• The Hour of Code Week will take place this week December 9-13 within the Freetown Elementary School Library with Mrs. Lipovsky. The Hour of Code is an opportunity to introduce computer science to our students. Take a moment to talk to your child about the Hour of Code after going to library with Mrs. Lipovsky.

• Kindergarten Gingerbread Night will be taking place for Kindergarten students and their families this upcoming Friday, December 13th beginning at 5:30 PM. Families may gain access to the Gingerbread Night by the main entrance on Bullock Road.

• Our Grade 3 Choral members along with Mr. Moreira and Mrs. Cunha will be performing at the North Dartmouth Mall on Saturday, December 14th from 11:30 - 12:00 outside of Macy’s. As part of the fun FES is participating in the Toys for Tots Drive taking place. If you are interested in donating an unwrapped item please send it to school by December 13th and we will be delivering the unwrapped items on the Saturday morning when the choral members perform.

• Then 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.

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% (Meeting goal!)

• Parent/Teacher Conferences are slated for Thursday, December 12th. December 12th will be an Early Release Day for students for the purpose of Parent/Teacher Conferences. Students will be dismissed at 12:15 PM. The Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held in two sessions, an afternoon and an evening session. The afternoon session will be from 1:00 - 3:25 PM. The evening session will be from 5:15 - 7:15 PM. The conferences will be held in person at Freetown Elementary School. All conferences will be at a scheduled time. The Parent/Teacher Conference sign-up sheet was released, via email, on Sunday, December 1st. If you have not signed-up just yet please do so by either the on-line sign up document or reaching out to your child’s teacher.

Report cards will be sent home on Wednesday, December 11th. Please review your child’s report card as they are a standard based report card. If you have any questions please speak to your child’s teacher during parent/teacher conferences.

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 began learning about winter holidays. We studied Hanukkah, and learned about Hanukkah traditions including the Dreidel Game and lighting the Menorah. We learned about ordinal numbers and practiced counting during a Menorah math activity. The letter g was highlighted this week through a discussion of how we give gifts during winter holidays.

Kindergarten: This week in kindergarten our letter was Ii. We practiced the sound in the first and medial position. We learned proper formation within the lines as well. Our HFW this week was “to.” Our comprehension skills were character and visualizing information. For print concepts, we continued with tracking and locating a specific word. In writing we discussed that sentences are made up of words. Our math lesson focused on subtraction within 5.

Grade 1: This week in first grade we worked on learning end consonant blends in words along with words ending in suffix -ing. For comprehension we focused on rereading texts to help us understand what is happening in the selection. In writing, we responded to text by restating and answering the question about animals living together using a complete sentence. In math, our focus was on comparing numbers in word problems. In social studies, we are learning about holidays around the world. Thank you to everyone that joined us for our Holiday Story Hour!

Grade 2: This week students continued to work on 2 digit addition and subtraction. In phonics, we are spelling and reading words with 3 letter blends. In comprehension we are reading poems and identifying poetic elements like repetition and alliteration. In writing we are continuing to draft, revise, and edit our animal research projects. In social studies we are learning about goods and services.

Grade 3:This week in third grade, students worked on solving one step word problems involving the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). In our Wonders reading, we learned about literary elements in poetry. In writing, students have continued with their realistic fiction stories. In science, we started a new unit: Force and Motion. We learned what force is through a variety of articles and videos. Students also completed their I-Ready reading and math growth check this week. It was amazing to see their progress since September!

Art: Grade 3 students are working on their cut paper carolers. This has become a tradition at FES, with the student work decorating the auditorium for the holidays. Grade 2 is working on a new shape project as they learn about the African artist Esther Mahlangu. Grade 1 is working on their adorable symmetrical shape monster collages. Kindergarten colored concentric circles with oil pastels after viewing the work of Wassily Kandinsky.

Physical Education: Students continued the lifetime skills unit this week as the gymnasium has turned into a bowling alley. First, Second, and Third Graders practiced the grip, stance, and grade level delivery. Kindergarteners learned pin placement, job responsibilities and the one step bowling delivery.

Music: This week, students K-3 have started the 4th 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. In addition, we have begun singing holiday songs chosen by the students.

Library: During library class this week, kindergarten and first grade students learned about the coding concept sequencing by using movement and rotation blocks in the coding game called Rodocodo. Second and third grade students combined the Makey Makey and Scratch to create codes that made sounds. Check out the FES Thanksgiving Day Balloon Parades made by students last week on the FES library website! Students took a picture of their balloon on the iPad and selected a background using the DoInk app to make it look like their balloons were part of the parade!

December 9-13: Code Week in the Library with Mrs. Lipovsky

December 12: Early Release Day

December 12: Parent/Teacher Conferences

December 13: Kindergarten Gingerbread Night

December 14: Grade 3 Chorus - Caroling at the North Dartmouth Mall (Toys for Tots)

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.