The Bear Necessities

Hi folks, Jon Wennstrom here! Every time I see our Buchanan Bear I have the song "The Bear Necessities" from the Jungle Book in my head. He looks pretty lonely in our lobby all by himself, but I'm hopeful that we will have students back in the school in the near future. Our Board of Education will vote on Monday night about our Return to Face to Face instruction schedule. Following that meeting, the district will be sending out a schedule and information for families that will return to in person learning. I will also be sending out building specific information next week as well. For the time being, we are continuing with our remote/virtual instruction and I'm proud of our staff, students and families for all their work!

UPCOMING EVENTS

• The Board of Education will vote at the Monday, September 28 meeting on a return to face to face schedule. Following that meeting, I will send out a schedule for our Buchanan Families. 

• Our Livonia Virtual students will continue with their current schedule of 9:00, 11:00 & 1:00 for first and third grades and 10:00, 12:00 & 2:00 for kindergarten, second, and fourth grades even after the face to face students return. 

PTA POINTS

• Thank you to all who attended our first PTA Meeting! Our next meeting will be held via Zoom on Tuesday, October 20.

• Spirit Wear: To purchase Buchanan-branded items, please visit our spirit wear store here: https://buchananspiritwear.com They are offering FREE SHIPPING Friday, September 25 - Monday, October 12.

• Reflections: Reflections is an annual art competition held by the National PTA. Artwork is accepted in the following categories: Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, and Visual Arts. Entries are due Friday, November 13. Please see the flyer attached to Mr. Wennstrom's email for details.

• Membership: The cost of a PTA membership is only $7.00 per member and supports the PTA's efforts on the local, state, and national levels. To become a member and start showing your support for the Buchanan Elementary PTA today, please visit our MemberHub store at the following link: https://buchanan.new.memberhub.store/store

• Other ways you can support the Buchanan PTA:

• Amazon Smile: Visit http://smile.amazon.com and select James Buchanan Elementary PTA as your charity. 
  

• Kroger Rewards: Visit https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community-rewards and link your Kroger Rewards card to Buchanan Elementary PTA.

• Busch's: Visit https://www.buschs.com/community and log in to (or create) your *MYWAY account. Then select Cash for Education from the dropdown menu under your name. Select Buchanan Elementary PTA as one of the four organizations you would like to support. 

Follow us on Facebook: @BuchananElementarySchoolPTAContact us via Email: pta.buchanan1@gmail.com

As you know, we are having students take the iReady diagnostic remotely this fall. I know it may be difficult to watch students struggle with the test, but we are asking parents not to assist with the questions. This diagnostic lets teachers know where students are performing and helps guide instruction and also helps determine who will receive interventions. For these reasons, we need an accurate picture of where each child is performing. The same is true for daily remote/virtual instruction. Please assist with technology issues if needed, but let students complete work on their own to help the teacher see where she needs to focus instruction.  Thanks for your help and support!! 

Don't forget that we will still Celebrate Monday each week with a video that will be shared with all our classrooms and posted on our Buchanan Facebook Page. Story Time will continue every Friday night at 7:00 PM on our Buchanan Facebook Page as well. Great things are happening at Buchanan!