Clubs & Programs

Participation in Junior Optimist International gives young people the opportunity to serve their communities. Students who are involved in Junior Optimist Clubs learn about and practice good citizenship, teamwork, communication and money management. They feel good about themselves and have high self-esteem. Membership in Junior Optimist Clubs helps to develop friendships with others who share the same interests. There are opportunities for personal growth and leadership positions at Club, District, and International levels. Junior Optimist exposes Members to Optimism as a philosophy of life, provides Members with an improved sense of kindness, increased awareness for those in need, and a better sense of coping with cultural diversity. It also provides members the opportunity to
complete community service hours required for graduation.

The Franklin Elementary Junior Optimists meets in Mr. Chester's Room #208 from 4pm-5pm on Mondays.

FPSPI is a dynamic international program involving thousands of students annually from around the world. Developed in 1974 by creativity pioneer Dr. E. Paul Torrance, Future Problem Solving (FPS) provides competitive and non-competitive components for today’s curriculum via a six-step model which teaches critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and decision making.

Future Problem Solvers meets in Mr. Seinfeld's Room #142 from 4pm-5pm on Tuesdays.

The Battle of the Books is an exciting program that encourages a love of books and reading. Teams of fourth and/or fifth graders will read books chosen by their librarians and then compete in a battle of answering questions in a quiz show format. Each team will consist of three to five students with an adult coach(es)/advisor(s).

Mock Battles are 8-10 question practice battles for the teams to help prepare them for the actual battle. 

Battle of the Books Teams meet with their coaches in the Library Learning Commons from 4pm-5pm on Tuesdays.

First Lego League Explore - Grades K-3
K - 3rd grades: FLL Explore In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design, and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO® Education SPIKETM Essential or WeDo 2.0.

• Introductory video
• What is FLL Jr.?
• More information about FLL Jr.
• 6pm - 7:30pm; Tuesdays 
• Show Me Expo (presentation showcase) - November 6, 2022
• $50/student

First Lego League Challenge - Grades 4 & 5
4th - 5th grades: FLL Challenge Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students in 4th and 5th grade engage in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering - building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. Parents, please consider coaching for this level, we will NEED coaches!

• Introductory video
• What is FLL Jr.?
• More information about FLL Jr.
• 6pm - 7:30pm; Thursdays
• Show Me Expo (presentation showcase) - November 6, 2022
•   $100/student

Girls on the Run reaches girls at a critical stage, strengthening their confidence at a time when society begins to tell them they can’t. Underscoring the important connection between physical and emotional health, our program addresses the whole girl when she needs it the most.

Meeting in small teams or connecting virtually, trained volunteer coaches inspire girls to build confidence and other important life skills through dynamic, interactive lessons and physical activity.

Lincoln Girls on the Run meets in the gymnasium from 4pm-5pm on Mondays. Dress comfortably!

The mission of the Academic Service Learning Club is to connect meaningful service learning to the community with classroom instruction that enriches learning, teaches civic responsibility, and fosters personal growth.

In our ASL club, we talk all year about "How can you impact the world?" Students get excited to see how they can directly impact fellow Wildcats. Last year, we identified creating totes with age-appropriate activities to help incoming kindergartners as a need in our school community. After interviewing, observing and having experts (kindergarten teachers) speak to our classrooms, students added items in the bag that they found to be most beneficial to incoming kindergartners. Our hope was that the age-appropriate items in the bag would help students get ready for kindergarten. This is how we helped others build confidence and made them feel more comfortable. It is not the action of the giving of the bag but rather the thought that went into them. As part of this project 5th graders worked on making a claim, supported their thinking with evidence, and researched and reported on a topic using appropriate facts. During this project, our students also sought to understand a range of perspectives including an incoming kindergartner, a kindergarten teacher, and future Franklin Elementary parents.

ASL Club meets in Mr. Costanza's Room #210 from 4pm-5pm on Thursdays.