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| Vol. 7, Iss. 6 |
Feb. 9, 2017
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Dear Parents:
It's that time of the year again--the Battle of the Books season has begun! BFA has two teams--the third/fourth grade team and the fifth/sixth grade team. Both teams have been working hard for months to learn every detail of their assigned books and prepare for their battles.
Mrs. Poleschook, Mrs. Lewicki
and Mrs. Murphy are very proud of their teams! And, special thanks to Mrs. Gilmour for all of her support!
Earlier this week, both Battle of the Books teams competed against Heritage Elementary and won. The third/fourth grade team won with a final score of 43 to 36, placing them in third place overall. The fifth/sixth grade team won with a final score of 54 to 35, placing them in first place overall.
This is BFA's third year of participating in the Douglas County School District (DCSD) and Douglas County Libraries' (DCL) Battle of the Books. Students who compete are required to be experts and answer questions on 10 books predetermined from the national Battle of the Books list.
Next week the teams will battle Arrowwood Elementary on Tuesday, Feb. 14. The third/fourth grade team battles at 6:30 p.m. and the fifth/sixth grade team battles at 7:00 p.m. at the James H. LaRue Library in Highlands Ranch
(9292 S. Ridgeline Blvd.). Feel free to come cheer BFA on, but remember it's a library, so it's really quiet cheering.
Congratulations to both teams on a job well done!
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Please keep in mind that there is no school on Feb. 17, as it is a teacher comp day; and there is no school on Feb. 20, to recognize President's Day.
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SPELLING BEE DISTRICT FINALISTS
Congratulations to Derek Roper and Mara Anton who competed at the district spelling bee last Saturday. They were both finalists and will be heading to the state spelling bee on March 11. We are very excited for you both!
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2017-18 REGISTRATION DATES
Mark your calendars for these important dates for next school year:
Wednesday, Aug. 9
Families with last name beginning A-L
Registration hours: 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. (with lunch break from noon until 1 p.m.)
Thursday, Aug. 10
Families with last name beginning M-Z
Registration hours: 11:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. (with lunch break from 2 - 3 p.m.)
Friday, Aug. 11
New BFA Families ONLY
Registration hours: 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 14
Teacher Meet and Greets
Wednesday, Aug. 16
First day of school!
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PARENTS NIGHT OUT TOMORROW
Make plans with your sweetheart tomorrow, Feb. 10, and send your BFA student to the Parents Night Out! Students will have a blast hanging out in their favorite pajamas, playing games and watching a movie.
Childcare will run from 6:30-9 p.m. For $5, volunteers will watch your children while you grab a bite to eat or do some shopping. We can only accept BFA students (includes BFA preschoolers). Please feed your children dinner before they come. We will offer popcorn and water, and concessions will be available for sale at check in.
Sign up each child you are bringing individually please, and provide a phone number that can be used to reach you the night of the event. Proceeds benefit the Disneyland Choir.
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DRESS OF CHOICE FUNDRAISER
Tomorrow, Feb. 10, students may bring a dollar to their homeroom teacher for an extra dress of choice day
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just in time for the elementary school's Valentine's Day parties!
Proceeds benefit students going on the Washington, D.C. trip.
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PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held next week for all students.
Preschool parents and parents of students in grades K-4 should have received a sign up request; teachers are looking forward to seeing you in their classroom during your selected time slot.
Fifth grade will be holding drop-in conferences from
4:15 - 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, and Thursday, Feb. 16, with a break from 5:30 - 6 p.m. for dinner. Fifth grade conferences will be held in the Middle School Commons. Parents are welcome to visit with each teacher for 10 minutes.
Sixth and eighth grade parents will have drop in conferences from 4:15 - 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, and Thursday, Feb. 16, with a break from 5:30 - 6 p.m. for dinner. Conferences will be held in the New Gym.
Seventh grade conferences are by invitation only on Wednesday, Feb. 15 in the teacher's classroom; if you did not get an invitation, you are welcome to attend a drop in conference
from 4:15 - 8 p.m.
on Feb. 16, in the New Gym. Teachers will take a break from 5:30 - 6 p.m. for dinner.
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BFA's Spring
Scholastic Book Fair will be held
Monday, Feb. 13, through
Thursday, Feb. 16, in conjunction with Parent-Teacher conferences:
- 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., Monday, Feb. 13, and Tuesday, Feb. 14, and
- 8:30 a.m. - 8 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 15, and Thursday, Feb. 16. Please note: the office is closed from 3 - 4 p.m. every day so unless you are in the building already, you will need to wait until carpool ends to come in and shop.
Click
here
for a preview of all the exciting selections that will be offered this year. Visit the fair and enter your child's name in a drawing for books and miscellaneous items. The drawing will be held after the fair. We look forward to seeing you there.
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A MAGICAL PERFORMANCE TO OPEN BFA'S NEW STAGE
BFA families, please come see 55 of our middle school students as they perform
Aladdin Jr. on
Friday, Feb. 24 and Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. on BFA's new stage! When the street urchin, Aladdin, vies for the attention of the beautiful princess Jasmine, he uses a genie's magic power to become a prince in order to marry her. Iago, Jafar, the Genie, and more are here in
Disney's Aladdin Jr.
, a musical adventure filled with magic, mayhem and the power of love.
This will be the first performance on our new stage. All families and friends are invited to come and there is no charge to attend this performance!
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THANK YOU, JIMMY KINLEY AND CHERRY CREEK MORTGAGE COMPANY
The PTO would like to thank our 2016-17 Platinum Plus Sponsor, Jimmy Kinley with Cherry Creek Mortgage Company. Your support allows us to enhance the experiences of all our students!
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CALLING ALL CREATIVE KIDS!
Instead of calling them old or new, big or small--let's come up with a new name for the BFA gymnasiums! Student Council is sponsoring a contest to come up with new names for each of our gyms. There is no purchase necessary, and any student or staff member can participate. They will only accept one entry, per gym, per person. Mr. Barber and the BFA Board of Directors will make the final naming decision. If a winner is selected, they will be awarded a prize. If there are duplicate entries, the first one submitted will be the official entry. Click here to enter the contest!
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BOX TOP COLLECTION DATE - FEB. 15
Thanks to all our BFA families for sending in your Box Tops. To date, we have submitted $1,325.90, and our goal is $2000 for the school year. We appreciate your hard work and have confidence that we'll be able to reach this goal. Please be sure to write your child's name and their teacher on the bag to ensure the class gets credit. Each trimester the PTO announces a class winner. This trimester, Mrs. Murray's Kindergarten class and Mr. Emmons's sixth grade class were the elementary and middle school winners, respectively. Way to go!
Keep clipping--the next collection date is Wednesday, Feb. 15. Additionally, please be sure to download the app for your phone to get bonus Box Tops.
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NEED LUNCHROOM VOLUNTEERS THIS MONTH
One of our fabulous
lunch aids will be out the entire month of February, so we'll need extra help throughout the month. Please check your schedules and come in when you can. Please remember, working in the lunchroom earns you an entry in the parking space drawing for the following month.
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PARENT SATISFACTION SURVEY BEGINS FEB. 15
The School Accountability Committee's annual parent satisfaction survey will open next week on Wednesday, Feb. 15, and will continue until the end of February. The survey is an important part of SAC's commitment to providing opportunities for parents to be involved in the planning and evaluation of the school's instructional program and quality improvement processes. Parents who take the survey and give their family number will be entered into a drawing for a gift card. Look for more information next week and be sure to take the parent satisfaction survey!
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AUTHOR JESSICA BRODY TO VISIT BFA
Our BFA librarians, in partnership with Tattered Cover Book Store, are thrilled to announce that author,
Jessica Brody, will visit our school on
Tuesday, Feb. 21. Brody is an accomplished writer who has published more than 12 books for teens, tweens and adults. While her focus has mostly been on young adults, she is debuting her first middle grade book this year, "Addie Bell's Shortcut to Growing Up."
Students in grades 5-7 are invited to the event at BFA where Brody will share her journey to becoming a published author, and encourage kids to look for the positive in every situation.
If you would like to order one of Brody's books for yourself or your student, click here. This is the second visit by an author this school year. In the fall, our librarians worked with Tattered Cover to bring
Mike Curato to speak to students in grades K-2.
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GET YOUR TICKETS TO 'A NIGHT IN PARIS'
Tickets on sale now for the father/daughter event, 'A Night in Paris.' Please join us
from
6-8 p.m.
Saturday, March 4, at BFA for a night of dinner, dancing and more. Tickets are $10 per person and will be available until
Feb. 28; tickets will not be sold at the door.
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Class pictures will be taken on Wednesday, March 1. Please remember that this also is a Formal Uniform Day.
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PTO FEBRUARY MEETING CHANGE
The PTO has moved their February meeting. Please join them from
6:30-8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, in the Sanders Science Lab. They will not be meeting on Feb. 16 due to Parent Teacher Conferences. Hope to see you there!
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MICI'S SPIRIT NIGHT - FEB. 28
BFA's next Spirit Night is from 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at Mici's Handcrafted Italian (9245 S Broadway). Proceeds go to all students.
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Eighth graders will be
selling baked goods before school from 7:30 - 8:10 a.m. on Friday, March 3, in the main and upstairs hallways
. Baked goods will also be on sale during afternoon recess. All proceeds go to support students attending the Washington, D.C. trip.
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You can support BFA every time you shop by using Amazon Smile. Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price on millions of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice. Just visit smile.amazon.com and select Ben Franklin Academy Parent-Teacher Organization as your charity. Then just be sure to use smile.amazon.com every time you shop on Amazon to benefit our school. As of November 2016, Amazon has donated almost $38 million dollars to charity through this program.
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This time of year, we generally see an increase in the number of students out sick, so BFA's health assistants would like to provide a few reminders about returning to school after an illness. Please pay special attention to these DCSD Health Guidelines about when a child can return to school:
Your student can return to school after 24 hours of medication for the following:
- Strep throat
- Infected skin eruptions
- Pink eye
- Other conditions requiring antibiotics
Your student can return to school after being symptom free of the following conditions for 24 hours:
- Fever (without the use of fever-reducing medication)
- Vomiting
- Eye drainage
Your student can return to school after they have been symptom free of the following conditions for 48 hours:
- Any diarrhea
- Vomiting accompanied with diarrhea
Thank you in advance for adhering to these guidelines and helping to prevent the spread of illness in our school.
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CHAMP CAMP FOR KIDS WITH ASTHMA
Champ Camp, in conjunction with the American Lung Association, is hosting a summer camp for kids with asthma (ages 7-14). This exciting camp features archery, a rock wall, canoeing, high ropes course and asthma education. The camp is scheduled for June 25 - July 1 at Magic Sky Ranch, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado.
Email
Ashley Seder
for more information.
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BE A HERO FOR THE DAY--BUY A BIRTHDAY BAG
Celebrating birthdays at BFA is fun! For
$10, your child will receive the following:
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A bag full of goodies, such as erasers, pencils, bouncy balls, etc. (no food or candy will be in the bags) delivered to their classroom by eighth graders
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A personalized note from you (if requested)
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Eighth graders singing happy birthday to your child in his/her classroom while delivering the bag
Did your student already celebrate his/her birthday? Is his/her birthday in the summer? We also will deliver "unbirthday bags" for students who have already celebrated their birthday or "half-birthday bags" for summer birthdays.
Thank you for supporting the eighth graders' trip to Washington, D.C.!
To order your birthday bags, click here. If you have any questions, please email Mrs. Simpson.
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SAC MEETING
The School Accountability Committee (SAC) is meeting tonight at 4:10 p.m. in the BFA Conference Room. Their next meeting is March 16.
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FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
The Finance Committee will be holding a meeting via conference call from 7 - 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 9.
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FUNDRAISER DRESS OF CHOICE DAY
On Friday, Feb. 10, students may bring a dollar to their homeroom teacher for an extra dress of choice day. Proceeds benefit students going on the Washington, D.C. trip.
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VALENTINE'S DAY PARTIES
Valentine's Day parties will be held for K-5 students at 1:45 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10.
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PARENTS NIGHT OUT
The Disneyland Choir is hosting a Parents Night Out
from 6:30-9 p.m on Friday, Feb. 10.
For $5 per student, your kids will have a blast hanging out in their favorite pajamas, playing games and watching a movie.
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MIDDLE SCHOOL DANCE
Students in grades 6-8 are invited for a night of fun, dancing, desserts and refreshments from 6 - 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11. Tickets are $10 at the door.
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BOOK FAIR BEGINS
BFA's Spring Scholastic Book Fair will be held Monday, Feb. 13, through Thursday, Feb. 16, in conjunction with Parent-Teacher conferences:
- 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., Monday, Feb. 13, and Tuesday, Feb. 14, and
- 8:30 a.m. - 8 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 15, and Thursday, Feb. 16.
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BFA BOARD MEETING
The BFA Board of Directors is meeting on
Monday, Feb. 13, at 5:30 p.m. Their next meeting is March 14.
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PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held f
rom
4:15 - 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, with a break from 5:30 - 6 p.m. for dinner.
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ARTS COMMITTEE MEETING
All are welcome to attend the Arts Committee Meeting from 5 - 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the BFA Art Room. Their next meeting is March 15.
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BOX TOP COLLECTION DATE
The PTO will collect Box Tops on Wednesday, Feb. 15. The next Box Top collection date is March 15.
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SAC PARENT SATISFACTION SURVEY BEGINS
The School Accountability Committee's annual parent satisfaction survey will open next week on Wednesday, Feb. 15, and will continue until the end of February.
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PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held f
rom
4:15 - 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16, with a break from 5:30 - 6 p.m. for dinner.
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JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT
Junior Achievement will be held on Thursday, Feb. 16, for grades K-7.
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DRESS OF CHOICE
Thursday, Feb. 16, is a dress of choice day for all students without two or more uniform violations since the last regular dress of choice day.
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Friday, Feb. 17 and Monday, Feb. 20
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NO SCHOOL
There is no school on Friday, Feb. 17, as it is a teacher comp day, or Monday, Feb. 20, when we honor President's Day. Students return to school on Tuesday, Feb. 21.
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Ben Franklin Academy
2270 Plaza Drive
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 |
Fax: (303) 974-1738
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Our mission is to create young adults with character like America's founding Renaissance man, Benjamin Franklin: well-read, scientifically curious, and civically engaged.
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Our students will excel academically through a challenging, sequenced curriculum that emphasizes math, science, and literacy. We will be a data driven institution, focusing on individual students. Our students, teachers, parents, staff, and leaders will be held accountable for the success of our school. Finally, we recognize that an education is incomplete without fostering the arts, sports, nature, and character.
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Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Purity and Humility.
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