Good afternoon Freedom Hill families,
We hope you are well! Last week marked the first time we had all of our in-person students back in the building four days a week. Our learning community is coming alive again within the building, and we couldn't be more pleased. Our virtual students continue to thrive and are eager and willing participants to class discussions and activities, and we love hearing their voices and thoughts through some of our concurrent classrooms. We learned very quickly that our students remain resilient, flexible, and positive despite all the changes they have experienced. As always, a continued thank you goes out to our amazing teachers for planning such robust and diverse lessons to meet the needs of all of their students, whether near or far.
We have much more learning in store for our students as we finish out the school year and we are excited to see their continued growth. Thank you for making this transition back to four days a week a smooth and supportive one for our students.
This week, we have a few family action items with yearbook orders, class placement input for next year, and (if you choose) some thoughts about Teacher Appreciation Week next week. If you know a family with a rising kindergarten student, please remind them to register at the school if they have not already!
Wishing you a great week ahead,
Dr. Nicholas Zapadka, Principal
Eric Kopacz, Asst. Principal
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April 28 - Curbside Library Checkout, 2-6PM
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May 3 - 7 - Teacher Appreciation Week
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May 4 - Hot lunches return to cafeteria
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May 5 - Bike/Walk to School Day
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May 5 - 28 - SOL Testing (Grades 3-6)
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May 9 - Yearbook preorders due (see below)
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May 10 - Family Class Placement Input due (see below)
It is time to order your yearbook! Please see our flier for ordering information.
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Next week, May 3-7, is Teacher Appreciation Week, and we can't think of a school year when our teachers were more deserving. The school administration and our wonderful PTA will be doing a few things for the teachers, but we encourage your family to consider thinking of a way to make their week extra special, too! |
If your child is returning to Freedom Hill next school year, we offer you the opportunity to share any comments you would like regarding class placements. If you know that your family will not be joining us for the 2021-22 school year, please reach out to Ms. Sujo at ssujoromero@fcps.edu or 703-506-7800 to let us know.
Our staff will be working on tentative class groupings this spring, with classroom assignments finalized in mid-August. As we make these placements, we consider many factors including individual student information, teacher input, and social relationships. Every class will have a blend of children with diverse needs, personalities, and learning interests. Due to the many factors we must consider in creating classroom placements, including the reassignment of some teachers to a different grade level and the hiring of new teachers, requests for a specific teacher cannot be honored.
If you have information that you believe is pertinent to your child’s placement for next year, please complete this OPTIONAL form online by Monday, May 10th for it to be taken into consideration. There is no need to complete the form if you do not have any information you would like us to consider. Thank you.
Federal and state education departments have decided not to cancel this year’s Standard of Learning (SOL) assessments. Freedom Hill will be conducting tests from May 5th to May 28th. This includes virtual students, who are required to come to the building for testing.
The following letter was emailed to families on Friday, April 16th in English, Spanish, and Arabic. It contains information regarding transportation, refusals, and virtual students coming into he building for testing on their assigned days.
Please email our school testing coordinators, Mr. Kopacz and Mr. Scesney, with any questions you may have.
We are excited to welcome our next class of Kindergarten students. To prepare for the 2021-22 school year, we ask all parents of incoming Kindergartners to visit our registration page to register your child. Encourage your friends and neighbors to register their incoming Kindergartners. Pass the word!
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This week, we are focusing on Purpose/Connection. You have beliefs about the meaning of life and your life’s purpose. You seek to be part of something greater than yourself.
“Regardless of whatever I do, I know my purpose is to make a difference in people’s lives.”
~Tim Tebow
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Questions you might enjoy talking about:
- Do you ever wonder what your purpose is?
- What kind of person do you want to be? What things could you be doing now to enhance the life of those around you?
- What gifts, talents, and ideas do you have that you want to share?
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Parent Technology Help Desk 833-921-3277 (833-921-FCPS)
Parent and Student Technology Support Portal
Freedom Hill Digital Tools Webpage
FCPS Parent Resource Center
FCPS Return to School
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BIKE/WALK TO SCHOOL DAY - MAY 5
We FHES is participating in National Bike/Walk to School Day. You can participate by either biking or walking to school or take a ride/walking around your neighborhood. All info is here. Parents, please do take photos and post them to our the Freedom Hill ES FB group or Tweet them by tagging @FreedomHillES and @FreedomHillPTA or using #BiketoSchool and #FHHighlights. Big thanks to Sam Lee for organizing!
TEACHER APPRECIATION
May is just around the corner and May 3-7 is Teacher Appreciation Week. Our TA Chairs, Angela and Ina, are hard at work appreciating our teachers and staff! With this in mind, perhaps you'd like to do something extra for that teacher or staff member who has worked tirelessly through out the year. Whether it is an end of year gift pooled together with other parents or a simple card during Teacher Appreciation - keep this in mind for our hard working teachers and staff!
LAST CALL FOR HARRIET BEST NOMINATIONS - DUE APRIL 30
The Harriette Best Award was instituted more than a decade ago by the Freedom Hill’s PTA as a tribute to honor our former Assistant Principal. Since its inception, this award has been awarded by the PTA Board and given each year since to the parent(s) and/or staff member(s) who best exemplify what Mrs. Best continued to accomplish until her retirement. If you'd like to nominate someone for this award, send an email by Friday, 4/30 to info@freedomhillpta.org with the person's name and a summary of their efforts to FHES.
PTA BOARD APPLICATIONS OPEN
Are you interested in serving on the PTA Board? If you are interested in these or any other position, fill out an application here and email to: nominating_committee@freedomhillpta.org. Questions about a specific position? Feel free to email the current board at info@freedomhillpta.org.
PTA MEETING RECAP
We had a great PTA meeting last week. The slides are here as well as the recording with password $hi.8ZJU. Given we just had the combined meeting with Dr. Z, we will NOT have our original PTA meeting on April 28th. Also be sure to save the date for the last PTA meeting of the year on Wednesday, June 3rd at 8pm.
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