Dicken Family Newsletter
11.17.23
Principal's Corner
Upcoming Dates
Wednesday, November 22 - Friday November 24 - No School - Thanksgiving Break
Wednesday, December 6 - Early Release - 1:00 Dismissal
After Care Interest Form
As a reminder, we have the possibility of Rec & Ed After Care returning to Dicken beginning in January 2024. We need a minimum of 20-25 families in order to have the program run. Please fill out this Interest Form to help Rec & Ed with this initial step. The form is due on December 1.
The Character Effect
This week classrooms learned about "Love". See below for language and prompts on this strength of the week.
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All the Best,
Heather
PTO News
Message from the PTO President
Happy Friday Dolphins,
Last night's PTO meeting included funding approval for 3 teacher grants, recaps from the Pumpkin Patch, Scholastic Book Fair, and updates about exciting events coming in the next few weeks; including Super Science Day and a field trip for the Y5-3 Dolphins!
We have had unseasonably warm weather the last few weeks, but it seems that over the next few days, the temperatures will drop and colder weather will be here for the winter. If your family needs some help getting warm winter gear this year, please reach out to the Dicken Office Staff or your student's teacher.
Have a great weekend,
Hallie
—Hallie Jewell, Dicken PTO President
Want to connect with other parents and caregivers outside of school?
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
Upcoming PTO Meeting Dates
All PTO Meetings take place on the third Thursday of each month from 7 - 8:30 pm via Zoom.
All Dicken community members are welcome to attend PTO meetings - please email dickenptopresident@gmail.com for the Zoom link!
Thursday, December 21
Thursday, January 18
Thursday, February 15
Thursday, March 21
Thursday, April 18
Thursday, May 16
Thursday, June 20
To see all Dicken school & PTO events in one place, click here for our PTO Google Calendar.
Another helpful link: the AAPS School Calendar.
The Dicken Directory is Here! Still Time to Add Your Info!
The 2023 - 2024 Dicken Directory is here!
Scholastic Book Fair: Final Tally!
Last week's Dicken Scholastic Book Fair raised $8,000 in 4 days! Per our agreement with Scholastic, we get to keep 50% to order Scholastic books for our library. With this budget, Ms. McHale has already bought titles directly from the fair book shelves and is planning on using the remainder to build a more robust non-fiction section that Dolphins can read for leisure and use to create assigned reports.
We raised $560 for the Dolphin Dollars equity fund, which purchased 80+ for Dolphins that would not have otherwise experienced the book fair. A special thanks to Ms. Klott and Ms. Kelly-Sell for being available to help navigate this endeavor.
Also, thank you to the Dolphins that shopped the wishlists! Every room received at least one item off their wishlist. And individual community members purchased 40 books off of Peace Neighborhood Center wishlist for the PNC Reading Mentorship program.
We swim as a pod, and we read as one too!! Thank you for supporting the fair!
Super Science Day Seeks Super Volunteers!
Super Science Day is coming to Dicken November 30th and December 1st! The Hands on Museum organizes this event of science based stations for classrooms to cycle through in the schools gym. The kids absolutely love this event, which needs many volunteers from our community for it’s success. We welcome parents, neighbors, grandparents, etc.
Sign up to volunteer at the the Sign Up Genius link here.
Last Call (Desperate Plea!) for WESO Coaches!!
We are still looking for someone to coach the Aerodynamics Team for this year’s Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympics. If you or someone you know has a knack for folding and flying paper airplanes, wants to hang out with a groovy group of 10-15 of our amazing Dicken Dolphins from grades 2-5, or just have a kid who really, really wants to participate in this event, please contact Colleen Diedrich (cmaloney3@gmail.com) or Alex Harman (esotericthinks@gmail.com).
No experience or scientific knowledge is required to coach a WESO team, Zoom training and a curriculum to guide your practices is provided by WESO. Practices are generally once a week, and are scheduled at the coaches’ choice of time and location. As a perk, the child/children of a Dicken WESO coach are guaranteed a spot on the WESO team of their choice.
Mabel's Labels Fundraiser!
Support our Fundraiser - Dicken Elementary PTO
Buy Mabel's Labels waterproof, durable labels to help reduce classroom mix-ups and keep your items coming home!
Use code: BTS10 for 10% off your purchase
Search Dicken Elementary PTO (Ann Arbor) on the Mabel's Labels website for a portion of your purchase to go directly toward our school!