On Wednesday, February 5th it is World Read Aloud Day. Many children's book authors celebrate this day by reading their books through virtual visits with classrooms around the world. There will be five virtual author visits this year in the library as coordinated by Mrs. Lipovsky. We, together, look forward to celebrating this event together as a school.

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 8 & 10 for English Language Arts

• May 13 & 15 for Mathematics

BINGO NIGHT!!

Registration for the FES PTOs 2nd annual Bingo Night is now open!

This is a family free event but registration is required!

This year we are offering two sessions to pick from.

This is NOT a drop-off event and the parent/guardian must remain with the student.

Registration will stay open till Thursday, February 6th or till spots fill up so register here now- https://signup.com/go/FSTADYE

Once spots fill up please email fesptovolunteering@gmail.com to be put on a wait list.

CANDY LAND FUN!

THE FES PTO is partnering up with the Freetown Public Libraries for another FREE Family event!!

Join us during February vacation at the school auditorium for some Giant Candy Land!!

Sign-ups are encouraged, walk-ins welcome!

Feel free to sign up at the Freetown Public Library by calling (508)763-5344

Join us anytime during the following time slots-

Tuesday, February 18: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Wednesday, February 19: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Thursday, February 20: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

It is sure to be lots of fun for the whole family!

Back by popular demand!!

Our FES fundraiser starts today, and we need your help.

The fundraising packets were sent home with your students but it's as simple as 1, 2, 3!

1. Register TONIGHT at www.ShopFund.com
2. Share custom support links with family & friends via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email, Text and more.
3. Student Goal: Minimum of 5 Online Supporters.

REGISTER-SHARE-WIN: Sharing gets you coins for chances to win over $100,000 in instant prizes.

Please keep in mind if any orders you sell are scheduled to be shipped to FES, they will need to be picked up during the scheduled pick up time. If you are not able to pick it up, please arrange to have someone else pick it up for you. The PTO has no way to store products and can't be held responsible for perishable items that are not picked up.

Pick up is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 27th from 3:30 P.M.-6:00 P.M

THANK YOU so much for all of your support!!

As we prepare for the winter season we will continue to use the Thrillshare Communication System 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.

Attendance Matters Weekly Update:

Goal: 94% of the Student Population will attend school daily.

• January 2 & 3: 94%...Goal Met
• January 6-10: 94%...Goal Met!
• January 13-17: 95%...Goal Met
• January 20-24: 92%...Goal not met!
• January 27-31: 92%...Goal not met!

Pre-School: This week in preschool we continued our study of community helpers, with a focus on veterinarians and zookeepers. Projects included monkeys and giraffes. We also learned about shadows, Groundhog Day, positional words, and the letter N.

Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten our Wonders week was a review. Our letters were Oo, Cc, Dd, Nn. We did introduce s blends as new learning (sp, sn, st) Our HFW were- you, do, go, to, and. We revisited ask/answer questions and time order in a story. For print concepts we worked on capitalizing the first word in a sentence, left/right and top/bottom tracking and parts of a book. In the area of phonemic awareness we reviewed identifying rhymes and segmenting and blending. In math we focused on the number pairs of 10- composing and decomposing 10.

Grade 1: This week in first grade we focused on i-e (long i-consonant-silent e). We have been discussing the Magic E syllable type as well. For comprehension our focus was on how plants change as they grow. We read a few selections about plants and talked about the characters in the stories. For writing this week, we are working on the personal narrative unit. In math, we reviewed the tens and ones unit. For science, we are working on the communication unit and the plants unit.

Grade 2: This week second graders learned how to tell time on an analog and digital clock. In phonics they spelled and read words with the long vowel e sound. In reading, we read a story called Mr. Putter and Tabby See the Stars and focused on character's point of view. In writing, students continued to draft their personal narratives. They learned how to add dialogue into their story. In science, we continued to learn about the states of matter and the properties to describe them. We also celebrated Halfway Day and learned about fractions! We can’t believe it’s been halfway through the year!

Art: Kindergartners were introduced to the color wheel. We read Mouse Paint, then drew pictures with the primary colors. Grade 1 learned that complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel and look bright when used next to each other. Grade 2 learned about the Banyan tree (Tree of Life) in India, we painted our own interpretation with black tempera. Grade 3 learned about the many phases of Pablo Picasso’s art. We drew a self portrait in his cubist style.

Physical Education: All students participated in practicing the grade level dance, fitness stations and had a Health Lesson. Third graders learned about the muscular system and how it works together with the skeletal system. Second graders continued learning about nutrition by exploring how eating fruits help keep you healthy. First graders learned that different families may live in many different places, eat different foods, and do things together. Kindergarten students learned how to recognize when they are angry and what to do so the emotion doesn’t control them.

Music: This week, students K-3 have started the 3rd 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. 3rd grade will listen to music to evaluate their own performance on the recorder.

Library: In library class this week, kindergarten, first and second grade students learned about the Lunar New Year. We read the book "The Tray of Togetherness" by Flo Leung. Kindergarten and first grade students created a lantern for Lunar New Year on Seesaw. Students in second grade also read the article on Britannica Student Encyclopedia about the Lunar New Year and responded on a Padlet board about what they learned from the story and the article. Third grade students continued to work on their folktale/fairytale retelling and green screen project. Students have been drawing their characters and props and started to make their video using the green screen box.

February 7: Early Release Day

February 10: February PTO Meeting

February 13: Bingo Night at Freetown Elementary School

February Vacation Week will take place the week of February 17-21. School will resume again on Monday, February 24th.

PTO meetings will be held in person and virtually. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 10th, 2024 from 6:30 - 7:30 PM. The meeting invitation will be shared out the week prior to the February PTO Meeting. Hope you will consider joining the FES PTO.