The Franklin Academy
The Franklin Academy Weekly Update Newsletter March 8-12
Monday, March 8th
Tuesday, March 9th
- Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25
Wednesday, March 10th
- Student Lead Conferences - HALF DAY
Thursday, March 11th
- Student Lead Conferences - HALF DAY
Friday, March 12th
- NO SCHOOL - Faculty In-Service
Upcoming Dates
- March 17th - St. Patrick's Day - Dress in GREEN
- March 19th Head of School For a Day Auction Winner Diego requests that you dress in Formal/Fancy Attire
- April 5 - 9 - Spring Break
HALF DAY RELEASE SCHEDULE
Release Schedule: Wednesday and Thursday
ROBIN HALL
11:30 AM 2.5 and 3 Year
11:35 AM Pre-K & EK 4 Classes
11:40 AM Kindergarten
11:45 AM 1st Grade
MARKELL HALL
11:30 AM 2nd Grade
11:35 AM 3rd Grade
11:40 AM 4th Grade
11:45 AM 5th-8th Grade
Sign Up for your Student Lead Conferences Today!
Dear Franklin Academy Parents,
One of our Core Commitments at the Franklin Academy is REFLECT. Research shows that students who are involved in conversations about their strengths, areas of improvement, and goals do better in school.
Please sign up below for a conference with your child and his/her teacher to review your students progress.
Conferences will take place after a half-day of school on Wednesday, March 10th and Thursday, March 11th.
Please click on your child's teacher's name to sign up for a conference.
Robin Hall Staff
Markell Hall Staff
If you would like to meet with a specialist teacher, please send them an email to set up an appointment.
PE Mrs. Fox sfox@thefranklin.academy
Music/Library Mrs. Snyder jsnyder@thefranklin.academy
Spanish Sr. Smith lsmith@thefranklin.academy
Spanish Sr. Laconetti diaconetti@thefranklin.academy
Art Mrs. Simpson rsimpson@thefranklin.academy
Thank you,
Gretchen Bucsko, M.Ed.
Head of School
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 touring, please encourage them to reach out to:
Admissions Director, Natalie Bennett:
nbennett@thefranklin.academy
360.733.1750.ext 1509
What Our Parents Say...
Matt & Courtney Conner | Kindergarten & First Grade Parents
After three years at The Franklin Academy, the school has EXCEEDED our expectations and is constantly impressing us with its committed Faculty and Teachers, engaging curriculum, and ability to create and nurture a supportive community of diverse families. Our 2nd grade daughter has been introduced to coding this year and it has become her new favorite subject! Our Kindergartener is thriving. We have appreciated the focus on social and emotional learning in partnership with creative ways to learn math and read. The teachers make learning FUN and with small classes sizes…teachers can provide STEM-based learning engaging, captivating, and exciting.
UPDATED 2021-2022 Calendar - See Below:
Reading Week in Ms. Yorks' Class - The Kindergarteners Were Inspired to Write a Silly Story!
Suzanne Yorks shared this:
"Such a funny Wacky Hair Day! Our hair came in colorful waves, colorful rubber bands, and colorful pipe cleaners! Our hair came in spikes, and rolls, and balls, and waves, and tails. Our hair was rumpled and ruffled and ridged. What a Wacky Hair Day! We definitely like our hair, not like Aaron in Robert Munsch’s book Aaron’s Hair. Aaron’s hair ran away until he promised to take care of it!
We had two read-a-loud books today about not wanting to go to bed. Robert Munsch’s book, Mortimer, is about a little boy who holler-sings in bed and won’t stop for anyone. Marvin K. Mooney by Dr. Seuss is about Marvin, who is offered many ways to go to bed, and chooses none of them. We decided the books are different but the same. There is the same problem, but Mortimer is very noisy and Marvin K. is very quiet. Lots of people talk to Mortimer, but we only see the arms of one person talking to Marvin. Both characters start with M, and both have the same attitude, and both finally go to sleep when they are ready. Some of us know small children like this! Do you?
These exaggerated plots and characters inspired us. We were making up silly ideas as we ate our snack outside and Miss Yorks said, remember those thoughts! When we came inside, we wrote a very silly story, the way Robert Munsch might like to write it. Then we made illustrations to go on our door, in honor of Munsch Reading Week."
There Is Life on Mars
by
Alexa, Arthur, Bekham, Emily, Grey, Jack, Lilly, McKinley, River, and Taylor
A monkey got away from the zoo and came to Franklin Academy. Jack had a banana in his lunch box. When Jack went inside to get his coat, the monkey came down from the basketball hoop where it was hiding and took the lunch box. The other students shouted, “Jack, a monkey got your lunch!”
We all looked at the monkey and said, “STOP! Give Jack his lunchbox back!”
The monkey just said, “OOOO ooooo AH UH!” Which means, “No way!”
Everybody who had bananas in their lunchboxes, held them out to the monkey to try to get the monkey to come down.
The monkey would not come down. We put the bananas on the ground and stepped back and called, “Ooooo AHAH” to the monkey. The monkey came down SUPER DUPER DUPER FAST, grabbed ALL the bananas and ran back up the basketball hoop! And did not let Jack’s lunchbox go.
We all grabbed the basketball hoop pole and pulled on one side to bend it down so we could grab our bananas and Jack’s lunchbox back.
The pole bent and bent and bent and then we couldn’t hold it and it flipped back up and the monkey flew so far and fast that it landed on Mars.
It was sitting there when the Mars Rover landed. It looked at the Rover and jumped on its mast camera, because monkeys like to climb things and that was the tallest thing.
The scientists could see the monkey on the Rover. The scientists said, “There’s life on Mars?”
And they said, “Monkey alert! Monkey alert!”
Sadly, the Rover did not carry any bananas. The monkey was hungry. It still had all of our bananas and Jack’s lunch box. The monkey ate the bananas and threw the peels at the camera. The scientists could only see banana peels. They said, “Uh oh, banana alert! Banana alert!”
They said, “Ai, yi, yi!” They told the monkey, “Please stop! Take the banana peels off of our camera!”
Instead, the monkey grabbed Jack’s lunch box, grabbed the mast, and started to jump off the Rover.
The mast bent and bent and bent and then it flipped back up and the monkey flew so far and fast that it landed back on Earth in the zoo, holding Jack’s lunchbox.
The zookeeper said, “Why do you have a lunchbox?”
The monkey explained, “OOOoooo AAAHH AHHH!”
The zookeeper called Franklin Academy and said, “Is Jack there? I have his lunchbox.”
Jack and the class took a field trip to the zoo and got the lunchbox back. But we never got our bananas back. And that is why scientists think there is life on Mars.
Has you child asked you about getting a Song Whistle - Mrs. Snyder our Music Specialist shared this:
Students in music class have been experimenting with the range of their voices by imitating the sounds of this song whistle, otherwise known as a slide whistle. While Mrs. Snyder might not be an expert at the instrument, it has still been fun trying to copy her siren sounds, slides, and short melodies.
Many students have asked where to purchase one, so pictured here is the type Mrs. Snyder uses. It runs around $25 and though plastic versions are considerably cheaper, metal versions have better sound quality. Check our local music stores (call ahead to check if they are available) or find them online. Be forewarned: they are pretty silly and may induce fits of laughter!
The Reading Corner with Mrs. Samuel and Mrs. Snyder
Along with helping students find just the right books, librarians get to teach students a variety of topics and skills. BUT, we also get to have some creative fun! While I am not particularly artistic, I enjoy getting ideas online for bulletin boards and displays. This month the Markell Hall library book drop looks like a pot of gold, and I just put up a new bulletin board using book jackets I have saved from library books. Only after I did the bulletin board did I find out that Mrs. Snyder has a similar one up!
Most excitingly, I coerced a number of teachers and administrators into visiting the library and picking out a stack of their favorite books. I have put those books on display for students to choose from, with a bookmark inside indicating which teacher chose it, and it has been so fun watching kids hunt for the books chosen by “their” teacher.
Sometimes (ok, a lot of times), we get pretty silly in the library. This year we got a new hand sanitizer dispenser, and in an effort to make all these COVID protocols a little more fun for students, I have been turning him into Sir Hans Tizer. Recently, a third grader told me Sir Tizer really needed a hat, so you bet by the next day, Sir Tizer was sporting a bowler hat!
Happy Reading,
Mrs. Samuel
Mrs. Samuel's Joke of the Week!
What kind of bow can't be tied?
A rainbow!
Early-K Is Out of this World! Mrs. Owen Shared This:
"Zoom, zoom, zoom we're going to the moon!" We absolutely love this song and have been having a "BLAST" at school this week!
Here's what we have been up to:
- Letter Ii, how it looks, writes, sounds, and signs
- Super Sight Word in, have your kiddos look around for it and make simple sentences
- All About Number 15, tallies, number line, and base ten+
- Reading and reviewing -at, -an, -ap Word Families, keep up the great work at home!
- We created our very own name rocket crafts, shining shooting stars, astronauts, the moon, and colorful planets.
- We really enjoyed making moon rocks out of playdough. These are coming home today, don't worry they are dry ;)
- We talked about density and made a calming anti-gravity Galaxy in a jar. Stars and glitter sink through oil, but float on water and instead of falling the stars/glitter go up, hence anti-gravity.
- We also made a baking soda dough and created moon rocks that we got to EXPLODE! This was yet another acid/base reaction, but we love it so much and enjoyed listening to the reaction, making craters, and watching the glitter wash away.
- We made a giant moon out of shaving cream and glue. Then we discussed that the moon does not have a protective atmosphere like that of the Earth, making it vulnerable to asteroids. We took our giant moon outside and pretended to be asteroids by throwing a wiffle ball at our painting. After each throw we examined the damage and talked about how craters on the moon are formed in the same way. This was not only fun and messy, but was also a great gross motor activity!
- We had even more fun today during recess when we took turns shooting off a Stomp Rocket!
- We learned a lot by watching short videos on how astronauts eat, sleep, and brush their teeth in space.
My Weekly Highlight was:
Calvin "exploding and making my moon rock"
Eli "throwing asteroids at the moon"
Jayan "squeezing vinegar on my moon rock"
Kais "launching the rocket and throwing balls at the moon"
Knox "I love all of space week"
Simone "shooting the stomp rocket and the galaxy in a jar"
Xia-Mari "launching the stomp rocket"
Have an out of this world weekend!
Mrs. Owen
Reading Week Door Competition Grade 2-4
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
Check out next week's newsletter for the Robin Hall Photos and Results!
Congratulations everyone!
Wednesday Middle School Electives - Nature Exploration with Bre Harris!
Students have the opportunity to take so many amazing electives. Here is a little bit about the class and check out what they did this week!
In Nature Exploration, you will have the opportunity to explore the natural world in a whole new way! We will
learn about navigation, plant and bird identification, ethnobotany, culture history, nature art, birding, and more!
We will be taking many trips to Cornwall park, so be ready to walk, play games, and use your observational
skills!
Skills you will enhance:
● Natural and Cultural History of Washington
● Plant and Bird ID
● Navigation
● Writing
● Observational skills
● Creative problem solving
● Investigation skills
Last week in Nature Exploration we practiced sitting quietly and drawing soundscapes of the natural and unnatural sounds we heard at Cornwall Park." Students mapped out where they heard sounds like the wind, airplanes, crunching sounds, motors, birds, barking, talking, clinking, hum, whoosh, and the sound of water running in the stream to name a few.
Thank you Bre for offering an amazing experiential leaning opportunity for the students!
Typical Thursday in Ms. Dizon's Class with the Addition of Pajama Day!
Helper of the Day: Harper
Today in Writing, the students:
-continued working in their Opinion writing activity.
In Reading, the students:
-read and reviewed the -ain word family.
-watched another video of the book by Rober Munsch, Pyjama Day.
-read to self while the teacher worked one on one with other students.
In Math, the students:
-continued to find the missing part of 10.
-answered the activities in their math book.
Specialists today were Mrs. Snyder for Library and Mrs. Fox for P.E.
Here is our Daily News:
“I had a good day because…”
Harper: “I got to play outside and play with my friends.”
Lennox: “Ethan tagged me and I tagged him and the music started and we
played catch in P.E.”
Nellie: “I got to see my friends and teachers all day.”
Adam: “we got to answer what the equations are.”
Norah: “I got to be silly with Calvin during recess.”
Carson: “I had a partner and threw a ball at the bowling pins at P.E.”
Copen: “I got to check out new books.”
Izzy: “I got to climb up on the slide with my friends.”
Matia: “I got to eat my Oreos.”
Ethan: “I got to read my books at quiet rest time.”
Groundhog Day - 3rd Grade Learning how to research and share facts in their own words!
Third-graders in Ms. McDonnell’s and Mr. Schultz’s class have been learning and practicing how to become better readers of nonfiction. Part of this learning focused on a reading strategy called “determining importance.”
This has students determine if a fact is either an important fact or an interesting detail. In other words, students are learning to distill essential information about a topic. For this mini-research task, students read a nonfiction passage, watched videos, and listened to a read aloud to learn more about groundhogs and Groundhog Day.
The notes students took were then transformed into a sentence in their own words. To finalize the project, students choose facts to put on their poster, which also includes a drawing of a groundhog.
Great work Third Graders!
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