Mr. Ward’s Message:
With each passing month it is with great pride at Freetown Elementary School that we continue the deep, embedded tradition of Student of Month ceremonies. With each month a student from each classroom is nominated by peers and/or their teacher. Students nominated have put forth their best efforts in their school work, behavior, and efforts. For the month of October these students best exemplify what it means to be a Freetown Elementary Student. Congratulations to the October students that were nominated…
Kindergarten: Sophia Potvin, Norah Frias, Henley DeCosta, Eli Amaral, Brantley Brown
Grade 1: Sarah Botelho, Jonah Robert, Julia Morrissette, Austin Ferreira, Vincent Pillarella
Grade 2: Ryan Richards, Carter Marcelino, Mason Pacheco, Ryan Morse, Raleigh Lewis
Grade 3: Lily Morse, Ella Frias, Grayson Robert, Ben Avila, Leo Avila
FES News and Happenings:
The Freetown Elementary School would like to wish all family and friends a Happy Thanksgiving filled with happiness, laughter, memories, and family. The FES staff is very thankful for your support, care, hard work, and love you provide your child with every day. We are also thankful for our students who come to school putting their best effort forward in order to reach their full potential. Happy Thanksgiving! Students will be released early on Wednesday, November 23rd at 12:15 PM. Breakfast and lunch will not be served. There will be no school on Thursday, November 24th or Friday, November 25th. School will resume again on Monday, November 28th.
Save the Dates:
Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held on Wednesday, December 7th (evening) and Thursday, December 8th (afternoon). An on-line sign-up document will be shared on Sunday, November 27th at 6:00 PM. Conferences will be limited to 10 minutes. Parents/Guardians may select a conference time on either date that works for your schedule. Your child’s report card will be sent home on Tuesday, December 6th for you to review and have for your child’s parent/teacher conference. More information will follow in the upcoming weeks.
PTO Corner:
The next PTO Meeting will take place on Monday, January 9th from 6:30 - 7:30 PM. The meeting will be both in-person and virtual.
FES PTO website is...https://freetownelementarypto.weebly.com/
Amazon Smile…The Holidays will be here before you know it. Don't forget when you are doing your holiday shopping to start at AmazonSmile and select Freetown Elementary School PTO as your charity. Once you set up the AmazonSmile connection Amazon will remind you anytime you shop to start at AmazonSmile. The price of your products doesn't change at all, but amazon gives FES PTO a percent of your purchases. It's just that easy. Support us when you shop for holiday gifts http://smile.amazon.com/ch/75-3257492 and Amazon donates.
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!
Let’s keep that momentum going into the month of November.
November 1-4: 94%...Goal Met!
November 8-10: 95%...Goal Met!
November 14-18: 95%...Goal Met!
Upcoming events:
November 23: Early Release Day for students - Dismissal at 12:15 PM
November 24 & 25: No School - Thanksgiving Recess
News and Happenings around the classrooms:
Preschool: This week in preschool we learned about the three sisters, corn, green beans, and squash. We learned how the Native Americans planted these vegetables together so they could help each other grow. We began dictations of “How to Make a Turkey Dinner” and prepared other materials for next week’s Thanksgiving Event. One class learned about venn diagrams during their study of the letter v. We also invited preschoolers to bring in an item shaped like a square for our shape show and tell.
Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten our Fundations Letters were j and p and our high frequency word was “like”. For our comprehension skill, we talked about key details in a story and for writing we discussed how to come up with ideas for our writing. We counted 10 in math. We continue to discuss ideas and activities around Thanksgiving and being thankful.
Grade 1: This week in first grade we started Unit 4 in FUNdations. We learned about adding a bonus letter to the end of short vowel words that end in the f, l, or s sound. For comprehension we discussed key details and predicting what will happen in stories. In writing we responded to a text by writing an opinion about a character’s job. For math this week we worked on number partners for 10. In science, we finished up the sound unit.
Grade 2: This week in second grade reading we worked on finding the topic and relevant supporting details. In Fundations, we learned about the vowel-consonant-e spellings for long vowel sounds and how to mark vowel-consonant-e syllables. In math we did a review of all of the skills that we have learned so far and took a unit test. In writing we worked on further developing our Realistic Fiction writing. In science we talked about the effects of wind and water.
Grade 3: This week in third grade we are taking a break from our Wonders Anthology to read an extended text Thanksgiving on Thursday, which aligns with our current social studies unit on the Wampanoags. In writing students will have completed the rough draft of their narratives. In math, we are beginning unit two with a review of place value concepts and introduce rounding to the nearest ten and hundred.
Art: Kindergarteners learned more about geometric shapes and stamped shapes with tempera paint. Grade 1 completed their Paul Klee inspired abstract castles with oil pastel while thinking about color balance. Grade 2 colored their Mexican Mirror radial designs with construction paper crayons and added a tinfoil center to complete the mirror. Grade 3 learned about the fun pop art of James Rizzi and started a cityscape in his style. Click here to learn more about James Rizzi with your child.
Physical Education: Students will finish their cup stacking unit this week by participating in various activities such as: mini cups, jumbo cups, metal cups, group stack, timers, relay races, partner stacking, and fitness stacking.
On Thursday, November 17th we will be holding our annual Family Stack-up night from 6:00-7:00. Come to the gymnasium and let your child teach you the sport of cup stacking. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
There is no charge to attend, but in partnership with the Freetown Council on Aging, we will be collecting nonperishable food items to put together Thanksgiving meals for those in need in our town. Some examples of items could be: cranberry sauce, apple sauce, canned corn, green beans & potatoes, instant potatoes, boxes of cornbread and biscuit mixes.
I hope to see you there!
If you would like to order speed stacks for your student, I am running a fundraiser for the PE department. Please follow the link to order them through the school and part of the proceeds will go to purchase equipment for the PE program at FES: speedstacks.com/go/30261-14682906/
Music: This week, students K-3 have started the 3rd week of their unit on improvising. Grade 3 will be improvising movements in Mama Lama, Grade 2 will explore improvising using mallet instruments. Grade 1 and Kindergarten will continue to improvise with arioso type songs. Kindergarten will be working on their instrument as an introduction to playing percussion instruments and reading music.
Library: During library class this week, students in kindergarten and first grade learned how to use the coding app Scratch Jr. on the iPad. Students worked in groups to program a car to drive down the road. Second grade students learned how to use the Britannica School Encyclopedia. Students looked up the article on Thanksgiving and answered a writing prompt about the main idea of the article. Students in third grade are learning about different types of media and what media means.