Dicken Family Newsletter

Upcoming Dates

• Monday, February 12 - 10:00 Student Lighthouse Team Assembly - Parent Involvement Day / NAAPID

• Friday, February 16 - Tuesday, February 20 - No School - Mid-Winter Break

• Wednesday, February 21 - School Resumes

• Thursday, February 22 - Kindergarten Round Up, 6:00 - 7:00 pm

• Tuesday, February 27 - No School - Election Day

Parent Involvement Day in honor of NAAPID

Parent Involvement Day in honor of NAAPID (National African-American Parent Involvement Day) will take place on Monday, February 12. This is a day for all parents/guardians to visit their children’s schools, see what their children experience daily at school, and to support their children’s educational experiences. Retired educator and former principal the late Joe Dulin, created NAAPID in 1995. Mr. Dulin believed parents are among a school’s most important assets. “NAAPID is not just for black people –– it’s for all people,” Dulin said. (More information on Joe Dulin can be found below.)

As part of our day’s celebration, we invite families to join us in the MPR at 10:00 for an assembly put on by our Student Lighthouse Team.

Families are welcome throughout the day, however teachers will be sharing specific times that may be ideal for you to visit classrooms. You are also welcome to visit with your students at lunch/recess and specials. We will have refreshments available for parents in the Staff Lounge thanks to our PTO Hospitality Chairs, Ruth Facer and Sarah Stanton.We ask families to check into the office upon arrival to sign in. Please remember to bring your ID for our Raptor system.

For those new to the community, here is some information on the origins of NAAPID in AAPS, founded by local legend, Joe Dulin, who passed in 2014:

Inspired by the Million Man March, National African American Parent Involvement Day was launched in 1995 by the late Joe Dulin, who at the time was principal of AAPS’ Roberto Clemente Student Development Center. His aim was to encourage parents to practice the goals of NAAPID, which include:

• Promote African American parent involvement in their child’s education.

• Promote and provide strategies for African American parents and students to take full advantage of the educational process at all levels of the educational system (preschool through post-secondary).

• Identify and develop partnership efforts among all sectors of the community (business, school, home, etc.).

• Create a national network at the state and local levels to achieve the mission and goals of NAAPID.

• Offer educational workshops, seminars and institutes relating to parental involvement and eliminating achievement disparities.

• Establish an annual National African American Parent Involvement Day celebration on the second Monday in February.

I would like to acknowledge that as a school and district at large, we have received varying feedback concerning NAAPID, its relevance to our efforts in Equity work today and how the tradition may evolve moving forward. I welcome your feedback on this topic. With that said, please know that there is no obligation for anyone to attend. We understand the day to day family and work demands and that all of our parents and caregivers lead very busy lives. We treat this day as an Open House, and we look forward to seeing you if you can pop by!

Noon Hour Volunteers

We are in need of noon hour volunteers on Thursdays and Fridays. If you are able to help out once or twice a week, we would be most appreciative! Those interested, please contact noon hour coordinator Jean Kim at kimhy@aaps.k12.mi.us. Thank you!

Kindergarten Round Up - February 22

Dicken is hosting our annual Kindergarten Round Up on Thursday, February 22 from 6:00 - 7:00 pm. If you have an incoming Young 5s or Kindergarten student, we hope you’ll join us! If you know of any potential neighborhood families or friends who are considering Dicken, please invite them to join us as well. Our 4th & 5th grade Student Lighthouse Team members are invited to join us that evening as student leaders to assist our teachers in welcoming our future Dolphins! We ask that the SLT students joining us wear their Dicken spirit wear (let us know if you need to borrow some) and report to the main office at 5:45 pm. Thank you!

AAPS Enrollment for 2024-25 Reminder

A reminder that enrollment for the 2024-25 school year opened on Monday, January 8th. The first application window for AAPS In-District Transfer and the ONLY application window for the Community High Lottery and Ann Arbor Open Lottery is Monday, January 8, 2024, to Wednesday, February 14, 2024. This first AAPS In-District Transfer Window only applies to those seeking a placement other than their geographically assigned school for the fall of 2024 at the following levels: Young-Fives, Grades 9 & 10, and Grade 11 for IB. Enrollment is open for new families to apply to their neighborhood school for next year as well. More information about enrollment can be found here.

***If you have a child who will be enrolling in our Young 5s program, please apply during this enrollment period. Spaces can fill up quickly. This includes families who live in Dicken’s attendance area. You MUST apply during this window as well. More information on Young 5s and Kindergarten can be found here.

The Character Effect

This week, students learned about the character strength of "humor". Every Monday, we have morning announcements where members of our Student Lighthouse Team introduce the week's character strength over the PA. Here is what was shared this week: "Humor is a beautiful strength when paired with Kindness. As with any strength, using it at the wrong time, place or in a way that harms others are not the best ways to use that strength. Think about how you can use Humor to build people up rather than bring them down."

A strength of the week quote: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some Humor and some style.” - Maya Angelou.

Food Drive for Food Gatherers!

1st and 2nd Grade Student Lighthouse Team is sponsoring a Food Drive for Food Gatherers!!

Monday, 2/5 -- Monday 2/12

We will be collecting donations in a few different ways:

1. Students can bring them to their classrooms and a SLT member will put them in the collection boxes.

2. Students and families can put donations directly in the collection boxes in the lobby.

OR

3. Families can make a cash donation using the QR code below.

See attachment for most needed items and QR code

Any questions can be directed to Ms. Brogno at brognoj@aaps.k12.mi.us

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS!

Calling future middle school families: Slauson Middle School 6th Grade Parent Information Night. Current 5th graders will receive a more comprehensive letter with more details in February.

February 29th

6:00 - 7:30 pm

1019 West Washington Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan

All the Best,

Heather

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Message from the PTO President

Happy Friday Dolphins,

Thank you for those of you able to participate in the Community Night Out at Buddy's Pizza yesterday evening. Buddy's donated 20% of participating orders to Dicken's PTO. Our next Community Night Out will be at Taco King on Friday, March 8!

Next week is busy with Parent Involvement Day / NAAPID on Monday (including the Student Lighthouse Team Assembly at 10 am that day), Valentine's classroom celebrations on Wednesday, the PTO meeting on Thursday, and Mid-Winter Break beginning on Friday! Families are welcome at any of these events, and we hope to see you as you are able!

Have a great weekend,

Hallie

—Hallie Jewell, Dicken PTO President

dickenptopresident@gmail.com

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

All PTO Meetings take place on the third Thursday of each month from 7 - 8:30 pm via Zoom.

All Dicken community members are welcome to attend PTO meetings.

Click here for the Zoom link.

Thursday, February 15

Thursday, March 21

Thursday, April 18

Thursday, May 16

Thursday, June 20

More Helpful Links:

Dicken Student and Staff Directory

Dicken PTO Google Calendar

AAPS School Calendar

Thanks to everyone who has already registered for WESO! If you believe you registered your child, but haven’t heard yet heard back, please contact Alex Harman ASAP (248-599-2539 or esotericthinks@gmail.com).

Many teams are full, but we still need one more third grader and one more fourth grader for Pentathlon.

The Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympics (WESO) will be taking place in person at Pioneer High School on Saturday April 20, 2024..

ALL PARTICIPANTS ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE AN ADULT COMPLETE 4 HOURS OF VOLUNTEERING DURING THE EVENT ON SATURDAY APRIL 20. THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL.

If you have questions you can contact Alex Harman (248-599-2539, esotericthinks@gmail.com) or Colleen Diedrich (207-240-5542, clmaloney3@gmail.com).

Thank you!!
Colleen Diedrich and Alex Harman,
WESO Head Coaches for Dicken Elementary

Join engineering students at U of M Sunday, February 18, where we welcome all interested 3rd -5th grade students to learn more about engineering through the MindSET program!

For this MindSET event, we'll work through the Earthquake module. Students will learn about basic physics principles and the different forces that impact the stability of buildings. Afterwards, students will practice physics concepts through a worksheet and a fun hands-on activity. Using the available materials, students get to design their own buildings. After the designing process is over, we will test the stability of the buildings using the earthquake simulator!

The event will take place on Sunday, February 18, from 3:00-5:00pm, at Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Building on University of Michigan North Campus.

Attendance is FREE!

Please register by Friday, February 16, to confirm your spot, we have a maximum capacity of 60 youth.

Girls on the Run is an afterschool youth development program designed for girls in 3rd-8th grade. Our mission is to inspire youth to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates movement. Through thought-provoking discussion and fun activities, Girls on the Run uplifts and empowers the children in our community and prepares them to become the leaders of tomorrow.

To bring this program to Dicken, we need to recruit volunteer couches and a site coordinator. Coaches receive a discounted registration fee for their children - full time coaches (attending both practices per week) get a waived fee and part time coaches (attending one practice per week) get 50% off. Site leaders also receive a waived registration fee for their children. Coaches and participants are also automatically registered for the 5k at the end of the season.

Visit their website for more information.

Questions/suggestions, please email Erin7register@gmail.com.

Taco King - Friday, March 8

2231 W Liberty Rd, Ann Arbor

Grab dinner at Taco King on Friday, March 8, and 20 percent of sales will be donated back to our school!

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!