Franklin e-Newsletter
Friday, December 1, 2017
Follow us on Twitter: @FranklinBolts
Check Out Activity Pictures on our Facebook Page
www.facebook.com/franklinms
Holiday Break: December 22-January 1
Congratulations Mrs. Shanley!!!
Northeast Iowa Bandmasters Association (NEIBA) announces 2017 Philip Sehmann Excellence in Teaching Award recipient
The Philip Sehmann Excellence in Teaching Award (High School level, Middle School level, Elementary level) is given in memory of Mr. Sehmann who had a highly distinguished career as Director of Bands at Crestwood Community Schools. This award is presented to those individuals who meet the criteria of excellence, dedication and commitment to the value of instrumental music education in our schools.
Valerie Shanley is in her 24th year of teaching young band students in Northeast Iowa and currently works with sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students at Franklin Middle School in Cedar Rapids. Previously, she taught at McKinley Middle School (Cedar Rapids), Excelsior Middle School (Linn-Mar), and the Olin School District. Shanley earned Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Education degrees from the University of Northern Iowa.
Ms. Shanley will receive this award December 2 at a luncheon hosted by NEIBA in Oelwein, Iowa.
Hy-Vee Homeroom Receipt Challenge
We will conduct another Homeroom Receipt Challenge. Save those receipts and contribute to your child's homeroom. The Challenge will be December 11-14.
Your help is great appreciated.
From Our Counseling Office
6th Grade Career Day
On November 14th, Workplace Learning Connection and Franklin Middle School worked together to bring 6th grade students a career exploration event. The goal of this event was to give your students a chance to hear about careers that fall within the 6 Career Pathways that they are or will be studying with their school counselor and the Kuder Visions Academy program. This event was meant to be exploratory in nature. Students have a variety of interests and it would be impossible for every student’s individual career choices to be represented. Our hope was that the students would approach this opportunity with an open mind and with an attitude that this is a chance to hear about something they haven’t considered before or about a career that they might have incorrect assumptions about. Our 6th grade students heard about careers such as, chef, paramedic, police officer, pharmacist, surety underwriter, education outreach coordinator, director of education, community relations specialists, and director of communications.
Morgan Ball
Derek LaGrange
Jason Evans
Akwi Nji
Kevin Flood
Anthony Green
Hannah Spina
Anne Salamon
Anne Deutmeyer
College to Career Exploration Field Trip
Open Minds, Open Doors
Student Spotlight
P: Personal Best
A: Active Listening
R: Respect
R: Responsibility
T: Trustworthiness
6th Grade
Stormie Geater, Elyssa Keffer, Zane McFall, Marissa Schaldacker
7th Grade
Addyson Alber, Rachel Frischkorn, John Lorenz, Dominic Mann
8th Grade
Shellbyann Brown, Salaah Jung, Sumaiya Kellum, Olivia Weis
Snow Bucks
That is right. It is snow Snow Bucks at Franklin and the students ar collecting these as staff see them doing their PARRT. Snow Bucks can only be used as part of the Franklin North Pole display. The display has gifts that can only be bought with Snow Bucks. Snow Bucks will be the only thing used from Nov. 27th through December 19th. The North Pole display will be in the 3rd floor display cases. Gift will continue to be added to this display from November 27th through December 15th. Starting on Dec 18th and through Dec 21st students names will be called who have put their name in the raffle box (by the Bolt Store). If their name is called they receive a chance to buy the item(s) with the amount of tickets they have. When the prize is gone it is gone. It will not be replaced. Names will continue to be called until all of the North Pole gifts have been purchased. Students can put as many tickets in the raffle as they want, they just need to remember they have to have the number needed to "buy" the gift they may want.
On December 21 several large prize item will be raffled off. These prizes will not have to be purchased but instead they will be won by some lucky Franklin Student who has put their signed Snow Buck in the raffle box. Snow Bucks melt after Dec. 21st. Student will not be able to be use these tickets again. It will be important for students to get them spent before the melt comes. The Bolt Store and the regular Bolt Bucks will come back out starting on January 2nd. Gifts can be for students, family members, or friends. This is a great way for them to do their holiday shopping.
We are always looking for donations. Such items ranging in price from $5.00 to $20.00 dollars. Gender neutral is the best. Such things as games, gift cards, candles, t-shirts, sweat shirts, things for youngsters under the age of 5, etc. It is a special time for our kids to do some holiday shopping for family members they might not otherwise be able to do.
Salvation Army Bellringing
Spring Musical
Auditions for the Spring Musical, "James and the Giant Peach Jr.," are in 3 weeks: Thursday, December 7 (3-5pm) and Friday, December 8 (1:30-3:30pm).
Students only need to attend one audition day, and can leave when they are finished.
Please note, this is the Broadway show (by McDonald/Pasek & Paul), not the movie version: https://www.mtishows.com/roald-dahls-james-and-the-giant-peach-jr
We are very pleased to announce that Mr. Forrest Green will be our Music Director (his upcoming projects include "Fun Home" at Hancher and "Wild Party" at TCR). And of course Mr. Jackson Bartelme will return with his top-notch skills, coaching our cast in both acting and singing!
Drama Club will have a meeting for all parents (before auditions) on Dec. 4, 7:30-8:00pm to discuss the musical's rehearsal schedule.
- Drama Director Kelly Shriver Kolln
"She Can"
SHE CAN is a program with the mission to build confidence in young middle school girls to
create empowered women of the future. SHE CAN is a project created by students at Iowa BIG, a project based learning school that gives students the opportunity to learn through real problems in our community. Our team is determined to show middle school girls that their ideas are extraordinary, and let your daughter know that SHE CAN make an impact on our community now instead of waiting for later.
Please see the attachment below for more information.
Other Information
Waiting in the Morning
Friday Theme Days
Upcoming Events
Monday, December 4
- PTA Meeting is canceled
- Girls' Basketball Begins
- Boys' Swimming Begins
Thursday, December 14
- Boys' Basketball: 7th @ Home/8th @ Taft
Franklin Middle School
Email: lptacek@cr.k12.ia.us
Website: franklin.cr.k12.ia.us
Location: 300 20th Street Northeast, Cedar Rapids, IA, United States
Phone: (319) 558-2452
Facebook: facebook.com/franklinms
Twitter: @FranklinBolts