Dicken Family Newsletter
3.25.22
Principal's Corner
Dear Families,
There has been much excitement at Dicken this past month! Many thanks to our PTO for sponsoring the Read-a-thon, which the students have been having a wonderful time with. Wishing you all a safe and relaxing spring break week with your children!
Upcoming Dates
- Friday, March 25 - Spring Break begins at end of school day
- Monday, April 4 - School Resumes
- Monday, April 11 - Mobile Dentist Visit
- Wednesday, April 20 - Early Release Day - 1:18 Dismissal
Staff Welcome
Please join me in welcoming back Ms. Cynthia Heraud, who will be returning to Dicken after Spring Break to teach Y5, Kindergarten and 2nd grade PLTW from April - June. Welcome, Ms. Heraud!
Ramadan
We know Ramadan is coming up April 1st through May 1st, and we want to wish all families celebrating an early Ramadan Mubarak! If your student will be celebrating (whether that is through fasting, participating in family activities, or any other method of celebration), please let your classroom teacher or Ms. Kelly-Sell (kellyselle@aaps.k12.mi.us) know, so that we can help support your student in whatever way possible. Ms. Kelly-Sell's room is available for students who might need a break during lunch, snack, or any other time. Ms. Kelly-Sell is in room 118, next to music class. If you have suggestions for another method to support your student, please reach out to Ms. Kelly-Sell directly. Thank you!
Mobile Dentist Reminder
Michigan Dental Outreach's Mobile Dentist is coming to Dicken Elementary on April 11th, 2022!
Please remember to fill out return the "Dentist-to-School" forms that were sent home a few weeks ago. If you misplaced your form, please feel free to fill out electronically and email back to us at dicken@a2schools.org, or print, complete, and send in. Thank you!
Parent Volunteer Registration Reminder
It has been wonderful to see parents in the building again!
If you have any interest in volunteering, please fill out the Registration Form.
If you have any trouble with the form, please email our office team at dicken@a2schools.org.
Please reach out to Lynne McHale at if you are interested in volunteering in Library: mchalel@aaps.k12.mi.us
Please reach out to Heather if you are interested in volunteering at lunch/recess: halabu@aaps.k12.mi.us
After the break, our PTO will be in touch about coordinating volunteers for class art projects for the annual auction coming up in May.
....
Heather
Message from the PTO President
You may have seen the email earlier this week that we are again partnering with Lawton Elementary to co-sponsor a Racial Equity Challenge for parents/caregivers, teachers, and other staff. The Challenge will again be facilitated by staff from NEW.
For the Challenge to be successful, we need broad participation from Dicken caregivers/parents, teachers, and other school staff. Please register here by April 4 to participate in the Racial Equity Challenge and the important community discussion on Monday, April 11th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
Please reach out to me (dickenptopresident@gmail.com) or Heather Halabu (halabu@aaps.k12.mi.us) with any questions.
We hope many members of our community will take advantage of this wonderful opportunity!
Lastly, we are still looking for a few people to fill the following open PTO board positions for the 2022-23 school year. This is your chance to be part of the decision-making process for PTO fundraising and spending. Let’s work together to keep Dicken awesome for all of our students! Please reach out if you’re interested.
—Jenifer Miller, Dicken PTO President
Dicken Elementary parents’ Facebook group
Upcoming Event Dates:
Racial Equity Challenge - April 11; 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Dicken PTO Board Meeting - April 21
Dicken PTO Board Meeting - May 19
PTO Silent Auction - May 22
All PTO meetings are currently scheduled to take place over Zoom. All are welcome to attend!
Dicken Running Club is Back!
Spring has sprung…. And the Dicken Running Club is back in session! We will kick off the spring season on Monday, April 11th right after school, running ¼ mile laps on the sidewalks on the north end of school. Running Club is a great way to get outside after-school and build stamina and strength! We run (and walk) at a variety of paces, so no one is too fast, or too slow.
We run rain or shine from 4:00 - 5 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays and you can register to run either or both days by completing this form. Open to all students! K and Y5 students can run if their parent attends all sessions where the student is running.
It all leads up to two big Spring Events - The Running Club Global Running Day 4k on June 1st and the Ele’s Place 5k on June 25th. Both are awesome events, but completely optional!
Running club will take place entirely outside. There will be no building access during Running Club. In accordance with AAPS sports policies, Masks are encouraged while outdoors, and teams (students) will socially distance when possible.
Email dickenrunningclub@gmail.com with questions.
Parents who are interested in volunteering can sign up here
Read-a-thon & March is Reading Month!
Tomorrow is the last day to contribute to the Read-a-thon - we are so close to hitting our goal and we have many classes who are above 50% participation! Thank you so much to everyone who has participated, with your support we will be able to enhance Dicken’s literacy needs.
Over the last few weeks, the PTO has spoken with many Dicken teachers, staff, our librarian Ms. McHale and Mrs. York, our building literacy expert, and they identified the true literacy needs at Dicken which include revamping the book room, small group instruction books, non-fiction and series books for the library, multicultural, inclusive and identity confirming books and series, enhancing classroom books and building an outdoor free library that students will be able to use year round. Your donations are helping to make a huge difference in our school and community so thank you! Thank you!
The Read-a-thon will also ends today so please make sure to track your Dolphin’s on the google form if you haven’t already. 10 of the 15 classes have won their pizza parties for and others are within 1 or 2 students! We will allow submissions until the end of spring break and then we will close the Google Form. It’s incredible to see how many minutes our Dolphins have been reading this month!
Spirit Wear is Back!
Order now through March 27th - orders will be available the week of April 11.
**FYI** when you select "pick up" at check out, that means the items will be sent to Dicken!
Dicken Silent Auction - Sunday, May 22
More details will be coming after Spring Break!
Save the date and book those babysitters now - The Dicken Silent Auction is back this year and will be held on Sunday, May 22nd at Bill's Beer Garden from 5:30-7. The auction committee is already busy soliciting contributions from local businesses for the silent auction. If you know of any businesses that would like to support Dicken with our auction efforts or would like to be involved with the planning committee please reach out to dickenauction@gmail.com. We welcome new members to our committee and are excited to plan a wonderful event for the Dicken community (the event is adult only).