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Dear Freedom Hill Families,
We hope things are well with the beginning of spring! If you haven't been past the school, you should have a last chance this week to view the very pretty blossoms in our front yard. It's a beautiful time in Northern Virginia!
This is our last week until Spring Break. Once we return on April 10, we have much planned for end of year assessments, celebrations, 6th grade promotion activities, Field Day, and much much more!
Finally, we are also in the process of planning for next year. If you have any new neighbors with school age children that are planning on attending Freedom Hill next year, please make sure to connect them with Ms. Sujo in the office so we can ensure we can secure our staffing as early as possible.
In partnership,
Nicholas Zapadka, Principal
Eric Kopacz, Assistant Principal
2022-23 FCPS School Calendar
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March 28 - Family Dinner Out at Noodles & Co. and Midnight Treats
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April 3 - 7 - Spring Break
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April 13 - Kindergarten Orientation, 2:30
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April 28 - Staff vs. Westgate Volleyball Game at Marshall HS
2023-24 FCPS School Calendar
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This week, we are focusing on Humor. You like to laugh and bring smiles to other people.
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“A sense of humor is a major defense against minor troubles.”
~Mignon McLaughlin
Questions you might enjoy talking about:
- How does humor affect relationships? How does it connect people?
- How can you incorporate more humor into your everyday life?
- Have you ever been in a situation where you just couldn’t stop laughing? What happened?
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The signups for our daily Watch D.O.G.S. (Dad of Great Students) is ready! You can sign up to volunteer for a day at Freedom Hill with this link. Thank you to our "Top Dog" David Hay for organizing this for our community. If you missed it, you can learn more about the program in this quick video.
The daily D.O.G.S. will report to the front office at 9:00 to receive their schedule. We look forward to it!
 SOL testing will be taking place in the month of May this year for students in grades 3-6. The SOL assessments are content assessments that measure a student’s growth in Mathematics, Reading, and Science (5th grade only). These tests will be conducted during the morning of the dates listed in the table above. It is important that your child attend school on the dates designated for them to test. Please ensure your child gets plenty of rest the night prior. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Kopacz, our school testing coordinator.
We are excited to welcome Grammy nominated performing artist SaulPaul to Freedom Hill on Tuesday. His focus is on social-emotional learning, pride in one’s learning, and treating others well. A big thank you to our school counselor Taylor Coleman for helping us to make this character assembly possible!
SaulPaul is a GRAMMY Nominated Musician with a message. He has also presented 3 TEDx Talks, performed at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and been featured on America’s Got Talent. His life story of transitioning from tragedy to triumph has been told on screen via the documentary Tower to Tower as well as his memoir. Last year he released Be The Change, a critically acclaimed Children's album that is based on the principles of SEL. In addition to mentions from NPR and Billboard, The New York Times wrote, "This is infectious Hip Hop that the whole family can enjoy." Leveraging his decade plus experience working withK-12 youth, SaulPaul released the accompanying curricula and is proud that the educational programs are being adopted at schools across the country. Most recently, SaulPaul founded Change Water, a socially conscious bottled water company that donates to the local community with each case of water sold. Whether via art, education or entrepreneurship, SaulPaul is committed to #BeTheChange.
The Magnet Program registration window will be open from Wednesday March 1st, through Wednesday, April 12th, 2023. No late applications are accepted.
https://www.fcps.edu/registration/elementary-magnet-school-lottery
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It is already that time of year to start planning for next year. Our Kindergarten registration for the 2023-2024 school year is now open. Please use the online portal to submit your initial information and our registrar, Ms. Sujo, will follow up with you.
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If you have a child at home who will be five by September 30th, please register now. If you have any neighbors with rising kindergartners, please send this information to them, as well.
This year, the first full day of Ramadan is March 22. Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year for Muslims, who believe it was during this month that God revealed the first verses of the Quran, Islam's sacred text, to Mohammed, on a night known as "The Night of Power." During the entire month of Ramadan, Muslims fast every day from dawn to sunset. It is meant to be a time of spiritual discipline — of deep contemplation of one's relationship with God, extra prayer, increased charity and generosity, and intense study of the Quran. Read more about Ramadan in National Geographic Kids. This year, Ramadan begins with a half Observance Day on March 22, followed by an Observance Day on March 23. The school calendar recognizes many religious and cultural observances (O days) during the school year. There is school on these days, however, the School Board has directed that tests, quizzes, field trips, graduation, homecoming, or FCPS-scheduled athletic events will not be held on these observance days. Half-Observance days are full school days, but important events will not be held after school on those days. See the complete 2022-23 school year calendar.
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This week join us at our Family Dinner Out on Tuesday, March 28th at Noodles & Co and Midnight Treats! Read on for details.
READATHON RECAP
Thank you all for a great Read-a-thon! We read over 335,000 minutes and raised over $12,500! Congratulations to the students this year for meeting our school-wide goal! Students can look forward to throwing water balloons at the Principals during Field Day! Reminder: Students can still accept donations and should spend their prize money by March 28 here. Q's? Email readathon@freedomhillpta.org
FDO AT NOODLES & MIDNIGHT TREATS TUESDAY, 3/28 We're excited to get back to our Family Dinner Out fundraisers in Spring! Join us on Tuesday, March 28th between 4-8 pm at Noodles & Co. and Midnight Treats. For Noodles & Co, in restaurant and online sales count and 25% goes to the PTA. Be sure you mention Freedom Hill or show the flier (English or Spanish) in person or put in code: GIVING25 for online or app orders. Noodles is located at 201 Maple Avenue E, Vienna, VA 22181 and Midnight Treats is in 2 shopping centers over at 167 Glyndon St SE, Vienna, VA 22180. For Midnight Treats, just mention Freedom Hill when paying!
FHES FACULTY VOLLEYBALL GAME 4/28 It's coming back! Thanks to Rachel Shabica, the Faculty Volleyball Game against Westgate ES will take place on March 28th 6:30-8 pm in the Marshall High School gym. This used to be a great tradition at FHES but hasn’t taken place since 2019. The teachers of Freedom Hill play against the teachers of Westgate ES. The kids LOVE coming to watch and cheer on their school’s team with pom poms and foam fingers, eat yummy pizza and snacks and wear their FHES spiritwear or red clothing. We highly encourage folks to purchase their tickets online on Pay4SchoolStuff. Check out the flier here. We will need help with volunteers! Sign up here.
SPRING CLEANING = BINGO PRIZES! Bingo Night is a beloved event that will take place this year on May 12. In order to prepare for it, we'd love to start collecting potential prizes. If you are doing a little spring cleaning, you can drop off prizes at Sahar Javadi's house at 8518 Quaint Lane, Vienna, VA 22182. Just email president@freedomhillpta.org to make sure we know it's a Bingo Prize donation. What makes a good prize? Unopened Games, Toys, Art & Crafts Kits or things remaining from the holidays.
SEEKING GRAPHIC NOVELS Ms. Rossman is updating her summer Bookmobile collection with kid friendly graphic novels/comic books, early readers (ie: step 1-3 Scholastic books) AND early chapter books (ie: rainbow fairies and magic treehouse). If you have any of these that you'd like to donate to FHES, please drop them off with a note for Ms. Rossman at the front office.
ON THE HORIZON
Apr. 3 – Apr. 8 – Spring Break
Apr. 28 – Faculty Volleyball Game at Marshall
Check out our FHES Calendar to plan further out in the year.
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