Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Weekly Blog 1/28

Dear Wines Families,
I mentioned to a parent yesterday who wanted an item included in today’s message that I didn’t have much to share this week. Since that time, a number of items have come up that I’d like to share! So here goes:

International Night is tomorrow Thursday, January 29 from 6:30 until 8:00 pm
The night is shaping up to be a great celebration of the heritage and culture of the Wines community.  We will have a gymnasium full of student-created projects, crafts, delicious food, cultural performances and an international fashion show featuring our Wines students.  This event is a fascinating showcase of the international roots of the families that make up Wines, and you can participate in the following ways:

* We still need volunteers to run the evening!  If you have 45 minutes or an hour to give, please visit http://vols.pt/TeToGh and sign up where you can.

* Come experience the event!  You do not need to be a registered participant to enjoy the evening.  Bring your family and learn about countries and cultures from around the globe.

*  For an added learning experience, fill out the “Where is my family from?” form attached to today's email with your kids and bring it to the event.  While there, find your family’s roots on the world map and look to see if your family’s country of origin is represented at one of the student presentation tables.

Parent Involvement Day: February 9th
In your child’s take home folder today, you will see a yellow invitation to join us for our annual Parent Involvement Day on Monday, February 9th. This has historically been a very well attended day in our community and we hope you can join us. For new parents, there is a lot of information contained in the invitation. Later this week, I will send out a digital RSVP for parents. You do not necessarily need to RSVP to join us. However, it does give us a sense of how many people we will expect. Additionally, we will be serving lunch to parents so if you are going to join us for lunch, we do ask that you RSVP so we can be sure to have enough food. Look for the RSVP later this week.

Notes from the Office
Parents, please call the main office if your child is going to be late or absent to school. Many parents do contact teachers—which is nice—but that message does not always reach the main office.

Students must stop for a pass and check in the front office when they come in after the bell. Teachers take attendance right away in the morning and then begin their instructional day. The pass is an important communication tool between the office and the teacher that we know children have arrived and tells the teacher that the office staff knows the student is present. And as always, please do all you can to have your child arrive to school on time.

David



Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Weekly Blog 1/21

Dear Wines Families,

Just a few announcements today. First, I want to remind everyone that there is no school on Monday, January 26th as the entire Ann Arbor Public School staff will be engaged in professional development.

International Night
International Night is coming up next Thursday, January 29 from 6:30 until 8:00.  The event committee is looking for volunteers to help out with international crafts during the evening, such as:
• Henna designs
• Origami
• Any other skill you have to offer!
If you can help out with one of these crafts, please contact Katie Page Sander (katie@thepages.net) or Annemarie Dolan (akilburndolan@comcast.net).  For other open volunteer positions, please visit our volunteer sign up at http://vols.pt/TeToGh.

Dr. Swift’s “Continuing the Conversation”
As you hopefully know, Superintendent Dr. Jeanice Swift has initiated a follow up to last year’s Listen and Learn tour of the school district. There are various dates coming up. The next date is next Thursday evening at Forsythe. This conflicts with our International Night. I have spoken to Dr. Swift about this conflict and offered to reschedule our event. She graciously asked that we not reschedule but rather encourage the Wines community to look at other dates. Below is a link to information about the tour. Please note that she will be near our area on Feb. 12 (Slauson), March 9 (Peace Neighborhood Center) and March 31 (AA Open) as well as many other dates across our community. I encourage everyone to attend one of these events.

Continuing the Conversation Information and Dates

Girls on the Run-Spring 2015
Registration for Girls on the Run at Wines is open for girls in grades 3-5 from now until February 19. Learn about this program that promotes friendship, teamwork, and health at the GOTR website (http://www.girlsontherunsemi.org/) or by contacting Suzanne Admiraal (admiraal@umich.edu). The spring season runs from March 10 until May 21, and the Wines team will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school until 5:15 PM.

Parent Involvement Day—Save the Date!
Our annual Parent Involvement Day takes place on Monday, February 9th. We encourage parents to spend some or all of your day at school with your child. A paper invitation will be coming home next Wednesday.

David

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Weekly Blog 1/14

Dear Wines Families,

Despite the cold, it does look like we are going to have a full week of school this week. This week was not without some unexpected drama, however. Your child may have come home Monday talking about the “flood” in the computer lab. Fortunately, it was not a flood, but we did have a coil burst in our HVAC unit causing steam to blow into the room over the course of two or three days last weekend. As a result, our lab resembled a steam room on Monday morning more than a classroom. While things were quite wet, our Technical Assistant, Cheryl Wonders along with Sally Evaldson and our wonderful custodian Jamil Jackson sprung into action and cleared the room and dried everything off. Yesterday a technician from Apple checked our computers and iPads and everything appears to be in working order. We are waiting another day to ensure that the keyboards have had time to sufficiently dry, but we anticipate our lab being operational on Thursday. So disaster avoided!

With the snow days and the “flood”, our NWEA schedule has been changed significantly. We will resume our assessments tomorrow and we will eventually complete this round of assessments this month. Just a quick note on NWEA. The purpose of NWEA is to provide our teachers with another piece of data in order to best meet the needs of our students. NWEA is part of a larger picture of student performance to help us know each child as a learner. It is by no means a “high stakes” test and we know as professionals that while the data may be very helpful for some students, the NWEA does not always accurately reflect how a student learns and we never rely on a single piece of data. Again, it is just part of our work to ensure we are meeting students’ needs at their personal level.

In other news, I want to highlight the three attachments to today's email:

Important Science Olympiad News
Attached to the email is a letter that addresses a change in the tournament set up resulting in a situation where Wines may not be able to send every participant to participate because our team is too large. We are working hard at trying to find solutions to this so that any interested WESO participant can participate. Please read the attached letter if your child participates in Science Olympiad.

Social Media Safety Presentation at our PTO Meeting Next Tuesday
Our PTO meeting next Tuesday evening will feature a presentation from the Washtenaw Council for Children on Social Media safety. I urge parents to attend this meeting. We begin at 6:30 and childcare is available. A flyer is attached to today’s email and a paper copy comes home today as well.

International Night
Attached again today is the sign up to participate in International Night. If you would like to share your family culture or traditions, please fill out the form. We would like all forms back by this Friday.

Stay Warm,

David



Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Weekly Blog 1/7

Dear Wines Families,

Happy New Year and welcome back. I hope you are all staying warm today! Our PTO is busy putting the finishing touches on the latest Wines Times newsletter. I will be sending that to you either tomorrow or Friday. Therefore, I'll just send a couple of messages today.

International Night

International Night is coming up on January 29. This great event needs your help. If you would like to participate in International Night and share your heritage and culture with our community, please fill out the attached flyer. We are hoping to have all participants signed up by next Friday, January 16. More information will be included in the Wines Times.

Lunchtime Extra Specials

We need more parent volunteers for Lunchtime Extra Specials!  Extra Specials start on Tuesday, January 20th and go for 7 weeks.  We only ask for one lunchtime a week and encourage you to bring younger siblings along to participate!  We are looking for parent volunteers on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for Free Dance and a few other activities.  If you are available and interested, please contact Annemarie Dolan at akilburndolan@comcast.net.

Look for the Wines Times later this week.

David