• Classes Resume

• Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25

• Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25

• Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25

• Monday, January 18th - NO SCHOOL
• Monday, January 25th - SILENT AUCTION BIDDING OPENS
• Friday, January 29th - FREE DRESS
• Saturday, January 30th - LIVE VIRTUAL AUCTION - Bidding Begins at Noon - Live YouTube Feed Begins at 6:30
• February 8th -12th Priority Registration for Returning Families
• Friday, February 12th - NO SCHOOL Mid Winter Break
• Monday, February 15th - NO SCHOOL Presidents Day
• Tuesday February 16th Outside Family Enrollment Begins
• Tuesday, February 16th - BOARD MEETING 4:00

Re-enrollment packets will be available to families on February 5th. Our returning families will get priority registration for one week from Monday, February 8th to Friday, February 12th.

Enrollment opens to outside families on Tuesday, February 16th at 8:00 am. If you know someone interested in learning more about our program or touring, please encourage them to reach out to

Admissions Director, Natalie Bennett:

nbennett@thefranklin.academy

360.733.1750.

PALS would like to send a most heartfelt thank you to all of the parents who contributed to our collection for staff holiday gifts. Because of your generosity, we were able to provide just over $155 in gifts and goodies for all 47 of our beloved staff members.

The staff members gathered for a very informal reception after school on Thursday, where they were able to socialize, get their gift bags, and enjoy safe snacks courtesy of Mrs. Bucsko and PALS. They also joined in the festive spirit with their own Ugly Sweater contest!

Here is what your generosity was able to provide for all of our staff members:

$25 Amazon Gift Card (purchased from the PALS scrip program)

$10 Starbucks Gift Card (purchased from the PALS Scrip program)

$25 Arlis’s Restaurant Gift Card (Owned by a school family)

$25 Port of Subs Gift Card (Bellingham locations owned by a school family)

$40 Launching Success Gift Card (Local Business)

Cute potted succulent from Rebecca’s Flower Shoppe in Fairhaven (Local Business)

Gourmet chocolate bars from K’ul Chocolate (Local Business & close connections to a school family)

Custom, individually plated and wrapped charcuterie plates from Twin Sisters Creamery (Local Business)

Individual bagged European Chocolate cookies (Trader Joe’s)

Bags, cards, tissue to wrap up all of their goodies

Thanks to you, we were able to pool our resources to make sure that no staff member, from the head of school, to our classroom teachers, specialists, admin team, and custodial team, were forgotten this holiday season. In this year when so much has changed, it is especially heartwarming to see how generous our families continue to be, and how much we can accomplish when we work together for the good of our community.

We hope you have a safe, healthy, relaxing, and joyful winter break!

-PALS

Parents Actively Lending Support

Tuesday for spirit week was holiday hat / headband day!

Happy Winter Break! We hope you have a wonderful, restful, and healthy break celebrating your holiday traditions (which might look a little different this year! Thanks, 2020!).

We wanted to offer a few quick, easy literacy tips you can employ over the break (or any time, really!). One of the best ways to help children with their reading is simply have ACCESS to books-- books and magazines around the house and in the car. If you are going on a car trip, you can also do an audio book or podcast for kids. Ebooks (like we have available on Epic) are also a good option, unless you are concerned about their screen time.

Another way to encourage literacy and love of reading in your children is to normalize it. If they see YOU reading for pleasure, relaxation, and learning, they will too! It’s a rare and lovely thing when a good parenting tip allows you to relax at the same time!

And of course, reading to your children is a fantastic way to bond together and try out a book that is above their reading level. Kids of all ages love to be read aloud to, even if they won’t admit it.

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Samuel and Mrs. Snyder

How much did Santa's sleigh cost?

It was on the house!

A huge thank you from Chapel Service Guild to everyone who donated to the Toys For Tots drive and the wish list for NW Youth Services. We were able to collect over 200 items for Toys For Tots! The above photo is from Markell Hall but amazingly there were even more toys at Robin Hall. What a generous community we enjoy!

You can still contribute to the NW Youth Services Amazon wish list using this link: https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/X99BKZ5QCXIM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_ws_9iwFCbYW3RJYS&w=w-2150145550&i=&l=l-5211571313

Thank you,

Christy Fankhauser

Chapel Service Guild

This just in from Marie Brewin... "Hi! Here's a recap from the last few days...

-On Wednesday we had our class party (earned by the students by filling up the smile jar). It was a blast! We watched the movie Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, had a dance party with our stuffies, and had an indoor snowball fight! Snowball fight and stuffy dance party photos are attached.

-Also on Wednesday we had our special St. Nick chapel. Pastor Aaron read to us about the life of St. Nicholas and then after chapel there was a special surprise waiting for us in our shoes!

-This week in writing we wrote thank you letters/cards to healthcare workers. The students did such a fantastic job on them. I will distribute the cards next week.

-In reading we are writing about the problem and solution in stories. We also introduced the sound/chunk -ar (which I like to call the pirate sound). Also, in our reading groups we read nonfiction passages about a particular habitat. We used highlighters to highlight important information about the habitat. The kids were pretty excited about that.

-Then in science we wrote about animals and plants that live in our chosen habitat and began creating a picture of our habitat using the information we learned.

-In social studies, we started learning about winter holidays around the world. Today we "flew" to India and learned about Diwali.

-For our Gift of Kindness challenge, the challenges for the last few days were to write a letter to Mrs. Bucsko, say something kind to a friend, write a thank you to the school secretary, and to help someone who is hurt.

-In math we finished up Topic 3, which was about addition strategies up to 20, and started learning about tallies and graphs.

-we also did some Christmas crafting and made stockings to go up on our classroom "fireplace!"

This just in from Debbie Ho... "Good Afternoon Class Family,

It has been so much fun making holiday crafts, putting the letters in our name in order on a Christmas tree, mixing colors for science (as you can see in the baggy that was sent home), practicing songs for our Christmas Show while following the flannel story of the Birth of Baby Jesus in Chapel, dancing, playing outside, learning Spanish, and listening to many Christmas stories. As you can see we are very busy."

Last week we had a great time exploring and learning about holidays around the world. We learned about Hanukkah, Las Posadas, Kwanzaa, Diwali, and St. Lucia Day

Here are some photos of the students wearing St. Lucia Day Crowns!

Christmas isn't the only holiday our families are celebrating this time of year. Please enjoy reading about how the Witte family celebrates this time of year!

Hello again. Sarah Witte here, mum to Nate & Remy in grade 7, Gabriel in grade 6 and Elizabeth in grade 3, to tell you more about Jewish holidays, this time Hanukkah.

Every year around this season, Jewish families celebrate a holiday called Hanukkah. It is actually a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, but because it coincides roughly with Christmas, more is made of it than might otherwise be.

At Hanukkah we remember a miracle that took place in the year 139 BCE in the place that is now called Israel, where the Hebrews lived under Syrian-Greek (Seleucid) rulers. The Greeks were not very nice to the Hebrews and wouldn’t let them be free to worship the way they wanted to. They wouldn’t allow them to study their sacred books and they had damaged and dirtied the Hebrews’ temple, their holiest place. The Greeks were trying to force the Hebrews to give up their religion.

A group of Hebrews had had enough. They fought back against the much more powerful Greeks. They were led by the Maccabee brothers, including one named Judah the Maccabee. Even though they were outnumbered, the Maccabees’ small army drove the Greeks out of Jerusalem and took back the temple. It was in a bad state. There was only enough oil left to light the candles for a single day. Miraculously, that oil lasted for eight days, enough time for more oil to be produced. (Approximately 170 years later, a similar thing would happen with some loaves and fishes!). Because the oil lasted for eight days, Jews now commemorate this holiday by lighting candles for eight nights, not just one.

Hanukkah always starts on the 25th of Kislev (one of the months in the Jewish calendar), which is usually sometime in December. This means that the dates for Hanukkah move around on our standard calendar. Because Jewish days start at sunset and last until the following sunset, all our holidays start in the evening. Did you ever wonder why Christmas is on the 25th of December?

Is it a coincidence that we have a holiday at this time of year that just happens to involve candles and light? No! In times of darkness, light makes us feel better. Israel is in the northern hemisphere, so all these events would have taken place during the winter, a time when there is more darkness than at other times of the year. The holidays of many different religions at this time of year involve light. Light represents goodness and hope, a fitting symbol for the triumph of people who were treated badly over those who oppressed them. This is a common theme in Jewish celebrations: “They tried to destroy us. We are still here. Let’s eat!”

Because of the oil in the story, Jews eat foods at Hanukkah that are fried in oil, namely “latkes” and “sufganiyot”. Sufganiyot are jelly donuts. (Did you know donuts are fried?) Latkes are potato pancakes. They are usually eaten with sour cream and/or applesauce, and there is often joking about which of these is better.

Here is a recipe for latkes:
3-4 shredded large gold potatoes (or equivalent pre-shredded hashbrowns)
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 onion, diced
A few breadcrumbs and salt & pepper (to taste)
Mix all ingredients and fry in oil (peanut oil works well) on both sides until golden brown and cooked through. Serve immediately with applesauce and/or sour cream. (Multiply quantities as needed.)

At Hanukkah, we use a special candlestick called a “hanukkiyah” which has nine candles. The standard Jewish menorah has seven candles. Eight of the hanukkiyah candles each represent one night of the holiday, and the final one is the helper candle, used to light the others. It must be set apart as different from the eight somehow, either higher or lower or off to the side, etc. On the first night, we light the helper candle and use it to light one of the eight candles, on the second night the helper candle and two of the eight, and so on until we are lighting all eight candles on the final night of Hanukkah. We say special blessings as we light the candles to bless the act of lighting them.

It is tradition to place the lit hanukkiyah in a window that faces the outside, so that others can see that those in that home are celebrating Hanukkah. There have been many occasions throughout history when it has not been safe for Jews to do this, and many Jewish families choose to light their candles privately within their homes. Not long ago, there was a boy in Montana who put his hanukkiyah in the window, only to have someone throw a brick and break the window. News about this hateful act spread and the next night the child put his hanukkiyah back in the window again, and so did thousands of others in the town, Jewish and non-Jewish people, to support him. What a long way we have come!

Hanukkah is a holiday about resistance, fighting back against all odds, and the refusal to succumb to oppressors. During the days leading up to the Maccabee revolt, when the Greeks had forbidden the Hebrews to study Torah, the Hebrews would study in small groups anyway. If caught, they would pretend to be gambling, playing games for money, instead of studying. (Yes, that’s gambling to hide studying, not the other way around!) To remember this, we Jews play dreidel, a gambling game with a spinning 4-sided top, and “gelt”, golden coins to represent the pieces the Hebrews would have used for betting. “Gelt” is Yiddish for “gold”. Depending on how the dreidel falls, the spinner might win or lose the whole pot, win just half of it, or have to put more money in. The four letters on the dreidel represent Hebrew words which mean “a great miracle happened there.” Dreidels in Israel are slightly different. There the letters mean “a great miracle happened here.”

Hanukkah was not originally a holiday where children would be given presents, but as the world has become more commercialized, it has kept up with Christmas in this way. Jewish children lament that it is virtually a tradition to be given socks for Hanukkah. Underappreciated clothing is also common. More recently, it is becoming popular to reserve the fourth night of Hanukkah for giving presents to those less fortunate.

Suggested follow-up activities:

Watch videos on YouTube by The Maccabeats, especially “Candlelight”, “Miracle”, “Hasmonean - A Hamilton Hanukkah” and “Latke Recipe”.

Listen to “Miracle” by Matisyahu.

Google “Not In Our Town” about neighbors defending neighbors against hate in Billings, Montana and elsewhere since.

Listen to “Applesauce vs Sour Cream” and “How do you spell Chanukah” by The LeeVees.

Listen to “A Puppy for Hanukkah” by Daveed Diggs.

This Just in from Shelley Owen... "Hello and Happy Friday Early-K Families!

We have been having a very joyous week learning all about what it means to be joyful. Our hearts are happy and bright as we grow closer and closer to Christmas! There is no greater joy than being around children during the holiday season!

Here's what we have been up to this week:

• Celebrated our 5th Birthday of the year!! Happy Birthday Jayan and many thanks for the cool Christmas cups!
• Letter Jj, how it looks, how it writes, how it sounds, and how it signs
• Number 6, number lines, tallies, base ten, and number word
• 3-D Shape Identification, sphere, cube, cylinder, pyramid, and cone
• Sight Word List 1 review, keep up the great work at home!
• Turkey Baster and Feather Relay Race, why not and because we missed this really fun activity during Thanksgiving week
• Performed a Peppermint and Water Science Experiment, water dissolves sugar and has a really cool effect on peppermints
• Made Christmas stockings, candles, trees, and bulbs. Also secret gifts for our parents, shhh!
• Enjoyed reading/listening to many Christmas stories and practiced our Christmas Carols
• We were really surprised to get a secret visit from St. Nicholas! He left golden treasure in our shoes"

These Self-Portraits were inspired by artist Frida Kahlo. 5th & 6th grade students used a photo of themselves as a reference, with pencil, watercolor paints, symbolism, and a variety of techniques. We learned how to use proportions to draw a face with pencil, how to use different watercolor techniques, and studied the history and art of Frida Kahlo.

Outside of Ms. Dizon's Kindergarten class is an adorable bulletin board to display her students' elf applications. There is a Help Wanted sign that states, "Elves needed to craft and wrap gifts, assist in care and feeding of reindeer, and perform other elfish tasks to be designated by Santa Claus. Excellent benefits. APPLY HERE!" #cookiedecorator #toymaker

A few of the class projects were completed this week and I am so impressed! The teachers worked with their students to donate unique one of a kind auction items. I am proud to show these off today, and I cannot wait to see what else these amazing kids make!

Check out more items at:

https://spesbell2021.ggo.bid/bidding/package-browse

A huge thank you to the teachers for taking extra time and care to create these projects!

All VIP Box orders must be received by Friday, January 8th. Boxes will be ready to pick up on Friday, January 29th when you pick up your students from school. (Sorry at this time we cannot deliver or ship boxes)

Your Choice of two Different VIP Box includes:

• Gourmet Cheeses from Twin Sisters Creamery
• Various Charcuterie Accompaniments
• Desserts
• Red Wine or White Wine depending on your box choice

Follow this link to Order your Box(s) and set up your Online Bidding account and pre-view auction items:

Order Your VIP Box Today!

Boxes will be pre-ordered but no fee will be charged to your card until January 30, 2021.

Once you are on the Online Bidding page, click the Start Bidding button and finish creating your account.

HOW TO BID/ORDER:

You can bid from anywhere!

1. Search for packages by name or number by using the magnifying glass or by choosing a category under the menu.

2.You can Bid the next increment or Bid More than the next increment. If you choose Bid More you can set your max bid. If your max bid is the highest, the system will automatically bid in your favor until you are outbid or until the auction closes.

3.To “watch” a package, select the star icon on the package.

4.You'll be notified if you're outbid at any point before the auction closes and you will see an Outbid notice at the top of your screen.

5.To get back to the main screen, click the house icon.

6.To view the packages you are bidding on, click the menu button and select Bids.

Thank you for your support!

Heather Black

Development / Auction Coordinator

The Franklin Academy

(360) 603-8582

These Pop Art Self-Portraits were inspired by artist Roy Lichtenstein. 7th grade students used a photo of themselves as a reference, with pencil, acrylic paints, and a black sharpie marker. We learned how to use proportions to draw a face, what graphite/tracing paper is all about, and studied the style of Pop Art with Roy Lichtenstein, his art, style, and a bit about Andy Warhol.

These caricature Self-Portraits were inspired by artist & director Tim Burton. 8th grade students used a photo of themselves as a reference, with pencil, colored pencils, and charcoal. We learned how to use proportions to draw a face, and studied the style of Tim Burton his art, films, animation, style, and characters. Each student wrote a short story about their spooky caricature, and used their imagination to create these drawings.

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.

A supportive community with STEM focused education in a safe, small class environment for all grades.

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

Gretchen Bucsko, Head of School: gbucsko@thefranklin.academy

Katie den Hartog, Associate Head of School, kdenhartog@thefranklin.academy

Dawn Regier, Administrative Assistant, dregier@thefranklin.academy

Rachel Lee, Administrative Assistant, rlee@thefranklin.academy

Natalie Bennett, Admissions Director, nbennett@thefranklin.academy

Joke:

Why are Christmas trees bad at sewing?

They keep losing their needles!