Want an opportunity to get to know Mrs. Mirrione a little bit better? Have general questions about Franklin? Dialogues with Dalia is the perfect opportunity! Come join Mrs. Mirrione in a casual, small group setting and share your questions about Franklin (not child specific) and to hear some of her thoughts on recent goings on at Franklin. Please sign up for only one event  www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E084FAEA62DA75-dialogues

Dear Parents and Caregivers, I write to you not just as the President of the PTO but also as a concerned parent. Many people have raised concerns with me about the increasing number of cars that are not following the Drop-Off Lane Rules. We as a community worked hard to get these guidelines into place and have done a tremendous job transitioning to the new rules. Lets please continue to follow them and to not let old bad habits return. Please take a moment to remind yourself of the basic rules and to share them and even print them out for anyone else in your household responsible for dropping of your children. Remember: these rules exist to ensure the safety of our children, to ensure the safety of us as drivers, and to ensure a more efficient and calm drop-off. Children MUST remain in cars until the Drop Off Lane begins which is denoted by the blue sign at the telephone poll by the driveway.  Please do not drop children earlier and then peel off into oncoming traffic which is headed towards the crosswalk! Drivers MUST pull all the way forward – either to the Next Blue Sign a telephone poll […]

We are looking for 8 to 10 adults with very steady and patient hands to help us paint a United States map on the newly paved blacktop. Our goal is to paint it on the next warm weekend day from about 8:00 am in the morning until 1:30 pm. We will do two or three shifts if we have enough people but the longer you can stay the better! Please contact Christie at cbengel@gmail.com if interested!

For those of you who were unable to attend the musical informational meeting this past week, we shared the following key dates: November 4th: Kick-off meeting for parents and students November 14th, 15th, 16th:  Workshop November 17th, 18th: Tryouts / Callbacks November 21st: Roles announced November 28th: Rehearsals begin February 10th, 11th, 12th: SHOWTIME We also discussed volunteer opportunities. Right now we are focused on getting one more person each for the important roles of Musical Liaison and Volunteer Coordinator. Please read the following handout (Shrek the Musical Key Dates and Volunteer Needs) for details of the positions and email Sheila if interested: smccraith@hotmail.com    

Shop the Franklin Spirit Wear store and show your school pride!  New designs include pastel tie dye tee, digital camo performance shirt, and winter hats.  The store is OPEN now and will close at Midnight tonight, Oct 2 .  Orders will be available for pick up at Thompson’s in about 3 weeks.  Go Falcons!     http://www.thompsonsportinggoods.net/team-store/franklin-school-2016-17/    

We have two people who have stepped up to help lead the Franklin Fair-thank you! Now we just need a team of people to hang (work) together on the Silent Auction. The more the merrier! It is not as daunting of a task as it seems; it is manageable and we will support you. So grab two friends, email me your interest smccraith@hotmail.com and help make the Franklin Fair the success it always has been! 

Thank you to everyone who came to our 1st (hopefully annual) Welcome Back BBQ!  The weather was perfect as students, parents and teachers/faculty enjoyed Towne Deli BBQ fixings (YUM!) , music and entertainment by World of Rock and the ever famous Dunk Tank.  Paul Fes Rocked out and kept the students entertained with hoola hoops, jump rope and many favorite dance songs.  Our fearless PTO President, Sheila Cheney, spent the better part of the evening getting dunked over and over again.  Kudos to Ms. Schwarzenbeck for volunteering too – kids ran from all corners of the field as she took up her position in the tank.  Big thanks again to all!

Next weekend is National Custodian Day. If you see Rodrigo or any of his team members this week, please take a moment to thank them! They all do a lot for Franklin behind the scenes to help it run smoothly, to keep it safe for our kids, and to make it even more beautiful. 

Help Franklin Earn Money with Box Tops! All Box Tops are due by end of day on Friday, October 21, 2016! The class who submits the most, wins a ***PIZZA PARTY! *** Remember…. *CLEARLY LABEL your baggie/collection sheet with your child’s teacher/class! *Clip Carefully: the expiration date and product code MUST be visible. *Make sure they are NOT EXPIRED! They don’t count if they are! *Separate Bonus Coupons from regular Boxtops. Please don’t tape Bonus coupons to collection sheets. Use a paperclip, or just put in a baggie. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPING US COLLECT FREE MONEY FOR FRANKLIN! Email me anytime with questions! Donna Patel dgp212@gmail.com

On the evening of January 5, 2017, at 7:00 p.m. Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School will host a special Principal’s Coffee where we will invite parents of students in grades 4-8.  Our guest presenter for this Coffee will be Sgt. Tom Rich.  Sgt. Rich is a long time member of the Summit Police Department and also co-creator of the program, STOPit, which deals with social networks, texting, sexting, cyberbullying and other technology-related issues.   

We’ll review procedures and a lesson plan for an artist.  Great training for parents who are new volunteers for art in the classroom! See you Friday, September 30th, at 8:30 am in the Cafeteria.

Here are student opportunites in FLIC in the mornings! Monday Mornings in The Space: Create and Problem Solve The Space is a part of our library where all learners are invited to create, solve problems, dream. Each month there are challenges available at the end of their library period. Monday mornings The Space is open for different activities. Some activities your child must be signed up in order to participate and some activities your child can just show up. On Monday, October 10th everyone is welcome to join us to create a bookmark. Tuesday Mornings in FLIC: Library Pages Grades 3-5 What is a Library Page? It is someone who wants to do one or more of the following: adopt a shelf in FLIC to take care of it, help write a weekly school tweet, assist in preparing for special school events that involve the library (author visits, Read Across America Day, and so on), create book reviews to get other children excited about reading. Library Pages will meet on Tuesday mornings in FLIC from 7:45 AM to 8:15 AM. It is not a club so attendance is not mandatory. If your child would like to participate we will begin […]

We have successfully made it through a full week of school! Yeah to us! Thank you to our “Back to School Popsicle People:” Susan Huffman, Vandana Rajiv, Suja Natarajan, Bulbul Bhattachanya, Paola Penarete, Line Barlow and Melissa Cooper, who braved the wicked heat to make the first day extra special for our kids. It was a pleasure seeing many of you at the 1st General PTO Meeting on the 2nd day of school. If you missed it, you can find the notes here: (insert link.) Also, you can always find up-to-date PTO news here and on our PTO Bulletin Board, outside the main office in the hallway. Thanks Michelle Goin for decorating it just in time for Back-to-School Night and thanks to all the Class Parents for making BTS Night go off without a hitch! The school year has started off strong and full of positive energy; an indicator of a great year to come! As always, please contact me (smccraith@hotmail.com) or anyone of the board with questions, suggestions, or concerns!

The fair is our biggest fundraiser…but it won’t be fun or a raiser of funds without you! We need 6 volunteers to help get the ball rolling on the fair. You need not be intimidated as we have broken the fair down into manageable size leadership positions, all of which work together as a team: general logistics (2), silent auction (2), children’s raffle (1), and games(1)! And, our former chairpeople as well as the PTO Executive Board are here to support you and help you. Email Betsy at elizabethflaim@yahoo.com sharing that you are ready to support Franklin in a fun way or email Rachel Callahan at rachelrcallahan@verizon.net with questions. 

The weekend of February 10th, 2017 is going to be fun-filled and having us all laughing as we watch our 4th & 5th graders amaze us on stage in an OGRE-sized way! “I am a Believer” that it will be a “Big, Bright Beautiful World” at Franklin this winter as we bring “SHREK JR” to life! With a large cast and a fun song list with some great lessons (eh, hem, like being a “Morning Person” which maybe will help get our kids to school easier?!) this year’s musical is going to be fantastic! Come to our first informational meeting, Wednesday, September 28th at 8:45 in the Franklin Cafeteria to learn about the Producer/Director and team we have hired as well as to learn about all of the opportunities for children and parents. Questions? Email Sheila at smccraith@hotmail.com