Freedom Hill Weekly Update 4/13/2020

Principal's Message

Dear Freedom Hill Community,

We hope you are well! After an unusual spring break, our staff is excited to finally welcome our students "back" tomorrow for the first day of distance learning. Though the FHES building remains dark, our staff remain eager to meet our students' needs. They were busy over spring break planning instruction, ironing out some kinks with technology, distributing laptops, hiring new staff members for next year, and many of our teachers have already started communicating with their students using Blackboard. 

Our theme for the first week of distance learning is Community and Connectedness. Our classroom teachers will be prioritizing building a new classroom culture, ensuring technology needs are met, and helping families adapt to our new schedule. Our special education teachers will be spending the first week creating Temporary Learning Plans for each of their students and finalizing them with their families before their instruction begins. Each teacher will be participating in one hour of synchronous learning in the morning, with office hours in the afternoon. They will be providing independent work on their Blackboard site that your child may choose to complete throughout the day. Please remember that work is ungraded for the rest of the year per FCPS. If you have questions about your child's schedule or need the link to their online classroom, please email your teacher directly and they will be happy to assist. 

Students in SCA did a fabulous job putting together a virtual spirit week tied to the FCPS Portrait of a Graduate traits. Check them out below! 

As we (parents, students, and school staff) enter uncharted territory this week, I ask that we all give ourselves permission to not be perfect, to adapt, and to make mistakes. Our community is truly lucky to have committed families and educators. We will all be learning a great deal in the coming weeks from one another, and it will be important to remember that we all have positive intentions. We're better together, and we will do great things!

See you on Blackboard this week,

Dr. Z.


Upcoming Dates for Your Calendar

  • April 13 - Teacher Workday 
  • April 14 - 16 - Distance Learning (see below)
  • April 14 - 17 - SCA Spirit Week (see below)
  • April 15 - Deadline to turn in Enrichment Matters form (details below)
  • April 17 - Teacher Workday
  • April 26 - Deadline to pre-order yearbook (you can buy one later this year if you miss the deadline)
  • April 28 - Virtual PTA Mtg. 

Distance Learning Plan

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FCPS is embarking on a four-tiered approach to distance learning that will begin officially following Spring Break. All work and assignments are currently optional and will not receive a grade. Our priority is to offer continued learning opportunities to all our students for the remainder of the 2019 – 2020 school year.

Part 1: Weekly Learning Packets

Beginning Monday, March 30 and continuing for the remainder of the school year, all elementary students will receive an optional weekly learning packet in the U.S. Mail. These packets were created centrally, but teachers may reference them when new learning begins on April 14. Students are encouraged to work on these packets at home next week and beyond as independent practice. We understand these packets were not delivered properly at first, and district leadership is adjusting their mailing schedule. Packets can also be found in Blackboard after clicking "Distance Learning Resources"

Part 2: Virtual Teaching

Classroom teachers and specialists will be either teaching live through Blackboard Collaborate Ultra or recording themselves teaching and posting links to the videos following Spring Break. A detailed schedule has been shared by your child's classroom teacher. Our plan is that core instruction (community building, language arts, and math) will begin first and we will layer in additional learning opportunities as we grow in our capacity. 

Part 3:  Channel 21 Programming

FCPS cable television channels are now broadcasting learning activities. New instructional videos are being recorded and will be added to the programming lineup shortly. Students can watch on their TV through Channel 21 or can use these links to view building level instructional programming. Channel 21 includes elementary school programmingChannel 25 includes middle school programming, and Channel 99 includes high school programming.

Part 4: Staff Office Hours

Beginning April 14, all staff will have regular virtual office hours to be available to work with students groups and answer student and parent questions in real-time. Staff will explore various methods of communication and accessibility for office hours and will communicate through email and post their schedule on blackboard.


SCA Digital Spirit Week

Our SCA has worked together to create our next spirit week utilizing the FCPS Portrait of a Graduate traits. As with last time, please feel free to share your pictures to the Freedom Hill ES Community Facebook page, and on Twitter at @FreedomHillES and #FHHighlights

Tuesday, April 14: I am a Creative & Critical Thinker – “I can create solutions that are new.”

It’s the first day of Distance Learning, and this presents an interesting challenge: Where will you do your distance learning in your home? Show us your new at home classroom! How did you create it?

 

Wednesday, April 15: I am a Communicator  - “I use technology to find and share ideas.”

Show how you, your friends, and your family are still working together and staying touch to make your distance learning happen! What is your favorite way to stay in touch with your teachers and classmates?

 

Thursday, April 16: I am an Ethical and Global Citizen- “I am learning to communicate in another language so that I can connect with the world.”

While we primarily speak English in our schools, we are fortunate to have several languages in our community. Post a short video of you, or even your whole family saying “Hello” and a short message in the language you speak at home, and then say what it means in English so we can all learn from each other.

 

Friday, April 17: I am Goal Directed and Resilient – “I don’t give up when something is hard.”

You’ve finished your first week of distance learning! Describe a problem or challenge you faced in this week. How did you overcome it? What did you learn this week that can help you going forward?


AAP Updates

AAP decision letters will be mailed this week from the FCPS central offices. Due to the closing of schools, Freedom Hill will not be holding the traditional AAP orientation. All AAP community members will be sent a narrated PowerPoint to familiarize families with AAP offerings. We look forward to continuing our strong Local Level IV program at Freedom Hill next year!


Laptop Distribution

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Laptop distribution has been accomplished for students in grades 3-6. If you missed out on our distribution day, please email our technology specialist, Craig Fenton, to schedule a time to pick up a device. He will be holding "office hours" each Wednesday afternoon. 

At this time, the Fairfax County School Board has not included grades K-2 in the laptop distribution plan. We will update the community if this changes. 


Parent Access: Blackboard

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If you are looking to access Parent View on SIS or Blackboard but, you haven't created an account,  click on this link to create an account through the FCPS FASTeam.  Blackboard will be the primary source parents will visit to access resources for your students while away from school.  Remember, students also directly access Blackboard with their FCPS username and password. 


PTA Information

COMING UP - SCA SPIRIT WEEK & DISTANCE LEARNING

We are so excited to start Distance Learning on 4/14 with everyone. We're also very excited for the Student Council Association's (SCA) Spirit Week this week! Post photos on the Freedom Hill ES Community or on Twitter!

 

UPDATE ON SPRING ENRICHMENT

For those of you who signed up for Spring Enrichment, please read the detailed email from Enrichment Matters sent on Friday, 3/27. For canceled programs, they are automatically giving you a full credit for 2020-2021 enrichment programs with Enrichment Matters. Since Enrichment Matters incurs credit card processing fees both when getting and refunding payments and they must pay a staff member to administer funds, they are offering an 85% refund on pre-paid spring classes in lieu of a future credit for those who need it and request it individually. Families needing this option should fill out THIS FORM no later than THIS WEDNESDAY, April 15, 2020.  Please note that even if you have already emailed or called someone at EM or the FHES PTA, this form is the sole place to track responses.

Our PTA does plan on using Enrichment Matters next school year. Virtually all of the Providers are very small businesses that operate on narrow margins. The cancellation of spring classes is financially devastating for them. Instead of a credit, if you find it in your means to donate your prepaid tuition (either all or half) in order to allow Enrichment Matters to pay the Providers this spring, your generosity and support would help them immensely. If you would like to do this, please fill out this form no later than April 15, 2020. Many providers are working on online options as well - we'll keep you posted on those.

                                                               

VIRTUAL PTA MEETING, 4/28 AT 8PM
We'll be having our virtual PTA meeting Tuesday, April 28th at a later time, 8pm. Our School Board Member, Karl Frisch, should be able to join us. Check out his latest newsletter on Distance Learning here and let us know if you have questions for him we can submit ahead of time. Virtual meeting info coming next week.

 

FAMILY DINNER OUT TO GO AT FOGO DE CHAO, 4/30 Fogo de Chão in Tysons Corner is a Brazilian Churrasceria partnering with us for a FDO/School Spirit Night. While we won't be dining in of course, it will be a Fogo To-Go night where families order take out, delivery or butcher shop options. Fogo de Chão will donate 10% of sales to our PTA and another 10% to No Kid Hungry. They have a variety of options available on Fogo To-Go & Butcher Shop Menu, starting at $7 for appetizers, $10 for sandwiches and $16 for entrees. Save the date and mention FHES.

 

INTERESTED IN THE PTA BOARD?

Are you interested in being on the PTA Board for the 2020-2021 school year? Did you get an initial taste of being involved in the PTA this year and want to get more involved? Now is the time! Our nominating committee is going to be preparing our slate (i.e. the list) of candidates for next year. If you are interested, submit this short form to nominating_committee@freedomhillpta.org by April 23rd. Questions about a position? Feel free to reach out to any member of the board to learn more about what's required and the time commitment.

 

SPIRITWEAR UPDATE

With the many states have stay at home orders, we are anticipating a delay from our Spiritwear vendor in Illinois for spiritwear orders. Michelle Zahalsky has reached out to them and we will be giving you more information as we get info. Thank you for your patience!


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