Team Awesome!

Coming soon to Arno…

Feb 27

Guyot field trip

Feb 28

Kindergarten presentations

Warneck field trip

March 1

PBIS Board games

Wesley field trip

March 2

Principal’s meeting 9

ICC

PTA meeting 6:30

Spring Pictures

March 3

Super Cougar lunch 11:00

 

MTSS Awesomeness

Thursday convened our newly formed MTSS committee with the overall goal of moving our building forward in the process.  Time flew by, but we managed to address some big topics.  Our accomplishments included:

• Discussion of future data that the district has constructed.  This will be used for future data meetings, of which we are hoping to have at least one this year, perhaps in June.  Dr. Pittman led the team through navigating the excel files, and will share similar info with the entire staff soon.
• In using this data, we have also decided on a system that will identify, using multiple data points, those students who are tier 2 and tier 3.  Once we have this ready for rollout, it will be shared among you all
• The team also broke up into lower/upper and started to building what I would like to call a teacher toolkit for intervention resources and ideas.  There has been some discussion of what we next, how else can we reach this student.  We are now working with the team to get each grade level helpful information on multiple ways you could intervene (it’s not a lockstep doc), giving you the tools to be more successful when you intervene with kids.  We will be looking at the best way to package this resource and roll it out to you in the near future
• We had also discussed, and please watch you email, for a survey for all to share some strategies you have done/seen so that we may add this to our growing list of option.

Thank you all who participated in the discussion for the betterment of Arno.

From the PTA

Puxatony Phil must have gotten this one wrong! What beautiful weather we have had this past week! Come on Spring!!!
Speaking of beautiful….the Founders Day Dinner held at Crystal Park Banquet Center on Thursday night was BEAUTIFUL! So many beautiful people and beautiful words spoken about all of the honorees. Congratulations to all of the winners. You make our community a better place!
A few reminders going into the weekend about our upcoming events….
🌺Our March PTA Meeting will be this Thursday, March 2nd at 630 pm. This is an important meeting for us because we will be submitting a proposal to our members to vote on about how we will distribute our hard earned funds we raised this year. Please consider coming out and placing your vote! As always free childcare will be available.
🌺Daddy/Daughter flyers were distributed. Please remember to RSVP by the deadline, March 31st. This date is FIRM! Don’t miss out spending a great night with your little girl!
Thank you to all the volunteers we had for the book fair! We really appreciate all that you do to help make our school successful.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Congratulations to all of our Arno Award Winners!!

What a nice evening it was at the Founders Award ceremony and dinner this past Wednesday honoring the accomplishments of many of APPS’ finest.  The PTSA kept under wraps their mystery Life Time Award winner- which ended up being our own Michelle Desjardins!  Arno had a great night and as you can see from the photos below- we were blessed with many award winners!  Way to go Team Arno!

\

March is Reading Month

Roll Out the Red Carpet and Read!

March is fast approaching and we are gearing up for a Hollywood theme to this year’s reading month activities.  The calendar is attached below and contains all the info you will need to know about all the happenings here at Arno, and what should be going on at home.

MarchisReadingMonth2017

March is Reading Teacher Information 2017

Bingo fo Books

bingoforbooks2017.doc

 

Daddy/Daughter Info

Please do not forget to send in your Daddy/Daughter Dance RSVP’s! Remember there is a FIRM DEADLINE of March 31st!

This event is being held at Parkside Gardens in Southgate! New revenue+New DJ+New Event Chairs=LOTS OF NEW EXPERIENCES AND FUN!

Arno Dance 2017

PTA-PTSA Council Spring Fever Event – March 18 2017

 From the Red Cross…

Thank you so much for hosting another drive at Arno Elementary.  We truly appreciate your continued partnership with the American Red Cross.

The preliminary results from Thursday, February 16, 2017 are as follows:

23 donors presented to give blood

29 was our projected goal

22 products of life-saving blood were collected

And the most important number of all-66 patient’s lives will be touched by this drive!

Thank you for all that you do to make these drives a success.  Please let me know how many gifts I should order for our students that recruited a donor.  Please pass along our thanks to everyone that was involved.

Best regards,

Beth Harris

Regional Donor Representative

American Red Cross Blood Services

From the District…

M-STEP is approaching

With the onset of M-Step season, I want to bring some items back into focus (although this should be integrated all year).  One of those items is the Depth of Knowledge chart that was originally shared last year in reference to the various levels of questioning that students will likely face in state testing, perhaps even in NWEA.  Last year I also supplied all classrooms with the questioning flip book, which I hope has become a  go-to resource when designing lessons, practice, and discussions.  If your students are not exposed to the various levels of questioning, they will certainly be disadvantaged on certain questions.  Please take some time to review the question template, the resources, and the DOK and consider how you can apply this in math, reading, science, and social studies.

QuestionTemplates

DOK_Chart

 

Check out these great resources to assist in assessing

Edulastic: a digital formative assessment for MSTEP Test Prep
https://www.edulastic.com/

Edulastic Blog:
http://www.oaklandschoolsliteracy.org/edulastic-authentic-m-step-prep/

MAISA Reading/Writing Resources

Interesting PBIS read

IF A CHILD CAN’T READ, WE TEACH HIM TO READ

IF A CHILD CAN’T DO MATH PROBLEMS,

WE TEACH HIM HOW TO DO MATH PROBLEMS

IF A CHILD DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE,

WE PUNISH HIM.

As an emerging social science, restorative practices integrates developments from a variety of disciplines and fields, including education, psychology, social work, criminology, sociology, organizational development and leadership.

Restorative practices has the potential and has begun to influence several areas of need globally. Research, investigation and inquiry are driving theory development and practice enhancement. Some notable areas of influence are:

• U.S. school-to-prison pipeline
• European refugee and transcontinental migration conflict
• Radicalization of youth
• Community policing and use of force

The field of restorative practices is undergoing an evolution in theory development and practice innovation. The IIRP Graduate School is helping to steward the development of this emerging social science and leading innovative civil society projects around the world.

The fundamental premise of restorative practices is that people are happier, more cooperative and productive, and more likely to make positive changes when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them.

Defining Restorative will help you understand the development of the basic framework that led to the creation of the world’s first graduate school wholly dedicated to this new field.

To learn more about Restorative Practice please click the LINK HERE

 

 

 

Coming Soon to Arno…

Feb 20

Winter Break- Enjoy!!!

Feb 21

Winter Break

Feb 22

Schoolwide Title 1 meeting

SIP Meeting 3:45

Founders Day Banquet 6:00

Feb 23

Arno MTSS Group meeting 8:30-3:30 (your subs are covered if you are in the group)

Title 1 parent night at Bennie

Feb 24

Steve @RESA Title 1

 

The Survey Says…

Thank you all for participating in the survey.  Overall we had around 30 responses for staff, 52 for parents, and of course our 3-5 students.  Despite heavy contact, the parent numbers were lower this year, we will have to look at a new way to get the word out next year.  I have pasted the overall average scores for now. we will get into the specifics in the future but overall we have had a very positive experience with all stakeholders and have received many nice comments about the work we do here.

 

From the PTA

If you are interested in donating a basket to be raffled off at the PTSA Spring Fever Craft, Vendor, and Mom-2-Mom Sale on Saturday, March 18th, please contact the PTA through our Facebook page or send us an email: arnopta@gmail.com

We are also in need of a Chairperson for this event too! Arno is in charge of the concession stand that day. If you’re interested in helping your, Super-Awesome President plan the concessions at this event, she would be eternally grateful for your assistance.

We hope everyone has a GREAT EXTENDED WEEKEND! Enjoy your Winter Break!

The Daddy Daughter Dance event is finally here!  Please take a moment to read the event flyer as the location has changed this year.   This memorable event takes a lot of planning and in order to make it a success we will be honoring a FIRM RSVP DEADLINE. The deadline for RSVP’S will be MARCH 31st.  Look for the ticket form to come home with your child, or download it below.

Arno Dance 2017

Teachers, please help stress that No late RSVP’S will be accepted beyond MARCH 31st

 

Twitter- Please let me know if you would like any help setting up an account and/or let me know if you have a handle I can get published out there…

 

M-STEP is approaching

With the onset of M-Step season, I want to bring some items back into focus (although this should be integrated all year).  One of those items is the Depth of Knowledge chart that was originally shared last year in reference to the various levels of questioning that students will likely face in state testing, perhaps even in NWEA.  Last year I also supplied all classrooms with the questioning flip book, which I hope has become a  go-to resource when designing lessons, practice, and discussions.  If your students are not exposed to the various levels of questioning, they will certainly be disadvantaged on certain questions.  Please take some time to review the question template, the resources, and the DOK and consider how you can apply this in math, reading, science, and social studies.

QuestionTemplates

DOK_Chart

 

Check out these great resources to assist in assessing

Edulastic: a digital formative assessment for MSTEP Test Prep
https://www.edulastic.com/

Edulastic Blog:
http://www.oaklandschoolsliteracy.org/edulastic-authentic-m-step-prep/

MAISA Reading/Writing Resources

 

 

How to Insert Videos Into Google Slides Without Using YouTube

 From the District…

 

Looking for new books to add to your library?

Thirty-Four Picture Books

That Support Social-Emotional Learning

In this School Library Journal feature, the editors provide a “starter collection” of picture books that build the skills of identifying and processing emotions, being aware of oneself and others, controlling impulses, appreciating and embracing different perspectives, demonstrating empathy, building relationships, and making good decisions. Here’s the list:

–   Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony (Scholastic, 2014)

–   Boats for Papa by Jessixa Bagley (Roaring Book, 2015)

–   Sam’s Pet Temper by Sangeeta Bhadra (Kids That Can, 2014)

–   Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña (Putnam, 2015)

–   How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham (Candlewick, 2008)

–   Thanks a Million by Nikki Grimes (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2006)

–   Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2015)

–   Waiting by Kevin Henkes (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2015)

–   I Like Being Me: Poems About Kindness, Friendship, and Making Good Choices by Judy Lalli (Free Spirit, 2016)

–   The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig (Knopf, 2013)

–   The Honest-to-Goodness Truth by Patricia McKissack (Aladdin, 2003)

–   Move Your Mood by Brenda Miles and Colleen Patterson (Magination, 2016)

–   Wild Feelings by David Milgrim (Hold, 2015)

–   Enemy Pie by Derek Munson (Chronicle, 2000)

–   Zen Shorts by Jon Muth (Scholastic, 2005)

–   I’m New Here by Anne Sibley O’Brien (Charlesbridge, 2015)

–   Why Am I Here? by Constance Orbeck-Nilssen (Eerdmans, 2016)

–   One by Kathryn Otoshi (KO Kids, 2008)

–   The Feelings Book by Todd Parr (Little, Brown 2005)

–   The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown, 2009)

–   Ish by Peter Reynolds (Candlewick, 2004)

–   A World of Pausabilities: An Exercise in Mindfulness by Frank Sileo (Magination, 2017)

–   Anh’s Anger by Gail Silver (Plum Blossom, 2009)

–   The Dark by Lemony Snicket (Little, Brown, 2013)

–   The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires (Kids Can, 2014)

–   Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas (S. & S./Beach Lane, 2011)

–   The Forgiveness Garden by Lauren Thompson (Feiwel & Friends, 2012)

–   Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuth (Abrams, 2014)

–   Sometimes I’m Bombaloo by Rachel Vail (Scholastic, 2005)

–   And Two Boys Booed by Judith Viorst (Farrar, 2014)

–   A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2007)

–   Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson (Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Books, 2012)

–   Hooray for Hat! By Brian Won (HMH, 2014)

–   Jack’s Worry by Sam Zuppardi (Candlewick, 2016)

 

 

4th grade rocks out their PLC model of collaboration

Coming Soon to Arno…

Feb 13

Ad Council 9:00

Spring Book Fair Week

Feb 14

Happy Valentines Day!

Feb 15

P/T Conferences 4:30-7:30

Feb 16

Blood Drive All Day

P/T Conferences 4:30-7:30

Feb 17

From the PTA

If you are interested in donating a basket to be raffled off at the PTSA Spring Fever Craft, Vendor, and Mom-2-Mom Sale on Saturday, March 18th, please contact the PTA through our Facebook page or send us an email: arnopta@gmail.com

We are also in need of a Chairperson for this event too! Arno is in charge of the concession stand that day. If you’re interested in helping your, Super-Awesome President plan the concessions at this event, she would be eternally grateful for your assistance.

We hope everyone has a GREAT WEEKEND! We have another exciting week ahead of us!

Daddy Daughter Dance Time

 

The Daddy Daughter Dance event is finally here!  Please take a moment to read the event flyer as the location has changed this year.   This memorable event takes a lot of planning and in order to make it a success we will be honoring a FIRM RSVP DEADLINE. The deadline for RSVP’S will be MARCH 31st.  Look for the ticket form to come home with your child, or download it below.

Arno Dance 2017

Teachers, please help stress that No late RSVP’S will be accepted beyond MARCH 31st

 

Remember to always actively engage your learners…

 

Discovery Education is here!!
Current Users – Usernames and Passwords* Your educators’ usernames and passwords have not changed.  Should anyone have forgotten their login credentials, please have them click the link here to reset: Forgot username/password   2. New User Information* New users can get started by following the three easy steps below to create their individual user accounts from their school’s unique 8-character passcode. 1. Go to http://www.discoveryeducation.com 2. Select the Passcode/Create New User link at the top of the screen and enter your school’s unique 8-character passcode where prompted 3. Click Submit to create a user account and password

Get Started – Integration Ideas for All of Your Users:

Whether your teachers are new to the service or seasoned users, our recently launched Interactive Training Modules are a great refresher on the service providing tips, tricks, and practical integration strategies for using our digital resources.   Modules include:

• My DE Great place for users to get started!  Get familiar with all the tools available as part of your subscription, how to search, and more

• Digital Integration (for use of video, audio and images)

• The Student Experience

• DE Builder Tools

• The Discovery Education Community

• Literacy Strategies

• Assessment Strategies

• FLIPping the Classroom

Educators who complete the modules also receive certificates of completion that may be able to be applied towards Professional Development Credit.

Board Builder

Most Popular! Did you know that your teachers and students can be producers of content? Students love Board Builder, a tool that allows them to create virtual project boards using multimedia and text to synthesize their thinking and provide evidence of their understanding of a concept or problem. View these teacher-created guides into using Board Builder in your classroom – perfect for independent learning and small group projects.

Spotlight on Strategies

Our Discovery Educator Network Community continues to build out their series of S.O.S.  (Spotlight on Strategies) instructional strategies within Discovery Education Streaming that incorporate digital media in meaningful, effective, and practical ways.  Try a Strategy and leave a comment telling your peers how you used it with your students.

 

Professional Learning Experience Opportunity

As we will soon have Discovery Education in our building, this may be of great interest to you.  Please let me know if you would like to get into this cohort:

DEN Ambassador Recruiting Flyer 2017

Check out these great resources to assist in assessing

Edulastic: a digital formative assessment for MSTEP Test Prep
https://www.edulastic.com/

Edulastic Blog:
http://www.oaklandschoolsliteracy.org/edulastic-authentic-m-step-prep/

MAISA Reading/Writing Resources

Don’t miss our Book Fair

Don’t miss out on next week’s book fair featuring a fun camp theme.  There will a huge assortment of great titles and will be the last book fair for this school year.  The book fair will also be open both conference nights from 4:30-7:30.  Also, please remember that the PTA is hosting a small breakfast on Monday at 7:30 for you to preview and select books for parents to donate.

 

Parent/Teacher Conferences 

Please let me know as move closer if there is anything I can do for you in prep for conferences, or if you are in need of my presence at any conference.

I will supply a pizza/salad dinner on Wed at 3:45 for anyone who is interested.  Please let Cathy know if you would like to have dinner.

 

BMX Assembly Dazzles

Once a contestant on America’s Got Talent, Matt Wilhelm came to Arno with a positive message of believing in yourself and a solid anti-bully message.  Matt performed some fantastic moves and even did a daring jump over Mr. Trionfi and Mr. Zielinski!

Arno Spirit Week culminates with a pie in the face

Parent Surveys

The following is in the Parent blog, please share out in your communications as well so we can boost participation.

It’s that time of year already in our school improvement planning where we need to send out surveys to our Arno stakeholders.  You will have the opportunity to take a brief survey from the State of Michigan rating some of your experiences here at Arno.  The survey will be available  Jan 27 to Feb. 10.  We will be providing the link to it via email blast on that day, as well as posting it in the blog below.  If you are unable to access via computer, we will also have a computer set up in the office if you wish to take it there.  Giving us good feedback helps us plan better to meet the needs of every Cougar stakeholder.  In addition, students and staff also take a similar survey during the school day.

All of the feedback you provide is then summarized and becomes part of our school improvement plan for the 2017-18 school year.  Thank you very much, please click on the link to start the survey:

http://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/14926/20337

Fun Fair Memories

Thank you so much to all of our families and volunteers who came out to enjoy some fun and friends at Arno’s annual fun fair to benefit our scholarship fun.  In total we raised over $2500! Way to go Cougars!!!

Arno Blood Drive

Please see the flyer below if you are interested in participating in our annual blood drive

Blood drive

 

Staff and Students share their love for Arno 

Coming Soon to Arno…

Feb 6

Spirit Week- Arno/AP wear

MTSS meetings per schedule

BMX Bike assembly 3-5 1:15

Feb 7

Spirit Week- Pajama day

Data meeting with Phil- Steve

Math in Focus training 3rd grade at Riley

Feb 8

Spirit Week- mis-match

Math in Focus training 4th grade at Riley

PBIS meeting 3:45

Feb 9

Spirit Week- Rainbow colors per flyer

Math in Focus training 5th grade at Riley

Teacher eval committee 4:00

Feb 10

Spirit Week- Favorite sports teams

Pie Assembly 2:00 K-5

 

From the PTA

Happy Healthy Heart Month! Red is symbolic for love and health and we have many events in the month of February that remind us of these two! 

Our Happy Camper Scholastic Bookfair will be kicking off the week of February 12th. Look for information to come home early next week about our book fair!

On Thursday, February 16th, from 1:00-7:00 pm,  come be a “Pint-Sized Hero” and help your school and community out by donating blood. The American Red Cross will be on hand to host and deliver delicious juice and cookies to those that donate. 

Just because the Lions didn’t make The Super Bowl this year, doesn’t mean you still can’t have a Super Bowl Party! Remember to shop at Kroger with your linked Kroger Card to benefit your school! 

Also, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and maybe your students class is having a party? Kroger has great deals on treats and Valentine’s for friends and maybe even a Special Teacher. If you can’t find what you need at Kroger, Amazon Smiles will probably have what you’re looking for! When you shop at either place, it helps benefit your school!

If you have a 5th Grader at Arno, Mrs. Hool needs your help! She’s trying to put together a photo collage for the outgoing 5th Graders and needs a parent volunteer to help her out. She will provide the photos, but she needs your help organizing them and creating that special, tear-jerking, photo collage. If you’re interested or would like more information about the project, please contact Mrs. Hool at: hool@appublicschools.com. 

Have a great weekend and remember that Monday, February 6th is the beginning of Spirit Week, so dress your Caring Cougar in their Arno Spirit Wear!

BMX Anti-bullying Assembly Feb 6 Grades 3-5

We are excited to bring in Matt Wilhelm into our district as he will be doing shows for Arno, Lindemann and APMS.  Here at Arno, we will start our assembly for grades 3-5 at 1:15, lasting around 45 minutes.

 

Spirit Week

 

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Winter conferences are coming up quick on February 15 and 16 from 5:00-7:30 each night.

The links have gone live on the blog as of today.  Please be sure to also share that with your parent communication, and be clear on you wish to have a conference with so you don’t end up with mass sign-ups.  Please let me know in advance if you would like me to sit in on a conference.

 

Survey Time

The survey for staff opens today and runs through Feb 10. Please take a few moments to complete the survey to help us better improve our school.  The student survey will be done in the lab Grades 3-5 with Carrie, the parent survey also goes live today.  Thanks for your participation! (To date, we only have 2 staff members who have completed the survey)

http://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/14928/20337

 

Arno Blood Drive

Please see the flyer below if you are interested in participating in our annual blood drive

Blood drive

 

Just a reminder- please be sure to indicate when your room completed the NWEA.

Huge thanks to Rachel for hosting many make ups throughout the process!!!

 

MSTEP Item Samples for Practice

Practice:  https://wbte.drcedirect.com/MI/portals/mi/

 

Mid-Year Review Survey Results 

Thank you for your participation!

 

PBIS

Arno Cougars were getting their energy out last Friday when we had a guest instructor come in for The January PBIS reward, which was Zumba.  As you can see below, it was a great, healthy way to celebrate our positive behavior.

 

100% Book Return Club

We are so proud of our many Arno students that are celebrating having 100% book return!  Including students from Ms. DiCarlo, Mrs. Higgins, Mrs. Schultz, Mrs. Wesley, Mr. Trionfi, Mrs. Hool, and Mr. Creutz!  Great job!

Great Tweet from Marzano