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.

Dear Burns Park Families,

I consider it an honor to have had the privilege to serve the Burns Park School community for the past eleven years. I will be leaving Burns Park to become the principal of King Elementary in June. Virginia Bell, Ed.D will become the new principal of Burns Park. You will be receiving a letter from Virginia and our Superintendent Robert Allen tonight.  I'm sure you will welcome Virginia as you so warmly welcomed me. She is very excited to be given this opportunity.

As they say, live is full of chapters. As I move on to the next chapter of my work life, I want you to all know that the Burns Park chapter is full of fond memories of an active, caring community that values the richness that diversity brings to all of us and the important role that public education serves in our community. I just can't thank you enough for allowing me to serve as your children's principal. They are wonderful and I will miss them. Thank you for sharing them with me.

Educationally Yours,

Kathy

Kathy Morhous

Principal

Your chance to learn about the school budget and have a voice!

Ann Arbor Public Schools Budget Forums
Superintendent Todd Roberts and Deputy Superintendent Robert Allen will be hosting two sessions to give staff, parents, students and community members an overview of the district’s budget planning for the 2009/2010 school year.

Thursday, March 5
7:00-9:00pm
Forsythe Middle School
1655 Newport

Tuesday’s meeting at Scarlett was very lightly attended: let’s see if we can get more concerned parents to this last meeting!

Mark your calendars! The Special Interest Fair is Tuesday, March 24, 2009.
Registration form attached below.

For those of you not familiar with the fair, it is similar to a science fair, but almost anything goes. The purpose of the fair is to encourage students to pursue a topic of their interest and provide a showcase for their efforts. This year, we are encouraging students to make projects that relate to our multicultural focus on Treasures and Wonders of the Arab World (Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria).

Our principal, Mrs. Morhous, has put together some photo mini-websites so that everyone can get the flavor of some of the special events in our community.

Our thanks to everyone who came to the used book sale and to those who have bid on items in the collectible book auction, benefiting a fund established in the memory of Burns Park parent Karen Thomas.

We sold more than $1,000 worth of books at the used book sale, and collected additional contributions. The Burns Park PTO and the AAPS Educational Foundation collaborated to organize this used book sale and online auction of collectible books from the collection of Karen and Andy Thomas. One thousand dollars of the proceeds of the book sale go to the PTO and are earmarked for the school library; proceeds beyond that went to the Karen Thomas Fund and were matched by a generous donor. All proceeds from the book auction, and any direct contributions to the Karen Thomas Fund made by 12/31/08, will also be matched up to a total of $25,000.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools has prepared draft policies regarding three important issues relating to elementary schools. These are:

• Attendance
• Acceleration (moving students up one or more grades)

• Retention (holding students back to repeat a grade)

Superintendent Todd Roberts has requested PTO Council to assist in soliciting comments from interested parents regarding these proposed policies (see attached PDF files). Copies of these proposed policies are also available from the school office. All parents are encouraged to review these proposed policies.

Dear AAPS Parents and Guardians,

This past weekend the USDA issued a recall on meat products that were distributed as a commodity item through the United States Department of Education’s school lunch program.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools does have some of this meat product (beef patties and taco meat) in our possession but it has never been served to any student in this district.

Please join us for the Special Interest Fair!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Hey parents – it’s time again for the Special Interest Fair! The fair is a Burns Park tradition, and we hope you’ll encourage your student(s) to participate. Last year approximately 80 students shared special interest projects with their classmates, teachers, and families.

All students from kindergarten through 5th grade are encouraged to submit a project! The purpose of the fair is to encourage students to pursue a topic of their interest and provide a showcase for their efforts. The fair is non-competitive, and children may work alone or in a group.