Please click on the headline, or on the "read more" link at the bottom of this entry, to use the table of contents links.

Highlights for the week:

• Ice Cream Social is this Wednesday, June 1st 5:30-8:00pm. We will have lots of games, a cakewalk, a bouncer, and live music! Pizza slices and some salads will be available for purchase. This year, we will have 15 tables and 90 chairs so that you can sit and enjoy the music. Come join other families for this very fun annual event! Contact Devra Kellen at dkellen at umich.edu or Jennifer Monk- Reising at jmonkreising at gmail.com with any questions or concerns.
• Several informational tables will also be set up at the Ice Cream Social. Please check them out to learn more about programs such as: The Burns Park Foreign Language Initiative and Ms. Walters’ class efforts to help survivors of the Alabama tornadoes.
• Also, please remember to bring your best dessert to the Ice Cream Social on Wednesday. Details below.
• Bearclaw Coffee will be sold at the Ice Cream Social. Buy a bag for your favorite coffee drinker!
• Used Book Exchange is back. Bring your books to school by Thursday, June 2nd.
• Volunteers needed to help with the Book Exchange program on Friday, June 3rd 2:45-3:40pm.
• Volunteer liaison needed to support the Girls on the Run program.
• Sign up today to help with the school garden over the summer. Details and a link provided below.
• Joe Reilly’s Japan Aid Concert, Sunday, June 5th from 3:30-5pm at the Ann Arbor Senior Center at Burns Park.
• A Retirement Party for Ms. Cramer and Ms. Weinmann has been scheduled for Monday, June 6th from 3:45-4:30pm at the flagpole. Please mark you calendars and plan to come join the celebration of these amazing kindergarten teachers, give a hug, and enjoy a popsicle. All families are welcome!
• Love Our Library bookshelf organizing party, Monday, June 6th 2:30- 3:30pm
• The Burns Park Foreign Language Initiative Needs Your Support and Contributions. Read details below and find a link to donate today.
• AAPS has organized a panel on digital citizenship, cyberbulling & sexting to be held on June 6th at 6pm at Forsyth Middle School.
• Ann Arbor’s Green Fair is Friday, June 6th from 6-9pm and is free to the public.
• Seeking photos! Please send in a photo of your child if he/she is or was a student in either Ms. Cramer or Ms. Weinmann’s classrooms. You can also drop these off to Mrs. Kyle in the main office or place them in the PTO mailbox.
• Field Day is scheduled for Tuesday, June 7th.
• End-of-the-year classroom parties have been scheduled. Please look for emails or notes from your student’s teacher and/or room parent and offer to help in anyway you would like!
• On Sunday, June 19th the Tour de Kids event will take place in downtown Ann Arbor at South University and East University.

School Announcements with some elaboration:

The Burns Park Ice Cream Social is this Wednesday night (Yay!) and we need your help to stock up the Dessert Table and the Cake Walk. Show your support for our school by bringing a dessert for the Dessert Table –and/or- a cake for the ever-popular Cake Walk. Bake as a fun family project or dash to the grocery store at the last minute. All goodies are welcome for the Dessert Table, but finger desserts are easiest. Fruit is a refreshing alternative -- think watermelon, fruit kebabs, fruit cups, etc. Also, back by popular demand, our Latino families will be preparing ethnic desserts to enjoy. Drop off your sweet treats at the event on Wednesday, June 1st and enjoy an evening with friends! Any questions, contact: Desserts - Courtney McCreadie (cemccreadie at yahoo.com) Cake Walk - Susan Hutton (susanphutton at yahoo.com) or Lisa Markman (markmanlisa at hotmail.com)

Girls on the Run (GOTR) needs a new Burns Park site liaison and is a non-profit 501-C3 with the mission of educating and preparing girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living. Our volunteer coaches lead 3rd- 8th grade girls through a ten week program where they use fun running games and experiential activities to help girls learn about expressing themselves, making good choices, creating healthy habits and serving their community. The program culminates in a non-competitive 5K event which gives the girls a chance to shine and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. The girls complete the program with a stronger sense of identity, a greater acceptance of themselves, a healthier body image and an understanding of what it means to be part of a team. If interested, please call Shana Bussa at 712.1049 or email her at www.girlsontherunsemi.org as soon as possible to volunteer as the site liaison in order to keep the program at Burns Park.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT . . . for Bearclaw Coffee! It has become a tradition to invite Bearclaw Coffee to our Ice Cream Social. This year we have a few added treats, they will be donating 15% of the nights beverage sales to our PTO and selling special "Burns Park Blend" bags of ground coffee, regular and decaf, and whole bean regular coffee. Each bag of coffee will be sold for $10.00 and $2.00 of each bag sold will be donated to our PTO. Bearclaw has been an avid supporter of our Burns Park PTO so please be sure to visit there station! With June 17th right around the corner a bag of "Burns Park Blend" coffee would make a great gift!! Thank you, Kathy Cramer.

Used Book Exchange is back! Please bring one or more books that you have already read and that you think a classmate might enjoy to the media center by this Thursday, June 2nd. Please send only books that are gently used and that are just right for someone in your own grade. In the past, they’ve received more books for the K-2 grades and not enough for the 3-5th graders. Students will be able to come with their classes to the library media center and choose a book during the week of June 6-10th. If your student brings in 3 or more books, he/she may choose 2 books to take home. Questions? Please contact Ms. Erdstein in the media center

Volunteers needed to help organize the books for the Used Book Exchange! If you can, please come to the Burns Park Media Center on Friday, June 3rd at 2:45 pm to help Rachel Erdstein sort and organize the donated books, so that students can find a book that is right for them for the exchange the following week! If you have time to come an hour or even half an hour early before pick-up at the end of the school day, your help would be greatly appreciated!. Questions, contact Mary van der Velde mvdvelde at umich.edu

School Garden Summer Signup: Please sign up to help with the garden over the summer: Families can “Adopt-a-week” to water and weed the school garden! It’s fun and if anything is ready to be harvested, enjoy! All tools are on-site, and instructions will be provided. Sign up for a week here! Last summer had families had fun with their children in the garden and it was a great way to keep the garden watered until school started again in September. Meanwhile, stop by during the Ice Cream Social to see what’s growing! It’s looking very lush after all the rain. Enjoy the sun! Lynda Norton (llnorton at okno.com) and Emily Hastie (emilyhastie at comcast.net)

Please join us for the final Love Our Library bookshelf-organizing party of the year, on Monday June 6th, from 2:30 to 3:40 p.m. It is especially important to have the books in proper order for inventory, which takes place at the end of the school year. Although all of the shelves need SOME help, there are some areas (particularly the books about animals and sea life!) which are sorely in need of loving care. If you have even just a few minutes before pick-up on Monday, June 6th, please join us and put a shelf or two in order. Chocolate treats will be served! Questions? Contact Mary van der Velde at mvdvelde at umich.edu.

The fundraising season for providing our 7th year of the Burns Park Foreign Language Initiative program to our K - 2 students is underway! This program is 100% funded by donations from Burns Park families and the community, and has had such a positive impact over the years on hundreds of Burns Park students. Our teacher, Señora Eileen Alfonso, has signed on for another year of instruction and we are preparing budgets and funding now for the next year. The contribution form for your pledge or donation, which can now be made online as well on our web site!!! Go there to learn more about this amazing program and check our progress as we raise funds for the next year. It also includes links about the benefits of foreign language to elementary-aged students. Lastly, THANK YOU for continuing to support this program in our school. The results from our recent survey were overwhelmingly positive and we continuously welcome any feedback, either directly to our board or via our website. You can also email your feedback or questions directly to Heather Robinson atheathermary78 at yahoo.com. ¡Gracias! The Burns Park Foreign Language Initiative Board

Field Day details: Our all-school field day will take place on June 7 (rain date June 8). Grades K-2 field day will be from 9:15-11:15. Grades 3-5, 1:30-3:30. Mr. Leonard has organized 10 different (very fun) activity stations. We're looking for about 10-20 parent volunteers for the AM and about 20-30 for the PM sessions. Parents will help run the different activities and fill water balloons. Please email Susann Caulfield if you can help: scaul at umich.edu.

Community Announcements:

As of May 20, 2011, AAPS will no longer have open wireless access for non-AAPS devices such as privately owned computers, iPods, and smartphones. This elimination of the public portal is being done for three main reasons: 1. The drastic increase of personal devices not directly involved with the education of students has overloaded the wireless network and the ability for “legitimate” users to gain access. 2. In our tracking we have found an increase in the use of devices to circumvent the district’s Internet filter in order to access social networking sites, as well as chat with one another during the school day. 3. Additionally, the increase in cyberbullying has played a part in this decision. The district believes the shut down of the public wireless portal will increase effectiveness and dependability of the wireless system which supports AAPS instructional needs as well as assuring, as best we can, the safety of our students. Questions? Contact Liz Margolis, Director of Communications for AAPS.

Japan Aid Concert: Family friendly Joe Reilly Concert and Crafts Sale to benefit Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami Victims Sunday, June 5th, 3:30 to 5pm Ann Arbor Senior Center in Burns Park , 1320 Baldwin Ave, Ann Arbor MI 48104 Bring a picnic, enjoy the park before/after the concert! $7 (or more)/person, $20 (or more)/family at the door, additional donations welcome! All proceeds will be donated to Japan Red Cross. Further info contact Junko Meschievitz at: me.junko at gmail.com

You are invited: Join Ann Arbor Public Schools, the Washtenaw Area Council for Children and the Ann Arbor Police for a panel presentation covering digital citizenship, online privacy, cyberbullying, sexting and more. When: June 6, 2011, 6PM . Where: Forsythe Media Center

On Friday, June 10th from 6-9 pm, the City of Ann Arbor will be hosting a Green Fair on Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. Students can learn more about living environmentally green from many local environmental leaders , nonprofits, schools, and agencies. Exhibits, information, live music, and refreshments for sale will be available.

On Sunday, June 19th beginning at 9am, join the Tour de Kids in downtown Ann Arbor at South University and East University. There will be bike races, music performed by kids, food, and races for students with special needs. For more information, to register, sponsor, or volunteer, visit tourdekids.org.