Weekly Blog 11/30

Dear Wines Families,

There is a lot to share today, please take a moment to read through today’s information.

Wines Book Fair: Dec. 6-9

Our annual Book Fair is right around the corner. The Fair begins on Tuesday, Dec. 6^th and our annual Family Night is that same evening from 6:30-8:00.

Again this year, we will also have an online sale. In fact, online sales are already open. You can purchase items online at: http://www.scholastic.com/bf/wineselementaryschool

All books ordered online will ship directly to Wines and will be delivered before winter break. Parents and relatives can designate if the order is a gift.

The Book Fair is a GREAT volunteer opportunity. Below is a link to the volunteer sign up. We still need volunteers!

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/9040E48AAA72BA75-scholastic1 

Spirit Wear: Order Deadline is Monday

Wines Spirit Wear is now available for purchase! Follow the link below to select from a variety of styles of t-shirts, long-sleeve shirts, and sweatshirts for children and adults.  Spirit Wear is available for purchase until midnight on Monday, December 5 and will be delivered to Wines during the last week of school before winter break.  Thank you to Angela Becker-Chase for all of her work on designing the shirts and getting this Spirit Wear sale up and running!

https://pogo.undergroundshirts.com/collections/wines-elementary-apparel-16

Classroom Art Projects for Wines Auction

Its that time of the year when we start to put ideas together for the classroom art projects for the auction. We are looking for 2 volunteers for each classroom to help the children make a project that will be auctioned of at the event next year.

It's a fun thing to do and we stress you DO NOT have to be good at art/crafts to do this.

Some items we made in the past were decorated wine glasses, a cheese plate, cook book, a painted garden chair, and mobiles. If you are interested or would look to hear more about it please attend the meeting on Thursday 8th at 9.00am in the teachers’ lounge.

If you cannot make the meeting but would like to help then please contact Kathryn Werns: ktwerns@gmail.com

Girl Scouts Toy Drive

The Wines Girl Scouts are running a Toy Drive to benefit the needy families served by the SOS Center (http://www.soscs.org/). New, unwrapped toys can be placed in the boxes near the entrances to Wines between December 1 and 16.  They will be given to parents by the SOS Center to make the holidays bright for their little ones.  Thank you for helping us give back to our community!

Parking lot Reminder: Important letter from AAFD

Finally, in today's email I sent a link to a letter I received from the Ann Arbor Fire Department regarding vehicles being left unoccupied at pick up and drop off at our entrances. I explained that while our lot is busy, we do not allow parents to leave their cars. This is a good reminder that the pick up/drop off lanes are “moving” lines as described in detail multiple times. Let me know if you have questions.

David

Weekly Blog 11/22

Dear Wines Families,

I have a couple of announcements before we head out for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Book Fair: Dec. 6-9

Our annual Book Fair is right around the corner. The Fair begins on Tuesday, Dec. 6^th and our annual Family Night is that same evening from 6:30-8:00.

Again this year, we will also have an online sale. In fact, online sales are already open. You can purchase items online at: http://www.scholastic.com/bf/wineselementaryschool

All books ordered online will ship directly to Wines and will be delivered before winter break. Parents and relatives can designate if the order is a gift.

The Book Fair is a GREAT volunteer opportunity. Below is a link to the volunteer sign up:

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/9040E48AAA72BA75-scholastic1 

Report Cards Coming Home Today

Your child will have his/her report card in their backpack today. In addition to the report card, your child’s Personalized Learning Plan is included as well as the most recent NWEA assessment scores. Please return the report card envelope to school so we can re-use it for our March and June reports.

Directory

In today's email I sent the 2016-2017 Directory. Please refer to the email for the google link as well as the Excel version. 

The Nutcracker
Come see The Nutcracker being performed at Huron High School on December 3rd and 4^th. Cast members from Wines and many other AAPS schools are performing in The Randazzo Dance Company's production of this holiday classic. Special guest dancers from The Boston Ballet are also in the show. Tickets are only $10 for Students and all AAPS teachers and staff. Tickets can be purchased by going to randazzodancecompany.com. Come support your classmates!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and have safe travels if you are traveling.

David

Weekly Blog 11/16

Dear Wines Families,

Here is the news of the week!

Directory

We are just about ready to send out our annual Wines Directory. Our digital directory (I will send it out in PDF, Excel, and in Google Sheets formats) will be sent next Tuesday before we leave for our Thanksgiving recess. We will use the information in our database including Student Name, Parent/Guardian Name(s), Parent/Guardian email(s), and Parent/Guardian cell phone numbers. If you do not want your information included, please contact Robin Moore at moorero@aaps.k12.mi.us by Monday of next week.

2016 SCIENCE & BUILDERS FAIR RECAP

The 2016 Science & Builders Fair was a GREAT SUCCESS, thanks to our student exhibitors, our volunteer evaluators, and all of those who came to experience the Fair! We are so impressed by your interest to participate, your curiosity, your creativity, and your preparation!  

Photos from the Fair can be downloaded from http://winesscienceandbuilders.weebly.com/gallery.html

To 2017, and beyond! 

The Wines S & B Team

Parking Lot Reminders

For those of you who have spent time in the parking lot this year, you have likely noticed that it is fairly busy. It is important with all of the traffic that we follow the established system. This not only keeps things efficient, it keeps it safe for our kids. Please pull ahead as far as you can before your child enters or exits your car and stay in your car. This should only be done at the front of the building. If you are stopped and not at the front of school yet, please wait until you have arrived at the front. If you “stop short” it impacts everyone behind you. Students have been told to remain at the front of the building and not walk up the sidewalk at the end of the day. Please remind your children of this. In the Cooley lot, the area from the end of the gate to between the portables is a similar pick up/drop off zone. There are signs marking these areas. We ask that the Cooley lot continue to be used by Kindergarten families (and siblings) only.

That’s all for this week.

David

Weekly Blog 11/9

Dear Wines Families,

After yesterday’s election, it is understandable that many in our community are looking to me for help working with our children moving forward now that the votes are cast and the election is over. I must admit that I am searching for the right answers and also paying close attention to our kids today (and over the days to come) to read their needs, answer their questions, and—if necessary—ease their fears.

While the analogy is not perfect, in some ways we will react as a school similarly to when traumatic events happen in our world. While I am not trying to paint the election as a traumatic event, our response at school when such events happen can guide us at times like these when kids are uncertain, have misunderstandings, or even are scared. Our goal is simple: to keep school as normal as possible for our kids. We certainly do not want to discourage conversations and questions. However, we also seek to keep the day to day as normal as possible. As it relates to the election, normal at school is that students always know that they are safe and their families are safe. Normal at school is that we are respectful of all people. Normal is that we always use kind words when we speak to others or speak about others. This is the message I gave to our staff as they are on the “front lines” with our kids.

Speaking of normal, on to the news of the week here at school:

Wines Times

Our PTO newsletter is hot off the presses. Below is a link to the Wines Times for November. Please have a look!

http://winespto.org/docs/WTNov2016.pdf

Science and Builders Fair

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow night for our annual Science and Builders Fair at 7:00 PM. Even if your child is not participating, this is a great family event for all!

That’s all for this week.

David

Weekly Blog 11/2

Dear Wines Families,
Wow, how did it get to be November already!! We are entering a busy time of year for our kids and staff. Right now, our staff is engaged in parent teacher conferences. At the conference, your teacher will share your child's Personalized Learning Plan that outlines current progress and goals created by both the teacher and the student. If you haven't been able to schedule a conference with your child's teacher, please do so ASAP. We want to make sure we conference with every parent before report cards go home. Report cards go home right before our Thanksgiving recess.

Thank you!!!
Our Run-a-Thon was a success in every way. As of today we are very close to 100% participation from our students. Thank you so much for your participation. We will be closing the books on Run-a-Thon at the end of the week. We will still accept pledges through Friday. Online pledges can be made at https://squareup.com/market/wines-elementary-school-pto/item/run-a-thon-donation-1. Thank you again as this is, perhaps, our most successful Run-a-Thon ever!

No School Tuesday, Nov. 8
I want to remind you that there is no school next Tuesday, Nov. 8th for Election Day. Our building will be closed. If you are looking for things to do with your kids next Tuesday, our neighbors at Forsythe have partnered with Skyzone for the day and a portion of admission fees go to Forsythe. I included a flyer with today's email.

Picture Re-Take Day: Nov. 9th
Next Wednesday is Picture Re-Take Day. If your child's smile was just not quite right or if you missed the first picture day, next Wednesday is the day. Please bring your original pictures with your child as they will be collected at that time.

That's all for this week. Thank you!
David