Ben Franklin Newsletter

Dear Ben Franklin Families,

Kindness filled the air this past week as our students celebrated Valentine's Day, marked the 100th day of school, and took time to acknowledge the hard work of our bus drivers and bus assistants. It was nice to see so many smiles and moments of appreciation shared throughout the school community. I also want to extend a thank you to everyone for their cooperation and flexibility during the delayed opening and early dismissal this week. I recognize that these shortened days for students can be challenging, however, your planning and understanding made the change in typical schedules run smoothly, and it is truly appreciated!

Looking ahead, our 3rd graders will be participating in the Kids Heart Challenge this upcoming week, raising funds to support the American Heart Association. Details of this event can be found in this newsletter. Also this week is the PTO sponsored Science Night (Thursday evening beginning at 6:00 pm. PreK-3 students are all welcome to come and take part in the fun science experiments and we all look forward to seeing our 3rd grade science projects as well!

Wishing you all a wonderful long weekend, and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

Sincerely,

Geoff Hewitt
Principal

Thursday, February 13th marked the 100th day of school this year! Students throughout the building celebrated their 100 days of learning in various ways. Students took part in learning experiences such as writing about how they may spend one hundred dollars, counting to one hundred in various ways, making the number one hundred with different algebraic expressions, created crafts that used one hundred pieces of material, etc. It was a funfilled day of learning and celebrating learning!

Calling all 3rd grade families... The Kids Heart Challenge is next week! Please consider registering for this year's Kids Heart Challenge by clicking on this link for more information and/or scanning the QR code on the image. Proceeds go toward the American Heart Association. Join BF in learning about heart health and raising funds to protect all hearts – especially other kids! Through fun activities we’ll discover ways to take care of our hearts and brains while practicing kindness, gratitude, and learning ways to de-stress. Plus, we have the chance to earn PE equipment for our school! Reach out to Mrs. Cimorelli with any questions at ccimorelli@ltps.org

This flyer went home in student backpacks recently inviting all students, family members, and staff members to join our BF Team this year! St. Baldrick's Foundation works to fight kids' cancer and everyone within the BF community is welcome to help in the battle by being a participant who shaves their head, by advertising, and by donating to the foundation through our BF Team. All of the details are on the flyer. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Mr. Rude (our BF Team organizer) or Mr. Hewitt. Although the shaving event will take place in mid-March, please be sure to join the team now if you would like to be involved!

Students from throughout the district who participated in the referendum art contest were recognized at the February 12th Board of Education (BOE) meeting this past week. Their creativity and hard work truly shined, and we are all proud of their contributions! Here are Ben Franklin participants:

• Aashrita Dasamaneni
• Maahyr Desai
• Peyton Flores
• Shreya Gupta
• Omauri McCummings
• Amna Munawar
• Sarah Mushtaque
• Theo Parr
• Adeline Price
• Emiri Sato
• Vaanya Singh
• Disha Tanguturi
• Akshobya Sai Vinay

Congratulations to all the participants! You can watch the recognition at the board meeting here.

February is "Love Your Bus Month"! The NJDOE had organized a day for wearing yellow on Wednesday, February 12th to show our support of the many people who are involved in transporting students to and from school. Students and staff participated this past week to show their support of our bus drivers, bus assistants, and all who work in the transportation office. We thank our bus drivers and assistants for their care in delivering students to school and home each day safely!

Science Night & 3rd Grade Science Fair! The BF PTO is hosting its annual Science Night on Thursday, February 20 from 6pm to 7:30pm. A big part of Science Night is the 3rd Grade Science Fair and your child is invited to participate!

• Science Night
• You are ALL invited to our annual Science Night on Thursday, February 20th from 6pm to 7:30pm. Join us for a body science themed night of hands on experiments and games. This event is open to BF students of all grades.
• We are in need of volunteers to make Science Night a success. Please consider volunteering your time to help out. If interested, you can sign up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0548A5AA22ABFD0-54184508-bfscience
• 3rd Grade Science Fair

• Third graders are welcome to show off their science knowledge by demonstrating ANY scientific experiment or concept of their choice through a display board or model. Students are also welcome to do a joint project with a friend, if they’d like. These projects will be showcased at our Science Night event for other BF families to view. All participants will receive a certificate and ribbon.

• If your child is interested in participating, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/BCEKejsHCm1oKBv7A

• If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Ilana Hernandez at bfptorocks@gmail.com

PTO Meeting: Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 7:00 pm on Google Meet (Link - https://meet.google.com/wkk-qavw-ywo)

Multicultural Night - Wednesday, March 12, 2025, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. There are lots of ways to participate in this wonderful evening of learning about different culture while also celebrating the diversity that we are fortunate to have at Ben Franklin. If you are able to participate in any way, please complete this Signup Genius (for families and staff members to RSVP): https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4BABAF2AA4F5C52-54337023-multicultural?

BF PTO Website: www.bfpto.org

Email: bfptorocks@gmail.com

First graders have created Winter Tree Silhouettes using watercolor, tissue paper, torn paper, and tempera paint. Thank you to Ms. Skorupa for partnering with the Mercer County Library and displaying our students' artwork! The artwork is on display for the month of February. Check out the pictures below, but be sure to stop by the Mercer County Library to see it in person as well! Thank you, Ms. Skorupa!

We all want the very best for our children and their education. On Tuesday, March 11, Lawrence Township residents will have the opportunity to vote on the district’s proposed bond referendum, which would provide funding for significant improvements to our schools, benefitting our students for years to come.

If approved, this referendum would allow the district to access additional state aid and finance several critical projects, including:

✅ A modernized and expanded middle school to serve grades 6-8, replacing outdated facilities and creating more space for learning.
✅ Updated classrooms for general education, special education, science, technology, arts, and music.
✅ New life skills classrooms and flexible learning spaces to support small group instruction.
✅ A renovated performing arts center for students and community use.
✅ A new gymnasium that can hold the entire middle school (900 people) and be used after school hours.
✅ Improved traffic flow for safer and smoother drop-off and pick-up at LMS and LHS.
✅ Additional parking so students no longer have to park on the street.
✅ A new multi-sport turf field to support growing athletic programs.
✅ Restroom facilities and a concession stand at sports fields.
✅ Infrastructure repairs and more.

To learn more about these proposed projects and the impact they will have on your children’s education and the future of Lawrence Township Public Schools, please visit the district’s referendum page, www.ltps.org/referendum.

LTPS Referendum '25 - Lawrence Township Public Schools

Make sure to check your polling location and vote on Tuesday, March 11.

With so many different ways that information is delivered - TV, online videos, various social media platforms, word of mouth through face to face conversations, phone conversations, text messages, etc. - it is more important than ever to be sure that children are not overhearing or seeing information that is not appropriate for them at these early elementary school ages. Children are often more aware of what is being said around them when adults are talking or gaining information from different people/sources than we sometimes are aware. 3-9 year old children (our PreK-3rd grade students) are often confused by and/or frightened by topics currently being discussed in adult day-to-day conversations. Whether it be seeing wildfires burn through homes or discussions around threats of families being deported or discussions of LGBTQ rights, children are listening and watching.

Please monitor your child's online time and refrain from exposing students to topics that may confuse or scare them unless you are able to take the time to address the topic with your child in a way that helps them to developmentally appropriately process the information. Without the understanding of what is and is not appropriate, children will likely repeat what they hear or see and end up with consequences as a result.

Here are some tips and/or resources that you may find helpful in today's times:

• Monitor any time spent on smartphones/tablets/TV/etc.

• Spend time online together to teach your kids appropriate online behavior.
• Keep the computer/devices in a common area where you can watch and monitor its use, not in individual bedrooms.
• Explaining the News to Our Kids (Common Sense Media)
• Online Safety (KidsHealth)

If you ever have a question or concern, please know that we are more than happy to partner with you to brainstorm the best way to handle difficult conversations or situations. Please feel free to reach out to the school. Mrs. Umbach, Mr. Hewitt, and other members of our Ben Franklin School are more than willing to help navigate the situation/conversation with you and your child(ren).

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!

The Lawrence High School (LHS) Arts and Humanities Academy and Black Student Union are proud to present the 12th annual Black History Celebration on Saturday, February 22! The event is sponsored by the Lawrence Township Education Foundation (LTEA).

This year's theme is "Overcoming by Faith, Fortitude, & Resistance." The event will kick off at 3:00 p.m. with a variety of vendors and delectable foods, followed by the official program at 5:00 p.m. Admission is free and all are welcome to join at one of the biggest events of the year!

Felissa Szold and Amanda Taglairino will be working together to put together the 3rd grade yearbook this year. They are beginning to collect information from families through a Google survey. This information includes each student's class, permission to use the child's photo, how to display the child's name, and also a brief message to their child. Here is a link to the survey for 3rd grade families to complete - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zwGvkqwzA6-3lzEBb4pO3d-pRR-CkW-U5o_BHjsuzPA/preview Please complete this survey at your earliest convenience.

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.

The 3rd Grade Party Committee is holding a Payjama Day on Friday, February 21st. The event is for the whole school (PreK-3rd). Students and staff are welcome to wear their PJs to school and it is suggested that anyone who participates donates $2 or any amount they are comfortable with donating. Please note - a donation is not required to participate... all are welcome to wear PJs regardless of whether they donate or not. Click the image to the left to enlarge and read the details!

The LTEF is excited to announce the addition of an Art Contest to our Lawrence Has Talent event. Please see the flyer attached and share with an artist you may know! I will have physical flyers in the schools by Friday. Thank you! Visit here for more info: https://givebutter.com/LHTartcontest

We have opened the feature in Genesis that allows you (as the parent/guardian) to mark your child absent. This allows you to use the app or the website to simply go into the system and mark an absence for the day or for a day in the future that you know your child(ren) will be absent. Here are the directions for utilizing this system.

Please know that the Ben Franklin Attendance email and phone line do remain active, however, we encourage you to take advantage of this "Notify Attendance Office" feature for a more direct and immediate response. Should you need any assistance or have questions about your parent portal account (link to parent portal), do not hesitate to contact our front office staff at (609)671-5540.

In an effort to continually improve safety and security within our district of all members, the district has set up a Tip Line. Please check out this brief (1 minute) video to learn more about the purpose of the Tip Line and how to access it: Tip Line Video

Link to LTPS District Calendar (2024-2025)

February:

17 - School Closed, Presidents' Day

20 -

• K Campfire Lessons
• 3rd Grade - The Kids Heart Challenge (during school day)
• Science Night & 3rd Grade Science Fair (PTO) at BF, 6:00 pm

21 -

• PayJama Day (3rd grade fundraiser)
• 1st Grade Campfire (make-up session)

22 - 12th Annual Black History Celebration at LHS beginning at 3:00 pm

24 - 1st Grade Campfire Lessons

25 - PTO Meeting at 7pm on Google Meet (this is a Tuesday!), Link - https://meet.google.com/wkk-qavw-ywo

26 - Virtual Community Referendum Information Forum, 6:00-8:00 pm on Google Meet (Visit www.ltps.org/referendum for the link to join the meeting)

27 - Kindergarten Campfire Lessons

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

March:

3-7 - Read Across America Week!

3 - 1st Grade Campfire Lessons

5 - 2nd Grade Concert at BF in the APR, 2:00 pm

7 - PTO Book Exchange (during school day)

9 - Holidays in Harmony (PTO) posters DUE

10 - 1st Grade Campfire Lessons

11 - Referendum Vote

12 - PTO Multicultural Night, 6:00-8:00 pm at BF

14 - St. Baldrick's Fundraising & Shaving Event (Schoolwide Assembly at BF)

15 - St. Baldrick's Fundraising & Shaving Event at Amalfi's, 11:00-1:00

18 - K to see LMS Musical, Moana, Jr. (during school day)

19 -

• Community Conversation with Alisha DeLorenzo (details to follow)
• BOE Mtg., 7:00 pm at LHS

24 - PTO Mtg., 7:00 pm on Google Meet (link to follow)

25 - Class Photos with Photo Haven

26 -

• Schoolwide Assembly - The Illusion Maker’s Brand New “POP QUIZ” Environmental Quiz Show
• Staff Luncheon hosted by 1st grade families (PTO sponsored)

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

31 - No School for Students, Staff Development