Benjamin Franklin Elementary Mathematics and Science School
December Edition Charlotte L. Matthew, M.Ed., Principal Dr. Ramona J. Perkins, A.P.
Principal’s Message Kwanzaa! Kwanzaa celebrates the seven principles of Nguzo Saba (the seven principles of African Heritage). These seven principles comprise Kawaida, a Swahili term for tradition and reason. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, as follows: *Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. *Kujichagulia (SelfDetermination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. *Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems, and to solve them together. *Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together. *Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. *Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. *Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. Although Kwanzaa honors African heritage in AfricanAmerican culture, in my opinion,
its principals are traditions that should be followed by all cultures year round. Kwanzaa is observed from December 26 to January 1st.
Important Dates December brings many exciting field trips and activities to BFE. Don’t miss our sixth annual International Day 12/6/13. Our ESL department continues to go Beyond Expectations each year! Plan to take the walking tour of City Park’s Celebration in the Oaks at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, December 4th, see all of our marching units, cheerleaders, majorettes, and drill team and also our “Be a Part of the Plan” school tree and Girl Scout tree. Students taking pictures with Santa on 12/5 can wear their holiday attire! Even with the excitement of the upcoming holidays, our students must focus on second quarter exams as the end of the quarter is December 20th. When we return from the holidays on 1/6/14 we will be in countdown mode until our State Testing for students in grades 3 through 8. Students should work online on Compass, IXL, and Kid/Teen Biz to keep their minds sharp.
Holiday Wishes The holiday is a good time to visit museums and other historical and cultural aspects of our great city. The more historical and cultural experiences our students have, the better students they will be! As we approach the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, take time express the joy, peace, love, and hope of this holiday in your day to day activities. I hope all of our families have a fantastic holiday filled with the wonder of the season. I continue to be blessed by my Baby Ben family and wish everyone all the joys of this wonder filled season and the very best for the coming New Year.