FRANKLIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

FRANKLIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
NEWSLETTER
June 2015
Dear Franklin Families,
Welcome 2016! We can’t believe that it is already January and we are
about to be in the second half of the 2015-2016 school year.
Winter has finally arrived after a slow start. We want to remind all parents
that students need to be dressed appropriately for the winter weather. This includes coats, hats, mittens and boots to be walking outside. Even if your child is
a busser they need to be dressed to wait outside and walk down sidewalks that
may be snow covered. Also, students need to be dressed for winter once inside.
Students are not allowed to wear their coats in school, therefore, they must not
wear tank tops or short sleeves if they are going to be cold. We recommend long
sleeves or a sweatshirt if they are going to be cold once inside. We appreciate
your help as we want all of our students to be comfortable and warm in order to
learn.
INSIDE
Pre-K
2
Kindergarten
2
First Grade
2
Second Grade
3
Third Grade
3
Fourth Grade
4
We have a new program at Franklin called PRP! This is a Positive Rewards Program and is designed to catch students going above and beyond the
Franklin expectations of being Safe, Respectful and Responsible! Your students
can earn Franklin Fun Cash and if they collect enough at the end of the month
they will be part of a reward party. Ask your child if they have earned any Fun
Cash and talk with them at home on how they can earn the Fun Cash!
Fifth Grade
4
ENL
5
Over the holiday break in December we had a Holiday Reading Challenge. I want to thank the 53 students that participated. These students received
certificates, prizes or a party for their participation depending on the number of
minutes they read.
Please take the time to read the messages from the grade levels, the specials teachers and the important article about homework from our support staff
that is on pages 5-7 inside this newsletter. We are doing lots of great things at
Franklin that we want you to be a part of. Thanks for all that you do to support
us and your child with their learning. If you have any questions for us please contact the school at 435-4550.
Sincerely,
Katrina Allen
Kimberly Coyne
Laura Mitchell
Principal
Vice Principal
Administrative Intern
1
Support Staff
5-7
Library
7
Art
8
Gym
8
Music
8
Instrumental
8
District Staff
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Our Mission
At Franklin we are
successful because
we read, reason,
respond, write and
strive to be lifelong learners,
citizens, and
friends every day!
GRADE LEVEL NEWS
Pre—K
We want to welcome the newest PreK classroom for 3 year old children.
We are very excited to have 3 Pre-K
classrooms at Franklin.
The 4 year old classes have been
learning about animals. Our focus is
on the basic needs of animals, how
they grow and change, how they protect themselves and the fact that humans are animals. Ask your student to
tell you two basic needs that animals
have and one way they protect themselves.
We have also read “Goldilocks and
the Three Bears and learned about
Important people in American History, Martin Luther King. Ask your
child to tell you the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, as well as
two facts they learned about Martin
Luther King.
and identifying letters and the sounds
they make.
words, “more than”, “less than/fewer
than” and “the same as” to describe
the two sets.
spaces between words, and ending
the sentence with a punctuation mark.
With the wet snowy weather, if your
child wears outdoor snow boots to
school, please send a change of shoes
for inside the classroom.
As always, we appreciate your dedication to your child’s education by
Other skills we are working on are;
bringing your son/daughter to school
patterning, identifying shapes, and
each day. If you have questions,
sorting objects into categories, recogplease do not hesitate to ask!
nizing and producing rhyming words
Kindergarten
The Kindergarten kids have started
the New Year ready to learn!
In ELA we have started a unit on
farm animals. We are learning the
sounds animals make, products we
get from animals and how the farmer
takes care of them.
In MATH, we are learning to compare groups of objects and using the
In Writing, students are working on
writing opinion statements that include supporting details and facts.
Kindergarten students are learning
how to write sentences that begin
with an uppercase letter, using finger
First Grade
The first graders are working hard!
We are continuing to work on writing
in a complete sentence. We have just
finished an informational writing unit
about community helpers. Students
will be writing opinion pieces about
their favorite books. After reading a
story with your child, why not ask
him/her what they enjoyed about the
story.
are like little sponges! Ask them what well as the teachers are looking forthey have learned about these culward to this trip.
tures.
Finally, as the weather becomes coldThe numbers in math are getting larg- er, it is imperative that the students
er and the students are busy learning dress warmly. This includes boots,
new strategies to add and subtract
scarves, hats and gloves. Students
these numbers. Thanks for all the
should also pack an extra pair of
support and homework help you have sneakers to wear during the school
given.
day.
In January, the Fabulous Firsties will Thanks for all that you do!
During whole group reading, students
be visiting Hospital Land as well as
are learning about the ancient Aztec,
the Carrier Dome. The students as
Mayan and Inca Civilizations. They
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GRADE LEVEL NEWS
Second Grade
Reading: We are beginning a unit
on Folktales and Fables and the
unique story elements of each. Your
child will be able to identify the moral or lesson from the tales and fables.
Some of the stories you may already
know.; Three Little Pigs; The Tortoise and the Hare; Cinderella.
Ask your child to tell you about one
of the stories and how the character’s
choices affect the moral from the story.
problems. He/She will have daily
independent application problems to
solve, work with peers and receive
small group instruction.
liquids by investigating the properties
of these types of matter.
Math
In math, we have recently begun exploring area as a 2 dimensional figure. Students have learned that space
can be tiled with square units without
gaps. We are currently learning that
area can be calculated by using length
times width to solve for a rectangle.
of surface tension and how water reacts to changes in temperatures.
Odds and Ends
*Winter is here! Please make sure
Writing: This month the students
will be learning how to express their your child wears a coat, gloves, hat
opinion using their own personal ex- and boots to school every day. (*If
periences and providing supports for you are unable to buy one or more of
their opinion. They will have a varie- these items please contact the
school.)
ty of topics from favorite sports,
*Gym is an important special that
games, books and eventually they
will be writing a review on a restau- focuses on life skills, physical health
and more; so please send sneakers on
Math: We are beginning Module 4
rant.
those days.
in Math. In Module 4, your child will
*We are running low on pencils. If
build fluency in two-digit addition
Content: In Science, 2nd graders
you are able to send some in it would
and subtraction and then apply that
have been learning about solids and
be most appreciated.
fluency to one and two-step word
Third Grade
ELA
In third grade for unit two we focused
on informational (non-fiction)
texts. We learned about famous landmarks such as Mount Rushmore and
the Statue of Liberty and why we
should preserve them. The students
have been working on how to write a
long response to a question using rapper (restate, answer, prove it, prove it,
elaborate, reread). The next unit 3rd
grade will be working on is biographies, another non-fiction unit.
Science
In Science, 3rd graders have been
exploring water, including concepts
Behavior Sheets
Please make sure you look at your
child’s red folder every night. There
is a behavior sheet that will have a
score (1-4) showing how your child’s
behavior was for the day. 4 is the best
score and 1 means a lot of improvement is needed from your child’s behavior.
Second and Third Grade Homework Expectations
It is very important that all homework 
is being completed. In addition it is
extremely important that it is done to
the best of your child’s ability. To

ensure that this goal is attainable,
each child or child’s reading group is
given a passage and comprehension 
questions based on their ability.
All answers are to be written in
complete sentences- which restate the question.
All answers must be correct and
based on proof they have found
within the passage.
Any question that asks for a response in paragraph form needs
to have 4-5 sentences which
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begin with capitals, end with periods, have spaces between words
and with legible letters.
 Math problems should show the
student’s work.
Students can use the internet to practice their reading skills on Lexia and
math skills on STMath.
GRADE LEVEL NEWS
Fourth Grade
ELA: F ourth graders continue to
practice close reading strategies to
During the month of January we’ll
help with understanding complex
continue to review the Franklin exMath: The 4th grade Mathematicians
texts better. Our writing is closely
pectations and classroom routines.
currently are working on strategies to
connected to this work as we write
We’ll also continue discussing home- multiply and divide multi-digit numextended responses using text eviwork expectations. Children that meet bers. Continue studying multiplication
dence to support our thinking. Please
Franklin expectations will be able to and division facts each night and have
have your child read for 20 minutes
participate in a fun incentive day that your child log into STMath to reinnightly and log into LexiaCore5 to
takes place approximately every two force concepts taught during the day.
reinforce their reading skills.
Hello Families! Happy New Year!
weeks. Please continue to check and
sign their daily behavior rubric.
Fifth Grade
divisors. Students should be completing homework daily and practicing
Based on the results of the Running
Records Reading Assessment students the skills taught in preparation for the
took in December, students have been Module 2 Assessment.
placed in appropriate reading groups.
Writing
We are near the end of our ELA Unit Fifth graders are writing persuasive
2. This unit is based on informational essays. They have researched and taktext. We have been reading and ana- en notes on a variety of topics and
lyzing non-fiction text about the caus- learned how to create arguments that
es of the Civil War. Students have
are supported by compelling reasons.
been practicing the skills of making
Students read and studied exemplars
inferences, finding the main idea and and used a rubric as a guide for ensupporting details, and identifying
hancing their own writing skills. Stutext based evidence to support their
dents will prepare their own speeches
thinking. Students will write an essay for a celebration that marks the culmiabout the Civil War as a final assess- nation of their work. Our next unit
ment for Unit 2.
will focus on Information Writing
English Language Arts
Math
Our current Module focuses on MultiDigit Whole Number and Decimal
Fraction operations. Students multiplied using Area Models and connected these diagrams and the Distributive
Property to understanding the partial
products of the Standard algorithm.
Students have estimated products to
ensure the reasonableness of products
and multiplied decimal fractions by
multi-digit whole numbers. They are
currently learning how to divide two
and three-digit dividends by 2-digit
based on Westward Expansion.
Science
Students are currently learning about
the systems of the body. Students
have been able to view videos on the
body systems and label models to
demonstrate their understanding of
the major components of each system.
They have completed a variety of
readings and conducted experiments
to help them understand the function
of these systems. As they studied the
Digestive System, they conducted an
experiment to help them understand
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the process of digestion. Students use
ELA skills to complete comprehension questions and lab sheets. They
are currently learning about the respiratory system and will complete this
area of study with the Circulatory system. During the third marking period,
students will study Social Studies.
Tips for Fostering Success
*Students should read daily to improve oral reading fluency and comprehension.
*Homework is assigned Mondays
through Fridays and should be completed with integrity. *At home students can login into Lexia (a reading
program) and St Math (a math program) to practice their reading and
math skills at their level. These programs are free. Students are using
these programs at school to support
their learning.
Good News: Star Jars
Ms. DeRyke and Mrs. Paris have
filled their Star Jars!
Important Dates to Remember
January 29th – Superintendent's Conference Day (No School for students).
February 16-20th - Winter recess
ENL
This year at Franklin School we are
all adjusting to the many changes in
scheduling and instruction. As many
of you learned at our ENL Family
Night in the fall there are new state
regulations, new proficiency levels
and models for delivering instruction
to our Multi-Language Learners. We
still have Stand Alone Time in the
ENL Classroom with our Entering,
Emerging and Transitioning level students giving us some time to focus
specifically on English Language Development. Co-Teaching gives us the
opportunity to work closer with class-
room teachers to plan instruction that
helps our students make connections
between what they are learning in
both classrooms. At our ENL Family
Night we also provided packets of
activities with ideas of how to help
your child at home. If you need additional ideas for helping you child at
home or support with encouraging
your child to continue their learning at
home please visit or call your child’s
ENL Teacher at school.
homes with interpreters for home visits. These visits offer us a chance to
learn more about students and their
families which can help us better support children with their daily learning.
Please contact your child’s ENL
Teacher if you think a home visit
would be helpful for you and your
family and we can help schedule a
visit with an interpreter. We look
forward to continuing to work closely
with families in order to help our students do their personal best every
We would also like to thank the fami- day!
lies that have welcomed us into their
Support Staff Homework Tips
As a reminder, homework is a nightly routine for our students from Monday through Thursday. This includes
ALL Franklin students, grades Kindergarten through 5th. It is a not only a good way to help your child(ren) practice
what they have been taught at school, but also a time to bond with your child(ren). Below is an excerpt from an article
published by the National Association of School Psychologists. This full article can be viewed at: The National Association for School Psychologists website under “Resources & Publications”: “Families & Educators”
http://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/families-and-educators
An excerpt from: Homework: A Guide for Parents by
Peg Dawson, EDD, NCSP, Seacoast Mental Health Center, Portsmouth, NH
Key Messages About Homework
There are three key messages about homework that parents need to give to their children:
Homework is an important part of school. Expect children to complete homework and hand it in when it is
due. Holding children accountable for homework builds responsibility and time management skills.
Parental support will be provided as needed. Some children are genuinely overwhelmed by homework, either
because they find it too difficult or because they don’t know how to work on their own. However, children are less
likely to become discouraged or frustrated when parents offer encouragement and assure them that help is available
when they get stuck. For some children, it is helpful just to have a parent nearby when they work.
Parents will not do homework for their children. This message lets children know that the parent role is to
encourage and to help them get unstuck, while at the same time communicating that homework is designed to help
children master skills that parents already attained.
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Strategies for Supporting Homework
Beyond these messages, there are important ways that parents can help children with homework:
Check in with your children every day. Studies show that students who have parental assistance in completing homework spend more time on homework. Parents can help motivate their children and give them strategies for
sustaining attention and combating the negative emotions often associated with homework. While some children, particularly as they get older, resist help or supervision from parents, minimally parents can ask them about homework
and plans for completing it. “What do you have to do and when are you going to do it?” should be a daily mantra for
parents as they help their children plan for homework.
Establish clear homework routines. Tasks are easiest to accomplish when they are tied to specific routines.
By establishing daily routines for homework completion, parents will not only make homework go more smoothly, but
they will also foster a sense of order that children can apply to later life, including college and work. Setting up homework routines early in elementary school can build habits that will make it easier for children to adjust to the greater
homework demands that middle school and high school present. The steps to establishing homework routines include:
Identify a location where homework can be done.
Make sure children have the materials needed to complete homework assignments (e.g., pencils, erasers, paper,
dictionary, calculator).
Decide on the best time to do homework (e.g., right after school, just before or after dinner).
Make plans for completing homework (i.e., list all the tasks to be accomplished, identify when children will begin
each task, and have children estimate how long it will take to complete each task).
Supervise but don’t micromanagement. Some children will need more help with homework than others, but a
general rule of thumb is provide the minimum help necessary for the child to be successful. In other words, parents
should do no more than is necessary for their children to succeed – but they should do enough to ensure success. If you
feel you are doing your child’s work for [him/]her because it’s the only way [he/]she can succeed, you should talk with
your child’s teacher about modifying the work so the child does not require as much support at home.
Help children establish and maintain organizational systems. Help your children keep workspaces neat and set
up systems to keep track of homework assignments. Homework sessions should end with children:
Placing the homework in the appropriate folder or notebook and backpack.
Cleaning off the desk or workspace so that the next homework session can begin in an orderly environment.
Parents may need to supervise their children during this phase of the homework routine, even after they have learned to
do homework by themselves.
Look for others to help. Homework can be time-consuming for both parents and children. Parents may find it
helpful to take turns supervising homework, alternating by nights or by subject matter. They may also be able to enlist
the support of other family members, including grandparents and older siblings. Some children are more cooperative
working with other kids than adults, and parents may find it helpful to hire a high school student or pay an older sibling
to supervise homework sessions.
Use incentives if necessary. F or children who are not motivated by grades, parents may need to look for other rewards to help them get through their nightly homework routine. Incentive systems fall into two categories: simple
and elaborate.
Simple incentive systems include:
 Giving children something to look forward to once homework is complete
 Building in breaks along the way (either after a set period of time or after a set amount of work is ac
complished).
 Building in choice, such as the order in which they will complete tasks or the schedule they will fol
low.
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Elaborate incentive systems involve more planning and more work on the part of parents, but in some cases are
necessary to address more significant homework problems. These systems work best when parents and children
work together. Allowing children to have input gives them a sense of control and ownership, making the system
more likely to succeed. Steps to follow in creating a more formal incentive system include:




Describe the problem behaviors (e.g., putting off homework until the last minute, complaining at
length about homework, etc.).
Set a goal (e.g., completing all homework by 7 p.m., complaining no more than once a night about
homework).
Decide on possible rewards or penalties (e.g., the chance to watch a television show or play video
games).
Write a homework contract, identifying what everyone will do (parents and children) to carry out their
part of the agreement…
REFERENCES
Cooper, H. (1989). Homework. New York: Longman.
Henderson, M. (1986). Helping your student get the most out of homework. Chicago: National Parent-Teacher Association.
Van Voorhis, F. L. (2003). Interactive homework in middle schools: Effects on family involvement and science
achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 96, 323 – 338.
Xu, J. (2004). Family help and homework management in urban and rural secondary schools. Teachers College Record,
106, 1786-1803.
© 2010 National Association of School Psychologists, 4340 East West Highway, Suite 402. Bethesda, MD 20814 –
(301) 657 - 0270
News from the Special Areas
Library...Mr. McVey
Greetings Franklin community,
In the library we have had the opportunity to
explore a variety of skills related to Information Fluency. Student in PreK, Kindergarten, and 1st grade have focused primarily
on story elements, such as: characters, setting, and plot. When identifying parts of a
story, students have been asked to decide if
events happened at the beginning, middle, or
end of a story. They have all shown their
artistic abilities when drawing, labeling, and
describing scenes from books. They have
also discussed what it means to be an author
and what it means to be an illustrator.
to access a variety of sources to gather information. For example, students have begun to
tap in to the databases available on the Syracuse City School District website
(www.syracusecityschools.com). From this
website, they have learned about the online
encyclopedia (WorldBook), eBooks
(MackinVIA and Bookflix), and online articles about countries and cultures all around
the world (CultureGrams). It has been a
pleasure having such an enthusiastic, caring,
and conscientious group of students in the
library, and I am looking forward to more
great things as the year progresses.
Grades 2nd – 5th have not only worked on
being able to discuss a variety of story elements, they have also increased their ability
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Art
This Winter all grade levels are participating in The Great Snowman Convention. Each grade will be working
on a project involving a "snowperson"
while continuing to learn about differ-
ent styles of art and techniques. I am nity. It gives our children an opporalso looking forward to the Bus Safety tunity to be part of something beyond
Poster Contest in the next month or
our school walls.
two. I love having our students participate in creating art for the commu-
Physical Education...Ms. Fahey and Mr. Clark
As we enter the New Year in Physical
Education we are taking the individual skills and concepts that we learned
throughout the fall and are now working towards implementing them towards game play. We are focusing a
lot on team games and team cooperation throughout the winter months.
Having the children work together
striving to do the best that they can! In
February Franklin will be participating in a district wide Jump Rope for
heart! We are excited to start this at
Franklin. There will be a full week of
jump rope activities that each class
will complete depending on the grade
level! We will learn all about the
heart and its function and why it is so
important to keep the heart and body
healthy. Your child will be bringing
home information about the Jump
Rope for Heart from class! We encourage all students to get outside and
play as much as they can during the
winter here when it’s not too cold!
Stay warm, healthy, and active!
Music...Mr. Laffer
January is an exciting month in the music
room. Chorus began rehearsing and we
are off to a great sounding start. After
studying pitch notation for several weeks
3rd grade students will be starting to learn
how to play recorders. There will be a
note going home shortly with more information about the recorders. I will also
begin preparing students for the All City
choral festival within the next month. I
am looking forward to our mid winter
concert coming up as well. As we continue our progress in music I look forward to
working with your children on all of these
opportunities and more.
Instrumental Music...Mrs. Briggs
Congratulations is in order to two of
our hard working band students: Ziaysia Jones (alto clarinet) and Genesis
Matos (clarinet) who will be performing in the All City Band concert at
Nottingham High School on February
6, 2016 at 2pm. Admission is free.
Come and support our wonderful students!
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Just a reminder to all of our students
to keep practicing your 30 minutes
each evening. New students- as soon
as you pass your playing test of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star you’re in our
Franklin Stage Band!
Families, encourage our young protégées!
PRESIDENT:
Derrick Dorsey
COMMISSIONERS OF
EDUCATION:
Patricia Body
David Cecile
Mark D. Muhammad
Rita Paniagua
Dan Romeo
Katie Sojewicz
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF: Sharon L. Contreras, Ph.D., Superintendent
Jaime Alicea, Chief Operations Officer
Brandan Keaveny, Ed.D., Chief Accountability Officer
Christopher Miller, Ed.D., Chief Talent Officer
Linda Mulvey, Chief Academic Officer
Suzanne Slack, Chief Financial Officer
Monique Wright-Williams, Chief of Staff
Marie Perkins, Executive Director of Early and Elementary
Education
NOTICE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION
The Syracuse City School District hereby advises students, parents, employees and the general public
that it is committed to providing equal access to all categories of employment, programs and educational opportunities, including career and technical education opportunities, regardless of actual or perceived race, color, national origin, Native American ancestry/ethnicity, creed or religion, marital status,
sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or expression, disability or any other legally protected category under federal, state or local law.
Inquiries regarding the District’s non-discrimination policies should be directed to:
Executive Director of Student Support Services, Civil Rights Compliance Officer
Syracuse City School District
725 Harrison Street • Syracuse, NY 13210
(315) 435-4131
Email: [email protected]
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