August 29

Thank you for attending Back to School Nights this week. I am sure you learned a lot about your children's teachers and how their new class operates. These presentations are always full of great information. I asked the teachers to share their presentations with you and/or post them on their Grade Level webpages. If you were unable to attend or want to reference throughout the year, you can easily access them to view.

It is important that, along with knowing your classroom routines and expectations, everyone is also aware of the general school policies. We have moved our annual accountability forms to an electronic format. Please fill out the appropriate form for each of your children.

K - 4 Accountability Form
5th Grade Accountability Form
6th - 8th Grade Accountability Form

Next Friday, September 6, is our first Themed Spirit Day-- Bronco Spirit Day! A themed spirit day is not a dress-of-choice day. Students may wear a Bronco ( or their favorite NFL/youth football) top or BFA spirit wear but must wear uniform bottoms. If your child will not be wearing a football-related top or spirit wear, they should be in regular uniform. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of blue and orange next Friday!

Have a wonderful three-day weekend!

Diana Simpson

Please visit our Bi-Monthly Newsletter dated August 29 for Grades K - 4. We have so many wonderful activities going on in elementary.

Our Bi-Monthly Middle School Newsletter for Grades 5 - 8 will be publish on September 5. Stay tuned next week.

Please visit our Preschool Newsletter dated August 29 for Pre-K 3s and 4s.

Tomorrow, August 30th, is our first Dress of Choice of the year. Please refer to our Uniform Policy for information on Dress of Choice.

Wednesday, September 4th is our next Formal Uniform Day. Please remember to wear your Formal Uniform: Blue Polo top with the Red Logo and Khaki bottoms.

Bookmark Our Events Calendar Now!

We are so fortunate to have an active community. We hope to see you all very soon at one of these events.

Library is one of the best places to volunteer your time. Please read all instructions before signing up and limit to signing up for a couple of spots at first so everyone has a chance. If there are still open spots in a couple of weeks, please go back and fill up those spots.

Check your student(s)' teachers pages to find out what day their class comes.

Sign up on Sign Up Genius and check back often. Thanks for all your help.

SORA has four types of reading levels: interest level, ATOS, Lexile and text difficulty.

This is a great way for the students and staff to have access to more books. You can even add any public library to your account as long as you have a library card for that library. Click here to learn more.

Apple App Store

Android App Store

Our Parent Teacher Organization looks forward to an amazing year full of events, fundraisers and sponsorships.

The new school year means another opportunity to promote your business while supporting BFA.

Each year, sponsorships allow BFA to continue to grow and to meet the needs of our school, as well

as our teachers, staff and students. Sponsorships are on sale now through TOMORROW,

Friday, August 30!

For details on the various sponsorship options and pricing, click here to view the flyer.

Thank you to the 18 wonderful businesses and individuals, who signed up for Early Bird Sponsorship this year! We also have a few more sponsors in the works that we can’t wait to share. Thus far,

we’ve raised over $19,000 for BFA!

Also, if you are a photographer/videographer, marketer, food vendor, or have another event related

company, please reach out. We are always in need of help with all the amazing events we have for

our kids/families/teachers and would love to build a partnership.

If you have questions, please contact Cassie Roberts, Sponsor Committee Manager.

The PTO’s online spirit wear store (in partnership with locally owned and operated Denver Athletic)

is open now through September 8. No orders will be accepted after the store closes. You can place

your order and pay online through the Denver Athletic website. Once the store is closed, all orders

will be ready in approximately 3 weeks. Spirit wear from the last round of sales will be distributed

the first week of September.

Not only do we have classroom-approved sweatshirts, fleeces, and spirit day shirts (remember,

every Friday is a spirit wear day!), there are additional tops, shorts, hats, and more! Show off your

school spirit and support the PTO by placing an order today.

If you have any questions, please email Gen Townsend, PTO spirit wear committee manager.

Our September PTO Spirit Night will be a Colorado Rapids soccer game on Saturday, September 14

at 7:30 p.m. The Rapids play at Dick's Sporting Goods Park (6000 Victory Way, Commerce City)

and are playing the Portland Timbers that night. BFA families and friends will receive special

discounted pricing, and $5 from each ticket sold will be donated to the BFA PTO when purchased

through our ticketing link. Tickets are available for the Spirit Night in Section 120. We hope to see

you there! It will be a great night to cheer on the Rapids with fellow BFA families!

Monthly Meeting

The Community Events Committee (CEC) will hold their September planning meeting from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at Black+Haus Tavern in downtown Littleton. They would love parents to attend and check out what the CEC is planning, whether you are interested in volunteering or simply getting more information. Don't forget, you earn volunteer hours for attending! Please RSVP by Monday, Sept. 2 if you plan on attending.

Goodies with Grandparents

The Community Events Committee (CEC) is excited to host students and their grandparent(s) or special adult at BFA's Goodies with Grandparents from 6:45 – 8 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 6, at BFA. We ask that grandparents please arrive early, but no later than 7:30a.m. as this is a popular event. The festivities will begin in the Lightning (small) gym with coffee, juice and light morning treats. Students and their special adult(s) will continue to enjoy time together with games and photo opportunities.

Grandparents and students may begin leaving the gym at 7:45 a.m. and students should be in their classrooms at the normal time (8:10 a.m.).

Gluten Free options will be available upon request. Please email Marissa Patterson with any questions.

Volunteer Opportunities Available

We are looking for volunteers to help make this event a success. Please see the sign up for available opportunities. We would love to have you be a part of this fun event!

Our upcoming events are:
Goodies with Grandparents - Sept. 6

Blood Drive - Oct. 25

Veteran's Day - Nov. 11

Fathers Event - Feb. 21 (Ex: Donuts with Dads, Daybreak with Dads)

Mothers Event - April 4th (Ex: A Morning with Mom, Magical Night with Mom)

Please join us on September 3 at 4:30 p.m. for our SAC monthly meeting. Join in person or online. Zoom information is on the top of every agenda. You can find the agenda and minutes on their webpage.

We offer many before and after school Fine Arts clubs throughout the year. We update our webpage frequently, so look often.

Arts

Music

American Idol may not being coming to Denver soon but we can practice. This great after school program help students learn the basics of singing, public speaking and performing as they prepare the to sing some classic holiday music. Students will also take a caroling field trip to Wind Crest and sing for their community.

Rehearsals start September 24th and meets Tuesdays 3:30-4:15.

Performance will be December 11 at 6:00 p.m.

Sign up today or check out the flyer for more information.

Harper Arts is so happy to be back for our 7th year at BFA and would love to welcome you into our studio! We offer private piano, guitar, ukulele and voice lessons during, before and after school hours for your convenience! All students are welcome to register for lessons during DEAR time, advisory, recess, carpool and other non-academic times. CLICK HERE to learn more and sign up!

Band at Ben Franklin Academy**

Beginning Band: Mondays & every other Friday, 7:15 - 8:10 a.m.

Intermediate Band: Tuesdays & every other Friday, 7:15 - 8:10 a.m.

Instructor: Mr. Sevy (Video introduction)

***This class is open to students through 8th Grade.**

Beginning Band starts Sept. 9.

Intermediate Band starts Sept. 10.

Ben Franklin Orchestra at Coyote Creek

Beginning Orchestra: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 3:35 - 4:20 p.m.

Intermediate Orchestra: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 3:35 - 5:05 p.m.

Instructor: Mr. Henning (Video introduction)

Class starts Sept. 5.

Fall Sports were in full swing this week. Our game schedules will be up on Events Calendar for Girls Volleyball, Boys Soccer, Co-Ed Cross Country and Landsharks.

Visit our Athletics Page for more information about our Athletics Programs at BFA.

🎉We are so excited for the Fall season of cheer!👏

Who: All 6-8th grade students

What: Cheer/Poms for the 2024 Boys Basketball 🏀 Season

Practice: Mondays 3:30-5:00

When: Starts Monday, September 23rd

Boys Home Games: Usually Tuesdays or Thursdays

Registration: MySchoolBucks.com (24 spots available, first come first served.)

Cost:

$225 (includes poms, sweatshirt, and locker sticker)

Uniforms will be paid separately, more information to come

We offer a non-competitive youth program to introduce running to young athletes in a safe and fun environment. The focus is on self-improvement, being an encouraging teammate, and making new friends. The Fall XC Series is a fun-based program that is open to students in kindergarten through 6th grade.

Please register online

$75 registration fee until September 1(after a $15 additional fee applies)

If you have any questions, please contact:

Coach: Alyson Henbest by Email or by phone 720-484-9369

• Medications:
• Bring student medications and completed required health forms with parent and physician’s signature to the Front Office during school hours once school starts.
• Vaccinations:
• Any updated vaccination records or exemptions can be emailed to our Health Office.
• Please note that if you have already sent in your student's immunizations, we are busy updating them into the system. It can take Infinite Campus a few days to update, so you may see on the parent portal that your student is not compliant. Thank you for your patience and understanding in the duration of time this has taken. We will call parents if we see any discrepancies.

Our delicious lunch is provided by DCSD. Check out the menu for the first weeks of school.

If a student has a specific dietary restriction or allergy, parents must contact DCSD Nutrition Services to arrange an allergy/restriction lunch section.

BFA does not provide breakfast at this time.

Join Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Highlands Ranch Metro District park rangers to learn the basics or advance your angling skills. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will provide fishing rods for each participant to use and take home. This is a catch and release event.

Saturday, Sept. 28

8-11 a.m.

Fly’n B Park

$15 ($18 for nonresidents)

Discounted group rate available for registrations of 3 or more.

Register Here

Welcome Back to the 24-25 school year!

We have some great Community Events already lined up our community! All tickets can be purchased directly from the Community Event page of our website. Check back for new opportunities to be added!

Mission:

Our mission is to create young adults with character like America's founding Renaissance man, Benjamin Franklin: well-read, scientifically curious, and civically engaged.

Vision:

Our students will excel academically through a challenging, sequenced curriculum that emphasizes math, science, the arts, 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 social emotional development, character, sports, and nature.

13 Virtues:

Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Purity and Humility.