The Franklin Academy
The Franklin Academy Weekly Update Newsletter March 15-19
Sunday, March 14th
- Spring Forward! Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour!
Monday, March 15th
Tuesday, March 16th
- Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25
Wednesday, March 17th
- March 17th - St. Patrick's Day - Dress in GREEN
- Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25
Thursday, March 18th
- Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25
Friday, March 19th
- March 19th Head of School For a Day Auction Winner Diego requests that you dress in Formal/Fancy Attire
Upcoming Dates
- April 5 - 9 - Spring Break
Spirit Day Wednesday - Wear Green and Earn Points!
All School Free Dress - Wear Green!
ENROLLMENT FOR THE 2021-2022 SCHOOL YEAR IS OPEN!
As enrollment is growing, it's important to secure a spot at our school for the 2021-2022 school year - enrollment opened up to those outside our current school community on the 16th of February.
If you know someone interested in learning more about our program or virtually touring, please encourage them to reach out to:
Admissions Director, Natalie Bennett:
nbennett@thefranklin.academy
360.733.1750.ext 1509
What Our Parents Say...
Eric and Devon Huber, 3rd Grade Parents
Being a military family, we move a lot. The Franklin Academy has been phenomenal in providing our daughter with foundations that we know will allow her to grow no matter where, or how often, we relocate in the future. We are so lucky to have found a STEM program that not only exceeds academic expectations but supports our family through deployments and separations while maintaining consistency during very tumultuous times.
Joe & Amanda Younger, 8th Grade Parents
The Franklin Academy is not just an excellent school, diverse in its offering of what one would expect to find in a STEM school. It also offers wonderful electives that round out the education offered to the humanities. TFA brings its wonderfully rich curriculum to the students as individuals, not waiting for the students to come and take what is offered. This is a subtle difference but very impactful on its students. After less than two weeks a TFA it became clear that our then 6th grade daughter was having a completely different experience in school because of this philosophy. Since then at Franklin, we have seen our quiet daughter flourish into a confident life-long learner. We feel blessed to have made the decision to move our family to The Franklin Academy when we did.
Animals in Sculpture!
Middle School Art students in 5th, 6th, 7th, & 8th grades worked on a sculpture project.
Each student designed a 2/D drawing & built their own 3/D forms of an animal or creature, into sculpture in an armature, then the Papier-Mâché, and painted with acrylics.
Students got to choose their animal or creature, created their own design which included 2 – 4 limbs (legs or arms), a head, a tail, & the option of wings. Everyone had a blast with this longer project, because we got to use our imagination and pick our favorite animal or creature to make in art.
Rachel Simpson our Art Specialist shared this video showcasing all of the middle school projects! What incredible creativity and attention to detail the students put into this project. Enjoy!
COVID-19 Vaccinations!
Last Friday The Franklin Academy staff had the opportunity to get vaccinated!
Thank you to Teresa Hubbel our school nurse, and Gretchen Bucsko, Head of School, who worked tirelessly to find us this opportunity. Hogland Pharmacy hosted a clinic for Meridian Schools, and Theresa was able to add us all to the list!
Here are a few of us happy teachers and staff, excited to get this opportunity, smiling under our masks.
Thank you !
TFA Code for Lands End: 900064791
8th Grade - Alebrijes
The 8th grade Spanish class learned about Alebrijes with Sra. Smith. An alebrije is one of Oaxaca's best-known wood craft. They are usually miniature, brightly colored real or imaginary animals.
In Zapotec culture (one of the largest indigenous cultures in the state of Oaxaca) an animal shares its spirit with a person, and this spirit will protect that person for the rest of their lives.
8TH grade students reflected on their personalities and then chose an Alebrije that represents their spirit. They then illustrated their animal and wrote a paragraph in Spanish on why they feel a connection to the animal.
Great work! Did you know that many of our 8th Grade students are ready for Spanish 2 when they begin high school? (From Heather - my girls went right into Spanish 2 in 9th grade and now in 11th grade they are preparing for the AP Spanish exam!)
Kindergarten Reading - How to encourage and support your student!
Last week Suzanne Yorks sent a wonderful email to the parents in her class about reading and helping your child build confidence. Suzanne is amazing, this information is very helpful and we wanted to share this with you:
"Is your child REALLY reading? Or have they just memorized the words? The answer to both is, “Yes.” Reading is a fantastic complexity. This growth time for your reader is a really important time to keep them away from Cousin Malfon, the family cynic. Or Brother Malfon, or Auntie Malfon, or Neighbor Malfon…. you get the idea. There are those who simply MUST prove that your child is not reading. Don’t ask me why they delight in this. Just keep them away from your reader and your reader’s blooming confidence, please.
Skeptics love to pull words out of context and plunk them down and say, “Read THIS word.” Sorry, skeptics, THAT is not reading. That is just decoding. It is a skill that we use in reading, but it’s not reading.
Every one of the students in this class is reading. They are at different stages, just as they were when they learned to walk, and to talk. All of them know that the words in their head can be written as stories. All of them can memorize a song, and then accurately point out and read each word of that song on a page. In their heads, each child has a bank of words that they can recognize in print instantly. They know many of the sounds that letters can make separately and in combinations. They can retell a story with good detail, in sequence.
Reading is a magnificent ability, that combines memory, experience, skills, and interest. As soon as the brain lets the eyes give it the right clues, a spectacular partnership forms. Every word, every sound becomes fuel for the reader. Their catalog of known sounds, word families, chunks of words, and successful strategies grows and grows!
The brain’s predictions become faster and more accurate as it trusts the eyes to notice the key aspects of the words. Patterned books that repeat part of a simple text are very helpful at this stage.
The next step is a book that uses mainly words they know, along with decodable new words. With the help of the known words, readers can begin to use the more advanced strategy of sound combinations to help figure out the new words. Success leads to more success!
Dear families, you are doing a marvelous job. What makes a strong reader? Being read to at home. Keep reading to your kinder! Hurray for you! When they are ready, they may ask to read to YOU! Let them, and help them any time they get stuck. Reading is such fun! And even better when it is shared."
Thank you Suzanne and all of our Kindergarten teachers for the loving support you give not only your students, but their families as well!
PALS Provides Lunch and a Huge Thank You During our Teacher Work Day!
Thank you!!
5th grade -Fechas Importantes
The 5th grade Spanish class is finishing up a unit on the Calendar. To celebrate and highlight their learning, they reflected, chose 5 dates that are important to their family and then created a collage.
Their work is bright and colorful and represents the joy that these dates bring to their lives.
4 Year Old Pre-Kindergarten Worked on Fine Motor Skills, Math and Art!
Sinak Pickerill shared about a day in her class last week:
For instance, we read "Red Fish Blue Fish, One Fish Two Fish, " and used rainbow goldfish crackers to sort, graph, and count. In art, we used fruit cereal pieces to sort and place on our rainbow March calendars.
Outside this week they also had fun blasting a rocket up into the air. Thank you to Cosmo and family for sharing their rocket launcher and letting the kids play with it at school. They had a blast!"
First Grade Enjoyed Reading Week!
Marie Brewin Shared this:
"Hi everyone!
We have had a busy and fun week! The kids really enjoyed the dress up days and loved hearing hilarious stories by our featured Reading Week author Robert Munsch.
Here are some things we were up to:
-we decorated our door for the Robert Munsch door decorating contest. Our door was inspired by the Munsch book The Sandcastle Contest.
-we listened to and read many fun Robert Munsch books. If you go to robertmunsch.com and click on "The Books" you can find audio recordings of him reading each of his books.
-we began revising, editing, and publishing our polar animal nonfiction writing. The students can't wait to share with you what they've done so far!
-in math we continued to learn about place value with tens and ones and we played some fun place value math games (pics attached).
-we did assessments in reading, math facts, writing, and spelling and did self-evaluations for our upcoming student-led conferences."
Reading Week Door Competition Grade Preschool - 4th Grade
The results for Markell Hall are:
Most Colorful: Mrs. Lyzwinski
Most Adorable: Ms. Belmont
Most Literary: Ms. McDonnell
Most Sand-tastic: Mr. Schultz
Most Festive: Ms. Dudley
Most Elaborate: Mrs. Misday
The results for Robin Hall are:
Here are the results:
Jorgensen: Most Interactive
Brewin: Most Sand-tastic
Ho: Most Colorful
Mellos: Most Smelly
Killian: Most Adorable
Camaya: Most Royal
Owen: Most Fierce
Pickerill: Most Comfortable
Rawls: Most Stripey
Dizon: Most Hair Raising
Yorks: Most Inspiring
Woo Hoo!
Congratulations everyone!
How do we distance at lunchtime?
I took a photo so you can see how, during this, the only time they pull their masks down all day, the students are spread out across many tables. They are still eating with their class/grade only. Between each class the fabulous lunch ladies sanitize the tables and benches thoroughly.
The kids are amazing!
Heather Black
Amazon Smile
If you shop at Amazon.com, this is a great opportunity to raise money for Franklin Academy. Sign up at Amazon Smile and 0.5% of your purchase price will go towards the FA Annual Fund. Here’s how:
- Go to Amazon Smile
- In the “pick your own charitable organization” box type in Franklin Preschool
- Click on the Bellingham Franklin Academy (may still be listed under St. Paul’s Episcopal School through the summer)
- Very Important! Please make sure whenever you shop on Amazon you go to the Amazon Smile webpage. If you shop on Amazon.com we won’t receive the donation.
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
Katie den Hartog, Associate Head of School, kdenhartog@thefranklin.academy
Dawn Regier, Administrative Assistant, dregier@thefranklin.academy
Rachel Lee, Administrative Assistant, rlee@thefranklin.academy
Natalie Bennett, Admissions Director, nbennett@thefranklin.academy