FHES Weekly Update: 9/20/2020

Principals' Message

Happy Sunday, Freedom Hill Families!

We start off the newsletter today by congratulating our 2nd grade team lead, Regina Patterson, on the defense of her doctoral dissertation on Friday. She earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Curriculum and Instruction. Congratulations, Dr. Patterson! We are very proud and know that her current and former families are, too!

We have an eventful week ahead! Some things to look out for this week:

  • We will be administering the iReady Universal Screener to many of our students starting Monday. More info is below. Due to this, we will begin our specialists' "clubs" the following Monday, 9/28. 
  • Our study of Positivity Project traits begins this week. Up first is curiosity
  • Our second virtual Back to School Night will be held this Thursday. You will receive attendance instructions from your teacher(s). We will record sessions for viewing later on. 
  • Our weekly curbside library book checkout continues this Wednesday.

As a reminder from last week, we also have several beginning-of-year requests for our families:

  • If you have not done so already, please consent to our use of digital technology so that our teachers may incorporate it into instruction. You can find the link here
  • If you have not done so already, please complete and return (scan or drop off) the two required forms. They are listed below in the "Required Forms" section below. 
  • Please review the Student Rights and Responsibilities and related resources at www.fcps.edu/srr.  After reviewing the information, fill out the SR&R Parent Acknowledgement Form using this link. The form must be filled out one time per student each year.

We love interacting with our students, whether online or for a few minutes outside of the building. Please keep us informed of how we can support your learning at home. 

All the best, 

Nicholas Zapadka, Principal

Eric Kopacz, Assistant Principal 


Upcoming Dates for Your Calendar

  • September 21 - Students attend AM Meeting
  • September 22 - 25 - Students use normal schedule
  • September 22 - Virtual PTA Meeting, 8:00PM - link below
  • September 23 - Weekly Curbside Library Checkout
  • September 24 - Advanced Academics Info Night, Link Below, 5:30
  • September 24 - Back to School Night #2, K-3 @ 6:00, 4-6 @ 7:00
  • September 28 - Specialist "Clubs" Begin
  • September 29-30 - Family Dinner Out - Ledo's 

Advanced Academics Info Night

Advanced Academic Programs (AAP) in Fairfax County

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has a variety of AAP services for students from kindergarten through twelfth grade.  To learn more about these services, please watch the following video.  AAP Overview Video | La sinopsis de los servicios del Programa Académico Avanzado 

Tara Fredericks, the Advanced Academic Resource Teacher at Freedom Hill, will be holding Question and Answer sessions to answer any questions you may have about the information on the video. The first will be held Thursday, September 24th at 5:30pm, before Back to School Night. You can join at this link. Please email Mrs. Fredericks at TLfredericks@fpcs.edu with any questions.


iReady Universal Screener

Beginning this week, students will take iReady at home instead of at school. Teachers will discuss the assessment with students in advance, including how to log in and what to expect. This assessment will let the teacher know some information about your student that is helpful for planning instruction. This assessment is NOT for a grade.  If you have further questions about this assessment, please contact one of the school’s test coordinators, Eric Kopacz or Tim Scesney.

Testing Notifications:

English

Spanish

Arabic


FCPS Grab and Go Meals

All FCPS students (regardless of age) are eligible for free grab and go breakfast and lunch, as well as other county children, under the age of 18. Adults picking up meals for children should let staff know how many children meals they need. Adults may pay $2 for the meals as well.

The service will be available Monday - Friday only.  

New for this fall:  breakfast and lunch meals for Saturdays will be distributed at all sites and bus routes each Friday.

Please click here for the routes and times for the FH community. 


Curbside Library

books

Our first curbside checkout day was a success! Over 160 books were checked out and picked up! We will continue this each Wednesday from 2:00-6:00. To request books, students should log into the Destiny Discover Library Catalog with their FCPS username and password. They can place up to five books on hold at a time, making sure to do so by the Tuesday evening before pickup day. Confirmation emails will be sent to student Gmail accounts for grades 3-6, and to parent emails for K-2. On the day of pickup, please wear a mask and either drive or walk to the bus loop to retrieve your books.  Library books can be returned during the same window of time as pickup. They will be quarantined for seven days before becoming available again. Click here for instructions for placing books on hold.

Librarian Katherine Trott can help with any questions you have, and can be reached at sktrott@fcps.edu.


Positivity Project - Curiosity

cur

Each week we focus on a particular aspect of the Positivity Project. Our first official character strengths is curiosity. Curiosity is a crucial component of one's character. Our innate urge for discovery and exploration is a key element of our human desire for wisdom and knowledge. It’s what keeps us intrigued in the plotlines of movies and books. It’s what pushes us to try new activities or travel to different places. All individuals experience curiosity, but differ in their willingness to experience it – behaviorally, intellectually, and emotionally. Curiosity is associated with novelty seeking. Novelty-seekers are more willing to endure risks – such as physical risks of skydiving or social risks of meeting new people – in order to gain the benefits of new experiences. Curiosity is also associated with being receptive to exploring new ideas, feelings, or values – which carry their own inherent risks and rewards.


Required Forms


Updates from the PTA

sup

 

FREEDOM HILL SUPER HEROES We are so appreciative of our technology team, Tim Scesney and Craig Fenton! They have worked countless hours over the summer and during the opening of school to get all our students situated with laptops, mi-fis and tech set-ups. On Friday, these two and the office staff were treated to a lunch by Dr. Z and Tim and Craig got a thank you from the PTA (including gift cards and Super Hero name plates!). Three cheers for the team!

 

FIRST PTA MTG, TUE. SEPT. 22, 8PM We're excited to kick off the school year. Join us THIS Tuesday for our first virtual PTA meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 22nd at 8pm. Here's the link to join or dial 312-626-6799 with Meeting ID: 977 2261 1996. We will be reviewing the budget and have put together a tentative school calendar together here. Obviously we'll be adjusting this as we go through out the year and things change so always look for the latest version.

 

FAMILY DINNER OUT- LEDO'S ON 9/29-30 We're doing our first Family Dinner Out of the year at Ledo Pizza in Falls Church (on Rt. 7). They will donate 20% of earnings to the PTA from 5-9pm on Tuesday 9/29-Wednesday 9/30. Info is here. The restaurant only will have 8 tables for sit in so we definitely encourage carry-out. Ledo's is located at 7510 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043. Thanks to Jennifer King for organizing this!

 

ENRICHMENT IS HERE, INFO NIGHT 9/24 at 7PM, REG OPENS 9/28 We are partnering with Enrichment Matters to deliver virtual enrichment activities for you. Mostly on Mondays but on additional days too before or after school with topics like Chess, Kitchen Science: CookingXSTEAM, Tennis Fitness, Drawing, Science Club, Mudskippers Pottery, Money Matters, Spanish, Game Show Vocab, Blue Wand Magic, Math Essentials, Structural Engineers, Minecraft Modding, Intro to Python, etc. For those who had classes that were canceled last spring - this is a great chance to redeem your credits!  Sessions will be 4 week sessions (from 10/12 - 11/7). Join to learn more in their Virtual Open House Thursday, Sept. 24th at 7pm (this is during the second part of grades 4-6 Back to School Night part 2, we will work on getting a recording too). Get more info here or register for the zoom here. **Please note, we do not recommend any class that conflicts with Monday Morning Meeting or any special meeting times your teachers have arranged. Entrepreneurs Club is at 9:30am and we've reached out to EM to see if they will be rescheduling the time. Registration opens on Sept. 28th at 8:00am and closes midnight on October 5th. Grab your spot early because Enrichment Matters will have kids from multiple schools in classes. Here's the flier with all the details

 

JOIN THE FHES PTA TODAY!

The Freedom Hill Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) is a volunteer-driven organization that facilitates exciting programs, activities, and traditions that are not otherwise funded by FCPS. Even though we are not physically together at this time, we still plan to support all student(s) and the school community through the following activities: *Materials for students to use during virtual learning *Reading materials and digital resources *Staff development *Grade level wish list items from teacher teams and staff and more

Check out the NEW PTA membership form for families or for teachers and join today! You can join on Pay4SchoolStuff by check via mail/school drop off. Q's? Contact Kerrey Olden.

 

LINK YOUR HT CARD TO 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. Search for 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