The Franklin Flyer

Mark Your Calendars:

January : PTA - Sign-ups closing soon!!

• 4th & 5th Grade Volleyball (until teams are full)
• GLAM Club volunteers
• Pizza Monday Volunteer Sign-ups

January 22: PTA -V.I.P. and Me Winter Dance sign-up for all Franklin families

January 25: PTA - International Nights 6-8 PM & GLAM Club begins

February 14: Valentine's Day

February 15: Open House 6:00-7:30 PM

February 16: Institute Day - No School

February 19: No School

February 23: PTA - VIP and Me Winter Dance 6-8 PM

March 15: PTA - Donuts with my V.I.P. Spring Edition 8:00 - 8:40 AM

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

Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30

4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 12:05 - 1:00

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

Wednesday Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade Lunch: 11:05 - 12:00

Wednesday 4th and 5th Grade Lunch: 11:35 - 12:30

Half-Day Kindergarten Hours

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

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

A Message from the Superintendent

Dear District 64 Families,

As we get settled back into the school year, it’s time to discuss registration for the 2024-2025 school year. Registration opens for all District 64 students on Tuesday, January 16th; this includes preschool and kindergarten.

Like last year, we improved the registration process to put us in the best position to help your children. The deadline to register your child for the 2024-2025 school year is noon on Friday, March 22nd. We are offering an early bird discount on families’ school fees if they complete registration, as well as pay fees before noon on Friday, March 22nd. For any families who do not register by this date, you’ll receive a records release as we’re assuming you’re going to another district.

It is important to note that to take advantage of the discount, you will need to have the registration forms filled out and submitted by Monday, March 18th. This allows our staff time to verify documents and send out invoices so you can pay them by noon on Friday, March 22nd. You can find our fee list for 2024-2025 here, and it shows what fees would be before and after the deadline.

Another improvement to our registration process is adding an in-person option for families who need help filling out documents or can’t do it online. We will offer these at your school’s parent-teacher conferences in February/March.

Thank you to all the families who registered their children before the deadline in 2023. The earlier families register, the better we can plan for staffing throughout the District, classroom arrangements, and materials needed for the school year.

Where can you find registration information? All of the links and directions for 2024-2025 registration will be placed at the top of our registration page on Tuesday, January 16th.

How can I take advantage of the fee discount? You will need to have the registration forms filled out and submitted by Monday, March 18th. This allows our staff time to verify documents and send out invoices so you can pay them by noon on Friday, March 22nd.

What happens after March 22nd? If you miss the deadline and receive a records release form but want your child to go to school in District 64, You will need to complete a few items to enroll:

• Prove residency, even if you were previously cleared

• Provide a birth certificate of the child registering

We appreciate the community’s help in meeting this deadline so that we can accurately plan for the upcoming year.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ben Collins

Superintendent

Illness Reminder from the District Nurse

Cold and Flu Season is here! Please do not send your student to school if they have a fever of 100 or above, vomiting and/or diarrhea, or if they feel too sick with a sore throat, cough, runny nose, etc. to participate in class. Keep them home, give them time to rest and do not send them back to school until they are 24 hours free of vomiting, fever, and diarrhea without the use of medication AND feeling well enough to participate in the school day. Please read this illness letter that was sent home earlier this year about the common illnesses we’re seeing this time of year. IDPH and CDC have asked us to remind you to make sure you and your students are up to date on your flu and COVID immunizations (and RSV vaccine for infants or older adults).

If your child will not be attending school due to illness or any other reason, please report it to the school absence line at any time and leave a message stating the reason for the absence. We want everyone to be healthy for the last week of school before break and want to help everyone have a healthy holiday season.

Congratulations to all of our Franklin Spelling Bee participants! What an amazing accomplishment! We are so proud of you! Go Falcons!

Please send a change of clothes with your student for all K-5 students. It is helpful to have a change in the event of spilled water, accidents, or an unexpected need for a change in clothes. Student clothes should be labeled with your child's name and can be kept in your child's locker.

If there are any significant changes at home that may impact your student(s) arrival or dismissal or impact your student(s) emotional at school, please reach out to notify Mrs. Williams or your child's teacher to best support your family.

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.

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

Gratitude

Thank you to everyone who supported the purchase of holiday gifts for our Franklin staff!

• Colleen Russell our room parent coordinator for organizing the entire process and managing communications and directions to the head room parents.

• Shehnila Hakeem and Tania Wygonowski for quickly pulling all of the back end reporting to ensure donations were distributed in time to purchase and deliver gifts before break.

• All those who purchased gifts to help our staff feel holiday love, head room parents for home room teacher gifts and Idalmy Carrera-Colucci for taking care of all other Franklin teachers and support staff.

Buy your tickets to the 2024 Franklin V.I.P. & Me "Tropical" Winter Dance

Join your Franklin friends for an evening of dancing and fun, including photo booths and light refreshments.

This year’s dance will be held on Friday, Feb. 23, 6-8 PM in the Franklin gym. Our theme is “Tropical Winter” so feel free to have fun with your wardrobe. This is an opportunity to dress in your tropical best - whatever that means to you!

We invite one adult V.I.P. per household and only current Franklin students may attend the event. Students must be accompanied by their adult V.I.P for the duration of the event; this is not a dropoff event.

Ticket sales dates in the PTA Membership Toolkit:

• PTA member families can buy tickets starting Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 at 9:30 AM

• All other Franklin families can buy tickets starting on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 at 9:30 AM

Space is limited for this event so we suggest you purchase your tickets as early as possible.

Please send questions regarding the dance to idalmy.colucci@gmail.com.

Lights! Camera! Action! Committee Members Needed for Night of the Stars

We need help to plan and produce this fun event that highlights the many talents of our Falcons. Please reach out to Camille DeCicco (camille.decicco@gmail.com) if you are interested in helping with any of the following:

• Promotion, communication

• Talent management, rehearsals

• Day of logistics, concessions, decorations

GLAM Club volunteers needed!

We are in need of a few more volunteers (at least two per grade) so we can continue to host GLAM Club this year, which takes place during lunch/recess on Thursdays February 1 - March 21. Students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade will explore math and numbers in a fun way.

Student sign up will open once we have enough volunteers. We are flexible and allow for part-time volunteers as well who may not be able to make all sessions. All games and materials are provided and no previous experience is necessary. Please contact Brennan Young (youngbrennan12@yahoo.com) if you’re interested.

Staff Lunches

The PTA offers teachers and staff members an option to purchase lunch on Mondays from Spuntinos via franklinpta.membershiptoolkit.com. Families are always welcome to show their appreciation for a staff member by purchasing a Monday lunch on their behalf. If this is something your family is interested in doing, please refer to Membership Toolkit for more information.

Questions about teacher and staff lunches can be directed to rebeccavanpoucke@gmail.com.

Ciao! Mahalo! Γεια σας! Hola! Bonjour! Hello! Здраво! Witam!

We are still looking for performances to showcase the many different cultures through song, dance, demonstration, etc! Everyone is invited to participate - adults, family members, children, etc!

We are also in need of general volunteers to help run day-of activities like set-up, registration, and clean up. This is a great option for teenagers looking for service hours, too!

Capture those Falcon memories!

Please add photos of all of the recent school events to the yearbook. Easily upload to the TreeRing app or website or email notification.photos.298362828@treeringphotos.com