Welcome Wagon: Are you new to Franklin? Is it the beginning of the school year or right in the middle? You might feel just a bit lost. Let the “Welcome Wagon” welcome you with some goodies, the answers to your questions and a new friend to help you through the year.
TLC: The Tender Loving Care committee is one of compassion. If a Franklin family is in need of some TLC, we walk along side them. Often it is in the form of providing meals during a tragedy, surgery or maybe birth of a baby. In the same token, if a family is in a situation and might
need help with transportation to school for their children or watching their children we try to assist them.
School T-shirts and Hoodies: Welcome your student aboard with a new Franklin school t-shirt and/or a hoodie! If you are an in-coming kindergarten parent, your student’s shirt will be part of their school fees and provided through their classroom. School t-shirts provide us with a way to encourage school spirit for activities and events here on campus and safety as we venture out on field trips. Look for them at “Meet the Teacher” night and “Curriculum Night”.
Hospitality: The Hospitality Committee needs you! If you like to plan events, then we need you on our committee! If you like to cook, bake or shop, you can help by donating food for events we host for the Franklin Staff and community! The Hospitality Committee hosts several events through the year: the Welcome Coffee on the first day of school, two staff luncheons during conferences, the Thanksgiving Feast, a week of events for Teacher Appreciation week, and we provide snacks for kindergarten registration. If you would like to help out, we will have sign-up
sheets at the Volunteer Fair at Meet-the-Teacher and at the Welcome Coffee on the first day of school.
Dad-n-Me Breakfast: Dad and Me breakfast is usually the last Friday in April and it provides an opportunity for the kids to bring their Dad/Granddad/working Mom to school for fun and sugar (donuts, muffins, juice and coffee). The event starts at 7:15 a.m. to accommodate our working parents.
Contact: Elizabeth Donahue at elizabeth1785@msn.com or
Other Socials: Throughout the years Franklin has also provided fun social activities that parents have volunteered to run. They provide a fun evening out for our Franklin Family and the students really enjoy them. Look in your school calendar or watch for upcoming flyers or emails for
these possible events.
• 5th Grade Sponsored School-wide party
• Lakeside Night
• Skate City
Innisbrook Premium Wrapping Paper and Gifts:
Each fall we have the privilege of selling the quality products of Innisbrook Wrapping paper and Helen Grace Chocolates. Historically this fundraiser brings over $12,000. We are looking for our largest participation ever! The wrapping paper is the highest quality around at almost 21 feet a role! And the best part is that Franklin receives 50% profit on every item sold!!! Our 5th graders will also be selling Innisbrook Cookie Dough to raise money for their trip to Snow Mountain Ranch. If you can participate, stock up on wrapping paper and gifts for the whole year! We also can always use a helping volunteer hand!
Direct Donations to Franklin:
We accept direct donations throughout the year and we are offering an opportunity for parents to opt out of participating in fundraising events by raising/donating cash instead. Kiddos will be able to participate in prizes by reaching benchmarks in either fundraiser participation or raising cash donations.
Grocery Certificates/Cards:
This yearly program brings in over $14,000 and allows Franklin families to support the Franklin PTO by shopping for groceries. Scrip (grocery money) is available for King Soopers, Safeway, Tony’s and Sunflower Market. We earn 5% from the sale and all the money goes to benefit kiddos at Franklin! Certificates/Cards are always available at the Franklin office or by contacting a neighborhood rep. We all buy groceries.... please participate!
Book Fair: Scholastic Book Fair
We can use volunteers to help with sales, decorations, and to help with classrooms as they preview and then purchase. In the past with our profit we have provided books for the classrooms, teachers, and donated books to the troops in Iraq and also to a school rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. Last year we were able to purchase over $5,000 worth of books.
Spring Fundraiser: Franklin’s Annual Silent & Live Auction Event
Save the date: Saturday night, April 18, 2009.
The Silent & Live Auction is the schools largest fundraiser held in the spring. We raised over 26,000 last year and the PTO mission is to use 100% of the auction proceeds to support staffing, educational and cultural programs such as art and literacy at the school. It is a night of fun socializing with other parents and faculty along with silent bidding on some amazing things plus a live auction of the Art Start projects that each class makes. This is one event you do not want to miss. If you’d like to volunteer for this very fun committee we’d love to have you!
Cartridges For Kids: Franklin PTO collects empty printer, fax and copier cartridges along with used cell phones, laptops, PDA’s, digital cameras, video games and game consoles, iPods and DVD movies for recycling on an on-going basis. This is an easy way for you to protect the environment and help educate our kids at the same time. For more information on this program including what’s collectable and price lists, please visit www.cartridgesforkids.com.
Soup UPC Labels and Box Tops: As a student body we encourage our families to send in soup UPC labels and box tops which benefit our student council and is a very worthy project. So as you eat your soup and cereal and send the labels in with your student to their classroom.
Teacher Raffle: The Franklin Teacher Raffle is a fundraiser usually held in the spring for the “Teacher Request Fund” and is optional for teachers. Teachers who wish to participate can donate an activity to do with students such as being “Principal” for the day; going to a student’s home to read them a bedtime story; having a pizza party in the cafeteria; having a water balloon fight after school; and other fun and zany ideas. Students purchase raffle tickets for the activities they would like to win and the proceeds are divided among the participating teachers to use for classroom purchases such as additional reading books, classroom posters, and such. Volunteers on this committee help with advertising the event through posters and Almanac announcements; gathering the raffle “items” from teachers; collecting and counting the money as it comes in; and picking the winners.
Room Parent Coordinator: The Room Parent Coordinators encourage all parents to sign up to help with the two class parties we have at Franklin each year; Halloween and Valentines Day. As coordinators, we compile all the information submitted on the white Party Fee envelopes that are distributed in the manila envelope your student receives at the beginning of school. We make sure each class has at least one head room parent, and put together a list of volunteers for each class. We also hold a room parent-planning meeting, and distribute information and the party funds to the room parents from each class. It is a great way to be the “Fun Mom or Dad” in the classroom!
ILC: Our Integrated Learning Center is our fabulous library. We need your help to shelve and check out books to classrooms as they visit the library. Training is provided with no experience necessary. It is a great place to become familiar with our resources at Franklin, as well as the
children. You can volunteer during your child’s check out time.
School Pictures: Get those haircuts scheduled! Individual school pictures will be taken Monday, September 8. Look for pre-pay order forms that will be coming home in your child’s backpack the first week of September. Please send the completed forms back to school with your child on the 8th. We recognize that a Monday picture day is not ideal for everyone, but this day enables us to capture all our students. Monday is the only day that all kindergarten sections attend school. Thank you for your understanding on this.
Franklin Garden: Our beautiful and productive school garden is a dynamic, interactive and creative teaching/learning opportunity for the kids at Franklin. All of the children have opportunities to plant, care for, harvest and consume the bounty of the garden. In those processes, children have the chance to glean a tremendous amount of knowledge. Volunteer opportunities abound and there is no need to have a green thumb to help out; only the desire to be involved with something cool. Volunteers are needed mostly in the spring and the fall. We are also looking for “foodies” to help us create tantalizing dishes with our harvest with the kids in the classroom. Even if it is not your thing, check out the garden next to the primary playground. It’s cool!
Art Start: This program is a wonderful visual arts appreciation program funded by PTO and facilitated by parent volunteers whose purpose is to provide students with a foundation in art appreciation. Every student at Franklin will have the opportunity of doing Art Start projects in their classroom throughout the school year. During the lesson, kids make their own art using the artist’s concepts and media. Look throughout the school as the year progresses and you will find over 100 works of art in poster form. Art Start also supports other activities including Family Art
Night, field trips to the Denver Art Museum, and art shows throughout the district. You can help this program by volunteering in your child’s classroom during their Art Start teachings.
Contact: Paula Bland at paulabland@comcast.net and
Jr. Great Books: Junior Great Books is a fun and educational program, run by our Franklin parents, that takes place during lunchtime from January through March. Each week we will read an outstanding story with the students and lead them in a discussion. The program’s structure
offers students ongoing opportunities to develop their ideas about a challenging work of literature and to share ideas with others. The Junior Great Books Program stresses the enjoyment of literature for its own sake, while at the same time it develops comprehension, interpretive thinking, and oral and written language skills.
Mini Milestones (formerly BeAT Street): Walk the halls of Franklin and you will hear many different students telling similar “milestones” with each other. We all have experienced loosing a first tooth or remember sitting on Santa’s lap asking for dolls and trucks. We want to capture these stories and share them with the entire school. Your children write, we publish. Visit the Mini Milestones museum in the main hall of Franklin and take the time to read what our students have written. If you would like to get involved, we would love to have your help!
Writing Contest: The Franklin Writing Challenge is an annual creative writing program open to all Franklin students. Each student who wishes to can submit a story in mid-January. The stories can be about almost any topic, or on a topic provided by the challenge organizers. All work must be original. The stories are then read and scored by a group of volunteer judges, with each student receiving comments on their story from the judges. Stories are kept anonymous, so that judges do not know the name of the author, only their grade level and students do not know the identity of the volunteer judges. After the scores are tabulated, all in grades K-1 receive a recognition ribbon, and the top three in grades 2-5 are awarded prizes; at a minimum, everyone receives a recognition ribbon. This is a great chance for students to try their hand at creative writing! The kids enjoy participating and being recognized for their efforts, and being a part of the writing challenge can add to a lifelong love of reading and writing.
Community Outreach: Each year we will select a community service project. It will be a school-wide opportunity for students to give back to our local community. If you would like to join our team please contact us!
LPS Scholarship: The scholarship committee supports teachers continued professional growth by distributing grants. We are looking for parents who can assist teachers in preparing and submitting scholarship applications, which will provide grant money to be used for professional growth training.
Grant Writing Committee: Would you like to learn a new skill and support your child’s education by helping to fund teacher’s needs? Then come and join our team and learn the process of applying for grant money. The levels of involvement range from simple (such as filling out an on-line application) to higher-level involvement (learning from community mentors and taking classes to write larger-dollar grants). If you would like to join our team please contact us!
Health & Fitness
Vision and Hearing Screening: This is a service available to all students, and determines whether a student would need further testing from the district or private doctor. Kindergarten is screened at the beginning of school and grades 1-5 usually in Nov. from a Mon.- Thurs. Volunteers walk the students to and from the screening bus. It is a great opportunity to help out on a half-day basis.
Fun Run: Our “Fun Run” takes place in the fall and is a whole school event. Volunteers line the course and the kids run up to 3 miles depending on their age. The run starts at school at 1:30 and ends at 3:00. Many parents are needed on and off the course. Water and lemonade are available at the end and grade winners are announced by our P.E. Teacher. It is a fun opportunity for the whole family!
Field Day: This is a series of racing and field events, which takes place in May. It is on a Friday and lasts all day with everyone in the school participating! There are a number of activities for the kids to choose from. The P.E. teacher will send volunteer sign up sheets home with the kids in May.
Red Ribbon Week: This nation-wide week is a health and safety awareness program. Concerns range from bullying to drug use, with an emphasis on making good choices. Kids participate by writing pledges, wearing red ribbons and general discussions appropriate to grade level. All suggestions for this program are welcome.
PTO President: This year the Parent/Teacher Organization presidency is being shared by two parents at Franklin in a co-presidency role. It is their job to meet once a month with our principal and also to attend a monthly meeting with the other PTO presidents in Littleton Public School. They also preside over the PTO executive board and run the quarterly PTO meetings. They are here to be your ears and your voice in casting vision for Franklin’s future and to oversee the committees that run all of these wonderful events throughout the year.
VIPS Coordinator: VIPS is a term that you will hear quite often which simply refers to “Volunteers in Public Schools”. The coordinators’ responsibilities consist of the recruitment and recognition of our parent volunteers. These are carried out in a various ways throughout the school year, beginning with the coordination of the Volunteer Fair prior to the start of the school year and culminating in the recognition of volunteers at the end of school volunteer luncheon. Additionally, the VIPS coordinators are responsible for the tracking and reporting of volunteer hours and for the attendance of monthly, District-wide VIPS coordinator workshops. The VIPS chairperson is also a member of our PTO executive team.
FAC: Our Franklin Accountability Committee plays a very significant role here at Franklin. It is made up of our principal Mrs. Youderian, parents, faculty and staff. They meet once a month to discuss issues that pertain to our curriculum, school improvement plan, testing and many other administrative issues. If you are a parent who would like to be involved on the FAC team, nominations are taken in the spring and the parents of Franklin will be sent a ballot to choose who will serve, usually a two-year term.
Secretary: Our PTO secretary is responsible to take minutes at our meeting and distribute them to our board at the next meeting. This helps us to keep an accurate record of all that we discuss and need to bring up for re-discussion!
Treasurer: Our PTO treasurer serves on our executive board and is responsible for our finances. It is our goal to keep our records pristine and to remain accountable to our school. If you are on a committee and in need of a check request/reimbursement or depositing funds, please be sure you coordinate with your Committee Chairperson. All check requests require an Expense Voucher with a receipt attached and all deposits require a Cash Receipts Verification form that is signed by the Committee Chairperson. All forms/paperwork can be placed in the PTO Treasurer mailbox and cash deposits can be placed in the school safe. All Forms can be found in the PTO file cabinet located in the school office.
Marketing and Communications: The PTO Marketing and Communications Committee (MCC) is responsible for delivering effective and clear correspondence between PTO Chairpersons and the Franklin community through email, print and the Franklin Elementary website. This committee also produces the school’s directory and manages the Franklin Photo Upload system. The MCC will assist other PTO committees in developing event content/design to ensure optimal success. Committee duties include managing PTO Manager (the school’s email system), updating the PTO section in the Franklin website, sending emails, graphic design, document layout of printed pieces and assisting with printing.
Our committee is looking for marketing professionals, writers, graphic designers and web people. Volunteers are needed for single projects and on a year-round basis. Most volunteering is accomplished from your home or office.