ALARM Robotics hosts a Hackathon at the Franklin Public Library

39 kids in the age group of 3rd to 8th grade gathered together in the huge community room to program projects in Scratch on a rainy afternoon. The theme of the event was Halloween. Participants were grouped in teams of 3. 

Participants showed up with their laptops and settled down on the rug with their planning sheets. Teams designed video games, animations and interactive projects using Scratch 3.0, a block based programming language developed by MIT Media Labs. There were 8 middle school teams and 5 elementary school teams. Volunteer judges judged the projects after 3 hours of project time. 

ALARM Robotics hosts a Hackathon at the Franklin Public Library

There were projects with ghost jump-scares, games where you had to avoid skeletons, trick or treat candy games, Jack-o-lantern animations and many such creative projects. For many students this was their very first Hackathon experience. All hands went up when asked if they had fun and learned something new!

The ALARM Robotics team organized and hosted the event with help from the Franklin Public Library. 4H ALARM Robotics, is a community FRC team (FRC stands for FIRST Robotics Competition) from Franklin. ALARM Robotics is a non-profit robotics education club set up at the historic Brick School. ALARM Participation medals were given to all participants and Awards were given to 1st-2nd-3rd place teams in both elementary and middle school divisions.

Food was donated by the local Piezoni's and Dunkin Donuts (West Central St).

Ms. Felicia Oti, the Director of Franklin Public Library, addressed the young programmers and urged them to keep learning technology and programming and give back to the community by volunteering.

ALARM Robotics has been conducting community robotics events at the Franklin Public Library, they conducted the Robo-Racer Workshop in September, where participants challenged themselves to build racers without wheels. 

Up next they will be coaching 2 FIRST LEGO League Explore teams beginning Wednesday, Oct 25th. The session is 12 weeks and for kids in 2nd to 4th grade. 

Photos from the event can be found in one album ->   https://photos.app.goo.gl/EJr3gHwF5fqVyCG69

School Committee votes to increase the Superintendent's Recommended budget, to "ask for what they need" (audio)

FM #971 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 971 in the series. 

This session of the radio show shares part of the Franklin, MA School Committee meeting held on Tuesday, April 11, 2023.

The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format: all of the School Committee members, school district personnel along with some of the public were in the Council Chambers. Some members of the public participated via conference bridge.

Quick recap:

• Recognized swimmers from the FHS girls swim team

• Heard from an update Jefferson on their "Wellness Wednesday's"

• Heard a proposal for a middle school trip during Spring break 2024 to National Parks (Grand Canyon, Bryce, & Zion). Coming back for a discussion and vote at the next meeting

• Voted to add to the Superintendent's budget proposal the $480K originally marked as 'left out'. The amendment to add this passed by 6-1 after a lengthy discussion. The overall budget passed 7-0. Next step will be the Finance Committee budget hearings on May 10. Followed by the Town Council budget hearing May 24

• During the budget discussion a creative use of Legos made a few points

• Entered executive session to hear an MOU for the FEA to which they returned to open meeting and approved by 7-0 before closing the meeting after 10 PM without extending their session per their recently changed protocol

Links to the meeting agenda and associated documents released for this meeting are included in the show notes. The link to my notes taken during the meeting is also provided.

Let’s listen to this segment of the School Committee meeting April 11, 2023

Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-971-fps-school-committee-mtg-04-11-23

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Agenda document -> https://www.franklinps.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif4431/f/agendas/scagenda_4-11-23.pdf

Packet folder contains the documents released for this meeting (some will be posted AFTER the meeting - per School Committee policy)

https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/pages/april-11-2023-school-committee-meeting-packet

Middle School Trip proposal slides -> https://photos.app.goo.gl/Uii2XTG7rrrHJmmi7

District Improvement Plan update -> https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z2mHSCxxgU4Zut1q9

My notes captured during the meeting (in one PDF file)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12Dggz5jO854jCpN33uFlNuL29hEOEJuD/view?usp=share_link 

Note the reference to the listing of reductions over the years as compiled by the District for a School Committee budget workshop. I converted the PDF to text to share with red text highlights. 

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2023/03/what-programs-positions-were-cut-school.html

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial.  

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/ or www.franklin.news/

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

During the budget discussion a creative use of Legos made a few points

LEGO Club returns at 4:00 PM today

The LEGO Club returns at 4:00 PM today. For ages, 3 to 12. The Library will be the place to help satisfy your LEGO mania.

This was shared from the Franklin Library page here
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2015/05/lego-club.html

Franklin Library: LEGO Mania - Apr 2

LEGO Mania returns to the Franklin Library on Thursday, Apr 2 and Apr 16 at 4:00 PM.

LEGO Mania

Ideal for those aged 3 - 12. Those of us whow would like to play with LEGOs will need to find another time/place.

This was shared from the Library page here
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2015/03/lego-club.html


Check out the work of Nathan Sawaya, the Brick Artist for some inpirational creations  http://www.brickartist.com/

image from The Brick Artist

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Franklin Library: LEGO Club - Jan 15 - 4:00 PM

The LEGO Club returns to the Franklin Library on Thursday. Gather the kids for a fun time building with LEGOs

LEGO Club at the Franklin Library

Good for kids aged 3-12, the club event starts at 4:00 PM

This was shared from the Franklin Library page
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2015/01/lego-club.html