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Happy Sunday, Freedom Hill Families!
We hope you are enjoying the wonderful weather as we transition into the fall months. We have appreciated our partnership with our families and moments shared with students during virtual learning. We welcome the opportunity to continue our work as a community. Please consider supporting our PTA through their many events that we list at the bottom of the newsletter - they do so much for our students, staff and school!
Last week, Dr. Brabrand met with the School Board regarding the Return to School plan. The Board approved a motion in support of the Superintendent’s Operational Level 2 plan to bring in small cohorts of students in October for in-person instruction. Get more information about the Return to School plan. More communication will be coming soon for the families of our preschool and adapted curriculum programs.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Nicholas Zapadka, Principal
Eric Kopacz, Assistant Principal
For the master schedule, this week is an "A" week.
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.
Please be mindful that FCPS laptops cannot be left on 24 hours a day. Our computers need rest, just like our students. Make sure to turn the laptop off at night. This will allow the battery to fully recharge and prevent the hard drive from overheating.
Our FCPS laptops will run updates throughout the week and on the weekends. To ensure that your laptop will not auto-run an update in the middle of class, please restart your laptop in the morning.
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.
I hope you're all doing well enjoying exploring teamwork with your children! On Monday, we'll begin learning about open-mindedness. For a 1-page character card overview, click here. And, for P2 for Families (password: P2), click here. Open-mindedness is the willingness to actively search for evidence that goes against one’s favored beliefs, plans, or goals. Open-minded individuals are able to weigh all evidence fairly, when it is available. They see the other side and fight the tendency to have a bias for their own views. And, rather than favoring the socially dominant views, they give attention to those that are less dominant. This character strength helps individuals build knowledge about specific issues or points of view – and provide sound recommendations and advice.
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Once again, FHES is participating in National Walk to School Day. Our school will join over 2000 schools across the US to help raise awareness on road safety and promote exercise. This year will be a little different, but there are two ways we invite you and your family to participate on October 7th:
1- Walk to school or your bus stop
2 - Walk to your favorite place or spot in your neighborhood
There is no central meeting point or time- entirely your choice! If you see friends and neighbors along the way, please do greet them safely and responsibly.
Take photos of your walk and post them to the FHES Facebook group or tweet them tagging the @FreedomHillES account and using hashtags #WalktoSchool, #FCPSWalkingWednesdays, or #FHHighlights. Stay on the lookout for future “Walking Wednesday” activities from the FCPS Safe Routes to School Program.
Thank you to Sam Lee for continuing to promote this very positive experience!
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ART FUNDRAISER
The Freedom Hill PTA is excited to partner with Square 1 Art to celebrate creativity and raise funds for the school! The Square 1 Art art project provides you the opportunity to purchase keepsakes and gifts featuring your child's art! Purchase gifts for everyone on your holiday shopping list!
The Art Fundraiser is 3 easy steps:
- Create Art
- Photograph & Upload your art to Square 1 Art
- Shop for keepsakes!
Art upload deadline is 10/30, parent order deadline is 11/18, and deliveries should be received the week of 12/7.
More information, including directions and project lesson plans are located on the Art Fundraiser page of the PTA website. Have a question? Need a template or supplies? Reach out to Art Fundraiser coordinators Amber Halaka and Jennifer Liu.
Please note: This is voluntary and does not take the place of anything Mr. A is teaching and assigning in class.
ENRICHMENT CLOSES MONDAY, OCT. 5TH 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 closes THIS MONDAY, October 5th at midnight. New sessions have been added to meet the demand for classes. There will be kids from multiple schools in classes. Here's the flier with all the details
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FAMILY DINNER OUT AT LEDO'S SUCCESS Thanks for those who participated at our FDO with Ledo Pizza in Falls Church! We'll get more details on how much money we raised later in the month. Save the date for our next FDO's on Tuesday, October 20th for Noodles & Co. and Tuesday, Nov. 17th at Chipotle!
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PTA MTG FRIDAY OCT. 16th at 12pm
We have our next PTA Meeting on Friday, October 16th at 12pm noon. Save the date and let us know if there are specific topics you'd like to talk about! Here's the link or call in at 646-558-8656 with Mtg ID 927 0918 0046. 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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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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FALL SPIRITWEAR SALE Coming later this month....our Fall online spiritwear sale. We'll have some new items including comfy lounge pants - perfect for virtual school, face masks, and lots of warm tops to stay warm this winter. Great for holiday gifts! Stay tuned for info.
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