F.L.I.C. Sign Ups Winter 2018 Monday Morning Makers: Grades 2-3 Join Ms. Stochaj before school in The Space to take the Mystery Bag Challenge. Each child will receive a challenge and a bag of items. The child must then build something to meet the challenge. Click here to sign up.   Monday Lunch: Grade 4-5 Battle of the Books This is already in progress.   Tuesday Morning: Tech Team Grades 4-5 Does your child like working with technology such as coding, making iMovies, playing around with circuits, and so on? Our Technology Team will meet on Tuesdays in FLIC from 7:45 AM until 8:15 AM. This is not a club so weekly attendance is not required but I like to have your email just in case I need to cancel. It is an open time to try new things. PLEASE SIGN UP AGAIN even if your child participated in the Fall!  Click here to sign up.   Tuesday Lunch: Grade 2 Researchers Would your child like to become an expert? Each child will work as part of a team or alone to research. We will use PebbleGo Animals, Biography, Science, or Social Studies as the starting point of our research. […]

Franklin School Chess Club Starts January 11 Registration opens Sunday, December 10 at 9 pm   We are excited to announce that the Franklin School Chess Club is back by popular demand! We are working with a new vendor that runs an educational-based program and provides three instructors to work with small groups of children based on experience level. This means children newer to chess will learn the basics more quickly and children with experience will be able to work at the more advanced level they love.  Each session will include a 15-minute lesson, a 15-minute group puzzle to apply the lesson, and 30 minutes of play. The club will run for 14 sessions, meeting in FLIC on Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:15 pm from January 11 – April 19, 2018. (Plus a Snow Day Make-Up Session on April 24 if needed) The registration fee is $175 and covers instruction, participation in local tournaments, a Franklin Chess Club t-shirt to wear at tournaments, and an end of year celebration. If financial assistance is needed, please contact Marta Napoles at mnapoles@summit.k12.nj.us by December 8. Before registering your child, please note the following details: There will be no meeting on April 12 due to spring […]

Have a Birthday, Student-of-the-Week or other Milestone? Recognize and honor your child – and benefit the library at the same time – with a ‘Remember Me! Book.’ Each book adds to the permanent collection and comes with a personalized bookplate; class-wide, library-time recognition; and your child’s picture on the wall of honor!! Great for birthdays or any milestone celebration!  Kids love it! Get started at Amazon by clicking on this link: FLIC Wish list.  As an added bonus, books purchased through this link will earn money for the Franklin PTO through our Amazon Affiliate program!  Books will be sent through Amazon directly to the school – just remember to use “Gift Options” to write a message for your dedication. Questions?  Want to know more about the program? Contact: Ms. Stochaj (lstochaj@summit.k12.nj.us) or Mrs. Priscu (npriscu@summit.k12.nj.us)  

The new gym mats have been installed!

Author Phil Bildner Rocked Franklin School I would like to thank the PTO for their generous support of his visit to our school. Ms. Stochaj, School Librarian   Here are a few questions to ask your children about his visit. Grades 1 and 2 Who are the characters in his books named after? (his friends and family) What do good writers need to do a lot? (read) What is something that Phil talked about that you found interesting? Grades 3, 4, and 5 Why do writers do so many drafts of a book? (the first draft is never the final draft) Where does he take his journal and how many journals does he have? (everywhere and all of them since second grade) What can you remember what changed on any of the covers of his books? (reminder: think Rip and Red character placement) What is something that Phil talked about that stuck with you? Two more things that he said that I think are important: Real writing takes place during the rewriting. UR never 2 old 4 picture books!

I hope you all enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with your families and loved ones this week.  As we enter the season of giving and being thankful, I’d like to say how extremely grateful I am to be a part of the Franklin community.  So many of you have stepped up to volunteer your time and energy into making our school a special place.  We’ve had a strong start to the school year with our children enjoying the following PTO sponsored activities: Back to School Popsicles Welcome Back BBQ Golf and Tennis Enrichment Mosaic Artist in Residence John Marshall Weatherman Assembly  And that’s just the start!  The end of this month will see an Author’s Visit with Phil Bildner and the installation of the new gym mats.  We were sorry to have to cancel the Book Fair, but the committee chairs are working hard at rescheduling and will announce the new dates soon.  We’re looking forward to our festive Holiday Shop on Dec 7 & 8 where the students get an opportunity to purchase presents for family members.  The musical will start auditions and rehearsals for Beauty & the Beast in December and we’re excited to see all our talented performers […]

PTO General Meeting  Join us in the cafeteria on Friday, December 1st at 8:30am for a discussion about concussions with Overlook Medical Center’s Jessica Springstead, EdD, ATC.  She’ll cover topics such as: 1.  What is a concussion? 2.  What are the signs and symptoms of a concussion? 3.  Dispelling common myths about concussions. 4.  What role does neurocognitive testing play in concussion management? 5.  What does return to learn/life mean when you have a concussion? 6.  What does return play entail when you have a concussion?   Especially useful information for Parent Coaches! Younger siblings welcome to attend.  Coffee and refreshments will be served. 

Franklin School   Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Book Fair will need to be postponed. The company had an unfortunate flood which caused damage to its merchandise. They are eager to reschedule, as much as we are, and will be in touch with us soon. More information will be forthcoming once it is rescheduled. Thank you for your understanding.

  ~ Holiday Surprise Shop ~ Thursday, December 7th and Friday, December 8th   The Holiday Surprise Shop is coming soon! This is an annual fundraiser where our kids have the opportunity to shop during the school day for 3 holiday gifts for someone special.  The Holiday Surprise Shop is stocked full with an array of gifts that range in price from $3 to $8 per gift.  Students are invited to bring their chore money to buy gifts so please have them bring in no more than $24, in an envelope on the day their class is scheduled to shop (see Class Schedule below).  For financial assistance, please see Marta.   Students and parents are all invited at the end of the second shopping day on Friday, December 8th at 3pm to return after school to buy additional gifts from the leftover inventory.  This is a lot of fun for the kids and parents so please come by and support Franklin in this fundraiser!   Also, we are looking for volunteers to help wrap and collect money from the students.  Additionally, we are looking for a few parents to help set up and cleanup.  If you are interested in volunteering, […]

Please complete the forms for anyone interested in being a part of Battle of the Books this year. We will form teams on our first meeting in November. Please sign up by Wednesday, November 8, 2017. 4th Grade Battle of the Books 2017 5th Grade Battle of the Books 2017

The PTO sponsored John Marshall Weatherman assembly was a huge hit with students in every grade last week.  Mr. Marshall shared his passion for weather and science.  He discussed current events with the students and was very impressed they could name all three major hurricanes that occurred this year.  Not only was this a weather assembly but a STEM/STEAM experience with the children learning about green screen technology.  

Mosaic Project  Franklin’s Artist in Residence program is complete!  Every child at the school had a hand in creating this beautiful mosaic that now transforms our schools’ entryway into a brighter, happier space.  It’s an amazing work of art that we can all be proud of!  A big thank you to artist Joshua Winer for guiding our students through the mosaic process along with help from our talented art teachers Ms. Bass and Mr. Mendez.  The PTO would also like to thank parent Amalia Gomez-Micone, for her support and personal fundraising and SEF for the generous grant. Parents are encouraged to view the mosaic during the week of parent teacher conferences (Nov 6-8) as well as Parent Visitation Day on Nov 7th.

Dear Teachers and Parents, This year’s Turkey Trot (walk-a-thon) is scheduled for Wednesday November 8, 2017. This year, students will walk/jog as a grade level during their scheduled special period, rather than as an entire school. Teachers are welcomed to join in the fun! Please remind your children to wear sneakers for this special day! Students who wish to donate food can bring in their non-perishable item on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, November 6th- 8th. All food donations should be labeled with the student’s name and class and then delivered to the cafeteria first thing in the morning or during scheduled PE times.  Students should place their food donations on the table with their grade level posted on it, for example – Grade 1 places their food on Table 1, Grade 2 on Table 2, Grade 3 on Table 3 etc., the grade who donates the most food will be awarded an extra PE class! This year all food will be donated to St. Teresa’s and will support families in need for Thanksgiving and into the New Year! Please consider sending in item(s) from the list below! Looking forward to another successful event, Mrs. Laura Burr Turkey Trot Schedule: Period […]

Musical Registration Forms Due October 30th 4th and 5th Grade Families… In case you missed it, the Beauty and the Beast JR. Informational Packet for details on the Workshop, Auditions, Callbacks, Rehearsals, the Show, Parent Commitment, our New Rehearsal Policy and How to Register can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1paxwM6Xw_cVQC45HHq35FI5ac4nIMdS87VZ7fbdITfQ/edit?usp=sharing Forms and Fees are due OCTOBER 30th.  Please make sure to fill out all of the necessary forms (as explained in the packet) and pay all of the relevant fees.  *** If your child is doing the Workshop AND Cast/Crew you must complete both the Workshop Form and the relevant Cast/Crew Form *** If you have difficulties opening the files, please contact FranklinElementaryMusical@gmail.com  Looking forward to a Beauty-full experience, Your Musical Team

The Franklin Fair is Saturday, April 28th and we still need some help to make the magic happen! We are looking for a few parents to help Chair/Co-Chair two important Committees: FOOD & REDEMPTION. We encourage parents to sign up for Committees with friends – it’s much more fun that way! The Food Committee works with local restaurants like Starbucks, Batavia, Tito’s Burritos and more to secure food for sale the day of the Fair. These places are all too willing to help, so it’s just a matter of making phone calls, a trip to Costco and setting up the day of the Fair. The Redemption Committee secures those fun little prizes all the kids LOVE to win after playing the Fair Games. If you like shopping Oriental Trading, etc, this is the job for you. Requires some time to place orders after major holidays (to hit the sales!) and set up the day of the Fair. We hope you will consider signing up to help organize this amazing Franklin event — it is the PTO’s largest fundraiser of the year! Questions? Please contact Franklin Fair co-chairs, Melissa Madden (melissamaddenfamily@gmail.com) and Maggie Greene (mrmccart@yahoo.com)