FES: Summer Update

Back-to-School 2024-2025

🤍 Principal Message 💚

FES Families,

WOW! I can't believe summer is flying by so quickly. I hope you are all finding time to enjoy the time with family and friends. In this newsletter, you will find a lot of important information about the upcoming school year. As we get closer to the official start of school, please continue to watch for more information.

Summer Slide: As you navigate your busy summer schedules, please continue to find time for students to read and practice math skills (math fact fluency, flashcards-are all great ways to practice!) The summer slide can affect all children, and some research says that without practice, students can lose up to 2 months of learning over summer, particularly in the areas of math and reading.

Volunteers/Background Checks: Throughout the school year, if you plan to be in the building for any reason during the school day, you must fill out a background check as part of our district volunteer policy. This includes any volunteer opportunity (field trips included), classroom presentations, etc. You can access the form online by clicking here, or you can pick up a hard copy in our main office starting on August 5.

We are looking for immediate volunteers to help with our crosswalks at both of our dismissal times. Times would be from 2:20-2:35, and again from 3:45-4:00. If you are interested in volunteering your time even one day a week, please email me ASAP, and we will start to set up a schedule. Thank you in advance!

PBIS: What is SOAR? The acronym PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Intervention Supports. This tiered framework supports all students academically, behaviorally, and social emotionally. It is a way to create positive, predictable and safe learning for all. At Freeland Elementary School, we have worked over the course of the last year to revamp our support system for PBIS. Please watch for more information as the school year goes on about how you can continue support your child at FES. We all want them to SOAR to their highest protentional, and we do that by working together to support the whole child. SOAR stands for:

S-Show Respect

O- On Task

A- Always Safe

R- Responsible

What can you expect from FES? The start of a new school year always brings new feelings. Feelings of excitement and happiness, but also feelings of worries and nerves. I want each family (new or old) to know that as a staff we are committed to the safety and well being of each child that steps foot through our door.

We are are committed to supporting them academically and behaviorally.
We are committed to supporting them reach their protentional.
We are committed to holding them to high standards, because we know they can reach them.
We are committed to communicating to you as parents and caregivers about how your child is doing.
We are committed to finding ways to support your child even if they are struggling.
We are committed to improving with each piece of feedback.

As the building principal, I want each child to show great success during the school year, and they will only do that if we work together to support them. We are so fortunate to live in a community where the possibilities are endless for our children. Thank you for your support, and thank you for trusting us with your child's success!

Your Proud Principal,

Mrs. Kali McKenna

Welcome to Our NEW FES Teachers! 🤩

Miss Kaydee Swafford, 2nd Grade Teacher

Miss Madison Jesse, 3rd Grade Teacher

Miss Alayna Mantei, 3rd, Grade Teacher

Miss Lily Herbstreith, 4th Grade Teacher

Mrs. Abby Johnson, 4th Grade Teacher

Mrs. Emily Eickhoff, Special Education Teacher

Miss Alexis Brilinski, Special Education Teacher

Skyward Family Access ✅

Please use the links below to make sure to register for Skyward Family Access. By creating an account, you can update personal information, and check the progress of your child during reporting periods.

Helpful Links:

Important: 5th and 6th grade families- Our 5th and 6th grade teachers will use Skyward to report your child's progress in their subject areas throughout the school year. You will be able to access missing assignments, and scores on assessment by having an account.

Attention 5th and 6th Grade Families: Chromebook distribution will be from 4:00-6:00 p.m. in the cafeteria on the night of the open house (8/21/2024). You MUST have your Acceptable Use Policy signed before picking up your device. Please watch for more information about our technology user agreement as we get closer to the start of school. The open house style for this year is drop in. Teachers will provide you with any information you may need during this time, and also through email distribution.

😃 2nd-4th Class Placement 😃

One of the largest wonderings of summer is student placement and "Who is my child's teacher going to be for next school year?" I wanted to take a moment to explain all that goes into student placement for the next school year, and how important it is that we take many factors into consideration. Classroom placement for the 2024-2025 school year was completed at the start of summer and is reviewed continuously throughout the summer. Our goal for student placement in a school year is to provide a safe and successful learning experience for all students. The following list includes, but is not limited to some of the criteria we consider when placing students into classrooms:

Program needs of students (for example: special education services, 504 services, individual learning plans, etc.)
Classroom configuration
Social needs of students
Compatibility of individual students and groups of students
Behavioral factors
Balance of achievement levels in groups of students
Information/Input provided by parent/guardians and teachers
Balance of class sizes throughout the grade level

The process for student placement is a careful process and one that takes a great deal of time and consideration. We want our teachers and students to have the most successful school year and one of the ways we do that is providing a balanced classroom approach. Each one of our teachers at Freeland Elementary School are the best in their profession and your child will have a wonderful school year. Please note that requests for a specific teacher are considered, however, are not guaranteed. Once assigned, class placements will not change.

Class Placement will be available to access on your parent portal for Skyward by August 14 (an email will be sent when these are available if it is earlier), or will be available on open house night for those without access. For information on how to access Skyward Family Access, please see a how to paragraph in this newsletter

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5th and 6th Grade Schedules 📆

🌟5th Grade Information 🌟

Once available, your child's schedule will show 6 classes, with 1 specials time. Because of our transition to block scheduling for this school year, the schedule order will be a little different when they look at Skyward. So as you look at your child's schedule, it will be organized in blocks this way:

1st Hour: A Day, Block 1

2nd Hour (Specials on both A and B Days)

3rd Hour: A Day Block 2

4th Hour: A Day Block 3

5th Hour: B Day Block 1

6th Hour: B Day Block 2

7th Hour: B Day Block 3

Your child will have all the A Day classes on Monday and Wednesday, all B Day classes on Tuesday and Thursday, and on Fridays, the students will attend all classes in the order listed above. You will receive communication by the 5th grade team with a schedule each month, to indicate the monthly schedule for A and B Days. Days may need to change periodically, because of our school schedule, and that will all be communicated to you and your child.

5th Graders Daily Schedule

Block 1:

SPECIALS:

Continued Block 1:

LUNCH:

Block 2:

Recess:

Block 3:

🌟6th Grade Information🌟

Our 6th graders follow a traditional schedule, and the order of their classes will be listed on their schedule.

6th Graders Daily Schedule

1st Hour:

2nd Hour:

SPECIALS:

LUNCH:

4th Hour:

5th Hour:

6th Hour:

7th Hour:

Schedules will be available to access on your parent portal for Skyward by August 14 (an email will be sent when these are available if it is earlier), or will be available on open house night for those without access. For information on how to access Skyward Family Access, please see a how to paragraph in this newsletter.

FES Family Handbook 📄

You can access the FES Family Handbook by clicking below.

FES Family Handbook 2024-2025

Supply Lists 📝📚

Click Here for 2024-2025 Supply Lists!- Click on the grade level for links to all supply lists. Or find the individual lists below.

Freeland Elementary School is a FREE, public school. All students will participate in all classroom activities and have the same opportunities and supplies for instruction regardless if their parents donate supplies or not. Thank you in advance for your consideration. If you are in need of assistance with providing supplies, please contact our office at 989-695-5371.

We NEED YOU! 📢

FCSD Nutrition Services 🍎🍏

Freeland Community School District utilizes Meal Magic as an online portal for nutrition accounts. Available on our website is access to this account, or you can click the link here (https://freeland.familyportal.cloud/).