News and Upcoming Events 

PTO Meeting

Please join us for our March PTO Meeting on Thursday, March 16th from 9 to 10 a.m.  The meeting will be held in the community room of the University Lutheran Chapel (ULC) located at 1511 Washtenaw Ave.  The Angell and ULC parking lots are connected by a small set of stairs.  We will cover upcoming event information and our treasurer’s report.  We welcome new ideas, perspectives, and assistance.  This week we will also talk about open PTO committee chair positions. If you are interested in being more involved in Angell’s PTO next year, please join us to learn more! If you are unable to attend the meeting in person, please join us via zoom.  

Coin Drive

Angell Student Council is sponsoring a coin drive from March 6 - 17 with proceeds going to support Earthquake relief in Turkey and Syria.  (Students selected this important cause!)  Students are encouraged to bring in loose change but cash is accepted too.  The class that brings in the most money will win a pizza party. 

Canned Food Drive 

Each spring, AAPS, the Ann Arbor Rotary Club, and Food Gatherers collaborate in a campaign to alleviate summer hunger in our community.  This year the Daisy Girl Scout Troop at Angell is taking the reins on making this initiative a success!  

Our Girl Scout troop is super engaged, enthusiastic, and excited to champion this important cause! The Girl Scouts have organized the paper bags for collection, they hung handmade posters throughout the building, they recorded a video to spread the word, and boxes will soon be placed at each entryway.  Later this week we will send home a paper grocery bag with each child to collect non-perishable food items. 

Perishable food items and donations will be collected until March 17th. Cash donations may be made online.  Thank you in advance for any support you can provide for folks in our community. 

(The timing coincides with the Coin Drive that our Student Council organized but the dates for the Canned Food Drive were out of our control.)

PTO Board and Committee Chair Positions for 2023-24

Would you like to be more involved with your school PTO?  Would you like to learn more about a board position, or a committee chair role? Reach out to Allison Gacek.  As you know, it takes a village and we are beginning to have conversations about open positions for the 2023-2024 school year. New this year, we’re looking for an Assistant Treasurer that could work alongside Sara Callaghan, our current Treasurer, and potentially be in a position to take over the Treasurer role starting 2024-25. 

We are also seeking chairs for various committees, including Enrichment Events, 5th Grade Life, and Green School. In general, committee chairs report directly to a board member and oversee event chairs for specific events that fall under that specific committee. 

• The Enrichment Events Chair will oversee the event chairs for our enrichment events/activities such as Read-a-Thon, Disability Awareness Workshop, Science Olympiad, etc. 

• The 5th Grade Life Chair will oversee event chairs for three 5th grade specific activities- their trip, graduation and their service project. 

• The Green School Chair will primarily ensure the school has compostable supplies for events/classroom parties, and that the school is educated on how to dispose of these materials afterward.  

These committees are a wonderful way to make a difference at Angell, immerse yourself further in the Angell culture, work closely with our principal, the Angell staff, and get to know more Angell families and parents. Please consider filling one of these roles. Now is a perfect time to get involved and learn from the current members about the processes, etc.  If you are interested in joining the PTO Board, stepping into a committee chair role, or simply becoming more involved next year, please come to our next PTO meeting on Thursday, March 16 at 9 am at University Lutheran Chapel and/or email us. 

100 Books in 100 Days for 100 Years

The library collection at Angell needs improvement and updating.  To celebrate Angell’s centennial birthday coming up this spring, the Angell library is having a 100 books in 100 days for 100 years fundraiser.  

The goal is to raise at least 100 books for the Angell library.  Books can be purchased in person from the Literati book store in downtown Ann Arbor.  Thank you to the families that have already participated in this project and have donated 77 books so far!

The books that Literati Bookstore ordered for the Angell Elementary School Library are displayed on the first floor of Literati near the front info/check-out counter.  There is a sign identifying them as selections for the Angell Elementary Library.  

Customers purchasing book(s) for Angell, should bring them to the front desk to be rung up.  Any books purchased for Angell must be rung up separately from any personal purchases, and rung up under the Angell Library account, and given to the bookseller processing the sale.  Literati will collect them for distribution to the Angell Library.  Please only purchase books for the library that are on that shelf.

In addition, Literati is donating 20% of the total from books purchased for the library to the school for future library book purchases at Literati. 

Literati's business hours are Monday-Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.

PTO Council Fundraiser 

Concerned about differences in PTO funding among AAPS elementary schools, and the resulting disparities in enrichment opportunities? 

The PTO Council has announced a $20 for $30K fundraiser.  Please consider contributing to the PTOC’s first district wide fundraiser. The goal is to boost the PTO incomes at our Title I elementary schools by $10. Please consider donating $20 or more toward their goal of $32,550.  This goal will allow the PTOC to boost 2023/2024 funding at Title I elementary school PTOs by $10 per student.  (A Title I school is one with a high percentage of students at or near poverty level.)  In addition, the PTO Thrift Shop, in honor of its 30th anniversary, has decided to MATCH the funds raised up to $30,000.  Please join us in thanking the PTO Thrift Shop for its commitment to our schools, students and community.  

Reminders from Principal Fenech & the Office 

March is Reading Month 

Please check your child’s backpack for a ½ sheet of green paper.  On the front you’ll see an optional Reading Club calendar to encourage reading at home.  After five 30-minute reading sessions students will earn reading tokens from Principal Fenech anytime this month.  On the back of the green paper you’ll see the AAPS’ calendar of optional MIRM activities that’s accessible at this link.  You can click on the live calendar to access daily activities, read alouds, and information.

Grateful

We are thankful for the recent donations to the school clinic of pants and underwear.  We are also grateful that parents/caregivers are doing an awesome job letting us know via ang_attendance@aaps.k12.mi.us when their child is going to be absent.  Thank you!

When to keep a child home

A friendly reminder to review this document in order to keep our school community as healthy as possible. 

Donations

We like to keep a steady supply of chocolate in the office and coffee in the lounge.  If you want to donate chocolate candy, ground coffee, or K-cups, our staff would be very thankful!  

As you engage in spring cleaning, we’ll also take any new or gently used school supplies that you may still have from school supply kits given out during the pandemic.  For example, if you have white boards, dry-erase markers, packets of crayon/color pencils/ markers, gluesticks, or lined paper, we'll be happy to put school supplies to use.  (We are working to be cognizant of our carbon footprint and conservative of our PTO & district funds.)

Class Placement Input 2023-24

If you have input you would like the school to take into consideration for class placement decisions, please fill out one form for each student attending Angell Elementary in the 2023-2024 school year.  Please complete this form by April 21st. 

Celebrating Angell’s Centennial

Please mark your calendars for a Centennial Celebration on Thursday, April 27th! Details below