March 2021

Congratulations GIFs | Tenor

Congratulations to this year’s Founder’s Day Awards!

We are so proud of you!!

Katie Jensen, Outstanding Educator

Cathy Anderson. Outstanding Support Personnel

Coming soon to Arno…

March 1

Tornado Drill 2:00

March 2

Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

March 3

Arno MTSS meetings 12:30

March 4

PTA Virtual Meeting 6:30

March 5

Report card window opens until March 18

March 8

PBIS District Leadership 1:00

March 10

Arno MTSS meetings 1@:30

March 11

Staff Meeting 8:00

District Safety Committee Meeting 9:30

March 12

End of Second Semester

March 16

Tornado Drill 2:30

March 17

SIP Meeting 8:00

Arno MTSS meetings 12:30

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

March 19

No School- Teacher PD

Report Card Released

March 23

Fire Drill 2:00

March 24

Arno MTSS meetings 12:30

March 27-April 4

Spring Break!!

 

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Arno Vision

Arno Elementary will provide a system of support to empower

and inspire students to become collaborative learners

that strive for academic excellence

 

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Title I/SIP Surveys

It is that time of year… we are in need of your opinion of how things are going at Arno for school improvement planning.  Please take a moment and complete this year’s survey that has taken our remote status into consideration.  Student survey information for grades 3-5 will be emailed to you.  Since we have a sub for tech right now, please administer the survey to your students within the first week of March.

Staff:

http://bit.ly/arnostaff

Data Dive

Now that we have a valid NWEA winter data set (sample quadrant report above), please consider some of the following questions on your data and when you are able to meet as a grade Wed. afternoons.

  • Based on what we are seeing, what specific best practices and effective teaching strategies will we emphasize during the next 6 weeks?  (SIP strategies)

  • Do we need any resources to learn more about those strategies?

  • What specific concepts/content/skills/processes do we need to focus on in the next 6 weeks? Whole group vs Small group?

We are hopefully entering a time when we will have the kids in front of us more consistently that we have had in a year.  This needs to be a highly focused spring run to help recover some of the learning loss, especially in our bottom 30%.  Please let me know what you need:

  • Do you need anything other barriers or space to start small group work?

  • Beth will be available to do coaching- or co-taught lessons

  • Any resources you need, let me know

SIP Information

2020-21 

SIP Teacher Responsibilities

  • Complete Visible Thinking Chart Monthly (Digital)

  • Editing and Revising weekly Journeys essential question

  • Trimester Writing- use common graphic organizers in the planning process and assess using Journeys Multipurpose rubric.  

    • 1st Trimester- Narrative

    • 2nd Trimester- Informative

    • 3rd Trimester- Opinion

  • Edmentum Exact Path (Reading or Math) 30 minutes twice a week

  • Optional– We did purchase for this year. 3-5 Teachers use Khan Academy Mappers weekly to focus on Measurement and Data (ask Brian for help)

  • Cold call, no opt out, and turn and talk- now possible with a reconfigured set up

  • Practice math fact fluency at least 30 minutes a week (can be XtraMath, mad minutes, flash cards, etc.)

Additional Technology Resources:
Khan Academy (Grades 2-5)

Khan Kids (Kindergarten and 1st grade)

XtraMath

Reflex Math

Raz-Kids 

Get Epic

Our staff has always been about making that difference in kids lives and I know this time will be even greater!  

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How to use everyday data in new ways

Schools and classrooms are overflowing with information about students and their learning, and teachers continually collect and respond to evidence of student learning in a variety of ways (Tarasawa, Gotwals, and Jackson 2018). [There’s] evidence that supports the use of everyday data as a source of information about where students are in relation to learning targets and how that data can be used to help teachers and students themselves identify next steps.

Research base for using everyday data in new ways

While test scores are one form of data, and perhaps the first type of data that comes to mind, everyday data can be gathered from the questions students ask, the dialogue between students as they collaborate, students’ responses to questions, and written student work. This type of data can be invaluable in supporting students’ day-to-day learning.

Holistic information about students such as extracurricular activities, interests outside of school, and attendance patterns also constitute data that educators can use to get to know their students. Students may be more likely to invest the effort needed to improve when their teacher has gotten to know them and has built trust (Wiliam and Leahy 2015, 108). The following sections describe how educators use dialogue, student work, and student self-assessment as data to improve learning and how to create contexts to support use of everyday data.

Dialogue as data

Verbal and written responses are rich sources of information regarding where students are in relation to the learning target. Black and Wiliam (2018, 560) advocate for teachers to “steer a learning dialogue” to elicit student thinking; they view oral classroom dialogue as the core of formative assessment. Drawing on the principles of Rosenshine (2010, 12), Sherrington (2019, 28–30) identifies a number of questioning strategies intended to solicit information regarding how well students have absorbed the content taught.

Similarly, the concepts of noticing in mathematics and ambitious teaching in science focus on eliciting students’ ideas and using those ideas to frame instruction (Tarasawa, Gotwals, and Jackson 2018). Researchers van Es and Sherin (2002, 573) describe three key aspects of noticing:

  • identifying what is important or noteworthy about a classroom situation
  • making connections between the specifics of classroom interactions and the broader principles of teaching and learning they represent
  • using what one knows about the context to reason about classroom interactions

The term ambitious teaching is used to convey an approach that elicits and supports all students’ thinking for the purpose of ongoing sensemaking while students participate in learning activities (Ball and Forzani 2011, 19Lampert and Graziani 2009, 492Stroupe and Gotwals 2018, 296Windschitl, Thompson, and Braaten 2012, 879). Noticing and eliciting students’ thinking are ways of gathering everyday data that can be used to improve instruction.

In an article that addresses the tensions between misconceptions research and constructivist views of learning, Smith, diSessa, and Roschelle (1994, 150) describe the role of eliciting students’ thinking in the learning process as follows: “We still need to have students’ knowledge—much of which may be inarticulate and therefore invisible to them accessed, articulated, and considered…. Instruction should help students reflect on their present commitments, find new productive contexts for existing knowledge, and refine parts of their knowledge for specific scientific and mathematical purposes. The instructional goal is to provide a classroom context that is maximally supportive of the processes of knowledge refinement.”

School leaders can encourage the use of data by framing the process as supporting continuous improvement, rather than by emphasizing accountability, and can use their own data literacy skills to monitor, model, scaffold, guide, and encourage the use of data.

Eliciting student thinking is a way for teachers to gather information, enabling them to respond in ways that enhance ongoing learning (Klenowski 2009, 264).

Student work

Student work is another piece of everyday data that can serve multiple purposes in the classroom. In the process of planning lessons, teachers can identify key moments when learning should be noticeable and plan ways to collect evidence of that learning from each student (Hiebert et al. 2007, 52). For example, short writing tasks let teachers gather responses from all students (Sherrington 2019, 33). Compared to calling on a few individual students, collecting student work from every student provides teachers with more accurate information regarding whether students learned what was taught.

Wiliam and Leahy (2015, 42) advocate for the use of samples of student work to communicate quality to the class, noting that when students notice mistakes in other students’ work, they will be less likely to make those mistakes in their own work. They recommend starting with just two pieces of work, one strong and one weak. Once students gain experience comparing the quality of work, teachers can introduce more samples as the basis for constructing success criteria for student work.

Black et al. (2004, 13) advise providing opportunities for students to respond to comments as part of the overall learning process. Such opportunities are intended to communicate that assessment is for learning and not just of learning. As they state, by providing students with opportunities to respond to comments, “the assessment of students’ work will be seen less as a competitive and summative judgment and more as a distinctive step in the process of learning” (Black et al. 2004, 13).

[R]esearchers found that in classrooms where teachers implemented self-assessment strategies along with other formative assessment activities, students achieved greater gains on standardized tests.

Steele and King (2006, 139) note that students’ classwork and homework provide teachers with access to “a constant stream of data.” As they observe, such data can be used to inform instruction. Steele and King encourage teachers to systematically gather evidence from this data, such as by identifying specific yes-or-no questions that they can use student work to answer. For example, if students are asked to show their inferences by marking up a text, teachers might look to see whether the inferences that the students made are plausible. The answers to these questions, in turn, can inform instructional steps: What topics need to be retaught? How might students be grouped to best address learning needs?

Self-assessment to build ownership of learning

Engaging students in ongoing self-assessment can help students see themselves grow and foster a sense of agency over their own success (National Task Force on Assessment Education). To self-assess their performance on a task, students must have an understanding of what “good work” looks like; in this way, self-assessment helps students internalize the success criteria. In one study, researchers found that in classrooms where teachers implemented self-assessment strategies along with other formative assessment activities, students achieved greater gains on standardized tests (Wiliam et al. 2004, 60).

Create contexts to support use of everyday data

Teachers need support to use everyday data to inform instruction. Based on a review of research on data use, Schildkamp (2019, 12) argues that the school leader plays a critical role in supporting data use. School leaders can encourage the use of data by framing the process as supporting continuous improvement, rather than by emphasizing accountability, and can use their own data literacy skills to monitor, model, scaffold, guide, and encourage the use of data. Schildkamp (2019, 12) recommends that school leaders distribute leadership so teachers are empowered in the data-use process and believe they can take action based on data.

While test scores are one form of data, and perhaps the first type of data that comes to mind, everyday data can be gathered from the questions students ask, the dialogue between students as they collaborate, students’ responses to questions, and written student work.

Additionally, instructional coaches play a critical role in providing support to teachers as they analyze student data to guide instruction. A statewide reading program in Florida middle schools paired instructional coaches with teachers. A mixed-methods evaluation of the program revealed that it is associated with both perceived improvements in teaching and higher student achievement (Marsh, McCombs, and Martorell, 2010). [S]chool leadership and instructional coaching are key supports that enable educators to use everyday data in new ways.

Reflection questions

  1. What types of everyday data do you have in your district or school that you can incorporate into your continuous improvement processes?
  2. How can you build or articulate the coherence across multiple types of data in your district or school?

This post is an excerpt from chapter 1 of Assessment Education: Bridging Research, Theory, and Practice to Promote Equity and Student Learning. You can read case studies on the power of everyday data in action in the book.

 

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March is Reading Month

Another fun immersion in reading awaits our Cougars this month! Find out about all of March is Reading Month plans below!

Below is the schedule of books each week. We ask that you try to have the books read by Thursday so you can have students vote on Thursday, as we will announce the winner on Friday each week. If you have any of these books in your classroom, feel free to read them aloud to your class, but links have been provided for students to “watch” the books.

March 1-March 5

March 8-12

March 15-March 19

Things Lou Couldn’t Do (SEL)

(Monday)

Just Ask (SEL)

The Most Magnificent Thing (SEL)

I Need My Monster

(Tuesday)

Mother Bruce

The Giving Tree

Hair Love

(Thursday) Vote in Pm

Rosie, Revere Engineer

The Day the Crayons Quit

Paper basketball outlines are in your mailbox. Please have students decorate these in any way you choose. Some ideas are: decorate it with the book they think will win the tournament, decorate it with their favorite book, or any other way you see fit to celebrate March is Reading Month. We just ask that these be hung in the hall or on your door.
K-2 Teachers- One paper Book Tournament Bracket will be placed in each of your mailboxes. You can fill out the bracket before with the books students think will win or you can use it to keep track of the winners in your own classroom (however you decide to use it in your own classroom)
3-5 Teachers- A class set of brackets will be placed in each of your mailboxes for students to fill out their predicted winners or for students to keep track of the winners each week (however you decide to use it in your own classroom)

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SEL- Celebrating Women’s History Month in March

The SEL Committee has done an excellent job in tying March’s theme in with Women’s History.  There are slides that you can use in your morning meetings, as well as other resources to celebrate all month long.

SEL MARCH FOCUS:

Every March, people in the United States celebrate the achievements and history of women as part of Women’s History Month. Each year, there is a theme – the theme for 2021 is “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced” to continue the celebration of the 2020 centennial year of Women’s Suffrage, the right for women to vote! 

It is also the best opportunity for Arno Elementary students to have a deeper look at women in history, and how important gender equality is in our changing world.

How to complete your SEL responsibilities:

-Review this month’s SEL newsletter on Women’s History.

-Incorporate learning about 2 influential women in history/important vocabulary word each week (see included slides – copy and paste into your own documents) by playing video

 Women’s History Month Slides

-Review the important vocabulary included in the Women’s History slides, be thoughtful about classroom discussion, see included resources for help

-Choose books from the booklist to use in your daily or weekly instruction, be thoughtful about movies, videos and shows — choose strong female characters! (PDF of SEL newsletter at the bottom)

-Use the coloring pages added to your mailbox for students to read/

color information about each featured female. This is also a fantastic opportunity for writing about strong females! PDF of coloring pages also included below.

Friendly Reminders:

-It takes COURAGE to talk about things like gender/feminism/inequity and COMPASSION to talk about them. Be sensitive to students’ feelings and allow them space if needed.

-Remember the four SEL themes: courage, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion

-SEL can be integrated within your day. It does not have to be an additional activity.

-Booklist and Books are available within the library for check out. Many of the books are also available on Youtube.

Helpful Resources for Thoughtful Teaching of Women’s History

Thank you all and have a great month exploring women’s history! Please let us know how we can be of support to you.

Choose Love Always,

Your SEL Committee

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Bond Information

Complete Bond FAQs: https://4.files.edl.io/ade5/02/12/21/133952-371d47cf-1d0d-4f7a-a871-02cf0d3b0e1b.pdf

Building Project List: https://4.files.edl.io/7206/02/04/21/220257-5f3d4404-bd86-41c5-ad7c-5b4763a3dc30.pdf

All Bond information: https://www.allenparkschools.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=2084750&type=d&pREC_ID=2134527

 

APPS MAY BOND ELECTION – “TOP TRENDING TOPICS

“Is the pool at Allen Park Middle School being renovated in this bond”

Yes, a complete renovation is included in the proposal for the APMS pool/pool area; the architectural work also includes upgraded lighting in the pool area.  $970,195 has been allocated within the bond proposal for the pool renovation project.

The additional space for the STEM/robotics at APMS is separate from the pool space.

“How about replacing the football, soccer field and track at Allen Park High School?”

Yes, the bond proposal includes athletic facilities upgrades at APMS and APHS as follows from the FAQ document:

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Kindergarten Fall 2021

Believe it or not even with all of the snow on the ground, the fall will be her before we know it!  If you have a child that will entering kindergarten this fall, please take a look at the information and links below to register and get ready for the big day.

K Registration 21 22

21 22 Kinder instruct.

young 5 21 22

 

**Please watch for 2021-22 School of Choice Information coming soon

 

Dr. Griffin Zoom Recording

I hope that your day is going well. A few folks asked me if I could share the elementary professional development zoom link from 2/5/2021. If you could share this link with the elementary staff, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks man!

P.S. The link will say that it cannot open for some reason but all people have to do is hit the “download anyway” link. It will take a few minutes to download and then shortly afterwards the link will open.

zoom_0.mp4

 

Mr. Peace Assembly Links

We were so happy to be ale to provide another assembly by Mr. Peace related to kindness and Black History Month!  If you still need the links, I have placed them below:

Grades K-2 https://photos.app.goo.gl/t59HPxkDPz1Gagnp9

Grades 3-5 https://photos.app.goo.gl/nqKJUsfGc8XFogu69

Black History Month https://photos.app.goo.gl/nqTzk3m9gEi9tkrq6

Awesome discussion follow-up questions: Mr.-Peace-Program-Summaries-Key-Themes-Discussion-Questions

 

Tech Time

In the video that is embedded below it is demonstrated how to use Google Drawings to create a labeling activity and then distribute it to students through Google Classroom. In the video, there is an example of creating an activity in which students drag state names onto a blank map of New England. A variation on that activity would be to have students using the arrow tools in Google Drawings to draw connections between the labels and the states. Watch the video below to see how the whole process works including how students complete the activity in Google Classroom.

 

Knowt

Knowt is a free service for turning documents into flashcards, quizzes, and other review activities. When it was initially launched it was created for individual use. Since then Knowt developed a teacher platform that you can use to develop activities to directly share with your students.

Here is a short video overview of how Knowt’s teacher platform works. Here are some highlights of the Knowt platform to note before watching my video.

  • You can create online classrooms for your students to join. It is possible to import Google Classroom rosters.
  • Knowt will generate flashcards based on the documents that you create or import (I just copied and pasted a Google Doc into Knowt).
  • Knowt will generate quizzes based on your documents.
    • Quiz question formats include multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, matching, true/false, and sequencing.
  • Quizzes can be graded or ungraded activities.
Here’s my short video overview of Knowt’s free teacher platform.

 

 

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