• PALS Weekly Zoom - 8:30AM - https://palsinfo.com/pals-virtual-coffee-and-check-in-tuesday-october-13/
• 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

• All School - Free Dress

• April 30th: Free Dress Day
• May 4th: TFA day @ Village Books
• May 7th: Staff in-service day & Children's Art Walk (No School)
• May 28th: Free Dress Day
• May 31st: Memorial Day (No School)
• June 15th: 3rd Trimester ends
• June 16th: Last day of school - Half 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

Jeff and Jennifer Bowles (Daughters in 4th and 7th Grade)

We made the decision to have our daughters attend The Franklin Academy four years ago when our youngest was entering Kindergarten and our eldest was entering the 4th grade, and it was the best decision we have made for their academic learning.

Our daughters have been able to excel with the smaller class sizes and the ability for teachers to focus on the individual needs of the students. The exposure to the STEM related curriculum has provided opportunities for our daughters to learn about subjects they would not be exposed to otherwise at such early ages.

Who knew our 8th grader would love coding! My husband and I also appreciate how open and committed the Teachers and Administration are in ensuring our daughters have the best and safest learning environment possible.

We are truly blessed and fortunate for our daughters to attend The Franklin Academy.

Welcome back, everyone!

We hope you all had a relaxing, restorative, and safe Spring Break.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the fall Scholastic Book Fair that we held online. While it was successful, we all missed the ability to look at books in person, so we are going to try a different kind of book fair for this spring.

We are having a Franklin Academy Day at Village Books! It will run for 24 hours, and purchases made at either location (Fairhaven and Lynden) or online will count towards books for the school! I love that we can browse in person if we want, or contribute online if we are busy, long distance, or in quarantine. It will be on May 4th, and I plan to be at the Fairhaven location after school for a few hours to say hi to people!

I will inundate (some would say annoy, but I prefer inundate) you with information and forms between now and Tuesday, May 4th. Please mark your calendars! This is a great way to get books and bookish stuff, all while supporting The Franklin Academy and a local, beloved business! Yay!

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Samuel

(if you have questions about the book fair or anything else library related, feel free to email me at tsamuel@thefranklin.academy )

www.villagebooks.com

Students have been hard at work and the Franklin Academy artwork will be displayed at both the Saturna Capital and at the YMCA in downtown Bellingham.

The 21st Children's Art Walk starts on Friday, May 7th, at 5:00pm - 8:00pm, and the art work will be up until May 20th. Families are welcome to walk around downtown to view all schools who are participating with children's art work in various business windows in downtown Bellingham. Everyone can find more information with Allied Arts of Whatcom County on https://www.alliedarts.org/

Locations of both businesses to view our students art work:

YMCA: 1256 N State Street, Bellingham, WA 98225

Saturna Capital: 1300 North State Street, Bellingham, WA 98225

Students will enjoy seeing their work on display!

Thank you,

Miss Rachel Simpson

Art Specialist

"This week in Nature Exploration we tested the health of Squalicum Creek by looking at bio indicators, or living things that indicate whether an ecosystem is healthy or not.

Students dug around in the water, looking for benthic macroinvertebrates, identified them with a dichotomous key, and looked at them under the microscope.

We even saw a mayfly using its functional wings for the first time as it zoomed off into our classroom."

Bre Harris - Science Specialist

Mrs. Dizon Shared this:

"For Earth Day, the class went to the park (right across from the school) for a “Earth Day Nature Walk/Scavenger Hunt”, and talked about recycling, reusing, reducing, and composting. We also learned a song about recycling. After some activities we ate our snack at the park. They remembered to take care of their own trash after eating, since there was no garbage can at the park. They put wrappers and trash back into their lunch bags and then made choices about recycling or trashing when they came back to the classroom."

Mrs. Lyzwinski (Mrs. L's) 2nd Grade class started a new science unit on the lifecycle of the butterfly. They have five new "class pets" (painted lady caterpillars).

Their caterpillars are in the larva stage and will soon be crawling to the top of the jar to go into their "j" shapes where they will begin the process of metamorphosis. The students are so excited.

During the month of April we have been focusing on the importance of a robust pedosphere, or soil biome. We started out by discussing the cycling of matter and the flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Next, students investigated the molecular exchange that happens under the ground, with an emphasis on mycelium. We looked at the difference between rich soil and inert dirt, reinforced with an experiment where students compared the absorption and filtering capabilities of flour (inert dirt) vs. bread (rich soil).

Students watched the documentary "Kiss the Ground," which focuses on regenerative agriculture; a way to balance our climate by supporting healthy soil.

Lastly, we talked about the importance of composting and how to successfully turn kitchen and garden scraps into rich soil full of microbes. 5th and 6th grade students used this knowledge to design their own mini vermicompost bins. 7th and 8th grade students are participating in a compost challenge, working in teams to come up with ways to compost in our school.

Next week we will be voting on the best design, which will be implemented in the school. More updates to come on composting at the Franklin Academy!

Ms. Camaya's Pre-Kindergarten class kicks off Earth Day 2021 with an adorable Holding the Earth Project!

Last week the Teachers dressed up like their Students. The idea was the students would dress up like teachers, but they all decided to dress like our PE Specialist Stephanie Fox, which meant they were all in athletic attire. This created a great learning opportunity for the middle school students to learn what "business casual" means.

The teachers posed for a little photo shoot showing us what a day in middle school looks like.

Enjoy the photos featuring:

Lesley Smith, Specialist - Spanish 4th - 8th Grade

Leigh Ann Freeman - Specialist - Middle School Math and Economics

Dominic Iaconetti - Specialist - Spanish PreK - 1st Grade

Grace Schmidt - 5th Grade Teacher / Math Specialist

Mrs. Pickerill shared this:

"We had a great time learning about Dinosaurs last week. We created a dinosaur silhouette art with a beautiful sunset background using watercolors." She also shared photos of her students who were also able to get bikes and scooters out for recess times this past week.

Mrs. Owen shared this from her Early Kindergarten class last week:

"Dinosaur Review Sight Words- this was especially fun because I dressed up in a dinosaur mask with sound effects and claws. The kiddos took turns feeding me Super Sight Word Cookies for lunch. There were many close calls and lots of laughs! We also created our very own dino fossils-first we made a salt dough, next we made a dino imprint, then we baked them in the oven."

The 7th grade Art students are practicing their drawing skills this week, by observing the beauty in nature. Spring is here, so all we have to do is take a 15 minute block of time & go outside to draw what we see. ~ Miss Rachel #BeKindLetsShine

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