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Good morning Freedom Hill families,
The back-to-school countdown is on! 16 days! Our teachers are back in the "building" and excitement is growing to see our students again. Our staff is currently working through professional development in virtual instruction, online relationship building, new technology tools, and more. If you have not already, you can expect to hear from your students' classroom teacher(s) in the next few days along with an opportunity to set up a meeting time with them.
In addition to introductions, your classroom teacher(s) will also be sharing the grade-level daily schedule. We encourage you to read more about the FCPS elementary school at this link. In addition to the FCPS requirements, we are pleased to share the following unique aspects of the schedule that was developed at Freedom Hill, which we believe provide additional flexibility for our families.
- In addition to the 30 minutes of required specials each day, Freedom Hill students have the opportunity to attend a second, optional 30-minute special with their grade level. This provides the possibility to stay engaged online or to take a break away from the screen each day. Band and strings will be offered as usual and times communicated to families.
- We are committed to all students accessing Advanced Academics at Freedom Hill. In addition to our normal specials, all students will have the opportunity to attend one CCT (Critical and Creative Thinking) block each week, which will be facilitated by our Advanced Academics Resource Teacher and her assistant.
- Each grade level has a dedicated WIN (What I Need) time, during which teachers and specialists will lead targeted small group interventions and enrichment. Your child may be selected to participate in this block throughout the week.
- To provide for family flexibility, the schedule features an unstructured activity break preceding or following each lunch block. This will allow most students to have lunch at the same time regardless of grade level, as well as for students to have an extended break after morning screen time.
- All student classes conclude by 3:15, which helps to minimize downtime and unnecessary transitions during the day. This also provides staff a 3:15 - 4:15 time period for staff meetings, special education meetings, and to meet with parents.
We will continue to learn and grow together as we experience a full day of virtual instruction for the first time, and believe that these scheduling considerations will facilitate high levels of learning for students and flexibility for families. We look forward to your continued partnership in the coming weeks, and to potentially see you next week during laptop/material distribution days.
Wishing you all the best,
Nicholas Zapadka, Principal
Eric Kopacz, Assistant Principal
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August 24 - Sept 3 - teachers will be reaching out to schedule 1:1 conferences
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August 31 - Sept 3 - Laptop / material distribution dates - signup below
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September 2 - Back to School Night - Part 1, 6:00PM
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September 8 - First day of school for students!
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September 24 - Back to School Night - Part 2, 6:00PM
Our school staff are busily preparing for community laptop distribution dates from 10:00-3:30pm on August 31 - September 3. We encourage families to have a device for all learners in the home. If your family requires a laptop(s) for virtual learning, please use these links to sign up for a checkout time. If you are picking up multiple devices, you only need one time slot:
August 31
September 1
September 2
September 3
We look forward to seeing you next week. A big thank you to Tim Scesney and Craig Fenton for their ongoing efforts readying a plethora of devices.
This year, many parents utilized our school supply lists to make purchases for the school year. We appreciate this and hope all supplies purchased will be relevant this year when we return to the building. FH teachers have added some additional optional materials that will be helpful during distance learning. You can access those grade level lists here. Freedom Hill has purchased several items for all students - personal white boards, markers, erasers, pencils, pencil sharpeners, math/reading charts for K-2, etc. These will be available for you to pickup on laptop distribution days as needed. If you would like to pick up supplies but do not need a laptop, you do NOT need to make an appointment - come over any time on August 31 - Sept 3 from 10-3:30!
If you ordered SPROUT supplies through the PTA, these will be available for pick up on any laptop/material distribution day. No signup needed unless you need a laptop!
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On October 1, 2020 the Library Equity Access Pass (LEAP) program will provide FCPS PreK-12 students with public library checkout privileges for books automatically, without the need to register for a physical library card. Student names and ID numbers will be provided to FCPL - families who do not wish to participate shall select the opt-out for LEAP in the 2020-21 SR&R document.
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Participating in the LEAP program provides:
- The ability to checkout up to three public library books at a time
- Lost or overdue books will not be charged a fine or replacement fee
- Checkouts are limited to physical book
The Fairfax County Public Library is open for Express services and offers curbside checkout.
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The SIS (Student Information System) Parent Account is an online tool parents can use to access information about their child’s attendance, report cards, discipline incidents, health information, and more.
Your secure SIS Parent Account offers you the ability to use one username/password to login to both the SIS Parent Account.
Using the SIS Parent account, parents will also be able to view school information, including teacher e-mail addresses, the FCPS calendar, and emergency contact information. Visit the FCPS website and use the search function and keywords SIS Parent Overview for more information.
Newly enrolled parents will receive an activation key by email.
If you have previously activated your account with the activation key but are unable to login to your account, you may need to reset your password on the SIS Parent Account login page (https://sisparent.fcps.edu): Select the “Forgot Password” button. Your username is the primary email address you have on file with us in our Student Information System. More information is available here.
Please take action now to ensure your account is active, so that you won’t miss a beat once we introduce our new learning platform.
We are excited to welcome Vania Espichan to Freedom Hill as our new Parent Liaison! Ms. Espichan comes to FH after spending time in the FCPS Department of Special Services. She is currently pursuing a master's degree at George Mason University in Counseling. She is very excited to begin forming connections with the community. We will provide her office schedule soon.
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If your child is joining Freedom Hill for the first time, please be sure you have completed all of the needed steps to register. Your child will not be able to participate in online learning until all of your paperwork is complete. If you have questions, please reach out to Ms. Sujo.
 
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Q&A MTG WITH DR. Z THURSDAY 8PM Join us for another informative Open Q&A session with Dr. Z on Thursday, Aug. 27th at 8pm. Join the Zoom Meeting or call 1-301-715-8592 with Meeting ID: 966 0248 0589. Ask your questions ahead of time here.
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LINK YOUR HARRIS TEETER CARD TO HELP FHES EARN FUNDS It's that time of year again. Link up your Harris Teeter account to support Freedom Hill. Here's how: 1. Log in to your HT account online or open the HT app 2. Click on My Account 3. In the Together in Education section, type Freedom Hill Elementary School or the #7629. If you're on the app, you're done! 4. If you're online, click the school name and then Add School You can also ask a cashier to link your account inside an HT store. Alternatively, you can add your name and VIC card number to this form: https://tinyurl.com/fhesht. Questions? Ask Deb Speert.
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SCHOOL SUPPLY KITS For those who pre-ordered school supply kits, you can pick them up Aug. 31-Sept. 3, 9:30am-3:30pm. No appointment is needed. If you have a laptop distribution appointment, you can also pick it up then. You should have also received a small refund because there is no hand sanitizer in the kit. If you have questions, contact Nicole Camara or Sylvia Solari.
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ROOM PARENT VERSION 2.0 So what will being a Room Parent be like in this virtual environment? Great question! While we don't anticipate as much of a need in a virtual setting to be helping to stuff fliers in Tuesday Folders or planning activities in the classroom -- there may be other things that may be of use to your teacher. Maybe setting up a Sign Up Genius, organizing a virtual classroom playdate or something else. If you have the creativity and are willing to help - let your teacher know!
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UPDATE PAY4SCHOOLSTUFF As you find out your teacher assignments, don't forget to go into Pay4SchoolStuff online and update your child's teacher. If you don't have a Pay4SchoolStuff account yet, sign up for one here. It's a very easy way to manage your child's activities and a good thing to set up.
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GET CONNECTED WITH FHES ONLINE Communication will be so important this year. Please make sure your friends and neighbors are subscribed to the newsletter and in the Freedom Hill ES Community group if they are on Facebook. We need to get everyone in the loop especially now that we are kicking off school virtually!
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Questions? Contact our Freedom Hill PTA President, Sahar Javadi at president@freedomhillpta.org
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