Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Weekly Update 4/27

 Dear Wines Families, 

Unlike last week’s short message, today’s is a bit longer and more typical for this busy time of year. We do appreciate you taking a few minutes to read through this week’s updates. 

Big News Tomorrow! 

Please check your emails tomorrow for a special announcement!! 

No School Next Tuesday

Reminder, there is no school next Tuesday, May 3. 

Teacher Appreciation Week Next Week

Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week and we can't wait to celebrate our awesome teachers! Will your students help us kick off the week on Monday, May 2 by bringing a flower, plant, or thank you note to your teachers? 

Book Fair is Back!! 

A favorite student school event is back and will be happening May 9th 13th. Students can purchase books via cash, or an eWallet.  To find out more about eWallets you can visit our fair website - Wines Scholastic Book Fair.  Parents will be able to shop the fair May 9th-22nd via the Wines fair website. Every purchase from the Book Fair earns money for our school, so please support the fair!  

If you would like to volunteer at the book fair, please see link below: 

Book Fair Volunteers

COVID Infection Communication

Unfortunately, we are experiencing an increase in COVID cases in our community and in our school. Please note, if your child has tested positive for COVID, please email both our nurse, Mary Delis, and me. Mary’s email is delism@aaps.k12.mi.us. We hope this current surge is short! 

Wines Wildcat ROAR: Friday May 20th from 5-8pm!

Mark your calendars, the Wines Wildcat ROAR! (Formerly known as the Country Fair) will be on Friday, May 20 from 5-8pm! 

Carnival style games -- win a game, get a token. Collect tokens, exchange them for prizes at the prize table! Prizes range from stickers and bookmarks to pop-its and stuffed animals to larger grand prizes!

Come hungry for dinner! Pizza from Marco's, Cotton candy, Popcorn, Kona Ice Truck, CC's Soul Food Truck (burgers, hotdogs, mac and cheese, chicken tenders), and Tacos El Mariachi Loco! 

The ever-popular Cake Walk! Join in the fun in the days prior when kids decorate their cakes at home and bring them in to try and win first prize (more details to follow...)! Then try to win one of the cakes at the Roar!

5th graders take turns getting soaked in the Flush Tank (more info to follow for 5th graders to sign up for a time slot!)

Try and dunk Dr. DeYoung in the Dunk Tank!

Learn about other cultures and sample their cuisine at the International Fair tables! If you're interested in participating, make sure to sign up here by May 6th INTERNATIONAL NIGHT RSVP or contact Celeste Kanpurwala (celesteLsmith@gmail.com) for more information!

Live music by a local band Ain't Dead Yet!

Bid on items at the Raffle!

And more!

For the raffle, we still need your help with donations! There are two ways you can help:

(1) Donate to the CLASSROOM BASKETS. 

Every classroom has a basket in it for donations from families! We will create a raffle basket (or more if we get lots of donations!) from each grade with the items donated by families. 

The themes for each grade are:

Y5/K: Arts & Crafts

1st: Legos, Games & Puzzles

2nd: Wonderful World of Science

3rd: Camping, Swimming & Outdoor Fun

4th: Sports & Outdoor Fun

5th: It's A High Tech World ($ donations that will go towards the purchase of an iPad + other tech)

Deadline for donations is May 13.

(2) WISH LIST. Sign up to donate other popular items for the raffle here:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F094CA8A628A20-raffle

Please sign up no later than May 9 and drop off the item no later than May 13.

Thank you to those of you who have already donated! If you have raffle specific questions, please contact Janice Guikema (jwguikema@gmail.com).

And last and probably most importantly, we will need A LOT of volunteers to help out on the night of the Roar to make it a success! Be on the lookout for a signup genius with volunteer spots next week!

If you have any questions about the ROAR! please contact Lizzy Hurwitz (lizzy@lizzyhurwitz.com or 734-545-6880).

Summer Construction

This summer, there will be significant construction at Wines. Nearly all lighting in the building will be replaced, new window treatments will be installed in each classroom, and window air conditioning units (and associated wiring) will be installed in each classroom. We are excited for the upgrades, but this is a very large project and it will have a significant impact on the final few weeks of school. Basically, EVERYTHING in our school will be moved out and stored externally to the school. This means teachers and staff need to pack and label everything from their work spaces. In addition, this large project needs to get started right away once school ends so we are required to be done packing by the end of day on the last day of school…

This means our teachers and staff will need to begin the packing process well before the end of school. Of course, instruction will take place until the end of the school year, but our classrooms may not look quite as nice in June as they do now. Teachers may ask for volunteers to assist so please be on the lookout for those requests. Also, some spaces are larger and more challenging to pack up than others (the Art Room, for example) and there are areas in school that do not necessarily have an assigned staff member. We may be looking for help to pack those spaces as well. 

Finally, I have been asked to alert our community that the entire Wines property will not be accessible once school concludes on June 10. On June 11, movers will be moving everything out of the school to temporary structures on our property and construction fencing will be put up around the entire property. This means our playgrounds, etc. will not be available to our community this summer. 

David


Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Weekly Update 4/13

 Dear Wines Families, 

I hope this email finds you well. Life continues to buzz along here at Wines. I don’t have a lot of news today (which is rare this time of year!). But I do want to take a moment to thank everyone who was involved with planning, volunteering, and attending our Auction last Saturday night. It was a fabulous event and I had a GREAT time. When I spoke at the event, I indicated that there were many people in the room that I didn’t recognize. It is a strange feeling not to recognize every Wines family and as the world becomes more normal again, I hope to know everyone by name and face! But Saturday was a good start and it was wonderful to meet many parents in an informal setting. 

I want to extend a HUGE thank you to Jane Lardo who took over as head of the Auction planning committee this year and Jane put on an amazing event. One of the things that was very important to Jane was to make sure the event was welcoming and fun for everyone. This was more important than raising money. I would say that Jane hit a home run with creating such a great opportunity for our community! And it was a successful fundraiser as well…

PTO Meeting Next Thursday
Please join us for our next PTO Meeting via Zoom next Thursday, April 21 at 7:00 PM. 
Zoom info was sent in today's email.

Just one more announcement today. Reminder: no school on Friday. Enjoy the long weekend. 

David


Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Weekly Update 4/6

 Dear Wines Families, 

Now that Spring Break is over, we head into the home stretch of the year with just over 9 weeks left of school! It has been nice to see parents again volunteering in our classrooms and life looking somewhat more normal around here. I look forward to this final part of the school year with you all. 

I don’t have many messages this week but Saturday night is shaping up to be a great evening at our annual Wines Auction. I do have a couple auction related items that are for everyone—whether you are joining us in person or not. 

Online Bidding for Silent Auction—Open Now!

Even if you aren’t able to attend the event Saturday, our silent auction items can be bid remotely. The silent auction is open now. Please go to: https://www.32auctions.com/winesptoauction

Sign and Go Parties—Open Now!

Sign & Go parties are unique events and experiences that are offered at a specific time and place.  Each party will have a limit on the number of people who can attend and a specific cost for attending. There is no auction.  The price is the price.  Spots are filled on a first come, first serve basis and are open to anyone in the Wines community.  Sign Ups are open at the below links.  The PTO will invoice you for your spot, please pay within 48 hours or your spot will be released. To sign up for one of the parties, please go to: https://www.winesptoauction.com/sign-go-parties.

Thanks in advance to everyone for considering supporting our PTO and our school via the live auction and/or the silent auction and Sign and Go parties!

David