Ben Franklin Newsletter

Dear Ben Franklin Families,

On Friday afternoon, at about 1:45 pm, we held our security drill for the month, a Shelter in Place Drill. This drill is held indoors and students continue with their lesson. The purpose of the drill is to keep all students and staff in their classrooms and workspaces should their be an issue occurring that requires the hallways to be clear/free of traffic.

In November all PreK-3rd grade students participated in a 3rd-grade initiated vote to both allow students to experience the voting process as well as to determine what cause students would focus on around MLK's Day of Service. It was determined that students would write letters to Veterans and over the past week or so, students have been busy writing letters and then turning them in to Mrs. Offery. The letters will be sent to our Veterans to show our appreciation.

In addition, this past week, students have been taking their mid-year assessments in both reading and math as we continue to monitor their progress using these benchmarks (i-Ready in 1st-3rd or aimsweb in Kindergarten). We collect this data to help teachers to provide students with the instruction that meets their needs and to determine programming, the data collected with these assessments does not get calculated into report cards.

Hopefully the temperatures will be rising in the week ahead. In the meantime, keep warm and enjoy the weekend!

Sincerely,
Geoff Hewitt
Principal

Global School Play Day will take place on February 5th this school year. Mrs. Cimorelli has worked with AmeriKick to organize fun learning experience for all class to rotate through that afternoon to celebrate! In order for students to participate, this waiver must be signed and returned to school. Hard copies of these waivers went home to all students this past week. Please be sure to sign and return the waiver if you'd like your child to participate on Wednesday, February 5th. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Mrs. Cimorelli at ccimorelli@ltps.org.

Link to Waiver

PTO Meeting: Monday, January 27th at 7:00 pm on Google Meet (Link to join - https://meet.google.com/sad-gmqg-fzz)

PTO Movie Night: Friday, January 31, 2025 (doors open at 6pm; movie begins at 6:30pm) The children voted and the winning movie is The Wild Robot! Please see the flyer for more details.

Teacher Appreciation Meal (hosted by 2nd Grade Families): Thursday, February 6, 2025

Message to 2nd Grade families only: If you're willing and able to contribute, please click on the Sign Up Genius link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0D4DAFAD2DABF58-54124767-2ndgrade

Please ensure all items are sent into school by 9 AM on Thursday, February 6th and please label all items "2nd Grade Staff Appreciation Luncheon". Monetary donations can be made through Venmo (@lindsay-melone) or via cash/check. Cash/checks can be sent in via your child in an envelope marked "2nd Grade Staff Appreciation Luncheon ATTN: Lindsay Walsh." Please make checks payable to Lindsay Walsh. Please feel free to reach out to Lindsay Walsh with any questions either via email (ljmelone@gmail.com) or call/text (908-507-3161).

Science Night & 3rd Grade Science Fair! Thursday, February 20, 2025 at 6:00 pm

• 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
• The annual 3rd Grade Science Fair is taking place on Thursday, February 20th. Students are welcome to show off their science knowledge by showing their science experiment findings or demonstrating a scientific concept through a display board or model. These projects will be showcased at our Science Night for their BF community to view.
• If you would like to participate, fill out this form at https://forms.gle/BCEKejsHCm1oKBv7A. Any questions or concerns? Contact Ilana Hernandez at bfptorocks@gmail.com.

PTO Meeting: Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 7:00 pm on Google Meet (Link to follow)

BF PTO Website: www.bfpto.org

Email: bfptorocks@gmail.com

Please be sure to keep Nurse Calkin informed of information regarding your child's health in a proactive way to prevent others from becoming ill. If you are aware that your child has an illness, has lice, or has been exposed to someone with a health concern, please err on the side of caution and notify Nurse Calkin. She can then assist with guidance toward how to best protect and/or treat your child as well as in how to best prevent the spread to other children and staff members of Ben Franklin.

Students cannot bring cough drops into school in backpacks due to the high potential for choking and for sharing with others, which could result in another student choking.

If you feel strongly that the cough drops are necessary, please bring them to the school labeled with your student's name and with a note. Nurse Calkin will then be able to provide them to your child without other children having access to them.

You may find the Illness Exclusion Policy on the school website.

We understand that it is difficult when children are called to be picked up from school due to illness or another health concern. However, it is necessary for Nurse Calkin to follow district policy in order to provide the care to your child as well as to protect other students and staff members here at school. In addition to students being required to be home until they are fever-free, diarrhea free, and vomit free for at least 24 hours (without the assistance of medication such as Tylenol), students who are coughing continuously should remain home even if they are fever free. This is part of the LTPS Illness Exclusion Policy (24 Hour Rule).

We very much appreciate you wanting your child not to miss school. However, we also appreciate your cooperation in following this policy for the safety of all involved. Thank you!

The LTEF is so excited to announce that Lawrence Has Talent will be returning in 2025! Mark your calendars, the show will be live on April 4th, 2025. Auditions will be held February 6th and 8th at LHS, click the link to sign up today! https://events.humanitix.com/2nd-annual-lawrence-has-talent-auditions

Visit for full details: https://www.ltefnj.org/lawrence-has-talent

The show is open to those who live, work, receive talent training, attend or have attended school at anytime in Lawrence Township.

Register by February 1st at ltefnj.org or by scanning the QR code on the flyer. See flyer for more information.

Preschool Application Process Opening in February 2025!

The Preschool Application Process opens on February 3rd and closes on April 11th. Children must be three or four years old by October 1, 2025 to be eligible for preschool.

Follow the QR code (in the picture below) or visit our Preschool Website for updates.

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)

January 2025:

27 -

• 1st Grade Campfire Lesson
• PTO Meeting, 7:00 pm (Google Meet link - https://meet.google.com/sad-gmqg-fzz)

29 - Lunar New Year

30 - K Campfire Lesson

31 -

• BF Spirit Assembly (during school day) - ALL students and staff members encouraged to wear spirit wear and/or wear blue and white!
• PTO Movie Night! - The Wild Robot (doors open at 6:00)

February:

3 - 1st Grade Campfire Lessons

5 -

• 3rd Grade Fitness Challenge, during school day
• Global School Play Day (events scheduled during the school day with AmeriKick)

6 -

• K Campfire Lessons
• PTO Teacher Appreciation Meal (sponsored by 2nd Grade Families)
• Assemblies for K-3 introducing "Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week"

7 - Wear Red to show awareness of "Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week" (February 7th-14th)

10 - 1st Grade Campfire Lessons

12 - BOE Meeting at LHS, 7:00 pm

13 - K Campfire Lessons

14 -

• 100th Day of School

• Valentine's Day

• Early Dismissal & In-Service - Students Dismissed beginning at 1:20 pm

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

24 - 1st Grade Campfire Lessons

27 - Kindergarten Campfire Lessons

28 - BF Spirit Assembly (2:00 pm) - ALL students and staff members encouraged to wear spirit wear and/or wear blue and white!