Burns Park Family Newsletter

Hello Penguin Families,

We hope everyone is getting back in the swing of things after the long break. We’re excited to see everyone at our monthly PTO Meeting on Tuesday, January 14 at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

FIRST PTO MEETING OF 2025

Our first PTO meeting of 2025 is Tuesday, January 14 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. The agenda is available online here. Mike Robins will give a special presentation on the newly created Friends of the AAPS Libraries group and discuss ways to get involved. We’ll discuss drafting a letter in support of our AAPS teachers to be sent to the AAPS Superintendent and Board of Education, get updates from the Disability Awareness and Science Olympiad Committees and hear feedback on holiday gifting using GiftCrowd.

Note: Our meetings will remain on Zoom until we have volunteers who are able to plan out childcare for in-person meetings. Most people cannot attend in person without childcare being provided. Want to help in this effort? Contact info@bpepto.org to volunteer.

DISABILITY AWARENESS WORKSHOP FEBRUARY 21

The Disability Awareness Workshop is a one-day program to teach 4th grade students an empathetic understanding of physical, developmental, and learning disabilities. This hands-on-activity based program is designed to help students understand how difficult and complex daily living can be for individuals with “diverse abilities.” The workshop helps build a culture of understanding that is invaluable, with the goal to learn, through experience, that all individuals deserve respect no matter how they may look, act, walk or talk.

On Friday, February 21 we will need volunteers from 8:45 am to 12:30 p.m. Volunteers need only be kind and compassionate. No experience working with people with disabilities is necessary. You will be provided training upon arrival, and will have easy to follow activity instructions to oversee students as they participate in activities. (If you have any area of particular interest or expertise, please use the comment form so we can try to place you appropriately.) Please click here for examples of some activities you'll help facilitate. Lunch will also be provided for workshop volunteers.

There is also space for additional volunteers the Thursday evening before and Friday afternoon immediately after the workshop to help with setting up/breaking down and moving some of the materials. Sign up to volunteer before, during or after the event here.

Please contact the DAW co-chairs Shannon Hautamaki (smhred12@gmail.com) and Asha Hitihami Mudiyanselage (ashahitihami@gmail.com) with any questions.

VOLUNTEER UPDATE

Just a quick note to express our gratitude for your support of the Burns Park School community and to highlight a few upcoming needs.

THANK YOU:

• to ALL the ROOM PARENTS for organizing and bringing the fun for our classroom winter parties that kicked off a wonderful winter break!

• to our MORNING LIBRARY VOLUNTEERS who have calmed the daily chaos by collecting, checking in and shelving books so efficiently- Beth Ward, Susan Zink, Jennifer Russell, Julie Rick, Yuanying Su, Heather Gold, Rana Mosleh, Mariha Yatabe, Becky Garcia, Sepi Yagoobian, Katherine Wu, and Hillary Dupree.
  

UPCOMING NEEDS:

• Hearing & Vision Screening Transporters: Mon-Thursday we need volunteers to help walk students to/from their classroom for screening in both the morning (9-11 am) and afternoon (1-2:30 p.m.). Sign up here.
  
  

• Disability Awareness Workshop Volunteers -On Friday, February 21 we will need volunteers from 8:45 am to 12:30 p.m. No experience working with people with disabilities is necessary. You will be provided training upon arrival, and will have easy to follow activity instructions to oversee students as they participate in activities. Click here for examples of some activities you'll help facilitate. Lunch will also be provided for workshop volunteers. There is also space for additional volunteers the Thursday evening before and Friday immediately after the workshop to help with setting up/breaking down and moving some of the materials. Sign up to volunteer before, during or after the event here.
  
  

• Science Olympiad Coaches and Co-Coaches Needed: Burns Park participates in the Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad (WESO). It is a chance for students, grades 2-5 to learn science through teamwork and hands-on experiences in different areas, leading up to the WESO tournament on May 10. We are in need of coaches for our team from Feb-May. Coaches choose an event and lead a group of students through eight 45 minute practices between February 23 and May 4. You do not need to be a scientist! Most events are very simple, such as building structures from paper and foam, or launching straw rockets. Sign up and learn more here.
  
  

• Morning Library Check In & Shelving - Looking for a quick and easy way to volunteer? 30 minute slots are available each morning after drop off. Sign up here.
  
  

• Fifth Grade Capstone - We need help planning the last week of school activities for our fifth graders. Help make sure our kids get a memorable and fun filled send off from Burns Park Elementary. We will split up the tasks among the volunteer group with a goal of making it very manageable for everyone. If you can find a few minutes to help out, please reach out to Ellen Delonis at ellendelonis@mac.com for more info.
  
  

CALL FOR YEARBOOK PHOTOS

It is time to start putting together some of our favorite memories to the Burns Park Yearbook and we need your help to make it AWESOME! Please share any photos you may have of your Penguins in action during Burns Park activities using this link.

To upload photos: click on the down arrow to find your child’s grade folder. No identifiers are needed, but please tag your photos with the classroom’s “Teacher name – event.” For example: “Hane – Lansing Field trip.” Please do not include Rec & Ed sport photos.

Here are just some of the activities we'd love to capture in the yearbook:

• Lunch/Recess

• Parties

• Field Trips

• Classroom Hijinks

• Buddies

• Garden Time

• Specials

Have questions? Contact us at yearbook@bpepto.org.

Your Burns Park PTO,

Kory Zhao, President
Michelle Ding, President-Elect