Weekly Blog 5/16

Dear Wines Families,

As I said last week, these end of year messages are longer than normal—and more important! Please take a moment to read through all of this week’s announcements.

Country Fair

ONLINE WRISTBAND, FOOD, AND RAFFLE TICKET SALES ARE OPEN FOR THE WINES COUNTRY FAIR & RAFFLE!

This event takes place on June 1, from 6:00–8:30 p.m. at Wines Elementary and features:

• The Raffle where students can enter to win themed prize baskets, fun events with Wines teachers, and items from the community
• Cake Walk (student entries due by 9:00 a.m. on June 1)
• Carnival-style games and prizes
• Farmer John’s petting zoo with two fun-filled shows
• Photo booth
• Lemonade
• NYPD Pizza
• Michigan Creamery ice cream
• Performances from the aerial artists of the Aviary
• Fifth Grade Flush Tank
• And more!

THREE WAYS TO PURCHASE:

• Online (May 9 – May 30): (Credit Card Only — An online minimum purchase of $10 is requested.)

Pick up wristbands and tickets at the sales table outside the main school doors during advance sales or the night of the Fair. If ordering the week of the Fair, please allow for a 24-hour turnaround.

• In Advance at Wines (May 29 – June 1): (Cash, Check, or Credit Card)

Purchase tickets at the sales table outside the main school doors before and after school.

• At the Fair (June 1): (Cash, Check, or Credit Card)

Purchase tickets onsite at ticket tables outside the school.

Country Fair questions? Email Denise Cope.

 THREE WAYS TO GET INVOLVED:

• RAFFLE:

We need donations! View the wishlist now.

K-5 Classroom Raffle Baskets: Each year the classrooms from each grade create an amazing raffle basket. Below are classroom themes for your donations. Collection baskets are located in each classroom. Classroom basket donations are being accepted through Friday, May 25.

• Kindergarten - Arts & Crafts
• 1st Grade - Legos
• 2nd Grade - The Wonderful World of Science
• 3rd Grade - Camping, Swimming & Outdoor Fun
• 4th Grade - Sports & Outdoor Fun (Team regalia is great too!)
• 5th Grade - It’s A High Tech World

Raffle questions? Email Tracie Clarke.

• VOLUNTEERS:

Like most events at Wines, we rely heavily on parent volunteers to make this a wonderful celebration for our students. Please sign up to help! Also, if you have a high school age student that needs volunteer hours or a middle school student who would like to get involved, we would love their help too!

Volunteer questions? Email Cristina Rojas.

• CAKE WALK:

Calling All Student Bakers K-5 For The Country Fair Cake Walk! Bake a cake or cupcakes based on the theme "Favorite Movie/Movie Character". Bring it in on Friday, June 1 by 9 a.m. to be eligible for the cake contest where teachers will judge cakes and award ribbons to the top three best-themed cakes in each grade. Entries will be used as prizes for the Cake Walk that evening and will be on display at the Country Fair!

We also appreciate any donations of cakes and cupcakes from Wines families for Cake Walk prizes.

Cake Walk questions? Email Mary Nickson.

Science Olympiad

We had a remarkable Science Olympiad last Saturday. The final numbers from the event were:

• 98 registered participants
• 31 Coaches
• 1 Event Supervisor
• 28 Event Volunteers
• 87 students went to compete
• 47 medals earned (54% of competitors)

I am so proud of our entire Science Olympiad team and thankful for our volunteer coaches and event volunteers. I want to extend a HUGE thank you to Anastasia Yocum who organized the entire Olympiad season and in her “spare” time, even coached a team. Thank You, Anastasia!

For Science Olympiad participants, we will host a Popsicle celebration at lunch on Friday. Please have kids wear their Olympiad t-shirts and medals on Friday.

Art Night Tomorrow

Please join us for our annual Art Night tomorrow, May 17, from 6:30-8:00. Come at any time to browse the wonderful artwork from all Wines students.

Volunteer Breakfast: May 25

Please join us as our staff in appreciating all of our volunteers next Friday at 8:15 in the Media Center. We can’t have a successful school without you!!

Staffing News for 2018/19

I’m pleased to announce two staff changes for the 2018/2019 school year. First, I’m incredibly excited to announce that Shanna Middleton will be our first ever Young 5’s teacher at Wines! As most of you know, Shanna is the architect of our Kindergarten program at Wines, which has become a model and leader in early childhood education. We are so excited as Shanna becomes the architect of our Young 5’s program.

With Shanna moving to Young 5’s, we have an opening at Kindergarten. I’m pleased to announce that Samantha Shanteau will be our new Kindergarten teacher. Samantha has taught 3^rd grade here for the past three years. As you may know, Samantha did her student teaching in Shanna Middleton’s classroom so Shanna’s “hands” will continue to be on our entire early childhood program!!

With Samantha moving to Kindergarten, we will have an opening at 3^rd grade. In the coming weeks, the interview process will begin. I will be participating in the first round of interviews at the district level on May 29. After that initial round, we will then bring candidates back for school-based interviews. We will need an interview team for that round that includes parents. If you are interested in serving on the committee, please let me know. You do not need to be a parent of a current 2^nd grader.

Reminder: Early Release Wednesday, May 23

We have our final Early Release next Wednesday. End of day is 1:29. There is no PM childcare.

Thank you!

On behalf of the Wines staff, I want to extend a sincere thank you to all of our families for a wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week last week. Each day brought a new surprise for our staff and we deeply appreciate your appreciation! Special thanks to the Hutton family for donating the coffee for one of the special days!

Thanks for taking the time to read through this long message! Hope to see you tomorrow night at Art Night.

David