Tuesday, December 18, 2007

January Newsletter – 2008

Dear Franklin Parent(s)/Guardian(s),

            You are receiving this newsletter right before we break for Christmas vacation.  On behalf of all the staff at Franklin we wish you a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season!  Remember, we begin our Christmas vacation with an early dismissal at 1:30 p.m. on this coming Thursday, December 20^th.           

            Calendar of Events

Below are some dates to put on your January school calendar.

                        January 3          School resumes at 8:00 a.m. for all students and staff

9                  Delphos City Schools spelling Bee @ Delphos Jefferson Middle

School, 7:00 p.m.

17                2^nd grading period ends

18                5^th grade D.A.R.E. Graduation, 1:00 p.m.

21                Martin Luther King Day – NO SCHOOL

22                Winter In-service Day – NO SCHOOL

24          Report cards sent home with students

28                Quiz Bowl @ Shawnee Middle School, 4:30 p.m.

29                5^th grade God, Flag and Country contest, 8:45 a.m.

Calamity Day Update

As of this date we have used up 2 of our 5 calamity days.  We were out October 17 because of fog and December 5 because of snow.  We have 3 more days that we can use before we have to start making up missed school days due to a calamity.

            Franklin Spelling Bee Winners

Congratulations to Karen Cline, Halee Heising and Grant Bowersock!  They were the winners of the Franklin Spelling Bee held on December 11^th.  Karen is a fifth grade student in Mr. Sommers’ class.  She is the daughter of Alan and Allison Cline.  Halee is a fourth grade student in Mrs. Swick’s class.  Her parents are Mike Heising and Sherry Glick.  Grant is a fourth grade student in Mr. Hohlbein’s class.  Grant’s parents are Todd and Lisa Bowersock.  Karen, Halee and Grant will in the Delphos City Schools Spelling Bee on January 9^th at the Middle School.  The top Franklin speller at that spelling bee will move on to the Van Wert County Spelling Bee on February 7^th.  The first runner-up will represent our school at the Allen County Spelling Bee on February 2^nd.  The second runner-up will be the alternate to the two county spelling bees.  We invite you to come to the Middle School on January 9^th and watch Karen, Halee and Grant compete to see who will be the Franklin Spelling Bee Champion.

            “Lost and Found” Items

We have our “lost and found” table set up in the Franklin lobby.  Every year we seem to accumulate a lot of lost “stuff” during the winter months.  Normally we put this table up in March but this year we have so much lost “stuff” we thought we would put it up earlier.  We have hats, coats, gloves, sweatshirts, sweaters and more!  During morning announcements I have encouraged students to check the table and claim what is theirs but we still have a lot of “lost” stuff.  You are welcome to come into school and check out the “lost and found” table.  You can view these items every day from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.   If your child has lost an article of clothing, we might have it.  At the end of the school year, unclaimed items will be cleaned and donated to a local charity.

            Franklin Quiz Bowl Team

Our 5^th grade quiz bowl team begins its season on Monday, January 28^th.  Members of this year’s team are Jordan Blackburn, Alyssa Fetzer, Desteni Lear, Reid Corzine, Shannon Coil, Gaige Rassman, Kurt Wollenhaupt and Emma Wurst.  The team is coached by fifth grade teacher, Mr. Whitney Harper.  The team will compete against teams from other Allen County schools in a round robin format followed by a season ending tournament.  Below is the team’s schedule.

We wish our quiz bowl team good luck as they start their season and we encourage all of you to come out to the matches and cheer them on!

            D.A.R.E. Graduation

Our 5^th grade students will have their D.A.R.E. graduation on Friday, January 18^th.  It will take place in the Robert Arnzen Gymnasium at Delphos St. John’s High School .  Every year the public and parochial schools of Delphos hold a combined D.A.R.E. graduation ceremony for their 5^th and 6^th grade students.  D.A.R.E. is an acronym for Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education.  The program is taught by Sgt. Mike White from the Allen County Sheriff’s Department.   The program teaches positive self-esteem and strategies for saying “no” to drugs and alcohol.  Graduation ceremonies will begin at 1:00 p.m.   Fifth grade parents will get a letter of invitation to this event.  Please return the bottom portion of the letter to school with your child.

            Staff In-service Day

On Tuesday, January 22^nd, there will be no school for Franklin students.  This day has been designated as an in-service day for the entire staff of the Delphos City Schools.  The Franklin staff will be involved in professional development activities throughout the day.  School will resume for students on Wednesday, January 23, at 8:00 a.m.

God, Flag and Country Contest

All Franklin 5^th graders are required to participate in the God, Flag and Country Contest.  They research and write a three minute speech on the topic of God, flag and/or country.  The top three speeches are chosen from each homeroom and these students compete for the honor of representing Franklin Elementary at the local God, Flag and Country Contest sponsored by the Delphos Eagles on Sunday, February 17^th.  Our school competition will be held on Wednesday, January 30^th.  I will publish the names of the finalists and winners in the February newsletter.

            Thank You!!

We would like to take this opportunity to express two big thank yous.  First, thank you to all of you who donated your time to assist us with the COSI on Wheels program on November 27^th.  It was a great day for our students.  It could not have happened without those of you who helped with the hands-on activities throughout the day. 

Second, thank you to all the 5^th grade parents who donated cookies for the reception after the Christmas program on December 6^th.  Thank you also to those parents who helped to serve at the reception. Our Christmas program would not have been the success it was without your donations, help and support.

We have some cookie plates and containers in the office.   If you left yours at school on the evening of the 6^th, stop in and pick it up or call and we will send it home with your child.

            Computers Donated to Franklin Elementary!

We have had 50 computers donated to Franklin by the Computer Science Corporation (CSC) based in the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center (JSMC) in Lima .  Whenever CSC upgrades their computers at the JSMC they donate the old ones to schools and other community groups. We found out about this program through 4^th grade teacher, Mr. Bob Hohlbein, whose wife works for CSC.  We have had our name on the waiting list for 3-4 years and our number finally came up this year.  These computers will be used to replace some of the older outdated ones currently still being used in our classrooms.  In this way we can keep our building technology up to date.

            Thought for the Month

I’M THANKFUL FOR. . .

Air and autumn and animals

Babies and breath and beauty

Children and compassion and creativity

Daylight and dew and daffodils

Emotions and energy and enthusiasm

Faith and family and friends

Grandparents and grandchildren and God

Hands and health and hope

Ice cream and intelligence and intuition

Joy and journeys and jokes

Kindness and kisses and kittens

Love and laughter and leaves

Mothers and music and memories

Night and nature and neighbors

Order and oranges and oceans

Peace and patience and prayer

Quiet and quality and questions

Rain and rest and romance

Sunshine and smiles and stars

Time and teachers and trees

Unity and understanding and uniqueness

Vision and values and vacations

eXcitement and eXpression and eXperience

Youth and yearning and yesterday

Zest and zip and zeal

                                                                                                            -Tami Stephens

                                                                                                              mother of three

Tim Larimore

Principal