🎄 Season’s Greetings from the Franklin PTA 🎄

12/16/2025 10:10 pm

Dear Franklin Families,

As we head into winter break and reflect on the year behind us, the Franklin PTA would like to wish you and your loved ones a joyful holiday season and a restful, happy new year. 2025 has been filled with meaningful moments, strong community connections, and incredible support for our students, teachers, and school — and none of it would have been possible without you.

Thanks to the generosity of our families and the dedication of our volunteers, the PTA had a truly impactful year. Together, we supported enriching experiences that brought learning to life, strengthened our school community, and celebrated the creativity and kindness of our Franklin Falcons.

Highlights from an Amazing Year

• Enrichment & Learning: Students enjoyed Enrichment programs, including STEM activities, live performances, and creative programs that sparked curiosity and joy across grade levels.
• Community & Connection: We hosted community events such as Ice Cream Social, Family Bingo Night, the Book Fair, and the Franklin Reflections Art Exhibit — bringing families together and celebrating student creativity.
• Makerspace & STEM: Our Makerspace is ready for action again thanks to our volunteer-led clean-up. We have since hosted a successful Reflections Art Show in Makerspace, under the leadership of Melanie! The space will be used throughout 2026 to host science and art projects for classrooms.
• Fundraising Success: With your support, our Walk-A-Thon and other fundraisers put us on track to raise over $80,000, directly funding field trips, assemblies, enrichment programs, and community events.
• Giving Back: From the Samaritan House WeeCare Breakfast Drive to the Holiday Toy Exchange, our community showed incredible compassion and generosity for families in need.
• Teacher & Staff Appreciation: We were proud to support our amazing educators through treats, celebrations, and ongoing volunteer support throughout the year.

A Heartfelt Thank You

We are deeply grateful to our volunteers, committee chairs, room reps, Dad’s Club partners, and PTA Board members who gave their time, energy, and creativity to make this year such a success. Whether you volunteered at an event, donated, attended a meeting, or simply showed up in support — you made a difference.

As we look ahead to the new year, we’re excited to continue building a vibrant, inclusive, and supportive community for our students. Until then, we hope your winter break is filled with warmth, laughter, and special moments with family and friends.

Happy Holidays and Go Falcons! 🦅

With gratitude,
The Franklin PTA Board

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A Holiday Gift of Books from the PTA!

12/16/2025 9:58 pm

The Franklin PTA is excited to share some wonderful news! Thanks to the success of our recent Scholastic Book Fair — along with funds carried over from previous fairs — we are pleased to provide each classroom with $280 (after tax and fees) to purchase new books or reading resources from Scholastic. In addition, $500 has been allocated to the Falcon’s Nest to support our school’s shared reading space.

We hope these new books bring joy, inspiration, and a love of reading to our students. Thank you for helping make the Book Fair such a success!

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PTA Volunteers Needed!

12/4/2025 10:14 am

We’re looking for a few parents to lead some fun, low-commitment roles. If you’ve been thinking about getting involved, this is a great way to support our school community!

1. Monthly Teacher & Staff Birthday Celebration (approx. 1 hour/month)
Help us show appreciation to our amazing teachers and staff.
If you’re interested, please email Nicole at execVP@franklinpta-burlingame.com

2. Math Mondays (1–4 hours/month)
Join us in supporting students during our weekly math activities.
To sign up or learn more, email Abby at volunteers@franklinpta-burlingame.com 

3. Science Day – Call for Science Experts & Presenters!

Last year’s Science Expo was a huge success, and our students are already excited for this year’s event! We hope to involve even more of our talented community members, especially the many scientists, engineers, and STEM professionals in our school family.

We plan to host Science Day in April, and we are starting recruitment now for planning purposes. 

We are looking for:

• Professionals working in science-related fields to lead a station or activity
• Medical or healthcare professionals
• Researchers (biology, chemistry, physics)
• Environmental scientists
• Tech, AI, and biotech professionals
• Aerospace, robotics, or lab specialists
• Engineers (software, mechanical, electrical, civil)
• Anyone whose work connects to science or STEM!
• Volunteers who can share a simple science experiment or hands-on demonstration

What you need to do:

Host a station and lead your activity.

The PTA will prepare materials and provide manpower, so you’ll be fully supported.

If you’re interested or would like more details, please email us at volunteers@franklinpta-burlingame.com and president@franklinpta-burlingame.com 

Let’s work together to make this year’s Science Day inspiring, educational, and full of discovery!

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Our New Falcons Merch Store is Here!

11/5/2025 5:42 pm

Show your Falcon pride! The Franklin PTA is excited to announce the launch of our brand-new Franklin Falcons Online Merch Store — your one-stop shop for spirit wear and fun Falcon gear for the whole family.

From cozy hoodies and tees to hats, there’s something for every Falcon fan. Every purchase helps support our school community and PTA programs!

👉 Shop now at: franklinfalcons.threadless.com

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Thank You for Cleaning Up Our Makerspace!

11/20/2025 2:41 pm

Thank you so much for joining our Makerspace Clean-Up & STEM Fun event! We truly appreciate the parents who rolled up their sleeves to help refresh our Franklin Makerspace, and we loved seeing the kids dive into the hands-on STEM activity led by WonderWorks Lab. Your time, energy, and enthusiasm made the afternoon both productive and joyful.

Thank you for supporting our school community and helping create an inspiring space for our students to learn and explore.

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Enrichment Program Update

10/9/2025 9:27 pm

This week, all grades learned about the fascinating world of Bots! This experience included some live simulations and even a competition with a bot. We heard resounding feedback about the kids enjoying this experience and hope to continue to bring more.

Next month, the lower grades will enjoy a performance with the SF Opera.

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Cheer on Parks & Rec Elementary Sports

10/2/2025 12:06 pm

Cheer on the Parks & Rec Elementary Flag Football and Volleyball teams. Click below to see game schedules.

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A Message from Our PTA President

Dear Falcon Families,

Welcome to a new school year! I’m thrilled to serve as your Franklin PTA President and to work alongside our wonderful board of 23 dedicated parent volunteers. The PTA is open to all families, and we warmly invite you to join us—whether it’s by becoming a member, serving on a committee, or lending a hand at one of our many events. Your voice and participation help shape the experiences we create for our children.

Last year, thanks to your generosity, our Walk-A-Thon and other fundraisers raised over $80,000. These funds directly supported enrichment programs like field trips, assemblies, the first-ever Franklin Science Expo, Makerspace and community events such as Family Bingo Night, the Glow Party and Kidchella. Together, we made a real impact—and we couldn’t have done it without you.

This year, our biggest fundraiser—the Walk-A-Thon—is just around the corner (October 17 at 1pm). We hope you’ll get involved by becoming a t-shirt sponsor (deadline is September 27 at noon), donating, or volunteering. Every contribution helps us continue bringing memorable and enriching programs and opportunities to our students and our Franklin community.

Here’s to another year of connection, learning, and fun—Go Falcons!

Warmly,
Winnie Wu 

Mom to Alessandra (K, Room 5), Penelope (2.5yo)

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THANK YOU & A Huge Round of Applause for Our Walk-a-Thon Team!

Thank you to all the families that pitched in to support this year's Walk-A-Thon! Also, a huge thank you to our amazing Walk-A-Thon committee — Dannis, Kristine, Abby, Nicole, Bhavya, Haivanna, Wing, Mira, and Jason — along with our incredible Dad’s Club and volunteers for coming together to make this year’s Walk-a-Thon such a tremendous success! 🎉

We’re thrilled to share that we’re on track to reach our $80K goal as company matches continue to come in. Your heart, effort, and time have truly made a difference — our students and families will benefit enormously from all your hard work.

We’re looking forward to another wonderful year filled with enrichment, community, and fun experiences for our students and families!

Congratulations to our winning classes:
🏆 Falcon Plushies (most funds raised): Kobayashi – $10,506
🎈 Extra Recess (top 3 highest participation): Lanam, Turner, and LaGory

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Get to Know Your PTA Board

We are excited to introduce the 2025-2026 Franklin PTA Board. See the full roster below and click here for more information about your PTA team.

If you see us around, please say “hi” and ask any PTA-related questions you may have. Also, please join us at our next General Meeting on October 10 at 1:45pm in the MPR! 

Your 2025-2026 PTA Team:

Winnie Wu, President

Nicole Sachkar, Executive Vice President

Wing Yeung Shih, Secretary & VP Communications

Jamie Lubeck, Treasurer

April Liao, Financial Secretary

Bhavya Tatineni, Co-VP Community Outreach

Haivanna Tran, Co-VP Community Outreach

Dannis Chang, Co-VP Fundraising

Kristine-Ann Hespelt, Co-VP Fundraising

Rosalind Eckstein, Co-VP Room Reps

Augustine Li, Co-VP Room Reps

Abby Lin, VP Volunteers

Reshma Iyer, Enrichment Program Co-Chair

Manasi Biwalkar, Enrichment Program Co-Chair

Melanie Burchby, Reflections Chair

Kathy Tsai, VP Community Support

Sibo Srivastava, Co-VP Technology

Mira Chiang, Co-VP Technology & Designer

Ana Sousa, Parliamentarian

Melody So, Historian

Winchelle Tran, MakerSpace Co-Chair

Daria Kalacheva, MakerSpace Co-Chair

Krishna Bhupatiraju, Auditor

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