FRANKLIN ACADEMY



FRANKLIN ACADEMY

PARENT BULLETIN

Month of October, 2017

Dear Parents,

It is that time of the year again. Last month all students already took their first Writing tests. Please make sure your child comes to school well rested. Please talk to your child about what they have learned and make sure they read and practice their math facts each night.

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Attendance

At Franklin we are working on improving our attendance. Our goal is to have 98% attendance. We will be providing prizes for those classes with the highest attendance.

Please make sure to send your child every day to school unless they have fever or vomiting. We have wonderful teachers, but the only way they can teach your child is if your child is in school.

We have noticed that many students are arriving to school late. Late, is when your child is not in line when the 8:00 o’clock bell rings. That is the time that instruction begins. We have many habitual late arrival students coming to school almost every day from 2-10 minutes late. Arriving to school late is setting your children up for failure. They know they are late, they are aware that this is not appropriate, they also know that other students who came to school on time are going to look at them when they enter the classroom and they are ashamed. To add to this embarrassment, most of the students arriving late to school don’t have time for breakfast, so they must wait until recess to eat. Luckily, we have initiated a program called, “Second Chance Breakfast,” that allows students to eat breakfast during their recess time so they don’t have to wait so many hours until lunch. Being hungry is one of the biggest contributors to students’ inattention and discipline problems. It’s very hard to concentrate on schoolwork when you are hungry. We are pleading to all parents to make every effort to bring your children to school on time allowing the students to eat breakfast and have a nice transition to school work. Habitually late students will be receiving letters from the District to attend an attendance meeting with me to explain the reasons they are late. If the attendance doesn’t improve, parents will be getting a second letter to attend a meeting with the District Attorney. At this meeting other state agencies will be present. Some of the possible consequences are a penalty of $500 and/or jail time up to one year. Attendance to school in California is compulsory and children must come to school and they come on time.

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Flu Season

With the flu season coming, we’d like to remind you of simple things you can do to help prevent an outbreak in our school and keep your child healthy.

▪ Encourage your children to wash their hands and cover their cough

▪ See your doctor or clinic about flu vaccines.

▪ Keep sick children with fever at home

▪ Stay healthy by preventing the flu. Get rest! Drink liquids! Wash your hands!

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Learning Math Facts

In order for your child to have success in math, it is very important that they memorize their basic facts. Here are some ideas for how to help your child learn math facts:

Kindergarten- Students learn the concepts of addition, subtraction to 10. Students use objects to add and subtract. (1+3=4) (5-1=4)

First grade- Students begin to learn to add and to subtract to 20. Students need to start memorizing some basic facts such as 1+1=2, 2+2=4, 3+3=6, etc. They also should know subtraction facts to 20.

Second grade- Students should know addition and subtraction facts to 20. They also need to know multiplication facts for 2s, 5s, and 10s.

Third grade- Students should know all multiplication facts 1 to 10.

Fourth and Fifth grade- Students should know all multiplication facts for 1 to 12 and division of the same facts as well as division with remainders.

To help your child learn their math facts they need to:

Understand the concept behind math facts. Practice adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing using objects.

2+4=6 Place 2 beans on a plate. Add 4 more. Count the total number of beans

2x3= 6 You can group objects by 3’s. It would be 2 groups of 3 objects.

Count by 2, 5 and 10’s- counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s help students to learn multiplication facts for 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. Make it fun- chant them in the car or when you are walking from school or when you are jumping rope.

Understanding multiplication/division fact families. 5x4=20 4x5=20 20/4=5 20/5=4

Make or buy flashcards- Practice often and make it fun. Knowing how and how often to practice is important. Have a set at home and a set in the card. Practice for ten minutes to fifteen minutes every day. Separate the facts the children know from the ones they don’t know. Take out the cards that are easy for them or focus on a certain set such as 3’s multiplication facts for a while. Don’t practice too much- the children will get tired and not want to keep practicing so remember to make it fun!

Celebrate with your child every time they reach a new goal. Set small goals- If your child learns their 3 facts, take the time to celebrate. Remind them how proud you are of them and praise them for meeting small goals as well as big ones.

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Pre-school Classes

All children between the ages of 4 and 5 years old are invited to participate. We have around 41 students attending these classes. It is very important to prepare your child for the challenges in TK and kindergarten and provide a basic foundation to make sure your child will be successful when they start school. The Franklin Pre- school program runs every day of the week. We have morning and afternoon classes.

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Parenting Classes for Parents of all Grade Students

We have started one of two Parenting Classes. The first one is through “Padres Unidos” and the second one is through the District but offered at Franklin- “Raising Highly Capable Kids.” The first class through Padres Unidos is offered at Franklin on Fridays from 8:45-9:45 a.m. Parents need to know strategies they will be able to use to guide their children and make a successful transition to puberty and Intermediate School. In addition, this is an opportunity to share your experiences with other parents who are going through similar situations, get suggestions on how to act in many situations and where to go to get help.

If our parents want to learn English or if they want to refine what they know, Franklin offers access to Rosetta Stone, a computer program designed to teach a language. You can come to our Parent Center at any time and day. We have computers you can access and practice these programs to learn English at our Parent Center, a classroom dedicated to parents. Learning English now is in your hands!

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Learning Goals

All teachers at Franklin School write their daily learning goals on the board, every day, and for every subject. This helps the students to take responsibility for their learning and also helps the students to know what to focus on. Parents, we are asking that you ask your child each day what they have learned in school. Ask your child to give you specifics. For example, if your child says, “I learned math,” ask your child, “What did you learn in math today?” Also ask for examples of what they learned. By reviewing with your children their learning goals and talking with your child every day, this will help them to remember what they have learned about.

School Goal

In order to meet our School Goal of Reading Fluently by grade 3, we are asking our students to read at home every day. In the primary classes the students take home Decodable. These are booklets with the skills the teacher taught that week. Please make sure your child reads it to at least 5 people in your household or 5 times. The more the students read, the more fluent they become. In the upper grades the students are taking home either the Anthology with the stories they are reading in the classroom or fluency passages. Again, ask your child to read it to themselves and then read it to 4 or 5 people in the family. It is very important that the students read every day because:

▪ It helps to value and love reading

▪ It helps to develop a bigger and richer vocabulary

▪ It helps to read more fluently and with automaticity

In addition to that, if you have a computer or tablet at home, your child will have access to different programs to support reading fluency and grammatical structures such as Lexia. Please ask your child’s teacher for the password and directions to enter those programs from home.

Franklin has a reading program called Accelerated Reader. Students read books at home or at school and then they take quizzes with comprehension questions about the story they read. If they answer the questions correctly the students obtain credit for the words read in that story.

I’m very pleased to announce that this last past year, our students read 50,000,000 words. Our goal for this year is to read 70,000,000- 100,000.000 words. When you visit our school please look at the Bulletin Board for Accelerated Reader. The names of the students who are passing quizzes and getting credit are listed under each club. We have the 3,000 words club, 50,000, 75,000, etc up to 1,000,000 words club. As the students grow and take the test, we are providing incentives to motivate students to read. The incentives are from a pencil and sticker, to Lunch with the Principal, Pop-corn and a Movie, membership for a year to National Geographic for Kids, and getting to the 1,000,000 words club, a certificate of accomplishment and a T-Shirt making the student a member of the 1,000,000 Words Club and a Millionaire. We want to motivate students to read by providing incentives until they become hooked on reading and they do it just for the pleasure of reading.

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Important Dates to Remember

Monday, October 2nd- No school. Conferences with teachers all day. From Tuesday to Friday October 3-6, Modified Days- Parent/Teacher Conferences. Wednesday, October 4th- “Walk to School Day.”

Friday, October 13th –Picture Day. Saturday, October 14th – Annual Parent Conference

Friday, October 20th at 10:20 a.m. – California Shake-out. Saturday, October 21st- Santa Ana Academic Fair. Monday, October 23 through October 31st- Red Ribbon Observance

Monday, October 30th – DELAC at the District Office (Bilingual Committee)

November 10th – Holiday- Veteran’s Day

November 22, 23, and 24- Thanksgiving Break

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Monday, October 2nd through Friday, October 6th we will have Parent/Teacher Conferences. The meeting with your children’s teachers will be very productive and efficient if you prepare for it. Here is a list of suggestions for the conference:

1.- What do you expect my child to learn this year?

2. How will she be evaluated?

3. Which are the areas in which my child is doing well and which are the ones she is having problems with?

4. Does my child return homework on time?

5. What type of evaluations and tests will my child take this year?

6. Does my child participate in class discussions and class activities?

7. How does my child behave socially?

8. Is my child happy at school? Have you noticed any unusual behavior?

9. How is my child’s attendance compared to the other students and district’s expectations?

10. What can I do at home to help her to perform better?

If your child is receiving special services such as “Gifted and Talented,” Special Education, English as a Second Language, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language, etc. please ask the teacher for the frequency of those services and whether is your child progressing according to those goals.

If there is something you don’t understand, ask the teacher to repeat it to you and clarify whatever she says.

Talk to your child about this meeting, placing emphasis on the positive facts and attention on the negative ones. What are you going to do to improve them? Keep in touch with the teacher. When a child sees that the teacher and the parents work together, the child understands that his education is a priority for the family and the school. Remember that the teacher wants the same that you want for your child and that is for the child to be successful in life!

SBAC- STATE Test Results

We have received the official results from the State Test (SBAC), that our students in third, fourth and fifth grade took last May. We are very proud to announce that our school was 1 of the 5 schools with the highest results in the Santa Ana School District in Mathematics. That includes all the elementary, intermediate and high schools. Congratulations to our students for taking the time and the dedication to answer the questions, and to the parents for bringing them to school before, after and even on Saturdays to acquire the skills they needed to be successful. Finally, thank you to our wonderful and exemplary teachers for their dedication to their students, and for their desire to make their students the best they could be. All that effort and sacrifice wasn’t in vane!

We have the certainty we will continue with our growth and try again this year with your support to have another great year!

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Sincerely

Rita Pereira

Principal

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