Final Weekly Blog 6/13

Dear Wines Families.

I'm writing you today from beautiful northern Michigan where we are spending our final day at Camp Tanuga with our 5th graders. This yearly trip is a highlight of the year for our 5th graders--and for me!!!

Wines Times 
Below is a link to the final PTO Wines Times Newsletter.
http://winespto.org/docs/wtJune2018.pdf

I want to thank our community for a fantastic year at Wines. Our school continues to be a place where I am proud to be the leader and I couldn't ask for a better group of parents, teachers and staff, and most importantly, our tremendous group of children. We have far more to reflect on than I have time to put into words today, but I thank you for a wonderful year. I'm already looking forward to next year and new adventures with a Young 5's classroom and a new modular building housing our 5th grade. It will be a quick summer and we'll be back before we know it. For now, however, I wish everyone a wonderful summer!

A couple of logistics for the final days of school. Friday is a half day with dismissal at 11:39. There is no childcare. If you have medication at school, please plan on picking up your child's medication before the end of the day Friday if at all possible. By law, any medication left after next Tuesday, June 19 will be discarded. On Friday we will have our final school assembly at 10:15 and we will "clap out" our 5th graders at approximately 11:30.

Thank you again for a great year. Have a wonderful summer.

David

Weekly Blog 6/6

Dear Wines Families,

It’s hard to believe we just over a week left of school. I do have a couple of important announcements.

Homework Survey

Our school community is embarking on a journey to review our approach to homework at the elementary level and as we begin this process, we'd like some information from our parent community regarding your family's experience with homework. Below is a link to a brief questionnaire. This initial questionnaire is intended to simply compile some quantitative response data to help us frame our initial work. Over time we will seek out more comprehensive qualitative data and ideas. Please consider taking a few minutes to provide feedback. Your responses are ANONYMOUS.

https://goo.gl/forms/qNZ2irXYLQvRejJz1

Country Fair Thanks!

Our annual Country Fair and Raffle was another FANTASTIC event last Friday. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend! The Fair is a huge undertaking to put together and I want to give a big, well deserved thank you to Denise Cope who worked all year planning the Fair and worked incredibly hard over the last couple of months to make sure everything was just right. Thanks you Denise!! Denise was not alone and I want to also thank Mary Nickson, Cristina Rojas, Stacy Gudal, Sara Meyer, Kerianne Tupac, Tracie Clarke, and Kelly Collins for their hard work and leadership as well! There were also numerous other volunteers at the event. On behalf of the entire Wines community, thank you!

HELP FILL A.C.C.E.’S FOOD PANTRY BEFORE SUMMER BREAK

Thank you to everyone who has already donated to the A.C.C.E’s Food Pantry. The collection will continue through Friday this week and items can be dropped off outside of the front office. 

That’s all for this week.

David

Weekly Blog 5/23

Dear Wines Families,

The Country Fair is just over a week away. Please read through the information about the fair (and how to support it!) as well as the other information for the week.

The Wines Country Fair and Raffle needs your help to make this an awesome end-of-the-year celebration for our students! Please sign up to volunteer at the fair on Friday, June 1, or donate an item for the raffle.

Sign up to volunteer now!

There is a long list (mobile users please note there are multiple pages) of volunteer opportunities so you can find something that will be fun for you. 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.

We need Raffle donations! View the wishlist now.

K-5 Classroom Raffle Basket donations are being accepted through Friday, May 25. 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.

• 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.

Get your wristbands and tickets at Wines starting Tuesday, May 29.

Purchase wristbands and tickets at the sales table outside the main school doors before and after school. If you purchase them online you can also pick up your order during this same time. Please allow for a 24-hour turnaround.

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

Country Fair questions? Email Denise Cope.

Volunteer Breakfast Friday

Please join us on Friday as our staff invites all of our volunteers to a special breakfast at 8:15 in the Library. We look forward to celebrating with you.

Box Tops

The Boxtops contest is drawing to a close!  Turn in your boxtops marked with your teacher's name by June 1!  The winning classes will have the choice of a pizza or cupcake party for their class during the last week of school!

That’s all for this week.

David

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