Dear Franklin Families,
I hope that all of you enjoyed the beautiful fall weather this weekend. It was great to see so many of you at both the Back to School Picnic and the Parent Coffee last week. Many thanks to PTO Presidents Jessica Allen and Emilie Chang and all of the volunteers who organized these wonderful community-building events. Our next school community “gathering” will be Curriculum Night next Tuesday, October 5th. This will be a virtual event due to current health restrictions, and we will be sending more information about the schedule next week. In addition to hearing from classroom teachers, I will also be presenting a general overview of life at Franklin School and ways in which all of you can get involved to make this an outstanding learning community. If you are unable to join us on Curriculum Night or would like to preview some of the information that will be available that evening, please see the Newton Public Schools’ Curriculum page at: https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/Page/770.
6:00-6:45 Grades 3-5 (Zoom links will come from teachers.)
7:00-7:45 Grades K-2 (Zoom links will come from teachers.)
Parent Coffee/PTO Evening Meeting Dates: This year, we have a mixture of morning Parent Coffees and evening PTO Meetings through which we hope to engage all of you in conversation about life and learning in our school community. Please join us on the following dates. We will meet in-person when feasible and rely on virtual meetings when necessary. At this point, in-person meetings will need to be outdoors, so we expect to be limited by weather or lack of daylight as we move farther into the fall. We will let you know the format for each meeting as the date approaches.
October 18th 7:00 p.m.
November 19th 8:30 a.m.
January 20th 7:00 p.m.
February 18th 8:30 a.m.
March 24th 7:00 p.m.
April 29th 8:30 a.m.
June 2nd 7:00 p.m.
Absences: If your child will be absent from school for any reason, please call the Student Absence Line at 617-559-9509 before 7:50. Also, please be sure that teachers have accurate information about dismissal routines for your child.
Our first Early Release Day is next Thursday, October 7th, and all students will be dismissed at 12:10. The afternoon is held for professional development for the staff, and we will be learning about Culturally Responsive Teaching and Racial Identity Development. Future Early Release Dates will be: November 2nd, December 9th, February 3rd, March 24th, and May 12th.
Creative Arts & Sciences Programs: The Franklin Creative Arts & Sciences Committee, led by Chris Daly and Helen Makadia, organizes and manages enrichment programs at Franklin that support Newton Public Schools' curriculum, system-wide goals, and core values. The Franklin PTO provides 100% of the funding for these programs, and we are planning to have three programs per grade level this year. Programs brought into Franklin enhance instruction in Art, History/Social Sciences, Music, Reading, Science/Technology, and Writing. Thank you to all of the families whose support of the PTO makes these programs possible! Upcoming programs are:
Thursday, October 7th: Storyteller Len Cabral visits Third Grade
Tuesday, October 19th: Storyteller Kemp Harris visits Kindergarten and First Grade
With best wishes,
Mark Chitty
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