January 23, 2024
January 23, 2024
Though the cold weather kept us indoors several days last week, I took advantage of the opportunity to step away from other daily duties to enjoy indoor recess with some students. Playing games like Guess Who?, Candy Land, and Connect Four brought back many positive memories of playing games with my friends and family in my youth and today! It also gave me the opportunity to connect with students in a different way when competing against them. All of the students I played with showed an incredible amount of sportsmanship both to myself and their classmates - they offered to rotate who was playing or team up so other students had a chance to compete, they politely reminded others when it was their turn to play, they assisted one another in moments of struggle, and they kept things positive regardless of who won.
In the coming months, I will be working with our Parent Teacher Organization to put together indoor recess carts for each “pod” in our building (K-1, 2-3, and 4-5). My goal is to gather a collection of age-appropriate games for students to enjoy when the weather prevents us from physical play. These games will promote social interaction and friendly competition. If you have any gently used games (with all of their pieces) that you are no longer using and would like to donate, please consider sharing them with our Ben Franklin community. Any donated games can be dropped in the main office. Thank you for considering!
Steffany Jewell
Ben Franklin Principal
LICE AWARENESS
We’ve recently seen a few cases of lice at Ben Franklin and wanted to share a few things with our families.
Head lice may be a nuisance but thankfully don't cause serious illness or carry any diseases.
Head lice are tiny, wingless, bugs about the size of a small seed that crawl, live and breed in human hair. They do not jump or fly.
Adult female lice attach eggs, called nits, often found on the hair shafts close to the base of the neck or behind the ears although they may be found anywhere. Nits are tiny white oval specks that can look like dandruff, but do not easily shake or move off the hair.
Head lice feed on small amounts of blood from the scalp. They can't survive more than 1 day off of the scalp.
Lice spread mainly through close, prolonged head-to-head contact (think snuggling on the couch, heads together reading or sleepovers). Much less commonly, lice spread by sharing items such as combs, brushes, hats and helmets.
Do not preventatively treat children for lice! Head lice medicine should be used only for people who have living lice bugs.
More information can be found here: Head Lice: What Parents Need to Know
GROUP & NEW STUDENT YEARBOOK PICTURES 1/25/24
On Thursday, January 25th the yearbook company will be coming to take group/club pictures for the yearbook. The following groups will be called during the school day to take a picture for the yearbook- Student Council, Morning Announcers, Bus Monitors, Lunch helpers, Spelling Bee participants, Noetic Math Contest Participants, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Chess Club
If you have a student who is new to Ben Franklin and they have not gotten their Ben Franklin school picture taken, please let the office know and we will be sure their picture is taken. Students will be given ordering information at this time.
BEN FRANKLIN YEARBOOK ORDERING INFORMATION
Online yearbook ordering is now open until April 1, 2024. (All Yearbook orders will be placed online this year). Yearbooks can be ordered online here: School & Sports Pics Yearbook Ordering Link.
Anyone who has provided School & Sport Pics with an email address will be reminded to order. If you have any further questions please contact School & Sport Pics at 262-780-2901.
Click HERE to order yours now!
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT SURVEY
During the week of 1/29/24 - 2/2/24 your student will be participating in a Student Engagement Survey. This survey was written by the district and takes less than 10 minutes to complete. It asks students to respond to questions in areas related to environment, learning, and relationships. Information from this survey is used by teachers and administrators to identify areas of improvement related to the student experience. If you have questions about the survey, please contact Steffany Jewell.
2024 SUMMER LEARNING PROGRAM REGISTRATION IS OPEN!
All families received an email this morning around 8am informing you that the FPS Summer Learning Program registration is open! Similar to last year, this year’s Summer Learning Program will be a 4-day program Monday through Thursday. This condensed program helps us to properly staff the program and provide the flexibility for families and students to enjoy their summer while not missing out on the learning opportunities we offer. Registration is open from Tuesday, January 23rd through Sunday, February 11th @ 11:59pm and please note that like last year, registration is NOT first-come-first serve. All information including our Summer Learning Registration Guide and the registration form(s) are on our Summer Learning Program webpage here!
FPS ANNUAL NOTICES
The District maintains and regularly updates our “Annual Notices” document (here) which is typically shared with parents/guardians during Back-To-School Online Check-In. This document contains information relating to district operations, legal requirements, school performance data, special education offerings and more. Think of it as the one place where we park everything passed to us by the WI Department of Instruction or other governing bodies that we need to make sure parents are informed about. Now that we are halfway through the year, we wanted to remind parents/guardians about this document and let you know this is always parked on our Communications page here.
NEWS FROM THE LUNCHROOM
In the event of an unscheduled school closing, please be sure to check our online lunch menu at https://franklin.nutrislice.com/ for the most up to date lunch information. Thank you.
FPS Family Communication Survey (open until 2/1/24)
Beginning today, the FPS Family Communication Survey is now open to receive feedback from families around our 1-way, 2-way and passive communication efforts in Franklin Public Schools. When you go to the form, you will be asked to sign into the survey similar to other forms we utilize by entering your child's 6-digit student ID number and date of birth in order to verify yourself as a parent or guardian within FPS. The survey only needs to be completed once per parent or guardian and not once per child. Please click here or on the banner below to complete the survey once per parent/guardian before 11:59pm on Thursday, February 1st.
FPS SCHOOL CLOSURES INFO
We shared a reminder last week regarding how FPS handles school closures due to weather (#Timely!). We have also put this information on our website here in case you need to reference it at any time.
In addition, if we have an unscheduled school closing, please be sure to check our online lunch menu at https://franklin.nutrislice.com/ for the most up to date lunch information. Thank you.
DRESS FOR THE WEATHER
Wisconsin weather is upon us! Please make sure your son/daughter is dressed appropriately for outdoor recess. Coats and hats are necessary for the impending cold weather. However, this being Wisconsin, it can become warm and sunny by noontime. Please remind your child if they choose to remove their jacket during recess they are to be tied around their waist and not left on the playground. The decision to have an outdoor or indoor recess is based on both the wind speed and temperature at 11:30 am. If it is an outside recess day, all students must go outdoors. Please label your child's coat, hat, boots, & mittens with their name.
LOST & FOUND
Please Click here for items currently in the lost and found. It is also suggested that if possible, student items be labeled with the first and last name on it so that we can get it back to the student if it becomes lost.
DINING OUT NIGHT: MELT N DIP 1-24-24 (4-8 PM)
Please join the Ben Franklin PTO for a Dining Night Out at Melt N Dip Greenfield!! Indulge in heavenly crepes and waffles filled with the finest Belgian chocolate for the ultimate treat to end your day!
20% of all sales from 4-8PM will go directly back to the PTO!
SPRING FUNDRAISER MILWAUKEE PRETZEL COMPANY
This spring we will be fundraising with the Milwaukee Pretzel Company. Order forms will go home the week of February 5, 2024. Please collect orders from February 12- February 26. ALL ORDERS ALONG WITH PAYMENT MUST BE TURNED IN BY MONDAY FEBRUARY 26! Please keep an eye out for more information on our Facebook/Instagram pages. 50% of all sales will go directly back to our PTO!
SPRING SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR 3-11/3-15
The Spring Scholastic Book Fair is right around the corner! If you are interested in volunteering, please use the link below to sign up! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0D4CAEA62CA2F94-47244848-spring
SPRING CARNIVAL & YEARBOOK HANDOUT MAY 17, 2024
We need your help in making this year's Spring Carnival the best one yet! Please use the link below if you're interested in volunteering or donating! https://forms.gle/gWLps4zkeUNi7Gxi9
BOOKMARK
Ben Franklin PTO’s LinkTree so all the info. you need it just a click away!
Stay informed about Activities, Events, Fundraisers, and more Ben Franklin PTO’s website!
K-12 FINE ARTS GALLERY NIGHT THURS 2/22
The 16th Annual K-12 Fine Arts Gallery Night will take place at Franklin High School on Thursday, February 22nd from 5:30-7:30pm. This is a family friendly event to have an ‘Art Experience’ and everyone is invited to attend! We ask that all students be supervised by an adult. There will be multiple student demonstrations on a variety of art media. A slide show highlighting student artwork will be available as well and students will be recognized by their teachers for their work. Come join us!
COOKIE AND COCOA VALENTINE FUNDRAISER FOR FPS STAFF
It's that time of the year again! Would you like to recognize an FPS staff member with a special message and treat? Purchase one of our valentine packages and our Foundation Volunteers will do the rest for delivery on February 14th. Valentines can only be delivered to FPS staff. All funds raised go to support FPS grants, scholarships and our student assistance fund. Deadline to order is Friday, February 9th!
VOLUNTEER STUDENTS AGES 7-12 NEEDED ON FRI 2/2
Advanced Placement Research is a college-level course offered at Franklin High School that allows students to demonstrate academic writing and research skills. Through this course students embark on a year-long research process in which they explore an academic topic or problem based on personal interests. One research topic this year will be conducting a non-experimental study that focuses on collecting qualitative data. The research will be conducted as an ethnographic study and data will be collected in the form of interviews before and after the movie Zootopia is shown to the children. The study will focus on exploring how Malayalee children and non-Malayalee children perceive different forms of discrimination in the movie.
The study will take place on Friday, February 2nd at 6pm in room C234 at FHS. If you have a child aged 7-12 who would be able and willing to participate in this study, please complete the form here prior to arriving. If you have any questions, you can reach out to Saera Joseph (FHS student) and Mary Piwaron (AP Research Instructor).
CULTUREFEST 2024 IS THURS 2/15
It's a celebration of cultures and everyone is invited! On Thursday, February 15th, 2024, come to FHS Multicultural Club’s FREE event, filled with food, activities, and performances. This year the annual event, which has previously hosted over 600 attendees, is even bigger and better than before! From a Dabke dance group to a Hmong performance, expect to celebrate countless cultures of the world.
Check out the student-designed poster below to show all your friends and family, and please contact Mai Alessaly at mai.alessaly@franklinsabers.org and Sruti Palla at sruti.palla@franklinsabers.org with any questions or inquiries. If you’d like to be involved in the event yourself, please let us know by January 20th. Hope to see you there and don’t be afraid to put on your party hats and join the celebration!
“LEGALLY BLONDE JR” AT FHS SABER CENTER
Join Forte Youth Productions as Harvard's beloved blonde takes the stage by glittery pink storm! A fabulously fun journey of self-empowerment and expanding horizons, this musical is filled with humor, wit and sass — leaving audiences seeing pink!
Part of Forte’s youth musical series, this show will be performed by students ages 12-18 from FPS and throughout the Greater Milwaukee Area.
Friday, January 26th @ 7 pm
Saturday, January 27th @ 7 pm
Sunday, January 28th @ 2 pm
@ The Saber Center for the Performing Arts at FHS
Running time approximately 1 hour without intermission.
Tickets $12-$15 GET TICKETS HERE
2024-25 REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!
Registration for the 2024-25 school year is open on our website here. Registration is for any new families to Franklin or new students looking to register for next year in 4K, 5K or up through 12th grade. If you have any friends or family in Franklin that plan to have children attend Franklin Public Schools next year, please pass this information along to them! Registering early helps to get all information in our system for planned communications. Any family who knows a student will not be returning for the next school year should notify your school’s main office staff.
CHARACTER KIDS WINTER MUSICAL PRODUCTION
You're invited to join the cast of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians! Come learn what putting on a musical is all about!
In a loving home in the city of London, Dalmatian parents Pongo and Perdita happily raise their Dalmatian puppies, until the monstrous Cruella De Vil plots to steal them for her new fur coat! All the dogs of London rally for a daring rescue of the courageous puppies from the kidnapping villains. Don’t miss this “fur-tastic” musical adventure!
Rehearsals: Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30 pm (January 24 - March 6) at Country Dale Elementary
Dress Rehearsal: Wednesday, March 13th, 5:30-7:30 pm at Southwood Glen Elementary
Performance: Thursday, March 14th, 7:00 pm on the Southwood Glen Elementary stage
For grades 1st-5th. All students who register are guaranteed a role in the show. Low pressure auditions will take place on the first day of rehearsals (Wed 1/24) for role placement. No previous experience necessary. Learn more or register at www.characterkidsdrama.com/musical-productions
WINTER/SPRING REC GUIDE IS AVAILABLE!
The 2023-24 Winter/Spring Rec Guide is now available online here and registration for Franklin families opens on Tuesday, December 5th (tomorrow as you receive this newsletter on Monday). We have a bunch of new programs including Basketball Camps, Athlete Performance Training, more Abby Martin cookie decorating, Kayak Trips, Adult Gym Classes and more! Sign up early as spots are limited!
SCHOOL INFORMATION
Parents, Guardians, and Staff are set to automatically receive our District and Building Newsletters. If you are a community member that would like to receive any of our newsletters, please complete our SUBSCRIBE FORM.
Email: Jennifer.Russell@franklin.k12.wi.us
Website: https://www.franklin.k12.wi.us/ben-franklin-elementary-school
Location: 7620 S 83rd St, Franklin, WI 53132, USA
Phone: 414-529-8270
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/BenFranklinElemFPS/posts