Dicken Family Newsletter
3.17.23
Principal's Corner
Upcoming Dates
- Friday, March 24:
- Last Day before Spring Break
- Report Cards Sent home
- Spirit Day: Readers are Dreamers - Pajama / Favorite Book / Stuffed Animal Day
- Thursday, March 23 - Slauson Choir Visit - 1:15 All School Assembly, parents are welcome
Monday, March 27 - Friday, March 31 - Spring Break
Monday, April 3 - School Resumes
Friday, April 7 - No School, Students and Staff
Wednesday, April 12 - 2:30 UM Groove Percussion Ensemble - All School Assembly, parents are welcome
Thursday, April 20 - Early Release - 1:18 Dismissal
Appreciation
Many thanks to Vania McAllister and Hallie Jewell for leading and organizing our March is Reading Month events, Read--a-thon, Read Alouds at Schuler's, and books for every classroom and student! Thank you to our generous PTO for supporting these wonderful opportunities.
Huge thanks to our Enrichment Coordinators and other parents instrumental in making Recess Clubs happen here at Dicken again! Jeanetta Arhin, Lynette Gerido, Rebecca Ankeney and Kathleen Davis. Today we partnered with students from the Pioneer Latinx Student Union who shared Read Alouds with our students!
Water Bottles
The district is no longer providing paper cups to be used at water fountains as the fountains can be used as drinking fountains again as well as filling stations. We encourage parents to pack a drink/reusable water bottle with your child(ren)'s lunch. Some children request to get drinks multiple times during lunch so this would help alleviate the movement during the busy lunch hour. If your child needs a water bottle provided, please reach out to our office staff.
IDT Reminder
In-District Transfer Window - Round 2
February 27, 2023 - March 31, 2023
Young 5s
Elementary School
Middle School
K-8 STEAM
9th & 10th grade at Pioneer and Skyline
9th, 10th, & IB-11th grade at Huron
School of Choice along with a potential third In-District transfer window will tentatively open in late Spring 2023. Please watch the AAPS website for more updates to come.
Washtenaw County CDC Covid Level
As of today, Washtenaw County is in the CDC LOW/GREEN Community Level.
Guidance on masking in AAPS schools:
- Masks are strongly recommended indoors when CDC Community Level is ‘HIGH’- RED
- Masks are encouraged indoors when CDC Community Level is ‘MEDIUM’ - Yellow
- Masks are welcomed indoors when CDC Community Level is ‘LOW’ - Green
All the best,
Heather
ps. See below for photos from our Spirit Day today: Readers are LEADERS/dress for your dream job, that also overlapped with dressing for St. Patrick's Day!
PTO News
Message from the PTO President
The Dicken PTO would like to thank everyone who has donated to our readathon so far this month! We're about half way to our goal with still a week to go.
We've had some questions about why we're raising funds when we have extra money in our bank account, so I just wanted to take a moment to address that and explain what we're doing with the money you all have so generously donated over the last few years.
The PTO operating budget is set at the beginning of every school year based on previous years' income and spending and what we anticipate to happen for the coming year. We budget for a certain amount of income, which comes primarily from fundraisers, and a certain amount of spending. This spending includes the field trips that individual teachers/grades plan, in-school performances, Super Science Day, teacher stipends, grants, the Winter Walk, books for classrooms and students, snacks for the office for when students forget theirs at home, and so much more. For example, last night at our monthly PTO meeting, one of the grants that we approved was from Ms. Dorris, our wonderful school secretary, who requested $500 to purchase printer paper for the office. Once district-provided school supplies run out each year, individual schools are responsible for covering their remaining expenses - which is where our typical PTO fundraising events come in!
The details of the PTO budget that was approved at the beginning of the school year can be found on our website. If we are unable to meet our fundraising budget in a given year, then we may not be able to pay for all planned expenditures for that year, and would also plan to reduce spending the following year.
Earlier this year, we found ourselves with $25,000 of surplus money that was raised over the last few years, and then unable to be spent, due to Covid restrictions. A committee was formed to determine how best to use that money. The committee worked hard with the entire Dicken community to make a spending recommendation. This is a one-time situation, and once this money is spent as allocated, the PTO will no longer have surplus funds. The PTO board recently voted to approve the committee recommendation. Since then, Dicken staff has been setting up lots of "make up" student experiences—we can't completely make up for all of the lost field trips and assemblies, but we're using this money to help the 2022-23 school year wrap up with a lot of fun times!
Please see below for a list of confirmed experiences and know that the school staff is still working out the details for a few more things:
- Wednesday, April 12: UM Groove Assembly (2:30-3:00pm)
- Wednesday, May 3: All School Field Trip to Lansing Lugnuts Game (9:00am-2:00pm)
- Thursday, May 25: Dicken Festival Day—Chalk Art with David Zinn, Capoeira with Mestre Lobinho, Garden Projects in the Dicken Garden, and possibly more! Times TBD
- Time/Date TBD: Classroom student experiences. (A portion of the budget was allocated to each class to design their own special fun experience in addition to the regular field trips they are already planning!)
Thank you again for continuing to support Dicken and make it a great place for our Dolphins to learn!
—Jenifer Miller, Dicken PTO President
Click here for the Dicken Elementary Parents Facebook group.
Find information about events, meeting minutes, and more on the PTO website at www.dickenpto.com
Compost Project
The compost project aims to reduce food waste in our school and provide nutrient-rich soil for our
garden. Composting requires a combination of carbon-rich (“brown”) materials, nitrogen-rich
(“green”) materials, air, and water. Raw fruit and vegetable scraps are our green material, and we
need lots of it. We will be collecting compost materials at lunch and at snack time in classrooms.
Please encourage your students to compost their peels, cores and uneaten raw fruits and vegetables (no cooked foods or paper products for this project) instead of tossing them in the trash. We are also collecting compost containers for the classrooms – any large covered container will work (ice cream buckets, large-size yogurt tubs, etc.). If you have any, please drop them off in front of the school.
Garden Happenings
- Our first recess garden club will be Friday, March 24.
- Garden workdays are coming soon. We have work to do on our new solar powered irrigation system, building beds, and preparing soil for planting.
- Teachers will soon be able to start seeds with students in the classroom.
- Get involved! Sign up here.
Upcoming PTO Meeting Dates
Thursday, April 20 - PTO Board Meeting, 6:30 - 8:00 pm (virtual via Zoom)
Thursday, May 18 - PTO Board Meeting, 6:30 - 8:00 pm (virtual via Zoom)
Thursday, June 15 - PTO Board Meeting, 6:30 - 8:00 pm (virtual via Zoom)
To see all Dicken school & PTO events in one place, click here for our PTO Google Calendar.
Another helpful link: the AAPS School Calendar.
Ann Arbor PTOC $20 for $30K Fundraiser
Can you help us create a more equitable Ann Arbor? The Ann Arbor Public Schools PTO Council is hosting the first ever district-wide fundraiser to support our lower-resourced Title I elementary schools. We believe that our children’s school experience should not be based on the resources of the families at that school, yet that is the system we have.
To participate, families and community members can donate $20 (or more), share the goFundMe on social media, and spread the news about PTO funding discrepancies. Funds raised will be equally distributed to Title 1 elementary schools in the fall. This pilot project is part of our larger PTO equity work.
March is Reading Month Update!
Read-a-thon Fundraiser with 99 Pledges:
- We’ve raised $6,445 out of our $15,000 goal with a week to go.
- 22% Community wide participation
- Mrs. Rossi’s has the most participation with 47%
- Mrs. Kairys’s class has raised the most money with $875
Read-a-thon Minutes Read:
- As a school we have read over 116,000 minutes this month, our goal of 270,000 minutes is in reach but we need our readers to keep reading and remember to turn in their reading logs each week.
- Ms. Concannon’s Class is crushing the competition and has read over 30,000 minutes since March 1st!
Schuler’s Fundraiser:
- We had an incredible turn out last week at Schuler’s bookstore!
- The PTO would like to give a huge thank you to the teachers who came and read last Saturday: Ms. McHale, Mrs Posey, Ms Brogno, Ms Concannon, Mrs. Harris, Ms. Halabu and Mrs. Gargaro.
- We raised $750 during the fundraiser, which will go towards next year’s March is Reading month books for our students.
PTOC General Membership Meeting
March 20 7:00-8:30: PTOC General Membership Meeting (open to all AAPS community members)
- via Zoom
Dr. Brittany Murray will join us to talk about her PTO Equity Research.
- Dr. Murray is the Malcolm O. Partin Assistant Professor of Educational Studies and Political Science at Davidson College. Her scholarship investigates how inequalities emerge in racially/socioeconomically diverse schools and provides insights into how we can collectively advance toward more democratic, equitable, and inclusive school-communities.
- You can find the zoom link (and recording at a later date) at
https://www.a2schools.org/Page/18385
Celebrating what makes us UNIQUE!
We celebrated March is Reading Month with the help of students from Pioneer High School's Latinx Student Association! We read fun children’s books reimagined in Spanish during recess
You can find more Spanish language children’s books here.