The Franklin Academy
Weekly Update Newsletter September 5th - 9th
WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!!!
What fun students had the first two days of school! The halls were full of conversations, and the buildings were buzzing with excitement and energy.
NEXT WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Chapel -
With Chaplin Aaron
First Day of -
KINDERGARTEN - YAY!!!!
First Day of -
Early K with Mrs. Owen
Library Time -
Reuniting with Friends
School Tour -
Meeting Mrs. Regier (Administrative Assistant)
First Day of -
Early K with Mrs. Owen
Monday, September 5th
- NO SCHOOL - Labor Day
Tuesday, September 6th
- Cross Country Practice 3:15-4:45
Wednesday, September 7th
- MANDATORY REGISTRATION DUE VIA NEW PARENT PORTAL (details below)
- Cross Country Practice 3:15-4:45
- HOUSE COLOR DAY
Thursday, September 8th
- Cross Country Practice 3:15-4:45 pm
Friday, September 9th
- Cross Country Practice 3:15-4:45
Upcoming Events
- The Franklin Academy's Annual Fundraising Begins - September 12th
- Camp Saturna - 5th- 8th graders - September 14th
- Robin Hall Picture Day - September 14th
- Markell Hall Picture Day - September 15th
- All School Curriculum Night - September 21st, 5:30 - 7:00 pm
- Get To Know You Golf Day! - September 22nd
- Jog - a -thon -September 23rd
- Pizza Lunches are coming!!! - This will start September 27th on Tuesdays and Thursdays ONLY
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Effective Tuesday, September 6th, all Robin Hall Students should now begin to be dropped off via the playground drop off loop. If you need extra time with your child, please park in the appropriate area(s) and walk your child to the student drop/pick up area. This will help reinforce the drop off routine.
Our NEW Franklin Academy Website Launched TODAY!
A NEW SCHOOL YEAR BRINGS NEW RESOURCES ALONG WITH THE WEBSITE
A WEBSITE -www.thefranklin.academy
- The new website is up and running with a fresh look. The revision of the website includes a Parent Portal where you can access the school calendar, information, details, resources, and the ability to track volunteer hours at your fingertips.
A ONLINE DIRECTORY
- With the new website comes an online directory. The paper version will no longer be available, but you can always print one out from the online resource.
A CALENDAR - SENT HOME WITH YOUR STUDENT TODAY
- The Franklin Academy flip calendar shares important school dates and fun events planned throughout the year. Like the new Parent Portal, this will be a valuable resource to keep you in the know. PLEASE NOTE: EVENTS AND SCHEDULES ARE ALWAYS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. PLEASE ALLOW FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF SOME CANCELATIONS AND THE ADDITION OF EVENTS.
We are very excited about our site, which will benefit current and potential families. This effort was not possible without the volunteer support from Nadia Boulos (Board of Trustees, Member at Large), who served on the website sub-committee, along with insight from members of Parents Actively Lending Support (PALS).
Thanks in advance for helping spread the word about our fantastic school.
Franklin Academy Parent Portal - How to Sign Up
MANDATORY REGISTRATION via the online Parent Portal BY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH.
Please follow these easy steps to Register.
- Go to the Parent Portal page: https://thefranklin.academy/parent-portal/volunteer-portal/
- Click Register
- Complete the Parent Portal Registration Form
After submitting it may take up to 48 hours for your account to be activated. Once activated, you’ll receive an email with a link to complete your registration.
Enter your password in the form and click Save Password.
Click Login to go to the login form.
Enter the email you used to sign up with and the password you just set, then click Log In. You will then be redirected to the Parent Portal.
If you don’t receive an email within the 48 hr timeframe, please search your email inbox for:
The Franklin Academy Parent Portal Registration Confirmation
Please also search your Spam or Junk email folder.
If you still can’t find the email, please email frontdesk@thefranklin.academy.
SUPPORT THE FRANKLIN ACADEMY AND GET VIP PARKING FOR THE 2022-2023 SCHOOL YEAR
The school parking lot is busier than ever! Spaces are scarce during peak times, so secure your front row parking spot for the 2022-2023 school year now! No more worries about rain ruining homework projects or kids running into traffic. Your spot is just outside of the front door, waiting for your car every morning and afternoon.
To learn more click on the button below, use the QR code or text VIP to 833-416-7886.
FRANKLIN ACADEMY GET TO KNOW YOU GOLF DAY!
Join TFA dads Tom Jentz and Blaise Bucsko for a fun day on the links! You will get a chance to play with other parents of Franklin Academy students! Club members and non members are welcome! The only cost is for dinner. Space is limited to 16 golfers so sign up today!
When: September 22nd
Where: Bellingham Golf and Country Club
Time: 2:30 PM through dinner
MORNING and AFTER CARE
The Franklin Academy offers school care for families that need to drop students off early and pick students up after school hours. See details below:
Before School Care: $10 per day
Robin Hall with Ms. Dizon- 7:00 am to 8:00 am
Markell Hall with Ms. McDonnell 7:00 am to 8:00 am
After School Care: $25 per day
*exception: ½ days, 11 am to 6 pm November 21,22,23, March 9 & 10: $45
Robin Hall- 2:30 pm to 6:00 pm
Payment information: Please make/provide all payments for before and after school care to the front desk at either Robin Hall or Markell Hall.
If you are able to, we do recommend committing to and paying for at least one week in advance, as we will have a limited number of spots available this year. Please reserve your child’s space(s) for September by clicking the button below.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact:
Justin Buntemeyer
Director of Services, The Franklin Academy
GET TO KNOW OUR STAFF
The Reading Corner with Mrs. Samuel
Welcome to The Reading Corner! Each week in the e-newsletter, I will be sharing something about our amazing school libraries. It might be library news, a community resource, literacy ideas, or book recommendations.
This week, I’m going to tell you about a topic I am an expert on—myself!
My name is Treasure Samuel, and I am the librarian at Markell Hall. Music teacher Jennifer Snyder is the librarian at Robin Hall, and you will get to know her next week!
I have two students at The Franklin Academy, Kelly in 5th grade and Norah in 2nd grade. My husband Andy works for Western, and we also have a rescue dog named Bert.
I was born in Washington but raised in Oregon. I attended college in Michigan and then came back to Washington where I taught high school English, along with coaching JV dance team and choreographing middle school musicals. Three years after that, I attended the University of Washington School of Information and earned my Master’s in Library and Information Science. I became a teen and children’s librarian for Seattle Public Library, and was there for 5 years, until Kelly came along. I did a number of literacy-based volunteer projects while I was a stay at home mom. We moved to Bellingham in 2016, and we love it here so much! I started as a parent volunteer in the library, then began subbing for Mrs. Snyder, and now I am the Markell Hall librarian!
When I am not here at the library, I like to, surprise surprise, READ! I also love to cook, bake, hike, travel, and, this is kind of embarrassing, organize!
My favorite cartoon character is Garfield, I love sausage and mushroom pizza with soy cheese, I love coffee and tea, and I am very annoyed when people from Michigan pronounce “Oregon” as “Or-E-gone”.
I am so excited to see all your faces this school year.
Happy Reading,
Mrs. Samuel
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Honoring Veterans Assembly Preparation & Set Up - November Dates
We are excited to continue our relationship with the Bellingham Coding and Robotics Club this fall!
They have a few new classes that might be of interest to our Franklin Academy students as well as the signature Coding and STEM Friday class. All opportunities below will receive our special Franklin discount of $30 per month (bringing the price down to $170 per month). All class descriptions and registrations can be found here.
2nd - 5th Grade Coding and STEM Classes: Fridays 3:30-4:45 beginning September 9th. Our favorite 2022 Coding and STEM classes balances screen time with hands-on activities and opportunities to create and explore with 3D printing, makerspace and basic robots in addition to our signature coding curriculum which can take a child from basics of Scratch right up to 3D coding and creating apps in Javascript!
Middle School Robotics Team: Fridays 4:15-5:30pm beginning September 9th. Hands on, Minds on! The middle school robotics team starts with the basics of building and programming robots. The teams of students are then tasked with designing and building a robot to play with other teams in a game-based engineering challenge around the Pacific Northwest (and beyond if they go on!). Classroom STEM concepts are put to the test as students learn lifelong skills in teamwork, leadership, communications, and more. Robotics teams are welcome to also come to any robotic team meetings to work on their builds!
Destination Imagination: Mondays 3:30-4:45pm for 2nd-5th and Mondays 5:00-6:15pm for 4th-7th. Destination Imagination is a nationwide makerspace team competition that will help participants learn about the creative process, interpersonal skills, critical thinking, project management, team building, conflict resolution and resilience. We are excited to be the first to offer this in Bellingham - to read more about this new creative experience, here is the link to their website - watch their video and let the games begin!
Advanced Coding: Thursday 5pm-6:15pm 4th-7th grade. So many of the Franklin students have been with us from the beginning (we heart you Franklin!) and are ready to move on past Scratch to advanced coding and in this class we have some great coding platforms teed up and ready to share with them! We will be drilling down into coding concepts like variables and bullions and practicing our text based coding, all while making real video games. Please note this class will not have the traditional makerspace activities at the end, but think many of the Franklin kids are ready for the challenge!
Instructions from Robin at Bellingham Coding and Robotics Club
Please visit our "Join Now" page here and click on the word "Register" next to the class you would like, create an account and register for $200 the standard rate of $200 a month. When you are done, please email the Coding Club (admin@bellinghamcodingclub.com) and let her know you have registered. She will work her magic, refund the initial $30 discount and apply a continuous $30 discount each month for the rest of the year (all classes end the first week in June with an End of Year Celebration).
Bellingham Coding and Robotics Club
1304 12th St, Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 389-5747
Come Join the fun!
The Franklin Academy
Website: https://thefranklin.academy/
Location: 1509 East Victor Street, Bellingham, WA, USA
Phone: (360) 733-1750
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FranklinAcademyBellingham/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel&eid=ARBJZqnuWM2fzJSJOXO6X6qVO60w_ijnQdCgtmUFYZCSwnd0NO7wI_Jgq5_odVo2A3bLV76Yg91UH5TB
The Franklin Academy Points of Contact
Melanie Hurley, Associate Head of School: mhurley@thefranklin.academy
Dawn Regier, Administrative Assistant, dregier@thefranklin.academy
Rachel Lee, Administrative Assistant, rlee@thefranklin.academy
Natalie Bennett, Admissions Director, nbennett@thefranklin.academy
PALS (Parents Actively Lending Support) pals@thefranklin.academy