Weekly Blog 5/27

Dear Wines Families,

Well, I guess it is fitting that even during these unusual times, summer seems to have arrived now that Memorial Day has passed. While I miss school daily, I don’t miss those few days a year when temperatures make it less than pleasant in our school. I have a number of important announcements and reminders today.

AAPS Reimagining

As we all know, school opening for next fall contains a lot of unknowns. Thus, we are engaged both at the district and building level in the process of planning and “reimagining” the school year for next year. We want to be flexible and provide instruction for students in multiple ways based on the situation and guidelines to maintain the health and safety of our students, staff, and families. These include a modified face to face approach, a blended learning approach, and complete remote learning. This planning will continue throughout the summer as the situation with COVID-19 changes. We will need family input in this process. Please look for a district communication soon with an outline of the current reimagine planning as well as a survey to gain your input on this critical process for our future.

Virtual Auction—Classroom Projects

As we all know, our annual auction was canceled this year. While the various items we had planned to auction off simply cannot be part of any auction at this time, the classroom art projects created by our amazing group of volunteers are available and are wonderful. Each year, these projects are a highlight of the auction as become keepsakes from the school year. In working with the PTO and our Auction Committee, we have initiated a virtual silent auction for just the classroom projects. We hope this allows these wonderful items to find permanent homes. For those interested in participating, the auction will open this Friday and will extend until the last day of school, June 12. Look for an email on Friday with more detailed information and directions for registering for the virtual auction.

Good News!

I know we are all looking for some good news during this period. Speaking of the auction, I’m pleased to say that our project to install new playground structure for the lower el playground is in process. Following our successful 2019 auction, a new playground was approved by our PTO. This project was a bit delayed last year, but we did receive final site approval in February. Of course, the project has again been delayed by the school closure. However, we are moving forward and we hope the installation will be completed for the fall. As with everything, COVID has caused construction delays, but we are hopeful to begin soon. Thank you for your patience and for your ongoing support that made this project a reality! A picture of the new structure can be found below.

Virtual Art Night Reminder

Last chance to submit projects for Virtual Art Night. Please email pictures of the projects to WinesArt2020@gmail.com.

All About Coronavirus for Kids and Families

The University of Michigan’s School of Public Health has created a video entitled, All about Coronavirus: A Video for Kids and Their Families. The video was created for children and their families to share what we know about the coronavirus and outline proven public health methods for personal and community protection.
Sharing basic scientific information with children can:

• strengthen their resolve as they struggle with new, changing, and potentially scary realities,
• inspire them to continue learning the facts about the epidemic,
• encourage them to participate actively in helping slow the spread of the disease.

Please go to https://sph.umich.edu/kidscovidresources/ for more information and a link to the video.

That’s all for this week. Be well and continue to stay safe.

David