Weekly Family Newsletter

October 9, 2022

We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Monday marks Indigenous Peoples' Day in the United States. This day was marked as a national holiday just one year ago. We would like to take this time to acknowledge and honor the privilege we have in Burns Parks sharing the geographical and historical space of the Anishinaabeg – (including Odawa, Ojibwe and Boodewadomi) and Wyandot peoples.

This week also marks Apple Crunch Day. Every student can enjoy a free, locally grown apple plus special apple menu items during lunch. For more information, please visit this site.

As a final and friendly reminder, please make sure that your students are dressed for the weather. They are always welcome to leave an extra jacket in their cubby or locker. We want students to be warm and comfortable during their recess/lunch time.

As always, thank you for your support!

Heather & Leslee

Halloween at Burns Park

We know Halloween is one of the best times at Burns Park! We are excited to announce the plans for this special day. The Halloween Parade will start at 2:45 on Monday, October 31st. Students should not come to school in their costumes. They should bring them to school with them, but wear their normal school clothes until a time determined by their classroom teacher. Teachers will communicate with families about class parties. Do not forget, if you are volunteering in any classrooms, you must fill out a volunteer background check form.

Library News

We have been very busy in Library over the past few weeks rolling out devices to students and beginning our first book checkouts of the year. Students have been taught how to properly care for our library books, following our Library Procedures, as well as the rules for using our school technology, following the AAPS Acceptable Use Policy. The following slides are used to teach the acceptable use policy to Young 5s-2nd grade and 3rd-5th grade, emphasizing that our devices are not personal devices, but school devices that are being loaned out (much like a library book) for school work and to learn. Just like we would not put stickers, add pictures, or alter library books in any way, we should not be doing those things to our school devices. This includes using devices to access websites that are not school sanctioned in Clever, Schoology, or otherwise provided by a teacher for additional learning. We thank you for your support in helping our students follow these same rules and procedures at home!

Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences are a very important part of building partnerships and support between families and the staff at Burns Park Elementary. Teachers are beginning to send out conference sign ups. This info can be found in their weekly communication. Teachers are offering in person, zoom and phone conferences. If you have any questions, please reach out to your student's teacher.

AAPS Masking Policy

As of today, October 9th Washtenaw County is in the CDC MEDIUM/YELLOW Community Level. Masks are encouraged indoors. Link to CDC Community Level page here.

For more detailed information about the AAPS Fall 2022 COVID and Health Guidance, please click here.

Breakfast/Lunch

School meals will no longer be provided free of charge for all as they were in the 2021-2022 school year. Families will need to fill out free & reduced lunch forms to qualify: 2022-2023 Free & Reduced Lunch Application. Please note that families are responsible for the cost until the application is approved. If you need help, please refer to this document. Paper copies will be available in the main office once the school year begins.

For more information about this change and to learn how to load funds onto your child's account, please click here. Student ID information was sent home the first week of school. You may set up your meal magic account with that information.

Please have a conversation with your child if you would like them getting food from school or not. Families are responsible for the cost of food. We will ALWAYS feed children if they say they don’t have food. We will not question it. Make sure they know the plan.

Also, please make sure your child knows which item is their snack. This is helpful for the classroom teacher.

Items from Home

Personal belongings (i.e. toys, trading cards, etc.) need to remain at home. Burns Park staff will not be responsible for managing the care and safety of personal belongings. Students who bring sports items for recess have an understanding that they are agreeing to share with others. If this agreement is not the understanding, students should not bring personal sports items. Please check backpacks before your student comes to school.

Dear Fantastic BPE Families,

I hope that everyone had a special sixth week of school. Please join us this Wednesday, October 12 at 7pm on zoom for our next PTO meeting. September meeting minutes can be found here. All BPE families are welcome to attend the PTO meeting and learn about the different PTO activities contributing to our children’s BPE experience.

One of the PTO activities very popular with the students is Walk & Talk; that group of volunteers is still looking for additional fall volunteers, as detailed below. Also, this week, Wednesday, October 12 is National Walk & Roll to School Day for those who are able to take advantage of these commuting modes.

Walk & Talk: Walk and Talk sessions are scheduled for Monday / Wednesday / Fridays at 11:15 to 12:30pm from now to Thanksgiving. Please visit the signup genius link and consider if you could volunteer a small amount of your day, we guarantee the walkers are entertaining talkers! If you would like more information before volunteering, please email the organizers at walktalk@burnsparkpto.org

Your Burns Park PTO

Al Masias, President

info@bpepto.org