Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

 

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year!!

Enjoy your Winter Break see you in 2015!

Jennifer and LizJ

 

"Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief"

Sixth graders in their ELA classes have been studying about ancient Greece and mythology using the novel Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  On Friday, December12, 2014, they had a Percy Party in the FMS library. 

Several activities were available for students to participate in, they included the following: pin the eye on the Cyclops, Percy Jackson Trivia on the computer, Who is your Greek God parent, personality quiz on the computer, Greek Mythology  Go Fish card game, write your name in ancient Greek, and make a Medusa head puppet.  The students did a great job!

They also received Percy Jackson bookmarks with quotes form the book and blue candy canes.  Students also had an opportunity to put their name in for the drawing of the Percy Jackson Greek Gods book

Lisa Smith

 

More "Christmas Memories" and New Teacher Profile - Colleen Nicolosi

 

 

Thank you LaFrancine Baker and Derek Simons for giving us more "Christmas Memories". What a fantastic show and a wonderful way to help the Freeport Food Pantry. You brought a lot of smiles to a lot of people!
:)

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Colleen Nicolosi teaches 5^th grade ELA and is an assistant coach for FAST, Freeport Area Swim Team. She received her bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University and has her Masters from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Colleen started as a special education aide in the Elgin School District then taught at Lincoln Douglas School in Freeport and in Rockford for several years. She substituted in the Harlem School District for the past three years.

Colleen says she feels fortunate to be a part of a great 5^th grade team working to implement personalized learning of the Common Core Standards. “Seeing my students get excited about progressing through their evidence plans and becoming proficient in each standard they work on has been very rewarding. It is not often that I have seen students who couldn’t wait to take their next assessment or get upset if they lost any class time to work independently. “

Colleen said that most recently, she has started using the web based “ClassDoJo” program that has increased her students’ engagement dramatically and helps her reinforce positive behavior immediately.

Something Colleen would like you to know is that teaching at FMS feels like home to her. This is because she grew up in those hallways, since her parents, Jack and Arlene Egan, both worked in the building for 30 years. In fact, she is teaching in the same room her mom taught in during her final years with Freeport School District.

 

 

 

Field Trip to FMS - "A Positive Place to Be"

 

A Field Trip to FMS

Recently, I have brought teachers to visit FMS with the purpose of talking about and observing learner-centered practices.   All observers walked away with new ideas of how to implement standards-based individualized learning in their own classrooms.  While this is wonderful, and obviously fulfilled the purpose of the visit, I also believe that they walked away with more.  Every staff member that we encountered, whether it was in the hallway, the classroom, or the office, was truly an ambassador of the building.  So, the observers walked away with a sense of collaboration and a realization that no one is in this alone.  They walked away with inspiration and an overall good feeling about the climate of the building.  They walked away with the knowledge that if there was an issue or if they had a question, they would be supported.  So, on behalf of the teachers and coaches that have visited you, thank you.  Mr. Swords summed it up best when we were leaving, “We are all in this together.”  Thank you FMS for being a positive place to visit.