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Happy Sunday, Freedom Hill Families!
It was a busy week! Thank you to everyone who attended Back to School Night, Part 2. Mr. Kopacz and I were able to join most of the classrooms and were excited to see many faces we have not seen recently. We also had a great PTA meeting last week where we finalized the budget for the year. One of the best things you can do to support our school is to join the PTA. We encourage you to read the PTA updates at the bottom of this newsletter each week. This week, you can find information on how to join.
We would like to offer one last reminder to families of several beginning-of-year items we need from all. Thank you to those who have completed these!
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
For the master schedule, this week is a "B" week.
Advanced Academic Programs (AAP) in Fairfax County
Thank you to all who attended our first Advanced Academics Information Night on September 24th. If you were unable to attend, please email any questions you have to Mrs. Fredericks, or attend one of our upcoming sessions:
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AAP Overview of Services- 10/1- 6:30pm This is a repeat of the presentation from 9/24. It covers all of the AAP services offered by Fairfax County Public Schools from K-12. You can access the meeting here. Prefer to access it on your own time? Here are narrated presentations from the county: AAP Overview Video | La sinopsis de los servicios del Programa Académico Avanzado
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AAP Screening and Identification for Level IV services- 10/7- 6:30pm This is a comprehensive look at the process to refer students to be screened for the full time AAP services. It is intended for parents of current 2nd-6th grade students. You can access it here.
If you have any questions, please email Tara Fredericks at TLfredericks@fcps.edu.
On Monday mornings, students will continue to have AM Meeting with their teacher and may then be selected to participate in academic intervention/enrichment each week. Our specialists will also be leading several voluntary virtual clubs in which students can participate. Our club schedule can be found here. Please email the club sponsor if you are having any issues joining.
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.
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.
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I hope your family had fun exploring curiosity! On Monday, we'll begin learning about teamwork. For a 1-page character card overview, click here. And, for P2 for Families (password: P2), click here.
Teamwork is the ability and willingness to place overall group success as a higher priority than individual achievement. Citizenship is a willingness to work towards the common good as opposed to one’s own self-interest. Those with strengths in teamwork and citizenship often work to help all group members find success. These individuals are willing to commit time and resources to further group goals and help move toward the greater good. This strength is associated with naturally positive feelings that accompany being a member of a family, team, school, political party, ethnic group, or country. However, those positive feelings can come at a cost with negative behavior towards the “out-group” in the form of blind obedience, disparaging words, or prejudice. This is important to guard against by leveraging a person’s other positive character strengths.
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PTA MTG RECAP Thanks to those who joined us for the PTA meeting. We went over upcoming FDO's, had a membership update and approved our budget. We also went over what's going well and what improvements could be made with Dr. Z and Mr. Kopacz. Here's the recording (the password is eG*e5UUC). We 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.
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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) on this Tuesday and Wednesday! Ledo's will donate 20% of earnings to the PTA from 5-9pm on 9/29 and 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!
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ENRICHMENT IS HERE, REG OPENS 9/28 We are partnering with Enrichment Matters to deliver virtual enrichment activities for you. Here's the recording from the Open House. Classes are 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). 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.
Enrichment 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
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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! Join before October 16th and enter a drawing to win a free yearbook!! You can join on Pay4SchoolStuff by check via mail/school drop off. Q's? Contact Kerrey Olden.
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SCAN YOUR BOXTOPS! Ending today - earn a bonus box top with your receipt scan. Earn 1 bonus box top with every eligible receipt scan up to 5 scans. If you don't have the Box Top app, download it today.
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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.
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