Mr. Ward’s Message:
This week brought the 90th Day of School. Why is this date so special you might be wondering? The 90th Day of School marks the “Halfway Point” of the school year. There are 180 school days and Wednesday, January 25th was the 90th Day. Our students have definitely gained traction with their learning and progress in the classroom. We are so proud of our Freetown Foxes as they are working hard each day to make a better tomorrow.
During the week of January 30 - February 2 Freetown Elementary School will be hosting their Winter Scholastic Book Fair. During the course of the school day students will be able to visit the Book Fair with their teacher and classmates. Your child’s teacher will share with you the date of his/her visit to the Book Fair. Also, on Wednesday, February 1st FES will host a Family Book Fair Night from 5:30 - 7:00 PM.
Gentle Reminder...As we prepare for the winter season we will continue to use the Thrill Share Communication network to provide families with the necessary school cancellation and delay information. In addition to Thrillshare, we will utilize the school website and all local media outlets to communicate information in a timely manner for our families in Freetown and Lakeville.
FES News and Happenings…
Grade 3 News...Students in grade 3 across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts participate in their first MCAS exam. Students will be tested in English Language Arts and Mathematics. The MCAS exam is a computer based exam in which students will take the exam on the computer. MCAS dates for students in Grade 3 at FES will be:
April 4 & 5 for English Language Arts
May 17 & 18 for Mathematics
PTO Corner:
The next PTO Meeting will take place on Monday, February 13th from 6:30 - 7:30 PM. The meeting will be both in-person and virtual.
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!
January daily student attendance…
January 3-6: 96%...Goal achieved!
January 9-13: 95%...Goal achieved!
January 16-20: 94%...Goal achieved!
January 23-27 (excluding 1/27): 93%...Not quite reaching our goal.
Upcoming Events:
January 30 - February 2: Scholastic Book Fair Week
February Vacation Week will take place the week of February 20-24. School will resume again on Monday, February 27th.
Grade Level Happenings from the Week of January 23-27:
Pre-School: This week in preschool we learned about how some animals migrate in the winter. The specific animals we focused on were geese, reindeer and whales. We learned a new Lively Letter, the letter m, a letter who loves the smell of M&M cookies baking. His big nose reminds us that we must use our noses to make this sound. We highlighted the rectangle this week with a rectangle shape show and tell.
Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten our Fundations lesson was tapping words and review of uppercase letters I-P. We reviewed the high frequency words- and, do, you, go, to. Our comprehension skills were time order and asking and answering questions. For print concepts we discussed the first word in a sentence is capitalized and tracking when we read. In writing, we talked about describing words and focusing on one idea. Our math lesson was subtraction within 5.
Grade 1: This week in first grade we started Unit 7 in FUNdations. We worked on glued sounds ang, ing, ong, ung, ank, ink, onk, and unk. For comprehension we focused on retelling and making predictions. We read the story “Interrupting Chicken”. For writing we are continuing to work on responding to a text. In math we learned about subtracting and using the make a ten to subtract strategy.
Grade 2: This week in second grade reading we worked on identifying literary elements in a story. In Fundations we worked on reading and spelling words with the letter patterns “er”, “ir”, and “ur” for the r-controlled vowel sound /er/. In math we worked on strategies for subtracting 3-digit numbers with regrouping and solving word problems involving adding and subtracting with regrouping. In writing we worked on our informational animal reports. We celebrated the halfway point in the school year on Wednesday, Jan. 25 with many fun “Halfway Day” themed activities!
Grade 3: In reading, students read stories that coincide with our new essential question: how do people figure things out? Students continued to focus on answering specific comprehension questions using the RACE acronym about the stories they were currently reading. In writing, students finished their opinion paragraph with the topic: which is the most important American landmark people should visit? In math, students began a new unit on Fractions. Students were understanding the definition of fractions as well as real-life examples of when we use fractions in our daily lives. In science, students began a new unit: natural hazards. Students watched a video that explores how natural hazards can affect certain places and materials.
Art: Kindergarteners completed their adorable symmetrical mitten designs. Grade 1 learned that complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel and that they make each other look brighter. They traced their hand 3 times and are creating designs with complementary color markers. Grade 2 learned about value. They drew a baby emperor penguin and added different values with charcoal. Grade 3 learned how to mix analogous colors to make a tertiary color. They completed their gorgeous Georgia O’Keefe inspired flowers with watercolors.
Physical Education: Students worked on their cardiorespiratory and muscular endurance this week as they ran pacer sprints. While waiting for their turn, students cheered their classmates on and encouraged them.
Music: This week, students K-3 have started the 2nd week of their unit on listening. Grade 1 and Kindergarten will listen to music for dynamics, tempo and directions as well as music from Haydn. 2nd grade will listen to music of Beethoven and respond to vocal and instrumental musical elements.
Library: During library class this week, kindergarten and first grade students learned how to stay safe on the Internet. Second grade students began to share their research presentations on Google Slides. Third grade students learned about the Lunar New Year.