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Ben Franklin Academy NewsletterVol. 3, Iss. 4
January 2013
In This Issue
:: Science Fair Finalists | Father/Daugther Dance Saturday | Formal Uniform Day | Jump Rope For Heart
:: Yearbook and Dedication Sales | Parent-Teacher Conferences | Book Fair | Writing Boot Camp
:: Candygrams on Sale | The BENefit Bash | BFA - Sweetest School in America? | Uniform Sale
:: Blanket Drive | PTO Elections | Volunteer of the Month
:: Middle School, Preschool and PTO Newsletters | Important Dates
Dear Parents, 

   Survey

The School Accountability Committee (SAC) invites each family to complete one Parent Survey per family, even if you have multiple children attending Ben Franklin Academy. The survey deadline has been extended to midnight, Sunday, Feb. 3, so please take five to 10 minutes to complete and submit the survey. You can access the survey by clicking here.

The purpose of the SAC is to ensure that Ben Franklin Academy meets or exceeds the annual goals set for the school by its Board of Directors. This survey was developed by the SAC and will provide the committee with valuable feedback on our parents' perception of the school's operation this year. Additionally, we will be able to compare results to last year's parent feedback. The information obtained from this survey will be compiled and presented to the Board at a later date, which will be announced on the Ben Franklin Academy website.

 

Thank you so much for your participation and valuable input!

Middle School Science Fair Finalists
Science Fair

 

The first Middle School Science Fair has come to an end and our middle school students really stepped up with their creative projects. All students deserve special recognition for their hard work. All of the projects were evaluated and narrowed down to 16. From there, the judges selected the top 12 projects. Those students and projects will represent Ben Franklin Academy at the Regional Science Fair Feb. 27-28 at the Denver Museum of Natural History.

 

12 Finalists/Projects

  • Jacque Baker/Shoot Away
  • Audry Butler/Trillions of Triops
  • Henry Dunkleberger/Gear Mainea
  • Katie MacKinnon/Great Gobs of Gummy Gluten
  • Matthew McCoy/Water Power
  • Zander Robinett/Accelerate
  • Adam Sepan/Bombs Away
  • Chase Sieradski/The Spin Factor 
  • Emma Walilko/Lighting up the Dark Side of the Moon
  • Ethan Warrick/Wind Building
  • Maya Watanabe/Mission Impossible: Rise or Drop 
  • Zach Worthing/Common Beverages and Tooth Decay             

Alternates/Projects

  • Jordan Lotter/Playing with Gravity
  • Natalie Smith/Liquid Ice
  • Walker Sparling/Watt's Up!
  • Sydney White/How Do Candies Get Their Color?
Yearbook and Dedication Sales Now Available Yearbook

Yearbooks and dedications

are available for purchase through the online store. Order by tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 1, to receive a special discounted rate. Please note: Your yearbook order must be received by Friday, March 1. No late orders or extra yearbooks will be ordered. Yearbooks will be distributed in May at school. 
Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher Conferences are next week:  Tuesday, Feb. 5, and Thursday, Feb. 7. This is a great opportunity for face time with your child's teacher(s) and to see how your child is performing.

Book Fair

Ben Franklin Academy will be holding a Scholastic Book Fair the week of Parent-Teacher Conferences, Feb. 5-7

The Book Fair schedule is as follows:
  • 2-8 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 5
  • 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 6
  • 2-8 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 7
This is a great time to purchase books for friends and families and donate a book or two to the school library.
Candygrams on Sale
Candygram
 
Send a special treat to your student on Valentine's Day! Middle school students are selling candygrams (lollipops) for $1 each, which they will deliver throughout the day on Valentine's Day, Thursday, Feb. 14. You can order via the online store OR at Parent-Teacher Conferences. If you order online, a generic message will accompany the candygram; if you order at conferences, you may attach a personalized note to your child that will be delivered with the candygram.
Can BFA be the Sweetest SBox Topschool in America?
Box Tops for Education Update

Ever wonder how Ben Franklin Academy ranks against other participating schools with Box Tops? Currently, we are:
  • Seventh out 661 in the area
  • 15th out of 1,619 in the state
  • 1,623rd out of 88,910 nationwide
That is an improvement over last year. Principal Barber challenged us last week to do even better. The Sweetest School in America Contest ends Friday, March 1. Think of all the things that we could do for our school if we won the $25,000 prize! We'd like to turn in as many Box Tops as we can before the March 1 deadline to determine if we could be the Sweetest School in America. If you have boxes in the pantry with Box Tops on them, please clip and send them into the classroom by Wednesday, Feb. 13 (collection date). Right now, a number of products have double Box Tops, and WalMart has select items with four Box Tops on them. Anything we clip counts - including regular Box Tops and Bonus Box Tops. 
BFA's Make an Impact
2013 Blanket Drive

Ben Franklin Academy is proud to partner with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and the DFM Annual Blanket Drive and will be collecting new and clean, gently used blankets for donation.
This is an exciting opportunity for our children to learn the virtue of humility and "being mindful of others" who are less fortunate. 
 
 
We are collecting items for the drive from Monday, Feb. 4, through Friday, Feb. 22, by grade level. Specifically, the schedule is as follows:
  • Feb. 4-8: Preschool, K-2nd
  • Feb. 11-14: 3rd-5th
  • Feb. 19-22: 6th-7th 

Parent volunteers will be counting the blankets daily, and the class with the most donations will get to proudly display a trophy signifying their stellar community outreach attitude! To volunteer, click here.

 

Accepted blankets:   
  • Twin, full, queen and king
  • Sleeping bags
  • Quilts
  • Comforters
(New socks also will be accepted.)
 

Please email the PAC or Erin Salehiamin with questions.

Newsletters
Middle School and Preschool

If you are a parent of a Ben Franklin Academy student in middle school or preschool, you can get more in-depth information by clicking on the links or icons below.
BFA web banner
Click here for the Middle School Newsletter
Preschool Newsletter Image
Click here for the Preschool Newsletter
(Note: Because of a Constant Contact technical issue, these links will not be live for several hours. As such, these newsletters have been sent directly to middle school and preschool parents.)
Father/Daughter Dance
Dance
The Father/Daughter Dance will be held at 6 p.m., this Saturday, Feb. 2, in the Ben Franklin Academy gym. Tickets are no longer available online, but you may purchase them at the door. Ticket prices include drinks, snacks and photos of the event. This will be a great night for our dads to help our daughters know they are special!

If you are able to volunteer at the event, please contact Melissae Andersen.  
Formal Uniform Day

Formal uniform day is next Wednesday, Feb. 6. Students are expected to wear their navy blue polos with the Ben Franklin Academy logo and khaki bottoms.
Jump Rope for Heart
Jump Rope For Heart

Ben Franklin Academy's Jump Rope for Heart event is next week, Feb. 6-8. To view a schedule of when your child will be participating, please see the attached schedule. Envelopes with any money raised is due the day your child participates next week. Ben Franklin Academy students have already raised $1,250 online - great job!

 

There are still quite a few volunteer spots open for the event. If you would like to volunteer, please click here. We really need help with the younger grades.

 

Middle school students also will have the opportunity to participate in Dodgeball for Dollars. We are still finalizing the date for this, but it will be right after school. Students who wish to participate will form a team. It is $5 a student to play, and all proceeds go to the American Heart Association. They will play against other middle school teams, as well as a staff team(s). It should be a lot of fun. There will be more information about this next week.  

Writing Boot Camp

Ben Franklin Academy is excited to offer a great opportunity for our students to boost scores and build writing confidence through an after school Writing Boot Camp. This camp will strengthen and flex students' writing muscles by learning how to analyze a writing prompt, reviewing actual successful writing samples, developing strategies for organizing thoughts and writing solid paragraphs and multi-paragraph essays. Give your child this important life skill for a third of the price of private tutoring. Two grade level sessions are being offered. For more information, click here. To register, click here and select "Writing Workshop." Space is limited, so reserve your spot today.

The Writing Boot Camp schedule is as follows:
  • Session 1: Fourth and fifth grades, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 4, through Thursday, Feb. 14
  • Session 2: Sixth and seventh grades, 3:30-4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 19, through Friday, March 1
The BENefit Bash
BENefit Bash
The BENefit Bash Silent Auction and Dinner will be held from 5:30-11 p.m.,  Saturday, April 27, at the Denver Marriott Tech Center. Tickets are $45 per person, which includes a plated dinner, and they go on sale online tomorrow, Friday,
Feb. 1
.

This fabulous evening out with friends and faculty of Ben Franklin Academy includes a live and silent auction along with live music from a band appropriately named Mid-Life Crisis. As a fun incentive, if we sell 250 tickets by March 1, Principal Barber and the PTO will buy doughnuts for the entire school. So, get your tickets soon!  

Our donation procurement team is hard at work requesting donations for fabulous items for you to bid on during the auction. Each week, the PTO will highlight contributing donors via the PTO and BFA Parent Forum Facebook pages. Please patronize these businesses as a way to say thank you.

The next event planning meeting will be held at
6:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 11, at the Target Starbucks in Town Center. Volunteers are always needed, so join us and bring your wonderful ideas. If you have any questions, please email [email protected] for more information.

Uniform Sale

The Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) will hold a uniform sale from
9 a.m. - 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23, at the school
. Look for details in the coming weeks for information on how to sell your uniforms. 
PTO Elections Vote Button

PTO nominations and elections for the 2013-14 school year will begin in February. For a list of available positions on the PTO, click here. For descriptions of the various offices, click here. 
Volunteer of the Month
Thiessen
John Thiessen

 

The PTO highlights one volunteer each month who has gone above and beyond in his/her contributions to the school. The volunteer receives recognition in this newsletter and has the privilege to park in one of our reserved parking spaces in the parking lot.   

 

For February, we have chosen John Thiessen. John has helped make the school safer by installing cameras and adding locks to the front doors. He donates his time, which has been considerable. John also has been instrumental in helping during car pool.

 

When asked what he likes about Ben Franklin Academy, John responded, "What I like best about Ben Franklin Academy is the nurturing environment that has been created by Principal Barber and his staff."  


Congratulations John! For more information about volunteering, click here.
PTO Newsletter  PTO Logo

The PTO publishes a newsletter three times a year about events, volunteer news and highlights of our school community. Click here for the winter edition. 

Important Dates
Calendar Clip Art

  • Yearbook/Dedications Deadline (with discount): Tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 1; Final deadline: March 1
  • Father/Daughter Dance: 6-8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 2, Gym  
  • Blanket Drive: Feb. 4-22
  • Parent-Teacher Conferences: 4-8 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 5, and Thursday, Feb. 7 
  • Book Fair: Feb. 5-7
  • Formal Uniform Day: Wednesday, Feb. 6
  • Jump Rope for Heart: Feb. 6-8    
  • Volunteer Meeting for BENefit Bash: 6:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 11, Target Starbucks Town Center   
  • TCAP Testing (3rd grade): Feb. 12-13, Feb. 19-21 
  • Box Tops Collection: Wednesday, Feb. 13
  • Dress of Choice Day: Thursday, Feb. 14
  • Teacher Work Day (no school for students): Friday, Feb. 15
  • Presidents' Day Holiday (school closed): Monday, Feb. 18 
  • Uniform Sale: 9 a.m. - 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23 
  • Regional Science Fair: Feb. 27-28  

Upcoming Meetings 

  • Marketing Committee: 6 p.m., Monday, Feb. 4, Conference Room
  • STEM: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 6, Library 
  • SAC: Thursday, Feb. 7, Conference Room  
  • PAC: 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 7, Middle School Commons Area 
  • Finance Committee: 5 p.m., Monday, Feb. 11, Library
  • Board of Directors: 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 12, Library   
  • PTO: 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 12, Middle School Commons Area  
Ben Franklin Academy Calendars
Sincerely,
 

Bob Barber
Principal
Ben Franklin Academy
Contact Us!
Ben Franklin Academy

2270 Plaza Drive, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129

Main Office: (720) 383-4519 or [email protected]

Attendance: (720) 432-9239 or [email protected]

Web: http://www.bfacademy.org/

Fax:  (303) 974-1738  

Ben Franklin Academy's 13 Virtues: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Purity and Humility.