Dicken Family Newsletter
5.6.22
Principal's Corner
Thank you to our PTO, room parents and our entire parent community for showering our staff with such thoughtfulness during this Staff Appreciation Week. The flowers, kind notes and treats added such brightness and cheer to our week. Thank you!!
Upcoming Dates
Wednesday, May 18 - Early Release Day, 1:18pm dismissal
Summer Programming - Enrollment Reminder
Remote Learning Expeditions is open to all district K - 5 students. Information and the enrollment link can be found here.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Events
The Ann Arbor Public Schools’ Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian/American Parent Advisory Group has organized two exciting district wide events in celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Featured events include:
Author virtual visit with J. Torres for students in grades 4-8, May 20
Poetry writing collaboration with poet, Carlina Duan for students in grades 6-12, launching May 4th.
You can learn more HERE.
District Sora Update
Beginning in the fall of 2020, the AAPS has provided all students with access to a carefully curated digital library called Sora. We recently became aware of an error that resulted in elementary and middle school students having access to materials that should have been exclusively available to high school students. We deeply apologize for this error. Please know that we take the safety of our students very seriously and we acted immediately to remove titles from any borrowers and have put additional layers of safety controls in place to prevent this from ever happening again.
While a relatively low number of students actually checked out these materials, we are sharing this information with all of our AAPS elementary and middle school families. We strongly encourage each family to take full advantage of parent/guardian access to SORA. Click HERE for step-by-step instructions to using SORA as well as an FAQ about Sora HERE. If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to your principal or school librarian.
AAPS Before/After Care Jobs - Virtual Information Session
Ann Arbor Public Schools Rec & Ed is actively hiring Program Directors and Child Care Assistants/Noon Hour Supervisors for the 2022-2023 school year.
Interested applicants should register to attend (or receive a recording of) this upcoming virtual info session on 5/10 at 12 noon. Register now: https://zurl.co/feRv.
Positions include healthcare and retirement benefits, and opportunities for advancement within AAPS.
Info session presenters will include Zachary Brannock, Supervisor of Before/After School Care and Jenna Bacolor, Executive Director, AAPS Community Division.
Info session topics will include:
-Available positions
-Job expectations
-Benefits and opportunities for career advancement
Please see the flier below for more information.
Heather
Message from the PTO President
What a fun week getting to celebrate Dicken teachers and staff! The sidewalk chalk was so welcoming on Monday morning and the themes made each day fun to celebrate.
For anyone interested in attending our May PTO meeting, please note it has been moved to May 12. You can find the Zoom link below.
Hope you all enjoy the warmer weather that is coming our way next week!
—Jenifer Miller, Dicken PTO President
Dicken Elementary parents’ Facebook group
Upcoming Event Dates:
Dicken PTO Board Meeting - May 12 *please note the date change!
PTO Silent Auction - May 22
Ice Cream Social - June 2
All PTO meetings are currently scheduled to take place over Zoom. All are welcome to attend!
Disability Awareness Workshop
Disability Awareness Workshop May 16 - Volunteers Needed! All grade levels welcome, we can’t do it without you!
The DAW is a one day program hosted by the Center for Independent Living to teach students an empathetic understanding of physical, developmental and learning disabilities. The hands-on activity based workshop is designed to help the students develop knowledge of not only how difficult and complex daily living can be for individuals with disabilities but also how innovative and resourceful they are at finding solutions. Traditionally, this is a 4th grade only event. However, since our 5th graders did not get a chance to participate last year, this year's workshop will include both 4th and 5th graders. Weather permitting, the event will be held outside on the black top/basketball court. We will need plenty of parent volunteers and parents from all grade levels are welcome! No special knowledge or experience with specific disabilities is needed. Please sign up here.
If you up for this workshop you must also be sure to complete the Dicken volunteer registration form prior to May 16 if you have not already done so! Dicken Volunteer Registration Form.
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month!
Also this month, the the APISA/A (Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian/American) Parent Advisory Group for Ann Arbor Public Schools is coordinating a book drive. Their goal is to add 320 books featuring Asian lead characters to the 32 AAPS school libraries (or at least 10 books at each school). Click here for more info and how to donate.
Dicken Auction - Parents Night Out: Please RSVP.
The Dicken Auction will be held Sunday, May 22nd at 5:30pm at Bill's Beer Garden in downtown Ann Arbor. We look forward to celebrating a parent's night out and coming together as a community to support our wonderful school. This adult-only event is open to Dicken parents and guardians, teachers and staff who would like to come together to celebrate our Dicken students. There is no cost to come to the event and the first drink ticket is on us!
Come socialize, get to know your fellow Dicken parents and check out the incredible auction items that the auction committee has procured for the event. With contributions from organizations like Ilitch Holdings, Lindamood Bell Center, Massage LuXe, Pet Supplies Plus, Carhartt, Infusiv Hydration and numerous other local restaurants and businesses as well as the always popular teacher experiences and class baskets it is sure to be a night to remember.
Are you planning to attend the auction this year? Please take a moment and RSVP by filing out this form. The auction committee would like to get an idea of numbers for the event. It will help us ensure that we have the right amount of food, drink tickets, swag bags and more fun prizes for the auction. If you have any questions or feedback about the auction or would like to help volunteer please email dickenauction@gmail.com.
End of Year Ice Cream Social
We're so excited to organize the Ice Cream Social again this year! It will be Thursday June 2nd, 6-8pm. If anybody is interested in helping to plan, feel free to reach out to Alex at esotericthinks@gmail.com. And keep an eye out in the next few weeks for a sign up for volunteering during the event - we can't make this event happen without lots of help :)