Weekly Update 4/30

 Dear Wines Families, 

As we end the month of April today and move into our final weeks of the school year, we have lots of news and I hope you can take some time to read through today’s message and those during the rest of the year. Thanks in advance!

PTO Officer Elections Will Take Place on May 14th

Want to help make Wines even better? Are you interested in taking on a leadership role within the PTO next year? Join the PTO Board! 

Currently, there is an open spot for next year's PTO President.  The role can also be co-chaired - so find a friend who could serve in the role with you!  Commitment is on average 1-3 hours per week.  

We are also looking for 1-2 people who are interested in shadowing the Treasurers to learn the position before the current treasurers' kids complete 5th grade next year.  Commitment is on average 1-2 hours per week.

Members-at-Large are also a great way to be more involved in the decision making and taking on tasks throughout the year.  Commitment is <1 hour per week.

If you would like to learn more, please contact Jaimie Sussman, PTO Vice President @ winesptovicepresident@gmail.com

Staff Appreciation Week

Teacher and Staff Appreciation week starts next week! The PTO has lots of treats planned for our amazing staff and we would love for you to help us! 

On Sunday, May 4 we will gather at Wines to sidewalk chalk the walkways! We would love if you could come help draw pictures and write messages to greet our staff when they walk in! This will be canceled if it is rainy. Join us at Wines at 4pm on Sunday! 

On Monday, May 5 we would love for students to bring their teachers a thank you note or drawing. This will set the week of to a great start! 

Wines ROAR May 30th!

It’s hard to believe it's almost the end of the school year! Come join us for our annual end-of-the-year celebration, the Wines ROAR Friday, May 31st, 5-8pm! The event includes food, games, raffle, prizes, musical cakes, and more! Details to follow in ROAR specific emails on Mondays leading up to the event. Like any event, our community’s contribution helps make it a success! Consider helping out by: 

● Volunteering: We need a dedicated lead for the musical Cakes Game. To learn more and jump in to help with the day of coordination of Musical Cakes- Contact Sarah Lesch at: sarahrhenry@gmail.com 

● Donating to the WISH LIST! Sign up to donate popular items (or cash) for the raffle. (Other ways to contribute to the Raffle coming in Monday’s email). 

● Baking & Decorating a baked cake (or cupcakes!) for our Musical Cakes game and contest.  Students will bring in their decorated cakes on the day of the ROAR and teachers will vote and judge. The theme this year is "Destinations, students can decorate their cake to show a destination they love or would love to go to. The decorated cakes will be later used as prizes for the Musical Cakes game at the ROAR. We also welcome donated baked goods for the Musical Cakes game.

We look forward to seeing you there to celebrate a great end to the school year! 

Decorate Your Bike Station, Friday, May 2nd, 8:00 a.m.

Dust off your wheels and ride to school to kick off the biking season. On Friday, May 2nd we wil have a bike-decorating station with supplies and inspiration to add style to your ride. We’ll also have an air pump and some tools to help you get rolling. 

Curious about family cycling? Parents can stay after drop off for coffee, donuts, and conversation about family biking. Come if you’re curious to start family biking or share knowledge if you’re already an experienced biking family.  

Disability Awareness Workshop: Friday and Monday

We could still use a few more volunteers for our 5th grade Disability Awareness Workshop on Friday and the 4th grade workshop on Monday. You do not need to be a 4th or 5th grade parent. Sign up at: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4EAEAC2EA7F85-56184120-disability#/

No School Tuesday, May 6

There is no school next Tuesday.

David

PTO THRIFT FLYER

Weekly Update 4/9

 Dear Wines Families, 

Before we get into the news for the week, I want to extend a giant thank you to the Wines community for the incredible “Parents Night Out” and Wines Auction last Friday evening. It was so great to see so many parents at the event and it was a fantastic time. Special thanks to Jane Lardo who once again organized an amazing event for our school. Jane has spearheaded the Auction for a number of years and she really out did herself this time (and that’s saying a lot!). There are lots of others who need thanking and I fear I will miss someone and I apologize in advance for those I will miss. But big thanks to PTO President Kate Galvin who was working all night long to make sure everything went perfectly. Kate’s husband Luke has been working behind the scenes for weeks and on Friday evening, Luke was all over the place working to make the event so special. Thank you to Marti Clark and Lori Shirilla for all your help before, during, and after the event. Thanks to Jaimie Sussman who is such a huge supporter of the Auction and has been part of the planning for many years. Thanks to Lauren Cunnane for all the organization of the student art projects and your help with the live auction. Thanks to Dan Papajcik and Alex Tokatlian for again being our live auctioneers. Thanks to all of our parents who helped with classroom art projects, especially Angie Wolney who once again helped make numerous incredible projects. I know there were also many parents who helped with set up, clean up, bead sales, 50/50 raffle ticket sales, and so much more. We could not have done it without you. And another final thanks to everyone who was able to make it out that evening. We really hope you enjoyed yourselves. 

Join us next week for our second to last PTO meeting of the school year.  We will have special guests from the Forsythe PTO to inform current and future Forsythe parents about ways to get involved at Forsythe. PLUS! We will have architects and design experts from the AAPS Capital Program team to talk about the new Wines!

Parent Input for Class Placement 2025-2026

With just over 40 days left in this school year (can you believe it?!), we are actively preparing for the fall of 2025 while keeping our eyes on finishing this year strong. Over the coming days and weeks, the staff and I will be making initial class placements for the 2025-2026 school year. If you are interested in providing information about your child that you believe will be useful as we make our decisions, below is a link to an optional survey. Please be reminded that we do not take any requests for a child to be assigned or not be assigned to a specific teacher’s classroom. Such requests will be deleted from our responses. However, we do value your input and this is an opportunity for you to share. If you are interested, please fill out the form below. We are asking that you respond by April 18. 

https://forms.gle/AXygEZjweLqmyrxV9

Disability Awareness Workshop

On Friday, May 2nd our 5th graders will participate in the Disability Awareness Workshop that we organize in conjunction with the Washtenaw County Disability Network. This is a wonderful opportunity that traditionally was part of the 4th grade experience. The program did not run last year, but it is back this year and we are able to offer it to both 4th and 5th graders and we will be able to have all 4th graders participate each year moving forward. This is a big event and we need lots of volunteers. You do not need to be a 4th or 5th grade family to volunteer! Below is a link to a volunteer sign up form. 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4EAEAC2EA7F85-56184120-disability#/

Wines Equity Team Interest Survey

The Wines Equity Committee is a group of staff and parents that meet monthly to further our school's efforts to create an inclusive and welcoming school community. Our projects have included, but are not limited to: 

• creating the annual Student Belonging Survey

• developing annual school-wide programming to celebrate Dr. King's life and legacy (school-wide read aloud, activities, and assembly)

• leading teacher workshops on identity-related topics

At our annual NAAPID celebration, parents were given the opportunity to fill out a survey regarding your interest in serving on or otherwise contributing to our Equity Team here at school. If you expressed interest, we will be in touch with you very soon about next steps. If you were not able to fill out the survey,  I’ve linked it below. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ytqQL4zCpcWkcaXZiM94jldG_oTJKx-sP6V1RPJG-2o/edit

Advertising in our Take-Home Folders Next Fall

If you are interested in having your business advertise in our school folders next year, our vendor offers a 33% discount for any business that is affiliated with our school. Parents can also do a personal sponsorship for $75. If you are interested or have any questions about the program, please contact Bob Lundwall at 586-405-1144 or email Bob at lundwallbob@gmail.com.

David

Weekly Update 4/2

Dear Wines Families, 

As I write this, we are in the middle of some terrible “spring” weather! My sons are hockey players and we spend a lot of time in hockey rinks. At this time of year, they play lacrosse. Trish and I always say during the spring lacrosse season that we REALLY miss the cold ice rinks—no rain, no wind, no snow! 

Wines Parents Night Out and Auction!

Join us at Circ in downtown Ann Arbor April 4th from 6-10PM!  This is a fantastic opportunity to connect with parents and teachers outside of school in a low key, casual, adult-only environment and support our school!

Tickets are available now! $40/person or consider purchasing a VIP sponsorship at $100 for 2 people.  Learn more at ptowines.org.

Please note: We are having some technical issues with Square, Tickets will not sell out, please try to reload the page if having any trouble.

Volunteer: We need your help to make the event great. Please consider volunteering and sign up here.

We have some amazing art projects created by each classroom that will be part of the Live Auction.  You must be present to bid on the Live Auction, so be sure to get your tickets! A link to view the projects was in today's email.

Silent Auction will open this Thursday (you do not need to be present to win).

MSTEP Testing Information for 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Families

MSTEP testing begins next week for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Please click HERE for important information about MSTEP. 

Friday is National School Librarian Day!

Our amazing School Librarian, Rachel Goldberg helps to make Wines an inclusive, educational, and fun place for our kids to be. If you are able to, please consider showing your appreciation on Friday, April 4th - National school Librarian Day - for Ms. Goldberg by wishing her a happy appreciation day, sending a card or flower, or having your kid read an extra book that day!

Reminder: Upcoming Construction on Miller

As you have likely noticed, construction has begun on Miller. You may have also noticed that the intersection of Miller and Newport is still open. I contacted the city yesterday and they indicated that later this month, that intersection will close. I do not know when this will take place. So please keep in mind the various options to avoid that intersection including exiting Wines north on Newport or arriving to Wines from the north. Or, using Pinetree/Westport on the south end of Newport to arrive from Miller or exit to Miller. 

David