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Take a photo tour of the Oak Street School

Warren Reynolds — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:27:37 +0000

The Oak Street Elementary School in Franklin, MA shares a campus with the Horace Mann Middle School. The schools are in adjoining structures but each school has a separate entrance and facility.

Modern, cheerful interior

The Oak Street School received a comprehensive renovation in 2004; the entire physical plant was modernized.

Hallways are wide and well-lit while the classrooms present state-of-the-art learning environments.

Beautiful library

The library is shared by the Oak Street Elementary and Horace Mann Middle Schools.

This is a spacious, bright library!

Wonderful playground

The playground at Oak Street is very modern and nice.

The playground was installed in 2004. It is quite elaborate and has many fun, interesting and safe play areas.

Great place to go to school

Oak Street Elementary in Franklin, MA has the modern physical plant to house a loving, inviting and supportive learning environment.

Click the hotlink to learn more about the Oak Street School.

How to get to know the Oak Street School

Warren Reynolds — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:25:56 +0000

There’s a convenient way to get to know the Oak Street Elementary School in Franklin, MA. The Town of Franklin has an official website that provides in-depth information about each of the schools in the community and the Oak Street School’s homepage is a very informative resource.

Oak Street School homepage

The homepage for the Oak Street Elementary School presents an excellent introduction to the school.

For a homepage for an elementary school, the Oak Street’s is surprisingly vigorous; it has updated content on many aspects of the school’s academic and social programs. The homepage functions as a mini-website for the school and deserves your attention if you want to learn about the school.

Principal’s page

The principal of the Oak Street School puts effort into her page of the Oak Street web presence and it shows!

It’s an active page with lots of content and gives good feel for the Oak Street School. The monthly calendar of curriculum by class provides a helpful overview at a glance of what your child will be learning.

Classroom pages

The Oak Street website has content on each class in the school.

Each teacher has the opportunity to make her class’s page reflect what the class has as goals for the year and document the students’ progress towards achieving them.

Newsletters give insight

The Oak Street School publishes newsletters throughout the school year.

You can read these newsletters to get the “flavor” of what’s going on at the school.

Other sections of note

There are a few other areas of content on the Oak Street School’s website that merit your attention:

Art at the Oak Street School in Franklin, MA.

Science at the Oak Street School.

Get to know the staff at the Oak Street School.

Click the hotlink to see photos of the school and this next hotlink to see the Department of Education’s profile for the Oak Street School in Franklin, MA.

How does the Oak Street School rank?

Warren Reynolds — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:23:27 +0000

The Oak Street Elementary School in Franklin, MA ranks well in the annual MCAS tests and on many school ranking websites.

Boston.com MCAS rankings

Boston. Com issues rankings of all Massachusetts schools based on MCAS test results.

You can see how all the various Franklin schools rank by clicking here.

Here are the MCAS rankings for the Oak Street Elementary School:

As you can see, the Oak Street School in Franklin, MA places well ahead of most Massachusetts schools.

Oak Street ranks in the top 12% f all MA schools in 4^th grade English MCAS results; the top 11% of all schools in 4^th grade math MCAS results; and in the top 18% of schools in 5^th grade math.

GreatSchools.org ranking

A very reliable school ranking site is GreatSchools.org. Here is what this site has to say about the Oak Street Elementary School in Franklin, MA:

The Oak Street School is a solid educational facility!

Click to learn more about the Oak Street School.

DOE profile for the Oak Street School

Warren Reynolds — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:21:56 +0000

You can discover a great deal about any school in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by reviewing the school profiles maintained by the MA Department of Education.

Oak Street Elementary’s Profile

The DOE Profile for the Oak Street School in Franklin, MA gives an abundance of information concerning the school’s student and teacher demographics as well as the quality educational services offered by the school.

Click on the image or the hotlink above to download an excerpt of the 2011-2012 Profile for the Oak Street School. The full Profile is currently available here, but this link will likely break over time so I created the excerpted download above.

Access all DOE profiles

All DOE profiles are available from the general profile landing page at the DOE site.

Click the hotlinks to see photos of the Oak Street School and learn more about this wonderful elementary school in Franklin, MA.

Parent Communication Council at the Oak Street School

Warren Reynolds — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:17:01 +0000

The Parent Communication Council (PCC) at the Oak Street Elementary School in Franklin, MA is the volunteer group that supports the school and enhances the students’ educational experience there.

PCC website

The Oak Street PCC has a website to enable parents and caregivers of students at the school to get involved with their activities.

How the Oak Street PCC helps

The PCC sponsors many fundraising activities to pay for a variety of programs at the Oak Street School. The focus of these programs is on science and the fine arts enrichment, well as social functions and school beautification efforts.

The Oak Street PCC meets monthly and has committees that administer the various activities the PCC undertakes at the Oak Street School. It’s a wonderful way to take an active role in your child’s education and meet people, too.

If you are a parent, guardian or caregiver of a child at Oak Street, please consider lending a hand at the Oak Street PCC!

Learn more about the Oak Street School

Here are some links to more information on the Oak Street School:

The arts and music are alive and well at the Keller School

Warren Reynolds — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:31:14 +0000

We all know how important music and the arts are for the proper development of elementary school students. That’s why it’s so good to see the great effort the Keller Elementary School in Franklin, MA puts into teaching art and music.

Keller art show

An art show was recently held at the Keller School.

It was wonderful seeing how each grade’s art works got more advanced as the children got older and more adept.

Here’s some of the work by kindergarteners:

Compare that to the fifth graders’ art:

A gallery of photos from the art show appear at the bottom of this post.

Video of art show

Below is a video of the great work done by the arts classes at the Keller School in Franklin, MA:

Music education also on display

Keller kids also get great exposure to music. Here’s a video on the songs presented at the art show by the kindergarten and first grade classes at Keller:

Keller does exemplary work with the children – click the hotlink to learn more about the Keller Elementary School in Franklin, MA.

Excellence in academics: how does the Kennedy School rate?

Warren Reynolds — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:49:39 +0000

You can learn quite a lot about any school in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from the on-line profiles maintained by the MA Department of Education.

Kennedy Elementary School profile

The profile for the Kennedy Elementary School is Franklin, MA is no exception: that profile gives an in-depth look at how well the school serves its students and provides them with an excellent education.

Click on the image above or the hotlink to download an excerpt of the 2011-2012 profile for the Kennedy School. The full profile is available at the DOE website, but as links break over time, I provide the .pdf excerpt above.

MCAS test results for Kennedy

The Kennedy Elementary School does a solid job getting students ready to take the annual MCAS tests.

Boston. Com issues rankings of all Massachusetts schools based on MCAS test results; you can see how all schools in Franklin, MA rank by clicking the hotlink.

Here’s how the Kennedy School students scored on the most recent MCAS test:

Excellence in math and science

The Kennedy School in Franklin, MA excels in math and science.

The school ranks in the top 6% of all MA elementary schools for 3rd grade Math, the top 1.7% of all MA elementary schools in 4^th grade Math and for 5^th grade Math, the school came in at number 11 in the entire state (out of 879). 5th grade Science scored in the top 6% of all MA schools.

Results were not too shabby for English, either!

Top rank on GreatSchools.org

There are lots of school ranking websites. Many exist mainly as lead generation sites for mortgage brokers and sales agents. These sites generally provide out of date and unreliable information on the schools they purport to cover.

But one very good school site is GreatSchools.org.

Here’s what GreatSchools has to say about the Kennedy School in Franklin, MA:

”It is among the few public elementary schools in Massachusetts to receive a distinguished GreatSchools Rating of 10 out of 10.”

As you can see, the Kennedy School is something special! Click the hotlink to view the in-depth content on the Kennedy School available on the Kennedy homepage on the official Franklin school website.

Kennedy School Parent Communication Council

Warren Reynolds — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:48:10 +0000

The parents and caregivers of students at the Kennedy School in Franklin, MA can get actively engaged in supporting the school via the Parent Communication Council (PCC). Kennedy PCC volunteers are a huge resource and support for the school community. Volunteering your time and efforts with the PCC is a good way to involved in your child’s education and help them achieve more at school – and at home!

Kennedy School PCC website

The Kennedy PCC has a website to enable you to participate in support and advocacy for the school.

You can visit the site learn about what the PCC does and determine what activities you could help with.

There is a fall and spring fundraiser, two book fairs, bottle and can drives and many other opportunities to get involved and help raise money for the school. You can also assist at the annual sports fair, help out with the annual school beautification events, or be a classroom volunteer.

Enrichment programs

With the funds it raises, the Kennedy PCC supplies a number of services and “extras” to children at the school. Annual enrichment activities include a free book for every student on his/her birthday, busing and chaperones for field trips, the 4ht grade tile project, the 5^th grade graduation party, grants for teachers and a lot of other activities.

The help and support of the PCC is just one of many reasons the Kennedy School in Franklin, MA is such a success!

Kennedy Elementary to get new playground

Warren Reynolds — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:47:20 +0000

A beautiful new playground is coming to the Kennedy Elementary School in Franklin, MA during the summer of 2012. The new structure is thanks to a lot of local fundraising by Kennedy School supporters and a generous gift from a national charity.

Installation of the new playground is scheduled for July 2012.

Old playground a hazardous eyesore

The old playground was made of wood that had gotten very weathered and cracked. Parts of the structure were broken or just plain rickety.

There was a constant, very real risk of children getting splinters or otherwise hurt – not a fun place on which to play!

Nearly $100,000 raised

The estimated cost of a new playground came in at $85,000, plus cost to demolish the old structure and prepare the site. As of May 2012 nearly $100,000 had been collected. Local fundraising brought in substantial donations and about half total came from a $50,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project.

Website promoting the new playground

School boosters set up a website devoted to developing support for the new playground:

Click the image above or the hotlink to read more about the winning effort to raise funds for the new playground at Kennedy Elementary in Franklin, MA.

Look for photos of the new playground once it’s in!

Kennedy Elementary School and the Ladybug Law

Warren Reynolds — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:46:24 +0000

Did you know that back in the 1970s a class of second-graders at the Kennedy Elementary School in Franklin, MA got the ladybug formally adopted as the Official Bug of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts?

Heartwarming story illustrates the legislative process

It’s a true story of how Ms. Johnson’s second grade class at Kennedy in 1974 decided that the beautiful ladybug would make a perfect symbol for the Bay State. The teacher helped the students formally petition the Legislature to designate the ladybug as the official state bug. The class followed the petition through the entire process of consideration and approval in both houses of the State Legislature and witnessed the Governor’s signing the bill into law.

Used as a teaching aide to this day

Nearly 40 years later, the story is still promoted by the Secretary’s of State Office to help teach young children about the way laws are made in the Commonwealth:

Click on the image above or the hotlink to read the full story of the Kennedy School second graders and the ladybug as told by the MA Secretary of State’s Office.

Quoting from the story:

“On the day of the public hearing, Ms. Johnson’s second grade class dressed in ladybug costumes got on the yellow school bus and rode all the way to Boston to the State House. They walked inside the enormous building with the shiny golden dome and into the room where the hearing was being held. They wanted to testify – to tell the legislators about their idea.”

So now you know the reason why the ladybug is the the mascot for the Kennedy Elementary School in Franklin, MA!