Mr. Ward’s Message:
On Monday, September 30th Freetown Elementary School will have the Fun Run Pep Rally. Students will return home from school with a boosterthon registration information packet. The run date for the Fun Run is slated for October 10th. That day all students will receive a Fun Run T-Shirt provided by the generous sponsors of the FES Fun Run. The students will also run the Fun Run track to log their minutes and they will wrap up all the fun with a snowcone from Kona Ice. The Kona Ice Truck is being sponsored by the FES PTO. The Fun Run will be fun and all the events leading up to the day will be exciting as well. This year’s theme is Castle Quest and students will watch daily videos during lunch as they learn about character education traits. This is our main fundraiser for the school year and we use this money raised to sponsor our many student activities and social events such as field trips, Fox Festival, curriculum nights, Bingo Night, and much more. Stay tuned for more information.
FES News and Happenings…
On Wednesday, October 2nd, 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 2nd 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!
September 23-27: 96%...Met Goal!
Upcoming events:
September 30: Fun Run Pep Rally
October 2: Evacuation Practice Drill
October 10: Fun Run Day
October 11: Early Release Day - Students dismissed at 12:15.
October 14: No School - Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples Day
October 21: October PTO Meeting
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 23-27:
Pre-School: This week in preschool we learned all about the letter B and the sound it makes. We also brainstormed ways to be a good friend. Projects this week included color blending teamwork puzzles, sorting/counting buttons, and buses. Thursday was Circle Show-and-Tell. Our Preschool Open House was held on Thursday evening.
Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten we continued to review alphabet letters. Our HFW was “can”. We discussed print concepts; parts of a book, left to right progression and letters vs. words. In Phonemic awareness, we identified rhyming words and introduced counting words in a sentence. We continued with name writing and we responded to texts in our Wonders curriculum workbooks. In math, our lesson was describing position. We also completed apple science and other apple activities.
Grade 1: This week in first grade we reviewed digraphs th, sh, ch, wh, and ck. For comprehension we focused on key details and compared fiction and nonfiction texts. In writing we are continuing to work on understanding sentences. For math this week we focused on adding and subtracting within 10. We are also finishing up our Me on the Map unit.
Grade 2: This week in second grade, students practiced various mental math addition strategies including making a ten, doubles facts, and near doubles. In phonics students are learning to make words plural by adding -s and -es. We read stories about different cultures and discussed how families around the world have different traditions and values. We focused on character traits and story structure. In writing we are continuing to practice developing a complete sentence. In social studies we are learning about the different continents and oceans.
Grade 3: This week in third grade, the students learned how to use order and grouping to multiply with parentheses. Students also continued solving one step multiplication word problems with the four strategies (arrays, repeated addition, skip counting, and drawing pictures). In reading, students explored the essential question: How do people from different cultures contribute to a community? Students read short stories in whole groups and small group instruction to explore this question. In writing, students chose a topic for their personal narrative.
Art: Kindergarteners had fun with their names and oil pastels and also learned how to use scissors correctly. Grade 1 got creative turning a jagged horizontal line into an original drawing. Grade 2 learned about the folk art of Pysanky (Ukrainian eggs) and created a paper version with oil pastels and watercolor. Grade 3 challenged themselves to get more intricate with their mine line designs.
Physical Education: 1st- 3rd grade students are finishing up kicking and we are transitioning to throwing and catching. Second and Third grade students are practicing throwing overhand with proper technique. Kindergarten and First grade students are practicing throwing underhand with proper technique.
Music: This week, students K-3 have started the third 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 explored mallet instruments and composing.
Library: On Makerspace Monday, students worked on a STEM project. We read "If I Built a School" by Chris Van Dusen. Students built their own schools with their groups using straws and tape. They also designed floor plans for their school. During the rest of the week, students in second and third grade worked on a National Hispanic Heritage Month choice board. Students in first grade learned about Ellen Ochoa and responded to prompts about persistence in their lives and kindergarten students read "Pablo's Tree" and completed an activity based on the story.