Weekly Blog 10/2

Dear Wines Families,

Here is all the news for the week:

Walk to School Friday

Friday we begin our month-long celebration of “Walktober” here at Wines. We encourage all kids to walk to school this Friday and every Friday in October. We will also walk next Wednesday in honor of International Walk to School Day. Check with your neighbors for meeting locations! For bus riders, the busses will drop off at the Forsythe south lot where I will meet them and walk to Wines together. Students in AM care can join me for the walk to Forsythe and back.

Run-a-Thon

Our annual Run-a-Thon is next Friday, October 11^th. This is a great day at school and it is also one of our largest fundraisers. This year, we will again use proceeds from the Run-a-Thon to purchase new playground equipment. In addition, all of the money raised by 5^th graders will go directly to supporting the 5^th grade camp trip in May. Finally, 10% of our earnings will go to charity. Students are voting for which charity we will support this year. The three finalists are Peace Neighborhood Center, Leslie Science Center, and the Healing Wall Project at Mott Children’s Hospital. The winning charity will be announced at our Run-a-Thon kickoff pep rally on Friday afternoon. Next Wednesday in the Wednesday Folder, your child will come home with a pledge envelope for the Run-a-Thon. There are also online pledge opportunities (great for out of town friends and family). We are hoping to have 100% participation from Wines students this year. There is no pledge too small!!

We still need volunteers on the day of Run-a-Thon. Please sign up at this link:  http://vols.pt/dxUerY

If you would like to come cheer your child on, we hope you can join us for all or part of the morning. To help you plan, here are the approximate start times for each grade level:

9:30-3^rd Grade

9:50-4^th Grade

10:10-5^th Grade

10:30-2^nd Grade

10:45-Kindergarten

11:00-1^st Grade

Run-a-Thon Spirit Week!

Don't forget that Spirit Week is next week. This is a fun way to display some team and individual spirit as it leads up to the Wines Run-a-Thon on Friday, October 11.

Monday 10/7:  Wacky Hair or Hat day

Tuesday 10/8:  Pajama Day

Wednesday 10/9:  Biggest Fan (Sports) Day

Thursday 10/10: Fashion Disaster Day

Friday 10/11:  Team Unity Day* and Run-a-Thon!

*Parents: You may want to see if your child's teacher would like any help in motivating their class to display their team spirit in some wacky way!

Girl Scout Round Up

We will have a Girl Scout Round Up on Oct 3^rd at 7pm. There will be information about Girl Scouts and sign ups for each of our 3 troops—Daisies (K-gr1), Brownies (gr2-3), and Juniors (gr 4-5). We have an exciting year ahead and can’t wait to tell everyone about it! 

The first Brownie meeting will also take place on Oct 3^rd from 3:45-5 before the round up. We will welcome both new and returning 2^nd and 3^rd grade Brownies! The first Junior meeting will be on Oct 10^th from 3:45-5:30. The first Daisy meeting will be finalized and announced in the next few days. Meetings will occur every other week on Thursday.  Even if your daughter has a conflict for part of the year on our meeting days we encourage you to join us if she is interested!

Please email sknoel@umich.edu with ANY questions or if your daughter is interested but you are not able to attend the Round Up!

MEAP

The annual state MEAP test begins for 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grades next week. I will be sending out some more specific information to families in those grades. However, the schedule is as follows:

Tuesday 10/8—3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade (Reading Day 1)

Wednesday 10/9—3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade (Reading Day 2)

Thursday 10/10—4^th Grade (Writing Day 1)

Tuesday 10/15—3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade (Math)

Wednesday 10/16—4^th Grade (Writing Day 2), 5^th grade (Science)

As always, we simply ask that students come to school well rested and ready to work hard. Of course, we ask that every day! Please do not plan to take your child out of school early on any of the MEAP days. Thanks!

Thanks,

David