The Franklin Flyer
November 10, 2023
February 9, 2024
Mark Your Calendars:
February 14: Valentine's Day Classroom Parties
February 15: Book Fair 5:30 - 7:30 PM & Open House 6:00-7:30 PM
February 16: Institute Day - No School
February 19: No School
February 23: PTA - VIP and Me Winter Dance 6-8 PM
March 7: Spring Conferences
March 8: No School
March 19: No School
March 15: PTA - Donuts with my V.I.P. Spring Edition 8:00 - 8:40 AM
Absences
Please remember to call in or email absences by 8:45 AM. You can call our student absence line (847) 318-4390 (ext 1) is available 24 hours a day, or email Mrs. Linda Berleth at lberleth@d64.org.
If the absence is illness related, please also make sure to include Franklin's nurse, Mrs. Queta Karstens, at qkarstens@d64.org.
Franklin Office Hours
School office hours are from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
School Hours
School Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 3:30 pm
Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30
4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 12:05 - 1:00
Wednesday School Hours: 8:50 am - 2:40 pm
Wednesday Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:05 - 12:00
Wednesday 4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30
Half-Day Kindergarten Hours
Kindergarten Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 11:35 am
Kindergarten Wednesday: 8:50 am - 11:05 am
Girls On The Run
Consider joining Girls On The Run an afterschool club sponsored by our Franklin staff. Girls on the Run is a fun, evidence-based program that inspire participants to recognize their inner strength, increase their level of physical activity, imagine their possibilities, and confidently stand up for themselves and others.
Girls on the Run 3rd-5th grade
Starts Tuesday, March 12 from 3:30-5:15
Troy Cummings visited Franklin School on February 7th. If you would like to order a signed book (just his signature, you can!)
Orders Due Monday, February 12th by 10am.
Chess-Ed is excited to return to Franklin to provide lunchtime chess instruction this Spring.
The 10-week program runs from 02/28/24 to 05/08/24 and takes place during lunch on
Wednesdays from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm for grades K-3 and 11:30-12:30 for grades 4-
5. The program is open to students in all grades and of all chess abilities (including those in
full-day and half-day Kindergarten). Professional instruction will include the basics for
beginner and novice players and build with opening theory, middle game planning, and end
game combinations for continuing and advanced students. Playing chess improves
memory, uses analytical and critical thinking skills, teaches problem solving, responsibility,
sportsmanship, social skills and more! The benefits of chess last a lifetime!
To register, please go to https://2023-2024franklinchess.eventbee.com. Register by
02/14/24 to take advantage of lowest available fee. For more information about the
program, please refer to the program flyer. Chess-Ed is looking forward to working with
your CHESS ENTHUSIAST this Spring!
Please send a change of clothes with your student for all K-5 students. It is helpful to have a change in the event of spilled water, accidents, or an unexpected need for a change in clothes. Student clothes should be labeled with your child's name and can be kept in your child's locker.
If there are any significant changes at home that may impact your student(s) arrival or dismissal or impact your student(s) emotional at school, please reach out to notify Mrs. Williams or your child's teacher to best support your family.
For the health and safety of our students and community, no pets are allowed on school property. We realize the beautiful weather increases the amount of families who are walking. However, we ask that you please leave your dog or cat at home. Properly identified service animals are always permitted.
Please take a moment to review the contacts section of your ParentPortal. Any adult who has approval for after school pick-up or emergency pick-up for illness/injury should be listed. Franklin staff will not release students to adults who are not listed on the ParentPortal.
Chromebooks
As a reminder, each Franklin student will be issued an iPad (grades K-1) or a Chromebook computer (grades 2-5) as part of the District’s one-to-one digital learning program. Students will receive their devices during the first week of school. Your child will also be assigned a Google account to access Google Apps for Education and other digital resources at school and to explore further concepts introduced in class at home. The devices and their applications are technology tools that provide all students access to digital content and higher levels of individualized instruction.
You can find more information about the 1:1 Initiative, Chromebooks, and the other technologies available to our students here.
Drop-off of Student Items/Lunches
If your student forgets something at home, an adult may drop off items at the Franklin front office. Our front office staff will message the classroom for your student to pick up these items during a break in student instruction. The teacher will send the student to the office when it works best in the classroom schedule.
Visiting Franklin
All visitors to Franklin must have a valid state ID or driver’s license. Identification is entered into the Raptor identification system. This process only takes a short time to complete. Once you have clearance, the office staff will print a visitor pass for you and attach it to a lanyard you must wear throughout the building. The office will hold your ID until you return to the office and return the lanyard. We appreciate your support as we proceed with this district-mandated safety procedure for the safety of our students.
Student-Parent Handbook
Franklin Elementary School and all District 64 schools follow policies and practices reviewed and implemented by the District 64 Board of Education. Please review the D64 Student-Parent Handbook before the start of the school year.
You can find frequent updates or snapshots from our days at Franklin on Facebook and Instagram! Follow us at
Facebook: facebook.com/FranklinD64
Instagram: franklin.d64
PTA Updates
Appreciation Spotlight
Thank you to Brennan Young for organizing GLAM (Games, Logic and Match) Club which kicked off last week. And of course, we couldn’t run fun programs like this without parent volunteers, we are so grateful to Natalie Berg, Colleen Russell, Julia Wiester, Courtney Shewfelt, Courtney McGeary, Grazyna Siciak, Anoop Mathew, Tara Koppe, Yeyin Yi, and Jeanine Howe for facilitating!
Help Needed for Night of the Stars!
We need help to plan and produce Franklin’s annual Night of the Stars - an event that highlights the many talents of our Falcons. If we don’t get a volunteer by Monday 2/12 to produce the main aspects of the show we will unfortunately have to make the decision to cancel this year.
Please reach out to Camille DeCicco (camille.decicco@gmail.com) if you are interested!
Valentine’s Day Classroom Parties
Thanks to the parents who have signed up for our classroom parties, you should have received an email with more details and the head room parent should be coordinating at time for your group to plan the party if they haven’t done so yet. If you have additional questions please reach out to roomparentcoordinator@franklinpta.com.
Kindergarten parties: 9:50 - 10:50 a.m.
Grades 1-5, parties: 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
All volunteers must have their name on the list and will need to check in at the school office with a valid state ID
Tax exempt and reimbursement forms can be found on the PTA website: http://www.franklinpta.com/pta-forms.html
The budget for each class is $6/child for both Halloween and Valentine's Day parties. Funds that were not used from Halloween may be applied to this party.
Volunteer for our first STREAM Night at Franklin
Signups to help at Franklin's first family STREAM Night are now open in the PTA Membership Toolkit: https://franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/123832
Volunteer shifts are only 20 minutes long and were designed to do as a family so that you can also then enjoy the rest of the event and visit the other stations.
This even is being run by our wonderful LRC team and they will set up the stations and provide instructions for volunteers. They are also looking for hallway directors and welcome directors - these would be people, who could point visitors to specific classrooms and stations, as well as provide welcome information to families as they come in.
Please reach out to Ms. Wilson with questions: vwilson@d64.org
Buy your tickets to the 2024 Franklin V.I.P. & Me "Tropical" Winter Dance
There are still some tickets available for the V.I.P. & Me "Tropical" Winter Dance; purchase here: https://franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com/packet/19332
This year’s dance will be held on Friday, Feb. 23, 6-8 PM in the Franklin gym. Our theme is “Tropical Winter” so feel free to have fun with your wardrobe. This is an opportunity to dress in your tropical best - whatever that means to you!
We invite one adult V.I.P. per household and only current Franklin students may attend the event. Students must be accompanied by their adult V.I.P for the duration of the event; this is not a dropoff event.
Space is limited for this event so we suggest you purchase your tickets as early as possible.
Please send questions regarding the dance to idalmy.colucci@gmail.com.
Staff Lunches
The PTA offers teachers and staff members an option to purchase lunch on Mondays from Spuntinos via franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com. Families are always welcome to show their appreciation for a staff member by purchasing a Monday lunch on their behalf. If this is something your family is interested in doing, please refer to Membership Toolkit for more information.
Questions about teacher and staff lunches can be directed to rebeccavanpoucke@gmail.com.
Book Fair Volunteers Needed Thursday March 7th
Please consider helping out at the Spring Book Fair from 4-7pm on Thursday March 7th during Spring Conferences. This is a fun and easy opportunity to work with Ms. Hetzke and staff, assist our Franklin families, and support our school. We need at least 4 volunteers to help make the event a success. Please sign up under Membership Tool Kit.
Staff Lunches
The PTA offers teachers and staff members an option to purchase lunch on Mondays from Spuntinos via franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com. Families are always welcome to show their appreciation for a staff member by purchasing a Monday lunch on their behalf. If this is something your family is interested in doing, please refer to Membership Toolkit for more information.
Questions about teacher and staff lunches can be directed to rebeccavanpoucke@gmail.com.