May the luck of the Irish be with you!
Coming up at Arno…
March 14
Spirit Weal Fundraiser Kickoff
Ad Council 9:00
Board Presentation- 7:00 At APHS
March 15
SIP District Meeting- Sarah, Carrie, Steve All day
Teacher Eval Committee- Carrie 3:00
March 16
All Day Building SIP meeting Sarah, Carrie, Steve
4th Grade Science meeting A.M.
5th grade Science Meeting P.M.
March 17
Happy St. Patty’s Day!
Tornado Drill A..M.
Lunch Para Meeting 1:15
March 18
NO SCHOOL- Teacher PD
New Arno Vision
The vote to choose a new Vision direction for Arno has ended. With the majority choosing the first entry- which was word smithed with a collection of terms from the group developed statements. 67% of the Arno staff chose the following Vision to guide our steps in the next few years. The remainder of the votes were dispersed among the other choices.
Arno Elementary will provide a system of support to empower and inspire students to become collaborative learners that strive for academic excellence.
Look for more information related to our new vision in the coming months- this will also be in effect for our upcoming QAR
A look at the numbers: They are in order from the survey questions.
Board of Ed Meeting
Monday’s Board meeting will feature all of the elementary buildings presentation on our current status of the SIP plan and associated data. We would love to see you come out and support your chairs!
The other agenda item for the night will be adopting Singapore Math as the new new math series (not curriculum) for the elementary schools. This has been an exciting process and I know we are all eager to get some training and see what it has to offer our students.
SIP Board Presentation March 2016
Teacher Eval Committee
This week will make the first meeting of a newly formed committee that will be having open discussions on what changes the state has made to the teacher evaluation system and what that means to Allen Park Public schools. Carrie Solak will represent Arno at the meeting.
Absence
As you know Aesop has improved a lot this year in terms of coverage. The district does, however, ask you get your absence in when you need time off as early as possible so we can get those posted for people to pick up the job. Thank for your help in ensuring we have our building covered.
Spirit Wear Online Fundraiser
It’s back by popular demand- Arno Spirit sale kickoff is this Monday, March 14. Awesome news- if you purchase from 3/14-3/28, you will get free shipping so be sure to order your spirit wear now! The site link is below, I am also adding it to the right side bar so you can go on anytime (even past this sale) and order Arno wear.
MiStar DNA
We recently had an initial introduction to MiStar DNA (works along with Gradebook), which is a system that serves as a data warehouse, provides awesome data reports, allows a user to create assessments aligned to standards (has an item bank as well), and allows users to create a bubble sheet that can quickly be scanned and corrected-giving the user countless pieces of data and exit slips for students.
At this point, the district is going with a train-the-trainer model, with our 2 reps being Brian and Megan. As we know there are many new things going on, this will paced appropriately and training will be available when time allows for it. Stay tuned as we move forward into next year training with our reps.
PTA March Newsletter
Please enjoy News from your Arno PTA…
External Review (QAR)
We have now finalized the dates for our external review, which will be Oct. 9-12. These dates are when the team is in town, not necessarily at Arno. The SIP team will be working hard to meet all of the requirements, which we can hopefully accomplish all before school let’s out. Stay tuned for more info and what we may need from everyone moving forward.
Arno Green School Designation
Congrats! Once again thanks to Arno’s attention to the environment, we have once again achieved Michigan Evergreen Status! Thanks to Carrie and Jeff for their work in this area! The email from the county:
“Congratulations! Because of the hard work from the teachers, students and parents, Arno Elementary School has received the 2016 Michigan Evergreen School designation, by completing at least 20 energy saving and environmental tasks. The efforts you made to complete the tasks are very impressive. I urge Arno Elementary School to continue with the energy saving and environmental tasks and hope you encourage others to follow. “
-Nancy Gregor
Wayne County Michigan Green School Co-coordinator
Star Wars Door Decorating Winners are…
Congratulations to Mrs. Schultz, Ms. Yesh, and Mrs. Jensen for winning this year’s March Door Decorating contest! The winning classrooms will receive a delicious ice cream sandwich.
March is Reading Month
We have had great success so far this month in filling our our reading logs for prizes and stickers. I would like to encourage all of our students to read, read, read and get those logs in next Monday for our next Star Wars reward! This past Monday, those who turned in their logs received a cool Star Wars pencil, with a Star Wars bookmark coming up next week. In the meantime we have some more guest readers coming to Arno, and some fun activities coming up:
Wear It Wednesdays:
Every Wednesday during March students can wear it and read it!
*March 16th – “Be a word” day! Wear a word pinned to the front of your shirt. Pin the definition on the back.
School-wide DEAR: (Drop Everything and Read) Students will read every Tuesday and Thursday morning in their classrooms.
Book Commercials: Different books commercials will be presented during morning announcements.
“Caught Reading” Bulletin: Students will try to “get caught reading” at home and/or school and have their photograph taken and displayed in the hall.
Teacher Reading Swap: Teachers will read to different classrooms.
Culminating Read-a-Thon: Monday, March 21st. As a celebration to end MIRM, kids can wear their pajamas and bring in their favorite books/magazines. –
Author Visit: Paul Orshoski – March 24th
May the Force Be With You!
March Guest Readers
Mr. Creutz’s father reading to Mrs. Haskin’s class
Dr. Sturock and Sara Metzger came in to share their favorite books with our Cougars!
Bingo for Books
A big thank you to Melissa for organizing our Bingo for books and all of the staff that attended to assist. It was really a fun time and the kids had great big smiles all the way around! Thanks for all you do for our kids!
MSTEP UPDATE
New student link for practice tests: http://bit.ly/arnomstep
Teachers who will be administering the M-STEP to students: Please make sure that you (and your students) have thoroughly experienced the different test types in the sample item sets. The CAT sections of ELA and Math have a slightly different format than the fixed form Performance Tasks and Science and Social Studies tests. On the fixed form tests, students do have the opportunity to review their answers before ending the test, and the grid will show any unanswered questions. The CAT tests do not allow students to move on without answering. The difference is important to note. The student tutorial videos do show this, so please utilize these resources.
** Also, in the Performance Tasks, students are expected to go back and forth between parts of the question, on different pages, to use information they have already answered for future responses. Students are capable of this, but please ensure that you practice this so they are familiar with the process.
Please check out the updates below from this week’s Spotlight. It was great to read that the state’s recommendations are exactly what we had discussed doing during our MSTEP Teacher Training last week! Spotlight 3-3-16
Help Your Students Prepare for the Online M-STEP
The Office of Standards and Assessment (OSA) has created multiple resources for students taking the Spring 2016 M-STEP online. OSA recommends the following resource sequence:
1) Classroom teachers show the online assessment tutorial to their class as a whole so students gain a general understanding of how the online system works, followed by
2) viewing the computer adaptive test videos to familiarize teachers and students on how a computer adaptive test functions; the videos may be delivered either as a classroom presentation or students may watch the videos individually via their testing device, and ending with
3) students are given the opportunity to log into the sample item sets using the testing device they will use during the actual test.
Resources Described
1) Online Assessment Tutorials are posted on eDirect (https://mi.drcedirect.com) → Test Setup → General Information, select the Test Tutorials tab, then select the Play button in the Action column. There are 3 test tutorial options: M-STEP, MI-Access, and Early Literacy and Mathematics (K-2).
2) Computer Adaptive Test Videos for ELA and mathematics demonstrate how to navigate the computer adaptive tests (CAT), which is different than how the ELA and mathematics tests functioned last spring. These two important videos can be accessed on the M-STEP webpage (www.michigan.gov/mstep), located in the What’s New section. (Continued on next page) on Student Assessment and Accountability March 3, 2016 Quick Links / SAT Corner / ACT WorkKeys / Important Dates 3 Spotlight
3) Sample Item Sets for the Spring 2016 M-STEP for students in grades 3–8, and 11 are a select group of test items in English language arts (ELA), mathematics, science, and social studies that encompass different item types, such as multiple choice, constructed response, and various kinds of technology-enhanced items. The sets provide students practice in solving grade-level and content-specific test items aligned to Michigan’s content standards. Since the item sets are embedded in the online test engine used to deliver state assessments, students will develop familiarity with taking tests online while they practice using the test engine’s online tools and navigation buttons. The Sample Item Sets are contained within the Online Tools Training (OTT) component.
Students needing designated supports and/or accommodations on state assessments can practice using the Grade 3 ELA M-STEP Sample Item Set with accommodations. The Grade 3 ELA M-STEP Sample Item Set with Accommodations demonstrates some of the available online embedded accommodations and designated supports such as Text-To-Speech (TTS), Color Chooser, Contrasting Text, Masking, and Reverse Contrast. Educators and students can access the online Sample Item Sets at school using a Chrome browser (https:// wbte.drcedirect.com/MI/portals/mi/ott1) or INSIGHT* (the online testing platform).
Parents and students can also access the online sets available through the Chrome browser from home (the test functionality requires the use of Chrome). NOTE: The Sample Items Sets are not considered “Practice Tests,” as a practice test implies a test with the same number of items and similar level of difficulty as an actual test. *The Grade 3 ELA M-STEP Accommodated and TTS versions of the sample sets are only available using INSIGHT.
K-2 ASSESSMENTS
HOME BOUND TEACHERS NEEDED
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie…
CUAA Tuition Discount Available
SAFETY TOWN
Who: Kindergarten to 1st Grade in September 2016
When: Session (A) June 20 -June 30 (9:00am to 11:30am)
Session (B) June 20-June 30 (12:30pm to 3:00pm)
Where: Lindemann Elementary (9201 Carter, Allen Park)
A registration form will be sent home with your child the first week of April. Walk-in registration will also be available at the Allen Park Recreation Center Lobby on April 11th from 4-6 p.m.
Safety Town is an interactive safety awareness program for children from 5-6 years of age. Each day the children will be introduced to various safety issues in a fun and safe environment. The program is taught by a Police Officer and a certified teacher, with hands-on topics led by community guest speakers as well as visits from the Allen Park Police & Fire Departments. Teen volunteers from Allen Park High School lead the children through safety town every day and receive valuable training along with obtaining National Honor Society service hours. The children learn about stranger danger, water and beach as well as playground safety, fire safety, pet and bus safety, electrical and gun safety, personal safety with an emphasis on pedestrian safety. The kids will be bicycling about a miniature town complete with streets, sidewalks, buildings, stop signs and a working traffic signal. Importance is placed on having the children memorize a cell phone number to call if they should ever become lost. We use fun songs to reinforce all of these principles and the children memorize our very own Safety Town Pledge!
3rd Grade Maple Tapping (Yummy) and field trip to U of M
