Weekly Blog 12/19

Dear Wines Families,

The December Wines Times was included with today's email so I won't add much information to this email. I do want to make three quick announcements, however.

First, we have a small calendar change for January. Our amazing music teacher Beth McNally will be presenting at a state conference on January 18th. That is the day we have scheduled for our Martin Luther King Holiday activities. Beth has a performance planned that includes every student at Wines. Therefore, we have shifted our celebration to the day after the holiday. We will celebrate the day on Tuesday, January 22nd with our assembly taking place at 1:30.

Second, I want to point your attention to the International Night Flyer that was also attached to today's email. International Night is January 31st.

Finally, I want to thank all of our parents who have been diligent about signing in at the office this week. Our computer sign in station has been repaired and is now operational again. Please make sure you are signing in and have a sticker on when you are in the building--even if it is just for quick visit. Over the next few days, we know there will be many special activities in the building that parents will be attending. At certain times over the next few days--particularly Friday--we will be expecting many parents at the same time. During these busier times, we will not use our computer station but instead will have a table set up outside of the office with sign in sheets and visitor stickers. Please help us as we work to ensure we are aware of every visitor in our building.

We met as district administrators yesterday to discuss potential updates to our building security plans. In the days to come, we will likely make some minor changes to our existing systems at Wines.  I will let you know as soon as plans are formalized. Major changes (i.e. a "buzzer system" to enter the school) are being discussed as well.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

David

Weekly Blog 12/12/12

Dear Wines Families,
I’ll start today with a quick brainteaser. Today is December 12, 2012. So the date is 12/12/12. This is the last repetitive date for quite some time. Assuming for a moment that the Mayans were not correct and the world doesn’t end today, what will the date be on the next repetitive date on the calendar? As with anything, you can Google the answer quite easily. But challenge yourself to do it the old fashioned way!!

Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad registration closes this Friday, December 14th. Register your child online at: http://winespto.org/ScienceOlympiad/scienceRegistration.html or you may print the form in the attachment and return it to your child’s teacher. We still need coaches to make the event a success. If you have an interest in Map Reading, Describe It/Build It, Endangered Animals, Flowers or Paper Airplanes, we need your help! To all second grade families, this is a great event for your child to become involved. The attachment describes the Olympiad and answers many questions or you may contact kellymichaelssoluk@gmail.com or david.creen@benefitfocus.com for more information.

Quick Survey
Our PTO is making short and long term plans to try to make their meetings as accessible to as many parents as possible. Below is a link to a one-question survey about meeting times. If you could please take a moment to fill it out, our PTO would really appreciate it!
PTO Survey

News from the Library
Attached to today's email was the latest newsletter from Sally Evaldson in the Media Center. Please have a look.

Winter Vacation Learning
I want to again remind everyone that if you are looking for opportunities to keep your child’s brain stimulated (and perhaps keep them busy!) during the winter break, we have again teamed up with ThinkStretch. You can download materials at:http://www.thinkstretch.com/brainfreeze/
Enter promo code: Winter12

Holiday Gifts
I want to remind everyone that it is school district policy that staff members cannot accept gifts from families beyond “token value.” I understand that at this time of year, parents and children like to express their appreciation to teachers and other staff. Speaking for the staff, please know that we feel your appreciation every day! A donation to a local charity in our school’s name or a teacher’s name is a great gift to us for the holidays. The Peace Neighborhood Center is a wonderful organization right in our backyard if you need a good idea.

Thanks!

David

Weekly Blog 12/5

Dear Wines Families.

I have a number of important announcements this week.

Giving Season
Wines is currently participating in four different giving opportunities.

Preschool Family Center Giving Tree. Every December the Wines community looks for ways to support those in Ann Arbor who may need a little something extra during the holiday season. This year we have partnered with the Ann Arbor Preschool and Family Center who have many basic classroom needs. We now have a Giving Tree outside of the office filled with mittens labeled with items to donate. If you would like to help the Preschool, please take a mitten and return the purchased gift to the office before December 21st. This is a wonderful project to involve your child in! For more info, check out:  http://www.a2schools.org/preschool.home/about_our_program.

Winter Coat Drive. The Reinhart Company is currently collecting winter coats for those in need. A box is set up in our lobby near the display case. We welcome all coats in good condition. We have dry cleaners donating their services for wool coats that need to be cleaned. If the coat is washable, it would be great to have them washed before they are dropped off. However, we will clean them if that is not possible. Children’s coats are always in high demand!  Please go through your closets and see if anyone has an extra coat to donate to those less fortunate!

Student Council/Food Gatherers Canned Food Drive. Our Canned Food Drive continues until Dec. 19th. Bins are situated around the building.

Peer to Peer Puzzle Donations. Cleaning out old toys to make way for new? Do you have puzzles your children no longer enjoy? Do you have puzzles with missing pieces? Don't throw them out! Donate them to Wines Peer to Peer program. We will be making projects that use puzzle pieces and would love to put them to good use! Donations will be accepted until Dec. 21. A box will be placed right next to the coat drive box in the lobby.

ThinkStretch Winter Learning
We have again teamed up with ThinkStretch to offer learning opportunities when school is not in session during Winter Break. A downloadable packet is available to every Wines student. Each packet contains:
·       A BrainFreez! reading log
·       Math facts quick review
·       Winter writing activity
·       Winter science and art fun

Here's the link: http://www.thinkstretch.com/brainfreeze/
Enter promo code: Winter12

Extra Specials
A reminder that Lunchtime “Extra Specials” begin in January for grades 1-5. We are still in need of volunteers. Attached to today's email was an informational flyer.

Extra Kids Magazines?
If you have any extra kids magazines (Ranger Rick, etc.) lying around, we have a couple of classroom projects that could use them. You can drop them off in the office or directly to Kathy Perry or Janeen Eckel.

Thanks!

David

Weekly Blog 11/28

Dear Wines Families,

Attached to today’s email is the November Wines Times newsletter. As always, there is lots of important information in theTimes, so please have a look. I want to highlight one item in the Wines Times for families of 2nd-5th graders. Our Science Olympiad registration is beginning. In the Wines Times there is information about the various opportunities. In addition, a paper copy of the information and registration is coming home today as well. I’ve also attached this information (in Word and PDF) to today's email. This year, you can register for Science Olympiad online at: http://winespto.org/ScienceOlympiad/scienceRegistration.html.


A couple of other important items did not make the Wines Times. Please see below.

Canned Food Drive
Student Council is working with Food Gatherers on a holiday canned food drive.  We will be collecting all types of non-perishable food donations from Friday, November 30 until Wednesday, December 19. Students can bring in their food donations to their classrooms or put hem directly into the bins provided by Food Gatherers.  These bins will be stationed at 3 locations around the school building. Student Council thanks you for support!

Lunchtime Extra Specials are starting January 15th!
This is one of the Wines students’ favorite activities of the year and we need volunteers to make it happen! Please contact Annemarie Dolan (akilburndolan@comcast.net) or Shireen Syed (shisy786@yahoo.com) and sign up to lead or assist in an area that interests you. If you have an idea for a different activity that you’d like to lead, please email us as well. Younger siblings are always welcome! Here are some of the activities we have so far:

• Knitting
• Paper Airplanes
• Legos
• Yoga
• Sewing and Crafts
• Beads, Beads, Beads
• Bal-A-Vis-X
• Great Ideas
• Yearbook
• Board Games- including Speed Stacking

We look forward to seeing you at lunch in January!


David

Weekly Blog 11/14

Dear Wines Families,

I have a number of important announcements this week. Sorry for the long email!!

Movie Night
Our first Movie Night is this Friday beginning at 7:00. The movie is Space Chimps. As a reminder, Movie Night is not a drop off event. All students need to be accompanied by an adult.

Lost and Found
Our Lost and Found is full. We will be donating items during the Thanksgiving weekend. Please come and look through items before we leave for break. We will be “displaying” the items on tables beginning Friday. If you are coming to Movie Night, take a moment and look through the tables.

Book Fair
Our annual Book Fair takes place right after Thanksgiving. The Fair begins on Tuesday, November 27th and runs through Friday, November 30th. Our Book Fair Family Night is Tuesday the 27th. Attached to today’s email is an informational flyer. Have a look!

Thank You!!
I’m pleased to announce that Wines received the most tokens during the PTO Thrift Shop “Show Your Support” event. As a result, we earned $365 to help support Lunches with Love. Thank you Wines!! We will again participate from Dec. 30th-Jan. 5th. The PTO Thrift Shop continues to make many generous contributions to Wines and all AAPS schools. They also have lots of great stuff!! So please check them out.

Girls on the Run 5k event at Wines: We need your help!
Our Wines "Girls on the Run" team is holding a practice 5k event after school on Tuesday, November 27 and would like to invite you to run with us, cheer for us, or quench our thirst! We will be starting at the front of school at 4pm. Our route takes us through the Creak Park neighborhood. It would be awesome if some families in the neighborhood could set up water tables for our runners or be in your front yards to cheer us as we run by. Or, come to school at 4pm and run with us! We are practicing for the end of the season run with all the Girls on the Run teams in southeastern Michigan which will take place on Dec. 9th at Eastern Michigan University. We'd love to see you there. For more information about the event or how to sign up to run with your daughter or support your Wines team, go to http://girlsontherunsemi.org/events/GOTR-events.php. If you would like to help with our practice 5k or for more information, contact coach Nasreen Islam at nrislam@comcast.net.

Vada Murray Fund for Cancer Research “Tailgate”
Attached to today’s email is an informational flyer about an upcoming event at Michigan Theater to support the Vada Murray Fund for Cancer Research. You can watch the Michigan/Ohio State game on the big screen at the theater and help raise money and awareness. This sounds like a great event!

Music Room News
Attached to today’s email is the most recent newsletter from Ms. McNally from the music room.

That’s all!

David

Dear Wines Families.

As usual, there are a lot of exciting things to share with you today!

Final Walk To School Day Friday
On Friday we will hold our final Walk to School Day as part of our Walktober celebration. Friday will have an added element of fun. We will be competing with Evening Street Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio to see which school has the highest percentage of walkers on Friday. The “losing” school’s principal will be forced to wear the opposing university colors. So if we win, principal Mary Rykowski from Evening Street will wear the Michigan Maize and Blue, and if Evening Street wins, I will be forced to wear the Scarlet and Gray of Ohio State. On Friday we will have a special spirit day here at Wines. Students are encouraged to wear the colors of their favorite team or their Wines colors. So Wolverine fans can wear Maize and Blue. I know we have a lot of Detroit Tigers fans these days so Tigers gear is also encouraged. Even our friends who like Ohio State can wear their colors! And everyone is a fan of Wines, so Wines spirit is always a great way to show your spirit!

Science and Builders Fair
We have had an outstanding response to this year’s Science and Builder’s Fair. Over 100 students will be showing their science or building skills tomorrow evening (Thursday) at 7:00. The event takes place in the cafeteria and the gym. Even if your child is not participating, this is a great informal event for families. We are in need of about four more volunteers to be "judges" for the event—this will take about 20 minutes of your time. The volunteers will be asked to visit 6-8 projects and discuss the project with the student. They then write a brief positive comment on the certificate and present it to the participant.  That's it! It is a non-competitive event and all participants receive the same certificate and ribbon. We need about 4 more judges to make that happen. Volunteers can email at debbietirico@me.com.

Show Your Support!
Again this year we are participating in the PTO Thrift Shop "Show Your Support" fundraiser. By shopping at the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop next week, you can help earn money for the Wines "Lunches with Love" program. When you shop at the PTO Thrift Shop between 10/28-11/3, every $5 you spend earns a token for the Wines bucket. Three other schools will also be participating next week and we receive a percentage of $1000 donated by the Thrift Shop based on how many tokens we receive. The Thrift Shop is located at 2280 South Industrial Highway.

Music Room News
Ms. McNally’s Music Room Newsletter was attached to today's email. Beth has successfully scheduled all of this year’s grade level performances. The dates are included in her newsletter so please have a look.

Spirit Wear
Our Spirit Wear orders have arrived! If your child ordered Wines Spirit Wear, it will be delivered to him/her on Friday.

Thanks!

David

Dear Wines Families,

I have a few important announcements this week.

Run-a-Thon Pledges

As of today we are about half way to meeting our Run-a-Thon pledge donation amount from last year. That is really great! Friday is the last day for pledge collections to be turned in. The classroom with the highest lap average and 100% participation in pledge collection—regardless of the amount—will earn a pizza party. So let’s bring in those pledges! Online donations can be made at http://www.winespto.org/runathon.php.

Picture Day

Picture Day is next Wednesday, October 23^rd. A picture order package is coming home today in the Wednesday Folder. There are scholarship packages available. Please contact me if you would like to discuss a scholarship picture package.

Walk to School

Again on Friday we will be walking to school. We’ve had great participation thus far. On Oct. 26^th we will be competing with Evening Street Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio to see which school has the most students walking to school.

Great Ideas Grants

The first Great Ideas Grant deadline is coming up. Get your applications in by November 1st!  This is a wonderful opportunity for kids and parents to turn an idea into something tangible for our school.  We really want to hear from our students this year – what would you like to see our school do or acquire?  No idea is too small!  Hard copy applications will come home in your child's Wednesday folder today.  Additional applications are attached to today's email or can be picked up in the office.

Science and Builders Fair

Last call for submission for the Science and Builders Fair. The Science and Builders Fair is next Thursday, Oct. 25^th at 7:00 PM. If you have any questions, please contact Debbie Tirico at debbietirico@me.com.

MEAP

Today marks the final day of MEAP testing. Thank you families for sending your children to school rested and prepared for the test. The kids have done great. Special thanks to our incredible Office Professional, Robin Moore, who is in charge of all the organization of the testing—believe me, this is no small task. Thanks to Robin, everything has been smooth.

Thanks,

David