Great Day 1!

 Dear Wines Families, 

Thank you for a great first day back at Wines. All in all it was a GREAT day! Bussing is always a bit of a work in progress each year and with changes to start times across our all of our district schools and new routes etc., there were a few hiccups. But I'm confident that over the next few days everything will take shape and become more efficient. I greatly appreciate your patience. 

I want to just share a few updates this evening. 

Driveline: I was pleased with our first Driveline dismissal with the entire school population today. This will only get more efficient over the days to come. Most students were sent home with a yellow envelope today with various items including Driveline numbers to display. Our fifth grade did not receive their envelopes today and a couple of other classes didn't either (busy day in the office!!). Everyone will have theirs by tomorrow. In the meantime, if you do not have your number, please use a homemade sign. 

Lunch: Lunch went very well today with brand new procedures. Everyone ate inside, but we maximized outdoor opportunities. Beginning tomorrow, we will have all 3rd-5th graders eat lunch outside (weather permitting). We will likely add 2nd grade on Wednesday. I'm confident we will be able to have all students outside for lunch before the week is over. While we want to provide outdoor lunch opportunities, it is also crucial that we firmly establish our regular indoor lunch procedures--particularly with our youngest students. We'll plan on eating lunch outside as often as is possible. With that said, I want to reiterate that I feel very good about our seating arrangement/spacing/procedures for indoor lunch. 

Speaking of lunch, I want to thank everyone who has volunteered or has been hired to supervise at lunch. We have a good sized crew. However, we may need more people. There has recently been an increase in applicants. If you have applied online, please send me an email and let me know you applied so we can discuss the opportunity (I have many applicants and at this point I'd like to just speak to Wines families or neighbors). 

Finally, just a quick story. My twin boys are in 8th grade at Forsythe. I am the morning person in our house so I do breakfast, make lunches, etc. Since middle schoolers did not eat lunch at school upon their return last year, it occurred to me this morning that the last school lunch I made for my boys was March 13, 2020 when they were in 6th grade. I packed the same lunch they had always had in the same lunch boxes. This morning my boys looked at me like I was sending them to Kindergarten. They were less than thrilled with the "Go-gurt" I packed. Clearly, 8th grade is a million miles from 6th grade--so we'll have to hit the store this weekend for new lunch boxes and revised menus. 

Have a great night. Looking forward to tomorrow! 

David

Back to School Reminders: See you Monday!!!

 

Dear Wines Families, 

We are so excited to welcome the kids to school on Monday! In anticipation of Monday, I want to send one final message with important reminders. 

Driveline

You should have received your family Driveline number via email today. Even if your child is not picked up by car, you are still assigned a number. For Monday, please make a homemade display of your number to show in the pickup line. Something the size of a standard piece of paper would be perfect. During the first week of school, your child will be sent home with more permanent number to display. Please let us know if you need more copies during the school year. Please note that siblings have the same Driveline number. If you are parking your car in a legal parking spot and meeting your child at the end of the day, please find the Driveline staff member and show them your Driveline number. I am usually facilitating Driveline at the main entrance and Ms. Schemanske is usually in the Cooley lot. Please note that parking is extremely limited. 

Car Safety

Parents, please plan on having your student enter and leave your car from the passenger side. Also, if your child is in a car seat, please practice with your child to learn to buckle themselves in and out so parents do not need to leave the car. 

School Hours

My apologies that I had a small typo in the Family Handbook with school start and end times. The school hours are 8:45-3:48. First bell is at 8:42. We will begin allowing students to leave cars at approximately 8:40. Please wait until a staff member alerts you that it is time to release kids from your cars. The rolling Driveline dismissal will begin at 3:40. 

IMPORTANT: Parents are currently not allowed to enter the school

I know it is a tradition and a comfort to kids (and parents!) to accompany your child into the school building on the first day of school. Due to COVID mitigation strategies, at the current time parents are not allowed to enter the school building. Please know that we will have lots of adults here to support kids getting where they need to be. If your child is anxious, you may want to consider practicing drop off routines this weekend. 

1st Day Coffee

We will be hosting families for an outdoor fist day coffee on the lawn at the front of the building on Monday starting at 9:00. We ask that if you are joining us, that you drop your child off, leave campus, and then come back to park. This avoids congestion. 

Parent Orientation Video

If you weren’t able to attend last evening’s Parent Orientation, below is a link to the recording. I encourage everyone to view it. 

https://youtu.be/asri8bSOWOc

Also, HERE is a link to the slide deck from last evening. 

As I’ve said more times than I can count over the past month or so, I am so excited for school to start Monday. This is going to be a great year! 

Final Weekly Update 6/9

 Dear Wines Families,

Well, here is the final Wednesday message of the school year. Please note that this is NOT the final email you will receive from me this week. In fact, on Friday you will receive multiple emails that contain your child’s report card, special area report card, math assessment data, and reading assessment data. Depending on the grade level, you will receive three or even four emails. Due to the fact that most of the information is sent via secure messages, our SchoolMessenger system has to separate all of the emails. But please look for this information Friday afternoon. Below are a couple of announcements and some final words as we head into summer.

Technology Return

Just a reminder that we are collecting student technology beginning tomorrow. Students who are in person tomorrow should bring their technology to school. Please remember power cords and iPad cases for iPad users. We will be checking the technology in and preparing it for your child to use again next fall. We will check for damages and make repairs/replacements this summer—please note there is no parent charge for repairs to devices this year. For those students who are not in school tomorrow, we will be collecting devices from 12-3 on Friday and 12-3 on Monday. Collection takes place in the cafeteria. If your child is participating in any AAPS summer learning programs, please do not turn in their device.

Friday Dismissal

Dismissal on Friday is at 11:10 AM. There will be “grab and go” lunch for any student who would like one.

From the Library

Summer is the best time for children to enjoy reading the books they most enjoy. With more discretionary time many families find that their children enjoy reading more than ever. We have resources to help you! I have posted many reading activities and help for parents with Sora on the Wines Library homepage, including links to the AADL Summer Game and other incentive programs. You can also click here for a summary and on the S.Evaldson page of your child's Clever account. The Sora and myOn platforms continue through the summer.  They are accessed through Clever, so keep track of your badges. Clever classes will retire in early August for reset, but these platforms should continue. The AADL will reopen in person on July 12.  I hope to see our families at the Westgate branch browsing the shelves and looking for hidden codes.  Take care, everyone, and have a lovely summer!  Sally Evaldson.

What a Year!

I don’t think I’m ready to really begin to reflect on this school year quite yet. We have all lived through a remarkable time together and while we’d probably like to put this year behind us, we will remember it forever. All I can do right now is to thank everyone in this community. I want to first thank the Wines teachers and staff. What they have done this year to change everything they do to reach our students was quite incredible. I’ve always been impressed with this staff, but NEVER more than this year. They’ve never worked harder and never cared more about providing for our kids. They never complained, only doubled down on their commitment to kids as they literally re-invented themselves overnight. I am humbled to be a small part of this incredible team.

I want to thank our parents and our entire community. You have always been key to our success and certainly never more than this year. The family gymnastics that you all went through to support our kids as they learned primarily from home was most certainly exhausting, confusing, and frustrating. But you did it!! Obviously, no one wanted this year to go the way it did and there certainly wasn’t a roadmap on how to handle educating kids during a global pandemic. One thing we did confirm, however, is that parents had the world on their shoulders this year and you carried that world splendidly.

Finally, to our kids. I always say that kids are resilient. When I say that, I generally mean they can handle more than we give them credit for. But I never thought they would demonstrate their resiliency by successfully “doing” school in a completely new way. Our students were just incredible. They persevered, learned, and continued to find joy. I’m do this job because I love kids. I’ve never loved them more than this year.

With all of that said, let’s do put this year behind us and look forward to a regular school year next year. Five full days of live instruction will be here starting August 30^th!!

Thank you, Wines community. It’s always an honor to serve this school and I look forward to serving again next year.

David

Weekly Blog 6/2

 Dear Wines Families, 

It is really hard to believe that we are approaching the last week of school. While this year has been anything but normal, there certainly was a sense of normalcy in the building yesterday as we experienced the usual post-Memorial Day “energy” amongst the students. I expect the same energy tomorrow! 

Fond Farewell

It is with fondness and appreciation that I’m able to share with our community that Sally Evaldson will be retiring from the Ann Arbor Public Schools at the end of the school year. Sally has been a fixture at Wines for the past 15 years and we thank her for her tireless service to our students and our entire community. Below is a note from Ms. Evaldson. 

I often say that I have the best job in the world. This summer, I will be handing this wonderful position to another librarian.  I am sure they will be awesome!

Our library's success comes from the families of Wines. Thank you so much to our PTO for providing a reliably generous budget, to our thoughtful family who provides the grant for our diversity collection, and to all the many, many volunteers who have helped our library thrive. Thank you to all the families who have supported reading at home, who have helped return those books when they are finished, and who regularly visit the AADL. You have made a difference with our Wines students over the years and it has been my privilege to be a part of this community.

I have tried to bring children to books where they can find humanity, discover themselves, or simply laugh out loud. I have tried to create projects that help students explore meaningful issues, filter information sources, and create aesthetically pleasing products. I will surely miss that, and you. And of course, our wonderful students!

Technology Collection

Next week, we will be collecting devices for all students except for students who are participating in AAPS summer learning programs. We will be collecting devices from Cohort II student on Thursday, June 10th. Please plan on your child bringing their device, chargers and cords, and iPad carriers (for K/1 students) next Thursday. For Cohort I and fully virtual students, we will have set up two collection opportunities on Friday, June 11 from 12-3 and Monday, June 14 from 12-3. 

Young 5’s students will be able to bring their devices on Tuesday, June 8th. Please look for more information from Mrs. Middleton.

Registration for 2021-22

Last week, you should have received an email from “AAPS Registration” with the subject “Ann Arbor Public Schools: 2021-2022 Online Registration Notification.” The email contains directions for how to register for school in the fall. Families need to re-register each year. Your previous information is pre-populated so it does not take very long to complete. It is important that everyone do this. Reminder emails will be sent soon if they haven’t already.

David

Weekly Update 5/12

 Dear Wines Families, 

Sorry this is a little late today. Things continue to become more normalized here at school. The kids are happy and our staff continues to impress with their ability to be flexible and always keeping our kids’ needs first and foremost! Here is the news of the week: 

Parent Input for Class Placement

Thanks to everyone who has shared parent input for class placement for 2021-22. If you haven’t done so yet and would like to, please try fill out the form linked below as soon as possible. We will begin making initial class placements next week. 

https://forms.gle/DnSsZcbG4Hh7ttCJ6

Wines Yearbook 2020-21

As I indicated last week, we have decided to create a yearbook this year and our PTO will be purchasing a copy for every Wines student. Last week, your family should have received an email from “ybkplus” with directions to upload a child portrait. The email can only go out to one family member so if you didn’t receive it personally, please check with other family members who receive Wines emails.

We are collecting candid shots of kids as well. Below is a link to a Google folder with other folders inside separated by grade level and a few specific events. Please feel free to drop photos from this year into those folders. The link is below.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10mdkjyRCWsrlvhhnmFxv-6ssP0i2jHUx?usp=sharing

Online Auction Starting Next Week!

Although we were unable to have our traditional offsite adult-only auction last year or this spring, we are happy to announce that we will be launching an online auction next week on Monday, May 17!

This year's auction includes many of the items that were originally donated for last year's event, with most local businesses offering to extend or eliminate expiration dates. We are also including items that were provided in 2020 for the end-of-year raffle, so you will find a good mix of items for adults, kids, and fun experience-themed events for the whole family!

Bidding for the online auction items can be done between Monday, May 17 and Thursday, May 27.  Details regarding registration for the auction, setting up alerts in case you are out bid, and the link for the auction site will be sent on Monday morning. We are excited to be able to raise funds to be used next fall when we return full time to Wines. Past auctions have raised money that has supported the purchase of new play structures on both the upper and lower el playgrounds as well as adding to the general PTO fund. Thank you to all Wines families and local businesses who have donated to help make this auction a success!  

As always, please let me know if you have any questions. 

David

Weekly Update 5/5

Dear Wines Families, 

It’s been fantastic having all the grades back at Wines this week! We’ll have our eighth and final “first day” of school tomorrow. While our time together will be fairly brief for the rest of the school year, having kids back in the building certainly feels like the beginning of a return to normalcy and we certainly look forward to having everyone back together next fall for five full days. 

Class Placement 2021-2022

While some of you will be celebrating the first day of school for this year tomorrow, it is May and so we are actively planning for next fall’s return to more normal instruction. As always, we encourage parent information to help us make class placement decision. Below is a link to a parent input form for class placement for next year. As always, please respect the fact that we do not accept requests for specific teachers. Below is a link to this year’s survey. 

https://forms.gle/ZpwLvwp8uMGdpgBS9

Thank You Godaiko! 

The wait for our takeout orders may have been a little longer than some of us would have liked Monday, but that means that we were keeping Godaiko quite bus! And that means we had a successful fundraiser. We are waiting on final tabulations, but it is clear that Monday will be our most successful restaurant fundraiser of the year. Thank you to everyone who participated and I want to extend a HUGE thank you to Paul, Ying, and also Nemo and Lilo who were working so hard Monday to support our school. 

Wines Yearbook 2020-21

As I indicated last week, we have decided to create a yearbook this year and our PTO will be purchasing a copy for every Wines student. Last week, your family should have received an email from “ybkplus” with directions to upload a child portrait. The email can only go out to one family member so if you didn’t receive it personally, please check with other family members who receive Wines emails. 

We are collecting candid shots of kids as well. Below is a link to a Google folder with other folders inside separated by grade level and a few specific events. Please feel free to drop photos from this year into those folders. The link is below. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10mdkjyRCWsrlvhhnmFxv-6ssP0i2jHUx?usp=sharing

David

Weekly Update 4/28

Dear Wines Families, 

Here is the news for the week! 

Godaiko Fundraiser May 3

I want to remind everyone again that next Monday, May 3, we are partnering with Godaiko restaurant for our final restaurant fundraiser of the year. Wines parents Paul and Ying Tsai own Godaiko and they are donating 50% of all proceeds that evening to Wines. Tell your friends and family! Dine in or take out. As I said last week, Godaiko has the finest sushi in town but they also have an incredible menu of non sushi items. There is literally something for everyone. Please check out the menu at https://www.godaiko.com/menu. Hope you can participate. 

More 1st Days of School Next Week

We are excited to welcome our 4th and 5th graders back to school next week. We'll have two final first days of school on Monday and Thursday. 4th and 5th grade parents, please look for an email from me tomorrow with some reminders of our procedures, etc. so that everything will go off without a hitch next week. With our school now at "capacity", please everyone bare with us as we may have a few growing pains with more cars in the parking lot, etc. 

Teacher Appreciation Week

Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Like with all things this year, it will be different from years past. But our teachers and staff certainly deserve our appreciation this year more than ever! I will be sending out an end of the week email with ways that kids and families can show your appreciation. 

That's all for this week. As I said above, look for some follow up emails later this week on these items. 

David