Dicken Family Newsletter
9.22.23
Principal's Corner
Upcoming Dates
Wednesday, September 27 - 1:00 pm Early Release Day
Monday, October 2 - Picture Day
Monday, October 2 - New Dicken Community Engagement Event
Friday, October 6 - Dicken Dash
New Dicken Community Engagement
On October 2 the architects we are working with to design the new Dicken (slated to open in the fall of 2027) will be on site to host a series of engagements events for our families, students and staff. The two opportunities for parents to engage with the architects regarding our new school design are:
- 9:00 - 10:00am - Room 103
- 5:30 - 6:30pm - Media Center
Hope to see you there!
The Character Effect
This week classrooms were introduced to "Love of Learning". Below you can find a snapshot of the language we use with the children and prompts you might discuss with your child(ren) at home.
Free Breakfast and Lunch
The Michigan School Meals Program is providing free breakfast and lunch for ALL students in Michigan. Please see the information below:
ALL FAMILIES MUST COMPLETE A FREE AND REDUCED LUNCH FORM
No matter your status or interest in breakfast/lunch
**If your child would like to eat breakfast, they should come through the front entrance beginning at 8:30 am.
Morning Drop Off
Students should be dropped off no earlier than 8:40 am. We are noticing students arrive earlier than this who are unsupervised. If your child is eating breakfast they may enter through the front doors at 8:30 but need to stay inside in the MPR. Thank you!
Noon Hour Supervisors
We are still looking to hire Noon Hour Supervisors! This is a great way to support our school and be part of the community. This position is an hourly pay from 11:00 - 1:30 daily. If you are interested, please apply here. Look for Job #15299.
If you are not interested in working lunch daily, we can always use more parent volunteers. Please fill out the Parent Volunteer Form and email our noon hour coordinator, Jean Kim, if you are interested: kimhy@aaps.k12.mi.us
~~~
All the Best,
Heather
PS. See below for two events taking place in our community in the coming weeks!
PTO News
Message from the PTO President
Happy First Day of Fall,
The PTO held our first meeting of the school year yesterday evening. It was wonderful to welcome new members to the board and have non-board parents join us as well. We discussed our 2023-24 PTO budget to the board last night which we will vote to approve at the October board meeting (on Thursday, October 19th). If you'd like to look at the proposed budget you can find it here. If you have any questions or feedback, please don't hesitate to reach out to myself or our Treasurer Paula (dickenptotreasurer@gmail.com) prior to the October meeting.
This week we also kicked off our Dicken Dash fundraiser on the 99 Pledges platform and we are well on the way to reaching our fundraising goal. As of Friday morning we have raised $5,000 of our $30,000 goal and have 14% community participation with two weeks of fundraising to go! The current fundraising leaders are Mrs. Posey's 2nd grade class with 35% participation and Ms. Brogno's class with $920 raised! Keep up the great work Dolphins!
Have a great weekend.
—Hallie Jewell, Dicken PTO President
Want to connect with other parents and caregivers outside of school?
Click here for the Dicken Elementary Parents Facebook group.
Find information about events, meeting minutes, and more on the PTO website at www.dickenpto.com
Upcoming PTO Meeting Dates
All PTO Meetings take place on the third Thursday of each month from 7 - 8:30 pm via Zoom.
Thursday, October 19
Thursday, November 16
Thursday, December 21
Thursday, January 18
Thursday, February 15
Thursday, March 21
Thursday, April 18
Thursday, May 16
Thursday, June 20
To see all Dicken school & PTO events in one place, click here for our PTO Google Calendar.
Another helpful link: the AAPS School Calendar.
Coming Soon: The Dicken Directory!
Hey parents! You know all of those new friends your kids have now and keep asking to hang out with but you don't know how to get in contact with their parents? Keep an eye out next week for a link to a Google form to submit your information to our Dicken Directory. This is completely optional and you can pick and choose what information you provide.
Dicken Pumpkin Patch
🎃 🎃 🎃 Save the Date! 🎃 🎃 🎃
This year's Dicken Pumpkin Patch will take place on Friday, October 27. Get ready for outdoor fall fun and maybe even a return of the haunted house of years past??
Stay tuned for more info - and a call-out for volunteers! 😉
Friday, Oct 27, 2023, 05:00 PM
Dicken Elementary School, Runnymede Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Dicken Dash - Donations Under Way and Volunteers Needed!
You should have received an email on Monday with details on the October 6, 2023 Dicken Dash, our largest fundraiser of the year. Please consider volunteering your time (there are many easy roles to help with your child's class) on Dash Day and helping your student to collect donations on their pledge page with 99pledges.
Call for Volunteers. A great way to see the whole event is to volunteer on Dash Day. You’ll be in the thick of the action and see everything, including your Dashers running. If you are available, please consider completing this sign-up genius for one of the volunteer positions. It takes a lot of help to put on this event, and we couldn’t do it without your help. Thanks!
Donations on 99pledges. We have an interactive web platform for students to track their pledges and donations, you can find your student’s donation page at the main school page here. A $75 minimum goal per Dasher is suggested but is by no means required. In the past, many students have sent emails and videos to family and friends showing them training or just talking about their favorite things about school and asking for support in their Dash fundraising efforts. We have currently raised $5000 of our $30,000 goal on 99 Pledges.
Last but not least, a huge thank you to to the business that have generously agreed to sponsor the 2023 Dicken Dash:
Champion Sponsors
Ann Arbor Remodeling
Blossom Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics
Green Tree Pediatric
Spirit Sponsors
Carlisle/Wortman Associates
Goethel Engelhardt PLLC
McNamara Orthodontics
Midwest Graphics
Unwind Salon
Race Day Sponsors
Bank of Ann Arbor
Beltone Hearing
Christina Kim, Financial Advisor, Edward Jones Investment
Domino’s
Guardian Tree Experts
Joy Dance Company
Main Street Optometry
Rise Wellness Collaborative
SBK Orthodontics
Dolphin Sponsors
Abby Rose Photo
Ann Arbor T-Shirt Company
Betsy Stover Realty
JHem Salon
Play It Again Sports
StudioStudio
Thriving Minds Behavioral Health
Garden Happenings
Here’s what we have been up to in the Dicken Garden!
Composting
Students are enthusiastically composting their leftover fruits and vegetables at lunch to make
compost for our garden. We learned that yellow jackets like lunch leftovers too, and that we need
more than just fruits and vegetables in our compost. Students gathered leaves to balance out the pile and built a trap for the yellow jackets (we caught hundreds!)
One week later, we have a balanced compost pile with very few yellow jackets. To keep this balance, we will need to regularly add brown materials (coffee and leaves, preferably mulched) contact Anne Erickson amcerickson@gmail.com or Abby Rosenbaum abbylynnrose1980@gmail.com if you would like to help.
Tulip Bulb Drive
The garden club is looking for tulip bulb donations! There will be buckets outside the garden and
near the front entrance. Our goal is to plant 150 tulip bulbs this fall and have a tulip sale in the
spring!
Fall Farmer’s Market
The garden club is planning a Fall Farmer’s Market after school on Tuesday, October 3. They will
be selling bouquets of fall flowers, mini pumpkins and gourds. Mark your calendars!
Join the Garden Club! Sign up here.
Want to help? We are always looking for parent volunteers to supervise recess gardening (Fridays),
class visits and after school garden club. Contact Anne Erickson amcerickson@gmail.com.
Celebrating What Makes Us Unique!
We love celebrating all the different cultures that make up the Dicken community. One way the school has done this in the past is through the country flags that hang in the school's multipurpose room - representing the countries of origin or cultures of our many Dicken families (see the photo above).
Please email the PTO (dickenptopresident@gmail.com) if your family's country of origin/heritage is not represented - we want all cultures at Dicken to be represented in our space.
September is Library Card Sign up month!
If you live within the Ann Arbor Public Schools boundaries (with the exception of Northfield Township), you may obtain a resident library card with no fee. You can get a Library card at the information desk at any location of the Ann Arbor District Library.
Check out these great books with your children…
Mabel's Labels Fundraiser!
Support our Fundraiser - Dicken Elementary PTO
Buy Mabel's Labels waterproof, durable labels to help reduce classroom mix-ups and keep your items coming home!
Use code: BTS10 for 10% off your purchase
Search Dicken Elementary PTO (Ann Arbor) on the Mabel's Labels website for a portion of your purchase to go directly toward our school!