Weekly Update 5/11

 Dear Wines Families, 

With the Wines Wildcat ROAR (formerly the Country Fair) fast approaching, I have a number of announcements related to that great event. Prior to that, I have a few new items to share but please read through this whole message so you can get information about the ROAR including raffle information, volunteer opportunities, International Night, and “Musical Cakes”!

COVID Cases Increasing

As you likely know, we are experiencing another “surge” in COVID cases in our community. We are doing everything we can to continue to remain in person for learning and we just need a little help! Please monitor your children for symptoms and please do not send them to school with any COVID symptoms. Click HERE for a pre-screener to help identify symptoms. We encourage at home testing and if needed, we can supply you with at home tests. Also, we are finding that once this variant is in the home, it is highly likely to transmit to other family members so if anyone in your home has tested positive, please be extra vigilant about monitoring and testing all family members and consider keeping exposed children home. Finally, if anyone in your household has been diagnosed with COVID, please alert both me and our nurse, Mary Delis (delism@aaps.k12.mi.us). 

Lunches with Love

Lunches with Love takes place next week and is a terrific opportunity for the students to give back to their community. We will prepare bagged lunches for Food Gatherers who will distribute them to local shelters. There will also be boxes in the front of the school where students can drop non-perishable items to be donated. If you’d like to volunteer to help, please use this link:  Lunches with Love.

Parent Input for Class Placement

On Monday I sent our annual survey for parent input regarding class placement for next year. Below is the link again. Please complete by no later than Friday, May 20. Again, we do not accept requests for specific teachers. 

https://forms.gle/t9nPXWLeFyr77A7o9

Gracie Update

Our trainer Greg brought Gracie home with him this past weekend and her training has begun! First order of business—potty training!! He has been sharing pictures and she is doing great. Soon Ms. Fata and I will begin visiting Gracie to begin our own training and rapport building with her. Here is a picture of her from Saturday. 

  

Wines Wildcat ROAR May 20

Mark your calendars, the Wines Wildcat ROAR! (formerly known as the Country Fair) will be on Friday, May 20 from 5-8pm! Enjoy a fun-filled evening with games, prizes, live music, and more! Win a cake at Musical Cakes! Enjoy dinner from one of the food trucks! Come try and dunk Dr. DeYoung in the dunk tank! Learn more about other cultures at the International Fair tables! Win one of the many fun items at the raffle! At the raffle, there will be prizes to bid on from local businesses and fun teacher/school experiences, but in addition to that we're looking for more items and we need your help! This is the last week to donate to the classroom baskets! 

(1) Donate to the CLASSROOM BASKETS. Each grade puts together raffle baskets according to a theme. The themes are

Y5/K: Arts & Crafts

1st: Legos, Games & Puzzles

2nd: Wonderful World of Science

3rd: Camping, Swimming & Outdoor Fun

4th: Sports & Outdoor Fun

5th: It's A High Tech World ($ donations towards an iPad + other tech)

Each classroom will have a collection bin. Deadline is May 13.

Wines ROAR Volunteer Sign Up

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to volunteer at the Wines ROAR. We are still in need of volunteers. Volunteering is easy and you can still enjoy the evening. Below is the link. 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c4aadaa28a64-wines. 

Calling all Student Bakers! 

The ROAR is Calling All Student Bakers Young 5 to Grade 5. Bake a cake or cupcakes based on the theme "Animals". Bring your creation in on Friday, May 20th 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 Musical Cakes that evening and will be on display at the Roar! (Please note, we are not able to refrigerate items.)

We also appreciate any donations of cakes and cupcakes from Wines families for Musical Cake prizes.

International Night @ the ROAR

If you are interested in bringing food or representing your culture at the International Night portion of the ROAR, you can sign up at the link below. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUyYAo8fB1e5w-wFXzx6xDthVuBcenk2eCRelMJebssPzkHA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0

David

Weekly Update 5/4

 Dear Wines Families, 

Wines ROAR Volunteer Sign Up

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to volunteer at the Wines ROAR. We are still in need of volunteers. Volunteering is easy and you can still enjoy the evening. Below is the link. 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c4aadaa28a64-wines. See the end of today’s message with more information about the ROAR. 

Asian Pacific Heritage Month

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and there is a lot happening in our school district and community. Please check out this slideshow with information about Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, including a book drive for specific Asian Pacific American titles for the library, a virtual author visit, and an evening poetry workshop. 

Book Fair is Back!! 

Or book fair is back next week! Students can purchase books via cash, or an eWallet.  To find out more about eWallets you can visit our fair website - Wines Scholastic Book Fair.  Parents will be able to shop the fair May 9th-22nd via the Wines fair website. Every purchase from the Book Fair earns money for our school, so please support the fair!  

There is still room for a few volunteers. If you would like to volunteer at the book fair, please see link below: 

Book Fair Volunteers

School/Classroom Parent Volunteers

Speaking of volunteers, thank you to the over 100 parents who have filled out the form and provided proof of vaccination in order to volunteer at school. It is so nice to see parents in the building each day! If you are interested in volunteering and haven’t yet filled out the form, please go to the link below.

https://forms.gle/jVzMWnBbtTGTptWPA

Sora  

Beginning in the fall of 2020, the AAPS has provided all students with access to a carefully curated digital library called Sora.  We recently became aware of an error that resulted in elementary and middle school students having access to materials that should have been exclusively available to high school students. We deeply apologize for this error.  Please know that we take the safety of our students very seriously and we acted immediately to remove titles from any borrowers and have put additional layers of safety controls in place to prevent this from ever happening again. 

 

While a relatively low number of students actually checked out these materials, we are sharing this information with all of our AAPS elementary and middle school families.  We strongly encourage each family to take full advantage of parent/guardian access to SORA.  Click HERE for step-by-step instructions to using SORA as well as an FAQ about Sora HERE.  If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me or Ms. Goldberg. 

Wines Wildcat ROAR: Friday May 20th from 5-8pm!

Mark your calendars, the Wines Wildcat ROAR! (Formerly known as the Country Fair) will be on Friday, May 20 from 5-8pm! 

• Carnival style games -- win a game, get a token. Collect tokens, exchange them for prizes at the prize table! Prizes range from stickers and bookmarks to pop-its and stuffed animals to larger grand prizes!

• Come hungry for dinner! Pizza from Marco's, Cotton candy, Popcorn, Kona Ice Truck, CC's Soul Food Truck (burgers, hotdogs, mac and cheese, chicken tenders), and Tacos El Mariachi Loco! 

• The ever-popular Cake Walk! Join in the fun in the days prior when kids decorate their cakes at home and bring them in to try and win first prize (more details to follow...)! Then try to win one of the cakes at the Roar!

• 5th graders take turns getting soaked in the Flush Tank (more info to follow for 5th graders to sign up for a time slot!)

• Try and dunk Dr DeYoung in the Dunk Tank!

• Learn about other cultures and sample their cuisine at the International Fair tables! If you're interested in participating, make sure to sign up here by May 6th INTERNATIONAL NIGHT RSVP or contact Celeste Kanpurwala (celesteLsmith@gmail.com) for more information!

• Live music by a local band Ain't Dead Yet!

• Bid on items at the Raffle!

• And more!

For the raffle, we still need your help with donations! There are two ways you can help:

(1) Donate to the CLASSROOM BASKETS. 

Every classroom has a basket in it for donations from families! We will create a raffle basket (or more if we get lots of donations!) from each grade with the items donated by families. 

The themes for each grade are:

Y5/K: Arts & Crafts

1st: Legos, Games & Puzzles

2nd: Wonderful World of Science

3rd: Camping, Swimming & Outdoor Fun

4th: Sports & Outdoor Fun

5th: It's A High Tech World ($ donations that will go towards the purchase of an iPad + other tech)

Deadline for donations is May 13.

(2) WISH LIST. Sign up to donate other popular items for the raffle here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F094CA8A628A20-raffle

Please sign up no later than May 9 and drop off the item no later than May 13.

Thank you to those of you who have already donated! If you have raffle specific questions, please contact Janice Guikema (jwguikema@gmail.com).

And last and probably most importantly, we will need A LOT of volunteers to help out on the night of the Roar to make it a success! Be on the lookout for a signup genius with volunteer spots next week!

If you have any questions about the ROAR! please contact Lizzy Hurwitz (lizzy@lizzyhurwitz.com or 734-545-6880).

David

Weekly Update 4/27

 Dear Wines Families, 

Unlike last week’s short message, today’s is a bit longer and more typical for this busy time of year. We do appreciate you taking a few minutes to read through this week’s updates. 

Big News Tomorrow! 

Please check your emails tomorrow for a special announcement!! 

No School Next Tuesday

Reminder, there is no school next Tuesday, May 3. 

Teacher Appreciation Week Next Week

Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week and we can't wait to celebrate our awesome teachers! Will your students help us kick off the week on Monday, May 2 by bringing a flower, plant, or thank you note to your teachers? 

Book Fair is Back!! 

A favorite student school event is back and will be happening May 9th 13th. Students can purchase books via cash, or an eWallet.  To find out more about eWallets you can visit our fair website - Wines Scholastic Book Fair.  Parents will be able to shop the fair May 9th-22nd via the Wines fair website. Every purchase from the Book Fair earns money for our school, so please support the fair!  

If you would like to volunteer at the book fair, please see link below: 

Book Fair Volunteers

COVID Infection Communication

Unfortunately, we are experiencing an increase in COVID cases in our community and in our school. Please note, if your child has tested positive for COVID, please email both our nurse, Mary Delis, and me. Mary’s email is delism@aaps.k12.mi.us. We hope this current surge is short! 

Wines Wildcat ROAR: Friday May 20th from 5-8pm!

Mark your calendars, the Wines Wildcat ROAR! (Formerly known as the Country Fair) will be on Friday, May 20 from 5-8pm! 

• Carnival style games -- win a game, get a token. Collect tokens, exchange them for prizes at the prize table! Prizes range from stickers and bookmarks to pop-its and stuffed animals to larger grand prizes!

• Come hungry for dinner! Pizza from Marco's, Cotton candy, Popcorn, Kona Ice Truck, CC's Soul Food Truck (burgers, hotdogs, mac and cheese, chicken tenders), and Tacos El Mariachi Loco! 

• The ever-popular Cake Walk! Join in the fun in the days prior when kids decorate their cakes at home and bring them in to try and win first prize (more details to follow...)! Then try to win one of the cakes at the Roar!

• 5th graders take turns getting soaked in the Flush Tank (more info to follow for 5th graders to sign up for a time slot!)

• Try and dunk Dr. DeYoung in the Dunk Tank!

• Learn about other cultures and sample their cuisine at the International Fair tables! If you're interested in participating, make sure to sign up here by May 6th INTERNATIONAL NIGHT RSVP or contact Celeste Kanpurwala (celesteLsmith@gmail.com) for more information!

• Live music by a local band Ain't Dead Yet!

• Bid on items at the Raffle!

• And more!

For the raffle, we still need your help with donations! There are two ways you can help:

(1) Donate to the CLASSROOM BASKETS. 

Every classroom has a basket in it for donations from families! We will create a raffle basket (or more if we get lots of donations!) from each grade with the items donated by families. 

The themes for each grade are:

Y5/K: Arts & Crafts

1st: Legos, Games & Puzzles

2nd: Wonderful World of Science

3rd: Camping, Swimming & Outdoor Fun

4th: Sports & Outdoor Fun

5th: It's A High Tech World ($ donations that will go towards the purchase of an iPad + other tech)

Deadline for donations is May 13.

(2) WISH LIST. Sign up to donate other popular items for the raffle here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F094CA8A628A20-raffle

Please sign up no later than May 9 and drop off the item no later than May 13.

Thank you to those of you who have already donated! If you have raffle specific questions, please contact Janice Guikema (jwguikema@gmail.com).

And last and probably most importantly, we will need A LOT of volunteers to help out on the night of the Roar to make it a success! Be on the lookout for a signup genius with volunteer spots next week!

If you have any questions about the ROAR! please contact Lizzy Hurwitz (lizzy@lizzyhurwitz.com or 734-545-6880).

Summer Construction

This summer, there will be significant construction at Wines. Nearly all lighting in the building will be replaced, new window treatments will be installed in each classroom, and window air conditioning units (and associated wiring) will be installed in each classroom. We are excited for the upgrades, but this is a very large project and it will have a significant impact on the final few weeks of school. Basically, EVERYTHING in our school will be moved out and stored externally to the school. This means teachers and staff need to pack and label everything from their work spaces. In addition, this large project needs to get started right away once school ends so we are required to be done packing by the end of day on the last day of school…

This means our teachers and staff will need to begin the packing process well before the end of school. Of course, instruction will take place until the end of the school year, but our classrooms may not look quite as nice in June as they do now. Teachers may ask for volunteers to assist so please be on the lookout for those requests. Also, some spaces are larger and more challenging to pack up than others (the Art Room, for example) and there are areas in school that do not necessarily have an assigned staff member. We may be looking for help to pack those spaces as well. 

Finally, I have been asked to alert our community that the entire Wines property will not be accessible once school concludes on June 10. On June 11, movers will be moving everything out of the school to temporary structures on our property and construction fencing will be put up around the entire property. This means our playgrounds, etc. will not be available to our community this summer. 

David

Weekly Update 4/13

 Dear Wines Families, 

I hope this email finds you well. Life continues to buzz along here at Wines. I don’t have a lot of news today (which is rare this time of year!). But I do want to take a moment to thank everyone who was involved with planning, volunteering, and attending our Auction last Saturday night. It was a fabulous event and I had a GREAT time. When I spoke at the event, I indicated that there were many people in the room that I didn’t recognize. It is a strange feeling not to recognize every Wines family and as the world becomes more normal again, I hope to know everyone by name and face! But Saturday was a good start and it was wonderful to meet many parents in an informal setting. 

I want to extend a HUGE thank you to Jane Lardo who took over as head of the Auction planning committee this year and Jane put on an amazing event. One of the things that was very important to Jane was to make sure the event was welcoming and fun for everyone. This was more important than raising money. I would say that Jane hit a home run with creating such a great opportunity for our community! And it was a successful fundraiser as well…

PTO Meeting Next Thursday

Please join us for our next PTO Meeting via Zoom next Thursday, April 21 at 7:00 PM. 

Zoom info was sent in today's email.

Just one more announcement today. Reminder: no school on Friday. Enjoy the long weekend. 

David

Weekly Update 4/6

 Dear Wines Families, 

Now that Spring Break is over, we head into the home stretch of the year with just over 9 weeks left of school! It has been nice to see parents again volunteering in our classrooms and life looking somewhat more normal around here. I look forward to this final part of the school year with you all. 

I don’t have many messages this week but Saturday night is shaping up to be a great evening at our annual Wines Auction. I do have a couple auction related items that are for everyone—whether you are joining us in person or not. 

Online Bidding for Silent Auction—Open Now!

Even if you aren’t able to attend the event Saturday, our silent auction items can be bid remotely. The silent auction is open now. Please go to: https://www.32auctions.com/winesptoauction

Sign and Go Parties—Open Now!

Sign & Go parties are unique events and experiences that are offered at a specific time and place.  Each party will have a limit on the number of people who can attend and a specific cost for attending. There is no auction.  The price is the price.  Spots are filled on a first come, first serve basis and are open to anyone in the Wines community.  Sign Ups are open at the below links.  The PTO will invoice you for your spot, please pay within 48 hours or your spot will be released. To sign up for one of the parties, please go to: https://www.winesptoauction.com/sign-go-parties.

Thanks in advance to everyone for considering supporting our PTO and our school via the live auction and/or the silent auction and Sign and Go parties!

David

Weekly Update 3/23

 Dear Wines Families, 

It’s hard to believe we are approaching Spring Break! For me, Spring Break is always the sign that we are approaching the last important stretch of the school year with lots to accomplish. It is also a time when we are busy working on plans for the fall as well. So it is a busy time, but also an exciting time. I must admit I am looking forward to a few days away to prepare for the final “sprint” of the school year. Here is the news for the week: 

Last Chance for Auction Tickets…

…Well, not really your last chance. Tickets for the April 9th Wines Auction are on sale! Buy tickets and find out all the details on the auction website. www.winesptoauction.com/tickets. We also need volunteers at the event to help everything go smoothly—don’t worry, volunteers are able to enjoy the event at well! Below is a link to a sign up to help out.

https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/20F0F4DADAA2AA7FD0-wines

News from the Library/March is Reading Month

Thanks for a wonderful month of celebrating stories this Reading Month at Wines! This week, we have one final Storycatchers prompt, Book Character Dress Up Day on Friday, March 25, and a special Zoom story time with Dr. DeYoung on Friday morning. 

Storycatchers Prompt of the Week: If I wrote a story, it would be about… Click here to record your response. 

Click here to see videos from past prompts and feel free to add your own response to those, too. Please feel free to reach out to Rachel Goldberg with any questions (goldbergr@aaps.k12.mi.us).

Wine for Wines—We Still Need More!

We need wine for Wines! Our auction this year will feature a wine toss, and we are hoping to collect around 75 bottles of wine to make this event fun and interesting, we currently have 30 (a big thanks to those who have already donated!). Wine donations of any value can be dropped off at the Wines office right after pickup (4pm) on March 24th.  If you have any questions, or if you need alternative arrangements for your wine donation (we are happy to pick up donations from porches through March 25th), please contact Jen Hofmeister at 734.355.6625. 

I hope everyone has a nice Spring Break. If you are traveling, I wish you safe travels. We’ll see you in April! 

David

Weekly Update 3/16

 

Dear Wines Families, 

As has been the case lately, there is a lot to share today. Please take a few minutes to read through the news for the week. 

Weekly Library/March is Reading Month Update

Thanks for a great first half of celebrating stories with Reading Month at Wines! The celebration continues… 

Storycatchers Prompt of the Week: Prompt of the week: What is your favorite book and why? Invite the people who live with you to respond to this prompt together and share all of your favorite books in one video. Click here to record your response. 

Click here to see videos from our last two prompts and feel free to add your own response to those, too. 

Save the date: Book Character Dress Up Day is on March 25, 2022. Below flier with more details (and special guest stars). 

Wines Auction April 9th

Tickets for the April 9th Wines Auction are on sale! Buy tickets and find out all the details on the auction website. www.winesptoauction.com/tickets. We also need volunteers at the event to help everything go smoothly—don’t worry, volunteers are able to enjoy the event at well! Below is a link to a sign up to help out. 

https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/20F0F4DADAA2AA7FD0-wines

Wine for Wines—We Still Need More! 

We need wine for Wines! Our auction this year will feature a wine toss, and we are hoping to collect around 75 bottles of wine to make this event fun and interesting, we currently have 30 (a big thanks to those who have already donated!). Wine donations of any value can be dropped off at the Wines office right after pickup (4pm) on March 17th or 24th.  If you have any questions, or if you need alternative arrangements for your wine donation (we are happy to pick up donations from porches through March 25th), please contact Jen Hofmeister at 734.355.6625. 

Science Olympiad is Coming!! Call for Coaches

We're preparing to send a Wines team to WESO.  A global sign up for all Wines students will be sent out in approximately 2-weeks. However, in the meantime, we still need event coaches to commit. No experience necessary, we'll provide you with all the materials, supplies and in most cases a solid curriculum to follow. Practices are typically held for 1-hour, once per week for a maximum of 10-weeks until the competition on June 5th. The event coach picks the time/day and location that is most convenient for them; PLUS, their child/children get first choice of event participation. Please think about it and send an email to scienceowines@gmail.com with questions. 

Wines Country Fair Re-Brand

As we have discussed often this year, the pandemic and our return to school has allowed us the opportunity to examine our Wines traditions and find ways to maintain our important traditions while also taking the opportunity to update them. After two years without our annual Country Fair, we have just the opportunity! This year, this important end of the year celebration will be back! Our hard-working committee has decided to re-brand the event this year and it will be called the "Wines Wildcats Outdoor ROAR!". We can expect all the fun and community building as we’ve had in the past with a few new twists! Please save the date of Friday May 20th which is slightly earlier than years past. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

David