Look here for a list of key forms for PTO volunteers, including items like the reimbursement form and other similar items that still have to be submitted on paper!

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

Starting this fall, we’ll be posting minutes of our monthly PTO meetings, along with short summaries of what went on, when possible. Summaries will appear below; minutes (in PDF format) will be listed at the bottom of the page.

• Prior to the start of this month’s meeting, we had a presentation by Stacey Lundgren of Bucketfillers for Life, which gave background, detail and advice about the program that the students are experiencing at school.

• We received several updates on the following:  Burns Park Foreign Language Initiative, construction project and the PTO Council.

The Special Interest Fair is an annual event held in the spring in which students of all grades have the opportunity to create projects on topics of their choice and display their work for other students and families to view. Topics are wide-ranging, dependent on student interest and experience, and have included the following in recent years: Tornadoes, Geysers, Biography of Duke Basketball’s Coach K, Great Apes, Bombing of Pearl Harbor, Mexico, Works of Shakespeare, Volcanic Eruptions, Balloons, Ballet, Plant Growth Experiments, Dolphins, Dinosaurs, and many more.

Interested students in grades 2-5 will again be able to participate in this year’s Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad, a competition against other schools typically held the first Saturday in May. In the winter, students sign up to participate in events such as Circuit Wizardry, Water Rockets, No Bones About It, Straw Tower, Wright Stuff, Estimania, Mystery Architecture, Boatmania, Map Reading, and more. Students are placed on grade-level teams and are guided by adult coaches to explore their topics and prepare for the event.

The Read-a-thon is a one-day school event that concludes our annual March is Reading Month celebration. Students in grades 3-5 spend much of the day enjoying books independently;K-2 students enjoy listening to books read aloud by volunteers.

This family event, typically held on an evening in March, provides opportunities for students and parents to explore activities related to a particular topic, such as biology, chemistry, earth science, or math. This enrichment event is coordinated by the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum who has designed the activities and provides all the materials and information. Parent volunteers staff the event, explaining activities and encouraging participants.

For more information about the Hands-On Museum, see http://www.aahom.org.

The upper elementary students work with the PE teacher to organize and supervise games for two field days (upper elementary and lower elementary) which are held in early June. Parent volunteers supervise the students and help run games during these afternoon events.

Join with the Burns Park community each fall for picnic dinners and music on the grass!

The Fall Festival committee plans, sets up and cleans up our first school wide social event of the year. On Tuesday, September 18, Burns Park families will gather in the park next to the school to share a picnic dinner. Please bring a dessert to share and money to buy drinks from the fifth grade graduation fundraiser. Tappan jazz band will provide the music.

Our major Spring event, open to the entire community. Food, games and fun!

The ice cream social is held annually in the end of May. Open to the community, the ice cream social has games, activities and food for children of all ages. The committee plans the event and recruits volunteers to supervise the activities and games, to sell concessions and tickets and to set up and clean up.