• Holiday Spirt Week is taking place this upcoming week at Freetown Elementary School. Please scroll to the bottom of this memo to get the exact details!

• On Wednesday, December 18th our Grade 3 Chorus with Mr. Moreira and Mrs. Cunha will have perform their Winter Choral Concert beginning at 7:00 PM at Freetown Elementary School.

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 November these students best exemplify what it means to be a Freetown Elementary Student. Congratulations to the November students that were nominated…

Kindergarten: Liam Brogan, Cooper Hernandez, Matthew Wilson, Jr. Oaklyn Vaz, Mia Dellarocca

Grade 1: Aria Zitano, Rylee Everman, Wyatt Lopes, Remy Pacheco

Grade 2: Olivia Roderiques, Andrew Dion, Jr. Sophia Potvin, Melanie Randow, Oliver Pierpont, Harper Pinheiro

Grade 3: Emma Lafferty, Orly Rezenkervitz, Lillian Clerkin, Alexander Neves, Austin Ferreira

Specialists: Julia Morrissette

Attendance Matters Weekly Update:

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

November Daily Student Attendance indicated that 95% of students attended daily. GOAL MET! Let's keep that momentum going into December.

• December 2-6: 95% (Goal met!)
• December 9-13: 92% (Goal not meet!)

On Monday, December 16th in coordination with the Freetown Police Department and SRO Medeiros FES will be conducting a practice Lockdown Drill. As we have done in the past anytime we practice an Emergency Lockdown Drill caregivers are informed before the event and immediately right after the event has concluded. Again, this is a practice drill of our Emergency response plan. The lockdown will take place in the morning. If you have any questions please reach out to Mr. Ward and/or SRO Medeiros.

Contact information:

Mr. Ward: mward@freelake.org

SRO Medeiros: cmedeiros@freelake.org

Pre-School: This week in preschool we learned about the letter K and the sound it makes. We learned about Kwanzaa. Projects included Kwanzaa symbols, such as the kinara and unity cup. We also sorted and graphed our food donations for a local food pantry.

Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten our letter was Nn. We listened for the /n/ sound in the initial and final position. Our HFW was “and”. We’ve been reading and completing activities centered around holiday themes. In math, our lesson focused on addition and subtraction within 5. We ended the week with our annual Gingerbread Night on Friday. It was a fun and festive collaboration of community with families, students and staff participating in the joy of the season.

Grade 1: This week we began learning about glued sounds with ng and nk along with digraphs th and sh. For comprehension we read about Martin Luther King, Jr and discussed leadership. For writing we began the How-To writing unit. The students will be writing about things they know how to do and share it with others. In math this week we worked on collecting and comparing data. For social studies, we are learning about holidays around the world.

Grade 2:

Second graders are continuing to practice their 2 digit addition and subtraction within word problems. In phonics we are reviewing 3 letter blends, digraphs, and phonics skills taught thus far! In reading we are continuing to read poems and are focusing on rhyme scheme. In writing we are wrapping up our animal research projects and are publishing them. In social studies we are reading nonfiction texts and learning about holidays around the world and different family traditions.

Grade 3: This week in third grade, students worked on two step word problems with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In reading, students practiced reading and answering an open-ended question to a story called, “Once in a Lifetime Experience.” In writing, students completed their realistic fiction stories and shared them with their classmates. In science, students experimented with hands-on stations to explore force and motion.

Art: Third graders completed their adorable holiday carolers, the finishing touch glue and glitter to make it snow! Look for these at the 3rd grade chorus concert. Grade 2 is learning about the art of Esther Mahlangu. This week, we painted our geometric lines and shapes with black tempera paint. Grade 1 students completed their symmetrical cut paper creature collages. Kindergartens also used shapes to create an evergreen collage.

Physical Education: All students continued to practice their bowling skills. Kindergarten learned how to grip the ball correctly, have a 2 bowl turn, and practice their one step delivery all with teacher assistance. First grade students focused on their grip & stance, and 1 step delivery. Second grade practiced their grip & stance, and 2 step delivery. Third graders practiced their grip & stance and 3 step delivery.

Music: This week, students K-3 have started the 5th 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. 3rd grade chorus also has their winter concert this week Wednesday at 7pm.

Library:This week we celebrated Hour of Code Week in the library! Students worked with the Dash and Dot robots and programmed them to move, change the color of their lights, make sounds and say words! Students used the Path or Blockly app on the iPad to create codes for the robots! Students had a lot of fun!

December 16 - 20: Holiday Spirit Week

December 18: Grade 3 Winter Chorus Concert

December 20: Early Release Day

December 21 - January 1st: Winter Recess

January 2: Classes resume

Monday, December 16: Holiday Accessory Day - Students are invited to wear their best and most festive holiday accessory such as headbands, hats, socks, necklaces, earrings, ties, etc.

Tuesday, December 17: Polar Express Day - Children can wear their pajamas to school. Staff is welcome to read the Polar Express and participate in some Polar Express activities.

Wednesday, December 18: Holiday Sock Day - Students can wear their favorite holiday socks!

Thursday, December 19: Holiday Sweater Day - Students can wear their festive holiday sweaters/shirts to school.

Friday, December 20: Red & Green Day - Students are invited to wear red and green or holiday colors to school. Come dressed festive for Holiday celebrations.

PTO Meetings are held in person and virtually. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 13th beginning at 6:30 PM. The meeting invitation for those attending virtually will be sent out the week prior to the meeting.