Have a Happy Easter Arno!

Coming soon to Arno…

April 17

Ad Council 9:00

April 18

Staff Meeting 7:55

April 19

School Wide Title I Meeting

SIP Meeting 3:45

PTA Yogurt Town Fundraiser

6th Grade Parent Orientation Night at APMS

April 20

Fire Drill A.M.

Bid Pool 4:00

April 21

Report Cards Go Home

Daddy Daughter Dance 6:00

From the PTA

Hoppy Easter! We hope everyone enjoys the extended holiday weekend!  A few reminders of our events we have coming up tonight and when we return:

Tonight is our PTA Meeting in the cafeteria at 6:30. We will be electing our Executive Board and have a presentation by Mr. Michael Porter about possibly bring a Lego Robotics Club here to Arno. Please join us for these events and many other updates tonight!

When we return from Break, we have 3 VERY important events happening at Arno and Around Town:

Wednesday, April 19th is our Yogurttown Fundraiser at the Yogurttown on the Hill. Information will be coming home with students on Monday, April 17th!

Thursday, April 20th we have a 5th Grade Graduation Parent Meeting scheduled for 6 pm in the Cafeteria for those interested in planning the event or would just like information in general.

Friday, April 21st is our Daddy/Daughter Dance at Parkside Gardens in Southgate! We look forward to seeing all the Dad’s and Daughters at this annual event. Tickets will be distributed the week of the dance!

Good Luck to all of our Arno Run Club participants as they take on the Martian Mile, Saturday, April 22nd!

Have a Great Weekend and we hope to see many of you at our meeting tonight!

M-STEP Parent Info

As you all know, the M-STEP window opens this week.  This is the start of the window that lasts until the end of May and assesses English Language Arts, Math, Science (4th) and Social Studies (5th).  During this time, it is critical to have your child in school for their testing dates.  We do offer make-ups, but testing with their peers is a more beneficial environment.

It is also very important that your child gets plenty of sleep, has a good breakfast, and has a snack to eat if/when the class takes a break.  I am so very confident that our students are going to master this test and improve on our previous year’s scores!  Should you have any questions, please contact the classroom teacher or the office.

I will post the scheduled days for testing that week, as well as the grade level.  In the meantime, please take a moment to read a letter addressed to parents from our new State Superintendent.

Please also see the information below for future testing dates:

4/18- 5th Grade Math Assessment

4/20- 5th Grade Math Performance Task

4/25- 5th grade Social Studies Part 1 and 2

Parent_Letter_032417_jl_555114_7

REPORT CARDS

The Report Card window is currently open.  Please be sure to complete student report cards by April 19, for report cards to be distributed on Friday, April 21.

Twitter Ideas…

Earth-Friendly Ideas. https://t.co/cLMC4wqNmI #edchat #elemchat #1stchat #2ndchat #crafts #arts #earthday pic.twitter.com/nA6sBsYIgr

— internet4classrooms (@internet4classr) April 13, 2017

What do we do when we finish early? We research a topic on Wonderopolis and create a Google Slide to share our new knowledge! pic.twitter.com/vR2zvN3zM0

— Steven Kiss (@MrKissUpdates) April 13, 2017

Make Your Lessons Memorable with the Texting Story App

from http://www.thetechieteacher.net/

Are you constantly trying to jazz up your lessons and engage your students? I know I am always on the hunt for new, innovative ideas to bring to the classroom that will excite learners of all levels.

Several years ago Catherine Reed from Brown Bag Teacher wrote a blog post entitled Using Fake Texts to Connect with and Engage Students. As soon as I saw her ideas, I lit up! Today’s students would be all over her activities. After all, I saw my students WANT TO LEARN when I used my Making Inferences with Text Messages Task Cards that are in the shape of an iPhone as well as my ConTEXT Clues worksheets. That’s right, I DO have printable products in my TpT Store. 💁 I strongly believe that classrooms need to have a balance of digital activities as well as paper/utensil activities.

ANYWAY…Catherine mentions how teachers can use the iFake Text Generator for:

• Morning Meeting Messages
• Reading Journals
• Introduce/Review Vocabulary

So fun!

After seeing Catherine’s post, I did a lesson with a 2nd grade class who used the iFakeText Generator to write a conversation between George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as if they were alive today. They LOVED it. It required A LOT of thinking for those 2nd graders to weave in as much information as possible but it ended up being a wonderful activity.

iFakeText Generator Example

THEN..last week..I saw a Facebook post from TechChef4u that was advertising the FREE app, Texting Story. Once again, I lit up!

Not only does this app generate text messages, it turns your work into a text conversation MOVIE. Check it out:

If you are interested in creating a conversation that plays continuously so you don’t have to keep pressing play, upload the saved video into the app GifToaster and turn it into a GIF that you can embed in a Google Doc/Slide, blog or website! Here is an example (the only issue is that you don’t get to hear the cool texting sounds when it is turned into a gif)

This app is so easy to use and very intuitive. You can even upload pictures for each character as well as send images and emojis🙌 in the texts.

Under Settings you can add your two names, select their text color, add a profile image as well as choose some other options:

Note: It documents your every move. If you type a word/phrase and then delete to add something different, it will show up. The Clear Story button under Edit Story needs to be pressed if you want to start all over.

Students would have a ball using this tool in the classroom and it would truly make your lessons memorable. What are some other ways we could use this with students?

I hope Texting Story comes to the web for all of you Chromebook users! I haven’t found a web tool like it. Let me know if you run across one that makes these type of texting conversation movies. In the mean time, check out Gone Google Story Builder. It is similar but instead of texting, students create a Google Doc interaction and can have multiple characters.

6th Grade Parent Orientation

Honor Choir Awesomeness

This past Tuesday, students from Arno, Bennie, and Lindemann held their annual Honor Choir Concert at the Performing Arts Center.  The students were magnificent in their performance, a reflection of all their hard work and dedication – under the guidance of Mr. Tracy Hoffman.  Congrats to all of our Cougars and hats off to Mr. Hoffman for a terrific job!

4th Grade Moby Max Reading Contest

Congratulations to Mrs. Smalley’s Class who won the 4th grade Moby Max March is Reading Month Contest. Bravo to the entire class that earned 9.962 points.

The top ten students from the class:

Bailey

Abby

Leslie

Isabella Castro

Flavia

Sophia

Reina

Anahi

David

Tessa

Way to go Mrs. Smalley’s class!  Keep Reading ALL year long.

Collaborative Art Piece

Kindergarten is brightening our hallways with a collaborative spring art work in the form of a giant rainbow!  It’s great to see our students working together towards a common goal for everyone’s enjoyment.   Thanks for the spring forward with color

APPS LIMITED SCHOOLS OF CHOICE PROGRAM for 2017-18

The Allen Park Public School District has established a successful Schools of Choice Program for the past several years and the Board of Education has approved continuation of the program for the 2017-18 school year for Kindergarten through 8^th Grade.  (Requests for specific elementary schools cannot be guaranteed)

Applications are available beginning Monday, April 10 at the Riley Education Center, 9601 Vine.  Completed applications will be accepted beginningTuesday, May 2 through Monday, May 22, 2017 from 7:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. weekdays in the Pupil Accounting Office at the Riley Education Center.  Completed applications must be presented in person to ensure that all information is complete.  A random draw selection will be held on June 1 at 9:00 a.m. at the Riley Education Center.  The draw will determine numerical selection for acceptance of candidates.

We ask that you help us by sharing this information with friends and/or family members who may be interested in having their children become a part of the Allen Park Public Schools Family.

For more information about the Schools of Choice Program, please see the attached FAQ’s, visit our website at apps.k12.mi.us or call (313) 827-2105.

PRESCHOOL INFORMATION

If you have a child who will be 3 years old by September 1^st, 2017 or a 4 year old child, consider enrolling them in our Preschool Program.  Please come with your child to our Preschool Open House on Thursday, April 20^th, 2017 anytime between 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM at Lindemann Elementary, 9201 Carter.  You will be able to meet our teachers, experience our classroom centers, discover theme-based teaching, and make new friends.

Registration will begin for in-district residents on Friday, April 21^st, 2017 at 7:30 AM at the Riley Education Center, 14700 Moore. Out-of-district residents may begin registering Friday, April 28^th, 2017 at 7:30 AM.

Our office hours for registrations are 7:30 AM – 3:45 PM, Monday through Friday.

NO REGISTRATION WILL TAKE PLACE DURING OPEN HOUSE 

For further information, contact Kristy Caleca in the Preschool Office at 313-827-2662 or caleca@appublicschools.com

MARK YOUR CALENDAR – KINDERGARTEN ROUND UP

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2017 – 6:30 p.m.

at Arno, Bennie and Lindemann Elementary 

*Children who are five years of age by September 2 thru December 1 may only be enrolled for kindergarten at the request of the parent/guardian through a signed waiver process.  Waiver form is available at the Riley Education Center.

Kindergarten Information & Registration

Young Fives Information