Tag Archives: Wines Elementary School

Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop donates over $50K to PTOs, clubs, field trips and more

Posted on by
Reply
PTO Thrift shopper

The Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop is located at 2280 S. Industrial Highway. The shop sells furniture, clothing, books, home goods, electronics, craft supplies and more.

By Tara Cavanaugh 

The Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop’s mission is to support the schools. And three times each year, its support comes in the form of a small but valuable slip of paper: a check.

On Jan. 29 the shop distributed $50,020 total between all 33 of the Ann Arbor Public Schools (see comprehensive list below). The money supports enrichment opportunities for students in the form of field trips, sports clubs, academic supplies, camps and plenty more.

“It’s exciting to celebrate a great year in 2012 and immediately start another with this kind of vigorous funding,” said Ann Farnham, the shop’s executive director. ”What a couple of high notes for our shop and for our AAPS community.” Continue reading →

Kindergarten Round-Ups begin in February

Posted on by
Reply
Megan Franzen's kindergarten class at Bach Elementary.

Megan Franzen’s kindergarten class at Bach Elementary.

Will you have a kindergartener in the Ann Arbor Public Schools in the 2013-2014 school year? Then make sure to get to the information sessions, called Kindergarten Round-Ups, that start in just a few weeks. The sessions are listed alphabetically below by school. All kindergarten classes are full-day.

If you have questions about which school your child should attend, please call 994-2200 or go to the district’s web site and click on the “Especially for Parents” link to log in your street name to find out your child’s elementary school.

Some schools have planned activities for students and/or optional child care for Kindergarten Round-Ups. Please contact the individual schools for more details. Continue reading →

Learning centers meet kindergarteners’ individual learning needs

Posted on by
3

By Tara Cavanaugh

Peek inside any kindergarten classroom in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and you’ll likely see small groups of students working intensely at different tables. Whether they’re arranging letters or patterns of blocks, the 5-year-olds are clearly focused on their learning.

It’s called “center time,” and due to its wide variety of benefits, it’s one of the most popular learning strategies in kindergarten. Continue reading →

Blooming AAPS gardens buzz with life

Posted on by
4


By Tara Cavanaugh

It’s smack in the middle of summer, in the middle of July, and our schools are still under a scalding sun. Playgrounds stand empty. Buildings are dormant. The bells haven’t rung for weeks.

But if you stop to really listen, you’ll hear gardens at the Ann Arbor Public Schools buzzing with life.  Continue reading →

AAPS donates school supplies to needy communities in Philippines

Posted on by
1

Volunteers organize and pack school supplies Friday morning.

By Tara Cavanaugh

Back in March, Logan Elementary school was commended by Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje for donating more than 5,000 books to the Philippines as part of its March Reading Month activities.

The First Presbyterian Church has gathered those books and are preparing them for shipping –– along with thousands of leftover school supplies from the Ann Arbor Public Schools.  Continue reading →

AAPS celebrates Bike to School Day

Posted on by
Reply

By Tara Cavanaugh

A parade of bike riders rolled in to Wines Elementary Wednesday morning. Tikes on tiny bikes with training wheels. Kids in bike buggies, enjoying the ride. Tandem bikes. Junior-sized mountain bikes. Grown-up sized bikes ridden by moms and dads.

The unusually high bike traffic was due to Bike to School Day, celebrated nationally for the first time this year on May 9. The event is sponsored by the National Center for Safe Routes to School, which also organizes Walk to School Day in October. Continue reading →

Carpenter Elementary blends writing and science in school club

Posted on by

Leslie Science and Nature Center is sponsor, partner

Related story below: Wolf Family Foundation and the LSNC teams with 3 Ann Arbor schools each year on student-driven projects

By Casey Hans
AAPSNews Service

Take one measure of science and mix well with writing. Add a hands-on activity and you have a class full of after-school fun.

It’s all part of the Leslie Science and Nature Center After-School Writing Club at Carpenter Elementary School, where students are excited about learning, thanks to a partnership with the center. Up to 20 students participate in the club, which brings students in grades three to five together once each week.

Carpenter after-school club

Students write about their science experience in the Carpenter After-School Writing Club, sponsored by the Leslie Science and Nature Center.

“I enjoy this so much – I just love my kids,” said Lauren LaRocca who coordinates the club with Jessie Maxwell. Both are program coordinators for the Leslie Center.

Maxwell said the program has been well received. “It increases their aptitude for science, which is one of their long-term goals,” she said.

This is the club’s fourth year at Carpenter and Principal Ron Collins said students are invited to participate in the fall through recommendations from teachers who think students will benefit from the writing exercises and science units. Many of the projects blend with the school’s curriculum units.

“This enables us to attack science and writing at the same time,” Collins said. “It gives them an area of interest that they want to write about. A lot of it carries on afterward.”

Collins said his school first got involved with the Leslie Science and Nature Center after experiencing programs at the school funded through the Wolf Family Foundation. These included planting a wildflower garden in front of the building and doing water sampling.

At one recent after-school club session, students were pretending to be human versions of water droplets as they moved from one form of water to another through stations set up in the classroom: rain, clouds, river, glaciers, oceans or lakes, soil, groundwater and plants. Students then had an assignment to write about their experience and shared their findings with classmates.

Part of the lesson included water evaporating into the clouds and how it comes back to Earth. “ … And then the clouds picked me up again and I went into the ocean,” explained one student in his narrative.

Other Ann Arbor schools also partner with the LSNC in a variety of ways. At Northside Elementary, the center helps with a weekly writing program and there is a weekly science program at Pittsfield Elementary. At Wines Elementary, there is an after-school geo-caching club and Burns Park Elementary partners with the center for a Discover Nature Night each April, where students enjoy hands-on activities and live animal presentations.

Family foundation and LSNC teams with 3 elementaries on student-driven projects

Carpenter Elementary is one of three schools in the district that is touched each year by the Wolf Family Foundation through the Leslie Science and Nature Center’s in-school program for students in grades 3-5. Northside and King also benefit from the program thanks to a substantial grant that the family funds each year.

river sampling

Ann Arbor students conduct river sampling as part of the Wolf Family Foundation-funded projects in 2008 through a partnership with the Leslie Science and Nature Center.

The foundation is based in Ohio, but family members are encouraged to do community service wherever they live – and grants are awarded based on that service. They fund projects all over the world.

In Ann Arbor, parent and retired physical education teacher Jody Linn first became involved with the Leslie Center as a liaison for the Ann Arbor Public Schools Community Education and Recreation Department. Her interest carried over to service on the Leslie Center board, where she subsequently saw the benefit of having the center partner with the school district.

“I thought about my passion – and that’s kids,” said Linn, about why she got involved and proposed the programs for the Leslie Center. “I wanted to find a way to create an ‘aha’ moment. I like the Leslie Science and Nature Center because it’s a hands-on learning experience. You involve the teachers, build it into the curriculum and make it interdisciplinary.”

Linn said she is pleased to see the center creating a bond with students and teachers and believes the program has raised environmental awareness and built an interest in science.

The programs started with a $5,000 grant, which has expanded to about $10,000 each year. Money is funneled through the Leslie Center and benefits Ann Arbor students directly.

Each year, participating students do a culminating activity that they design as part of the Wolf Family Foundation-funded program. The program has funded such activities as river testing, analyzing the health of rivers and creating rain gardens, among others.

Carpenter native garden

Carpenter Elementary School students work on a native plant garden as part of the Wolf Family Foundation-funded 2009 projects through a partnership with the Leslie Science and Nature Center. (Photos courtesy, The Leslie Science and Nature Center)

Some of the most recent projects include: designing reusable water bottles and pins to promote water conservation at Carpenter, an annual Earth Day celebration at King Elementary and a river cleanup day at Northside Elementary. In previous years, Northside made videos for the Millers Creek Film Festival and created books for their reading buddies and Carpenter created “Save our River” T-shirts and planted a native plant garden outside of the school.

“Students get the interactive experience for three years in a row,” said Amanda Lodge, education director for the Leslie center who coordinates the programs with Linn. “It builds these connections with their schools.”

The program currently touches 40 classrooms and between 500-600 students each year, and most of those students are involved with the program over multiple years.

Linn said she is happy to continue recommending the program each year, and is always looking for ways to work with the LSNC staff to make them better. “We’re reviewing the program. How do we pay it forward?” she said. “How do we reach out beyond where we are now?”

School Bells: Test named new Pioneer head football coach

Posted on by

For more news and achievements in the district, see “This Week in the Ann Arbor Public Schools” from the superintendent.

Paul Test has been named the new head varsity football coach at Pioneer High School.

Test has served the past year as defensive coordinator at Skyline High School and coached in the Huron High School program for eight years. He was with the Pioneer program in the 1990s, when he served as head football coach.

He is also employed by the district, teaching physical education at Thurston Elementary School.

“Paul Test can best be described as a man of character and quality,” said Pioneer Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Lorin Cartwright. “He knows how to build relationships with students and their families.  I know the players are excited to have Paul leading the program and are ready to give their all for football.

“It should be exciting to see the program develop over the next few months.”

Community High wins state mock trial tourney

On Saturday, March 26, Community High School’s Mock Trial Team A won the Michigan High School Mock Trial Tournament state championship for the second year in a row. The team will now represent the state of Michigan at the National High School Mock Trial Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona from May 5-8.

The top 10 teams from throughout the state vied for the title at the Veterans’ Memorial Courthouse in Lansing, Michigan.  Originally, approximately 60 teams competed in eastern and western regional competitions. The CHS team defeated teams from Grand Rapids, Capac, Detroit and Kalamazoo to win the title.

Team members are:  Shadi Ahmadmehrabi, Cooper DePriest, Michelle Grifka, Michael Savage, Tressa Stapleton, Eli Sugerman, Elise Wander and Garrett Wood. Coaches are  Cheryl Grace, Billie Ochberg, Griffith Dick, Robert West and Dan Dormer.

Read The Communicator article about the win here.

Wines parent the winner of AAPSNews drawing from Nicola’s Books

Elizabeth Hetrick of Ann Arbor is the winner of the first semester gift drawing among new e-mail subscribers to the AAPSNews.

She has won a $50 gift certificate to Nicola’s Books (www.nicolasbooks.com). Hetrick has a daughter in kindergarten at Wines Elementary School.

Nicola’s has donated the gift certificate as one of the district’s business partners. The bookstore is located in the Westgate Shopping Center at the corner of Jackson and Maple roads in Ann Arbor.

The AAPSNews will have a similar drawing at the end of second semester 2010-11 among new AAPSNews e-mail subscribers. Log onto http://news.a2schools.org and click on the “subscribe” button to sign up.

Huron diving coach earns honors

Brad Huttenga, the men’s swim and dive team coach and an English teacher at Huron High School has been named as the Division 1 Diving Coach of the Year by the Michigan Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association for 2010-11.

The award is given to the coach at each respective state meet, whose divers from the same school score the highest accumulated point total in the state meet competition. According to Huffenga, the award was due, in part, to the success and depth of this year’s team, but he specifically credited the strong showing of this year’s senior divers.

New principal named at county consortium high school

Consortium leaders of the new Washtenaw International High School have named Lambert Okma the school’s first principal.

Okma, the consultant who has been assisting with the school’s development, was the founder and former principal at the International Academy in Oakland County and currently serves as a member of the International Baccalaureate Organization Board of Governors.

The school is scheduled to open this fall to 150 ninth-graders at the site of the former East Middle School in Ypsilanti. Okma begins his new job on July 1.  Student applications are still being accepted for the school. For more information, go to www.wihi.org.

Skyline earns kudos at regional science fair

Skyline High School will have a Grand Award Winner representing the school at the State Science Fair. The weekend of March 12-13 was the Southeastern Science Fair at Washtenaw Community College and Skyline’s Health & Medicine Magnet had 60 students enter for the first time.

Lily Zmachinski (Principles of Biomedical Science) received a sixth-place Grand Award and a first-place Science and Society Award. Her area of study was “musicians vs. nonmusicians – a neuro psychological test.” Her project received numerous accolades and $225 in prize money. Next month she takes her project to Lansing to have it judged and if she wins she will go to California for the International Science Fair.

Other winners from the magnet include: Kaavaya Puttagunta, third place Science and Society $100; Carmen Flesher, Sustainability Award; Johanna Buchaus, Sustainability Award; Maya Gianchandani, American Meteorological Society Award & Stockholm Junior Water Prize; Aoarsh Ghosh, U-M National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network Award; Lucas Paschal, U.S. Army Most Outstanding Life Sciences Award; Theo Kuchar, U.S. Army Most Outstanding Life Sciences Award; and Rishika Ramireddy, Honorable Mention Biochemistry/Microbiology Award.

Honorable mentions also went to: Kimberly Graziamo, Leigh Yeh, Ben Ehrlich, Alex Kaldjian, Francesca D’Introno and Jessica Eisma.

Warren represents the 18th District, which is made up of the majority of Washtenaw County. Prior to her work as a state senator, she served as state representative for the 53rd House District for four years.

Sixth candidate to be interviewed for WISD superintendency

The Washtenaw Intermediate Board of Education will interview Pinckney Community Schools Superintendent Daniel Danosky at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29. He will be the last of six interviews for the WISD top spot.

Danosky is in his fifth year as Pinckney superintendent having served previously as superintendent in Harper Woods for seven years.  He received his bachelor’s degree in education at the University of Michigan and his master’s degree in educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University.

Also on Tuesday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m. the WISD Board will interview Deputy Superintendent and Chief of Staff Thomas Goodney of the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio in Columbus.  Both interviews will be at the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, 1819 S. Wagner Road, Scio Township and are open to the public.

Already interviewed for the post: Oscoda Area Schools Superintendent Christine Beardsley; Olivet Community Schools Superintendent David J. Campbell; Beverly A. Knox-Pipes, Assistant Superintendent for Technology and Media Services at the Genesee Intermediate School District; and Superintendent of the Livingston Educational Service Agency Scott A. Menzel.

The WISD board will meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 30 at 5:30 p.m. in the Board Room of WISD’s Teaching and Learning Center, 1819 S. Wagner Road to select superintendent finalists from among the six candidates.  Finalists will be called back for second interviews. The Board will select a new superintendent to succeed William C. Miller who retired in December.

Upcoming book events around the Ann Arbor community

Following is a list of book events of interest around the area, as provided by local independent bookseller and AAPSNews partner Nicola’s Books. Unless otherwise noted, events are at Nicola’s in the Westgate Shopping Center, Jackson Road at Maple.

Thursday, March 31 7 p.m. – Free lecture with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Sarah Marwil Lamstein Lecture Presents Young Adult Author Lois Lowry at Rackham Amphitheatre. The book sale will start at 3 p.m. and continue until 6 p.m.with a book signing from 5-6 p.m. Lowry began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s. Her first children’s book, “A Summer to Die,” was published in 1977; she has since written more than 30 books for children and published an autobiography. Two of her works have been awarded the Newbery Medal.

These events are scheduled in April:

Weekly Children’s Story Time – Saturdays at 11 a.m. An experienced teller spins yarns for the 7-and-under set. (Saturday April 23 – Stay after the regular story time to meet an Easter Bunny aka Peter Rabbit.)

Tuesday April 13 at 6 p.m. – Meet author Ruta Sepetys here with her new novel for young adults, “Between Shades of Grey”. Set in Lithuania in the wake of the Russian invasion of 1939, this story told in the voice of a 15-year-old girl named Lina, who along with her family, is forced onto a crowded train car one night and sent, under Stalin’s orders, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here is a story of love and survival under the cruelest of conditions during a little-known real-life event in history.

Wednesday April 6 at 7 p.m. – Meet local author Dr. Evelyn Katz with her new book playfully told in limericks, “Young Ing: A Guide to Staying Young Forever”, the story of a woman who refuses to grow old.   Learn how to compose limericks of your own.

Sunday April 10 at 2 p.m. – Meet “Tweak” author Nic Sheff. In “Tweak,” Sheff shared a heartbreakingly honest account of his days as a crystal meth addict. In this powerful follow-up for young adults Sheff writes candidly about stints at in-patient rehab facilities, devastating relapses, and hard-won realizations about what it means to be a young person living with addiction.

Tuesday April 12 at 7 p.m. – Author William Lychack will be at Nicola’s with his new short story collection, “The Architect of Flowers.” The stories in this dazzling new collection explore the inevitable distance between people in loving relationships and find hope in dark situations. With tiny, precise details, Lychack observes the overlooked moments of everyday life.

Thursday April 14 at 7 p.m. – Meet author Alan Paul here with his new memior ” Big in China.” Based on his award-winning “Wall Street Journal” online column The Expat Life, “Big in China” explores Paul’s unlikely, three-and-a-half year journey raising a family, playing in a blues band, and reinventing himself as an American expat in Beijing. Paul is a senior writer for “Slam” and “Guitar World” magazines, and his writing has appeared in “The New Yorker,” “Entertainment Weekly,” “People” and “Sports Illustrated.”

Tuesday April 19 at 7 p.m. – Local author Pat Smith will be here with a new mystery set right here in Ann Arbor, “Hard Pill to Swallow: A Willis and Macintyre Mystery.” A detective and PI join forces to search for a missing girl and solve her mother’s murder.As Willis and Macintyre immerse themselves in a world of corporate greed, murder, and academic politics, they encounter unethical doctors, a corrupt university official, a professor with something to hide, and a hedonistic villain.

Thursday April 21 at 7 p.m. – “Foreign Babes in Beijing” author Rachel DeWoskin will be here for a reading and signing of her latest novel “Big Girl Small,” a scathingly funny and moving novel about a 16-year-old girl attending Ann Arbor’s elite Darcy Arts Academy who becomes caught in a controversy that might bring down her whole school–a scandal that has something to do with the fact Judy is three feet nine inches tall.

Wednesday April 27 at 7 p.m. – Local author and Pioneer High School Creative Writing teacher Jeff Kass will be at the store with his book of short stories “Knuckleheads.” These stories explore generational intersections – teens making, and adults looking back on, choices that define their lives. Kass directs the creative writing program at  The Neutral Zone, where he founded and continues to direct The VOLUME Youth Poetry Project.

Friday April 29 at 7 p.m. – Fans of wordplay can meet world pun champion John Pollack, here with his book “The Pun Also Rises,” a funny, erudite, and provocative exploration of puns, the people who make them, and this derided wordplay’s remarkable impact on history.

Wines 4th-grader donates to Habitat in lieu of birthday gifts

Posted on by

From AAPSNews Service

Wines Elementary fourth-grader Ben Rinvelt celebrated his 10th birthday in a special way this year:  He asked friends and family to donate to Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley instead of giving him birthday gifts.

Ben Rinvelt

Wines fourth-grader Ben Rinvelt with the T-shirt and book given to him as a "thank you" from Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley. The youngster collected donations for the chapter in lieu of birthday gifts this year.

He raised about $100, which he and his dad, Jeff Rinvelt, dropped off during a surprise visit to the Habitat ReStore on a recent snowy Saturday.

Megan Rodgers, a development associate with Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley, said the staff was pleased with Ben’s initiative and that he chose their nonprofit. They contacted the AAPSNews to share Ben’s story.

“We just think it’s amazing what Ben did,” she said. “That he supported his community in this way, involving his family and friends. It’s a selfless act on his part. He’s a role model for other kids.”

The staff sent along a thank-you note to Ben with lots of kudos for his selfless effort, as well as a Habitat T-shirt and a book called “Doorway to the World” which, coincidentally, features a boy named Ben. In the story, Ben leaves his home and friends and moves to another country, where he realizes the importance of the work he and his parents do for Habitat for Humanity.

Rodgers said that Habitat is involved with several youth programs in area schools, but that this is the first time she can recall an individual student doing this sort of fundraising and donation.

Ben turned 10 in January and said he felt Habitat was an organization worthy of his efforts. Last year for his birthday, he asked for donations for the Humane Society of Huron Valley, which serves Washtenaw County. Most of those donations were for shelter supplies and needs, unlike this year’s effort for cash donations.

“This year, I wanted to do something for people,” said the fourth-grader. “When we sent out birthday invitations, we told people we didn’t want presents – I told my relatives too.”

Ben explained that his weekly allowance is put into a bank that has three parts: spend, college fund and “Make the World a Better Place.” He said the “spend” part usually goes into the college fund or into the third category of giving.

“We’re very proud of him,” said Ben’s mom, Pat Rinvelt. “We’re fortunate and pleased that Ben wanted to able to help other folks who need it.”

Pat, Ben and Jeff Rinvelt

Ben Rinvelt with his mom, Pat, and dad, Jeff, at their Ann Arbor home.

Jeff Rinvelt said he is especially proud that Ben is thinking of others.

Ben has a younger sister, Anna, whom he has inspired to consider what she might do on her birthday in June, the family said.

Ben is already thinking about next year, when he is considering giving to the Strong Kids Campaign at the Ann Arbor YMCA, which helps fund weeklong trips for kids to summer camp among other programs that promote positive behaviors.

“When you think about it, you can be one of the luckiest people in the world and not know it,” Ben added. He suggests that others consider donating to a local nonprofit to help others who “don’t have the luck you have.”

Established in 1989, Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley has built or renovated more than 85 homes in Washtenaw County. Habitat homeowners qualify for an interest-free mortgage from Habitat, make a modest down payment and each adult puts in at least 300 hours of “sweat equity” building their home. Habitat also has the 15,000-square-foot ReStore that sells donated building materials with proceeds going back into the program.

For more about Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley visit www.h4h.org. For more about the YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign, visit www.annarborymca.org

Editor’s note: Although the AAPSNews does not typically print the full names of elementary school students, this story was written with the permission of the student’s parents.

Wines students offer bologna sandwiches packed with love

Posted on by

VIDEO BELOW: Second-graders at work, making sandwiches and packing bag lunches at Wines Elementary.

By Casey Hans
AAPSNews Service

A bologna-and-cheese assembly line took over the Wines Elementary School lunchroom on a recent Thursday.

A second-grader at Wines Elementary creates a bologna-and-cheese sandwich that will be packed and taken to shelters in Ann Arbor as part of the school's Lunches With Love program.

A team of second-graders was preparing 100 bag lunches to be delivered to area shelters as part of the school’s Lunches With Love program. Many bags had personal messages written and drawn on them, offering words of encouragement to those who will ultimately consume them.

“The shelters wait for us. They call us ‘the bologna ladies,’” said parent volunteer Karin Brandt, who helped to set up the Wines program with former PTO President Sheri Belcher.

Brandt said she was looking for a simple, but meaningful, way to get involved with the school, and this was it. Food Gatherers came into the school, did an in-service training for parents to teach them to set it up, and they were off and running.  “It’s an easy way for parents to get involved,” she said.

The Wines program is in its fifth year and is coordinated by parent Marie Sklar who said it is done every other Thursday, allowing each classroom at Wines to rotate through the Lunches With Love effort during the school year.  A similar program is also done at Burns Park Elementary, organizers said.

Sklar said the program is a great way for Wines to link with the community at large. “It’s a nice mitzvah,” she said. “We’re fortunate in this community. It’s something for them (students) to learn at a young age.”

Parent volunteer Carol Showich works with second-graders at Wines Elementary School helping them create sandwiches for Lunches With Love.

Once the parent volunteers get things set up, it takes not even an hour for students to come in, make the sandwiches and pack them up for delivery. “The kids are so self-sufficient,” she added. “They pretty much know what to do.”

Parents get what food they can from Food Gatherers and supplement that with trips to the grocery story. They spend between $30-50 for each Lunches With Love, mostly funded through the Wines PTO Community Service Outreach Fund.

“The teachers try to explain this might be someone’s only meal today,” said parent volunteer Patty Kersch. Students “write messages, they do beautiful pictures. I think they really get it.”

Casey Hans edits this newsletter for The Ann Arbor Public Schools. E-mail her or call 734-994-2090 (internal ext. 51228.)