Weekly Blog 1/30

Dear Wines Families,

I hope you are staying warm today. It has certainly been a bit of a disjointed past couple of weeks here at Wines with multiple snow/cold days! We hope to see everyone Friday and I hope we can settle into some more consistency during the coming weeks.

International Night

Due to today’s school cancellation, we have rescheduled International Night. The new date is Wednesday, Feb. 13^th at 6:30 PM.

Parent Involvement Day: Monday, Feb. 11^th

Students’ Wednesday folders were sent home a day early yesterday. Inside, you will find an invitation to our annual Parent Involvement Day on Monday, Feb. 11^th. We hope you can join us for part or all of the day. You’ll see this year that we are holding parent workshops hosted by the Human Rights Campaign’s Welcoming Schools. Our staff has been working with Welcoming Schools this year and we are thrilled that we can host parent workshops during Parent Involvement Day. There are two separate RSVP forms to fill out. The first is an RSVP for the day itself. It is especially important that you RSVP if you are staying for lunch so we order enough food for our adult guests. The second link is to sing up for one of the Welcoming Schools sessions. There are hour long sessions throughout the day.

Link to RSVP https://goo.gl/forms/kHKWMWT4PVLOy0wb2

Link to Welcoming Schools RSVP https://goo.gl/forms/AF5OvYJl7T8loab63

Lunchtime Extra Specials

You can now sign up your child for Wines Lunchtime Extra Specials. Please register by 5pm on January 30. Space is limited and we will assign students on a first come, first served basis.

To sign up, click on the following link:

https://goo.gl/forms/iFM2vbVFX8MNDxMe2

It will take you to a Google Form that you can complete with your child's name, classroom teacher, and preferred Extra Special activities. If you have multiple children to enroll, just click on the link to submit another survey once you have submitted the first questionnaire.

Hockey is on!!!

We do anticipate having school on Friday. So, we will plan on hosting our first Friday floor hockey game of the season before school. The game begins at 8:15 and kids only need dry shoes. Parents can drop off or join us for the game!

Kindergarten/Young 5’s Round Up

Next Tuesday, Feb. 5^th is our annual Kindergarten/Young 5’s Round Up from 6:30-7:30. The event is for parents AND incoming students. If you have a child coming to Kindergarten or Young 5’s next year, please plan on coming next Tuesday. In addition, please email Robin Moore at moorero@aaps.k12.mi.us and let her know you have a child joining us next year. Please alert your friends and neighbors interested in Wines as well.

Thanks, and we’ll see you Friday!

David

Weekly Blog 1/23

Dear Wines Families,

Usually our snow days are associated with beautiful fluffy snow. Not so much today. Yuck! I hope if you had to travel to work this morning, that your commute was uneventful. We do have a lot of news today.

Follow Up Re: New Check in Procedures

I’ve had a number of questions and comments regarding the message I sent out yesterday about the new check in procedure pilot we are participating in. I wanted to reiterate that we are participating in two, two-week pilots of two different systems. This is not a permanent change at this time. I volunteered to be on the committee to choose the vendor and agreed to be the elementary pilot site for AAPS because I feel like our school is uniquely situated to give quality feedback about the systems considering the size of our school and the number of visitors we have each day. I share many of the concerns some of you have expressed regarding the possibility that such a change will not only be inconvenient, but also will increase office staff workload and perhaps diminish the community feel of our school. Balancing security and keeping a welcoming atmosphere of the school is a challenge in this day and age, but I'm committed to both. I welcome your feedback over the next three and a half weeks and I ask for your patience as we implement this new system on the fly. We will start in earnest tomorrow.

International Night January 30th, 6:30-8pm

Next week is our annual International Night. We hope to see you there! If you're still interested in hosting a country, please sign up at https://goo.gl/forms/3Cf0DZHHyPmW0SuP2 by this Friday, Jan. 25th, so we know how many tables we need.  There are still some key volunteer spots we need to fill. If you can help out during the night next week, please go to https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0a4fa8af2da1ff2-international

Kindergarten/Young 5’s Round Up Feb. 5th

Now that we are into 2019, we are beginning to plan for fall of 2019. Our Kindergarten/Young 5’s Round Up is scheduled for Tuesday, February 5^th from 6:30-7:30. The event is for parents AND kids. If you have a child who will be coming to our program next fall, please plan on joining us! Please also tell your friends and neighbors who have children eligible for Kindergarten or Young 5’s next year. If you know your child will be coming to Wines next year for Kindergarten or Young 5’s, please let Robin know in the office so she can begin to compile our list of students.

Parent Involvement Day Feb. 11

Our annual Parent Involvement Day takes place on Monday, February 11^th. Please spend part or all of your day with us! Look for an official paper invitation and digital RSVP soon. This year, we are excited to have a representative from the Human Rights Campaign’s “Welcoming Schools” program join us for parent workshops throughout the day. Our trainer has worked with our staff this fall (and again next week) and will be providing an overview of Welcoming Schools and the work we are doing to foster an inclusive environment for all students and families at Wines. A second digital sign up will be sent out to attend the sessions. I urge parents to attend a session that day. More information to come!

PTOC Guest Speaker: Social Media

DATE:   Monday, January 28, 7:00-8:30 PM

Westerman Preschool & Family Center, 2775 Boardwalk, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 

TOPIC:  Social Media: Helping Parents Help Their Tweens and Teens. Robbin Batten, from the Washtenaw Area Council for Children will speak about privacy and security, sexting, cyber-bullying, online predators, and digital reputation.

Friday Floor Hockey

Our first Friday Floor Hockey will take place this Friday beginning at 8:15. Feel free to drop your child off or join us for the game! Everyone must have dry shoes.

That’s all for today. We’ll see you tomorrow.

David

Weekly Blog 1/16

Dear Wines Families,

We have a lot of announcements today.

Wines Times

The January Wines Times newsletter is here! Please click on the link below.

 http://winespto.org/docs/wtJan19.pdf

School on Feb. 15???

According to the AAPS school calendar, there may or may not be school on February 15^th. If there is a May 7^thelection, then we will have school on February 15^th. But if there is not a May 7^th Election, then we will not have school on February 15^th. Due to the election laws, the district is unable to confirm a May election until the filing deadline of Feb. 12^th. After which point the AAPS district will immediately notify families about the status of that school day. We ask that families prepare for either eventuality. Feb. 18^th is a definite NO SCHOOL Day.

Friday Floor Hockey         

I’ve had a number of folks ask about when we would resume our weekly Friday morning floor hockey game. I would like to begin on Friday, Jan. 25^th. We need at least one, but preferably two volunteers to help keep the game organized. No experience necessary—I will “train” anyone who can help. We have adult sticks for any adult who would like to play as well. Please let me know if you can volunteer. The games starts at 8:15 every Friday. Kids can be dropped off. All the kids need are dry shoes.

International Night Wed, Jan. 30th

Thanks to everyone who already submitted a form to host a country for International Night! We still have plenty of space for more countries - below is a link to the form once again:

https://goo.gl/forms/3Cf0DZHHyPmW0SuP2

In addition to participants, we are also looking for volunteers to help during the event. There are many different roles to help out. Below is a link to a volunteer sign up.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0a4fa8af2da1ff2-international. 

Jan. 22^nd PTO Meeting

Wines PTO presents Dr. Anthony DeBenedet (Wines parent and Author) as the speaker at the January 22, General Meeting from 7-8pm.  Childcare provided.  

Title: Playful Intelligence: Unpacking Your Childhood Wisdom. 

Bio:

Anthony T. DeBenedet, M.D. is a practicing physician and behavioral-science enthusiast. His interviews and writings have run in various media outlets, including the New York Times, the Today show, the Washington Post, andTIME Ideas. He is the author of Playful Intelligence: The Power of Living Lightly in a Serious World (Santa Monica Press, 2018) and also co-authored The Art of Roughhousing: Good Old-Fashioned Horseplay and Why Every Kid Needs It (Quirk Books, 2011). DeBenedet holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering, a Master of Science Degree in Health and Healthcare Research from the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, and a Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Michigan Health System. DeBenedet lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he enjoys spending time with his family, connecting with friends, and playing a little basketball.

No School Monday, Jan. 21^st

In honor of the Martin Luther King Holiday, there is no school next Monday, Jan. 21^st. Our annual MLK school assembly will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 22^nd.

David