Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Weekly Blog 12/21

Dear Wines Families,
I just realized that I have forgotten to post my weekly email on this blog site for a couple of weeks. My apologies. Hopefully you still received the posting via my email.

As we approach the Winter Break, I want to wish everyone a safe and peaceful holiday season. I’ve been directed by Robin Moore that I am not allowed to email her, text her, or do anything Wines related over the next two weeks. I will do the best I can to heed her directive, but it isn’t likely… I am looking forward to a little rest and time with family over the next couple of weeks, however.

For many families, you may be looking for schoolwork that your child can do during some of the long days without school ahead. This year, we are again teaming up with ThinkStretch to offer learning activities for students during vacation. If you are interested in having your child do grade level work over the next couple of weeks, please click on the THINKSTRETCH LINK.  There you can download a packet for each grade level.

Attached to this week's email is Mrs. Hendrick’s Art Room newsletter for December. Please have a look! In your “paper” Wednesday Folder this week, please look for information about Type to Learn from home, including the login and password info for each 2nd through 5th grade student.

Again, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. We’ll see you back at Wines on January 9th.

David

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Weekly Blog 11/30

Dear Wines Families,
 
I just a few Wednesday announcements this week:
Our Book Fair is in full swing and thanks to the hard work of Mori Richner, the Fair is better than ever! Last evening’s Family Night was very well attended. My boys came to their first Wines “event” of the year and while they were a bit overwhelmed with the crowd, they both left happy with books in their hands! I again attached an informational flyer about the Book Fair to this week's email. The Fair runs through Friday at noon.
 
You should have received your child's report card yesterday. If you did not, please contact your child's teacher. Report cards are a crucial way for us to inform you of your child's progress. While we strive to be as clear as possible in our reporting, it is not uncommon that parents will have questions about certain parts of the report. Please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher if you have any questions or concerns. 
 
I’m sure there were varied emotions across our households this morning when we saw our first snow of the year. If you were like me, you were frantically digging through closets trying to find snow pants and boots, etc. As winter eventually arrives for good, please make sure students are coming to school dressed to spend time outside daily. A warm jacket, boots, hat and gloves are essential. Snow pants are also a good idea. District policy is that we will go outside at least once a day for lunch recess as long as the wind chill temperature is above 0 degrees. Also, our school rule is “Snow Stays on the Ground.” This means no snowballs—even if they are not thrown at anyone. Thanks for reinforcing this rule with your kids. Personally, I love throwing snowballs, but at school we need to make sure everyone is safe.
 
Finally, one final reminder that our very large lost and found collection will be donated to charity after this week. All items are on display near our cafeteria. Students have picked up a few things, but there are still many unclaimed items. If you are in our building this week, please have a look.
 
Sincerely,
 
David

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Early Week Announcements

Dear Wines Families,

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I know all of my fellow Wolverine fans are feeling good this week! I have just a couple of early week announcements and reminders.

First, a reminder that Tuesday evening, Nov. 29th, is our annual Family Night at the Book Fair. The event begins at 6:30. Attached to yesterday's email is a flyer with information about all the events going on this week during the Book Fair. If you are planning on coming to have lunch with your child during the Book Fair and you would like a school hot lunch, please let us know in advance that you are coming. The fee for an adult hot lunch is $3.00.

If you are coming to the Book Fair, Family Night, or if you are coming to school for any reason this week, please take moment to “browse” through the Lost and Found. We will be donating items left after this week to charity.

Do you like to play Bridge? Do you want to learn and help some of our 5th graders learn? Beginning on Wednesday at 9:15 AM, a Wines parent and resident Bridge champion will begin teaching Bridge to some 5th graders for Math enrichment. The group will meet on Mondays and Wednesday mornings at 9:15 AM in the computer lab. If you are interested in helping out (even if you don’t know how to play), please contact Bob Katz at rjkaa@sbcglobal.net or at (734) 669-2091. Our first session is Wednesday morning.

Have a great week!

David

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Thanksgiving Wishes!

Hello Wines families, 
I want to extend a Happy Thanksgiving to our entire school community. I hope you all have a wonderful few days. I continue to be so thankful to be part of the Wines community. As we enter the long holiday weekend, I want to share a couple of good Thanksgiving news items with everyone as well as make a couple of announcements. 
I'm proud to report that today we held an assembly where we made a $1,700 donation to Alpha House. Our students voted for Alpha House as the recipient of at 10% donation from our Run-a-Thon proceeds. The kids were excited to give the check today and two representatives from Alpha House were here to accept the check and speak to the students about the wonderful services they provide to our community. 

I'm also pleased to announce that our Student Council exceeded their $1000 Halloween fundraising goal for UNICEF. Great job Wines! 

I want to again remind everyone that Picture Make-Up Day is Monday, Nov. 28th (that's next Monday). Please bring your old package to return. To order a picture package online, please visit www.inter-state.com and use the prepay code of 645782.

Our Scholastic Book Fair begins next week as well. Don't forget that Tuesday evening beginning at 6:30 is our Book Fair Family Night. 

We were going to donate our Lost and Found items to charity this weekend. However, we noticed today that there are still a lot of nice items in the Lost and Found that parents may still want to claim. We will keep the items for one more week. Book Fair Family Night next week would be a great time to check it out! 
Finally, if your child had a project in the display case from the Science and Builders Fair, our display has changed. The projects are in the office if you would like to pick it up. 

Have a great Thanksgiving. 
David

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Weekly Blog 11-16

Dear Wines Families,
I have a number of important announcements this week so this email will be a bit longer than usual. Here goes (in no particular order):

First off, I want to point your attention to Ms. McNally’s Music Room Newsletter attached to today’s email.

As many of you know, last week the Lieberman family lost their home to a fire. Obviously, this has been a hard week for the family. Mackenzie is back to school here at Wines and the kids have been wonderful. They have given her a little extra love, but they have also done a great job of making Wines a place of normalcy for her. I have spoken to Scott and Samantha and they wanted me to express their sincere gratitude to everyone for their support and offers of assistance over the past week. They also wanted me to let everyone know that while the fire was devastating, they are quite fortunate in that they have had a very responsive insurance company and they have everything they need at this point. While they are most appreciative of the many offers they have received, other than our positive thoughts, the family is not in need of additional assistance. In the event that needs arise, I will let everyone know how we can help.

Picture re-take day is Monday, Nov. 28th (the Monday after we come back from Thanksgiving break). If your child did not have his or her picture taken, we will take it then. If there was a hair out of place, eyes closed, or any other reason why you would like to have a re-take, please send your child to school (with his hair combed) and with the old picture package. To order a picture package online, please visit www.inter-state.com and use the prepay code of 645782. Attached to today's email is a flyer with more information.

We need your help in the office. We understand that life for everyone is busy and unforeseen changes to schedules, etc. happen all the time. At the same time, when we receive “last minute” changes at the end of the day as to where children are going after school, etc. it can be very challenging to get the information to the teacher and the child. This presents a potential safety concern for our kids. We are working on making a few changes to our own system at school, but you can help as well. If possible, please let us know by 12:00 each day if there is a change to any plans. If the change comes after 12:00, please let us know as soon as you can. If we receive word after 3:00, it becomes extremely challenging for us and we can’t guarantee that the message will make it to the teacher or child. Thank you!!

Our Lost and Found is full!! If your child is missing items, please have him or her take a look before Thanksgiving break. During the break, we will be donating remaining items to charity.

Friday is the last day to bring in leftover candy to our office. The Junior Girl Scouts want to thank everyone for their donations and a nice shipment will soon be on the way to soldiers overseas!

Friday evening at 7:00 is our second Movie Night of the year. Bring your pillows for a viewing of Everyone’s Hero. If you come to Movie Night, you might want to check out the lost and found!

Lunchtime Extra Specials to start in January! Attention Wines parents! Do you have a special talent or interest you'd like to share with the students at Wines? Are you a super Speed Stacker? Do you like to build with legos? Are arts and crafts your thing? This is one of the most popular activities our kids get to do at Wines, and as always, we need ideas and helpers. Please send an email to winesextraspecials@gmail.com with any thoughts you have on things 1st-5th graders can enjoy during a lunch recess There will be 2 three-week sessions starting January 17th, 2012!

Sincerely,

David

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Weekly Blog 11/9

Dear Wines Families,

Wines is “Beating the Odds!”
Yesterday, The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) released a list of 123 “Beating the Odds” schools who are outperforming schools with similar risk factors and demographic composition.
  
The Department conducted two separate studies to identify schools that are “Beating the Odds.” Study 1 identified 60 schools that are performing above their predicted levels, based on risk factors such as percent economically disadvantaged; percent students with disabilities; percent English language learners; and percent minority students.  Study 2 identified 83 schools that perform better than a comparison group of schools with similar demographics. Wines was one of the 83 schools identified as “Beating the Odds” in study 2.

We are proud of our kids, our parents, and our teachers for their efforts in helping us receive this recognition. Attached to this week's email was the full press release from MDE along with a list of the 123 recognized schools.

Attention Run-a-Thon photographers. Our yearbook coordinator looking for photos from our Run-a-Thon for the yearbook. If were at the Run-a-Thon and took pictures that you’d like to share please contact Suzanne Kaji at suzannekaji@yahoo.com or suzanne.kaji@tlcmi.com. Thanks!

Reminder: PTO meeting tomorrow, Thursday Nov. 10th, at 7:00 PM. Childcare is provided.

Sincerely,

David

Sunday, October 30, 2011

End of the Week Announcements 10/28

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Dear Wines Families,

Just a couple end of the week announcements:

If your child hasn’t told you already, we are pleased to announce that 73.4% of Wines students walked to school on Wednesday. Our friends at Evening Street Elementary in Columbus, Ohio had 72% of their students walk to school. So Wines won our competition! I contacted their principal yesterday and offered a compromise since both schools did so well, and the numbers were so close. However, she was a gracious loser and she will be wearing Maize and Blue next week to school. Thanks to everyone for supporting all of our Walktober events.

I look forward to a fun filled Halloween celebration on Monday. We ask that students do not come to school in costume and instead bring their costumes in a bag. Our costume parade begins at 1:45. Please note that at approximately 1:30 we will close our parking lot near the front entrance to traffic for our parade. As a reminder, we want to keep Halloween a friendly event and our costumes should thus be friendly as well. Please, no fake blood or weapons. The general rule of thumb is that if you are not sure, it probably isn’t something for school.

I’m pleased to announce a great opportunity for any extra candy. The Junior Girl Scout troop at Wines is collecting Halloween candy to send overseas to troops in Afghanistan.  The troops love celebrating a little bit of Halloween tradition, and they distribute a good amount of candy to the children of Afghanistan.  Please send only wrapped items, no homemade treats, and no chocolate (it will melt). Please drop off extra candy in the designated box in the office anytime from November 1 - November 11.

Have a great weekend.

David

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Weekly Blog 10/26

Dear Wines Families,
Well, this week I sent my weekly email a day early, and this blog is a day late!! .

Yesterday we had our final Walk to School day as part of our Walktober celebration. We competed with Evening Street Elementary in Columbus, Ohio to see which school had the largest percentage of walkers. I'm pleased to announce that both schools had tremendous participation and Wines narrowly beat Evening street with 73.4% of our students walking and 72% at Evening Street. I will be working with the principal at Evening Street on how we will celebrate our success. The "bet" was that she would wear Michigan gear to school. However, since we basically tied and each school did so well, we are going to figure out a fun compromise. 

Our Run-a-Thon pledge collection is going very well. We have already raised over $7000 meaning we are approaching our goal of $10,000. If your child has pledges to turn in, he or she can bring in the money any day until Nov. 2nd. Checks can be made payable to “Wines PTO” and our online pledge opportunity can be found at http://www.winespto.org/runathon.php. Last week, Ms. Fisher’s entire class came to visit me after learning they had earned a popsicle party for completing the most laps in 4th grade. Led by Student Council representative Lucia Sanchez, the class declined their party unless the other 4th grades received one as well. Their argument was that everyone did a great job and tried their best. Well, I could not agree with Lucia and the rest of the class more!! So, we decided together that every classroom at Wines will receive a popsicle party. On Nov. 3rd we will all celebrate a great Run-a-Thon with popsicles and I hope we will also be celebrating meeting (or exceeding) our fundraising goal!!

This Thursday evening from 7:00-8:00 we will be hosting our annual Builders and Science Fair. This event is for ALL Wines families, whether your child is participating or not.  Please come out to see the scientists and builders at Wines!  There will be some “try it” activities, and of course the fabulous projects created by our students.  The Fair runs from 7-8 pm.  Participants should arrive at 6:45 to setup.

The deadline to turn in Great Ideas grant applications is Nov. 1st. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents and kids to turn an idea into something tangible for their school. No idea is too small! Hard copy applications came home in their child's Wednesday folder last week or additional applications can be downloaded or picked up in the office.

Finally, as you know next Monday is Halloween. This is a great day at Wines! In terms of logistics, our annual parade will take place at 1:45 in front of the building. AM Kindergarten families, Mrs. Rothman will let you know about your special activities for the day. Costumes should not be worn to school. Students will put them on in the afternoon. As always, please keep our costumes friendly. I ask that costumes do not include fake blood or weapons. A good rule of thumb is that if you are not sure about a costume or part of the costume, it probably isn’t appropriate. Classroom teachers have various plans for their own parties that they will share with you.
If you choose not have your child participate in Halloween activities, please let me know directly and we will have an alternative activity for him or her.

Thank you,

David

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Weekly Blog 10/19

Dear Wines Families,
I hope this message finds you staying dry on this dreary Michigan day. While the weather is quite wet today and likely tomorrow, the weather report for our Run-a-Thon on Friday morning looks promising. Attached to my weekly email is the final flyer for the Run-a-Thon including the schedule of when each grade will run. We hope that everyone is collecting pledges for their participation. Our goal is to raise at least $10,000 for new playground equipment and with our PTO graciously offering to match our pledges up to $4,000, we are quite excited about the possibilities. In addition, 10% of our earnings will go to Alpha House, a very worthwhile charity that our students voted to support this year.
 
As a reminder, no pledges should be sent to school until after the event on Friday. For those of you who have already sent in your pledge, we have them locked securely. However, we would like pledges to be sent in after the event so we will be able to organize the collection at that time. If you haven’t had a chance to visit www.winespto.org/runathon.php, please do! On the site you can make a pledge with your credit card via a secure server. This is a great option for family members who are out of town! Over 30 families have already utilized the electronic option!
 
With just a couple days left, we are still in need of Run a-thon volunteers. If you can offer even a little bit of your time on Friday, please click on http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/120234563449630406 and sign up.
 
Once the Run-a-Thon is over, there are other great things happening at Wines! Next Thursday evening October 27th from 7-8 PM is our annual Science and Builders Fair. It is not too late to sign up.  If a student would like to join in, they can just send a quick email to Debbie Tirico and they will be signed up – it’s that simple!  dtirico@comcast.net. If you can volunteer that evening, please let Debbie know. We need about 6 more volunteers to help circulate and pass out certificates.
 
Finally, while today was a wet Walk to School Day, our final Walktober event takes place next Wednesday, October 26th. On this day, we will be competing with Evening Street Elementary outside of Columbus, Ohio to see which school has the highest percentage of walkers on a single day. I hope we can be near 100% so their principal will wear the Maize and Blue as the “loser” of this friendly competition. Many of our teachers are working on creative ways to encourage participation next week. A flyer is attached is attached to this week's email.
 
Sincerely,
 
David 

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Weekly Blog 10/13



Dear Wines Families,
We have lots of exciting news today from Wines.

Movie Night
First, I want to remind everyone that our first Movie Night of the year is this Friday at 7:00 PM. We will be showing Gnomeo and Juliet. Bring sleeping bag, pillow, and snack. Just a reminder, Movie Night is not a drop off event. Students must be with an adult.

Run/Walk-a-Thon
Our Run/Walk-a-Thon is right around the corner. The event takes place on Friday, October 21st from 9:30 until 12:00. Last week, your child should have come home with a packet of information and pledge sheet for the Run/Walk-a-Thon. I attached copies of each to my weekly email as well. We are excited that our PTO has set up an online secure payment system for the Run-a-Thon through Google Pay. So making your own pledge or getting pledges from friends and family who are not in Ann Arbor couldn’t be easier. Please visit http://winespto.org/runathon.php for more information about the event and to make your online pledge. We are hoping that we can raise enough money to buy a new swing set and perhaps other improvements to our playground. In addition, 10% of what we raise will go to a local charity. Our students are voting this week on the charity we will support. 

We are still in need of lots more volunteers for the Run/Walk-a-Thon. If you are available at any time during the morning of Oct. 21, please consider volunteering. You can volunteer by going to  http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/120234563449630406 and sign up. You do not need to commit to the entire morning. We can use help at various time throughout the event.

If you have any questions about the Run/Walk-a-Thon, please contact Frances Carlson at fslcarlson@me.com.

Walktober Michigan/Ohio State Competition
As I type this I am just back from walking with all of our bus riders on our weekly Wednesday Walk to School Day during the month of October. To promote fitness and walking to school, we have again teamed up with a school from near Columbus, Ohio for a friendly Walk-to-School competition. On Wednesday, October 26th, we will see if Wines Elementary or Evening Street Elementary will have the largest percentage of walkers. The “losing” principal will wear the opposing team’s colors to school. As you might recall, in a close competition last fall, Wines lost and I had to wear the Ohio State Scarlet and Grey colors. I hope I don’t have to do that again this year!! An informational flyer about the Oct. 26th competition was attached to my weekly email. Join us each Wednesday in October to walk to school and let’s have everyone join us on October 26th!

Photo Contest on the PTO Website
The new PTO website has a monthly photo contest. The photo was taken somewhere on Wines' grounds. See if you can tell what it is.
We'll randomly choose 2-3 names among the people who guess correctly to win a prize! The deadline for this month’s contest is Wednesday, October 19. Please visit http://winespto.org/ and enter to win!

Sincerely,

David



Thursday, October 6, 2011

Weekly Blog 10/5


Dear Wines Families,
I’m posting my weekly blog a day early this week because there are a couple of things happening at school tomorrow that I wanted to remind everyone about today.
First, tomorrow is the annual student count day in the state of Michigan. To make a long story short, about 75% of our state funding is based on the fall count day. It is important that all healthy children are in school tomorrow. Please, if your child is sick, do not send him or her to school. As always, just give us a call and let us know if your child will be absent. When your child returns to school, we will be able to have him or her counted. But if all of our healthy children are at school, Robin will have a little less paperwork to fill out!!
Tomorrow is National Walk to School Day and thus begins Walktober at Wines. There are four Walking Bus Stop locations:
·          Creal Park (on Creal Crescent side)
·          Riverwood Rd and Newport Rd
·          Sunset Rd and Brooks St
·          Westport Rd and Newport Rd
We need volunteers to walk with students from each of the four locations, and from the Forsythe parking lot. Please contact Anita Fontana ak.fontana@yahoo.com to help! Our busses will be dropping students off at Forsythe so students who ride the bus can participate in the morning as well. I will be meeting the students at Forsythe (hopefully with some volunteers). Also, if your child is in morning care at Wines, I will be walking with those students over to Forsythe to join the bus riders.
Next week we begin the annual MEAP assessments for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. The MEAP will be administered to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders on Oct. 11, 12, and 18. 4th graders have two additional days of testing on Oct. 13 and 19, and 5thgraders have one additional testing day on Oct. 19. As with any school day, during the MEAP, please make sure your children come to school well rested and with a nice breakfast. As always, breakfast is available at Wines beginning at 8:30 daily. Breakfast costs just $1.00 and can be deducted directly from your child’s hot lunch account.
Do you have an hour or so to help us put together our new soccer goals? We have two new soccer goals for our lower elementary playground that need to be put together. If this is something you like to do, we could use your help. If you are interested, please contact Erin Telemaco at 5telemaco@comcast.net and she will put you to work!
Finally, I want to thank our community for doing such a great job of getting your back to school paperwork turned in. At this point, we have gotten our first day folder information back from nearly everyone. On behalf of Robin and Joanne in the office, thank you Wines families!!
Please check your email for this month's Wines Times as well as as Ms. McNally’s Music Room Newsletter. Also, please visit the new PTO website at www.winespto.org. The site has tons of information, volunteer opportunities, photo contests, and much more! 
David

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Weekly Blog 9/28

Dear Wines Families,
 
I hope everyone is enjoying another soggy week…
 
First this week, a few reminders from the office:
If your child is not coming to school or is coming in late, please call the office to let us know. You can leave a message 24 hours a day. Also, if you are taking your child out of school early for any reason, don’t forget to sign him or her out at the front desk. Finally, if you are picking your child up early or dropping something off to him or her after school has started, please come to the office and we will call your child down. Please do not go to your child’s classroom without checking in. This is an important safety issue. While we love having parents in our building, we need to make sure we know who is in our school at all times.
 
The 2011 Science and Builders Fair will be held at Wines on Thursday, October 27 from 7-8 pm.  This is a non-competitive, family-friendly, fun event.  We invite all students to work on their own or with friends to build, create, invent, explore and experiment and then bring in the resulting project for display.  Last year there were over 80 incredible projects on display!  Students should please sign up by Friday, October 14.  If anyone has questions, they may contact Debbie Tirico at dtirico@comcast.net.
 
Next week October begins. We will again be celebrating “Walktober” all month and encouraging students to walk or ride their bikes to school as often as possible. Again this year we will host Walk to School events each Wednesday beginning next Wednesday, October 5th in honor of National Walk to School Day. Attached to this week's email is a flyer listing various walking locations and a call for volunteers to help out. I am working with Transportation to again have our busses drop off at Forsythe on walking Wednesdays so that students who ride the bus can participate as well.
 
Attached to this week's email is a second flyer with important information about our upcoming Run/Walk-a-Thon. The event has changed considerably this year. Please see the flyer for more information. The date of the event is October 21st during the school day.
 
Interested in working with our PTO on improving our technology at Wines? If so, I want to invite any interested Wines family to a meeting next Monday, October 3rd at 4:00 in the Media Center. This meeting will include parents and staff members and we will discuss various possibilities that the PTO might fund. Please consider attending!
 
Sincerely,
 
David
 

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Weekly Blog 9/21

Dear Wines Families. 
There were three attachments to this week's email message.First, there is a Run-Walk-a-Thon flyer. Our event is changing significantly this year and we need your help to make it a success!! The date of the event is Oct. 21st and it will take place during the school day. Please take a look at the flyer for more information.

Mrs. Evaldson has included her Media Center newsletter as well. Please take a look. 

Finally, a reminder that our spirt wear sale is still going on. The last day for orders is Monday, Sept. 26th. In our front lobby there are some t-shirts and sweatshirts that you can look at for sizing purposes. Attached to today's email is the order form. This was also sent out in last week's paper Wednesday Folder.

I want to thank our families for the tremendous turn out at Curriculum Night last evening. It was a pleasure to see everyone and to meet many of our new parents who I have not met yet. If you were not at Curriculum Night last night, please contact your child's teacher to sign up for a Parent/Teacher conference. Each teacher has multiple nights scheduled. For those of you who have more than one child at Wines, you may want to consider Nov. 3rd. That evening all teachers will be hosting conferences and so you can schedule times to meet with each of your children's teachers on the same evening. 

As always, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. 
Best, 
David

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Weekly Blog September 14


Dear Wines Families,

I will apologize in advance if this is a longer than normal entry, but now that we are in “full gear” this year, there are lots of announcements and reminders to pass along.

PTO Meeting
First, I want to remind everyone that TONIGHT at 7:00 we are hosting our first PTO meeting of the year. Childcare will be provided.

Curriculum Night
Next Tuesday evening is our annual Curriculum Night from 6:30-8:00. We have changed the format this year in order to better accommodate parents with multiple children at Wines and to give families a bit more flexibility during that evening. Teachers will be hosting two sessions in their classrooms. Parents may attend either session. The first will be from 6:30-7:00. At 7:00, I will be hosting our community in the multi-purpose room for a brief presentation. At 7:30, our teachers will be making a second presentation in their classrooms.

PBIS
On Friday we will be formally kicking of Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS). Last year our entire staff learned about PBIS and a strong group of dedicated teachers met with me regularly to plan the roll out this fall. Since school started, our students have been learning about the behavior expectations for all areas in the building. We do this with students every year, but PBIS allows us to be much more uniform and consistent. Our PBIS team has created short lessons that all teachers use in their classrooms to actively teach behavior. Now that our students have learned about behavior expectations across the building, starting next week we will begin recognizing students for exhibiting positive behavior at Wines. Teachers and staff will be passing out Wines Wildcat Power Paw tickets to students who are caught being good. Students will turn their tickets into their classroom teacher and each week we will hold a drawing and one student from each classroom will have their ticket pulled. These students will have their picture posted on our PBIS bulletin board for the following week and we will post their names on our website and in our monthly Wines Times.

Speaking of PBIS and our new ticket system, we are in need of parent volunteers to help us copy and cut out tickets. If you are available on Thursday or Friday, please let me know and we will put you to work!

NWEA
The Ann Arbor Public Schools will be assessing all students in grades K-5 starting September 19 and ending September 30 on the North West Evaluation Association (NWEA) assessment. This is a web-based program and there is no written portion to this assessment. This test will be given 3 times a year. As educators we are looking for student growth and will be using these assessment to focus on areas of strength and growth opportunities for each student. There is nothing students or parents need to do to prepare your child for NWEA. Just send them to school ready to learn like you do each day! I will be speaking briefly about NWEA at Curriculum Night next week.

ThinkStretch
First let me thank our families for the overwhelming support we received for our summer learning ThinkStretch program. The students seem very excited! If your child has not turned in his or her ThinkStretch workbook, please do so right away. Even if your child completed just a little bit, we are recognizing everyone who did something. Next Friday, we will have be passing out medals. 

Wines School Directory
Do you own or work for a local business? Let the Wines community know by advertising in the Wines directory.  We are aiming to get the directory out as soon as possible so if you are interested, please contact Frances Carlson at fslcarlson@me.com or (248) 761-8310 (e-mail preferred).

Run-a-Thon
Get Ready for the Wines Runathon on Friday, October 21!
Mark your calendars for this spirit-filled, healthy fundraiser! We will need a lot of volunteers to help this event run smoothly. More information will be sent home later this month.

Newport Road
For the many Wines families who use Newport Road, please note that the current speed limit on Newport is 25MPH. This is a high foot/bike/car traffic area—particularly during morning drop off and afternoon pick up for Wines and Forsythe schools. The City of Ann Arbor is proposing to increase the speed limit on Newport. City officials including two city council members would like to meet with the residents of our neighborhoods to discuss raising the speed limit on Newport Road. Unfortunately, the meeting takes place during our Curriculum Night. However, if you have interest in this issue, you may be able to talk to friends or neighbors who no longer have children at Wines to see if they can attend the meeting.  
DATE:     Tuesday, Sept. 20
TIME:     7:00 p.m.
PLACE:    Ann Arbor Free Methodist Church, 1951 Newport Rd.

Warm the Children
Warm the Children is an AnnArbor.com program that buys new winter clothing for children in need. Children who receive free lunch or who receive some sort of public assistance would qualify for the program.  Each child will receive $90 in new clothing. Families shop for these items with a shopping coordinator at area Target locations. The program will be accepting applications from now until October 28, 2011. Shopping begins in October and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications for the program are now available in the office at Wines (994-1973). Referral forms are due by October 28, 2011.

Please see the attachment to this weekly email from our local Cub Scout Troop.

Sincerely,

David

Thursday, September 8, 2011

No picnic tonight


Due to the rainy weather, we have cancelled tonight's Welcome Back Picnic and it has been rescheduled to next Monday, September 12th at 6:00. Please bring a dish to share, a blanket, and beverages for your family. We suggest that K-2 families bring a dessert or side dish and 3-5 families bring a main dish or side dish.

Stay dry!

David

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Weekly Blog 9/7


Dear Wines Families,
 
Please take a moment to look at this week's Weekly Email as there were three attachments of note. Included was our first Wines Times newsletter of the year. This is our monthly newsletter and this month there is a lot of back to school information, so please take some time to read it. In addition to the Wines Times, there is an Art Room volunteer form attached as well as a Media Center volunteer form attached. If you are interested in volunteering in the Media Center or the Art Room, please have a look at these forms.
 
Since we have a newsletter this week, I will just include a few items with this message. First, I again want to thank everyone for a great start to the year. We are off and running and things are going well.
 
Now that the first couple days of school are finished, I’m sure our parking lot will start to settle down as families get into regular routines. Please refer to the information I’ve sent out previously about our pick up and drop off system. The areas for active pick up and drop off are at the front of the building and in front of the Kindergarten entrance in the Cooley lot. The curbs in this area are painted red. There are also signs in this area marking the zone. The signs are a bit misleading, however. They read “Student Drop off Only, No Parking or Standing.” Please note that this area is for pick up as well as drop off and if you are picking up in the PM, you can “stand” as long as you pull as far ahead as possible and remain in your car. If you are leaving you car, please do not park in this area. Again, the Forsythe overflow lot near the Newport entrance is a great option if you are parking your car.
 
If your child has not turned in his or her ThinkStretch Summer learning workbook, please have them turn in it by Friday to their classroom teacher.
 
Finally, I want to remind everyone that our PTO Family Picnic is tomorrow evening at 6:00. The weather is not looking too good, unfortunately. In the event of rain, we will need to cancel the event—there is not an indoor option for the picnic. I will work with the PTO and make a decision about the event during the day on Thursday. So think sunny thoughts!!
 
David

Monday, August 22, 2011

Welcome Back to Wines


Dear Wines Families, 
I hope this message finds you well and enjoying the last days of summer. I'm excited to get the year started and see all of our children and families once again. As we get closer to the beginning of the year, I want to take a moment to give everyone some important start up information.

Welcome Back Popsicle Party: Please mark your calendar for next Tuesday, August 30th from 2:30-3:30 PM. At that time, we are welcoming everyone to the back playground for an informal Popsicle Party. At that time, our teachers will all be here and students will learn who their teacher is, receive their back to school letter, meet their teacher, see their classmates, and have a yummy Popsicle!  I hope you can join us for this first-ever event at Wines. Please note, if you are not available next Tuesday, we will send your welcome letter and class placement information in the mail the following day so you will receive it before the end of the week.

First Day of School: Tuesday, September 6th is the first day of school. It is a full day. As always, our PTO will be sponsoring a back to school coffee at 9:00 that morning in the media center. 

Back to School Picnic: Our annual Back to School Picnic takes place on Thursday, September 8th from 6:00-7:30 on the back playground. An informational flyer will be included in the first day folder sent home with students on the first day of school. 

Curriculum Night: Curriculum Night takes place on Tuesday, September 20th at 6:30 PM. More information about the format will be coming soon. 

Kindergarten Play Date: Kindergarten families, tonight at 6:00 on the small playground we are hosting our annual Kindergarten Play Date. Come meet the teachers and meet other new families. 
Finally, I need to share some sad news from our school community. Last week, Eric Keefauver, father of Lilly Keefauver who will be entering 3rd grade this year, passed away after a brief illness. A memorial service was held this past weekend. In honor of Eric's memory, donations are being accepted at Jewish Family Services of  Washtenaw County 2245 S. State St. Suite 200, Ann Arbor 48104. Our deepest sympathies to Lilly, her mother Lisa, and the entire Keefauver extended family. 

David