Weekly Update 9/20

Dear Wines Families, 

As we find ourselves in our fourth week of school and our second full week, things are running smoothly and our day to day routines are firmly in place. I want to thank our entire community for all your support to help make the beginning of the year such a success. Here is the news for the week. The message is a bit long, but we have a lot going on! 

PTO Meeting Tomorrow

Our first PTO meeting is tomorrow evening at 7:00 in the Wines Library. Everyone is welcome! If you would prefer to join via Zoom, information was sent in today's email. 

Early Release Wednesday, Sept. 27th

Our first Early Release of the year is next Wednesday, Sept. 27th. Dismissal is at 1:00 PM. A few classroom teachers mistakenly alerted parents that dismissal was at 1:18 which was the the early release dismissal time last year. Please note that this is slightly earlier release time this year. Busses will run as normal—just arriving home approximately two hours and 48 minutes earlier than usual. There is no PM childcare. Lunch will be served as normal with kids eating slightly earlier than on regular school days. 

Picture Day Oct. 3rd 

Picture Day is coming up on Oct. 3rd. Online orders can be made at https://inter-state.com/FlyerEntry/80258CF. Ordering online in advance allows for free shipping to school. 

The Wines Run-a-Thon is Friday, October 6th!

Our annual Run-a-Thon is right around the corner on Friday, Oct. 6th. The event takes place during the school day and is a great community event. All grades will run in flights between 9AM – 11:30 AM.

Run-a-thon Pledges

The Run-a-Thon is our largest fundraiser of the year with the opportunity to pledge for runners. While we are still a couple weeks away, friends and family can start supporting our students now! This is a great way for friends and family from out of town to support and pledge for kids. Information on the event and how to make a pledge for your child can be found here.

Run-a-thon Corporate Sponsorships

Corporate sponsorships are tax deductible and welcome as well.  If interested – please click here send your commitment by this Friday 9/22.

To include your company logo on the Run-a-Thon T-Shirt, please send logo by Friday 9/22 to: Jourdan.ludwig@gmail.com

Run-a-thon Volunteers

The Run-a-Thon is also a fun and easy volunteer opportunity. If you are interested in helping out that day, please go to Wines Run-A-Thon Volunteers and sign up.

Online pledges can be made at the link below and this a great way to contact out of town friends and families to help contribute to the Wines community.

https://www.ptowines.org/wines-runathon

Spirit Wear

Our Spirit Wear sale is still live. The sale is live through Monday, September 25 at midnight. Items will ship directly to you starting October 10. There are a few new items this year including sweatpants! Support our school and rock your Wines gear around town! And a Wines hoodie makes a great gift! 

https://pogo.undergroundshirts.com/collections/wines-elementary-apparel-2

Wines Attendance Email 

We are moving to an email-only system to report absences. This is happening across all schools in AAPS. If your child is going to be absent or late to school, please email wines@aaps.k12.mi.us. 

Thanks! 

David

Weekly Update 9/13

 Dear Wines Families, 

It was very nice to see everyone at Curriculum Night last evening. We hope you received helpful information from your child’s teacher and got to know the how the classroom is organized. 

Wines PTO

Our PTO is busy putting together another fantastic year at Wines. In order for our PTO to be successful, we need your help! There is no shortage of opportunities to get involved and no experience is necessary! For new families to Wines, there is often a sense of “I’m going to wait to learn more about everything before I get involved.” This is understandable! But please know that we need new people, fresh ideas, and our activities are really fun and easy to be a part of. So don’t be shy!! In your weekly email today were two links to information from our PTO. The first is a list of Wines events along with a QR code to sign up to volunteer. Please note, signing up does not obligate you but it gives us a list of people who are possibly interested. The second is a link to a letter from the PTO about our Direct Donation program. Please check your email and look for these items.

Miles Jeffrey Roberts Foundation Champion Program

The Miles Jeffrey Roberts Foundation mission is to empower the youth athletic community in mental well-being and suicide prevention.  MJRF was established in August 2019 in memory of Miles Roberts, a Freshman at Skyline and former Wines student, who died by suicide at the age of 15. Miles was a youth working to balance the demands of school, family, athletics, friends, social media and more. His feeling of elation during sports was contagious and these connections with coaches and teammates helped to nourish his mental well-being. We look to help others like Miles thrive and build a safety net of trusted support through their athletic interactions

This Fall marks our fourth anniversary and we are celebrating with a gathering at German Park on Friday, September 22nd from 6 -11 pm.  The evening will include dinner, beverages, silent auction, music by the Four Roses and dancing.  Our goal is to raise funds to grow the MJRF Champions Program. 

The MJRF Champion program is a pilot program intended to be transformative in approach for engaging youth athletes through trusted adults. The Skyline pilot is a 3 year program which began in September 2022, with a goal to demonstrate evidence based outcomes and to be sustainable by Skyline/AAPS at year 4 as part of the school curriculum.  Our 10 year plan is to grow this program across all high schools in Washtenaw County. 

Please join us in person at German Park or support us through donations to MJRF on our website mjrfoundation.org

• You can learn more about MJRF Champs at https://mjrfoundation.org/mjrf-champions/ and also on social @mjrfoundation

• You can purchase tickets at https://cbo.io/tickets/mjrf/tix.  Please purchase by 9/15 to support planning.  

• You can become a sponsor for German Park event including tickets at https://cbo.io/tickets/mjrf/tix_1.  

• You can become a sponsor only for German Park event at https://cbo.io/tickets/mjrf/tix_2.  

Spirit Wear

It's that time of year for the Wines Spirit Wear Sale! This will be your only time to order spirit wear this year. The sale is live now and will be open through Monday, September 25 at midnight. Items will ship directly to you starting October 10. There are a few new items this year including sweatpants! Support our school and rock your Wines gear around town! And a Wines hoodie makes a great gift! 

https://pogo.undergroundshirts.com/collections/wines-elementary-apparel-2

Wines Attendance Email 

We are moving to an email-only system to report absences. This is happening across all schools in AAPS. If your child is going to be absent or late to school, please email wines@aaps.k12.mi.us. 

Join us in Walktober!

Students and families are encouraged to walk, bike, and scoot their way to school every Friday in October and on International Walk to School Day - Wednesday, October 4th.

Walktober Dates:

Wednesday, October 4 (International Walk to School Day)

Friday, October 6

Friday, October 20

Friday, October 27

Walktober is a great way to learn about pedestrian safety and healthy habits. Collect a sticker or stamp on the way to school at the corners of Sunset & Newport, Saunders Crescent & Cooley Street, Riverwood & Newport, or at the Wines' Baseball Field (near Upper El playground) and path from Forsythe Field.

Volunteers are needed to hand out stamps. Please SIGN UP HERE.

What if my student takes the bus?

On each of the Walktober Dates, our busses will drop students off a the Forsythe main parking lot. Dr. DeYoung will meet busses there and accompany students on a walk to Wines. 

What if my student is in AM childcare?

Dr. DeYoung will pick childcare students up and walk with them to Forsythe to meet the busses. Students will then join the walk to school. 

What if we live too far away to walk?

One way to participate is to park close to the school and walk, bike, or scoot the remainder of the way.

Walktober is sponsored by the Wines PTO. 

Thanks! 

David

Weekly Update 9/6

 Dear Wines Families, 

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend. We were able to spend one final weekend up north (I skipped a Michigan football game for the first time in many years). It was an excellent way to officially end our summer and we were able to spend lots of time with family and friends. We spent a lot of time on the beach and on the water listening to Jimmy Buffett music following his passing. While I’m not a true “Parrot Head”—I only saw him in concert once—his music has been part of my summer playlist since I was a teenager and despite his loss, he filled the weekend with sing a longs and memories. On to this week’s news (sorry, this week’s message is a bit longer than usual).  

M14 Town Hall Meeting Tonight!

This evening at 6:30 PM, we will be hosting a town hall meeting with State Senator Sue Shink and representatives from the Michigan Department of Transportation. The Town Hall will focus on M14 updates. I know M14 noise and other items related to the highway have been raised for many years by members of our community so please consider attending this important event. 

Back to School Picnic Tomorrow

Join us on the front (upper el) playground tomorrow night from 5:30-7:00. This is an informal gathering where you and your family can bring your own picnic dinner and spend some time socializing with friends new and old. Please note, there will not be access to inside the school building during the picnic. 

Curriculum Night: Tuesday, Sept. 12th

Our annual Curriculum Night takes place next Tuesday, Sept. 12th. Teachers will be hosting two identical sessions. The first session is from 6:00-6:30 and the second session will take place from 6:40-7:10. This is an event for parents only. 

Wines Attendance Email 

We are moving to an email-only system to report absences. This is happening across all schools in AAPS. If your child is going to be absent or late to school, please email wines@aaps.k12.mi.us. 

End of Day Changes

If your end of day arrangements change, please alert our office in advance. This will allow us time to alert teachers so students can be ready to leave early or we have had time to alert students of any other type of change (i.e. parent pick up instead of the bus). Please contact us before 2:30 PM. Also, please note that we are unable to retrieve students after 3:15 PM. Please call the school office at (734) 994-1973. Do not use the attendance email described above. 

Volunteering at Wines

Thank you to everyone who has registered to volunteer at Wines. As part of our school safety measures, we ask that all volunteers please fill out a quick form that registers you as a Wines volunteer and allows us to complete a background check. The form is linked below.

Volunteer Registration

Once you fill out the form you are all set as the background check is a very quick process on our end and we will contact you in the event that there is a problem or question. If you do not hear anything back, you can assume that you are cleared to volunteer. Teachers will alert you about the various volunteer opportunities we have.

Note: This is a yearly requirement so volunteers from last year must fill out the form again this year.

Library volunteers

Speaking of volunteers, we’re excited to welcome volunteers into the library starting in the next few weeks. If you would like to volunteer in the library, please complete this Library Volunteer form. If you have additional questions, please reach out to Rachel Goldberg, Wines librarian (goldbergr@aaps.k12.mi.us).

Join us in Walktober!

Students and families are encouraged to walk, bike, and scoot their way to school every Friday in October and on International Walk to School Day - Wednesday, October 4th.

Walktober Dates:

Wednesday, October 4 (International Walk to School Day)

Friday, October 6

Friday, October 20

Friday, October 27

Walktober is a great way to learn about pedestrian safety and healthy habits. Collect a sticker or stamp on the way to school at the corners of Sunset & Newport, Saunders Crescent & Cooley Street, Riverwood & Newport, or at the Wines' Baseball Field (near Upper El playground) and path from Forsythe Field.

Volunteers are needed to hand out stamps. Please SIGN UP HERE.

What if my student takes the bus?

On each of the Walktober Dates, our busses will drop students off a the Forsythe main parking lot. Dr. DeYoung will meet busses there and accompany students on a walk to Wines. 

What if my student is in AM childcare?

Dr. DeYoung will pick childcare students up and walk with them to Forsythe to meet the busses. Students will then join the walk to school. 

What if we live too far away to walk?

One way to participate is to park close to the school and walk, bike, or scoot the remainder of the way.

Walktober is sponsored by the Wines PTO. 

Lunch and Breakfast

As I’ve announced previously, lunch and breakfast are free for all students this year. A-la-carte milk is charged. With this new law, AAPS is asking that ALL families fill out a Free and Reduced Lunch application. Even if your family will not financially qualify for free or reduced lunch and even if your child(ren) will not participate in the breakfast or lunch program, this information is used for state and federal reimbursement for school meals. Below is a link to information about the application. Thank you for completing this.

Breakfast/Lunch Application. 

Thanks! 

David

Weekly Update 8/30

 Dear Wines Families, 

Welcome to my first “Wednesday Email” of the school year. Each Wednesday I will send out a message to all families. I try to keep the message to a reasonable length and reading the weekly message is the best way to stay up to date with everything going on at Wines. 

Our delayed first day of school was fantastic yesterday. It was so great to see our returning kids and families and wonderful to welcome all of our new faces. Thanks to our PTO for sponsoring the coffee and donuts and BIG thanks to all of our families for helping make the entire day so smooth. Just a reminder for pick up and drop off: Young 5’s, Kindergarten, and 5th grade should use the Cooley lot. 1st-4th grades should use the main entrance from Newport. Please use the lot corresponding to the youngest sibling in your family. Your drop off/pick up lot may not be the closest lot to your house, but it is important that we follow this system for parking lot efficiency and, more importantly, safety. 

Volunteering at Wines

As the school year gets underway, there will be numerous opportunities for families to volunteer at our school. As part of our school safety measures, we ask that all volunteers please fill out a quick form that registers you as a Wines volunteer and allows us to complete a background check. The form is linked below. 

Volunteer Registration: https://forms.gle/YLf5nee9Wxf9BHwr9

Once you fill out the form you are all set as the background check is a very quick process on our end and we will contact you in the event that there is a problem or question. If you do not hear anything back, you can assume that you are cleared to volunteer. Teachers will alert you about the various volunteer opportunities we have. 

Note: This is a yearly requirement so volunteers from last year must fill out the form again this year. 

Lunch and Breakfast

As I’ve announced previously, lunch and breakfast are free for all students this year. A-la-carte milk is charged. With this new law, AAPS is asking that ALL families fill out a Free and Reduced Lunch application. Even if your family will not financially qualify for free or reduced lunch and even if your child(ren) will not participate in the breakfast or lunch program, this information is used for state and federal reimbursement for school meals. Below is a link to information about the application. Thank you for completing this. 

Breakfast/Lunch Application

Back to School Picnic: Sept. 7

Join us on the playground next Thursday night from 5:30-7:00. This is an informal where you and your family can bring your own picnic dinner and spend some time socializing with friends new and old. 

M14 Town Hall Meeting Wednesday, Sept. 6

On Wednesday Sept. 6th at 6:30 PM, we will be hosting a town hall meeting with State Senator Sue Shink and representatives from the Michigan Department of Transportation. The Town Hall will focus on M14 updates. I know M14 noise and other items related to the highway have been raised for many years by members of our community so please consider attending this important event. 

Reminder: No school Friday or Monday for the extended Labor Day weekend. 

David

Weekly Update 6/7

 Dear Wines Families, 

It’s quite amazing that we have nearly reached the end of the school year. I want to thank our entire community for a fantastic year. While we began the process of getting back to normal last year, ultimately it was this 2022-2023 school year where we really found our pandemic way again as a school and a school community. All of our traditions were restored and new traditions have emerged as well. Your children have been delightful in every way and on behalf of our staff, thank you for sharing them with us and allowing us to be part of their lives. Thank you to all of our families for supporting your kids and our school. Wines is an amazing place to be and it is because of our tremendous families. As with every year, we will say goodbye to many families as you move on to middle school and beyond. It has been a pleasure having you at Wines. Now we head off to summer months and I wish everyone a joyful summer and we’ll be right back at it before you know it! 

Report Cards

Report cards will be sent Friday via secure email. Kindergarten through 5th grade families will receive three separate emails: Report Card, NWEA Scores, and Special Area Class Report Card. Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to have all of these sent in a single email. Young 5’s families will receive two emails: Report Card and Special Area Class Report Card. 

5th Grade Events

If you are interested in celebrating our 5th graders, the 5th grade celebration takes place on Thursday, June 8th at 7:00 PM. In addition, our school will be clapping the 5th graders out of the building on Friday, June 9th at approximately 11:15. 5th grade families, look for more information about these events sent directly to you. 

Library update

Please return all library books by the end of the week. If your child has lost a book, you are welcome to send in a new replacement book or reach out to Ms. Goldberg (goldbergr@aaps.12.mi.us) to find out the replacement fee. 

Summer Reading

For information on the AADL summer game, links to free ebook libraries, summer reading programs from local bookstores, and more, check out the A2Schools Summer Reading Choice Board. This choice board and other useful summer reading links are also on Ms. Goldberg’s Clever page.

Last Day of School: Half Day

June 9th is the last day of school. It is a half day with dismissal at 11:28. Driveiline will begin at approximately 11:20. 

David

Weekly Update 3/31

 Dear Wines Families, 

Greetings from Camp! By the time everyone reads this, I’ll be with the 5th graders at Camp Tanuga just south of Traverse City. As with many things this year, I can’t tell you how great it feels to be able to take part in the return of this annual tradition after a three year hiatus! 

Here is all the news for this next to last weekly note of the school year!

Chromebook Return

All Y5-4th grade students will be returning their Chromebooks to allow our Technology Department to prepare them for next year. 5th grade students will be keeping their Chromebooks over the summer. Mrs. Middleton, Mr. Toohey, and Mrs. Shanteau will be collecting devices on Friday, June 2nd. Ms. Fata will be collecting her class devices on Tuesday, June 6th. Everyone else will be collecting on Wednesday, June 7th. We are collecting Chromebooks AND chargers. Again this year, there will be no charge for repairs so PLEASE let us know if there is anything wrong with your child’s Chromebook so we can repair it over the summer. Teachers will be in touch regarding procedures but most will be asking that Chromebooks come to school a day or two before collection. Students participating in summer learning opportunities will keep their devices. 

Lunches with Love Success! 

Last week, every Wines student participated in “Lunches with Love.” This Wines tradition has our kids learn about food scarcity in our community and the kids then pack lunch bags for our partners Food Gatherers. In the end, the kids packed 395 lunches and donated 451 pounds of food for those less fortunate in our community! BIG thanks to Megan Hastie for again spearheading this important community service project! 

Disability Awareness Workshop Success! 

Also last week, our 4th and 5th graders participated in the Disability Awareness Workshop. This is a traditional 4th grade opportunity but our 5th graders were not able to participate last year due to COVID restrictions. Thank you to Katharine Seagly, Amy Thudium, and Abbigail Israelsen for organizing this very large event. And thanks to the small army of parent volunteers that made the day such a success and important learning experience for our kids. 

5th Grade Events

If you are interested in celebrating our 5th graders, the 5th grade celebration takes place on Thursday, June 8th at 7:00 PM. In addition, our school will be clapping the 5th graders out of the building on Friday, June 9th at approximately 11:20. 5th grade families, look for more information about these events sent directly to you. 

Last Day of School: Half Day

June 9th is the last day of school. It is a half day with dismissal at 11:28. 

David

Weekly Update 5/24

Dear Wines Families, 

My night on the roof last night was actually quite enjoyable! The weather was perfect for an evening outside and the many visitors throughout the night (both in person and online) were really great. As I said in the live feed, the night on the roof originated as a celebration of the kids’ achievements in the fall Run-a-Thon. Now that time has passed, last night was really a way for me to celebrate our kids and our community for an entire school year of support, enthusiasm, hard work, and lots of fun! While we still have a couple weeks left of this school year, I do want to take a moment to thank everyone for one of the most memorable school years I can think of! 

ROAR Thank You!! 

Last Friday’s ROAR was another incredible success. Despite a little rain and some last minute logistical changes, the evening was a hit with everyone! Thank you to the small army of volunteers who responded to the call for help. We couldn’t have done it without you! I want to give a HUGE thank you to Lizzy Hurwitz who organized the ROAR for the second year and to Janice Guikema who organized the Raffle. Lizzy and Janice were supported by many people. In particular I want to recognize Marti Clark and Andrea Huang who were part of the yearlong planning process and were both all hands on deck last Friday afternoon and evening. And I don’t want to leave out Seth Guikema who may have set the world record for hauling tables Friday! The ROAR was a great culminating event for a great year. Thank you to everyone for all of the support. 

AAPS Registration

All AAPS families must re-register each year. You should have received an email from "AAPS Registration" last week with a link to register your child(ren). This email was sent to the email used to register your student(s) so please check all emails in your family for the message. If you have more than one student at Wines and you have multiple email addresses, there is a chance that you may have registered one student using one email and another with a second email. If this is the case, please check both emails. Most of the online registration is pre-populated so it only takes a few minutes and a few clicks to be done. 

News from the Library

Book return: This is the last week of book checkout for the school year. Please return all library books by Friday, June 2. If your child has lost a book, you are welcome to send in a new replacement book or reach out to Ms. Goldberg (goldbergr@aaps.12.mi.us) to find out the replacement fee. Thank you and happy summer reading/gaming at the Ann Arbor District Library.

AADL Summer Game update: We have your first code of the 2023 Summer Game! Huge congratulations to Hugh (Ms. Milanowski’s class) and Mateo (Ms. Carlin’s class), whose codes were combined to create our first ever Wines Summer Game Code! It is: 

WINESREADERSROCK

Codes can be redeemed for points in two ways:

1) Texting the code to 734-327-4200

2) Signing in to a player's AADL account and redeeming game codes here: https://aadl.org/summergame/player/24026/gamecode

And if you’re wondering about how to get involved in the Summer Game, you can find all of that info here: https://aadl.org/play. 

End of Year Letter from our Nurse, Mary Delis

Below is a link to a note from Mary regarding important end of the year information from our nurse. Please read, particularly if your child has medications at school. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-YW5ycOUS4hT14hU6pXXUHf4tLI-ZEUfhU135cS-cio/edit

Before and After Care Registration

Registration for Rec & Ed’s Before/After School program is open. Currently, aftercare is full but you can add your name to the waitlist. There is still room in before care and we do hope to add before school care next year. 

Registration Link is open. 

Questions? Email aapschildcare@aaps.k12.mi.us or call (734) 994-2300 ext. 53232

David