Weekly Blog 10/16

Dear Wines Families,
This week's blog is a long one so I apologize in advance! Here goes:

Run-a-Thon
Last week’s Run-a-Thon was a great success and the pledges are beginning to trickle in. We are hoping that every Wines student collects pledges for the Run-a-Thon. Kindergarten through 4th grade pledges will go to purchasing new playground equipment and all 5th grade pledges go directly to help pay for our trip to Camp Tanuga this spring. 10% of proceeds will be donated to the Leslie Science Center. If everyone contributes, we will be able to do great things for our kids!! Every student received a pledge form last week. I’ve attached another copy of the form to today's email if you need a new one. Also, pledges can be made online at http://winespto.org/runathon.php. Please have your child turn in a pledge form even if all pledges are made online. This will really help our record keeping. Next Friday, October 25th is the final day to turn in pledges.

Spirit Wear Sales!
Wines Spirit Wear is available for order!  Check today’s Wednesday folders for the 2013 Spirit Wear order forms. Sample sizes will be on display periodically by the entrance to the school.  Forms are due to teachers by Friday, November 1. I attached the form to today's email as well. In addition, Spirit Wear can be ordered online at http://winespto.org/spiritwearsale.php. (Please note that the online form is not available yet. It will be available this week, however).

Builders and Science Fair
Our annual Builders and Science Fair is quickly approaching. The annual event open to all Wines students takes place next Thursday, October 24th. You can download an information and appliation form at http://winespto.org/SandBFair.pdf.

Dr. Swift’s Listen and Learn Tour: Oct. 30th
Please join our new Superintendent Dr. Jeanice Swift as her Listen and Learn Tour stops at Wines on Oct. 30th. The evening begins at 6:30. This is a great opportunity to meet our new leader and share your hopes, dreams, and concerns about the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

Walk to school Friday
Walktober continues this Friday with another Walk To School Day.

Halloween
Halloween is quickly approaching and again this year we will celebrate the day at Wines. Students can bring their costumes to school in a bag in the morning and they will change into costumes in the afternoon. Please remember that all costumes need to be friendly. No fake blood or weapons. A general rule of thumb is that if you have a question about the appropriateness of a costume or part of a costume, it likely isn’t appropriate!

I’m pleased to announce that we will return to an old Wines tradition of holding our annual Halloween Costume Parade through the neighborhoods behind our school. The parade will begin at 2:00. I will send out a route of where we will be walking next week!

Parent/Teacher Conferences
Parent/Teacher conferences are starting for most teachers during the next couple of weeks. I wanted to give all parents a quick message that there will be a new component to our conferences this year. As part of our School Improvement Plan, every student at Wines has a Personalized Learning Plan (PLP) this year. Our PLP’s offer a quick “data snapshot” into where each student was at the beginning of the year and each teacher’s goals for their students for this year. Our PLP’s use some of our available data and as with anything, the PLP does not address every way we assess student strengths or areas of opportunity. However, it does give us a nice starting point.

In our School Improvement Plan, we included a parent component to our PLP’s. At our Parent/Teacher conferences, teachers will ask parents to make a commitment to what you are willing to do to help us meet our goals for your child. Some teachers may send out a request for this information in advance of the conference and some may talk about it at your conference. We are not necessarily asking for parents to change what you are doing, or make any new sacrifices. However, we want you to formalize your commitment to our ongoing partnership.

So what might you commit to? I will use myself as an example. We read to our kids every night before they go to bed. However, we are often in a hurry to get them to sleep so I don’t often ask them to tell me about the story we read. I know that checking for understanding is a critical reading skill, so I am going to commit to asking my kids to give me some details about the stories we read each night. Hopefully this example helps.

Thanks!
David