The Roadrunner

One of my favorite parts of being the principal at Ben Franklin is the opportunity to see learning happening in classrooms each and every day. I’m excited to share a few highlights from our wonderful school community!

• Kindergarten: Our Kindergarteners are mastering the art of storytelling! They’re retelling stories by sharing the characters, setting, and problem/solution. They also engaged their senses, describing things they enjoy with delightful examples like, “I use my sense of taste to enjoy cupcakes!”

• Music Class: I had the joy of observing students singing both the melody and harmony of a new song. Their enthusiasm for music is truly inspiring!

• Third Grade: These students conducted experiments to study the impact of gravity on various sized water droplets. They’re also learning to enhance their science journals with detailed drawings to accompany their descriptions.

• First Grade: Our first graders have been using movement to identify where they hear various sounds in words, making phonics fun and interactive!

• Keyboarding Skills: Students have been practicing their typing with EduTyping, developing essential skills for the digital age.

• Library Responsibility: Kindergarteners are learning how to care for and be responsible for the books they check out in the library, fostering a love for reading from an early age.

• Fifth Grade Socratic Seminar: Fifth graders participated in a thought-provoking Socratic seminar discussing the book, Thank You, Mr. Falker, encouraging critical thinking and dialogue.

• Early Childhood (ECSE): It is an absolute joy watching learning through the eyes of our youngest learners. These 3-5 year olds are learning what school is all about through structured play, centers, and group time.

• And so much more!

These are just a few snippets of the learning happening each and every day at Ben Franklin. I am continually impressed by the creativity, curiosity, and collaboration I see among our students and staff.

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in your child’s education. Looking forward to seeing you all at conferences!

-Mrs. Skarperud, Principal

We decided that there is already so much to be proud of and it's time to celebrate as a school with PAJAMA DAY. Some highlights to celebrate include...

A new school year

new friends, new learning

fall assessments are wrapping up

parent teacher conferences

our pizza fundraiser

rocking our safety drills

121 Roadrunner cards just in August and September!

and the list goes on!

Today we held our October Roadrunner Roundup Assembly. This is such a fun time to come together as an entire school to celebrate accomplishments. We acknowledged all 121 students who received Roadrunner Cards in September. We also named our first Roadrunner Rockstars who have earned 3 Roadrunner Cards so far this year. These 10 students were awarded with small trophies and their pictures will be posted on our hallway bulletin board. Check them out during conferences! We can't wait to add names to this wall:) We also were introduced to our new ELBA books in each division. The titles sparked lots of enthusiasm from our students and staff:)

We want your child to be successful in school and that means supporting and encouraging their whole development. While excelling in academic classes is important, children also need skills to take on learning challenges, make good decisions, manage strong emotions, and get along with others.

This month, we began Second Step Elementary, a research-based social-emotional learning program designed to improve children's social-emotional skills. Second Step skills and concepts are designed to help children both in and out of school. Four units will cover the following:

Growth Mindset & Goal-Setting: Children learn how to pay attention and manage distractions, develop a growth mindset, and apply goal-setting strategies to their social and academic lives.

Emotion Management: Children learn how to identify and label emotions and use emotion-management strategies- including stress management for older students- to calm strong feelings.

Empathy & Kindness: Children learn how to recognize kindness and act kindly, have empathy for others and take others' perspectives, and recognize kind acts and empathy as important elements of building and maintaining relationships.

Problem-Solving: Children learn how to identify and state a problem, recognize if a problem is an accident, and use the STEP problem-solving process:

• S: Say the problem
• T: Think of solutions
• E: Explore the outcomes
• P: Pick a solution

October is also National Bullying Prevention Month so anti-bullying lessons will also be incorporated into these social-emotional learning lessons.

We are looking forward to seeing you during conferences! Please bring your children to conferences so they can be part of celebrating successes and setting goals.

The book fair will run from Thursday, October 2- Wednesday, October 9. Come check it out in the library during conferences!

Please save the date for Friday, October 25th at 2:00 (prior to our first RED event) for our annual Fall Parent Meeting. We will share information about our Title 1 Schoolwide Programming. Hope you can join us!

October 2nd - Early Out (1:30)

October 3rd- Parent/Teacher Conferences 4-7pm

October 4th- Parent/Teacher Conferences - NO SCHOOL
October 8th- Parent/Teacher Conferences 4-7pm

October 16th - Early Out (1:30)

October 18th - No School (Fall Educators Conference)

October 24- Picture Retakes

October 25- 2:00- Annual Title 1 Parent Meeting, 2:30- RED event

to our PTO for organizing meals for teachers during conference days. We greatly appreciate this thoughtful gesture during these busy times! Thank you to the local businesses below for your contributions as well!

Please call the number above if your student will be absent.

Facebook: Ben Franklin Elementary GFPS