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The Freeman Bears have gotten off to a great start to a new school year. The opening assembly for all grade levels was about being a proud citizen, our school creed and caring for eachother. Mrs. Miars introduced staff members outside the traditional classroom that are here to help our students. Staff members performed a skit for the students about a food driveand how just "ONE" person can make a difference in the lives of others.	Rachel Freeman School of Engineering Educators Attend Teacher Academy Recently, five educators from Rachel Freeman School of Engineering attended a North Carolina Teacher Academy at Appalachian State University. The participants included: Meghann Crow, Brandy Metzger, Andrea Raines, Melissa Stephens and Melissa Williamson.
Ms. Wiggins 5th grade class created "lunar vehicles" designed to haul "lunar rocks" over a distance at a specific speed. All of the vehicles were an engineering success.	Good Job 1st Grade Engineers Ms. Rickey's 1st Graders decided to make hats that would NOT blow off in the wind after reading "The Hat", a book about a little girls who's hat always blew off in the wind. Their engineering projects were tested in the wind,on the playground and proved to be a great designs.
Mrs. Exline's 5th grade class took a field trip to The Coastal Horizon's Ropes Course. Students worked on cooperation, communication, and teamwork stratagies to complete several tasks. Every student took on the challenge of climbing a wooden tower. Students were asked to work on stratagies used and will be bringing ideas back to the classroom to continue using teamwork in classroom activities.	Family Math Night Thank you to the PTA and Freeman staff for making Family Math Night a huge success.
Ms. Exline's 5th Grade students constructed 5 different simple machines using their Engineering is Elementary kits. After constructing each simple machine students tested by first measuring a load using a spring scale. After recording the number of Newtons it took to lift their load the students used their simple machine to do the work. Each group discovered how and if the simple machine actually reduced the work/force needed to complete their task. In every test the use of a simple machine reduced the amount of force/work needed to raise the load.	3rd graders were visited by a veteran associated with The JOE FOSS Institute. The institute did a presentation about "Veterans Inspiring Patriotism" and presented the school with a classroom size Bill of Rights.
Our school was chosen by the New Hanover County Reading Association to receive books for kindergarten students from low income school districts. Their representative and WECT news presented the books and were thanked by the students for their generosity.	Eleanor Johnston from the ABC Board visited our school this week to do a presentation for grades 1, 2 and 3 on drug prevention. Our art teacher, Ms. Crafts was a big help filling as the AB Cardinal.
Kindergarten Students made farm animal hats for their field trip the Mike's Farm.	3rd grade students worked on a designing a waterproof cast. A representative from Wilmington Orhtopedics showed the student engineers how a cast is applied to broken bones.
Students at Freeman participated in "Kids Voting USA, North Carolina ". A national leader in civic education, Kids Voting USA gets students involved and ready to be educated, engaged citizens. Students learn about democracy through a combination of classroom activities, an authentic voting experience and family dialogue.	One of our 5th grade students used her creative talents to make posters about bullying. Her efforts to help her fellow students practice a "non-bullying" environment are appreciated by all.
Staff Member for the month of October Mrs. Jennifer McCroskey is a UNCW graduate and is originally from Rockingham, NC. She's been married exactly one year today, Oct. 6th.Mrs. McCroskey loves photography, the beach and reading, but most of all, teaching Kindergarten at Rachel Freeman School of Engineering.	Mr. Bob Boxley from The Rotary Club presented a new dictionary to every 3rd grade student at Rachel Freeman School of Engineering. Thank you for contributing to the continued success of our students.
3rd graders work along side UNCW students on the "Study Island" website in preperation for the End of Grade Tests in the spring. These after school activities are provided throughout the entire year.	As part of Red Ribbon week all students at Rachel Freeman School of Engineering signed a pledge to stand together against drugs and to personally say "NO" to drugs. The students each signed a card that looked like and symbolized bricks. The cards (bricks) were stacked in the lunchroom on a bulletin board illustrating the affect of all students standing together to say "NO" to drugs. The wall is strong because all of the bricks stand together.
Staff members that completed NC Reads I and II did a book study on "Making the Most of Small Group Instruction" as part of their continuing staff development on differentiating instruction in the classroom.	Kindergarten Engineers At Work Home Depot employees brought kits to Ms. Wonderlich's and Ms. Harris's students to make a leaf press. The instructors used the document camera and SmartBoard to demonstrate each step of the process.
5th graders continued to explore motion and design as they explored yo -yo's. Students dis-assembled yo-yo's to examine the parts inside: wheel and axel, screw, transaxel. Students then experimented with different assemblies to see how they influenced trick performance. Students were able to master 3 yo-yo moves; the palm up throw, the palm down throw and the sleeper.	Thank you to Mrs. Suzanne Smith and all of her volunteers for making the fall Book Fair and Family "Pajama" Night a huge success. We appreciate their efforts and thank all of the families that participated in and supported the event. Ms. Miars little friend "Ace" the engineering dog made lots of new friends while Ms. Miars read books to the children.
Ms. Williamson's 2nd Grade planned in groups in their engineering notebooks and then made sails for their engineering project "Catching the Wind". They tested their vehicles on the playground to make sure their sail designs worked.	Community Leaders Lisa Hornick (PPD), Paul Polmski (Progress Energy), Judy Budd (Greater Wilmington Business Journal/Wilma Magazine), Gary McNair (WECT-TV), and Matt Dryden (General Electric) participated in the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce Leadership Wilmington class. They visited Freeman today, Nov. 18th and had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with Ms. Miars, Mr. Pearson and Ms. Day. They took a tour the school, observed classroom activities and enjoyed lunch in the cafeteria with some of our students. Overall, our visitors were excited about what they observed and learned while visting Freeman.
The Parent Connections Workshop was held on Nov. 18th at Union Missionary Baptist Church next to our school. The workshop was entitled "Helping Our Children Succeed In School". Thank you to all of the parents and family members that attended and to Ms. Galloway and Ms. Taylor for facilitating the workshop.	Ms. Exline's 5th graders created barges to see which would hold the most marbles.
As part of their Mindstorm project Ms. Exline's 5th graders worked to discover how they could use straws, baggies, ballooons and fishing string to study Newton's Laws of motion. This activitiy helped the student engineers understand how rockets are launched.	Through using the engineering design process, 5th grade students planned, created, designed and improved a platform out of marshmallows and noodles. Their goal was to create a platform that would hold up a book.
After reading the story "Try Your Best", a story about a race, 1st grade students designed "Puff Mobiles". The students used index cards, straws and candy to design their vehicle that would move when they blew on it. They discussed and practiced trying their best and good sportmanship while racing their vehicles.	5th grade students used the engineering design process to plan, create, test and improve roller coasters during their exciting two weeks of Mindstorms.
Students decorated a "Tree of Thanksgiving" and a turkey with feathers saying what they are thankful for.	On Wednesday through Friday, eight teachers and the principal from Brentwood Elementary School in Wake County, along with Wake County magnet directors, toured our facility and learned about Freeman’s engineering magnet program. This Wake County elementary school will implement an engineering magnet program beginning with the 2009 school year. It will be a novel experience for the Freeman staff to have another North Carolina elementary engineering program to compare notes with and share ideas.
Kindergarten students disguised turkeys to study compare and contrast. They had to camoflague their turkey so he or she wouldn't be eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. They were reading "The Plump and Perky Turkey" for the project. The Native American vests they made were a study on the patterns of their vests and pictographs.	5th grade students used the engineering design process to plan, create, test and improve roller coasters during their exciting two weeks of Mindstorms.
Ms. Stephens' 4th grade student engineers had to create a membrane to pour water through that would keep a frog moist, but not to dry or to wet.	Freeman's 4th Annual Lego Mindstorm Competition From the planning stages to the competition, students recorded strategies in their engineering notebooks, worked with the GE engineers on their robot designs, used computer software to program their robots for the obstacle course and then competed for medals and trophies on the last day of the 2 week event. The student engineers used problems solving skills, relied on their team members and displayed excellent sportmanship throughout the competition. A special thanks to the GE engineers that volunteered in the classrooms helping our student engineers throughout the project and a big "high five" to the students and their teachers for making the competition so exciting.
Ms. Stephens' 4th grade class had some very special guests help them further explore their engineering lesson on membranes. Mark Carlson, Ph.D. , an engineer who does research on skin at Tufts University in Boston, MA did a presentation on growing skin for burn victims and explained the engineering process he and his colleagues go through to plan and carry out their research. The students compared grapes with the skin left on and without skin to feel the differences in texture. Alicia Carlson, Ph.D., an engineer who does research on imaging diagnostics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston helped students with questions after the presentation. Students journaled in their engineering notebooks during and after the presentation about the experience.	Rachel Freeman Girl Scout Troop#1788 put together a food drive for donations to the Salvation Army. Over 500 cans of food were brought in by students. The class with the most cans donated won a "Cookie Party". Congratulations to Ms. Stephens' 4th grade class for winning the party.
Rachel Freeman's 5th graders celebrated their completion of the D.A.R.E. program with a graduation ceremony. Each student received a certificate for completing the program. Monique Taylor, Caysia Shorter and Taekeem Williams were honored for their D.A.R.E. essays. Guest speaker, Daawud El-Amin from LINC, Inc. spoke to the students about the importance of getting a good education and advised "never let anyone dictate your destiny or interfere with your future". Mr. El-Amin is a "prevention specialist" with LINC, Inc. whose mission is to assist individuals in realizing their goals by creating bridges between them and valuable resources.	Coach Shaw has put together an amazing circuit training system for Rachel Freeman's students. He's incorporated 3 VCR's, a DVD player and two Wii's to create 6 stations with different activities at each. After a good stretch, students rotate between the stations and play tennis or baseball on the Wiis then try TaeBo, jump roping, tennis instruction and aerobics at the other stations. The students love the range of activities. So far their favorites are Wii tennis and TaeBo.
Rachel Freeman's 4th-5th grade chorus was one of a handful of elementary schools that performed at the "Enchanted Airlie" event this week. Songs performed were *Winter Fantasy, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Grandma's Chicken Soup, Snow Day, Christmas Sing-a-long and Song of Peace.* Don't miss thier performance at "Family Reading Night" on the 16th.	One of our parents, Mrs. Barbara McClintock is a cake decorator by trade and volunteered to come in and help the kindergarten students decorate gingerbread babies after they read the book Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.
Family Reading Night 2008 "Cuddle Up With A Good Book" Young and old came to Family Reading Night. Book readings and literacy activities were held on every hallway. "Ticket To Read" was demonstrated in the computer lab to parents with their student leading the way. Books were given as gifts and a raffle was done for the grand prize of a basket of books. Over 200 members of the Freeman family were in attendance and enjoyed a pizza dinner and songs from our 4th-5th grade chorus before the reading activities began.	Over the past 2 weeks students have been saving their Best Bear Tickets. These tickets are given to students for following our school-wide standards: Problem Solve, Always Show Respect, and Work and Play Safely. All students with 20 or more Best Bear Tickets got to attend an ice cream social. Over 200 students earned enough tickets to come to the social! 5th Grade helpers served chocolate syrup and sprinkles while Mrs. Miars and Mr. Pearson handed out candy canes. Good Work Freeman Bears!
A very Merry Christmas to two of our students whose mother came to school to surprise her girls when she arrived in Wilmington from Iraq. Thank you to Ms. Jacob-Newton for serving in our Armed Forces. Happy Holidays to you and your family.	Rachel Freeman School of Engineering takes a swing at using Wii in phys ed... Click on the photo for Star News Online Article
The New Hanover County Schools Science Fair was held at Murray Middle School on Thursday, January 29th. Nikhil Yelemarthy advances to the Southeastern Regional competitions after placing in the NHCS competition at UNCW. His project is called"Lemon Power". Other participants were: Stephen Bussiere "Stephen's Bridge is Falling Down" Aubrion Carr-Rockingham "Soda Actionz" Keandra Brewington "Flower Power" Nadya Baham "Milk vs. Water - Which makes flowers grow better?" Charise Clay and Myra Ogola "Diapers, Diapers, Diapers!"	JA In A Day at Freeman Click logo for more information on Junior Achievement of the Cape Fear Region GE Employees Teach Local Students From Freeman Using hands-on , age appropriate activities and programs, Junior Achievement and GE volunteers, along with Freeman teachers gave students an opportunity to experience real world scenarios, opening their minds to their potential.
Kindergarten visits Wilmington's Children's Museum Kindergarten's visit to the Children's Museum took them through rooms like the Teddy Bear Hospital, Imagination Circus, Ahoy Wilmignton, a science lab, an art room and a grocery store. The students also used Karaoke and media room to see themselves on a virtual television which took them to an island and to Time Square.	Freeman parents received some great information from Andrea Strough during our 3rd Parent Connections Workshop. Andrea is a parent aid at the Child Advocacy and Parent Place. Her presentation focused on "How To Talk so Your Children Will Listen". She shared great ideas on how to keep communication open and positive with our children. The delicious meal was donated by Pizza Hut. Thank you Pizza Hut!
Kindergarten students visited the Media Center to build igloos out of marshmallows, cotton balls, sprinkles and icing on a styrofoam bowl . This was one of their science engineering project.	Mr. Erik Heden and Mr. Stephen Keebler from the NOAA visited Ms. Wiggins' 5th grade class to share important information on tornadoes and tornado safety. Also discussed were weather fronts, thunderstorms and safety during storms. The student were given their own simulated tornado in a jar and were able to see a tornado in a simulator.
5th graders worked in teams to design, build, program and race LEGOS robots. With the help of volunteer engineers from GE, students engineers integrated science, technology, engineering and math in the 4th annual Mindstorms competition. Students applied knowledge they learned through the science kits provided by NHCS as they created a LEGO robot with gears, axles and wheels. The robot must traverse an obstacle course built by GE volunteers. Students applied math skills as they measured the length of the course, different routes and turns. Students used specialized software to program movements of the robot. The 10 day learning event culminated on Friday the 21st with a competition where the robots faced off head to head.	National Engineering Week February 16th - 20th GE Engineers visited each grade level this week to do classroom presentations on engineering and how it plays a part in our daily lives. Presentations were anything from one engineer's favorite Dr. Suess book to making paper airplanes during a discussion about jet engines.
NHCS Magnet Schools on "The Big Talker" FM. For Magnet School Video Clips click photo Board of Education member Elizabeth S. Redenbaugh, Gregory School of Science, Mathematics and Technology principal Dawn Vickers, Rachel Freeman School of Engineering principal Elizabeth Miars and Snipes Academy of Arts and Design principal Allison Ward were recently interviewed about	Mr. Sterling Cheatham(Wilmington City Manager), Mayor Bill Saffo, Dr. Earl Sheridan(UNCW), Hollis Bridges(Community Volunteer) and Linda Riesz(NHCS) visited K-5 classrooms to read Dr. Suess books to our students. In honor of Dr. Suess's birthday classrooms decorated their doors. The doors will be judged by our Media Coordinator, Barbara Anderson for our Read Across America contest.
Door Decoration Winners were: Ms. Bame's Class - 1st Place "Without The Lorax" Ms. Rickey's Class - 2nd Place "The Cat In The Hat" Ms. Harris's Class - Honorable Mention "Oh,The Places You'll Go"	2009 National Engineer's Week at Rachel Freeman School of Engineering Students in all grade levels formed teams to design and build their own capsule for an egg. The devices were dropped from ladders, thrown down sidewalks and lifted up to 40 ft in the air by the fire department. Several devices survived the drops. GE engineers gave valuable engineering advice during the project and throughout Engineering Week.
After-school program at church assists kids with school and life through the WRAAP enrichment program. The students recently visited UNCW. Click here to read the Star News article.... First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington sponsors Freeman's first Cub Scout Troop....	The Daughters of Isis of Habib Court #159 of Wilmington, NC, along with the assistance of the Shriners of Habib Temple #159 chose to present to Rachel Freeman School of Engineering several educational tools. These tools were donated to Mrs. Havens' 2nd grade classroom. The organization wanted to showcase their service to the community and wanted to enhance the educational environment of the children and people they serve. The tools donated are to help lighten their tasks on their journey to success. The organization's hope is to inspire and motivate the students to excel in whatever endeavors they are seeking. The tools were presented by (from left to right) III.Advisor, Alphonso Robinson, III. Commandress, Dt. Gloria Purdue and Dt. Emelie Todd, Project Chair.
2nd Graders are raising chickens as part of their science curriculum. Their first batch didn't hatch, so the Science Department brought more and now they have chicks of all colors, which is quite unusual. The students learned how to use an incubator to hatch their eggs. Congratulations! On behalf of the National Education Association and the NEA Foundation, Rachel Freeman School of Engineering has been selected to receive a 2009 NEA's Books Across America Library Award. In the next week, we will be receiving an award letter and a check payable to your school. The school's principal will serve as the fiscal agent and comply with the conditions as stated in the NEA's Books Across America Library Award application.	For the first time ever our 4th grade students traveled to North Carolina State University. Our students enjoyed a variety of experiences! From writing in the free expression tunnel, to a tour of the library/campus, to the wolf ears, to spending the day with "real college students." The students had the opportunity to do their first engineering activities in a college classroom. Some of the students worked to complete a roller coaster activity, while others made their own lip balm, using chemical engineering. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the WOLF - PACK -- WOLF - PACK resonating through our halls! Several students have already declared, "One day, I will be a student at NC State too."
Ft. Fisher came to visit our 2nd graders to set up their aquariums for raising eggs for 8-10 weeks before releasing their frogs at the State Fish Hatchery in Watha, NC. Each class signed a contract of "daily care" instructions and were given a chart to follow while in charge of their eggs. The project is named "Amphibians In The Classroom at the North Carolina Aquarium at Ft. Fisher"	Rachel Freeman School of Engineering 2009 Volunteers of the Year Charles Weaver, Human Factors Engineer @ GE Charles has volunteered throughout the 2008-2009 school year at Rachel Freeman School of Engineering. He started as a volunteer in September, helping us with the First Lego League after school program on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Charles came every session, worked with numerous groups of students, and did background research, etc on his own time to bring in, to help the students. Charles continued to help us with this program into the new year, even attending an event on Saturday in Greensboro, NC. Charles arrived at school early Saturday morning, rode the van with us all the way, went out to lunch with us, led a group of students around the event we went to see, and rode all the way home with us. He even brought magazines for students to read on the trip. Charles helped us complete our First Lego League project by coordinating the competition style event at school. He judged presentations, timed short term contests and came back a few days later to judge the robot competition. He even wore the crazy hat we asked him to! Charles continued to come after school to help students. He presented every child in the program with a gift, encouraging them to continue pursuing engineering type activities.
Suzanne Smith - Parent Volunteer of the Year 2009 Suzanne Smith has single-handedly coordinated the fall and spring Scholastic Book Fairs at Rachel Freeman School of Engineering. Suzanne is responsible for ordering and setting up the materials, marketing, signing up classes, helping students choose books, cleaning and packing up. She held a special teacher preview event for each book fair after school with special treats for teachers to enjoy while browsing. She coordinated night time family events for each book fair, with special events including guest readers or interactive presentations with the Wilmington Children’s Museum. Suzanne solicits volunteers to help her from her personal network of friends and co-workers. Her efforts have helped children in our school develop and appreciate a love of books.	Rachel Freeman's Reader's Theater 4th graders put on a play based on the book "High-Tech World". The panel of interviewers, students and guests from an earlier generation discussed how technology has changed, how it was used in the past and how it is used today.
The Annual Fun Day provided a fun time for students, parents and over 100 volunteers. Thank you to UNCW Athletics and Cheerleaders, Stacey Bell and the Sea Dolls, the Sea Dogs, Stephanie Kraybill and the Hammerhead Dance Team, 97.3 Radio Station, Dr. Combs and Dr. Elliott from UNCW Education Department, Ann Hughes for helping with our Life Skills Classes, Wilmington Police K-9 division, Wilmington Fire Department, Cape Fear Soccer, Fletcher Bates of Coastal Athletics and the Wilmington Sharks.	Mrs. Havens' 2nd graders cheered their fellow students on every morning of End of Grade testing. Mrs. Miars busted through the sign in celebration of our perfect attendance during the last 3 days of testing.
Ms. Wonderlich's kindergarten class chose ladybugs as their topic for research on insects. Each child built a clay ladybug and then the class put together a giant ladybug made out of recycled materials. Their ladybug includes the head, thorax and abdomen, which are the 3 body parts they studied. The class read "The Grouchy Ladybug" by Eric Carle while doing their project.	BrainMinder Buddies Visits Kindergarten BrainMinders is an educational program developed by Pilot International to create public awareness of the frequency of brain injuries. BrainMinder Buddies is designed to appeal to a young child's imagination and provide strong impressions for life-long safety habits to protect their brains.
The Cape Fear Literacy Council has been meeting with Freeman students and their families on Monday nights since January of this year. Last night was the last "Stepping Stones" meeting for this school year. The program focused on showing the participants how reading can be fun as a family. Over 20 families participated. The Cape Fear Literacy Council presented our school with a special card for our participation in the program. The children added their hand prints to the card.	Linda Reisz - New Hanover County's Media Support Specialist Ms. Reisz read "Quilt Maker's Gift" to Ms. Exline's 5th grade class. After the reading the class had an engineering task to accomplish... Students were given pieces of a quilt and asked to put them together by following the quilt pattern from the book.
Mrs. Havens' 2nd Grade Class performed "The Gingerbread Man" for their fellow students on the last day of school. What a great performance.	MRS. ANDERSON AND MRS. HAYNES THANKED ALL OF THEIR VOLUNTEERS WITH A WONDERFUL BREAKFAST.
Denise Hale was presented the "Sarah Coleman" Award. Rebecca Vance and Jaquevon Rogers were presented the "Rachel Freeman" Award.	Have a great summer!!

NHCS Magnet Schools on "The Big Talker" FM. For Magnet School Video Clips click photo

2009 National Engineer's Week at Rachel Freeman School of Engineering

NHCS Magnet Schools on "The Big Talker" FM.
For Magnet School Video Clips click photo

2009 National Engineer's Week at
Rachel Freeman School of Engineering