image of school supplies in pastel colors with text of FES updates, March 19, 2023

Mr. Ward’s Message:

Update on the Kindness Challenge…

As you know the challenge calls for FES as a school community to create a Rainbow of Kindness using cut-out hands to create the rainbow.  Each grade level has a designated color, including staff, to help develop the rainbow.  

News and Happenings around the school…

Speaking of Kindness…Vincent Karppinen, former Freetown Fox who now attends FLMS is hosting a clothing drive.  Below is a quick message about Project 351.

  • Project 351 Clothing Drive:

    • Join us for a clothing drive fundraiser to benefit those most in need.  Your donations of like-new children’s clothing will go a long way in helping others with their basic needs.  The event will take place from March 20-31at the Freetown Elementary School during school hours.  There will be boxes in the main entrance for your donations.  Together, we can make a difference in the lives of our neighbors.

This week brought Math Week.  Each day consisted of a math theme.  Monday, Word Problem Day.  Tuesday, Number Day.  Wednesday, estimate how tall is Mr. Ward using playing cards (23 cards in case you were wondering). Thursday, Graph the Cafe in which students voted upon what incentive would be next after filling the Fox Den.  Finally, we will wrap up Math Week with Pattern Day tomorrow.  Thank you for your support and willingness to join in our math fun this week.  

PTO Corner:

  • The next PTO Meeting will take place on Monday, April 10th from 6:30 - 7:30 PM.  The meeting will be both in-person and virtual.   The meeting invitation will be provided as the meeting approaches.  

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

Attendance Matters Weekly Update:

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

  • The September average student daily attendance was 95%.  Goal achieved!

  • The October average student daily attendance was 95%.  Goal achieved!  

  • The November average student daily attendance was 94%.  Goal achieved!  

  • The December average student daily attendance was 89%.  We did not achieve our goal!

  • The January average student daily attendance was 95%.  Goal achieved! 

  • The February average students daily attendance was 93.4%.  We did not achieve our goal!

March student daily attendance rate…

  • March 1 & 2: 96.5%...Goal achieved!  

  • March 6-10: 94%....Goal achieved!  

  • March 13-17: 94%...Goal achieved!  

Upcoming Events:

Next Tuesday, March 21st is going to be an exciting day at FES.  We will be celebrating two events…

  • Texture Day will take place on Tuesday, March 21st.  Students are learning about texture in art class.   Texture is how something feels, but we can also see texture with our eyes.   For texture day, students can wear their most interesting textures, for example clothing or accessories that are fluffy, have sequins or an interesting pattern that looks like a texture.     Click Here to learn more about Texture  

  • March 21st is also World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD).  As a school district we will be celebrating WDSD by having a Rock your Socks Day in which all students and staff are encouraged to wear their craziest socks to school that day. 

News and Happenings from the classrooms for the week of March 13-17:

Pre-School:  This week in preschool we learned about the Lively Letter, s, a snake who reminds us to smile when we make this sound.  We continued learning about community helpers with a specific focus on construction workers and architects.  Preschoolers learned about various tools used in the construction process.  They also created blueprints of their own unique block designs!  We enjoyed participating in our school wide Math Week.  We practiced estimating as well as solving a math problem!  We learned about Saint Patrick’s Day traditions through a few special crafts including shamrocks and leprechauns.     

Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten our Fundations lesson was the rule of when to use the letter c or k at the beginning of a word. We also completed more practice with decoding and tapping and spelling cvc words and also listening for the long and short vowel sounds in words. We are reviewing a group of high frequency words. The Wonders comprehension skills were visualization, sequencing events and directions. Print concepts were locating a printed word and capitalization. In math, we counted to 100 by tens. We set our leprechaun traps in hopes of catching one of the sneaky little guys…… but as usual, we were not lucky enough. Students had a great time trying though and finding all of the leprechauns' mischievous doings.. 

Grade 1:  This week in first grade we finished unit 9 in FUNdations. We learned about open and closed syllables. We also read many words with a vowel team including ea, ea, ey, oi, and oy. For comprehension we focused on key details and topics. We discussed insects and how they can change. In writing we are continuing to respond to text and also write opinions about the text we read. For math this week, we compared 2 digit numbers using the greater than and less than sign. In science we are learning about seasonal patterns. 

Grade 2: This week in second grade reading we worked on sequencing events from a text. In Fundations we worked on spelling and reading words with the long /o/ sound spelled with double vowel teams “oa”, “oe”, and “ow”. In math we compared lengths of various objects. In writing we began to draft our personal narratives. In Science learned about building blocks of matter. We had a great time participating in Math Week, doing everything from solving a school-wide word problem to estimating people’s heights to exploring patterns and everything in between!

Grade 3:  This week, students explored a new essential question: how can using what we know help others?  Students explored this question through short stories and discussions.  In writing, students worked on practice MCAS responses that include multiple choice questions and open responses.  Students are learning great test taking strategies! In math, students learned how to tell time to the nearest minute, along with word problems involving elapsed time. In social studies, students learned about the Boston Tea party using short stories, discussions, videos, and a fun song!  

Art:  Kindergarteners finger painted to mix a color with white to learn how to make a tint.  They also drew simple texture patterns into their paint like grass, wavy, and furry.  Grade 1 started a fish with scales texture project.  Grade 2 drew a lion and added a thick furry mane with oil pastels.  Grade 3 is drawing a pineapple from observation, paying close attention to the pattern that creates its texture.    Next Tuesday is Texture day!  Wear all your most interesting textured clothing to school!

Music: This week, students K-3 have started the 1st 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 notating and reading music for their recorders.

Physical Education: This week students participated in a book themed round of golf. Second and Third grade students learned some common golf terms and kept score.