Weekly Blog 9/26

Dear Wines Families,

Please check your email today for two emails from me. The first contains the latest edition of the Wines Times. There is A LOT coming up in October at Wines so please take some time to read through the Wines Times. The Wines Times file was a bit too large to include a few items. Therefore, I sent a second email with three flyers attached.

Other announcements:

• Our office is in need of extra pants for kids in the case of accidents. If you have any extra size 5 or 6 pants with elastic waist, we will take them!

• In the Wines Times, an incorrect email address for our Walktober Chairperson, Anita Fontana, was included. If you would like to help or need more information about Walktober, Anita can be contacted at akdfontana@gmail.com.

• Thank you to everyone for watching your speeds on Newport! For those of you who live in or utilize the "Crescents" to come to Wines, neighbors in those neighborhoods are asking that you watch your speed as well. That area is a heavy walk to school area for our students. Thank you!

That's it for now. Please read the attached Wines Times.

David

Weekly Blog 9/19

Dear Wines Families,

Now that school is really up and running, we have lots of great things going on in the weeks ahead. As a result, there are lots of announcements this week!

Spirit Wear
Spirit Wear orders are due this Friday (Sept. 21st) or online through the Wines PTO website (winespto.org) by Sunday night, Sept. 23rd.

Directory Information
In the paper Wednesday Folder coming home today, you will find a form requesting information from your family for the Wines Directory. We are anxious to print the directory, so please check out the form and send it back to school as soon as possible.

Science and Builders Fair
October is just around the corner and that means it is time for the 16th annual Wines Science and Builders Fair on Thursday, October 25 from 7-8pm.  This is a non-competitive, fun, family-friendly event for ALL grade levels.  There will be awards for all participants.   Kids are invited to build, create, invent, explore, and experiment –with friends or on their own—and then proudly display their project.  No project or collection is too small—we love to see them all.  All families, whether you have a participant or not, are encouraged to attend the event to support our young scientists and builders.  We hope that your child will choose to participate!  Last year we had over 75 participants!  To sign up, please print the form attached to this week's email and return to your child's teacher.

Can't decide where to start?  Next week you can check out the Wines PTO website with photos from prior years as well as links to popular online sites with some ideas.  No idea is too small!  You'll see a whole range of projects, from Lego villages and clay creations to science projects exploring solar energy or nutritional value of soda!  You'll also be provided with some additional guidelines for the event (important info like no chemicals, weapons, etc).  If you have questions, please contact Debbie Tirico at debbietirico@me.com or 604-5014.

Hope to see you at this awesome event!

Run-a-Thon Sponsors
Our Run-a-Thon is coming up on October 12th. We are looking for business sponsors for the event. If you are interested, please contact Frances Carlson at fslcarlson@me.com. Business sponsorship is $500 and the business logo will appear on the t-shirts that all students receive and all printed material that goes out about the event.

Science Olympiad
The date for this year’s Science Olympiad is confirmed. This year’s event will be held at Pioneer High School on Saturday, April 20th, 2013. Much more information about Olympiad will be coming in the weeks and months ahead!

Watch Your Speed!
To everyone who drives on Newport Rd (and that is nearly everyone in our community!). Residents along Newport have noticed that speeds in the 25mph zones have been quite fast lately. I live off of Newport and I know how hard it can be to stick to the 25mph speed limit. However, the speed limit is in effect for the safety of the nearly 1000 children who attend Wines and Forsythe. Please watch your speed. Thank you!

PTO
We had a great PTO meeting and new family meeting last evening. One of the issues that we discussed at length is the fact that Wines is such a great place because we have SO MANY wonderful opportunities for students and their families. However, with so many events, we need lots of parent volunteers to help. With that said, the more parents we have volunteering to plan or work events, the less work it is for everyone.

Speaking of the PTO, our PTO has an outstanding website. Please visit www.winespto.org for information on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and much more!

David

Weekly Blog 9/12

Dear Wines Families,

It was such a pleasure seeing everyone at Curriculum Night last evening. As a parent, I understand how challenging it can be to arrange for childcare--especially on an evening when every elementary school in Ann Arbor hosts Curriculum Night! So I thank you for your efforts to attend last evening. Most events at Wines are either for kids or we have childcare available. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible for us to provide the space or staffing for childcare during and event like Curriculum Night. If you were not able to attend last evening, please contact your child's teacher so you can sign up for a parent/teacher conference.

There are three attachments to the email I sent out today. Janice Hendrick has included a volunteer sign up form to help in the Art Room, and Sally Evaldson has included a similar sign up for help in the Media Center. These are wonderful opportunities for volunteers and are places where volunteers are needed the most. New families, if you are looking for a great way to spend some time at Wines, here is a perfect opportunity!

In addition, we have attached a form for anyone who is interested in a purchasing advertising space in the upcoming Wines Directory. If you are interested in advertising, please see the form. We hope to have our Directory printed by the end of the month.

Interested in Cub Scouts? Wines has a strong scouting tradition and has opportunities for kids from 1st-5th grades. If you are interested in your child participating, there will be an informational meeting held at Wines next Thursday evening at 7:00 PM. If you have questions, please contact Greg Miller at (734) 369-8684 or millerg@umich.edu. Look for an informational flyer in next week's Wednesday Email.

Finally, just a quick note about pick up and drop off at Wines. With the addition of full day kindergarten and the simple fact that Wines is at capacity, our parking lot has been quite busy. It has settled down a bit this week, but it seems as if we will continue to have a busy lot this year. Please remember that we are asking that the Cooley lot only to be used by families with Kindergarten students and siblings. The lot is small and we have 60 Kindergarten students arriving and leaving each day. In both the Cooley lot and the front parking lot, the areas in front of the entrances marked with a red curb are for active pick up and drop off. Please stay in your car and continue to pull as far forward as you can before dropping off or picking up your child. Please do not let your child walk between cars unattended in either lot. As I've said many times, our parking lot was not designed for as many cars as we have each day. However, if everyone uses good judgement, drives slowly and safely, and follows our established patterns, we will continue to have a reasonably efficient system. Thank you all!

Best,

David

Weekly Blog 9/5

Dear Wines Families,

What a great start to the school year! While we are still going through a few normal “growing pains” with the addition of full day kindergarten, everything is going very well. The students are getting used to new routines and I’m really pleased with the start of the school year. Attached to this week’s email you will find the back to school edition of our monthly Wines Times Newsletter, so I will limit my announcements this week.

Just a reminder that we are looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow evening from 6:00-7:30 PM for our annual back to school picnic. Our PTO is looking for set up and clean up help tomorrow evening as well as some volunteers to help serve pizza. If you are able to volunteer, please contact Becky Maley at rhmaley@aol.com

We are ready to begin putting our school directory together. Please make sure your information is up to date in Powerschool. We will send home information soon asking what information you want/do not want included in the directory.

Curriculum Night is next Tuesday, Sept. 11th from 6:30-8:00. This is an event for adults, there will not be childcare available. 

Finally, just a quick request to make sure that items such as lunch boxes, coats, etc. are labeled with your child’s name. This will help us locate the owner without needing to use the Lost and Found.

Enjoy the Wines Times!

David

Wines 2012-2013!!

Dear Wines Families,

Believe it or not, the new school year is right around the corner. Robin and I are back and the office is open. It's a bit too quiet around here, but soon we will have more than 400 kids here to keep us busy! In the coming days and weeks you will receive much more information, so today I just want to send out some important dates for your calendars.

Wednesday, August 29th 3:00-4:00PM: Welcome Back Popsicle Party. At this party students and parents will receive their welcome back letter and information including the name of their teacher. Our teachers will be on the playground ready to meet their students and kids will have a chance to spend some time with their classmates and friends. If you are unable to attend the party, we will mail home your packet.

Tuesday, Sept. 4th: First Day of School (Full Day). As always, our PTO will host a welcome back coffee at 9:00 after the kids are in their classrooms.

Thursday, Sept. 6th 6:30 PM. Welcome Back Family Picnic. This annual event is an informal opportunity for families to come to school and reconnect or connect for the first time. Bring your family and a dish to pass. An informational flyer will be in the welcome back packet.

Tuesday, September 11th 6:30-8:00 PM: Curriculum Night. From 6:30-7:00 teachers will be presenting in their classrooms about the upcoming school year. From 7:00-7:30 I will make a brief presentation for all parents. From 7:30-8:00 teachers will again present in their classrooms so families with multiple children can see the other teacher (for those of you with 3 or more kids at Wines, you are already used to being in three places at once so hopefully you can figure it out!! ).

Tuesday, September 18th: First PTO meeting. From 6:00-7:00, our PTO will hold a meeting designed for new families so you can learn about who our PTO leaders are and what our PTO does (and they do a lot!!). From 7:00-8:00 we will hold our general meeting for everyone. As always, childcare will be available.

I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

David

Weekly Blog 5/23

Dear Wines Families,

With the many end of the year activities fast approaching, there is a lot of information to share today. I hope you find a few minutes to read through this week’s post.

Community Survey

As we come to the end of this school year, we’d like to know from our community how we are doing. Below is a link to a fairly short survey that we would really like you to fill out. We will use this information to help identify and celebrate what we are doing well at Wines, and also to inform us as to how we can improve on the service we provide to your children and our parent community. The survey is open until June 5^th. I encourage all of our families to fill it out before the 5^th. Below is the link.

Wines Community Survey

Country Fair Volunteers!
Country Fair - Friday, June 1^st. Everyone is invited...Everyone is needed !!

Over 150 volunteer opportunities are available and need to be filled to make the Wines Country Fair a success. We hope that every attending family helps in some fashion. Tomorrow, Thursday, May 24th, everyone will be receiving an email that includes a link to sign-up electronically via Volunteer spot (Deadline for sign-up is Tuesday, May 29th!)
All questions can be directed to Erin Telemaco 5telemaco@comcast.net
or call/text at 734-368-5826.

Speaking of Volunteers…Volunteer Recognition

We would like to recognize all of our parents who have volunteered your time at Wines this year. If you have volunteered our classrooms, our lunchroom, at PTO events, concerts, after school activities, in our special area classrooms, or anywhere else! You are invited to a Volunteer Coffee and Donuts recognition on Friday, June 1^st from 8:15-9:00 AM in the Media Center.

Volunteers for Next Year

In today’s Wednesday Folder you will find a form for volunteers at events for the 2012-2013 school year. Please look for it.

More Country Fair

In today’s “paper” Wednesday Folder, your child will be coming home with a final Country Fair informational flyer. If you would like to take advantage of our online pre-order opportunity for Country Fair wristbands, food, and cakewalk tickets, the final day to order online is Sunday, May 25th. Please visit www.winespto.org/raffle/tickets.php. There will also be a table at the front entrance of school during pick up and drop off next week. As a reminder, please contact me directly if you would like a Country Fair Family Scholarship packet.

Student Council Update

The Wines Elementary Student Council is planning a fundraiser for the Vada Murray Fund for Cancer Research at this year’s Country Fair.  We will be selling two different types of t-shirts, bumper stickers, and static decals. The t-shirts will be sold for $20.00.  The bumper stickers, in the shape of a policeman’s badge, will be sold for $5.00. The static decals will be given to anyone who makes a donation under $5.00.  The fundraiser will run from 6:00-8:00. We will also be accepting donations without obligation to purchase.   Please consider helping this worthy cause!

PTO Meeting

Our final PTO meeting of the year is next Wednesday, May 30^th at 7:00 PM. We will be finishing up with this year’s items and looking ahead to next year. As always, childcare is provided.

Art and Music News

Attached to the weekly email sent home today were newsletters from Mrs. Hendrick and Ms. McNally.

Thanks!

David 

Weekly Blog 5/16

Dear Wines Families,

Believe it or not, I don’t have multiple messages today. But since I have your attention, I will take this opportunity to tell everyone that our Lost and Found is full AGAIN. We will be donating items to charity at the end of next week so if your child is missing something, please come have a look.

Below is an important message about ticket sales for the Country Fair and Raffle. I’m pleased to announce that you can order online this year! I also want to remind families that I have family scholarship packets for any family who would like some assistance for the Country Fair. You can contact me directly if you would like a packet. There was an informational flyer attached to today's email about the Country Fair. If this is your first year at Wines, this flyer has lots of good info for you.

David

 The Wines Country Fair and Raffle/Auction is June 1st!!

6:00-8:30pm

 This year we are offering families the opportunity to buy food tickets, wristbands, and raffle tickets three ways:

*Online with your credit card from May 16th - May 25th and pick them up at the Will Call Table during advanced ticket sales or the night of the fair. 

Please note, tickets will NOT be shipped. (Unfortunately, Google check-out is not compatible with iPads or smartphones.)  

                          **buy online tickets at winespto.org/raffle/tickets.php 

*Advanced Ticket Sales the week of the fair (May 29th - June 1st). A table will be located outside the main doors before and after school. 

(Cash or check only.) 

* Ticket Sales Tables will be set up the night of the fair outside of school. 

(Cash or check only.)

Tickets are NOT available at the school office 

Questions about ticket sales? Contact Nicole Brittis at nicolebrittis@hotmail.com. 

Please contact Dr. DeYoung directly if you are interested in a family scholarship packet for the Country Fair and Raffle.