Franklin e-Newsletter
Friday, November 20, 2015
Follow Us on Twitter: @FranklinBolts
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** NO SCHOOL 11/25 - 11/27 **
Principal's Message
Dressing Appropriately
Student Spotlight
P: Personal Best
A: Active Listening
R: Respect
R: Responsibility
T: Trustworthiness
6th Grade
Jessica Cline, Saleena Fondren, Salaah Jung, Keno Kaiser, Emily Oldorf, Kadi Sisneros
7th Grade
Sam Basler, Kira DeBrower, Maleena Fondren, DayMarcus Hare, Elizabeth Kolln, Nic Ryan
8th Grade
Austin Brannan, Andrew Curtis, Ben Hoeger, Madalyn Hobel, Nicole Techau, McKayla WIllmot
Receipts, Receipts, Receipts
We will be doing a classroom challenge with Hy-Vee receipts from January 11-15. If you wish to save the receipts until then please do so. Your help is great appreciated.
Career Day
Franklin hosted 18 guest speakers on Thursday. Our 6th and 7th graders learned about different career pathways and were a captive audience for our guests who presented their current careers with our students. We had speakers from all sorts of pathways that included: Arts, Communications, Engineering, Health, Agriscience, Business Management, and Family & Human Services.
Joan Flecksing
Scott Koepke
Nicole Plagge
Derek LaGrange
Julie Popelka
Jordan Oberbreckling
Dance Marathon Recap & Thank You
On Friday, November 6th, 2015, Franklin Middle School held its 10th annual Dance Marathon from 3:00 - 5:00 PM in the school gym. Nancy Cole, a former Franklin teacher, along with Brian Jeffords and all the 8th grade students and staff, worked tirelessly to raise money for the University of Iowa Dance Marathon. U of I Dance Marathon work to raise money for children facing cancer and other serious illnesses at the University of Iowa Hospitals. Our total this year came in at $4,757.20.
Please click here to read more: http://franklin.cr.k12.ia.us/dance-marathon-thank-you/
Concession Help Needed
Girls' Basketball
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0F4DA8A92DA2FA7-girls1/20158706
Wrestling
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4da8a92da2fa7-wrestling1
Concert Wrap-up
Vocal-Ms. Brittany Collia
Orchestra-Ms. Nicolle Stern
Band-Ms. Beth Davies & Ms. Val Shanley
We will see everyone at our next concerts: Vocal (Feb. 22), Orchestra (Feb. 25), Band (Mar. 1) for what will be some great evenings of music.
Learner-Centered Assessment
You may or may not have seen stories in the news recently about Standards Based Grading or what Cedar Rapids refers to as Learner-Centered Assessment. While Franklin is not among the two pilot schools we do have a number of teachers that are using the LCA grading approach, or portions of it, in their classroom. Right now there is no decision regarding when or if we'll be in full adoption, but we want to ensure that you have access to information to help keep you informed.
As American education continues to face significant challenges and calls for change our community has responded by initiating and supporting new models and approaches. Making these changes is very difficult and can’t be done in isolation and without the community. Change of this magnitude is very difficult. Traditions and cultures cemented in and practiced over 100 years make it hard. The natural apprehension, fear and angst that comes with change make it hard. One such transition point our country is facing is how to determine what our students know and how well they know it. We want to engage our community in this conversation as we continue to move our school district forward.
Over the next several weeks we will commence a series of community conversations. Each 90 minute session will provide some background on grading practices, where the District would like to go in terms of grading practices, and the bulk of time left for conversation, questions, and drafting ideas for how to make such a transition successful for our kids and community.
Please click on the link to access the schedule for upcoming meetings:
https://crk12.ae-admin.com/assets/23/6/Community_conversations_dates.pdf
Upcoming Winter Sports
Boys' Swimming
Practice begins December 2
Coach: Ms. Mercedes Hayes
Girls' Basketball
Practice begins December 4
Coaches: 7th-Mr. Stokes & 8th-Mr. Walker
Opus-Congrats Maddie!
Franklin Counseling Department
Below is the mission of the Counseling Department.
The mission of the Franklin Middle School professional school counseling program is to provide a comprehensive developmental counseling program that ensure every student achieves the highest possible education in the areas of academic, career, and personal/social development through an aggressive partnership with students, family, school and community.
Lost & Found - Please Claim
Thank you
Toys for Tots
Spring Musical
The musical is fun and has lots of great parts, so come audition for Alice in Wonderland!
Important dates for the 2016 Spring Musical:
- Auditions - Tues. Dec. 1 - Fri. Dec. 4, 2015
- Performances - Thurs. March 10 & Fri. March 11, 201
See the drama website for more information: http://franklindramaclub.weebly.com/
Kirkwood Summer Camps
This program has grown each year and we pride ourselves in focusing on quality instruction which is STEM focused and a great opportunity for career exploration for this age group. The summer of 2015 we offered over 125 camps with almost 1300 students on our campus.
KICK runs mid-June to mid-August on Mondays through Fridays and is held only during the day. You may find more information at our website www.kirkwood.edu/kick.
Friends of Franklin
http://franklin.cr.k12.ia.us/assets/23/6/PTA_Friends_of_Franklin_Membership_2015-2016.pdf
PTA Sign-Ups
Upcoming Events
Boys' Basketball, 7th vs. Wilson, 8th @ Wilson
Girls' All-City Swim Meet @ Linn-Mar
November 25-27
Holiday Break-No School
December 2
Boys' swimming practice begins
December 4
Girls' basketball practice begins
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