Friday, April 30, 2021

The Real Heroes

Hi folks, Jon Wennstrom here! This week we celebrated National Superhero Day with dressing up and having a little fun. As much as I like superheroes, the real-life heroes that inspire me are the teachers and staff members at Buchanan. Each day they dedicate themselves to doing what's best for students and tirelessly work to make sure every child succeeds. Thank you teachers for all you do!


Please remember there is NO SCHOOL for students on Tuesday, May 4. The building will be a voting location for the 2021 Bond Proposal. Be sure to vote on Tuesday! 



PTA POINTS

  • Teacher Appreciation: Teacher Appreciation Week starts Monday, May 3. We want to help our students show their appreciation by providing a "survey" about their teacher. Please print the survey (attached to Mr. Wennstrom's email) and have your student fill it out and turn it in to his/her teacher (in person or via email). Students are welcome to fill out surveys for other staff members in the building as well (e.g., specials teachers, support staff, custodians, etc.) We hope this helps bring smiles to the faces of our wonderful staff!
  • PTA Membership: It's not too late to become a PTA member! Membership does not require anything from you other than the $7.00 membership fee, but it gives you a voice in decisions affecting our school, staff, and students and shows your support for our school, staff, and students. Purchase your membership here: https://buchanan.new.memberhub.store/store
  • Follow the PTA on Facebook: @BuchananElementarySchoolPTA
  • Next PTA Meeting: Tuesday, June 8



CONGRATULATIONS to our Students of the Month for CONFIDENCE! 

Kindergarten

Mrs. Stromberg - Aleister S. 

Mrs. Pillai - Marcella F. 

Mrs. McGuigan - Hailey E. 

Ms. Haapala - Evelyn H. 


First Grade

Mrs. Jones - Aubrey E. 

Mrs. Hurula - Harper M. 

Mrs. Kamin - Addison K. 

Mrs. Hochkins - Natalie K. 

Mrs. Sparrow - Kleanthi B. 


Second Grade

Mrs. Gruenewald - Daniel B.

Mrs. Benson - Pavlos T. 

Mrs. Drolet - Asad H. 

Ms. Adams - Tyler A. 

Mrs. Tanner - Everett K. 


Third Grade

Ms. Yost - Evan T. 

Mrs. Duff - Joshua T. 

Mrs. Allmayer - Josie K. 

Mrs. Trantham - Lena P. 

Mrs. Edwards - Payton C. 


Fourth Grade

Mrs. Ringer - Harmony B. 

Ms. Kaufman - Brody M.

Ms. Medellin - Lauren G. 

Mrs. Banter - Aiden M. 

Miss Brown - Nickolas M.





Buchanan Elementary would like to thank our Livonia Department of Parks and Recreation for the gift of paper birch seedlings for our fourth grade students. What a great way to celebrate Arbor Day and encourage our youth to plant a tree and care for our environment. Great things are happening at Buchanan! 


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Friday, April 23, 2021

Earth Day

Hi folks, Jon Wennstrom here! Although we celebrated Earth Day this week, we try to make every day Earth Day at Buchanan. We cultivate our Buchanan Oasis Garden with flowers and plants native to Michigan, we recycle daily, and we teach our students the importance of caring for our planet. It was great to see our students doing so many neat projects and I know our planet is in good hands with the students we have at Buchanan! 



Don't forget to Vote on May 4th and remember the students will not have school that day to allow for voters in the building. 


PTA POINTS

  • 2021-2022 PTA Executive Board: Elections for the Buchanan PTA Executive Board for the 2021-2022 school year were held at the PTA meeting on April 20. Congratulations and welcome to next year's board:

President: Valerie Jackson

1st Vice President: Mary Anne LaCaprara

2nd Vice President: Amy Oppie

Treasurer: Amy Owens

Recording Secretary: Katie Klann

Corresponding Secretary: Jill Allevato

  • Teacher Appreciation: Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up (the week of May 3). The PTA has plans to show our wonderful staff how much we appreciate them throughout the month of May, but we thought it would be helpful to re-share the Staff Gift Guide we shared during the holiday season with our families who may want to show their favorite staff members their appreciation. The Staff Gift Guide is attached to Mr. Wennstrom's email.
  • PTA Membership: It's not too late to become a PTA member! Membership does not require anything from you other than the $7.00 membership fee, but it gives you a voice in decisions affecting our school, staff, and students and shows your support for our school, staff, and students. Purchase your membership here: https://buchanan.new.memberhub.store/store
  • Follow the PTA on Facebook: @BuchananElementarySchoolPTA
  • Next PTA Meeting: Tuesday, June 8

We celebrated Administrative Professionals Day this week as well! How lucky we are to have Mrs. Pepple and Mrs. Flack in our main office! 


Livonia Virtual Elementary 2021-2022

This weekend you will receive another correspondence regarding Livonia Virtual(LV) 2021-2022 at the Elementary level along with the election link.  Please carefully review all LV materials prior to consideration of Livonia Virtual for your student.  If you request your child to have in-person instruction for the next year, there is no need to complete any forms.  They will automatically be enrolled for in-person instruction.

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Friday, April 16, 2021

Looking to the future

Hi folks, Jon Wennstrom here! We had our incoming Kindergarten parent information night this week and I was so excited to welcome our newest members of the Buchanan community! It's hard to believe that we are preparing to welcome the class of 2034 into our building. The virtual event was recorded and can be found our our Buchanan webpage. One of the exciting things about the world of education is that we are always looking to the future and always ready to welcome new students and families into our school! Great things are happening at Buchanan! 



LAST CHANCE FOR BOOKS! 

There are still a few sets of books available from author Dennis Mathew.  Payment must be in the form of a check made out to Dennis Mathew. You may purchase one book for $12 or the set for $20. This is a first come first serve opportunity and good while books are available.



PTA POINTS

  • PTA Meeting: Please join us on Tuesday, April 20 at 7:00pm for our April PTA meeting. We will be holding elections for the 2021-2022 PTA Board. Zoom info below:
  • Topic: Buchanan PTA Meeting
  • Time: Apr 20, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
  • Join Zoom Meeting


Meeting ID: 843 3328 3094
Passcode: 0JgcSW

  • PTA Membership: It's not too late to become a PTA member! Membership does not require anything from you other than the $7.00 membership fee, but it gives you a voice in decisions affecting our school, staff, and students and shows your support for our school, staff, and students. Purchase your membership here: https://buchanan.new.memberhub.store/store
  • Follow the PTA on Facebook: @BuchananElementarySchoolPTA

Congratulations to Mrs. Parnell! She is this year’s recipient of the Wayne County Parent Advisory Committee (WCPAC) Special Recognition Award!! She will receive her award on May 20th during the virtual award ceremony and we are very excited for her!!


Buchanan will begin M-Step testing for our 3rd and 4th grade students the week of April 26. Your child's teacher will be sending home a testing calendar for their classroom. If you have any questions, please contact your child's teacher. Thank you for your continued support! 

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Friday, April 9, 2021

Flexibility

Hi folks, Jon Wennstrom here! With the year we have had with Covid and all the mitigation factors that come with it, the most important quality in the educational world has been flexibility. From remote to in-person instruction, from virtual assemblies to calendar changes, we have made changes as necessary, but still managed to provide a quality education for our students. For that flexibility from both staff and families, I am very proud of our Buchanan Team! Thank you for your continued support and flexibility this year. It is appreciated!

CALENDAR CHANGE

Please note that the teacher Professional Development day has been moved from Friday, April 30 to Tuesday, May 4 to coincide with the Bond Voting Day. Students will have school on Friday, April 30 and will NOT have school on Tuesday, May 4. 

We recently had a virtual assembly with acclaimed author Dennis Mathew. We have a very limited number of his books at the school that may be purchased by Buchanan Families. To order copies of the books please fill out the form attached to this email and return to your student’s classroom teacher with a check. Livonia Virtual families may turn in a form and check tomorrow (Friday, April 9) during your materials pick up. Payment must be in the form of a check made out to Dennis Mathew. You may purchase one book for $12 or the set for $20. This is a first come, first serve event and valid only as long as supplies last. If interested, please return form with payment to your child's teacher ASAP. Thank you!

PTA POINTS

  • Read-A-Thon: Thank you to everyone who participated in the Buchanan Read-A-Thon! Students who earned prizes should have received them this week - either sent home in their backpack or along with their materials at Materials Pickup. Raffle prize winners will be drawn during next week's Celebrate Monday video. 
  • LAST CALL for Yearbooks: Today, Friday, April 9 is the last day to order your yearbook. https://ybpay.lifetouch.com (Yearbook ID: 1643321).
  • PTA Membership: It's not too late to become a PTA member! Membership does not require anything from you other than the $7.00 membership fee, but it gives you a voice in decisions affecting our school, staff, and students and shows your support for our school, staff, and students. Purchase your membership here: https://buchanan.new.memberhub.store/store
  • Follow the PTA on Facebook: @BuchananElementarySchoolPTA
  • Next PTA Meeting: Tuesday, April 20

Dear Parents of Third and Fourth Grade Students,

We will be administering the M-STEP test this year for our students. In person students will take the test in their classrooms using Chromebooks and Livonia Virtual students will be invited in at designated times to use our computer lab with their classroom teacher. The window for testing will be Monday, April 26 through May 14. Our hope is to have the majority of our students finished the first two weeks. 

We will be sending out testing schedules by the end of next week and lab times for our Livonia Virtual Students. LV students will need to be transported to and from the school and students will need to wear a mask while in the building. For those families that wish to opt out of the testing this year, there is a form on our Buchanan web page that you may fill out digitally. Again, more information will come out in a week, but we wanted to update our families of our plan to move forward with testing. Thank you for your continued support!

We will be hosting a VIRTUAL parent information night for incoming Kindergarten parents on Wednesday, April 14 at 6:00 PM. 

Also, Buchanan Elementary has been selected as one of three schools in Livonia to be featured in a new Kindergarten Video. We will have camera crews outside the school on Tuesday morning, April 13 to see the busses coming into the school and will be visiting our Kindergarten classrooms that morning. So if you see video cameras on Tuesday morning, know that they are capturing some of the great things happening at Buchanan!! 


Hello, Heart Heroes! Which character is your favorite Heart Hero this year? Can you remember

each character’s heart healthy message? Now it’s time to go online and take the challenge!

PLUS you get a free wristband just for signing up with Jump Rope For Heart! JRFH Link



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