• 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

• April 5 - 9 - Spring Break
  
• April 20th - 4:00 Board Meeting
• May 7th - No School - Teacher In-Service Day
• May 9th - Mother's Day
• May 31st - No School - Memorial Day

Several of our sections are filling up quickly. If you know someone interested in learning more about our program or interested in a customized, virtual tour, please encourage them to reach out to:

Admissions Director, Natalie Bennett:

nbennett@thefranklin.academy

360.733.1750.ext 1509

Joe & Amanda Younger, 8th Grade Parents

The Franklin Academy is not just an excellent school, diverse in its offering of what one would expect to find in a STEM school. It also offers wonderful electives that round out the education offered to the humanities. TFA brings its wonderfully rich curriculum to the students as individuals, not waiting for the students to come and take what is offered. This is a subtle difference but very impactful on its students. After less than two weeks a TFA it became clear that our then 6th grade daughter was having a completely different experience in school because of this philosophy. Since then at Franklin, we have seen our quiet daughter flourish into a confident life-long learner. We feel blessed to have made the decision to move our family to The Franklin Academy when we did.

Eric and Devon Huber, 3rd Grade Parents

Being a military family, we move a lot. The Franklin Academy has been phenomenal in providing our daughter with foundations that we know will allow her to grow no matter where, or how often, we relocate in the future. We are so lucky to have found a STEM program that not only exceeds academic expectations but supports our family through deployments and separations while maintaining consistency during very tumultuous times.

Hello and Happy Spring! Spring brings a great opportunity to share some fun books and displays with students. The Markell Hall library currently has a Women’s History Month book display, and the hall outside the library is full of Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, and Peeps.

For our read aloud this week, 2-4 grade library students learned about celebrating Passover, which begins this Saturday. Students were handed out a glossary of terms, and whenever I got to a new word in our book (Around the Passover Table by Tracy Newman), students took turns finding the words and reading the definitions out loud. It was so fun and informative! Ask your student if they remember any of the new words we learned.

It was also Teacher Appreciation Week, and I have been moved to happy tears on several occasions this week. Your students’ heartfelt cards and gifts are phenomenal, thank you!

Mrs. Snyder adds: “My picture of the gifts and cards is only a small representation of all the ways you've shown your appreciation to me throughout the week, which have included mountains of cards and pictures, peanut butter cups (yum!), gift cards, and so many other goodies. There are no words to truly express my gratitude for your support and generosity!”.

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Samuel and Mrs. Snyder

How excited was the gardener for spring?

So excited he wet his plants.

hahaha

Sinak Pickerill, one of our wonderful Pre-Kindergarten teachers, shared this:

"For science, we did an experiment called "surprise colors." I put different colors of food coloring in the muffin tin. Then I covered the food coloring with baking soda and the children used vinegar to reveal the colors underneath. It was a fun activity that the children all enjoyed doing together."

The Great Gala raised over $360,000 for our school and one of the exciting auction items was the chance to be Head of School for the Day!

Diego was the lucky student who had the chance to be in charge for an entire day!

Mrs. Owen shared this:

"We observed and tasted the rainbow ;) as we performed individual Skittle Science Experiments, this has a lot of WOW factor as colors travel to create a rainbow after water is poured on Skittles. We also observed that Skittles dissolve in water over time.

We also performed a Traveling Rainbow Science Experiment, primary colors mix to make new colors as water crawls from glass to glass as it absorbs through paper towels. SO COOL!"

Brekke Bull, social studies teacher, shared this:

"The 6th graders concluded their study of Ancient India with a fun project making digital art mandalas. They loved using the digital interface to explore art using radial symmetry. It was a great way to enjoy Art in our Social Studies classroom as well! These will be displayed as a part of the upcoming Children's Art Walk."

Beautiful work 6th Graders!

Travel During Spring Break

On March 19, Jay Inslee rescinded his November 2020 Travel Advisory and is now advising Washingtonians and others visiting Washington to comply with the CDC’s Travel During COVID-19 guidance.

Franklin Academy Travel Policy

Please know that The Franklin Academy is not encouraging families to travel at this time. But if you must travel, this is our policy to return to school:

1. Quarantine at home for a full 7 days, and

2. Negative PCR COVID-19 test (no sooner than 48 hours) before returning to school

*If you don’t get tested, stay home and self-quarantine for 10 days after travel

Example Return to School Timeline

• Return home: Saturday, April 10th

• Last day of 7 day quarantine: Saturday, April 17th

• Negative COVID Test: Saturday, April 17th or Sunday, April 18th

• Cleared to return to school Monday, April 19th

Fully Vaccinated and Traveling

At this time, the CDC has not updated their travel recommendations for fully vaccinated individuals. Even though other industries may be seeing an easing in restrictions due to the vaccine rollout, the DOH and CDC have not updated their guidance for schools yet. Therefore, at this time, we cannot update our school policy. This means our travel policy is the same for everyone, vaccinated or not.

How Long Should Someone With COVID Symptoms Stay Home?

Symptom Categories

The Washington Department of Health K-12 guidance for screening individuals with symptoms of COVID-19 states that symptoms consistent with COVID-19 have been broken down into two categories:

• Class A: fever (≥100.4°F), cough, loss of sense of taste/smell, shortness of breath

• Class B: fatigue, headache, muscle/body aches, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea (2 or more loose stools in 24hrs)

Franklin Academy’s COVID-19 Policy

Franklin Academy requires that a student stays home for at least 10 days if they exhibit any Class A symptoms, two or more Class B symptoms, OR one Class B symptom for over 24 hours. In addition, the student needs to be fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing drugs and exhibit symptom improvement.

To return to school sooner than 10 days, parents must provide the school with one of the following documents:

• Negative COVID-19 test

• Doctor’s note verifying symptoms are not due to COVID-19

Thank you for your continued support in keeping our school safe and healthy!

Sincerely,

Teresa Hubbell, BSN, RN

The Franklin Academy

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