School Announcements:

Picture Re-takes – Picture re-takes will be on Tuesday, November 18th. If you would like your child’s picture retaken, just send in the original pictures in the envelope they came in on this day, and have your child give them to his/her teacher.

PTO Meeting – Our November PTO meeting will be this Thursday, November 20th at 7:00 p.m. in the Library. Helen Starman will be updating us on the changes to our foreign language instruction program, and what the Ann Arbor School District has planned for the future. Fun, free childcare will be provided in the gym.

Salvation Army Food Drive – Please help those in need by donating non-perishable foods, including: canned – vegetables, soups, juices, tuna, stew; dry goods – pasta, cereal (cold and hot), rice, beans; paper products, laundry detergent, dish soap, toiletries, diapers, etc. There will be collection boxes by the auditorium doors. Our goal is to collect 1,000+ items…watch our progress on the bulletin board! Thank you! If you have questions, please contact Mary Hampton at 476-7974.

UNICEF Boxes Update – Please thank your children for trick-or-treating for UNICEF. This year we collected 115 boxes and raised $1,096.68! This donation from our school will go far in helping children around the world. I hope it also made your children feel empowered to make a difference in the world!

Lunchtime Choices – We are looking for volunteers for our wonderful Lunchtime Choices program! This program provides students with indoor activities during the coldest months, from January to the end of February (6 – 7 weeks). This is only possible with the help of parent volunteers…you just need to be available once per week during the lunchtime period (11:20 – 12:45) to lead a small group of students in any kind of activity you want to do — all materials are provided! In the past we have had everything from floor hockey, building w/ Legos, needlepoint, jump rope, math games, bead crafts, yoga or anything else you may have an interest in! If you would like to volunteer, please contact Katie Chosid at kchosid at yahoo dot com.

Community Announcements:

Burns Park Public Meeting – Just a reminder that the public meeting on the potential petanque court in Burns Park will take place Monday, November 17th at 7:30 p.m. at the Ann Arbor Senior Center. If you have questions, please contact Christopher Taylor at ctaylor at a2gov dot org

Food Allergy Information – As there a number of children at BP with food allergies, a fellow parent found a website that sells nut-free, some gluten free and some dairy-free candies and snack food, and thought it might be useful for others. It’s http://www.peanutfreeplanet.com/

Pennies for Darfur – Tappan Middle School Enough! Club is trying to collect 400,000 pennies to represent the number of deaths that have occurred due to the genocide taking place in Darfur. If you could help us reach our goal, all 400,000 pennies (which is $4,000) will be donated to Save Darfur to help end the genocide. We will keep a tally of each penny collected until we reach our goal and we will keep you posted on our progress via our website. http://enoughclub.edublogs.org This may sound like a lot of pennies, but we are doing this to show just how many people have died already because of the genocide in Darfur, and to help make a difference in Darfur.
PLEASE BRING YOUR PENNIES TO MS. CRANKSHAW’S CLASSROOM DURING THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER TO HELP US REACH OUR GOAL!
Thanks, Alex Sugerman, Noah Thompson and the Tappan Middle School Enough! Club

Introducing the Ann Arbor Babysitting Company – We’d like to introduce ourselves, the founders of the Ann Arbor Babysitting Company, Jennifer Kramer and Kristen Walter. We are seniors at the University of Michigan, and have created a network of 50 experienced babysitters from the University of Michigan. Our goal is to provide a service that makes finding a babysitter as easy as possible for parents. We’ve interviewed them and called their references. With one call to our company, we schedule the perfect sitter for your needs, connect you to them, and provide a safety net for those emergencies when parents need a sitter at the last minute. Thank you for your time. Please email us for more information. Jennifer Kramer and Kristen Walter AABCompany@gmail.com