FDES Specials Team

As we move into Quarter 2, we’re ready to add even more color to our year! Every student will have the opportunity to paint, exploring materials such as tempera, watercolor, and even acrylic paint. Students will continue building confidence as artists while experimenting with new techniques, materials, and ways to express their ideas.

As the year goes on, some student artwork will begin staying at school as we build a collection for our Annual Art Show. Each student will have artwork selected and saved throughout the year to be part of this special celebration. So if you’re wondering where all that art is—it may be waiting for its big debut!

Our Annual Art Show is truly a highlight of the year and an event not to be missed. More details will come later, but for now, get excited for lots of creating, exploring, and colorful mess-making in Quarter 2!

Here’s to another quarter of creativity, curiosity, and amazing art! 🖌️🌈

Hello, Panda Families!

This quarter, our younger students are diving into cozy, fall-themed read-alouds while learning to distinguish between fiction and nonfiction books. We have so many wonderful characters to meet, stories to explore, and fascinating facts to discover!

In our older grades, readers are diving deeper into their chapter books while strengthening important library skills. Students are exploring different genres, learning effective research strategies, and becoming more independent as they navigate our library catalog and shelves with confidence.

Thank you for continuing to encourage a love of reading at home. Happy reading! 📚🍂

What a great start to the school year we have had in Physical Education! During Quarter 1, students worked hard developing and practicing their fundamental movement skills. We focused on jumping and landing, jump rope, dance, and playground games. Students have made excellent progress and have shown that they are becoming more confident, coordinated, and comfortable moving in a variety of ways.

One of our biggest accomplishments this quarter has been mastering our traveling skills. Students have practiced moving safely through space while changing directions, speeds, and pathways. These skills provide an important foundation for everything we will do throughout the rest of the school year. We have also enjoyed watching students encourage one another, participate enthusiastically, and learn how to be successful in a PE environment.

As we begin Quarter 2, we are excited to take the next step in our physical education journey! During this quarter, students will begin incorporating more equipment and balls into our activities. We will work on cup stacking, fall-themed games, throwing and catching, and team-building activities. These lessons will give students opportunities to apply the movement skills they have already learned while developing new skills that require coordination, focus, communication, and cooperation.

Cup stacking will challenge students to work on hand-eye coordination, speed, accuracy, and following directions. Our throwing and catching activities will introduce and strengthen important object-control skills, while our fall-themed games will provide fun opportunities to practice these skills in an exciting seasonal setting. Students will also participate in a variety of team-building games that encourage communication, cooperation, problem-solving, and working together toward a common goal.

We have also been fortunate to have Coach Perry from Shepherd University helping us during PE classes. Coach Perry is working toward his degree in Physical Education, and we have enjoyed having him as part of our classes. His assistance has provided our students with another positive role model and has helped make our lessons even more engaging.

Quarter 1 was about building a strong foundation through individual fundamental skills. Now, in Quarter 2, we will begin putting those skills into action with equipment, balls, partners, and teams. I am excited to see our students continue to grow as they learn new skills, challenge themselves, and discover that physical education is about much more than just playing games—it is about movement, teamwork, confidence, cooperation, and having fun while being active!

I look forward to another exciting quarter of learning and moving together!