Friday, April 4, 2014

March 2014


Freeman-Kennedy School Celebrates 
"READ ACROSS AMERICA"
March 3, 2014
Our entire school community gathered in the cafeteria for a school wide assembly to celebrate reading.  Students from each grade level were chosen to read terrible tongue twisters. The tongue twisters came from Dr. Seuss book, "Oh Say Can You Say?"
Grade 3 Students

Grade 4 Students

Grade 5 Students 

 Grade 6 Students 

Freeman-Kennedy Art Show 
Mrs. Laura Mellick - Art Teacher grades 3-6
Freeman-Kennedy students showcased their art work at the annual art show.  Teachers, students, parents, and friends had the opportunity to admire all the amazing artists we have in our school. Mrs. Mellick does an outstanding job integrating art into all the core content areas taught at our school. 

Grade 3 - Jazzy Jungle, Water Color Cats & Parrots

Grade 4 - Winter Birch Trees 

Grade 5 - Space Place 

  Grade 6 - Self Portraits 

Grade 3 Science 
Mrs. Watson shares her profession about being a bee keeper!
Mrs. McFadden and Mrs. Trombert's Class


Author Visit by Farhana Zia
Students at each grade level had the opportunity to learn about the Indian culture, the importance of family, and the incredible memories and traditions we learn from parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  The value of passing along family traditions was communicated throughout her book "Hot, Hot Rodi for Dada-ja".  Students in third and fourth grade had the opportunity to see how to make Hot, Hot, Rodi's! and learn about the Indian culture.




Fifth and Sixth Grade Students 
 Introduced to the book "The Garden of my Iman"
The Garden of Imaan is about a young girl who is trying to fit into the American culture, but is finding it hard to mix American culture with her Muslim culture. She is also at the age now when she should be fasting and wearing a jihab, but does not want to call attention to herself.  Fortunately, another Muslim girl moves into her school, so she can discuss these issues with someone of her culture.  This book describes their struggles to fit in.



Bucket Fillers of the Month!!
Bucket Fillers of the Week - February 28, 2014
Jason P. in Mrs. Longobardi's class was a role model at the beginner band concert, sitting quietly and respectfully.
Michael C. in Mr. Cavanaugh's class offered to take my book and put it away for me when my leg was 
hurting. 
Noor R. in Mrs. Groenheide's class helped me study for a test.
Andrew O. in Mrs. Trombert's class is a role model in the cafeteria always encouraging his classmates to follow the rules in the cafeteria.
Jackson H. in Mrs. Klassman's class is always nice and helpful.  He is very good to me and treats everybody equally.  That's good!
Abigail W. in Mrs. Leidner's class was very helpful by volunteering to open the door in the cafeteria so the 4th grade teachers could bring them in for recess. She is always very helpful.
Stephen M in Mrs. Moore's class said, "Nice Try!" when I didn't catch the football.
Madison K. in Mrs. O'Toole's class made me feel better when I got a bad grade on my test.
Mallory J. in Mrs. Leidner's class was a very good friend to a classmate of hers in the cafeteria.  She gave up her seat to a friend that was having a difficult day.
Nick D. in Mr. Cavanaugh's class helped a student who fell in the cafeteria with his tray and showed deep concern.  He helped him clean everything up!
Connor R. in Mrs. Pericles class helps his classmates by showing the quiet sign when people are talking in line.
Kathryn Q. in Mrs. Moore's class made me feel better when someone hurt my feelings.
Eva P. in Mrs. Trombert's class made me feel better when I was alone.
Kassandra M. in Mrs. Klassman's class helped clean up the cafeteria during lunch without being asked.
Maddie W. in Mrs. McFadden's class is always helpful to fellow students.  She is always kind and caring.
Bucket Fillers of The Week - March 7, 2014 
Mo B. in Mrs. McNeillie's class helped with the poetry packets for the class. 
Molly P. in Mrs. Longobardi's class stayed in class to help a student clean up from recess even though she already cleaned up what she was doing.
Abby C. in Mrs. McNeillie's class included a student in her reading group.
Owen H. in Mrs. Trombert's class is such a hard worker.  He is also a role model for his classmates by being very responsible.
Caitlin M. in Mrs. Klassman's class is a hard worker.  She is also very kind to her classmates.
Jenna M. in Mrs. Klassman's class is a very hard worker.  She always tries her best in class.  She is very responsible. 
Katie T. in Mrs. McNeillie's class helped with the poetry packets.
Taylor D. in Mrs. Trombert's class has been very helpful and kind to a young friend on the bus.
Lauren B. in Mrs. McFadden's class is a very hard worker.  She always sets good examples for her classmates.
Andrew M. in Mrs. McNeillie's class helped with book fair packets for the class.
Brett W. in Mrs. McNeillie's class helping with the class.
Mrs. Moore's class is always welcoming and respectful to people visiting their classroom.
Nathan V. in Mrs. Longobardi's class won in basketball math and offered a prize to help another student who did not have a prize. 

Bucket Fillers of the Week - March 14, 2014 
Eric F. in Mrs. McNeillie's class fixed the book shelf.
Annie C. in Mrs. O'Toole's class put all the laptops away correctly when she noticed that her classmates had not.
Meaghan C. in Mrs. McNeillie's class is a great class helper!
Jacqui M. in Mrs. Moore's class held the door for everyone.
Andrew O. in Mrs. Trombert's class has shown true acts of kindness.  He sat a with a boy at lunch who was sitting by himself. 
Andrew S. in Mrs. Pericles class always gives me compliments on the bus.
Oliva S. in Mrs. Bosh's class put all the laptops away correctly when she noticed that her classmates had not.
Sarah N. in Mrs. Bosh's class offered to let another classmate use her book during a test.
Hailey L. in Mrs. Bosh's class was the best basketball partner is gym with Leah.
Chris D. in Mrs. Bosh's class went above and beyond for peers in his classroom.
Casy F. in MRs. McNeillie's class is a great class helper!

 Bucket Fillers of the Week - March 21, 2014 
Kenzie S. in Mrs. McNeillie's class is a great class helper.
Isacc O. in Mrs. McNeillie's class a great class helper.
Matt Z. in Mrs. Trombert's class set a great example for other students in my class during independent work time. 
Izzy M. in Mrs. Trombert's class is always polite to her teachers.
Andre B. in Mrs. Klassman's class followed the teachers directions and read a book.  He was the only student to do it!
Charlotte G. in Mrs. Klassman's class is respectful to her classmates and teachers.  Charlotte is also very hardworking.
Jacob L.  in Mrs. Leidner's class always uses excellent manners.  I am very proud of him!
Nick B. in Mrs. McFadden's class has excellent manners.
John W. in Mrs. Groenheide's class got a dictionary for me without even asking.  We needed this to complete an assignment. 
Violet R. in Mrs. Moore's class played with me when I didn't have anyone to play with at recess. Kassandra M. in Mrs. Klassman's class helped her classmates get ready for science by being a role model, quiet and ready to learn. 
Sydney T. is always respectful in her classroom begin quiet and ready to learn.
Antonio in Mrs. Pericles class always helps me with my math work.
Emily D. in Mrs. Teague's class stuck up for me when someone was not being nice.

Bucket Fillers of the Week - March 28, 2014 
Tim Z. in Mrs. Moore's class put away everyone's book bins for them.
Ryan H. in Mrs. McFadden's class is kind and helpful to his classmates.  Ryan is also very hard working.
Miles G. in Mrs. Trombert's class has the best manners.  He compliments me every day.
Liam H. is always a kind and respectful classmate. 

Grade 4 Students Visit Grade 1 Students at
 The H. Olive Day School
 Bullying Prevention

Grade 4 students paired up with small groups of first graders and read two books about bullying (Please see title below.)  Collaboratively they made posters about bullying prevention.  

      




Weeding the Flower Beds at Freeman-Kennedy School
Noah F. and his brother Colin F. help their mom weed the flower beds in the FK courtyard.


Colleen Campbell a 6th Grade Student Receives 
Honorable Mention for the 
"Will McDonough Writing Contest"
Be the Commissioner
By: Colleen Campbell

If I was the commissioner of the Norfolk Sports Program, there are many things that I would do to help it. One idea I have to help the Norfolk Sports Program, would be to fundraise more. Currently, we fundraise just enough to get things that we need, like equipment, uniforms, and other supplies. If we fundraised more, we could have enough money to have things for pleasure like team-spirited accessories for girls teams, team-spirited baseball caps for baseball or softball teams, and nonessential-but-still-good-to-have things, like coolers. We could even host small trips. One of the reasons that we have these sports teams is so people can get to know other people that they probably never would’ve met if it weren’t for the team. But, people can become best friends in the locker room! If we fundraised enough to go somewhere fun, like bowling or to the movies, they will have had a much better opportunity to make friends. If we have better things, more people might want to join our teams, bringing in more money. I think having more fundraisers like bake sales and auctions would be a very good idea.
Another way to help the Norfolk Sports Program, would be to have dance and gymnastics teams. King Phillip currently has hockey teams, basketball teams, softball teams, baseball teams, soccer teams, and even football teams. Those are all sports that require the use of a ball (or puck), and those are very good sports, however, what if we made a team of sports (or arts, as some people call them) team that doesn’t require the use of a ball. For example, there are probably many, many girls and even boys who would love to join a dance team for their school. There are also people who would want to do gymnastics for their own school. Dance and gymnastics require a great amount of balance, coordination, focus, strength, and teamwork as the other sports. Plus, these sports can teach kids something that most of the other sports don’t need that much; flexibility.  Sometimes, kids don’t have the abilities to skate after a puck, or try to catch a ball, but have the ability do a high kick or do a back flip. If we opened our business up to other sports, we can get a whole different group of people to join our teams, bringing in lots of money.
Lastly, I think that girls and boys should be able to play with each other on the same team. Sure, girls have certain abilities that boys don’t have, and boys have certain abilities that girls don’t have, but if you combined each gender’s skills, we could come up with a really powerful team. We have girls teams and boys teams because “we can match the power of our opponents”. We could start going into boy/girl team tournaments and games. Girls are sometimes underestimated, but if we put them in a team with the boys, they can prove to them that they really can play. The opportunity to play with a wider group of people could bring in a lot more people, so we would get more money. Those were some ideas I, the commissioner, came up with to help strengthen the Norfolk Sports Program.

Sophia McLaughlina 6th Grade Student Won 1st Place
 in the state for the Elks Essay Contest 
"Down with Drugs, Up with Awareness"

As you know its unhealthy for people to be taking drugs. When people take drugs they don’t know that their body can’t take it.  Their body isn’t used to the drug so it will make the person taking it sick!
There are many types of drugs such as, Marijuana, cocaine, and more. It doesn’t matter what drug the person uses they are all bad and harmful. All of these drugs have side effects. Like slow reflexes, poor memory, short attention spam, inability to think and changes in sense of time and space. Alcohol is a depressant drug that makes a person loss of coordination, increase in violence, inability to learn and remember, changers in personality, trouble with other people, and drunkenness. 
A way that I think that would help people quit drugs is show the people who take the drugs what is in these kind of drugs and show them what could happen if they continue taking these drugs. If people see this maybe they will stop. Another way is that people should take DARE which means Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Drugs are harmful and highly addictive. Most drugs can cause cancer and kill you. Chewing tobacco can cause cancer to the mouth, and yellow teeth and bad breath. Save your life and don’t do drugs.

Sean Pillar 6th Grade Student Won 1st Place 
for the Elks Essay Contest
"Down with Drugs, Up with Awareness"
I think people should be aware of the dangers of drugs. One thing people should be aware of is the new marijuana out there. It is at an all time high in THC. THC can and will highjack the part of your brain that you experience joy with, and make you feel joy in a different way. You should realize that if you carry more than one ounce of marijuana you  get arrested. If you have less than that you get a $400 bail. If you don’t pay the bail you get arrested. Also, you get put on a six-month probation. Probation means that if you get in trouble with the police in that time you get arrested. That is one thing you should be aware of about drugs. Another thing you should know about drugs is that they are illegal if you are not prescribed to them. Also, they make you think differently so you might do some stupid stuff and get in even more trouble. Also, drugs cost a lot of money if you are hooked. You may even find yourself stealing a few dollars from a kid walking down the road just to help pay for these drugs. Those are just a few reasons you should be aware of drugs.

Maddison Perry 6th Grade Student Won 2nd Place
for the Elks Essay Contest
"Down with Drugs, Up with Awareness"


Drugs are very bad for you. Movies and some advertising make them look “cool” and “glamorous”. But in reality, they ruin lives. Most kids do drugs to be “look cool” and to “fit  in”, but they just ruin their health and future if they don’t stop. They usually start with gateway drugs, like marijuana or alcohol.  
How do we stop this? Simple. We need to stop the movies and commercials saying how “great” people feel after doing drugs. A lot of kids look up to their favorite actors and actresses, singers, sport players, etc. so we should stop showing the people who do drugs on T.V. when they do drugs. We shouldn’t have commercials/advertisements telling how amazing drugs feel, we should have them saying the truth. DARE has taught me things about how bad drugs are for you, so I think we should have DARE everywhere in the country. This would teach other kids to not do drugs, and so the percentage of people doing drugs would go way down. And BAM, that is how I would help less kids abuse drugs.
Have a wonderful weekend with family and friends.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Altham-Hickey