• Preschool - 4th Grade Reading Week Begins!

• Preschool - 4th Grade - Wacky Hair Day
• Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25

• Preschool - 4th Grade - Silly Sock Day
  
• Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25

• Preschool - 4th Grade - Pajama Day
  
• Middle School - Library Book Check Out 1:00-1:25

• Preschool - 4th Grade - Dress as Your Favorite Book Character Day
  
• Trimester 2 Ends

• March 5th - Trimester 2 Ends
• March 10- 11 - Conferences - HALF DAYS
• March 12th - NO CLASSES - Faculty In-Service
• March 17th - St. Patrick's Day - Dress in GREEN
• April 5 - 9 - Spring Break

Dear Franklin Academy Parents,

One of our Core Commitments at the Franklin Academy is REFLECT. Research shows that students who are involved in conversations about their strengths, areas of improvement, and goals do better in school.

Please sign up below for a conference with your child and his/her teacher to review your students progress.

Conferences will take place after a half-day of school on Wednesday, March 10th and Thursday, March 11th.

Please click on your child's teacher's name to sign up for a conference.

Robin Hall Staff

• Mrs. Brewin's Class

• Mrs. Jorgensen's Class

• Miss York's Class

• Ms. Dizon's Class

• Ms. Van Selus' Class

• Mrs. Pickerill's Class

• Mrs. Owen's Class

• Ms. Camaya's Class

• Mrs. Killian's Class

• Mrs. Ho's Class

• Mrs. Mellos' Class

Markell Hall Staff

• Ms. Belmont's Class

• Mrs. Lyzwinski's Class

• Mr. Schultz' Class

• Ms. McDonnell's Class

• Ms. Dudley's Class

• Mrs. Misday's Class

• Ershig House 5th & 6th Grade Mr. Iaconetti

• Ershig House 7th & 8th Grade Sr. Smith

• Ferlin House 5th & 6th Grade Mrs. Fox

• Ferlin House 7th & 8th Grade Ms. Harris

• Hess House 5th & 6th Grade Ms. Bull

• Hess House 7th & 8th Grade Ms. Jeffrey

• Kaiser House 5th & 6th Grade Ms. Schmidt

• Kaiser House 7th & 8th Grade Ms. Freeman

If you would like to meet with a specialist teacher, please send them an email to set up an appointment.

• PE Mrs. Fox sfox@thefranklin.academy

• Music/Library Mrs. Snyder jsnyder@thefranklin.academy

• Spanish Sr. Smith lsmith@thefranklin.academy

• Spanish Sr. Laconetti diaconetti@thefranklin.academy

• Art Mrs. Simpson rsimpson@thefranklin.academy

Thank you,

Gretchen Bucsko, M.Ed.

Head of School

As enrollment is growing, it's important to secure a spot at our school for the 2021-2022 school year - enrollment opened up to those outside our current school community on the 16th of February.

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 ext. 1509

What Our Parents Say...

Joel & Jennifer Zales | Preschool & Kindergarten Parents

After we toured The Franklin Academy and observed the Kindergarten class, we were drawn to the small class sizes and personalized attention each student receives and we were so excited that Spanish was offered at such a young age. We love how community-oriented and inclusive the school feels. In just over a year all of the teachers knew our daughter's name. It's also so important to us that the teachers provide an open line of communication and are very responsive to any concerns we may have.

Note: Preschool students don't wear a uniform (as pictured below), but these pictures are too precious not to share.

Happy almost-Spring! With Spring in the air, that also means it is time for student led conferences at Franklin. This is with your student’s classroom teacher, but you are always welcome to reach out to any of the specialist teachers for an additional conference—that includes your student’s librarian! ;)

In grades 2-4, students have been working on how to use a dictionary! So many of them have LOVED looking up words and pictures in the dictionary. If you have one at home, I would encourage you to spend some time looking up words with them so they get more practice using guide words and finding definitions in the dictionary. You can also show them how to use a dictionary app if you have one.

In Robin Hall, it is time for a fun parent project! Calling all gardeners! Are your thumbs greener than Mrs. Snyder's? Do you have an outdoor bench you're not using? The courtyard area behind the Robin Hall library is in need of some TLC! We would love for it to be transformed into an outdoor reading space to be used during library time in good weather. If this sounds like a project you would be interested in helping out with, please contact Mrs. Snyder at jsnyder@thefranklin.academy.

Next week is Reading Week! We have several activities planned to celebrate reading, with a particular focus on author Robert Munsch, who has a written so many hilarious books. The schedule includes:

Tuesday: Wacky Hair day

Wednesday: Silly Socks day

Thursday: Pajama day

Friday: Dress like your favorite book character day

I have been plotting my book character costumes for weeks already!

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Samuel and Mrs. Snyder

What did the left eye say to the right eye?

Between us, something smells!

The students split up into groups to work on spelling words in different ways, one group was making a rhythms to spell the words to, others were playing a bingo game, and a few students were doing spelling games on their computers. I love the creative ways Mrs. Misday finds to feed their brains!

Stephanie Fox our Physical Education Specialist gets these students moving in creative ways! This week they ran the half mile around Peabody Park and today a dodgeball battle ensued. It was great to see everyone having fun!

Mrs. Brewin shared: "In science we learned more about polar animal adaptations. We did the "blubber glove" experiment with Crisco and ice water to simulate how animals use blubber to keep warm."

Thank you for sharing Marie!

Spanish Specialist, Dominick Iaconetti, is coordinating a House Competition next week!

Dominick shared this:

"Next week, during Study Hall, the Houses will take turns participating in a Scavenger Hunt for Rubber Ducks on different days of the week.

Kaiser: Monday

Hess: Tuesday

Ferlin: Thursday

Ershig: Friday

Ten minutes into Study Hall on your House's assigned day, I ask that you excuse your students to meet me down in front of the school. The students will have 15 minutes to find as many ducks as possible. If they find all 20, then their time will be recorded. We will use this to calculate the number of spirit points each house earns at the end of the week."

Good luck middle schoolers! Look for photos of the hunt next week...

Donald shared this:

"Students have been practicing a new word study routine in class. Each first day of the week, students receive a new list of words that will be their focus for that week. Throughout the week, students will practice their words using a spelling menu. On the last day of that week, students will do a "Buddy Check" with a peer. This means they will quiz each other on their words.

The words for the week will vary and will look different for each student. A specific rule or pattern will be introduced through a word sort. From this word sort, students will choose a specific number of words. They will also take a certain number of words from their "Words to Learn List" from their Word Study Notebook.

My hope for this kind of word work is for students to learn how words are made and a lot of words have specific rules and/or patterns and/or letter sounds. Memorization might be a strategy for high frequency words. The goal for this word work is for students to apply what they learn in class to their everyday writing, not just for the weekly Buddy Check.

You can help by working with your third-grader throughout the week practicing the words. They can look for words in their reading that follow the rule or pattern introduced.

Routines are learned through practice and reminders."

Thank you Donald! Great work 3rd Graders!

Base Ten Blocks are constructed in powers of ten, representing ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. The materials include 1-centimeter unit cubes to represent ones, 10-centimeter rods to represent tens, and 10-centimeter square blocks to represent hundreds. They can be used to teach number and place value concepts, such as the use of regrouping in addition and subtraction.

Xander explained how he built the equation 24+52=76. He showed me how many tens rods he needed and how many ones and how it all added up to make 76! Woo Hoo! Nice Work!

Rachel Simpson our Art Specialist shared this:

"Art Mash-Up of artists: Charley Harper Raccoons & Foxes, and Van Gogh’s Starry Night!

Students used many different kinds of art materials in this mixed-media art project. We learned how to draw animals like Charley Harper. We painted the sky like Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

The supplies we used were soft pastels, tempera paints, oil pastels onto both mixed-media paper & recycled brown paper bags."

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