Weekly Blog 10/11

Dear Wines Families,

We are in the middle of a great Spirit Week here at Wines! All of this spirit leads into our Run-a-Thon on Friday. We are looking forward to another great event. Our Run-a-Thon is not only a fun day for our kids, it is also one of our primary fundraisers each year. We hope that every Wines student helps collect pledges. A paper pledge form came home last week and pledges can be easily made online. Online pledges can be made at https://squareup.com/market/wines-elementary-school-pto/item/run-a-thon-donation-1

If you are sending the link to friends and family, be sure to tell them your child’s teacher.

Run-a-Thon Volunteers still Needed

We are still in need of volunteers for the Run-a-Thon Friday morning. If you can help out, please go to http://signup.com/go/GcsqHvF.

Science and Builders Fair Nov. 9

All students at Wines are welcome to showcase their creativity in the “Science and Builders Fair” on Thursday November 9th from 7pm to 8:30 pm at the school. Registration is simple and is required to ensure that display space is adequate. 

The website can be accessed from a mobile device and there is a navigation menu at the top left that allows you to view all of the details about the fair, including pictures and links to project ideas, volunteer sign up and of course…registration (which only requires- name, grade and if you are doing a science or builder project.) Please register by November 3rd.

http://winesscienceandbuilders.weebly.com/

Spirit Wear Sale Coming

Please look for a link in next week’s Wednesday email to order Wines Spirit Wear.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Our parent teacher conferences will be starting soon. If you have not signed up for a conference, please contact your child’s teacher ASAP. As always, we are looking to meet with 100% of our families to discuss student progress and your child’s Personalized Learning Plan for the year.

Please Collect your Boxtops!

It's time for a Boxtops for Education contest!  Collect Boxtops from your favorite products and send them in to the school marked with your teacher's name.  You can use a ziplock or attach them to a collection sheet.  The winning classes will get a special treat during the last week of school!

Girl Scouts Mom 2 Mom Sale

The Girl Scouts are holding a Mom 2 Mom Sales Plus Expo this Saturday, October 14 9am-3pm at the GS Regional Center 444 James L. Hart Pkwy Ypsilanti. Touch a Truck, Creature Conservancy, games, supervised child care & more! For table rental or more info contact rebeccamariea@yahool.com.

Thanks!

David

Weekly Blog 10/4

Dear Wines Families,

Thanks to everyone who participated in International Walk to School Day today. We had a great turnout. As a reminder, we will walk each Friday beginning this week for the month of October. Here is the news for this week:

Wines Times

The monthly Wines Times newsletter is ready. Please click on the link below for all of this month’s news from our PTO.

http://winespto.org/docs/WTOct2017.pdf

Run-a-Thon is next Friday!!

Our annual Run-a-Thon is next Friday morning. In your child’s Wednesday Folder today, you will find the paper copy of the pledge forms. Pledges can also be made online at https://squareup.com/market/wines-elementary-school-pto/item/run-a-thon-donation-1. Please share the online pledge form for out of town friends and family! The Run-a-Thon is one of them most exciting days of the year and is also one of our few main fundraisers. We hope everyone can participate in collecting pledges.

Spirit Days

The next seven school days will be special spirit days. Tomorrow, Thursday, we will kick off our Run-a-Thon with a pep rally at the end of the day. We are asking any student who has a Run-a-Thon t-shirt from previous years to wear their shirt on Thursday. On Friday, we will celebrate the Michigan/MSU rivalry and if kids are fans of either team, we want them to show their team pride (I hope the maize and blue is more prevalent!).

Next week we will have our annual Spirit Week as we prepare for Run-a-Thon. The days are:

Monday: Crazy Hair Day

Tuesday: Pajama Day

Wednesday: Wacky Sock Day

Thursday: Favorite Team Day

Friday: Run-a-Thon (all students receive a t-shirt and classrooms will have unique themes).

Walk to School

We had a great first day of Walktober today. We will now walk each Friday this month.

That’s all for this week!

David

Weekly Blog 9/26

Dear Wines Families,

This week’s note is going out a day early due to the time sensitiveness of a couple items.

PTO Meeting Tonight

Our first PTO meeting of the year is tonight. Our “New Parent Orientation” and general meeting begins at 6:00 PM followed by the Executive Board meeting at 7:00. Childcare will be available.

Early Release Tomorrow

Tomorrow is our first Early Release day of the year. School will dismiss at 1:29 PM. There is no PM childcare tomorrow.

Run-a-Thon Volunteers

Our first major event of the year is just over two weeks away. Our annual Run-a-Thon is Friday, Oct. 13^th. This is a great event to be a volunteer. If you are interested in volunteering (and we need you!!) please go to http://signup.com/go/GcsqHvF

Picture Day, Tuesday Oct. 3^rd

Our annual Picture Day is next Tuesday. Paper order forms were sent home last week and online ordering is very easy. To order online, go to:

www.inter-state.com/order and our unique school code is 19156CF.

Walktober is Coming!

With October almost here (not that it feels like it!), our annual Walktober tradition continues. We will encourage kids to walk to school each Friday in October and we will kick of the celebration next week on Wednesday as we celebrate International Walk to School Day. We will again have the school busses drop off at the south Forsythe lot and I will meet the kids there along with morning care students so everyone can participate.

Reminder: Girl Scout Meeting Tomorrow

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the Wines Girl Scout information meeting in the multi-purpose room at 6:30. Bring your family for information on Girl Scouts at Wines (Daisies K-1, Brownies 2-3 & Juniors 4-5), eat some GS cookies, play with other Girl Scouts & learn about what we do!

If you can't make it, but want more information contact Michelle Chien at mknezek@hotmail.com or 248-250-2512.

That’s all for this week. Thanks!

David

Weekly Blog 9/20

Dear Wines Families.

Now that we are into our third week of school, I have a number of announcements today.  I try not to have my weekly message be quite so long, but there is a lot to talk about today!

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Tuesday, Sept. 26^th. PTO Meeting. 6:00 New Family Orientation and General Meeting. 7:00 Executive Board Meeting. Free childcare is provided at all PTO meetings.

 • Wednesday, Sept. 27^th: Early Release Day. Dismissal at 1:29. Students will eat lunch at school. There is no PM childcare.

• Tuesday, Oct. 3^rd. Picture Day. Information is coming home today in the Wednesday Folder. You can order online at inter-state.com/order. The unique order code for Wines Elementary School is 19156CF.

General Announcements

Wednesday Folder Items:

In your child’s folder today, you will see a card with their student number. This number is not used a lot at the elementary level, but as kids enter middle school, the parent portal for PowerSchool is used more often and the number is needed for that. In addition, the student number is necessary if you choose to pay online for lunch at www.mypaymentsplus.com.

4^th and 5^th grade parents, the state MSTEP parent report will be in your child’s folder today as well.

Morning drop off:

We’ve noticed a large number of students who are dropped off at school very early in the morning. Please note that school does not start until 8:53 and we do not have supervision until 8:45. Please do not drop students off before this time.  

Directory:

Robin is putting the finishing touches on the annual family directory. If you chose not to be included in the directory on your enrollment application, your information will not be included. Included information will be parent cell phone, email, and home phone (if you have a land line!). If you chose not to be included when you registered, but now wish to be included or if you would not like to be included and didn’t indicate that during online enrollment, please contact Robin at moorero@aaps.k12.mi.us. Please note, that we cannot make special requests to have or not have certain numbers included or not.

Friday Floor Hockey is Back!

We are starting floor hockey early this year.  We will start THIS FRIDAY at 8:15 AM. We will play through Thanksgiving and then take a break until after winter break when we will re-start. Parents are welcome to play!

Walktober is coming!

It's nearly October which means Walktober is going to be starting very soon.  Every Friday (rain or shine) during the month of October we encourage your child to walk or bike to school. Walktober will actually kick off on Wednesday, Oct. 4^th in celebration of International Walk to School Day and then follow each Friday during October. We will have a few check in point's for your child to have their hand stamped to show they have taken part - more details to follow.

Great Ideas Grants

Do you have a great idea? The Great ideas Grant program is an opportunity for Wines students, parents, and staff to turn a great idea into a funded program to benefit the Wines community! The grant approval committee meets twice a year to vote on applications. Submissions are now accepted online only.  The first deadline is November 1st.

The links for the Adult and Child application can be found on the Wines PTO website: www.winespto.org Don’t let a great idea go to waste! Submit now! Submit several! Contact: Sarah Ball – sjcball@yahoo.com

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts

Cub Scout Pack 78 Kick Off Meeting - Wednesday, Sept 20 (tonight!)

Interested in what Cub Scouts is about? Want to learn more? Want to have your son hang out and have fun with other boys in a positive environment? Come and check out Cub Scout Pack 78 tonight, September 20 at 7pm for our kick-off meeting. We will be meeting in the Wines cafeteria. Come check out the fun! Questions? You can email Seth Guikema, the pack committee chair, at seth.guikema@gmail.com.

Girl Scout Information Night Wednesday, Sept. 27^th at 6:30 PM in the cafeteria.  All grades K-5.

Wines Beautification!

Volunteers Needed for Wines Beautification on Saturday, Sept. 23 from 12-2 pm.

Please contact Mary Nickson (mnickson@umich.edu) if you can help anytime on Saturday form 12-2 p.m. with painting the portables ramp and stairways and cleaning out and putting down bags of mulch in the island flower bed between Wines and Forsythe. Thank you!

Thanks, 

David

Weekly Blog 9/6

Dear Wines Families, 

Welcome to the my first blog of the year. If you are new to Wines, please expect an email from me each week on Wednesday and this blog will include the same information. There will be announcements and reminders from me as well as various information from our PTO. 

The first day of school was a great one! The kids quickly got acclimated to the new school year and by mid morning, it looked like we had been in school for weeks! Ask your child about the furniture in the classroom. Each of our classrooms has brand new furniture that allows for lots of flexibility and choice in seating. I watched a number of classes work with their teacher to rearrange the furniture. It was exciting to see. 

Back to School Picnic Thursday 6:30 PM.

Join us on the back playground for this annual gathering. Bring a blanket and food/drink for your family. Get to meet new friends and reconnect with old ones. 

Curriculum Night Sept. 12

Our annual Curriculum Night is next Tuesday, Sept. 12th from 6:30-8:00. Parents are welcomed in your child's classroom beginning at 6:30. At 7:00, I will speak to all parents in the Multi-Purpose Room. At 7:30, teachers will repeat their presentations in their classrooms for parents who were not able to attend at 6:30. Please note that this is not an event for students. 

Transportation

I realize that there has been some frustration yesterday and today with bus service. I have been speaking with Durham Transportation all morning and we are expecting things to be much improved moving forward. Bus times have been reposted to the AAPS website. Please go to https://www.a2schools.org/Page/10472 to review AM and PM routes. I apologize that things have not gone smoothly thus far. 

Wednesday Folder

Your child will come home today with their red Wednesday Folder (a few classes were able to send them home yesterday). There is lots of back to school information in there including the year-long PTO calendar. Please expect this folder to come home each Wednesday. While most of what we do is digital, we do still send home some information on paper.

That's all for now. As always, don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. 

David

IMPORTANT DATES

Dear Wines Families,
Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year. We are busy getting ready for the start of another great year together. Next week I will be sending a longer welcome message but I wanted to make sure everyone had a few important dates on your calendars.

• New Family Orientation. Wednesday, August 23rd 6:00 PM. If you are new to Wines, please try to attend this event. I will go over a number of items that I hope will help make your transition to Wines easy! You'll get a chance to learn about how the day to day operations work at our school as well as learn about the various events we host throughout the year.

• 1st-5th Grade Meet the Teacher. Tuesday, August 29th at 3:00 PM. Meet us on the back playground for popsicles and and meet your new teacher and classmates. If you can't make the event, you will receive an email later that day with teacher placement information.

• Kindergarten Meet the Teacher. Tuesday, August 29th at 6:00 PM. We will host our kindergarten kids and families at 6:00 on the 29th. Come have a popsicle and spend a little bit of time in your kindergarten classroom. We will begin on the back playground for popsicles and then the teachers will take their classes into the classrooms. Parents, we will start the in-class portion of the event with just the kids. After a few minutes, we will invite parents to come in as well.

• First Day of School: Tuesday, September 5th. Please note our new school hours 8:56-3:59 (first bell at 8:53).

• Curriculum Night: Tuesday, Sept. 12th 6:30-8:00.

As I said, I will send a longer welcome back message next week. I look forward to seeing everyone again and meeting our many new families.
Best,
David