Weekly Update 2/28

 Dear Wines Families, 

I hope this finds you well on this odd weather day. I went for a walk this morning at 6:00 and it was 60 degrees. It is supposed to be 30 sometime later this morning. This week’s update is fairly long as there are a lot of things happening at Wines. I hope you can take some time to read through today’s message. 

No Floor Hockey Friday

We will return next Friday for our weekly Friday morning before school floor hockey. 

Literacy Night March 14

The Wines Family Literacy Night is going to be a fun night for families to engage in a variety of literacy activities! This night will be full of engaging literacy activities for students in Young 5s thru 5th grade and will take place on Thursday, March 14 from 6:30-8:00pm. The evening will include an opportunity to hear from visiting author, Kelly Baptist. She is the author of The Electric Slide and Kai and Ready, Set, Dough among others. Books written and signed by Ms. Baptist will be available for purchase. Families will be able to participate in various activities with their student(s) throughout the evening like listening to Skyline National Honors Society students read books and playing literacy games that focus on phonics and comprehension. Families will also be able to practice other important literacy skills like fluency, writing and vocabulary in fun and engaging ways. There will be activities for all ages and we will be ending the evening with a dance party to celebrate literacy!

Rotary Club/Food Gatherers Food Drive: March 4-15

We are again participating in the annual Rotary Club/Food Gatherers Food Drive. In conjunction with this, our students will all participate in our annual PTO sponsored community service project “Lunches with Love” along with Food Gathers the week of March 11. During that week, students will pack lunches for those in need in our community. 

Next PTO Meeting: March 7

Join us for our next PTO meeting on March 7th at 7:00 in the library. There will also be a zoom option. 

Help Needed: Classroom Art Projects Coordinators for Wines Auction

The highlight of the Wines Auction is always the live portion of the auction when projects created by each classroom are auctioned off. We need parents to help organize these in the following classrooms: Middleton, Lynch, Harris, Fisher, Puente, Mosher. We have other parents who can help with ideas, etc. If you are interested or would like to learn a bit more, please contact Lauren Cunnane at lmbrooks27@gmail.com. 

Auction Save the Date!

Join the Wines community for this ADULT ONLY evening event featuring live and silent auctions, great food and good company. Saturday, April 13th at Zingerman’s Greyline in Downtown Ann Arbor. 

The auction is the PTO’s largest fundraiser of the year with proceeds funding projects that make our school exceptional including field trips, specials classrooms, teacher’s discretionary funds and Curriculum support.

We need your help with silent auction items to help keep Wines amazing! Do you have talents you’d like to donate to the community? Have connections with local businesses or vacation sites? Please email winesptoauction@gmail.com.

We are also looking for people to help with classroom art projects and donations amongst other tasks. Email Jane.Lardo@gmail.com to get involved. We are looking for volunteers for the following classrooms: Middleton, Fata, Lynch , Carlin,  Harris, Day, Fisher, Puente.

Art Night

Art Night won’t be happening until May, but we are looking for a volunteer to help coordinate this year’s event. Duties include organizing a team to hang artwork and publicity. If you are interested in helping, please contact Mr. Wyse at wyse@aaps.k12.mi.us.

Noon Hour Help Wanted (Volunteer or Paid Positions Available)

We are always looking for more help at noon hour. This is a very fun opportunity to be with kids in the lunchroom and at recess. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact our coordinator Randa Choate at choate.rj@gmail.com. If you are interested in being paid for the position, pay is $16/hour and while there are a few hoops to finalize employment, it’s a nice way to earn a few extra dollars! If you are interested in the paid position, please contact me directly. Please note that the schedule is flexible for both volunteering and the paid position. 

David

Weekly Update 2/21

 Dear Wines Families, 

I hope everyone had a nice Mid-Winter break. Of course, with this current weather, it’s more like spring break! On to this news for this short week. 

No School Next Tuesday

Next Tuesday is Election Day. There is no school. 

Next PTO Meeting: March 7

Join us for our next PTO meeting on March 7th at 7:00 in the library. There will also be a zoom option. 

Auction Save the Date!

Join the Wines community for this ADULT ONLY evening event featuring live and silent auctions, great food and good company. Saturday, April 13th at Zingerman’s Greyline in Downtown Ann Arbor. 

The auction is the PTO’s largest fundraiser of the year with proceeds funding projects that make our school exceptional including field trips, specials classrooms, teacher’s discretionary funds and Curriculum support.

We need your help with silent auction items to help keep Wines amazing! Do you have talents you’d like to donate to the community? Have connections with local businesses or vacation sites? Please email winesptoauction@gmail.com.

We are also looking for people to help with classroom art projects and donations amongst other tasks. Email Jane.Lardo@gmail.com to get involved. We are looking for volunteers for the following classrooms: Middleton, Fata, Lynch , Carlin,  Harris, Day, Fisher, Puente.

Art Night

Art Night won’t be happening until May, but we are looking for a volunteer to help coordinate this year’s event. Duties include organizing a team to hang artwork and publicity. If you are interested in helping, please contact Mr. Wyse at wyse@aaps.k12.mi.us.

Noon Hour Help Wanted (Volunteer or Paid Positions Available)

We are always looking for more help at noon hour. This is a very fun opportunity to be with kids in the lunchroom and at recess. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact our coordinator Randa Choate at choate.rj@gmail.com. If you are interested in being paid for the position, pay is $16/hour and while there are a few hoops to finalize employment, it’s a nice way to earn a few extra dollars! If you are interested in the paid position, please contact me directly. Please note that the schedule is flexible for both volunteering and the paid position. 

David

Weekly Update 2/14

Dear Wines Families, 

Before I get into today’s news, I want to extend some well-deserved thanks and recognition. First, I want to thank Robbie Weeks who organized the Wines Wahoo last Friday evening. If it was your first time the Wahoo, you learned quickly what a big event it is. And if you are like me and you’ve been to many Wahoo’s, I’m sure you noticed that it was put together flawlessly. Everything was about as perfect as you could ask for! And thanks to the many parent volunteers who supported Robbie and the Wahoo. 

Next, I want to thank our community for participating in NAAPID on Monday. We had nearly 300 adults sign in for the day which is incredible. We always feel blessed to have such wonderful parent support at Wines and Parent Involvement Day is a way for us to extend our thanks to all of you. I also want to make sure I publicly thank the Wines staff for Monday. While we enjoy the event and see it as an important part of our school year, it is not easy on teachers and staff to have 300 additional adults in the school and it is, perhaps, the longest day of the year for our staff. But our incredible staff rose to the occasion as always and it was because of them that the day was such a positive event. 

No School Friday, Monday, and Tuesday

Our Mid Winter Break starts after school on Thursday and we will be off on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. We'll see everyone back on Wednesday, February 21st. 

Auction Save the Date!

Join the Wines community for this ADULT ONLY evening event featuring live and silent auctions, great food and good company. Saturday, April 13th at Zingerman’s Greyline in Downtown Ann Arbor. 

The auction is the PTO’s largest fundraiser of the year with proceeds funding projects that make our school exceptional including field trips, specials classrooms, teacher’s discretionary funds and Curriculum support.

We need your help with silent auction items to help keep Wines amazing! Do you have talents you’d like to donate to the community? Have connections with local businesses or vacation sites? Please email winesptoauction@gmail.com.

We are also looking for people to help with classroom art projects and donations amongst other tasks. Email Jane.Lardo@gmail.com to get involved.

 to get involved.

Noon Hour Help Wanted (Volunteer or Paid Positions Available)

We are always looking for more help at noon hour. This is a very fun opportunity to be with kids in the lunchroom and at recess. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact our coordinator Randa Choate at choate.rj@gmail.com. If you are interested in being paid for the position, pay is $16/hour and while there are a few hoops to finalize employment, it’s a nice way to earn a few extra dollars! If you are interested in the paid position, please contact me directly. Please note that the schedule is flexible for both volunteering and the paid position. 

David

Weekly Update 2/7

Dear Wines Families, 

This spring like weather is certainly a bit odd. In the spring, our playground gets very muddy. Unfortunately, it looks a lot like March out there right now. It is important that kids bring boots to school—even when it is 50 degrees! I fear that this is just a preview of March and we’ll be muddy all over again come spring. 

Wines Wahoo Friday. We DESPERATELY Need Help

The Wines Wahoo Friday is a highlight for our students and is one of the great traditions at Wines. In order for the event to be a success we need volunteers. There are many spots open. Please click on the link below to sign up. 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C44AEAA22A2F8CE9-46996657-wines

The Wahoo takes place at Forsythe Middle School from 6-8pm. Join your friends for a live DJ, pizza, open gym, crafts, a silent disco and more. This is not a drop off event and parents need to accompany students (certainly parents can be responsible for a small group of friends). Suggested $5 donation per family at the door with pizza, drink, and snack tickets available for purchase. THIS WILL BE A CASH ONLY EVENT. 

Parent Involvement Day Feb. 12

We look forward to hosting parents on Monday for our annual Parent Involvement Day in honor of National African American Parent Involvement Day. If you are planning on coming, we do ask that you fill out an RSVP so we can have a sense of how many people to expect. Most importantly, we’d like to know how many adults will be eating lunch with us so we can be sure to order enough food. Below is a link to the RSVP. RSVP’s are due tomorrow. Link below.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9VPugeNCWz2syXAOwDawEReAyOgJ6VzXA3HMuoUAwuLY20w/viewform?usp=sf_link

Parent Seminars During Parent Involvement Day

We are excited to announce that we have added two informational sessions for parents at Parent Involvement Day next week. Below are descriptions of the two parent sessions available on Monday. Note, the sessions take place both in the morning and afternoon to try to accommodate as many parents as possible.

Make the Most out of Reading at Home

You know that reading with your student is important and your time is valuable, so how can you make the most out of reading with your student? Session topics will include choosing books for reading and activities to promote accurate word reading and comprehension. Resources and strategies to use at home will be shared to support this time together.  

The workshop will be presented by Charity Lemke, Wines Reading Intervention Teacher and Building Literacy Coach along with Eleni Kastanis, Wines English Language Learner Teacher.

Sessions will run at 10:30 and again at 1:30 in Room 107. 

Be Smart Firearm Safety

Join parents, caregivers and other concerned adults to learn about the important reasons for safe gun storage in homes and vehicles to protect our children, teens, and at-risk individuals. Even if you are not a firearm owning family, there are steps you can take to protect children from unsecured firearms. This presentation supports the 2nd Amendment & is designed for ADULTS only. Plan for a 30 minute presentation with Q&A after.

Presented by Wines parent, Celeste Kanpurwala

Sessions will run at 10:30 and again at 1:30 in the FLEX Room in the Wines Modular Building 

Wines Auction Save the Date!

Join the Wines community for this ADULT ONLY evening event featuring live and silent auctions, great food and good company. Saturday, April 13th at Zingerman’s Greyline in Downtown Ann Arbor. 

Want to help plan this fun night out?  We are looking for people to help with classroom art projects, donations and videography amongst other tasks.  Email Jane.Lardo@gmail.com to get involved.

Noon Hour Help Wanted (Volunteer or Paid Positions Available)

We are always looking for more help at noon hour. This is a very fun opportunity to be with kids in the lunchroom and at recess. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact our coordinator Randa Choate at choate.rj@gmail.com. If you are interested in being paid for the position, pay is $16/hour and while there are a few hoops to finalize employment, it’s a nice way to earn a few extra dollars! If you are interested in the paid position, please contact me directly. Please note that the schedule is flexible for both volunteering and the paid position. 

David