The Franklin Academy
Weekly Update Newsletter - June 10th - June 16th
CONGRATULATIONS 8TH GRADERS!
TONIGHT WE Honor OUR 8th Graders
We wish you well on your new journey. You will always be a part of what makes The Franklin Academy special, and we will miss you. Go forth, do good things and enjoy your new beginnings.
2022 High School Graduates - Congratulations!
Nanki Barha
Nanki will be attending Western Washington University and is planning on double majoring in psychology and interdisciplinary studies. She going to pursue law as her future career.
Matthew Chen
Matthew has decided to enroll at Harvard, after being accepted to Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. He will participate in Harvard's dual degree program with the Berklee College of Music. He is just 1 of 12 high school graduates in the country meeting the academic, character, and musicianship requirements to be accepted into the program, where he will earn his Bachelor's from Harvard, and a Master's degree from the Berklee College of Music, in just 5 years.
John Crowley
Grace Doud
Isabel Ferris
Isabel Ferris (they, them). They are graduating from Bellingham High (Summa Cum Laude). Senior year has been exciting for them as they stage managed both the Fall and Spring theater productions at BHS. They worked as co-president of GSA and continue exploring their love of music and math. Isabel will be attending the University of Victoria in Canada in the fall. They were accepted into the combined major of Music and Computer Science.
Sophia Francis
Noah Hunt
Noah will be attending the University of Colorado in Boulder in the fall. He will study business at the Leeds Business School at CU.
Cate Wines
Teacher Appreciation Week
An awesome barista mom offered her skills to serve made-to-order coffee and tea at both buildings. One thoughtful mom set up bowls of teachers' favorite treats in each lunchroom and another homemade decorated cookies.
PALS set up a grab-n go-brunch for teachers Monday morning. Families are bringing all sorts of goodies and cards— thank you for blessing our teachers!!
We thank all our fabulous teachers for such a wonderful year. Your passion and dedication to our students make The Franklin Academy an outstanding school. Compliments on a job well done, you've earned this week, and we celebrate you!
FAMILY FUN NIGHT
Students and their families had so much fun! The rain didn't stop the festivities. The bouncy house and slide were brought inside. The night was full of face painting, cotton candy, balloons, games, and more! PALS did a fantastic job!
Thank you, PALS, and all the volunteers for your hard work making the night so special.
Calendar OF EVENTS
8TH GRADE PROMOTION CEREMONY - Friday, June 10th, 5:30 - 7:30 pm
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL- FIELD DAY! - Thursday, June 16 - HALF DAY OF SCHOOL
EARLY RELEASE SCHEDULE:
Robin Hall
11:30 AM Release 2.5 and 3 year olds
- 11:35 AM Release all Pre-k 4
- 11:40 AM Release all K
- 11:45 AM Release all 1st
Markell Hall
11:30 AM 2nd Grade
- 11:35 AM 3rd Grade
- 11:40 AM 4th Grade
- 11:45 AM 5th -8th Grade
PALS UPDATES - REQUESTS AND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Parents Actively Lending Support (PALS) - the parent-led organization supporting The Franklin Academy. Click below to see the current volunteer needs identified by PALS.
NEED TO SQUEEZE IN SOME FINAL HOURS? OR WANT TO HELP?
Last Day of School - Field Day Volunteers:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0C45A8AB2DA5FA7-last1
We need June greeters:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c45a8ab2da5fa7-morning6
* If families have more hours they need to add before the end of the year, please email
pals@thefranklin.academy and we will get them recorded.
The reading corner
Celebrating Sasquatch Book Awards
This year our fourth graders were challenged with reading at least two books nominated for the Washington State Sasquatch Book Award. The award is run by the Washington Library Association and is voted on by any 4, 5, and 6th graders who read at least two of the nominees. The school library had a least one copy of the book in the collection, and several students also chose to read them as eBooks or public library books. Many students read more than the two book minimum!
They did SUCH a great job challenging themselves to try a new genre or length of book. It was great to hear them talking to each other about their books and recommending them to each other.
When it was time to vote in May, we had an all-fourth grade voting party with ballots. All statewide ballots are submitted through their school librarian, so we waited for weeks while the votes were tallied. Tuesday morning I was able to reveal the winner to the class! Our school of fourth graders chose Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat by Johnny Marciano as the winner, but the statewide 4-6th graders ultimately chose Stargazing by Jen Wang.
It was a fun, special experience for fourth grade this year! You can read more about the award here: https://www.wla.org/sasquatch-book-award-wla-
Book sale results
Thank you!!!! We had wild success at the used book sale and made over $1,000 for books for our school libraries. Mrs. Snyder and I will have so much fun bargain hunting for books this summer! Thank you to everyone who came by to buy books, and our AMAZING army of volunteers who hauled, set up, and packed away books. Thank you! We are in the process of donating the remaining books to local organizations.
All library books should be turned in by now! If they haven’t been, you will be (frequently) contacted to return or replace it. Thank you for making sure library books are available to all our students.
And drumroll please, the total number of books checked out this school is… 9,871!!! Wow! What a wonderful community of readers! Our most frequently checked out books were about Minecraft, dogs, rocks, and dinosaurs. The Who Would Win? series dominated our check outs this year.
Students ask me all the time how many books we have in the library. Between the two libraries we have right around 6,000!
Thank you again for the amazing support you offer your students and the school libraries.
Happy Reading,
Mrs. Samuel
SUMMER Opporunities
School Garden
A small group of students and I have been working hard to start our first school garden! We have a greenhouse and two raised beds that are growing an assortment of veggies, fruits, and herbs. We would love your help with maintaining the garden over the summer. This would involve watering, picking weeds, noting pests, and of course harvesting the food! The hose is kept in the locked greenhouse, and needs to be hooked up to the spigot on the side of the building each time you water. If you plan on helping out and would like a run down on the process and what's growing in the garden, I will be at the greenhouse after school on June 14th and 15th from 3:15 - 4:00pm. I'm also happy to set up another time to meet.
If you are interested in helping out, please sign up for some days on the Gardening Calendar Google Document. You can type your name(s) directly in the calendar. Mornings and evenings are best for watering! I also believe your time will count as volunteer hours :)
Thank you in advance for your support! Let me know if you have any questions.
Bre Harris
bharris@thefranklin.academy
Cub Scouts Wild, Wild West Day Camp
The Franklin Academy Summer Math Program
The Franklin Academy's Summer Math Program is back!
Dates - Saturdays:
- July 16 & 23
- August 6 & 13
Time - 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
For: 4th to 8th graders
Cost: FREE! To all Franklin Academy students registered for the following year.
Please get in touch with me if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Ole Hedahl, M.Ed.
Math & Coding Instructor
ohedahl@thefranklin.academy
Know a Family Interested in Our School?
Our school grows with parents/guardians enthusiastically sharing our school program and community. If you know someone interested in learning more about our program or wanting to set up a virtual tour, please encourage them to reach out to:
Natalie Bennett, Admission Director
nbennett@thefranklin.academy
360.733.1750
Veritas Media produced the video above with the support of admissions from the "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY" Gala & Auction. It's a delightful reflection of our community.
Helpful information
PE Shirts
We wanted to send a reminder that all PE shirts and uniform sales are made via the link below through PALS, with all payments being made online rather than through either front desk at Robin or Markell.
https://tfa-pals-store.square.site
Anything purchased will be delivered to your child's classroom. As a reminder, the used uniforms can vary in size due to wear and shrinkage, so it's best to come in and try them on. We are working to add more uniform store availability for working families, hopefully in the evenings (by appointment).
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:
1. Go to Amazon Smile
2. In the “pick your own charitable organization” box type in Franklin Preschool
3. Click on the Bellingham Franklin Academy (may still be listed under St. Paul’s Episcopal School through the summer)
4. 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.
Past newsletters
The Franklin Academy
Email: fnews@thefranklin.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 Markell Hall, dregier@thefranklin.academy
Rachel Lee, Administrative Assistant Robin Hall, rlee@thefranklin.academy
Natalie Bennett, Admissions Director, nbennett@thefranklin.academy
Katie C. Dement, Development Director, kcole@thefranklin.academy
PALS (Parents Actively Lending Support) pals@thefranklin.academy
After School Care Supervisor Violet Lord vlord@thefranklin.academy