The Franklin Flyer

Mark Your Calendars:

September 30: Judi McCarthy 5K Memorial Run/Walk 9 AM @ Franklin

October 2: PTA - Room Parent Kick-Off Meeting @ 7:30 PM

October 2-13: PTA - Raise Craze

October 2: PTA - Raise Craze 'Chalk the Walk' event after school

October 6: PTA - Raise Craze "Appreciate Your Teacher" day

October 9: No School

October 10: PTA - Raise Craze Pete's Sake Lunch Donation day

October 13: PTA - Raise Craze Parents' Night Out

October 17: Fall Conference @ 4-8 pm

October 23: Picture Day Retake

October 24: Fall Conference @ 4-8 pm

October 26: Fall Conference @ 4-8 pm

October 28: PTA - Trunk or Treat

October 31: Halloween Parties

November 20 - 24: Fall Break - No School

Absences

Please remember to call in or email absences by 8:45 AM. You can call our student absence line (847) 318-4390 (ext 1) is available 24 hours a day, or email Mrs. Linda at lberleth@d64.org.

If the absence is illness related, please also make sure to include Franklin's nurse, Mrs. Queta Karstens, at qkarstens@d64.org.

Franklin Office Hours
School office hours are from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

School Hours

School Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 3:30 pm

Wednesday School Hours: 8:50 am - 2:40 pm

Half-Day Kindergarten Hours

Kindergarten Hours (M, T, Th, F): 8:50 am - 11:35 am

Kindergarten Wednesday: 8:50 am - 11:05 am

You can find frequent updates or snapshots from our days at Franklin on Facebook and Instagram! Follow us at

Facebook: facebook.com/FranklinD64

Instagram: franklin.d64

For the health and safety of our students and community, no pets are allowed on school property. We realize the beautiful weather increases the amount of families who are walking. However, we ask that you please leave your dog or cat at home. Properly identified service animals are always permitted.

Please take a moment to review the contacts section of your ParentPortal. Any adult who has approval for after school pick-up or emergency pick-up for illness/injury should be listed. Franklin staff will not release students to adults who are not listed on the ParentPortal.

Chromebooks

As a reminder, each Franklin student will be issued an iPad (grades K-1) or a Chromebook computer (grades 2-5) as part of the District’s one-to-one digital learning program. Students will receive their devices during the first week of school. Your child will also be assigned a Google account to access Google Apps for Education and other digital resources at school and to explore further concepts introduced in class at home. The devices and their applications are technology tools that provide all students access to digital content and higher levels of individualized instruction.

You can find more information about the 1:1 Initiative, Chromebooks, and the other technologies available to our students here.

Drop-off of Student Items/Lunches

If your student forgets something at home, an adult may drop off items at the Franklin front office. Our front office staff will message the classroom for your student to pick up these items during a break in student instruction. The teacher will send the student to the office when it works best in the classroom schedule.

Visiting Franklin

All visitors to Franklin must have a valid state ID or driver’s license. Identification is entered into the Raptor identification system. This process only takes a short time to complete. Once you have clearance, the office staff will print a visitor pass for you and attach it to a lanyard you must wear throughout the building. The office will hold your ID until you return to the office and return the lanyard. We appreciate your support as we proceed with this district-mandated safety procedure for the safety of our students.

Student-Parent Handbook
Franklin Elementary School and all District 64 schools follow policies and practices reviewed and implemented by the District 64 Board of Education. Please review the D64 Student-Parent Handbook before the start of the school year.

Appreciation Spotlights

Huge shout out to our Back to School Bash chairs - Jen Gongorek, Jackie Duffy, and Colleen Duffy. They pulled out all the stops to create an awesome event for our families to kick off a great school year. Additional thank you’s to all of the day-of volunteers who made sure our kids were fed, and able to take a turn on the inflatables!

Judi McCarthy 5K

The inaugural Judi McCarthy 5K Run and Walk is tomorrow! Join us in honoring the dedication, career, and life of former Franklin teacher Judi McCarthy in a way we think would make her proud - by celebrating movement, activity, and health as a community.

Runners and walkers can still register in person at the event until 8:45 AM - in-person registration is $5 per person and does not include a t-shirt. We’ll also have a free kids’ 100-yard-dash to kick off the event at 9 AM, so come out with your littles and stay to cheer on the runners and walkers!

All those who would like to make a contribution can donate through the PTA Membership Toolkit. Donations will be used to help cover event costs, and additional funds will be used to fund equipment purchases for the Franklin P.E. department through which Mrs. McCarthy touched the lives of so many Franklin students and families.

It’s Raise Craze time!

Monday ushers in our Raise Craze season, and we couldn’t be more excited! The Franklin community always shines bright during our annual kindness marathon, which also helps us raise money to support school activities and programs. Raise Craze helps fund many of our student activities, including the Back to School Bash, Muffins and Donuts with my VIP, student clubs, classroom parties, teacher grants for classroom purchases, and more! This year, we're also raising funds for an exciting expansion of the STEM center and activities.

Students received information packets in their folders this week with instructions on how to register for Raise Craze, start completing Acts of Kindness (AOKs), and the activities listed below:

Raise Craze events:

• October 2: ‘Chalk the Walk’ event after school - all families are welcome at this event on the Franklin black top, where we’ll use chalk to write kind messages and heartfelt drawings for all of Franklin to enjoy. If it rains on October 2, we’ll hold the event on October 3 instead.

• October 2-13: Books and sneakers drive - For the entire two weeks of Raise Craze, families can bring books AND shoes in good condition that can be passed on to others who could use them. Collection bins for each drive will be placed by every school entrance, and we are proud to partner with organizations that help find new life for these items.

• October 6: “Appreciate Your Teacher” Day - Students are encouraged to express their appreciation for all of our wonderful teachers and staff at Franklin in whatever way they’d like!

• October 10: Pete’s Sack Lunch Donations Day - Bring your packaged lunches to school drop-off the morning of October 10. Volunteers will be stationed at each entrance to help coordinate the collection.

• October 13: Parents’ Night Out - Join us at Harp & Fiddle to celebrate Franklin's 2023 Raise Craze efforts. We'll toast to the many Acts of Kindness performed by the Franklin community and come together for some grown-up-only time in our final fundraising push of the 2023 Raise Craze season. Tickets to the event are $65 per person with 20% of the event proceeds going to Franklin to fund school improvements, teacher grants and events for students. We’ll also hold a silent auction with gift cards, items and packages donated by local Park Ridge businesses. This is a 21+ event. Each ticket includes a two-hour open bar and appetizers from 7-9 PM and can be purchased in the PTA Membership Toolkit, PTA membership is not required to purchase tickets.

Room Parent spots still available

Want to be able to attend your child’s Halloween and Valentine’s Day Party? Sign up to be Head Room Parent for your child’s classroom! Thank you to those who already volunteered, we look forward to working with you and meeting virtually on October 2nd at 7:30pm. There are still some classrooms without any head room parents and other classrooms that need party volunteers as well. Please check the list below and consider volunteering for your child’s classroom even if you’ve never done it before…we will help and support you! Head to the Membership Toolkit to sign-up and for more details!

https://franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/114931

Head Room parents: (Slots available)

Dahilig (K)- 1, Mabrito (1st)- 2, lally (1st)-2, Horwitz (2nd)- 1, Popp (2nd)- 1, Majeski (3rd)- 1,

Penconio (3rd)- 1, Ullrich (3rd)- 1, Wu (3rd)- 1, Pater (4th)- 1, Weise (4th)- 2,

Thompson, Belmonte, Biere, (5th)- 2

Halloween Party Room Parents: (Slots available)

Horwitz (2nd)- 1, Davis (5th)- 1, Biere (5th)- 1

Valentine's Day Party Room Parents: (Slots available)

Hastings (K)- 2, Lally (1st)- 1, Davis (5th)- 1

Biere (5th)- 2

Book Fair Volunteers Needed!

The scholastic book fair is back at Franklin, October 23 - 27th. Parents and caregivers are able to shop before or after their conferences on 10/24 and 10/26 for books and literacy materials! Please consider signing up to help Ms. Hetzke by combining a slot with your conference times.

Sign up at membership toolkit. Volunteering at the book fair is a great way to get new book ideas for your reader!

Attention 5th Grade Parents!

It’s time to show off your 5th grader back when they were a cute baby! The Yearbook Committee is looking for a baby photo of each and every 5th grader for this annual yearbook tradition. Please see flyer below for details and don’t miss out on this special celebration of your child!

We want your pictures in the yearbook!

Please submit your photos from the Back to School Bash and Judi McCarthy 5k by 10/6:

-Photos for Judi McCarthy 5k can be emailed directly to this email address: Judi McCarthy 5k Photos

-Photos from Back to School Bash can be emailed directly to this email address: Franklin Back to School Bash Photos

Connect with us on Facebook

Have you joined the PTA Facebook group? It’s a great way to stay informed on upcoming events, connect with other families, and quickly reach members of the PTA team and event chairs with questions. This is a private group for Franklin PTA members, so if you haven’t signed up yet, membership registration is open at franklin store.membershiptoolkit.com.