Welcome!!! If you have a student who is attending Burns Park for the first time, and if you have any questions at all about our school or processes, please use the contact form and we’ll get an answer for you!

Look for the New Family Packet in the office if you did not attend the New Family Orientation.

On behalf of the students, staff, teachers and parents, we are so pleased that your family is joining the Burns Park community. You will find Burns Park to be a friendly school, where families work and play together to create a safe and comfortable environment for our children.

The Burns Park community said farewell to our principal, Mrs. Kathy Morhous, just before graduation on the last day of school.

After eleven years of service to the students and faculty of Burns Park Elementary, Mrs. Morhous has been asked to become principal of King Elementary to fill an open position. The faculty, staff, parents and students of Burns Park joined together on the last day of the 2010-11 school year to say "Thank You!"

On behalf of the school community, the PTO planted a young tree in front of the school to honor Mrs. Morhous; PTO President Wendy Burke spoke for all of us as she praised the caring leadership Mrs. Morhous has brought to our school and community. Students presented Mrs. Morhous with a huge banner, reading "Thank You!", that every student in the school had also signed. Music teacher Cynthia Page-Bogen led the student body in a wonderful series of songs and dances to celebrate our principal and wish her all the best in the future.

Please join us in wishing Mrs. Morhous all the best for the future!

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.

Missed the meeting? Look here first!

In an effort to include more parents and teachers in the workings of the PTO, we are posting minutes of the meetings here so that you can catch up on PTO news even if you couldn't be at the meeting. Sometimes the minutes will be preliminary, and subject to change before they are approved at the next meeting. Check the list below for the latest meeting minutes.

In this issue:
School Announcements

• Lunches with Love has begun on Tuesdays
• Picture Day: October 8 (make-up day October 19)
• October Football parking at Burns Park: volunteers needed Oct. 9 & 16
• Golden Apple Award call for applications, priority deadline October 15

• PTO meeting minutes on-line soon!

Community Announcements

• The AAPS District Wide Black Parents and Students Support Group, September 27 6:30pm at Tappan Middle School
• Burns Park Players first meeting Tuesday, September 28 7:30 pm

• Girls on the Run, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00-5:30

Welcome Back to School! We are happy to see all of our returning families and we’re enjoying getting to know all of the new families joining our community this year. The PTO Weekly Notes are sent out at the beginning of each week, and contain important information and announcements about our school and community.

In this issue:

School Announcements

• Welcome Back Breakfast , Tuesday, September 7
• 1st Day Packets
• Curriculum Night, Tuesday, September 14 6:00-8:00 pm
• Fourth Grade Camp 1st Meeting, September 14, 8:00-8:30 pm
• Fall Festival, Wednesday, September 22, 5:30 pm
• PTO Meeting, Thursday, September 23, 7:00pm
• Movie Night, September 24, 6:30pm
• School Pictures, October 8 and October 19, make-up day
• Lost and Found

• School Safety

Community Announcements

• Burns Park Players meeting, Tuesday, September 28, 7:30 pm

• Girls on the Run, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00-5:30

Grab some memories, hear some great original music, and help support the music program at Burns Park!

We’ve produced a DVD of the 2010 5th grade composition concert, and we invite you to take a copy (or two!) home with you. Each composition is featured as a separate “chapter” on the disc, and the titles and student composer-performers show at the beginning of each clip.

Net proceeds from this sale will support the fifth grade composition program in future years. Help us make sure our kids continue to have this opportunity!

We will voting on changes to the PTO by-laws at the May PTO meeting. The by-laws, with the changes, are available for download as a PDF document at the end of this article.

The main changes are adding the position of Fundraising Coordinator to the PTO Executive Committee, and changing other items to reflect current practice (e.g. changing “Vice President” to “President-Elect”).

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us directly or through the reply form on this web site.

Lynda Norton and Wendy Burke
PTO President and President-Elect

Burns Park Elementary PTO Weekly Notes – Week of May 10, 2010

School Announcements

• Teacher and Staff Appreciation Luncheon: May 12
• BP Movie Night, ‘Chicken Little’: May 14
• Come garden! Help needed for ‘Weed and Seed’ Thursdays in the garden
• BP is on the NY Philharmonic for Kids website; 5th grade Compositions concert: May 18
• Ice Cream Social Volunteers needed: May 26

Community Announcements

• Children’s Book Week: Author Deborah Diesen and ‘The Pout Pout Fish’: May 11
• One Million Reasons to Support Ann Arbor Public Schools: May 17 and May 24
• Support Trevor Staples and the Family Learning Institute!: June 4
• Ms. Erdstein and Frank Connolly on Gears and Beers team!!: ride to cure ALS, June 12, 2010
• Children’s Community Garden at the Produce Station: May 15-August 21.
• Gardening Classes for Kids at the Produce Station: May 16-June 18

In this issue:

School Announcements

• Ms. Walters’ Class raising funds for Haiti: January 29
• Grange Kitchen and Bar Fundraiser for Burns Park: Tuesdays in February
• Ice Cream Social Volunteer Wine and Cheese: February 15
• Special Interest Fair: March 16

Community Announcements

• Burns Park Players: Guys and Dolls: February 5, 6, 11, 12, 13
• March of Dimes Valentine’s Ice Skating: February 13
• University Study on Car Seat Use