Ben Franklin Newsletter

Dear Ben Franklin Families,

I would like thank our first grade families for their generous contributions and participation as they hosted this past week's PTO-sponsored Staff Luncheon! The event was so appreciated and the food was absolutely delicious! Your support and involvement make a real difference, and we are so grateful for all you do.

This week, our students had the opportunity to attend an assembly, brought to us free of charge by the Lawrence Township Clean Communities. The assembly, titled The Illusion Maker, included an interactive POP (Protect Our Planet) Quiz, where students enjoyed participating and learning important lessons about protecting the Earth and keeping it clean and healthy. It was a wonderful learning experience that tied into our efforts to raise awareness about environmental responsibility.

Report cards for the 2nd trimester have been posted in the Genesis Parent Portal. Please take a moment to review your child's progress and reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions. We value the open lines of communication between home and school.

Lastly, a quick reminder that our staff will be attending professional development sessions on Monday, so students will have a long, three-day weekend. We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Tuesday, April 1st! Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Geoff Hewitt
Principal

Students came together on Friday afternoon to celebrate their accomplishments and to show their Ben Franklin School spirit! They sang You-Nique together (a song they had practiced in music class with Mrs. LaFlamme), were introduced to a the new Social Skill of the Month (Apology of Action) by Mrs. Umbach with help modeling the new skill by Jonathan LaRosa and Anthony Lee, acknowledged all March birthdays and provided a birthday book to each, our Reading Chain was celebrated and it was announced by Mrs. Offery and Mrs. Reif that it will continue until the end of the school year, we honored community member Mr. Joe Bossio (Crossing Guard), celebrated our efforts to raise $3,313 for St. Baldrick's with help from our student team members (Eloise Basmagy, Marcus and Noah Gervon, Bastian Hernandez, and Kiaan Patel), announced the winning PE movie (Oscar the Grouch) that students voted on with the help of Mrs. Cimorelli and Jordan Pronesti, introduced the Soles4Souls challenge that Mrs. Cimorelli explained, announced all of our Kids of Character for the month of March (pictured below), and announced the Principal's "Work Hard Be Kind" certificate to Henry Mack! The assembly ended with all students and staff singing our Ben Franklin song! What a great way to end a busy week and head into the weekend!

2nd grade art work is currently on display at the Mercer County Library for the month of April. Artists read the book, “The Lorax” and discussed what the Lorax’s repeated message, “I speak for the trees” meant to them. Ms. Skorupa and her 2nd grade artists brainstormed ideas of how they can help keep our environment healthy and clean while creating beautiful collages!

Students and adults have been tracking the books they have read and will continue to do so throughout the entire school year! This project began during Read Across America Week and was expected to end at the end of the month, but students have begged to keep it going!! We have made it from the main entrance of our school down to the gym so far and we hope to wrap our hallways with our Reading Chain!!

Each book read is written on a link of our Reading Chain as we attempt to line the hallways visibly demonstrating how reading bonds us! We can't wait to see how far our chain will go!! Keep reading and sending those links to Mrs. Reif or Mrs. Offery!!

On Wednesday, April 2nd, LIS invites families of students in grades 3rd through 6th to a very important discussion about our youth, technology, cell phones, and social media. They plan to watch the movie Screenagers (the elementary version) together and host a Question & Answer session to discuss strategies that can help us ALL! The target audience is families in grades 3-6, but all Lawrence families are welcome. Child care for school-aged children is available and refreshments will be served. View the flyer and sign-up form here.

The 3rd grade yearbook committee is working hard to complete the yearbook for this year's 3rd grade class. They are asking all 3rd grade families to complete this survey. Time is moving quickly and the committee really needs each 3rd grade family to complete a survey. Please take a moment to complete the survey for each of your 3rd grade students by Friday, April 4th!

Link to survey - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zwGvkqwzA6-3lzEBb4pO3d-pRR-CkW-U5o_BHjsuzPA/edit

In addition, here is an email address that can be used for all communication regarding the yearbook - benfranklinyearbook2025@gmail.com This is the email address that all communication to families will come from and that can be used to send photos (class photos, students photos at school events, etc.) to Felissa Szold and Amanda Taglairino.

Dine to Donate - Shake Shack: Monday, March 31, 2025 (11:00 am to 9:30 pm) Click on the link to see the details!

Spring Book Fair: Tuesday, April 8 - Friday, April 11, 2025

• The book fair kicks off with a Preview on Monday, April 7th. Student sales will be in-school on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Parent shopping times are Wednesday, Apr. 9th 1-3pm, Thursday, April 10th 1-3pm and Friday, April 11th 1-3pm. There will also be a Friends & Family event on Thursday, April 10th from 5:00-8:00 pm! There will be door prizes, games and ballpark-themed food (all for FREE).
• The Volunteer link is here - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040E45ABAE22A0F85-55855122-book
• The Teacher e-wallet link is here: https://bfpto.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Spring-2025-Book-Fair-QR-Codes.pdf

PTO Meeting: Monday, April 28, 2025 at 7:00 pm on Google Meet (Link -https://meet.google.com/ugp-zefj-mgm)

BF PTO Website: www.bfpto.org

Email: bfptorocks@gmail.com

The 2nd Annual LTEF Lawrence Has Talent will take place on Friday, April 4th at LHS! Last year's showcase of talent was impressive!! Looking forward to seeing all of our Lawrence community members participate including current Ben Franklin 3rd grader, Keegan Brennan, along with former Ben Franklin graduates Bianca Agosto and Zoe Lelyanov-Crevier!! Click on the images below to see more details and to purchase tickets! Here's a direct link as well for tickets - https://givebutter.com/2ndLHT

Spring Conferences will be held April 9th, April 10th, and April 11th. Each day will be an early dismissal day for students and students will be dismissed at 1:20 pm. Teachers will be reaching out regarding the opportunity to schedule a conference. Please know that spring conference are not required and are on an "as needed basis". Teachers will reach out if they are requesting a conference and families may also reach out to teachers if you would like to sign up for a conference. April 9th and 11th will be afternoon conferences and April 10th (Thursday) will be evening conferences.

As spring approaches and our 3rd graders are preparing for 4th grade, we know that there may be many questions and a little bit of nervousness about the move to a new building, LIS. Our goal as a district is to make this transition as smooth as possible for students and families. In an effort to do this, LIS has scheduled a variety of transition events that will be taking place this year. Please visit this link to see dates and information about each event scheduled - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g1jANjEOTJlpV9WiLMBuedAzd7oWRfhn/view?usp=sharing

You may have noticed that BF has begun to store non-perishable foods in the front foyer of the school. We have partnered with Mercer Street Friends to assist in supporting our community. If you would benefit from receiving support from our school in the form of care packages of food, please feel free to reach out to Mrs. Umbach (mumbach@ltps.org), Mr. Hewitt (ghewitt@ltps.org), Mrs. Delgado (ddelgado@ltps.org), or Mrs. Tennant (ltennant@ltps.org). You can also call the main office at (609)671-5540.

Attention families of three and four-year-old children that live in Lawrence - LTPS's preschool application is now available on our website and will remain open until April 11, 2025. See this flyer for more details. Please note that this is a lottery system and not "first come first served." Tell your friends!

Link to LTPS District Calendar (2024-2025)

February 28th - March 29th - Ramadan... click here for information about Ramadan!

March:

31 - No School for Students, Staff Development

April:

2 - Screenagers Showing at LIS (3-6 Families), 6:30 pm

4 -

• Mad Science Assemblies (PreK-3) sponsored by PTO (during school day)
• PreK Touch-A-Truck (during the school day)
• LTEF's Lawrence Has Talent, 7:00 pm at LHS
• Family Survey for 3rd Grade Yearbook Due - click here to access the link (3rd grade families only)

8 - LIS Jazz Band to visit BF (during school day)

8-11 - PTO Book Fair

9 -

• Early Dismissal Day (students dismissed at 1:20), Afternoon Conferences
• BOE Mtg., 7:00 pm at LHS

10 -

• Early Dismissal Day (students dismissed at 1:20), Evening Conferences
• PTO sponsored Teacher Appreciation Meal hosted by K and Pre-K Families

11 - Early Dismissal Day (students dismissed at 1:20), Afternoon Conferences

14-18 & 21 - No School, Spring Break

24 -

• Take Your Child to Work Day
• K Field Trip to Howell Living History Farm

25 - BF Spirit Assembly - ALL students and staff members encouraged to wear spirit wear and/or wear blue and white!

28 -PTO Mtg., 7:00 pm on Google Meet (link - https://meet.google.com/ugp-zefj-mgm)

28-May 2 - PTO Teacher Appreciation Week