Ben Franklin Times

Friday, Dec. 21 - Spirit Day/Early Dismissal

Monday, Dec. 24- Tuesday Jan. 1 - No School

One of the things that I notice is that many of our kids do not use the standard, "Please," when requesting something, and "Thank you," when given something. I see parents reminding their children daily and I know that whenever I hear someone come into the office and ask for something, I listen for it. When I tie a child's shoe or help them open their milk carton I alway wait to hear, "Thank you." Often I have to remind them. Also, I make it a point to say "Good morning!" every day when I greet the kids off the bus, yet only about half of the children will respond with a "Good Morning!" Even fewer raise their eyes to look into my eyes when they say it.

I have 5 children that I am very proud of. Three of my children are now adults (one in college). They all have had their struggles and their triumphs. The thing that makes me most proud is when people come up to me and tell me how nice my kids are and how respectful they are. There is nothing that a parent can hear about their child that is better than that. When someone walks up to you out of the blue and says, "Oh, you're Michael's dad. He is such a nice kid." When the parents of my son's friend come up to me and say, "Logan is welcome in our house anytime. He is so respectful and nice and he always helps out around the house." These are huge parenting wins for me.

In order to create a culture of kindness, we must share a common language. Please reinforce these simple "Manners" at home. If we are going to teach resilience, empathy and understanding, our students have to realize that showing respect to those that do things for them is important. Kindness begets kindness. Good manners will take them far. This will set them on the path for success in the future.

Check this out: 25 Manners Every Kid Should Know by Age 9

First of all, thank you again for all of the nice notes about our staff and the police during the evacuation. Everything really went as we practiced. We have processed with the Township Police Department and there will be more meetings to discuss some ideas and feedback.

Although we never like to deal with things like this, it truly had an impact and our staff handled it with professionalism and kindness.

Family Fitness Night was a huge success with many of our families getting out on a Friday night and having fun while taking care of themselves. Thanks to Peter Braynor for organizing the event, running activities, and getting things rolling with the Dinosaur Dance! I love having these activities because they provide our families with ideas for continuing the conversation about lifetime wellness.

Mrs. Miller, our Technology Teacher has put together a variety of apps and programs that you can look into and use at home. I will leave this as part of our weekly newsletters so it will always be here. Click below.

I often tweet from my personal account which is @JayBilly2

Email: jbilly@ltps.org
Website: https://www.ltps.org/Domain/11
Phone: 609-671-5540
Twitter: @bfes_ltps