Weekly Blog 5/14

Dear Wines Families,

As I indicated last week, please expect additional emails over the next couple of weeks as we head into the Country Fair and Raffle on May 30^th. In addition, my weekly emails and blog posts will likely be longer as I will have general messages as well as Country Fair information. At the end of today’s post, you will find lots of Country Fair information and beginning tomorrow you will be receiving grade level specific emails about volunteer opportunities. As we say each year, in order to have a successful Country Fair, we need help from every family!

Severe Weather

Well, the Monday afternoon tornado warning was certainly an “experience”. I want to commend our students and our staff for doing such a great job that day. I also want to express my appreciation to parents for your understanding of my decision not to allow students to leave the building with family during the warning. This is a fairly straightforward safety issue and I appreciate the many parents who waited it out with us and helped facilitate dismissal when it finally ended.

Volunteer Breakfast

You are cordially invited to a breakfast in honor of our incredible parent volunteers next Wednesday, May 21^st at 8:00 AM in the Media Center. Our teachers and staff are anxious to express our sincere appreciation for all that you do for us. Please join us next Wednesday morning!

No Floor Hockey this Week

We will not have Floor Hockey this Friday. Our final floor hockey session for this school year will be next Friday, May 23^rd. We will certainly pick up again with weekly floor hockey next fall!

Photo Permission

As I wrote about last week, our 2^nd-5^th graders recently took part in an exciting series of workshops brought to us by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. During their stay, the folks from the museum took pictures of kids that they may use in promotional materials. No children’s names will be used in the materials. There are many pictures to choose from so if you wish for the museum NOT to include your child in the materials, please let me know and I will be sure any pictures including your child will not be included.

Student Council Book Drive

Beginning this week, Student Council members are asking the Wines Community to donate used books to help a school in Ghana get their new school up and running. In a partnership with The Philippines Project, Barbara and Godwin Okonkwo are working with Council members to collect and box books for a new school in Ghana. Last year, students collected school supplies for a school in the Philippines coordinated with Virginia Rezmierski and her Philippines Project. This year, Virginia has connected us with the Okonokwo’s. Won't you join us in bringing in any books that will go help to help kids in need?

FRIDAY MAY 30th WINES COUNTRY FAIR, RAFFLE AND AUCTION

Country Fair

This year, families have the opportunity to buy food tickets, wristbands, and raffle tickets in three ways:

*Pre-Order Online with your credit card from May 14-25 at http://winespto.org/raffle/tickets.php . Tickets can be picked up at the Will Call table during advance ticket sales or the night of the fair. We are no longer using Google for online sales, we are using SquareUp.  For online sales we would like to request a minimum purchase of $10.  Please note: tickets will NOT be shipped.  

*Advance Ticket Sales the week of the fair (May 27-30). A table will be located outside the main doors before and after school. (Cash, check, or NEW THIS YEAR credit card.) 

*At the Fair - ticket sales tables will be set up the night of the fair outside of school. (Cash or check only.)

Note: Tickets are NOT available at the school office.

Questions about ticket sales? Contact Christine Hale at chale1084@yahoo.com.

Raffle/Silent Auction

The raffle/silent auction committee is hard at work collecting prizes for the upcoming raffle and silent auction. We hope families will consider making a prize donation. To see our complete wish list click on the link: http://www.winespto.org/ raffle.php.

Some popular items to donate: $1 scratch-off lottery tickets, cotton-candy machine, sno cone machine, books, board games, pillow pets, official minecraft handbooks, Quality 16 movie passes and team regalia. We welcome ALL prizes and really hope you may surprise us with a great prize idea!!

Don't have time to shop? Consider making a monetary donation and we'll do the shopping for you. Just contact us to make arrangements.

Donations may be placed in the bin in the office workspace room now through May 23. Thank you for your support!!

Any questions please contact:

Margaret Compton - bagladycompton@yahoo.com

Kerianne Tupac - kmtupac@umich.edu

Classroom Basket donations are also being collected now through May 23. If you would like to contribute to the classroom baskets you may send in your donation to your child's classroom. The classroom themes are:

K - Arts & Crafts

1 - Legos

2 - The Wonderful World of Science

3 - Camping, Swimming & Outdoor Fun

4 - Sports & Outdoor Fun

5 - It's A High Tech World

Any questions please contact Stephanie Gensheimer at tsgensheimer@att.net.

More Info for this Week!

Dear Wines Families,

I have a few end-of-the-week announcements for today.

First, after my email Wednesday, I’ve had a number of parents requesting the link to the parent input survey for class placement again. Below is the link one more time. Please try to put in your information ASAP.

Parent Input Survey

Bike to School Day

Next Wednesday, May 7^th we will again participate in Bike to School Day. We are encouraging everyone that lives within biking distance to Wines to bike that day. Again this year, representatives from Mott Children’s Hospital will be here to fit your child’s helmet appropriately and they will also be raffling off new bike helmets. We need a few volunteers who would be willing to pass out stickers and welcome our bikers as they arrive to school. If you can help, please email me directly. Volunteers should be at Wines by 8:15.

“River Residency” at Wines

I’m hoping that many of our 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th graders came home this week talking about an exciting opportunity they experienced with a water table. This week, representatives from the University of Michigan Natural History Museum (including Wines parent Alicia Comer) spent the week here at Wines with their new water table presenting a hands-on River Residency. 2^nd-5^th graders took part in workshops including “Water Weather, and a River Community” (2^nd grade), “How Water Shapes the Land” (3^rd Grade), and “Protecting our Watersheds” (4^th and 5^th grades). The workshops aligned nearly seamlessly with our science curriculum and reinforced and enhanced our students’ understanding. The residency was a tremendous success. I want to thank Alicia and the staff from the museum as well as our PTO for supporting the project. We are already anticipating another residency next year and we are hoping to expand the workshops to include all students K-5.

Brownies Community Service Project

Just a reminder that the Wines Brownie Troop 40551 is excited to make a difference in their community by sponsoring a Personal Needs Drive for the families served by SOS Community Services. Donation boxes will be placed outside the office throughout the month of May. Wines Troop 40551 asks that you please bring your donations of personal needs items such as shampoo, conditioner, soap, diapers (larger sizes), brushes, combs, laundry detergent, deodorant, and other items related to personal care to be placed in the boxes. The girls will be touring the food pantry at SOS as they learn about ways to help the less fortunate in their community. Thank you for your donations!

Have a nice weekend.

David