Weekly Update 9/20

Dear Wines Families, 

As we find ourselves in our fourth week of school and our second full week, things are running smoothly and our day to day routines are firmly in place. I want to thank our entire community for all your support to help make the beginning of the year such a success. Here is the news for the week. The message is a bit long, but we have a lot going on! 

PTO Meeting Tomorrow

Our first PTO meeting is tomorrow evening at 7:00 in the Wines Library. Everyone is welcome! If you would prefer to join via Zoom, information was sent in today's email. 

Early Release Wednesday, Sept. 27th

Our first Early Release of the year is next Wednesday, Sept. 27th. Dismissal is at 1:00 PM. A few classroom teachers mistakenly alerted parents that dismissal was at 1:18 which was the the early release dismissal time last year. Please note that this is slightly earlier release time this year. Busses will run as normal—just arriving home approximately two hours and 48 minutes earlier than usual. There is no PM childcare. Lunch will be served as normal with kids eating slightly earlier than on regular school days. 

Picture Day Oct. 3rd 

Picture Day is coming up on Oct. 3rd. Online orders can be made at https://inter-state.com/FlyerEntry/80258CF. Ordering online in advance allows for free shipping to school. 

The Wines Run-a-Thon is Friday, October 6th!

Our annual Run-a-Thon is right around the corner on Friday, Oct. 6th. The event takes place during the school day and is a great community event. All grades will run in flights between 9AM – 11:30 AM.

Run-a-thon Pledges

The Run-a-Thon is our largest fundraiser of the year with the opportunity to pledge for runners. While we are still a couple weeks away, friends and family can start supporting our students now! This is a great way for friends and family from out of town to support and pledge for kids. Information on the event and how to make a pledge for your child can be found here.

Run-a-thon Corporate Sponsorships

Corporate sponsorships are tax deductible and welcome as well.  If interested – please click here send your commitment by this Friday 9/22.

To include your company logo on the Run-a-Thon T-Shirt, please send logo by Friday 9/22 to: Jourdan.ludwig@gmail.com

Run-a-thon Volunteers

The Run-a-Thon is also a fun and easy volunteer opportunity. If you are interested in helping out that day, please go to Wines Run-A-Thon Volunteers and sign up.

Online pledges can be made at the link below and this a great way to contact out of town friends and families to help contribute to the Wines community.

https://www.ptowines.org/wines-runathon

Spirit Wear

Our Spirit Wear sale is still live. The sale is live through Monday, September 25 at midnight. Items will ship directly to you starting October 10. There are a few new items this year including sweatpants! Support our school and rock your Wines gear around town! And a Wines hoodie makes a great gift! 

https://pogo.undergroundshirts.com/collections/wines-elementary-apparel-2

Wines Attendance Email 

We are moving to an email-only system to report absences. This is happening across all schools in AAPS. If your child is going to be absent or late to school, please email wines@aaps.k12.mi.us. 

Thanks! 

David

Weekly Update 9/13

 Dear Wines Families, 

It was very nice to see everyone at Curriculum Night last evening. We hope you received helpful information from your child’s teacher and got to know the how the classroom is organized. 

Wines PTO

Our PTO is busy putting together another fantastic year at Wines. In order for our PTO to be successful, we need your help! There is no shortage of opportunities to get involved and no experience is necessary! For new families to Wines, there is often a sense of “I’m going to wait to learn more about everything before I get involved.” This is understandable! But please know that we need new people, fresh ideas, and our activities are really fun and easy to be a part of. So don’t be shy!! In your weekly email today were two links to information from our PTO. The first is a list of Wines events along with a QR code to sign up to volunteer. Please note, signing up does not obligate you but it gives us a list of people who are possibly interested. The second is a link to a letter from the PTO about our Direct Donation program. Please check your email and look for these items.

Miles Jeffrey Roberts Foundation Champion Program

The Miles Jeffrey Roberts Foundation mission is to empower the youth athletic community in mental well-being and suicide prevention.  MJRF was established in August 2019 in memory of Miles Roberts, a Freshman at Skyline and former Wines student, who died by suicide at the age of 15. Miles was a youth working to balance the demands of school, family, athletics, friends, social media and more. His feeling of elation during sports was contagious and these connections with coaches and teammates helped to nourish his mental well-being. We look to help others like Miles thrive and build a safety net of trusted support through their athletic interactions

This Fall marks our fourth anniversary and we are celebrating with a gathering at German Park on Friday, September 22nd from 6 -11 pm.  The evening will include dinner, beverages, silent auction, music by the Four Roses and dancing.  Our goal is to raise funds to grow the MJRF Champions Program. 

The MJRF Champion program is a pilot program intended to be transformative in approach for engaging youth athletes through trusted adults. The Skyline pilot is a 3 year program which began in September 2022, with a goal to demonstrate evidence based outcomes and to be sustainable by Skyline/AAPS at year 4 as part of the school curriculum.  Our 10 year plan is to grow this program across all high schools in Washtenaw County. 

Please join us in person at German Park or support us through donations to MJRF on our website mjrfoundation.org

• You can learn more about MJRF Champs at https://mjrfoundation.org/mjrf-champions/ and also on social @mjrfoundation

• You can purchase tickets at https://cbo.io/tickets/mjrf/tix.  Please purchase by 9/15 to support planning.  

• You can become a sponsor for German Park event including tickets at https://cbo.io/tickets/mjrf/tix_1.  

• You can become a sponsor only for German Park event at https://cbo.io/tickets/mjrf/tix_2.  

Spirit Wear

It's that time of year for the Wines Spirit Wear Sale! This will be your only time to order spirit wear this year. The sale is live now and will be open through Monday, September 25 at midnight. Items will ship directly to you starting October 10. There are a few new items this year including sweatpants! Support our school and rock your Wines gear around town! And a Wines hoodie makes a great gift! 

https://pogo.undergroundshirts.com/collections/wines-elementary-apparel-2

Wines Attendance Email 

We are moving to an email-only system to report absences. This is happening across all schools in AAPS. If your child is going to be absent or late to school, please email wines@aaps.k12.mi.us. 

Join us in Walktober!

Students and families are encouraged to walk, bike, and scoot their way to school every Friday in October and on International Walk to School Day - Wednesday, October 4th.

Walktober Dates:

Wednesday, October 4 (International Walk to School Day)

Friday, October 6

Friday, October 20

Friday, October 27

Walktober is a great way to learn about pedestrian safety and healthy habits. Collect a sticker or stamp on the way to school at the corners of Sunset & Newport, Saunders Crescent & Cooley Street, Riverwood & Newport, or at the Wines' Baseball Field (near Upper El playground) and path from Forsythe Field.

Volunteers are needed to hand out stamps. Please SIGN UP HERE.

What if my student takes the bus?

On each of the Walktober Dates, our busses will drop students off a the Forsythe main parking lot. Dr. DeYoung will meet busses there and accompany students on a walk to Wines. 

What if my student is in AM childcare?

Dr. DeYoung will pick childcare students up and walk with them to Forsythe to meet the busses. Students will then join the walk to school. 

What if we live too far away to walk?

One way to participate is to park close to the school and walk, bike, or scoot the remainder of the way.

Walktober is sponsored by the Wines PTO. 

Thanks! 

David

Weekly Update 9/6

 Dear Wines Families, 

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend. We were able to spend one final weekend up north (I skipped a Michigan football game for the first time in many years). It was an excellent way to officially end our summer and we were able to spend lots of time with family and friends. We spent a lot of time on the beach and on the water listening to Jimmy Buffett music following his passing. While I’m not a true “Parrot Head”—I only saw him in concert once—his music has been part of my summer playlist since I was a teenager and despite his loss, he filled the weekend with sing a longs and memories. On to this week’s news (sorry, this week’s message is a bit longer than usual).  

M14 Town Hall Meeting Tonight!

This evening at 6:30 PM, we will be hosting a town hall meeting with State Senator Sue Shink and representatives from the Michigan Department of Transportation. The Town Hall will focus on M14 updates. I know M14 noise and other items related to the highway have been raised for many years by members of our community so please consider attending this important event. 

Back to School Picnic Tomorrow

Join us on the front (upper el) playground tomorrow night from 5:30-7:00. This is an informal gathering where you and your family can bring your own picnic dinner and spend some time socializing with friends new and old. Please note, there will not be access to inside the school building during the picnic. 

Curriculum Night: Tuesday, Sept. 12th

Our annual Curriculum Night takes place next Tuesday, Sept. 12th. Teachers will be hosting two identical sessions. The first session is from 6:00-6:30 and the second session will take place from 6:40-7:10. This is an event for parents only. 

Wines Attendance Email 

We are moving to an email-only system to report absences. This is happening across all schools in AAPS. If your child is going to be absent or late to school, please email wines@aaps.k12.mi.us. 

End of Day Changes

If your end of day arrangements change, please alert our office in advance. This will allow us time to alert teachers so students can be ready to leave early or we have had time to alert students of any other type of change (i.e. parent pick up instead of the bus). Please contact us before 2:30 PM. Also, please note that we are unable to retrieve students after 3:15 PM. Please call the school office at (734) 994-1973. Do not use the attendance email described above. 

Volunteering at Wines

Thank you to everyone who has registered to volunteer at Wines. As part of our school safety measures, we ask that all volunteers please fill out a quick form that registers you as a Wines volunteer and allows us to complete a background check. The form is linked below.

Volunteer Registration

Once you fill out the form you are all set as the background check is a very quick process on our end and we will contact you in the event that there is a problem or question. If you do not hear anything back, you can assume that you are cleared to volunteer. Teachers will alert you about the various volunteer opportunities we have.

Note: This is a yearly requirement so volunteers from last year must fill out the form again this year.

Library volunteers

Speaking of volunteers, we’re excited to welcome volunteers into the library starting in the next few weeks. If you would like to volunteer in the library, please complete this Library Volunteer form. If you have additional questions, please reach out to Rachel Goldberg, Wines librarian (goldbergr@aaps.k12.mi.us).

Join us in Walktober!

Students and families are encouraged to walk, bike, and scoot their way to school every Friday in October and on International Walk to School Day - Wednesday, October 4th.

Walktober Dates:

Wednesday, October 4 (International Walk to School Day)

Friday, October 6

Friday, October 20

Friday, October 27

Walktober is a great way to learn about pedestrian safety and healthy habits. Collect a sticker or stamp on the way to school at the corners of Sunset & Newport, Saunders Crescent & Cooley Street, Riverwood & Newport, or at the Wines' Baseball Field (near Upper El playground) and path from Forsythe Field.

Volunteers are needed to hand out stamps. Please SIGN UP HERE.

What if my student takes the bus?

On each of the Walktober Dates, our busses will drop students off a the Forsythe main parking lot. Dr. DeYoung will meet busses there and accompany students on a walk to Wines. 

What if my student is in AM childcare?

Dr. DeYoung will pick childcare students up and walk with them to Forsythe to meet the busses. Students will then join the walk to school. 

What if we live too far away to walk?

One way to participate is to park close to the school and walk, bike, or scoot the remainder of the way.

Walktober is sponsored by the Wines PTO. 

Lunch and Breakfast

As I’ve announced previously, lunch and breakfast are free for all students this year. A-la-carte milk is charged. With this new law, AAPS is asking that ALL families fill out a Free and Reduced Lunch application. Even if your family will not financially qualify for free or reduced lunch and even if your child(ren) will not participate in the breakfast or lunch program, this information is used for state and federal reimbursement for school meals. Below is a link to information about the application. Thank you for completing this.

Breakfast/Lunch Application. 

Thanks! 

David