ Closet supply drive that gives educators an extra lift in creating enriching classrooms. Through this partnership with United Way and K R Rezendes Freetown Elementary will have its very own closet stocked with supplies that teachers can pull from all year long. Partnerships like this go a long way in building a Healthy Community where everyone can thrive! 

FES News and Happenings…

• On Wednesday, October 3rd, Freetown Elementary School will be practicing our Evacuation Drill with SRO Detective Medeiros.  As you know safety is our highest priority with our students and staff.  Being safe does include practicing ALICE Drills and Evacuation Drills.  As we practice our emergency response drills such as ALICE and Evaluation Drills parents/guardians will be notified of such practices.  At the conclusion of such practice drills families will be notified immediately using the Thrillshare One Call Email system of how the practice drill was implemented and the findings from the drill.  With that being said our first practice Evacuation Drill will take place on October 3rd in the afternoon.  This practice drill will be completed with our partnership with the Freetown Police.  Additionally, students will practice and discuss this procedure with their classroom teacher.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact Mr. Ward.

Attendance Matters…

Attendance Matters Weekly Update:

Goal:  94% of the FES student population will attend school daily.  

September weekly attendance data indicates...

September 9-13: 98%...Met Goal!

September 16-20:  96%...Met Goal! 

Upcoming events:

September 26:  Preschool Open House from 5:30 - 6:30 PM

September 27: Fall Individual Picture Day - Lifetouch is the provider 

PTO Corner:  

Please consider joining us at our next PTO Meeting on October 21st.  Please note PTO meetings will be held in person and virtually.  Mr. Ward will share the meeting invite link the week before the meeting.  We encourage more parents/guardians to attend our next meeting, October 21st beginning at 5:30 PM.  Please note the time change at the start of the meeting.  Why, you might be wondering?  There is a special town meeting beginning at 7:00 PM on October 21st.  

• FES PTO website is...https://freetownelementarypto.weebly.com/

News and Happenings from around the classrooms - Week of September 16-20:

Pre-School:  This week in preschool, we began our study of the letter, P, and the sound it makes.  Projects this week highlighted this letter and included Pete the Cat, a pulley experiment, playing with play dough, and playing with pom poms in the sensory table.  On Thursday, the children learned about the color red and were invited to wear something red to school.  They painted with red paint and used red play dough.

Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten we continued to focus on routines and expectations both within the school and our classrooms. We also continued learning about the new friends we’ve made. For ELA we introduced the high frequency word “I, reviewed alphabet letters and nursery rhymes. We also focused on recognizing and writing our names. In math we spent the week building routines. We learned how to answer the questions,-What do you notice? What do you wonder about?  We also practiced our“Turn and Talk” method to share the answers to these questions with a classmate.  We will use these routines throughout the year.

Grade 1:  This week in first grade we continued to review letters and sounds. We have been discussing characters and settings of stories. In writing our first graders are learning what a complete sentence looks like (subject and predicate). For math this week we have learned number partners for 10. In social studies we are continuing to learn about each other and how we are a community. 

Grade 2: This week in second grade, students worked on making ten and using math manipulatives. In phonics, students are continuing to read and spell words with closed syllables, digraphs, and bonus letters. We continued to discuss character traits and how characters act and respond in stories. In social studies we are learning about map skills and understanding where students live in relation to the world. 

Grade 3: This week in math, students were introduced to the four strategies in multiplication: repeated addition, drawing pictures, making arrays, and skip counting.  In reading, students continued to read the story, "Judy Moody.”  Students created their own “Me Collage” to coincide with the character Judy in this story.  In writing, students completed their bio poem and presented their poem to the class.  In social studies, students learned about the regions within Massachusetts.  

Art:  Kindergartens continued to explore lines while also focusing on proper grip, posture and direction.  Grade 1 students also are reviewing lines and as they worked on their own art, they collaborated on a digital mural using the Promethean Board.  Grade 2 finished their world collage project by creatively arranging magazine pictures around their painting.  Grade 3 is doing an amazing job with their mini line designs.  They have learned the importance of drawing straight parallel lines to begin each design. 

Physical Education: 1st-3rd grade students continued working on kicking skills. They also had a throwing and catching station using scoops.  Kindergarten students worked on locomotor movements and spatial awareness while playing the game Zinny’s Driving School.

Music: This week, students K-3 have started the second week of their unit on being expressive in music. We will learn new songs, games, and movements to be performed with appropriate musicality. In addition, Gradees 2 and 3 have begun basic note reading activities. 3rd Grade chorus sign up forms are going home with students. If you would like your child to participate please sign and return them.