Weekly Update 3/24

 Dear Wines Families, 

For the first time in over a year, our school is buzzing with life! I can't tell you how good it feels to see our staff working in the building this week. Tomorrow, we begin the slow transition of welcoming students to our school!! 

By now, I've sent all I can send out so nothing new today, but a few reminders: 

• Young 5's. Tomorrow all in person Young 5's students will be at school. Friday, all Young 5's will be virtual. 

• Kindergarten: Tomorrow we will welcome our Monday/Tuesday cohort. Friday we will welcome our Thursday/Friday cohort

• Mrs. Gray: We will welcome all in person students tomorrow and Friday. 

• 1st and 2nd Grades: We will welcome students by cohort beginning April 5th. 

• 3rd-5th Grades: We will welcome students by cohort beginning April 12th.

 Arrival/Departure

All Y5 and Kindergarten families must use the Cooley entrance for arrival and pick up. For car pick up, I have sent your Driveline code twice. Please display this code when you arrive at pick up in the afternoon (you do not need a code in the morning). On your child's first day of school, we will send home a more permanent car mirror hanger with your family code. 

Mrs. Gray's class will utilize the main entrance off of Newport. Please use your driveline code in afternoon. 

Lunch

If your child is eating lunch provided by school, you must order ahead of time. Families can order one week in advance. Please go to https://www.a2schools.org/Page/621 for more information. Students, of course, can bring lunch from home as well. 

What to Bring to School? 

Students should bring their school issued devices to school daily. Please do not bring chargers. Please try to send the devices fully charged (we will have charging stations available if necessary). 

All students must wear a mask at all times, except while eating. An extra mask would be most helpful. We have extras available in each classroom. 

Each student should bring a water bottle. We will provide cups if necessary. 

Please refer to information from your child's teacher regarding other supplies. 

We are excited for this new beginning. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

David

Weekly Update 3/17

 Dear Wines Families, 

It is hard to believe that next week's Wednesday message will be in advance of students beginning to arrive in person at Wines the next day. I am certainly excited--and only slightly overwhelmed with preparations. But we will be ready! 

As has been the case recently, there will likely be additional messages this week and there will be messages next week to our families who are returning next Thursday and Friday as we prepare. Today I want to share a couple of important pieces of information: First, I want to share the Family Handbook to help everyone get the lay of the land as we approach our return to school. Second, I want to share the schedule of return and the various asynchronous days for in advance of the return. 

Family Handbook

In today's email I included a new Family Handbook. While it does not cover every detail, it is full of important information specific to the Wines return. Please check your email for it. 

Return Schedule and Asynchronous Days

Y5/Kindergarten/Mrs. Gray

Asynchronous Days: Monday-Wednesday March 22-24

Kindergarten Cohort 1: Return to School Thursday, March 25

Kindergarten Cohort 2: Return to School Friday, March 26

Y5: Return to School Thursday March 25 (All Y5 will be virtual on Friday, March 26)

Gray: Return to School Thursday and Friday March 25 and 26

1st and 2nd Grades

Asynchronous Days: Wednesday-Friday March 24-26

Cohort 1 Return to School: April 5, April 6

Cohort 2 Return to School: April 8, April 9

3rd-5th Grades

Asynchronous Days: Wednesday-Friday April 7-9

Cohort 1 Return to School: April 12, April 13

Cohort 2 Return to School: April 15, April 16

Other Info for the Week

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the final grade level back to school meeting with 3rd-5th grades. Below are links to the recordings of each meeting. 

Gray/Y5/K Meeting

1st/2nd Grade Meeting

3rd/4th/5th Grade Meeting

Kindergarten  Round Up

We had a great first ever virtual Kindergarten/Y5 Round Up last evening. Below is a recording of that event if you missed it and need information about kindergarten or Young 5's for next year. 

Y5/Kindergarten Round Up

If you missed Round Up and have not filled out our information form, HERE is the link to the form. 

Thanks!

David

Weekly Update 3/10

 Dear Wines Families, 

While I have a lot of information for you today, what I really want to accomplish today is to tell everyone that over the next few days and weeks, please be prepared for more messages from me and from the school district as we approach our return to school. Here is a preview of what you should expect soon: 

1.     Class Cohort Placement. We are finalizing class cohort placements this week. I anticipate having this complete by Friday. Families will receive an email from your classroom teacher with which cohort your child is assigned. As I’ve said for some time, the A-L/M-Z split rarely works in our classrooms and each classroom will need to have students moved to a different cohort from the A-L/M-Z split. In some classrooms, there will be significant changes. We will keep siblings together on the days of the week the children attend. You should receive this information likely by Monday if not sooner. 

2. Lunch Ordering Process and Student Numbers. If you choose to have your child eat school provided lunch this year, lunches are free for all students. Families must order in advance. Look for a message from me tomorrow with specific information. This message will also include your child’s student number which you will need to order lunch. You will receive an email for each of your children.  

3. Driveline App information. Initial information about the new app to facilitate parent pick up will be provided via a district message either late this week or early next week. I will follow up with more specific information related to Wines. 

4. Hybrid Parent Handbook. Next week, I will be sending a family handbook with helpful information for a great start! 

Back to School Meetings 

Just a reminder that tonight I will be hosting a community meeting for our 1st and 2nd grade families about our return to school plans. Please see today's email with the Zoom link. 

Our 3rd-5th grade return to school meeting will take place on Monday, March 15th at 6:30 PM. Please see today's email with the Zoom link. 

Back to School Q & A

Thank you for adding your questions to the Q & A documents in advance of the community meetings. Even if your meeting has already taken place, I am still answering questions if they ar added. Below are the links to the documents. 

Y5/K Q&A

1st/2nd Q&A

3rd-5th Q&A

Mrs. Gray’s Class Q & A

Thank you and please do all you can to keep up with the messages you’ll receive in the coming days—I realize there is a lot of information and I’ll do all I can to not fill your inboxes too much. 

David

Weekly Update 3/3

 Dear Wines Families. 

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our community meeting last evening. I really appreciate you taking the time. For those of you who were not able to attend, below is a link to a recording of the meeting. 

https://youtu.be/kh6zJrXVCxw

As I indicated last night, the next step for continuing our dialogue is to have smaller meetings by our stage return. The first two meetings will be next week. 

STAGE 1 Families (Y5, Kindergarten): Tuesday, March 9 at 6:30 PM. 

STAGE 2 Families (1st, 2nd grades): Wednesday, March 10 at 6:30 PM. 

I am working with Mrs. Gray to schedule a meeting with the families from her class. For those in STAGE 3 (3rd, 4th, 5th grades), I am looking at scheduling your meeting the week of March 15th (likely on March 15th). I need to wait for a few things to finalize on my calendar before I can set the date officially. Zoom information for all of these meetings will be forthcoming. The meetings will also be recorded.

Kindergarten Round Up

We will be hosting Young 5’s/Kindergarten Round Up on March 16th at 6:00 PM. This event will be virtual. Please mark your calendars if you have a child who will be eligible for Young 5’s or Kindergarten next year. If you know you have a child coming to either Young 5’s or Kindergarten, please alert Robin Moore via email with your child’s full name and date of birth and all family contact information (moorero@aaps.k12.mi.us). If you have friends or neighbors with eligible students, please help spread the word! 

Kindergarten PLTW Distribution Tonight

Kindergarten families, tonight is the PLTW distribution from 5:30-6:30. Please enter the property from Cooley Ave. (off of Saunders Crescent), not Newport. We are practicing your arrival/pick up process for when school starts. 

Science Olympiad

If you are still interested in Science Olympiad and have not signed up, please go to: 

https://forms.gle/nnvAzkywVvu8er269

Additional Girl Scout Drive Thru Cookie Booth

4th and 5th grade Girl Scout Drive Thru Cookie Booth at Wines - Saturday 3/6 12:00-2:00 

Due to the success of our cookie booths, we will be holding another booth this Saturday. Thanks for all your support, we hope to see you there!

Thank you! 

David

Weekly Update 2/24

 Dear Wines Families, 

For the first time in over 11 years at Wines, I almost forgot to send today's community message!! It's been a little busy today...

By now you may have heard that our plan to return to in-person, hybrid instruction has been approved by our Board of Education. While there are questions to be answered and details to be shared, tonight I just want to say that I am absolutely thrilled that we will be able to see our kids again in person in the coming weeks. 

Speaking of questions and details: I will be holding a community meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, March 2nd at 7:00 PM to begin our conversation about our return. I will send out a Zoom invite later this week and I hope you can join us. The meeting will be recorded and shared with our community. 

For me personally, I feel like today is finally a turning point in this pandemic year. While the world is still not back to normal, this is an important first step and I'm overwhelmed with enthusiasm for the days ahead!  

David

Weekly Update 2/17

Dear Wines Families, 

I hope this message finds you well and I hope you’ve successfully dug out from Monday Night’s snowstorm. Here is the news for the week: 

Back to School

If you have not had the opportunity to view the district return to school information from last week, the two videos can be found at https://www.a2schools.org/elementaryhybridoption. I will be hosting a community meeting with information on our return to school plan with the Wines community on March 2nd at 7:00 PM. This meeting will be held via Zoom. I will send out the Zoom link next week. Prior to our community meeting, I encourage everyone to watch the district videos linked above as they will provide important context for the more Wines focused meeting on March 2nd. 

International Night Tomorrow! 

Thank you to everyone who volunteered to donate items for our first “Parking Lot International Night” taking place this Thursday, February 18 from 5-6:30 PM. For anyone who registered to participate, you can meet Celeste by her black Pacifica wearing a mask and she will give you your box. She will have a list of names so please make sure you already registered on the Google form. If you have any questions, please contact Celeste at celestelsmith@gmail.com.

I am Jazz Reading

The Wines community embraces and cherishes the rich diversity that is at the core of who we are and what we believe in.  We are fortunate to be part of a school district and larger community that values and honors diversity in all its forms, whether that be religious views, ethnicity, physical or mental abilities, socio-economic status, or gender identities. Ann Arbor Public Schools even has policy to support our shared values of acceptance and inclusion for ALL. As many of you know, Wines has partnered with the Human Rights Campaign’s Welcoming Schools program for a number of years. We have taught schoolwide lessons about inclusion produced by Welcoming Schools, held teacher in-services, and presented parent workshops. In our continued partnership, this year we will be participating in the annual National Jazz and Friends Day of School and Community Readings on February 25th. I will be recording a reading of I am Jazz which is a picture book by a transgender student named Jazz Jennings written when she was 13 years old. This award-winning book is part of the Wines library and is an accessible, kid friendly, book addressing gender identity. 

Girl Scout Cookie Drive Thru Booth 

Wines 4th and 5th grade Girl Scouts

Wines Elementary School Parking Lot

Saturday 2/20 12:00-2:00

Saturday 2/27 12:00-2:00

Come support our troops and get your cookie fix!  Contact Carly Campbell at carlylc@gmail.com with any questions or if you can’t make it to the booth and still want to buy cookies! 

That’s all for this week. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

David

 

Weekly Update 2/10

 Dear Wines Families, 

I have just a couple of updates today. 

Return to School Planning

If you didn’t have the opportunity to view the district presentation on our return to school plans, you can view last night’s video on demand at https://www.a2schools.org/elementaryhybridoption. There will be a second district meeting tomorrow at 4:00 PM and that will be viewable on demand afterword as well. I understand that many in our community have important questions about the plan. I encourage you to please view the district meetings that may answer many of your questions. I will soon be hosting meeting(s) for just the Wines community as well. In the meantime, I am also happy to answer any questions I am able to at any time so please don’t hesitate contact me. I currently, however, do not have much information beyond that which has been shared other than my assurance that we will be ready at Wines when the time comes to open safely. 

International Night Feb. 18th

International Night, taking place in the Wines Parking lot next Thursday evening, 2/18, from 5-6:30 PM is coming up fast! If you are interested in picking up a box and/or contributing, please complete the Google Form ASAP! The deadline to RSVP is this Friday, and we are really hoping to have more participants! Please keep in mind that everyone must wear a mask and follow COVID regulations. Please contact Celeste Kanpurwala with any questions at celestelsmith@gmail.com. 

No School Friday or Monday

Just a reminder that there is no school this coming Friday, Feb. 12th or Monday, Feb. 15th as we pause for mid-winter break. 

That’s all for this week. 

David