Teacher Appreciation Week Begins May 8!!

Coming soon to Arno…

May 1

SIP Team Meeting Full Day

Kindergarten Roundup 6:30

May 2

MSTEP- 3rd MAth/4th ELA

May 4

Super Cougar Lunch

Reading/Math Committee meetings 8:00

5th grade meet with APMS Counselors 10:30

PTA Meeting 6:00

May 5

Early Release 11:30

Daddy/Daughter Dance

May 8-12

Teacher Appreciation Week!!

May 9

Ad Council 9:30

May 10

PBIS 8:00

May 11

Teacher/Staff Appreciation Lunch 11:00

ALICE Drill 1:30

May 12

Kinder field trip

May 15

Mobile Dentist- gym

May 16

Kindergarten Screening

May 17

SIP 8:00

3rd grade field trip

May 18

Staff Meeting 7:45

Safety Committee meeting 9:30

Kindergarten Screening

May 19

4th grade field trip

May 22

Mobile Ed Animal Assembly 12:20

May 23

5th Grade Video

May 25

PBIS Rewards

Teacher Data Day

NWEA Assembly 9:30

May 26/29

No School

May 31 

NWEA Picnic 11:30

June 1

District MTSS 9:00

SPED to APMS

Arno Planting Day 3:30

June 2

Cougar Cash Lunch

Field Day

Report Card Window Opens

ARNO MISSION

ARNO ELEMENTARY…INSPIRING STUDENTS TOWARD ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE.

ARNO VISION

ARNO ELEMENTARY PROVIDES A SUPPORTIVE HIGH QUALITY ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE TO INSPIRE ALL LEARNERS TO ACHIEVE THEIR PERSONAL BEST.

Thank you Arno staff for everything you do everyday to make our school the best place for kids to learn!  Your tireless efforts are appreciated more than you know and reflect the kind, caring people that make up our staff.  Thank you again for making a difference, and I hope you enjoy your special Appreciation week May 8-12!!

May 11 Hour Lunch Schedule:

Lunch Schedule for Thursday, May 1, 2023                     

All recess is outside unless inclement weather

11am – 11:30am

K, Young 5s, Eskew, and 1st grades eating in Cafeteria

2nd grade eat in classrooms

11am -11:30am

3rd grade recess

4th grade recess

5th grade recess 

11:30-12pm

K recess- Y5 recess

1st grade recess 

2nd grade recess, Eskew recess

11:30 am -12pm

5th grade eating in their classrooms

3rd and 4th eating in cafeteria

ALICE Drill

The Crisis team recently met to discuss our final drill and evacuation plan.  We will conduct the regular drill using the smart boot system and go into lockdown mode- fully taking cover.  At some point, I will clear the system and you will know it’s time to replace the boot and exit the building for the walk to the church.  We will NOT be going into the church this time.  Instead, please make your way to the church, and fully turn around upon arrival and come back to the building (You certainly can stop and discuss where you are at, and what would happen if it were real).  You do not need to stop and look at the yards across the street or bring your kids around to your window once the lockdown is cleared.

To the Parks…

Park Field Trips for Spring 2023

Thursday June 8, 2023

• 5th Grade: Bocabella 12:00-3:00 (Fifth grade Picnic)

• 2nd grade: Barney Park 12:15-2:15

Monday, June 12th, 2023

• Third Grade: Barney Park from 1:20-3pm

• Fourth Grade Bocabella: 1-3:00pm

• 5th Grade: Pretty Family Park 1-3:00 pm

Tuesday, June 13th, 2023 (½ Day, K-2 Prep)

• Third Grade: Boccabella Park from 8:45-11:15am

• Fourth Grade: Pretty Family Park from 8:45-11:15pm

• CI Classroom: Barney Park from 8:45-11:00 (Class Picnic)

Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 (½ Day, 3-5 Prep)

• Kindergarten: Barney Park from 8:45-11:00

• Third Grade: Pretty Family Park from 8:45-10:15am

Thursday, June 15th, 2023 (½ Day, K-2 Prep)

Your 23/24 school year PTA board is as follows:

PRESIDENT: Xina Bagger

                        VICE PRESIDENT: Meaghan Bachman

     TREASURER: Kristy Varkoly

SECRETARY: Sarah Wald

From the PTA

Animals and the Environment Assembly Coming in May to Arno Elementary funded by ARNO PTA! 

We also have 5 metro park assemblies coming in May also funded by ARNO PTA

Shirt colors for Field Day:

C1/Y5/K – Blue

1st Grade –Purple

2nd Grade – Yellow

3rd Grade – Green

4th Grade – Orange

5th Grade – Red

We encourage everyone to attend our PTA meeting on Thursday May 4th @ 6pm in the media center, this is our last PTA meeting of the year and also a pretty important one as we are voting on our excess funds we have to spend.

Hello Arno Families,

The Green Team is actively working to ensure Arno Elementary remains an Evergreen Designated School, which is the highest honor among Michigan Green School recipients. Each year, we provide students with the knowledge necessary to become environmental experts. Continue to stay up to date with our latest tips to recycling responsibility as Earth Day is approaching.

Final Data Day

We will have our final Data Day on May 25, with the final district MTSS day on June 1.  Please remember that all testing and JR score input into Educlimber would need to happen by the MTSS meeting at the latest. As of May 1, the NWEA window is open, let Beth know if you need any aide assistance.  Beth and Erin will let you know dates for the final FAST dates.

May Data Sign Up

Jan Richardson Reading Assessment Dates

– May 9-  Higgins, Zuke

– May 10- Talamonti, Johnson, Huntington

– May 16- Kalis, Guyot, Warneck

– May 18- Schultz, Amonette

– May  23- Mercer, Harrison, Rennals

– May 25- Pushman, Watson, Martinchick

Mobile Ed 

The PTA has one more assembly lined up on May 22:

• Y5, CI, K-2 12:20

• 3-5 1:20

NWEA Assembly

We will be having our final NWEA assembly on May 25, followed by the picnic for the top 10, and one student per room most improved on May 31 at the park again.  More details will follow from the Reading Committee.

AP Immunization 

Immunizations

Tech Time

Four Easy Ways to Make End-of-Year Slideshow Videos

Even though the cold and rainy weather we’re experiencing here in Maine makes it feel like summer is a long way off, it’s not. I was reminded of this yesterday afternoon when I got my first email of the spring in which someone asked for advice about making an end-of-year video for her grade six class.

I get emails about this topic every spring and I’m always happy to help because it’s fun to summarize and celebrate the school year in a short audio slideshow video. These are the tools that I’m recommending for that purpose this spring.

 

Adobe Express Video
Adobe Express was previously known as Adobe Spark. I’ve been using it since its launch seven or eight years ago. Adobe Creative Cloud Express makes it easy for students to create succinct audio slideshow videos. It includes a library of background music that you can insert into your videos. Finally, Adobe Creative Cloud Express is a collaborative tool so you can invite a colleague to work on developing an end-of-year slideshow video with you. Watch this video to learn how to make a video with Adobe Creative Cloud Express.

Canva
Canva offers two ways to create audio slideshow videos. The first way is to simply put together a series of slides and then select a soundtrack to play in the background. That process is demonstrated here. The other method is to use Canva’s full video editor to add narration and custom timings to an audio slideshow video. That process is demonstrated in this video.

Microsoft Photos
Microsoft Photos includes a video creation tool for making short audio slideshow-style videos. You’ll find this by just opening the native photos app in Windows 10. Within the editor there are tools for adding animated effects to still images, insert your existing video clips into a video project, and tools for adding audio to your video. There’s also a great option to search for Creative Commons licensed images and insert them directly into your video project. The best part of that feature is that attribution information is automatically added onto the images you choose through the built-in search tool. In the following video I provide a demonstration of how to create a video in Microsoft Photos in Windows 10.

Google Photos

In Google Photos there is a section called “utilities.” It is in the utilities section that you’ll find the video creation tool. To use it all you need to do is select up to 50 pictures and or videos that you have stored in your Google Photos account. Google Photos will then automatically select display length for each image or video and automatically add background music to your video. If you don’t like what was automatically selected for your video, you can manually adjust display length and choose different background music.

Watch this short video to learn how to make an audio slideshow video with Google Photos.

The video creation tool in Google Photos does limit you to 50 images per video. If you need to make a longer video, you could make two or three videos in Google Photos then download them and combine them in iMovie or WeVideo.

AI Tools

This AI Tool Generates Reading Comprehension Questions for Any Article

 

QuestionWell is a new AI tool that will generate reading comprehension and guiding questions for just about any article that you specify. Questions created by QuestionWell can be saved in a document or exported to a handful of popular quiz apps including Kahoot and Quizziz.

There are two ways that you can use QuestionWell to generate questions. One option is to copy and paste a block of text (up to 1,000 words) into the QuestionWell question generator. The other option is to paste the URL of an online article into the QuestionWell question generator. Whichever method you choose, the next steps are all the same.

QuestionWell takes the article that you’ve entered and generates a set of questions based on it. You can view all of the questions and select the ones that you like. The questions can be exported to a Word document and or exported to a quiz app. All of the question sets that you create are also saved in your QuestionWell account so that you can revisit them and edit them whenever you need to. Watch my video below for a short overview of how QuestionWell works.

Video – How Use QuestionWell

 

Coming soon to Arno…

April 4

Safety committee 9:30

April 6

Staff Meeting 7:45

1st grade to Henry Ford PA

Super Cougar Lunch

PTA Meeting 6:00pm

April 7

No School- Good Friday

April 9

Hoppy Easter!

April 10

District MTSS meeting 8 week check in

April 11

5th Grade MSTEP starts- SS

Ad Council 9:30

April 12

Rev’d Up Family Night

PBIS 8:00

April 13

5ht Grade MSTEP-Science

Reading/Math committee meeting 8:00

Fire Drill 2:00

April 14

Dental presentations – Martinchick and Johnson

April 19

SIP 8:00

April 20

SEL 8:00

Fire Drill 1:30

April 25

Teacher Data Day

April 28

Cougar Cash Lunch

PBIS Rewards

May 1

Kindergarten Roundup 6:30

ARNO MISSION

ARNO ELEMENTARY…INSPIRING STUDENTS TOWARD ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE.

ARNO VISION

ARNO ELEMENTARY PROVIDES A SUPPORTIVE HIGH QUALITY ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE TO INSPIRE ALL LEARNERS TO ACHIEVE THEIR PERSONAL BEST.

DATA MEETINGS

We have 2 data meetings this month, the first will the district MTSS 8 week check in where the team will dive into all of the progress monitoring data, followed by the teacher data day on April 25, where we will get updates and look at the progress monitoring as well.

Key elements that I feel are continuing us on a path to success continue to be:

• Small group reading- really getting down to the heart of what every student needs

• Brain friendly- when needed based on each student individually

• High expectations in the classroom for academics and behavior

• Excellent overall teaching

Be sure to meet with Beth and Erin as or coaches have a lot to provide to move forward in reading and math!

Staff Appreciation Week

This year, the official Staff Appreciation Week will be the week of May 8, with our special lunch on May 11.  Lunch will be the hour long format from 11:00-12:00, and I will get you a schedule when we get closer.

M-STEP IS COMING…

Please mark your calendars, the M-Step window opens up for 5th grade immediately following Spring Break, then runs through early May.  **Don’t forget to wear your MSTEP shirt on testing days!  The schedules is as follows:

April 11- 5th grade Social Studies test (2 parts)

April 13- 5th grade Science

April 18/19- 5th grade ELA

April 25/26- 4th and 5th grade Math

April 25/26- 3rd grade ELA

May 2/3- 4th grade ELA

May 2/3- 3rd grade Math

From the PTA

Hello Arno Cougar Families,

We are now accepting PTA Board nominations for the 2023/2024 school year due by April 6. Voting will take place at April’s  meeting.  Please submit nominations ASAP to arnopta@gmail.com. Without a PTA board we will not have a PTA and the school will NOT be able to have the Free events,assemblies,Mother-Son/Daddy Daughter Dance etc

Tickets are now on sale for our upcoming Family Fun Night @ Rev’d Up on Wednesday April 12 from 5:30pm to 9pm. Doors open at 4.30pm. Tickets are $10 per person. Spectators do not need a ticket. Tickets get you into every activity minus the VR and ax throwing. Play cards are available for $10 as well. You can also add on a food package for $6. Please note that parents must stay with their child/children.This is NOT a drop off event. Please see the attached flyer and link for details! And always, we appreciate your support!

https://revdupfun.centeredgeonline.com/retail/items/d6dffc93-54a0-4fa7-a97f-3f82be00c3f7

Tickets for our upcoming Daddy Daughter Dance @ The Grecian Center Friday May 5th from 6:00pm until 9:30pm are on Sale now Until April 21st. The link & flyer are below!

THIS IS FOR CURRENT ARNO STUDENTS ONLY!!!!

**Flyers will be coming home soon for this event in the students folder**

 https://arnopta.memberhub.com/store

Upcoming events:

*Staff Appreciation Week*

We will be celebrating our wonderful staff at Arno the week of May 8th – May 12th we are asking for some donations to help us keep the cost down to be able to do everything we want to do for the entire week **See link below for the sign up genius for donations**

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4CA4AA2AA4FE3-staff3

*Field day*

Friday June 2nd

Look for more information closer to the event. This will be an all day event and we will be looking for many volunteers as this is our first hosted field day. 

We encourage you to attend our next PTA meeting on Thursday April 6th @ 6pm in the media center, ChildCare will be provided for ARNO students. 

Schools of Choice 2023-2024

AP SOC 23_24 ad

KINDERGARTEN ROUNDUP

We are pleased to be having our kindergarten round up this spring for all incoming kindergarteners. This year’s event will be on May 1 starting at 6:30 p.m. Parents will attend in the gym, all future Cougars will attend within the 3 different classrooms.  Remember that Kindergarten registration is now open at Riley.

Tech Time

An Overview of Using and Detecting Artificial Intelligence

This week’s news that Google Workspace will have new artificial intelligence tools added to it throughout the year was not unexpected. It was another sign that if you haven’t being paying attention to the development of AI tools this year, you should start paying attention to them. Even if your school tries to ban or block AI tools, students will figure out a way to use them outside of school if not in your school. With that out of the way, here’s a round-up of some the AI tools that I’ve written and or made videos about in recent months.

A Short Overview of ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence tool that will create documents for you based on some minimal input from you. For example, I simply typed into ChatGPT “Ten Canva Features for Students” and got this article. ChatGPT can also be used to create poems like this one about the sunglasses worn by Geraint Thomas.

With a little tweaking of what you put into ChatGPT you can create longer articles than the one that I mentioned above. A simple, “tell me more” or “what about X” can generate more material from ChatGPT.

Video – A Short Overview of ChatGPT

Magic Write

Magic Write is the artificial intelligence tool built into Canva Docs. Magic Write works in a manner that is quite similar to ChatGPT. To use Magic Write you simply select it from the insert menu in Canva Docs. Once Magic Write is opened you then enter a short prompt like “green screen video tips” and Magic Write generates a short list or paragraph for you (formatting depends on the prompt). You can then insert that writing into your document as it was written or you can edit it before including it in your document. Watch this short video to see how Magic Write in Canva works.

Video – How to Use Artificial Intelligence in Canva Documents

Turn Writing Into Videos

ChatGPT might be the first thing you think of when you read AI today, but there have been plenty of other AI tools before it. One such tool is Lumen5. Lumen5 is a tool that will produce a video for you based upon your written work.

To create a video with Lumen5 you can enter the URL of your published work or submit the text of an article you’ve written. Lumen5 will then select highlights from your writing to feature in a video. The video will always begin with the title of your article. From there it will use any subheadings or section headings that you have in your article to create sections of your video. If you don’t have subheadings or section headings in your article, Lumen5 will attempt to pull the keywords or phrases from each paragraph. Watch my demo below to see how easy it is to use Lumen5.

Short Lessons and Activities for the Start of Spring

The snow in our yard is at least two feet deep right now. This was concerning to my youngest daughter who asked me on the way to school, “can we have spring if it’s still snowy?” My answer, of course, was that spring will still start even if our yard is buried in snow. That then led to a brief explanation about seasons.

If you find yourself teaching some lessons about the start of spring, here are some resources that you might find helpful.

Why do birds sing? And how do they learn the songs that they sing? The answers to those questions and more are revealed in a TED-Ed Lesson titled How Do Birds Learn to Sing?

After learning how birds learn to sing, have your students explore The Wall of Birds interactive mural produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The mural features a variety of birds that when clicked on reveal information about that bird, audio of that bird’s call, and a map of that bird’s natural range.

Why do we have seasons? What causes the changes in weather patterns throughout the seasons? The answers to those questions and more are found in the following SciShow Kids video and Crash Course Kids video.

All of these videos are great candidates for use in an EDPuzzle lesson. Here’s an overview of how to use EDpuzzle to turn existing videos into lessons of your own.

PBS Learning Media’s Classroom Posters collection contains more than a dozen colorful PDFs featuring the letters of the alphabet with representative icons, numbers, shapes, and short words. In the posters collection you’ll also find seasons of the year, months of the year, and weather.

And if you’d like to take your kids outside to learn about the arrival of spring, consider creating some outdoor bingo activities for them.

Coming soon to Arno…

March 2

PTA Meeting 6:00

Cougar Cash Lunch

Report Card window

March 3

2nd grade to DNR

March 4

PTA Spring Fever

March 7 

Steve Conf.

March 8

PBIS 8:00

Huntington Obs. 1:00

March 9

Staff Meeting 7:45

Spring Picture Day

Super Cougar Lunch

Bingo for Books 6:00

March 10

End of Second Trimester

March 14

Ad Council 9:30

March 15

SIP 8:00

March 16

Reading/Math/SEL 8:00

Report Card window closes

Safety Committee 9:30

PBIS Assembly 9:45

March 17

No School- Teacher PD

Report Cards Released

March 21

Teacher Data Day

March 22

Severe Weather Drill (Statewide) 1:00

March 23

PBIS Rewards

March 24

Cougar Cash lunch

March 25-April 2

SPRING BREAK

Arno Mission

Arno Elementary…inspiring students toward academic excellence.

ARNO VISION

Arno Elementary provides a supportive high quality academic experience to inspire all learners to achieve their personal best.

March is Reading Month

Get ready for Battle of the Authors!!

March is Reading month MIRM Calendar 2023

March is Reading Month MIRM 2023 Teachers

Data Meetings

Thank you to everyone for a successful round of data meetings again in February.  Our building data is overall looking like we are making great progress, and I cannot wait to see our M-SEP results this year!  Dr. Tafelski presented every buildings data at the Feb. Board meeting, this is a snapshot of Arno’s.  The black line on each color graph represents last year’s winter data on where the green proficient color was- so if your grade’s “green” color extends to the left of that mark, you have achieved higher than last year’s winter overall.  Arno’s data is looking great!

Winter-23–98b-Presentation-5525-1676396815-3903

Key elements that I feel are continuing us on that path include:

• Small group reading- really getting down to the heart of what every student needs

• Brain friendly- when needed based on each student individually

• High expectations in the classroom for academics and behavior

• Excellent overall teaching

Be sure to meet with Beth and Erin as or coaches have a lot to provide to move forward in reading and math!

From the PTA

Hello Cougar Families!

The PTA would like to thank all of our volunteers for your help at Glow Dance! We would also like to thank all those who donated to the event as well! Please know that all of your support does not go unnoticed and is an important factor in sponsoring our events. A special thanks to Little Caesar’s and Bella’s Pizza! We would also like to send a shout out to Amy Muse for graciously taking the extra pizza to both the AP Fire Department and AP Police Department!

Please remember that your input/suggestions/concerns are both encouraged and appreciated so that we know how to better our events. So please reach out via email (arnopta@gmail.com) or attend our meetings!  Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday March 2 at 6:00pm in Arno’s Media Center.

PTA Board nominations for the 2023/2024 school year are due by April 6. Voting will take place at May’s meeting. So please submit nominations ASAP. Thank you!

Our Spring SPIRIT WEAR sale will run from February 27 to March 10. The link is below:

https://brandstand.shop/

March 4 is the annual PTA/PTSA Spring Fever at the AP High School.  Arno is running the Bake Sale this year. We’re looking for bakers and volunteers:

Bakers – here’s your link to donate something yummy!  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B094FABA723ABF85-20231

If you would like to volunteer to help sell baked goods with us, please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B094FABA723ABF85-2023

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE TEACHERS/STUDENTS/FAMILIES WHO DONATED TO AND/OR MADE BASKETS FOR THE 2023 SPRING FEVER SILENT AUCTION!

March 16 we are sponsoring a Super U Assembly! This will take place in school for all grades!

Please note that game night scheduled for March 16 has been cancelled.

Our Rev’d Up all school event is scheduled for April 12!  Details to come in March.

*Reminder Daddy/Daughter Dance has been changed to May 5*

Stay tuned for more exciting news/events/reminders from your PTA, and remember to check your emails and our Facebook page for information as well!

Thank you for your support! 

Committee Updates

SIP

1. New Statements: 
   1. Mission: Arno Elementary.. inspiring students toward academic excellence.
   2. Arno’s Vision: Arno Elementary provides a supportive high quality academic experience to inspire all learners to achieve their personal best.
2. Promote our new vision and mission statements- fridge magnets, arno business cards, feather flags for out front that have our mission on it, etc
   1. https://www.vistaprint.com/
   2. https://www.buildasign.com/feather-flags
   3. Advertising attendance- Attendance Counts!
   4. Feather flag- Welcome to Arno… inspiring students towards academic excellence.
      1. Used for start of school year, Kindergarten roundup, can stand in lobby 
      2. $58 for 1- double sided
         1. Need 4 sets for all doors?
3. Attendance Reward for next year?
   1. https://www.attendanceworks.org/
   2. Trimester Reward (extra recess) & end of the year reward (game truck)
      1. Ideas- Rewarding 5 or less absences & rewarding the absentees who have decreased their absences (Tier 2)
4. Check on surveys if time- did not have time
   1. All surveys complete
      1. 30 staff, 101 parents

PBIS

January PBIS Data

1. Data
2. February Reward
   1. Reward: School Wide Bingo (via Zoom with Steve)
   2. Organizer: Emilie
   3. Date: Friday, February 24, 2023
   4. Flips: 5
   5. Reminders: 

1. March Reward
   1. Reward: March Madness
   2. Organizer: Lisa
   3. Date: Thursday, March 23, 2023
   4. Flips: 4

1. Budget
   1. PD deducted from grant 
   2. About $2,000 balance in Smencils account
      1. More robust monthly rewards 
      2. Clubs supplies

1. Flip Charts 
   1. Steve is seeing Tier 2/3 students are sometimes being triggered by flips/clips
   2. 1st grade piloting private clips/flips
      1. Pause before addressing behavior
      2. Sign-ins after private conference with teachers
         1. X amount of sign-ins = loss of rewards
   3. 2023/2024 school year
      1. options available
         1. flip/clip chart
         2. Private conferences
         3. Sign-ins
   4. LP
      1. student advocates 
         1. Meet with high flyers
         2. Check in with students
         3. Handle behavior/mental health

Reading:

Did not meet- next meeting will focus on M-STEP and new NWEA reward criteria

Math:

Committee continues to search for staff who would like to tutor math kids that fall in the bubble range

SEL:

Distributed the Black History Month information for staff

Spring Fever

M-Step is coming…

Please mark your calendars, the M-Step window opens up for 5th grade immediately following Spring Break, then runs through early May.  The schedules is as follows:

April 11- 5th grade Social Studies test (2 parts)

April 13- 5th grade Science

April 18/19- 5th grade ELA

April 25/26- 4th and 5th grade Math

April 25/26- 3rd grade ELA

May 2/3- 4th grade ELA

May 2/3- 3rd grade Math

Please make every effort to be sure your child is here on the testing dates. An informational letter will be coming home as well with additional details.

Tech Time 

25 YouTube Tips for Teachers

A couple of weeks ago I shared directions on how to start a YouTube channel. Yesterday, I published directions on how to add end screens to your videos. Those are just two of twenty-five YouTube tutorial videos that I’ve published over the last few years. All of my YouTube tips for teachers are now arranged in one convenient playlist. You can find the whole playlist of 25 YouTube tips for teachers right here on my YouTube channel. Some highlights from the playlist are embedded below.

How to Create a YouTube Channel

How to Clip Sections of Your YouTube Videos

How to Find and Use the Embed Code for YouTube Videos

How to Timestamp Your YouTube Videos

How to Blur Faces and Objects in Your YouTube Videos

Three Things You Should Know How to Do With TinyURL

I’m not 100% certain of this, but I’d make a substantial wager that TinyURL was the first URL shortener I ever used. I know I was using it before I started this blog and that’s going on 16 years this year. The point being that TinyURL has been around a long time. It’s that longevity that contributes to it often being the first tool people think of when they need to shorten URLs.

Like all web tools that have been around for a long time, there are features of TinyURL that people overlook or simply forget about. Two of those features are the ability to create custom URLs that people can actually spell and the ability to generate QR codes for your URLs. Both of those things are demonstrated in the short video that is embedded below.

Video – How to Use TinyURL

Whether you use TinyURL to shorten links or you’re just clicking a TinyURL link, you should know how to preview where it’s directing you to without actually clicking on the link. Here’s a video overview of how to see what’s behind a TinyURL without actually clicking on the link.

Coming soon to Arno…

Feb. 1

Kinder JR

Golden Tray Award Recess 1:20

Parent Survey Opens

Feb. 2

Baby Garza shower 8:00

1st Grade JR

Garza Obs. 1:20

NWEA Rewards Assembly

PTA Meeting 6:00

Feb. 3

Safety Committee 9:30

Feb. 6

NWEA Goal Meetings per schedule below

Feb. 7

Teacher Data Day

Feb. 8

PBIS 8:00

NWEA Reward Recess

Feb. 9

Super Cougar Lunch 11:00

NWEA Reward Movie- Top 10

Feb. 13

District MTSS Meeting

Feb. 14

Happy Valentines Day

Ad Council 9:30

Parent/Staff Survey closes

Feb. 15

SIP meeting 8:00

Founders Day Dinner 6:00

Feb. 16

SEL, Reading, Math committee meetings 8:00

PTA Glow Dance at Arno

Feb. 17

NO School- Teacher PD

Feb. 20 and 21

No School- Winter Break

Feb. 23 

Report Card Committee

Feb. 24

Kinder to Ann Arbor Museum

PBIS Rewards

Feb. 27

5th grade departs for camp

Feb. 28

Kalis to U of M Dearborn

March 1

5th grade returns from camp

1st Grade to Henry Ford

New Mission/Vision

The Arno staff has created a new Mission (Why we are here) and Vision (where we want to be in 3 years) to set forth our path towards further academic excellence.  The Mission/Vision will be shared with all stakeholders in various ways so that everyone has a shared understanding of Arno’s future.

Arno Mission

Arno Elementary…inspiring students toward academic excellence.

ARNO VISION

Arno Elementary provides a supportive high quality academic experience to inspire all learners to achieve their personal best.

STAFF SURVEY

It is that time again, our annual staff survey will be active from Feb. 1-Feb 14 for staff, students, and parents.  We primarily use our survey results to inform the school improvement plan and take a careful look at things we may need to change.

We will once again only survey students in grades 3-5, and Carrie will help us out with that during their tech time.   Please see your staff link below, I would love to see lots of staff completing it, it should not take you long.

https://bit.ly/Arnostaffsurvey

Book Drive

The Olympics were awesome!

Thank you to Nicole Amonette and all of our volunteers-Sarah Kalis, Rachel Warneck, Ciera Zuke, Lindsay Garza, and Emilie Talamonti for organizing another awesome Olympics, back after the pandemic years.  Lots of family fun, ribbons and medals!

From the PTA

 Hello Cougar Families! Below are some upcoming events/reminders/news from your PTA:

February 2 is our next PTA meeting held in the Arno Media Center at 6pm.

February 15 is our Founder’s Day Awards Ceremony at Arnaldo’s in Riverview.

February 16 is our first ever GLOW DANCE! Flyer attached.

We are having another SPIRIT WEAR sale at the end of February! Keep your eyes out for the dates and link!

March 4 is the annual PTA/PTSA Spring Fever at the AP High School.

We are hosting a Game Night on March 16 and a Super U Assembly for all grades! Details to follow.

We had such awesome feedback regarding mother/son night that we are planning another night out at Rev’d Up Fun in Woodhaven in April! This time for the whole family! Details to follow.

REMINDER:  Daddy Daughter Dance has been scheduled for May 5 at the Grecian Center in Southgate. Details will be announced beginning of April.

Stay tuned for more exciting news/events/reminders from your PTA, and remember to check your emails and our Facebook page for information as well!

Thank you for your support! 

STUDENT GOALS

3-5- please remember to review and revise student goals with them to set their path for the next next trimester.  Ongoing feedback,in addition to a high effect size, is a critical part of maintaining and reaching their goal.  I will be once again sitting down with all partially proficient students, as well as those who were ID as rushing,  and checking in throughout as part of the process.

The dates are below, please send any student with their goals who landed in the partially proficient zone (NWEA predictor), and/or rushed through their test as indicated by NWEA.  Please start the time frame with sending 2 students down- then as one comes back, send the next.  The goal is to have another sit down, other than their teacher, to help them focus more on the importance of making their goals and how they can attain them.  

3rd grade- Feb. 1  9:-10:00

4th Grade- Feb. 1 10:15-11:15

5th Grade- Feb. 1  1:00-2:00

NWEA ASSEMBLY INFO

Thursday, February 2nd, 2023

• NWEA Goal Assembly

• 1 grade level at a time in the gym.

• Location: Gym

• Time:

  • 3rd Grade: 9:30-10:00 pm

  • 4th Grade: 10:00-10:30pm

  • 5th Grade: 10:30-11:00pm

• Reward is given to students who reach their individual growth goal or the 50th percentile rit score for the Winter using the NWEA 2020 Norms. The reward is a certificate, charm, and an extra recess with Mr. Zielinski.

  • 3rd graders who met their individual growth goal OR scored a 194 or higher on the Reading NWEA. (Winter Score of 200 or higher projects a passing MSTEP score)

  • 4th graders who met their individual growth goal OR scored a 203 or higher on the Reading NWEA. (Winter Score of 207 or higher projects a passing MSTEP score)

  • 5th graders who met their individual growth goal OR scored a 209 or higher on the Reading NWEA. (Winter Score of 212 or higher projects a passing MSTEP score)

  • Top Ten in each grade level. The ten highest scoring students in each grade level will earn the Top Ten reward. The reward is a movie with Mr. Zielinski.

• Teachers-Don’t forget to bring your certificates (Steve will give them to us to fill out) and charms.

• Students should wear their M-STEP necklaces to the assembly.

Founder’s Day Celebration

The annual Founder’s Day awards celebration takes place on Feb. 15 as our amazing winners get to shine!  Congratulations to all of our award winners this year- you represent the very best of our Arno Cougars!!

2022-23 PTA Founders Day Winners

Committee Updates

PBIS

1. Matrix
   1. Include digital citizenship?

1. Tier 2 interventions
   1. Identifying students (30)
   2. Recommendations to staff (re-send email to staff)

1. January Reward
2. Reward: directed drawing
3. Organizer: Emilie
4. Date: Friday, January 27, 2023
5. Flips: 6
6. Reminders:
7. February Reward
   1. Reward: School Wide Bingo (via Zoom with Steve)
   2. Organizer: Emilie
   3. Date: Friday, February 24, 2023
   4. Flips: 5
   5. Reminders: 

1. March Reward
   1. Reward: March Madness
   2. Organizer: Lisa
   3. Date: Thursday, March 23, 2023
   4. Flips: 4

Smencil Update

1. 1. Sold $1300
   2. Thank you to Meaghan Bachman for selling on Wednesday afternoon!!
      1. Possibly ask Dena to take over selling

1. Clip/Flip Chart Alternative
   1. 1st grade is going to pilot a “behavior sign-in system”. 
      1. Using a teacher planner to document
      2. Will update on how it’s going

SIP

• Staff worked on Mission/Vision creation

• Team discussed physical movements initiative Inpact

• Team discussed attendance and ways we can reach families to raise our rate

Reading

-NWEA Slide to Megan

• K-2: All students
• 3-5: Students who reached their personal growth goal or the 50th percentile on the 2020 Norms for both Math and Reading.

-Cut Scores

• Use the NWEA 2020 Norms (50th Percentile) per Steve

-Tutoring?

• Yes. If possible, target third grade due to the Third Grade Reading Law.

-Review Monthly Edmentum Reading Challenge:

• 3rd grade won the October Challenge
  • 3rd Grade Reward: PJ Day
• 3rd grade won the November Challenge
  • 3rd Grade Reward: Extra Recess
• We added a new reward in November… 500 trophies. 5th grade had more than 500 trophies and received a reward.
• 5th grade won the December Challenge

-Study Island (continue?)

• Yes. We plan on inviting students who scored in the Partially Proficient range on the Winter Reading NWEA.
• Warneck-Third Graders

-MSTEP schedule came out

     Clap? Walk of Fame before the first day of ELA for 3rd, 4th, and 5th

     Shirts? Emailed Steve for a new possibility

     Snacks? Yes. If possible, all days of testing. 

MSTEP practice on .gov site:

https://www.michigan.gov/mde/services/student-assessment/m-step/parentstudent-information/online-practice-for-m-step-ela-math-science-and-social-studies

-Kindergarten has begun the Reading Eggs program. Steve used school funds to purchase.

Math

• The team discussed NWEA cut scores, math tutoring for bubble kiddos, and MStep prep
• Discussed math tutoring
• We also discussed Big Idea online platform and the musicals that go with some of the lessons
• The NWEA event slideshow was also a topic

SEL

Black History Month
● Continue the pacing calendar
● Continue the newsletter
● Continue the books to read, if you need books, ask Katie, she has moved them.
● Bulletin board near the cafeteria to be updated for BHM
NEW this month!
● New Broadcast Videos
● School wide scavenger hunt
○ Every class will receive a list of the historical figures that will be posted around
the building.
○ The goal is to find all historical figures and continue to talk about them as you find
them throughout the day. This could be waiting in line for music, etc.

Data Day

On Feb. 7 we will have our next Data Day.  We will be discussing the universal assessment round that was just given and any specific students we are very concerned with.  Please be sure that you JR/BAS scores are entered into Educlimber before this day.

The district MTSS meeting will follow on Feb. 13.  I am unsure if the team will want to walk around and observe again.

KINDERGARTEN 2023-2024 INFORMATION

SEL FEBRUARY FOCUS:

Black History Month is an annual celebration of the achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. It is also the best opportunity for Arno Elementary students to have a more diverse look at the world and the history of our country, and confront important issues.

How to complete your SEL responsibilities:

• Review this month’s SEL newsletter on Black History.
• Incorporate learning about 1 famous African American in history/important vocabulary word DAILY (see included slides – copy and paste into your own documents) by playing video
• Looking for more information/details about historic African Americans? (Perhaps grades 3-5?) Check out the Slides Black History Person-a-Day – attached below!
• Review the important vocabulary included in the BHM slides, be thoughtful about classroom discussion, see included resources for help
• Choose books from the booklist to use in your daily or weekly instruction – check out the Black History Book Bin in the library!

GREAT RESOURCES FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The following link will take you to a list of classroom and instructional resources relevant for MLK Jr and Black History Month.

https://www.resa.net/mlk

MLK Day and Black History Month

Tech Time

Physical Phonics Games

Create a Snowman Word Game

Earlier today when I picked up my daughter from preschool she proudly showed me the snowman artwork that she had made during art class. A picture of her artwork is the featured image of this blog post.

Seeing my daughter’s snowman art reminded me of the snowman word game template offered by Flippity. Flippity’s Snowman word game is a game in which students have to correctly guess the letters of a word in order to prevent their snowmen from melting. The template lets you make your own variation on the game with words and hints of your choosing. Your game can be shared with students via its assigned URL. Students don’t need accounts in order to play the games that you create. Here’s an overview of how to create your own online word games by using Flippity’s Snowman template.

ARNO FACEBOOK

“LIKE” us to see lots of great updates and photos from school!  Thank you for promoting this social media platform as a positive way to share the good news and great things happening at Arno!

HERE IS THE LINK!  

https://www.facebook.com/arnoelementary/

Coming soon to Arno…

January 9

Welcome Back! classes Resume

January 10

Ad council 9:30

January 12

PBIS Stations

Staff Meeting 7:45

Super Cougar Lunch

January 16

MLK Observed- No School

January 17

5th Grade BAS/JR

District CNA Meeting 9:00

January 18

SIP 8:00

District Reflections Celebration

Arno Reflections Celebration Ice Cream party

January 19

SEL 8:00

Reading/Math Comm. 8:00

4th and 5th grade to Center for the Arts 9:15

ALICE inside drill

PTA Mother/Son night 5:00-9:00

January 20

No School- Teacher PD

January 24

4th Grade BAS/JR

Steve @RESA

January 26

3rd Grade BAS

Cougar Cash Lunch  11:00

Arno Olympics 6:00

January 27

PBIS Rewards

January 30

2nd Grade JR

Feb. 1

Kinder JR

Feb. 2

1st Grade JR

NWEA Assembly grades 3-5 9:30

Garza Obs. 1:20

ARNO VISION

ARNO ELEMENTARY WILL PROVIDE A SYSTEM OF SUPPORT TO EMPOWER

AND INSPIRE STUDENTS TO BECOME COLLABORATIVE LEARNERS

THAT STRIVE FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

MTSS

During our MTSS data meeting time, JT, Matt Sokol, and myself walked around observing small group work around the building, including reading paras.  We were all so impressed at the great things going on in Arno’s classrooms!  Our teaching staff was providing best practice strategies in small group from word work to vocab, to non-fiction reading!  Kudos to all of you on your in the area this year!

Assessments in January

January will be a busy month at Arno in the testing department.  Below are some dates to consider for testing.

JR/BAS testing subs/dates are set. This round of assessment would include only those students who are below grade level. 

Jan 17- Erin Higgins, Ciara Zuke, Lindsay Garza

Jan 24- Aaron Huntington, Emilie Talamonti, Megan Johnson

Jan 26- Rachel Warneck, Sarah Kalis, Renee Guyot

Jan 30- Megan Schultz, Nicole Amonette, Alex Cervantes

Feb 1- Tess Rennals (sub), Alyssa G(sub), Cassie Harrison

Feb 2- Barb Pushman, Dawn Watson, Julie Martinchick

NWEA– Jan 10-Jan. 27 Reading and Math

FAST- 

Reading: Jan. 12-25 (Beth will get a schedule to you)

Math: Post NWEA for the Bottom 30% in each grade

STUDENT GOALS

3-5- please remember to review and revise student goals with them to set their path for the next next trimester.  Ongoing feedback,in addition to a high effect size, is a critical part of maintaining and reaching their goal.  I will be once again sitting down with all partially proficient students, as well as those who were ID as rushing,  and checking in throughout as part of the process.

The dates are below, please send any student with their goals who landed in the partially proficient zone (NWEA predictor), and/or rushed through their test as indicated by NWEA.  Please start the time frame with sending 2 students down- then as one comes back, send the next.  The goal is to have another sit down, other than their teacher, to help them focus more on the importance of making their goals and how they can attain them.  

3rd grade- Feb. 1  9:-10:00

4th Grade- Feb. 1 10:15-11:15

5th Grade- Feb. 1  1:00-2:00

NWEA ASSEMBLY INFO

Thursday, February 2nd, 2023

• NWEA Goal Assembly

• 1 grade level at a time in the gym.

• Location: Gym

• Time:

  • 3rd Grade: 9:30-10:00 pm

  • 4th Grade: 10:00-10:30pm

  • 5th Grade: 10:30-11:00pm

• Reward is given to students who reach their individual growth goal or the 50th percentile rit score for the Winter using the NWEA 2020 Norms. The reward is a certificate, charm, and an extra recess with Mr. Zielinski.

  • 3rd graders who met their individual growth goal OR scored a 194 or higher on the Reading NWEA. (Winter Score of 200 or higher projects a passing MSTEP score)

  • 4th graders who met their individual growth goal OR scored a 203 or higher on the Reading NWEA. (Winter Score of 207 or higher projects a passing MSTEP score)

  • 5th graders who met their individual growth goal OR scored a 209 or higher on the Reading NWEA. (Winter Score of 212 or higher projects a passing MSTEP score)

  • Top Ten in each grade level. The ten highest scoring students in each grade level will earn the Top Ten reward. The reward is a movie with Mr. Zielinski.

• Teachers-Don’t forget to bring your certificates (Steve will give them to us to fill out) and charms.

• Students should wear their M-STEP necklaces to the assembly.

From the PTA

Happy New Year Cougar Families! And welcome back!  Below are some upcoming events/reminders from your PTA:

The PTA/PTSA will be hosting their annual Reflections Art Show January 18 at the AP Center of the Arts.  All those who entered the contest should be receiving an invitation from the council with further details.

We are proud to present to you Mother Son Night January 19 at Rev’d Up in Woodhaven! Please view the attached flyer for details and ticket info. Tickets must be purchased prior to the event AND for each person participating in the event!

February 2 is our next PTA meeting held in the Arno Media Center at 6pm.

February 15 is our Founder’s Day Awards Ceremony at Arnaldo’s in Riverview.

February 16 is our first ever GLOW DANCE! Details TBA later

**FYI – Daddy Daughter Dance has been moved to May 5 at the Grecian Center in Southgate. More details will be announced at a later date. But mark your calendars!**

Stay tuned for more exciting news/events from your PTA like Spring Fever Craft Show, Game Night, and another Spirit Wear sale!

Reflections Celebration

For those student that participated, the district celebration will be on Jan. 18, and we are doing our own sponsored by PTA (ice cream party) on Jan. 18

Building to Kindergarten Part 2

If you or someone you know has a child entering kindergarten in the fall of 2023, this would be a great event to come and learn how to prepare for kindergarten.  The event information is below:

Building Up to Kindergarten Part 2 (2)

ALICE DRILL

This month, on Jan. 19,  we will be conducting our second ALICE drill of the year.  During this drill, classes will be practicing HIDE OUT/KEEP OUT where students will find numerous places in the room to hide (not in one big group) and you will assist in showing the class how the Boot would be used if there was an intruder if needed.  This May we will be practicing GET OUT where the whole school will mock evacuate to our rendezvous point at the Presbyterian church on Park- which will just be a walk by. Some of these plans may need to be changed based on any new information or procedures that come out of

BOARD APPRECIATION

A big THANK YOU to our Allen Park Board of Education members during School Board Appreciation Month.  We are honored to have such a supportive Board of Education who keep the arts and education alive in Allen Park!

MLK RESOURCES

THE MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. FLIPHUNT

A fliphunt is a type of activity, designed by Kathi Kersznowski, that creates a scavenger hunt using the Flipgrid app. It is a fun way of having your students get out of their seats, participate in the learning, and demonstrate their understanding and application.

Use this fliphunt to learn more about Martin Luther King Jr. and celebrate what he stood for. For each response, use the Task Title hashtag as the title of your video. For each task, students have up to 90 seconds to share your response.

Exploring Civil Rights Online

• The Library of Congress shares a number of themed resources, including digital lesson plans for grades 6–12, links just for students, online exhibitions, and more.
• The U.S. National Archives offers a variety of primary sources, along with public-domain teaching activities. What’s more, the page and its resources are available in Spanish.
• iCivics organizes a number of digital lesson plans and drafting board activities in one place.
• Civil Rights Teaching includes a thematic presentation and lesson plans meant to help teachers conceptualize new ways of teaching about the impacts of the civil rights movement.
• Looking for a one-stop shop? Teaching American History has a complete toolkit to help you teach this important topic.

Additional Resources

Check out the educator resources page from the National Civil Rights Museum or scroll through Education World‘s list of essential civil rights videos. You can even see what other teachers are doing at Share My Lesson Plan.

 

AN ENGAGING DIGITAL BREAKOUT

Digital breakouts are an interactive way for students to explore any number of topics. The process involves using knowledge and reasoning to solve a series of clues that “unlock” digital locks, just as you might with a physical breakout box.

With this MLK-themed breakout, students can learn about Dr. King’s family and early life, his influences, and the achievements he gained over the course of his celebrated career. Give it a try yourself. You can find ourMLK Breakout here.

PRIMARY LESSON PLANS FROM SCHOLASTIC

Explore Scholastic’s How Do You Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This page has several real teachers sharing their favorite ways to honor the life and legacy of the civil rights leader. Geared for first, second, and third-grade students, the page includes craft projects, reading suggestions, posters and printables, and suggestions from other educators.

FREE PRINTABLE RESOURCES

Old-school printables are still valuable, and the internet provides endless opportunities to develop, share, and find handouts, worksheets, and other printables you may find useful in the classroom. Check out studenthandouts.com for free printable activities: biographic outline, crossword puzzle, geography map, word search, and more for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

MLK VIDEOS

Looking for videos to show to your class? Check out these listed below.

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by 88 brains

Martin Luther King Jr. by BrainPOP

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Biography for Kids by Educational Videos for Students

LOOKING FOR MORE?

Check out our list digital resources for teaching and learning about the U.S. civil rights movement here.

Tech Time

How to Create an Image Revealing Effect in Google Slides

About a week ago a reader reached to me to ask for a suggestion on how to create an image revealing effect without the use of proprietary interactive whiteboard software. My first thought was to give TinyTap a try because that platform does include a feature called “Houdini Mode” that can be used to hide or reveal things with just one tap. A tutorial on how that works can be seen here.

After giving it more thought, I realized that you can create image revealing effects by using the transition and animation settings in Google Slides. Basically, you layer one image over another and then arrange the transitions and animations so that the top image disappears when you click on your slides. I recorded a short video about how to do that. The video is embedded below.

Video – How to Create an Image Revealing Effect in Google Slides

Applications for Education
As I mentioned in the video, using the image revealing effect could be a good way to create a series of quiz game slides. On each slide you can have a question for which the answer is hidden until you click on the slide to reveal the answer. That could be a fun way to host to an in-classroom review game that is kind of like Jeopardy.

A Few New Search Tools from Google

Those of you who use Chrome as your primary web browser on your computer or phone, that’s 75% of all readers of FreeTech4Teachers.com according to my Google Analytics account, may notice a few new search tools the next time you update your browser.

Yesterday afternoon Google announced new search shortcuts for the Chrome address bar. These new shortcuts let you quickly search your tabs, bookmarks, and history. To do this you simply type “@tabs” or “@bookmarks” or “@history” followed by your search term to search within your tabs, bookmarks, or Chrome browser history.

The other new search feature that Google unveiled yesterday was an update to mobile search. Now when you conduct a search you’ll see some suggested search filters and topics based on your original search. This update is rolling out now to the Google Search Android and iOS apps as well as the mobile browser.

Applications for Education
The new shortcuts to search within your browser bookmarks and history could be helpful to students who have been conducting some long-term research and need to review or revisit some of their findings that they forgot to note earlier on. The new suggestions in mobile search could be helpful to students who need some assistance narrowing the scope of a priliminary search.

Coming soon to Arno…

Dec. 1

Super Cougar Lunch

MTSS District Meeting 8:30

Dec. 2

Picture Retakes

PBIS Reward

End of Trimester

Roller Xmas 12:00

Dec. 5

Harrison Xmas 12:00

Pushman Xmas 12:30

Dec. 6-9 Steve @ MEMSPA Conf

Dec. 8

PTA Meeting 6:00

Report Card Window closes

Reading/Math Committee meetings 8:00

Dec. 9

Report Cards available on ParentConnect

Dec. 12

Ad Council 9:30

Guyot Xmas 1:30

Dec. 13

Steve @RESA

Dec. 14 

Magic with Santa PTA night

K,1,2 Santa Letters Due

Mercer Xmas 11:50

Dec. 15

Staff Meeting 8:00

Safety Committee 9:30

Christmas Lunch 11:00-12:00 per schedule

Higgins Xmas 2:00

Watson Xmas 2:45

Cookie Dough Fundraiser Pickup 3:00-6:00

Dec. 16

Amonette Xmas 1:00

Cervantes Xmas 1:30

Dec. 19

Haskin 12:00

Huntington Xmas 2:00

Warneck Xmas 2:55

Dec. 20

2nd and 3rd Grade Holiday Concert- Center for the Arts 6:30pm

Teacher Data Day

Dec. 21

SIP 8:00

Martinchick Xmas 10:45

Zuke Xmas 1:00

Johnson Xmas 1:30

Garza Xmas 2:00

Dec. 22

SEL 8:00

CHRISTMAS Sing Along 9:30 All

Eskew Xmas 1:15

Talamonti Xmas 2:00

Kalis Xmas 2:55

Dec. 23

1st grade to Henry Ford

PBIS Rewards

Schultz Xmas 10:20

Dec. 24-Jan 8

Christmas Break

Jan 9

School Resumes

Break is almost here!  We have persevered lots of challenges this school year, and I am sure there are a few more surprises around the corner- that’s why it’s important to recharge at break, enjoy, and look forward to all of the wonderful things that are in store for 2023!  Have a great Christmas season!

Arno Vision

Arno Elementary will provide a system of support to empower

and inspire students to become collaborative learners

that strive for academic excellence

Building to Kindergarten Kudos

A big THANK YOU to the fabulous kinder team for a successful, packed event for our annual fall Building to Kindergarten!  Thank you to Jeanine Haskin, Nickie Roller, Cristina Mercer, Cassie Harrison, and our awesome reading coach Beth Wesley- as well as all of our reading aides that helped out that evening! There were many families who came and learned the basics of what their child needs to be able to do by fall of 2023 when they enter kindergarten.  Way to go team!!

CHRISTMAS STORY TIME

I would like to once again come around to all of your rooms to give you a holiday 30 minute break, and read Christmas stories to our kids.  Please fill out the google doc with your desired time: Christmas

CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON

Reminder- we have our Staff Christmas Luncheon Dec. 15th 11:00-12:00.  We will do the one hour block again and will have a schedule when we get close.

December Data Meeting/MTSS

Our data meeting this December will be on Dec. 20- again this will be to review progress monitoring data and how those students are performing.  In December we will also be having our 8 week MTSS meeting with Matt and John.  Either after that meeting that day or on a different day in December, the MTSS team will be doing classroom visits to take a look at small group work.  Nothing is required, it would just be a pop in, nothing connected to evals

Committee Summary 11/8/22

Reading: 

• Review M-Step prep procedures

• SBA review and organization

• Reminder emails for implementation

• 3-5 grade started Study Island in before school clubs-for the partially proficient NWEA students

• Copies of MStep prep in progress

• October Edmentum challenge-Third grade won and had pajama day!!!!

• Reading Eggs K-2

Math:

• Discussed math interventions and the different approaches that could be taken.
• Discussed the online component to Big Ideas.
• Student specific questions

PBIS:

PD agenda 

Begin clip/flip discussion – Revisit in January, tell staff to move clip chart to private area. Two-three pilots of management systems, one upper el, one first grade, one K maybe

Emily talamonti, Dawn watson, cassie harrison

Mentor Update

  Months 

1. Creepy Cash (October) sucker
2. Santa Cash (December) candy cane
3. Raining Cash (March) hershey kiss
4. Kindness is Blooming (May)

Smencils

Monthly/Thursdays?

Travels on a cart

Who–Linda Mantua

SIP:

1. Current Vision Statement: Arno Elementary will provide a system of support to empower and inspire students to become collaborative learners that strive for academic excellence.
   1. Option 1- Keep the current vision statement and develop a mission statement and collective commitments, along with a timeline and process to do that.
   2. Option 2- Develop a new vision and mission statement as a team
   3. Came up with list of possible statements
   4. Will present at next staff meeting 11/17
   5. Will come together at the next SIP meeting and decide as a committee for the final mission and vision.
2. Title 1 Update
3. Third Friday planning
   1. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4caeaf28abf58-arno

SEL:

SEL Committee will be focusing largely on preparing for the Twelve Days of Gratitude this meeting. 

Agenda:

1. Recap “Choose Love” monthly initiatives 
2. Discuss 12 Days of Gratitude
3. Re Record BHM weekly videos/presentations (outdated)
4. Other items any member would like to discuss
   

   

   Picture Retake

   Picture retake day is Dec. 2.

    The direct link for parents if they wish to order pictures prior to retake picture day, https://inter-state.com/FlyerEntry/70215W

    For those students who would like to get their picture retaken and bought a package, they MUST bring their package down to the cameras for an even exchange, as pictures will not be reprinted unless those are returned.  Our photographer will need to know what to enter in for them

   

   From the PTA

   Greetings all! The annual PTA/PTSA Reflections is kicking off! This is our art recognition program. Students in all grades are invited to create a work of art in any of the below following categories. The theme is “Show Your Voice”.

   Dance choreography

   Film production

   Literature

   Music composition

   Photography

   Visual arts

   All participants will be recognized with a ribbon and certificate! A show and celebration will be held on January 18, 2023 in the AP High School Creative Arts Building. Invitations will be sent by the PTA/PTSA Council.  All entries are due to your child’s school office by 9:00am on December 2nd. You must submit an every form and consent form. All details, rules and forms can be found at the following link:

   https://sites.google.com/site/apptacouncil/reflections

   Upcoming Events @ Arno Presented By Your PTA:

   We are excited to announce our next and future events! Please mark your calendars! And please consider volunteering to help us make sure these events run smooth and are successful!

   For more info please reach out to us at arnopta@gmail.com or Facebook @arnoelementarypta

   December 14th: MAGIC WITH SANTA

   *A sign-up genius link for a slot for magic with Santa and/or to volunteer will be shared with registered PTA members on Friday December 2nd-December 4th then will be shared with everyone else.

   January 19th: MOTHER/SON NIGHT

   •Mother/Son will be held at Rev’d Up in Woodhaven. We will share the sign-up genius link for this event when it gets closer.

   February 16th: GLOW DANCE

   •Look for more information as this event nears and at February’s PTA meeting!

   **Thank you everyone for your support on our spirit wear sale! We had 180 items purchased!**

   We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Stay safe and healthy! 

   There will not be a meeting in January. We hope to see everyone at our February 2nd meeting at 6:00pm in the Arno Media Center!

   

   A BIG Thank you for all of your support for the Cookie dough fundraiser!  All items will arrive on December 15 for pickup starting at 3:00.

    

   

   Warming Tree

   In the spirit of sharing holiday warmth, we will be collecting new, warm outerwear like hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves to share on our warming tree located in the main hallway.  Please consider donating to help out less fortunate children by December 16.  Thank you for your help

    

   

   NHS FREE Tutoring is Back!

   

Christmas Tech Fun

Google’s Santa Tracker

Google’s Santa Tracker is a program that runs every December. It lets you track Santa during Christmas Eve and leading up to that there are activities added daily from December 1.

This could be something you could let your students explore. Or, looking at the site as a class could be a fun way to begin or end the day in December.

Check out the page for educators that has a few useful lesson plans and teaching resources.

Flipgrid

Have you tried Flipgrid yet? It’s an app that allows users to interact with each other via short videos. Usually, a teacher poses a question that is the topic for the grid.

Flipgrid is a really fun way to connect with other classes around the world, especially when timezones make Skyping difficult. Last year, I worked on a grid with a class in Ohio and in South Africa to compare our holiday traditions. It was a rich and engaging experience for everyone.

The end of the year is a great time to try Flipgrid. You could have a question just for your class to respond to or put it out to the families and wider school community.

You could even run a ’12 Days of Christmas’ Flipgrid and pose a different question for your students to respond to each day leading up to the break. These question prompts could be holiday related (such as sharing a favourite food, carol, tradition etc.). The question prompts could also be used as revision for the content covered in class.

Decorate a Christmas Tree with Google Slides

Educator, Eric Curts has made a fun and free Christmas themed Google Slides activity. This is a great way for students to be creative and to work on their writing skills by describing or writing about their holiday traditions, plans, or memories.

Visit Eric’s website to download the template which you can use with your class.

When students complete their Slide, they can email it, post it on a class blog, print it, or share on social media. Alternatively, you can combine the Slides to make a new slideshow with everyone’s creations.

Emoji Puzzles

There’s a popular site called Solvemoji.com where emojis are used in maths puzzles.

Students could try making their own puzzles using holiday emojis!

They could use a tool like Google Drawings, Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Canva. Or they could just hand draw them.

Here are some examples from the Solvemoji.com website. There are puzzles for all levels from junior up to master.

Rebus Stories

Here’s one more emoji idea because I always find they’re a hit with students!

A rebus story is basically where some words are replaced with images. They’re fun to read and create.

This is another idea from Eric Curts and he has a template you can download as well.

Students in a grade 3/4 class I was working in made rebus stories about their Christmas memories. Here’s an example…

Students could create other sorts of rebus texts as well such as narratives or poetry.

Coming Soon to Arno…

Nov. 1

Steve @RESA

Nov. 3

Mobile Dentist

Super Cougar Lunch

Building up to Kindergarten 4:30 (Info Below)

PTA Meeting 6:00 (Childcare available)

Nov. 4

Safety Committee 9:30

Nov. 5

PTSA Holiday Craft Show

Nov. 7

PTA Book Fair (Nov. 7-Nov. 11)

Mrs. Field’s Order DUE

Ad council 9:00

Nov. 8

No School- Election Day

Nov. 9

PBIS Meeting 8:00

P/T conferences 5:00-7:30

Nov. 10

Early Release 11:30am

P/T Conferences 12:45-3:15 & 5:00-7:30

Nov. 15

Teacher Data Day

Nov. 16

Reading Comm., Math Comm., and SIP 8:00

Nov. 17

Staff Meeting 7:45

SEL 8:00

Nov. 18

Report Card Window Opens

Nov. 23-25 

Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 1

Super Cougar Lunch

Dec. 2

Picture Retakes

PBIS Rewards

End of Trimester 1

Arno Vision

Arno Elementary will provide a system of support to empower

and inspire students to become collaborative learners

that strive for academic excellence

Committee Updates

PBIS: Updated the latest data from September Behavior report

SIP:

1. Title 1 Update- Beth
2. Third Friday Update
   1. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4caeaf28abf58-arno
   2. Next month ideas- AR Workshop, Charcuterie Board making, Painting class
3. Staff Recognition Ideas
   1. Lindsay- RAC posters for staff
      1. Post its, colored printing-Carrie, list of staff/teachers
   2. After Christmas- BINGO in the lounge

SEL:

• Continue monthly activities

SRCR:

NWEA goal sheets

• For grades 3-5 in the area of reading-
• Rachel has these. Barb Chuby is willing to meet with students one on one to create his/her reading goal.
• If a classroom teacher would like to do it by him/herself, just let Rachel know and she will give you what you need.

MSTEP planning updates

• Changed homework to benchmarks and unit tests
  • Classroom teachers please do Unit 1 on your own.
  • Units 2-6 have been made into homework packets.
• Vocabulary earlier
• SBA earlier
• Add SBA writing performance tasks
  • When looking at the data, we saw our MSTEP writing scores were lower than the other reading areas. Our students can write. They just need more practice in MSTEP writing.
• Sept PLC 3-5 to review last year’s MSTEP plan.
• October PLC 2-5 to go over the planning and pacing.

Reading tutoring  

SRCM:

• Discussed specific concerns with grade levels present, and possible solutions.   FAST is ongoing, then interventions will be planned.

Conferences

Conferences are fast approaching!  If you are in need of me to attend a conference, please let me know.  Also, please be sure that you have a sign in sheet for parents for Title I purposes on the total count attending- you can print the one below:

Conference Sign-in

Busting Myths About Grading

Picture Retake

Picture retake day is Dec. 2.  For those students who would like to get their picture retaken and bought a package, they MUST bring their package down to the cameras for an even exchange.

Fundraiser Update

Just a reminder that if you would still like to order cookie dough/cheesecake, time is running out!  All orders are due either online or into the Arno office by November 7 in order to guarantee shipping before Christmas.  Please let us know if you have any questions or need another form.  To place an order online, please click the link below:

https://onlineorders.mrsfieldsfundraising.com/arnoelementary/cookies

Using Children’s Books to Teach Math

In this Mathematics Teacher article, Kathleen Crawford-McKinney and Asli
Özgün-Koca (Wayne State University/Detroit) describe their work with K-3 students using
carefully chosen children’s books to teach mathematical concepts. Here are the steps they
recommend:

– The teacher reads the book aloud, stopping at strategic points, making connections to
students’ lives and drawing attention to the math content.
– The teacher asks questions about the math content and how it relates to the story (in the
book When Sophie Thinks She Can’t, this involves squares and rectangles).
– Students work through the math problem in the story, which usually entails some
productive struggle.
– The teacher poses a related math problem for students to wrestle with, using
manipulatives if possible.
– The class reflects on the literary and mathematical content they’ve discussed, including
what students do when they don’t understand how to tackle a complex problem.
Crawford-McKinney and Özgün-Koca share a list of books that lend themselves to this
approach, with the math concept included in each:

– When Sophie Thinks She Can’t by Molly Bang – squares and rectangles
– Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de La Pena and Christian Robinson – identifying
and describing shapes
– One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi – measurement
– The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins – division
– The Animals Would Not Sleep by Sara Levine – Sorting
– Sweet Potato Pie by Kathleen Lindsey – Multiplication, division, fractional reasoning
– Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana
Martinez-Neal – addition and subtraction
– Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier – area and perimeter
– Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak – time
– The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang and Harry Briggs – multiple concepts for each poem
and story
– Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant’s Tale by Duncan Tonatiuh – place value and
properties of operation
“Mathematics Through Children’s Literature” by Kathleen Crawford-McKinney and Asli
Özgün-Koca in Mathematics Teacher: Learning & Teaching PK-12, September 2022 (Vol.
115, #9, pp. 625-632); the authors are at kmcrawf@wayne.edu and aokoca@wayne.edu.

Building up to Kindergarten- Coming Soon!

Be sure to sign up in the link provided!

Building Up to Kindergarten Part 1 11.3.22

Unified PE

Students from Mrs Johnson’s class , Mr. Huntington’s and Mrs Talamonte’s class participating in Unified PE with Mrs. Eskew’s class, through the Special Olympics program, at ARNO.

PTA Holiday Fever is coming to town…

Tech Time 

Short Lessons on the Differences Between Canadian and American Thanksgiving

Monday is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. It’s about six weeks earlier than it is here in the United States. I’ve celebrated both versions of Thanksgiving and I can tell you that there are a lot of similarities between the two. There are also some differences between them. The following videos provide a humorous look at the similarities and differences between American Thanksgiving and Canadian Thanksgiving.

Videos, Writing, and Pictures – The Week in Review

Good evening from Maine where it was a beautiful autumn day. My kids had soccer practice, we rode our bikes, and I mowed the lawn for what was hopefully the last time this year. And before bedtime tonight we have to get ready for my youngest daughter’s birthday party that we’re hosting tomorrow. It should be a fun day. I hope that you have had a good weekend so far.

These were the week’s most popular posts:
1. My Updated Big List of Tools for a Variety of Classroom Video Projects
2. The Writer’s Workshop – 29 Videos That Can Help Students Improve Their Writing
3. A Great Alternative to Quizlet
4. How to Find TED-Ed Lessons by Grade Level
5. My Top Ten Tools for Social Studies Teachers and Students
6. A Great Place to Find Free Images for School Projects
7. Five Time-saving Ways for Teachers to Use Technology

Coming soon to Arno…

Oct. 4

Fire Drill

Teacher Data Day

Oct. 6

Staff Meeting 7:45

Picture Day

Super Cougar Lunch

PTA Meeting 6:00

Oct. 11

2nd Grade to Real Life Farm

Ad council 9:00

Oct. 12

Walk to School Day

PBIS 8:00

Oct. 13

ALICE Evacuation Drill 1:30- Full evac to church meeting point

Reading and Math Meeting 8:00

Oct. 17

MTSS Meeting (Steve, Beth, Erin J)

Oct. 18

Culver’s Scholarship Fundraiser Night

Oct. 19

SIP 8:00

Kinder to Real Life Farm

Steve @RESA

Oct. 20

SEL 8:00

Oct. 21

Report Card Window Opens

Oct. 24

Mrs. Fields Office Fundraiser Kickoff

Oct. 28

Halloween Parade 10:00

Early Release 11:30

Oct. 31

Happy Halloween! Full Day of School

PBIS Reward

ARNO VISION

ARNO ELEMENTARY WILL PROVIDE A SYSTEM OF SUPPORT TO EMPOWER

AND INSPIRE STUDENTS TO BECOME COLLABORATIVE LEARNERS

THAT STRIVE FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Data Dive

Our first teacher data dive is coming up the link to sign up is below for October 4th.  At our first meeting, we will also be joined by Beth, Jen (ELL), and Erin Jackson to help support our discussions.  Our time will be spent looking at the NWEA results, quadrant charts, FAST, and BAS/JR.  I look forward to our initial conversations!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n4z51xQK_NUJxjxPyi35I_sgCMVVvSEPA1ydRxBKGuE/edit?usp=sharing

Science Committee Survey

The K-12 Science committee kindly requests that you take a few minutes to complete the

K-5 Science Survey.  It is the hope of the committee that we can all work together to strengthen science education throughout our district.  This survey is the first step in devising a plan for the 2022-23 school year.  Please complete the survey by Monday, October 3rd.

EVAL Timeline

***Anytime your goals and self assessment are completed, please make a time to meet with me.  I would like to meet with everyone by the end of the first week of November.

The following timelines have been established for the 2022-2023 school year:

Teacher Self Evaluations due in SFS:  October 29, 2022

Professional Goals/Student Growth Goal due in SFS:  October 29, 2022

** If there is a need to extend these dates because of a technical issue, please see your building administrator, but after reviewing the site with some staff members, it doesn’t seem to be too complicated.

**In many cases your professional growth goal will align with our school and district priorities

Observation/Walk Through (1):  Administrator deadline of December 16, 2022

Mid year Review (Optional, unless you are probationary):  If Administrator wants to meet, the deadline is February 24, 2023

Observation/Walk Through (2):  Administrator deadline of May 5, 2023

Final Evaluation Meeting to review progress:  Administrator/Teacher deadline is June 9, 2023 (pending Munetrix computation)

Completed Evaluation signed off in SFS:  June 15, 2023

There are training powerpoints found in SFS, and I would draw your attention to help documents related to entering goals. Specifically look for the self assessment and the landing page for staff members to enter goals. There are a handful of links, but we really would like you to look to the goals section if you are having issues:

• Personal goal driven by the teacher

• (Professional goal) Principal driven goal for each teacher, aligned to building and district priorities.

• Student growth goal is optional this year since Munetrix is going calculate a score

If you are a probationary teacher, there are some suggested goals above and beyond those in your IDP. The student growth goal can go into the “Goals” link. There are spaces for a class goal and a targeted goal. Please use the class goal for your student growth (if applicable) goal and leave the targeted goal blank unless you and your building administrator have had a conversation.  There is a separate link for a professional goal.

Walk to School 2022

Walk to School 2022

Committee Work

PBIS

1. Rewards
   1. Volunteer to organize

1. Golden Tray
   1. Begin October
   2. Monthly
   3. Winners on marquee and extra recess

1. Sub Committees/Point Person
   1. Tier 2/3
      1. Emilie
   2. Cougar Cash/Store
      1. Katie
   3. Broadcast
      1. Megan S.
   4. Mentors–rolling out throughout October
      1. Lisa
      2. Dawn
   5. Super Cougar
      1. Cassie
   6. Monthly Reward
      1. All Committee
   7. SEL connection
      1. Marisa
   8. Smencils
      1. Katie
      2. Linda?
   9. Holiday Cash
      1. Andrea

1. Holiday Cash
   1. Specifics
      1. Brainstorm
   2. Months 
      1. Creepy Cash (October) sucker
      2. Santa Cash (December) candy cane
      3. Raining Cash (March)
      4. Kindness is Blooming (May)

1. September Reward
   1. Reward: popsicles and extra rewards
   2. Organizer: Katie
   3. Date: Friday, September 30, 2022
   4. Flips: 7 or less
   5. Reminders:

1. October Reward
   1. Reward: movie
   2. Organizer:
   3. Date: Monday, October 31, 2022
   4. Flips: 6 or less
   5. Reminders: non-earners miss 20 minutes of movie and then rejoin class

1. ROAR assembly
   1. Tuesday, September 20
   2. Find slots and send email

1. Marisa
   1. discuss slots to review social skills during monthly rewards

1. RESA Tier 2 trainings
   1. https://www.resa.net/teaching-learning/pbis 
   2. Virtual; 8:30-10:30a
      1. Intro/check in and check out: Sept 29
      2. More Options: Oct 21

1. Smencils
   1. Being October
   2. Monthly
      1. Thursdays
   3. Travels on a cart
      1. Who–Linda Mantua?

1. Super Cougar 
   1. Culver’s lunch
      1. Hamburger or chicken fingers
      2. Milk or apple juice

1. Tier 2 data plan
2. October agenda 
   1. Begin clip/flip discussion
   2. Budget
   3. Data presentation
   4. Mentors
   5. Double check stations

Math

• Discussions on the current status of how the new program is going
• Discussions on the Oct. PD to look at Pacing in Atlas vs. Big Ideas- possibly talk with other buildings at that point

Reading

• Discussions on M-STEP programming
• Discussions around launching Tutoring- Digital Programs= 1 hour pay ($30), Small group tutoring= 2 hour pay ($60)
• The chairs will meet soon on M-STEP data and analyze to see if we need to add anything into our programming this year.

SEL

https://tinyurl.com/SELchoose

SIP

1. Beth- Title I Update
   1. FastBridge 4th and 5th grade currently testing- K and 1 done
   2. JR Kits distributed
   3. October 13/14 MTSS with JT and Matt
   4. Beth, Rachel and Renee day in October to digest Mstep data
2. Review Digital Thinking Chart
   1. Math Coaches met with admin
   2. New Science coaches- hands on activities
      1. Piloting science curriculum
   3. Free building license for Moby Max- Megan try it out with a few students
3. Reflex Webinar
   1. 3 teachers- Thursday, 9/22/2022, 3:45 PM – 5:15 PM
4. Third Friday Staff Gatherings
   1. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4caeaf28abf58-arno
   2. Ideas for 10/21?
5. Staff Lounge beautification?
   1. Send email about staff pictures
      1. Erin will send email
6. How to boost teacher morale throughout the school year?
   1. Lindsay- BINGO staff game

Culvers

After an amazing turnout last year at our Culver’s scholarship fundraiser, we are going to give it a go again.  I have the signupgenius below to sign up for a shift- but of course, everyone is welcome to come up and be part of the evening (5:00-8:00). All funds go right to the scholarship fund, last year we topped over$1000 for the fund which is amazing!  Hope to see you there!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F44AAAA2EA2FE3-culvers1

Halloween Parade

Time to get those costumes on for Oct. 28 at 10:00 for our annual Halloween Parade.  Our route will take us out of the 5th grade doors that morning, making a loop on the inside perimeter of the playground.  Let’s hope for great weather!  If there are any changes to the route due to weather, I will let you know when we get close. No costumes are allowed for kids on Monday, but feel free to center your activities around Halloween themes.

From the PTA

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is an all-volunteer, parent-run, non-profit organization that works cooperatively with school administration and educators to provide opportunities for our students and families to socialize by providing fun family events and in-school opportunities. We have provided assemblies, family activity nights, playground/gym equipment, student technology, staff appreciation, and so much more!

Fun Run Success! 

Wow! Our Cougars did an amazing job gathering donations for the Fun Run! Together we raised almost $28,000 and want to thank everyone who helped make this event a success! We couldn’t do it without the support of our Cougar families, volunteers, teachers, staff, and the PTA – A BIG THANK YOU! These donations help fund special events such as dances, family activity nights, in-school assemblies, gym equipment, and so much more. We had so much fun this year and hope your Cougar did too! Way to go Cougars!

Next PTA Meeting

Thursday, October 6^th at 6:00 PM – Come see what we have planned next for our students!

 *New Room Location* We will be meeting in the Arno Media Center. Enter through the school front doors, go all the way down the hall until it ends and turn left. We will have childcare for all Arno students. Please register to become a PTA member.

PTA Membership Drive

We currently have our membership drive contest going on through October 14^th and the cost is $7 per membership.  Your membership will count towards our contest. The top membership class will win an ice cream party! Anyone can join the PTA – parents, guardians, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Register online by following this link  https://arnopta.memberhub.com/store We appreciate your support!

Mark Your Calendars!

Book Fair – November 7th – 11th | located at Arno. More information to come soon!

Spirit Wear Sale –  November 16th – 30th | Spirit wear will be sold online this year. More information to come soon!

Like us on Facebook by searching @arnoelementarypta – be sure to like our page, we occasionally give away cool stuff like Detroit Tigers tickets!

Fall Office Fundraiser

Arno will be trying a new fundraiser this year- Mrs. Fields/The Cheesecake factory starting  Oct. 24 to help supplement the many requests we get from staff during the school year such as assessment programs, research-based activities, special project supplies, literacy materials, tech, etc.  The last fundraiser helped us purchase many extra classroom supply requests, Super Cougar pizza lunch supplies, and books for teachers.

The PTA has been a tremendous resource for our building with all they have given, however, the many teacher requests received throughout the school year to give our students the very best experiences create a need to seek additional support.  Therefore, we have partnered with this company to offer you a choice of items should you choose to purchase any, that would support providing more resources for our teachers. The large envelope coming home on Oct. 24  will contain all of the information needed (and there is an online order method).

Fundraiser Timeline

October 24 – November 7 (All orders due)         Fundraiser Sale

November 7 All money and orders due (online payment option available)

Prize info for qualifying sales coming soon at kickoff!

Building up to Kindergarten- Coming Soon!

Be sure to sign up in the link provided!

Building Up to Kindergarten Part 1 11.3.22

Congratulations to one of our very own Cougars- Ava Fugedi, on being cast in the Nutcracker Ballet coming to the Fox Theater this Christmas! Be sure to get your tickets!

PTA Holiday Fever is coming to town…

Tech Time

Lessons to Answer Common Questions About Fall

Yesterday morning my youngest daughter and I were walking one of our dogs when she asked a question that her older sister asked a couple of years ago. That question was, “why do we have fall?” I did my best to explain it to her (she’s four, five next month) in terms that she could understand. I think she got it the gist of it.

Why Do We Have Fall?

If you have elementary school students who are wondering “why do we have fall?” here are a couple of good little videos on the topic.Why Are There Seasons? from SciShow Kids is a good video lesson about seasons. The video is appropriate for students in primary grades.

Reasons for the Seasons is a TED-Ed lesson appropriate for upper elementary and middle school students. The lesson explains the relationship between the shape of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the Earth’s tilt on its axis, and how those affect the amount of sunlight on different areas of the Earth. 

What is the Harvest Moon?
While looking for the videos above, I came across a related video that I featured in a blog post a couple of years ago. That video is ScienceCasts: The Harvest Moon. In the video the team at NASA ScienceCasts explains why the full moon that is closest to the northern autumnal equinox is called The Harvest Moon and why other moons have names too (have you heard of the snow moon or the wolf moon?). I found the video interesting, and I hope that you and your students do too.

Why Do Leaves Change Color?

Science Film Making Tips offers a good, partially animated, explanation of why leaves change colors, what produces the colors, and why bright and sunny days are best for viewing red leaves. The video is embedded below.

Reactions, a great YouTube channel from the American Chemical Society, offers a nice video about the chemistry involved in the process of leaves changing color. The videos explains how chlorophyll and the glucose stored inside trees help reveal the reds, yellows and, browns of fall foliage.

SciShow Kids offers this short video lesson to answer the question, “why do leaves change color in the fall?” following video about the science of changing leaves.

Three More Ways for Students to Create Flashcards Online

Writing yesterday’s blog post about my favorite alternative to Quizlet prompted me to look back at some other options for creating online flashcards. Should you find yourself looking for some free and easy ways for students to make online flashcards, give the following options a try.

Flippity’s flashcard template lets you create multimedia flashcards by simply entering terms into a Google Sheet. Your flashcards can include audio, video, images, and text. In this video I demonstrate how to create a set of multimedia flashcards by using Flippity’s Google Sheets template. A bonus of using Flippity is that, as I point out at the end of the video, when you create a set of flashcards with Flippity’s template you’re also creating matching activities and practice quizzes at the same time.

Easy Notecards is a free tool for creating text-based and image-based flashcards. What makes Easy Notecards a little different from other notecard and flashcard services is that you can search for public notecard sets according to textbook topics and titles. This is possible because when an Easy Notecards user creates a set of cards he or she can tag the cards with a book title and chapter within that book. For example, if I am making a set of cards based on chapter four of the U.S. History textbook The Americans I would tag that set with “The Americans, Chapter 4.” The cards that you create and or find on Easy Notecards can be used in five ways. They can be used as traditional flashcards that you simply flip back and forth. They can be used in a matching game. The cards can be used in a quiz game. Your cards can be used in an online bingo game. And the cards can be printed.

There are more than 300 flashcard templates in Canva’s design gallery. In that gallery you’ll find templates for making flashcards for math, spelling, geography, and more. And all of the templates can be modified to fit your needs. In this short video I demonstrate how to use Canva to create printable math flashcards. While watching the video pay attention to my trick for making all of the cutting lines exactly the same.

Welcome back Arno staff to all of the possibilities of

having the best year Arno has EVER had!!

Coming soon to Arno…

August 29

New Teacher Orientation

September 1

Teacher First Day/PD

Meet the Teacher 6:30

September 6

Student First Day

September 8

PBIS Stations

First PTA Meeting 6:00

September 14

PBIS Meeting 8:00

September 15

First Fire Drill 10:30

September 21

SIP Meeting 8:00

September 22

Tornado Drill 2:00

September 23

Fun Run

September 27

Fire Drill 2:00

September 29

Safety Committee 9:30

ARNO VISION

ARNO ELEMENTARY WILL PROVIDE A SYSTEM OF SUPPORT TO EMPOWER

AND INSPIRE STUDENTS TO BECOME COLLABORATIVE LEARNERS

THAT STRIVE FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE-

Welcome Back Arno Staff!

Arno Teaching Staff 2022-2023

Jessica Eskew

My name is Jessica Eskew and I am from Wyandotte, MI! I received my B.S. in Elementary Education with a major in Cognitive Impairments and Masters in Teaching and Learning in Special Education with a concentration in ASD from Wayne State University . Personally, I have been married for 1 wonderful year and recently had a daughter who is 3 months old.  We love to play with our Golden Doodle Sammy. In my spare time I enjoy reading, cooking, and music.I am excited to be a part of the Arno family and help each child progress in all areas of their development—academic, social, language, and motor.  I strive to create a community of learners that nurtures this growth in a positive, fun environment.

Marisa Tringali

Hello! My name is Marisa Tringali and I will be the school social worker at Arno Elementary School this year. I graduated with my undergraduate degree in elementary education from Michigan State University and got my masters in social work from the University of Michigan. Last year, I was a long term school social work substitute at Bennie Elementary and I am so excited to continue my time at Allen Park Public Schools. I look forward to helping our students make this year their best one yet!

Aly Kubik

My name is Aly Kubik and I have the pleasure of
being Arno’s Resource Room teacher. I will encourage
all students to become active participants in their
education and in the school community.
I have a Bachelor of Arts in Special Education from
Eastern Michigan University. This is my first year
teaching and my second year in the district as I served
as a long-term substitute before taking this position.
I was born and raised in Allen Park, graduating
from Allen Park High, Go Jags! I also coach the Girls
Varsity Basketball team.
I am committed to providing your child every
opportunity to have a successful year! I am very excited
to be a part of the Arno family!

Aaron Huntington

Hello, my name is Aaron Huntington and I am a graduate of Michigan
State University with a degree in  Elementary Education with a focus on
Language Arts and a minor in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of
Other Languages). In the winter of 2020 I graduated from Grand Valley
State University with a Masters of Education in Educational Technology. I
have ten years of teaching experience, with five of those years being in
fourth grade.
​    I live right here in Allen Park with my wife and two children. One of our
favorite things to do as a family is walk to any of the amazing parks
around the city. My favorite subjects are English and Science, but I love
certain aspects of them all. I love to see students reading and enjoying
books as much as I do.
I am a hardworking, responsible, and confident person with a continued
passion for elementary education. I believe a great teacher helps children
with the learning process and guides them to finding the answers for
themselves through discussion and discovery.
My interest in teaching was sparked as a child. My grandfather, my
grandmother, and my mother were all teachers or child care providers, so
I feel like I am stepping into a role that has been there for me since I was
young. My mother ran a child care out of our home, so I was always
around children and I would always volunteer to help. Becoming a teacher
was the most natural career choice for me.
I am extremely excited to begin this year at Arno as a fourth grade
teacher. I look forward to meeting everyone and becoming a part of the
Allen Park school community.

From the PTA

Welcome Arno Cougar Parents!

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is an all-volunteer, parent-run, non-profit organization that works cooperatively with school administration and educators to provide opportunities for our students and families to socialize by providing fun family events and in-school opportunities. We have provided assemblies, family activity nights, playground/gym equipment, student technology, staff appreciation, and so much more! We will have a table setup during Meet the Teacher Night on Thursday, September 1st at 6:30 PM and will be located by the main doors. There will be information available regarding planned events for the 2022/2023 school year, PTA membership forms, and general PTA information. We know it’s a busy night, but please stop by and see us! 

 The PTA Membership Drive will run from September 1st through October 14th and our theme this year is “Fall into the PTA”.  The class that receives the most memberships will win an Ice Cream Social!  Forms will be sent home on the first day of school and a link will be posted on our Facebook page. You can find us on Facebook by searching @arnoelementarypta – be sure to like our page, we occasionally give away cool stuff like Detroit Tigers tickets! Check out the flyer below for more details on the PTA and scan the QR Code to link you directly to our Arno PTA membership page! Please consider joining – the cost is $7 and your membership helps support so much we do for your child. 

Our first PTA meeting will be held in the school cafeteria at 6:00 pm on Thursday, September 8, 2022. The meeting will take place in-person and childcare will be provided for all Arno students. PLEASE JOIN US! If you’re looking for school spirit wear, we will be selling it online from November 16th through November 30th, so mark your calendars! More info will be available in the coming months. 

Our annual FUN RUN FUNDRAISER will take place from September 12, 2022 through September 30, 2022. The actual Fun Run will be held Friday, September 23, 2022 on the playground. This is our biggest fundraising event! It’s because of the fun Run and the support from our Arno Cougar families that we are able to offer free family-fun events and opportunities for our students. More information will be sent home with your child in the coming weeks. 

We have so many fun events planned for the school year and we need your help! Please consider volunteering or serving as a chairperson at one of our events. If we do not have a chairperson for an event, it is at risk to be cancelled. For more information or if you would like to volunteer, please email the PTA at arnopta@gmail.com. 

We are so excited for the 2022/2023 school year and can’t wait to share these great experiences with our awesome students! 

TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DATES

This year, the district calendar reflects 7 days of teacher PD.  Those half-day PD dates feature no school in the afternoon, 11:30 dismissal.  The dates for this school year are as follows:

9/1, 10/28 (ER), 11/8, 1/20, 2/17, 3/17, & 5/5 (ER)

REQUIRED PLC meetings (45 Minutes on September, October, December, April). Please remember to list your dates, and share agendas in the folder. 

PBIS Beginning of the Year Stations and Follow-Up Activities

Thursday, September 8, 2022

Thursday, January 12, 2023

There will be 10 minutes spent at each station which includes the discussion and travel time between stations.  You will rotate in sequential order.

Start Times and Stations

8:45a–Huntington (1), Talamonti (2), Johnson (3), Pushman (4), Watson (5)

9:35a–Warneck (1), Guyot (2), Kalis (3), Schultz (4), Martinchick (5)

10:25a–Garza (1), Zuke (2), Higgins (3), Cervantes (4), Amonette (5)

11:55a–Haskin (2), Harrison (3), Mercer (4), Roller (5)

**Presenters, please note that the 11:55a rotation are all littles.  Please shorten your presentation to short attention spans, highlighting the big ideas.  Thank you for making this accommodation!**

               1. Office Expectations

                Staff: Kim Dowd or Cathy Anderson

                Location: outside of office for space

2. Assembly and Bullying Expectations

               Staff: Andrea Alvarez

               Location:  gym or outside

3. Bus Expectations

               Staff: Steve Zielinski

               Location: bus located in parking area

4. Cafeteria Expectations

               Staff: ????

               Location: Cafeteria

5. Hallway Expectations

               Staff: Aly Kubik

               Location: hallway outside of Media Center/Computer Lab

Follow-Up Activities

~Posters for the hallway

~Individual positive messages

~Write about it in your journal

~Review classroom matrix and expectations

~Draw a picture of when you were kind/somebody was kind to you

~Allen Park Elementary PBIS website (brand new from Kendra Payette-Linn!)

~Watch a PBIS video clip 

RESA PBIS website–“Videos” dropdown on the page

Drawing to Learn

Tech Time

Ten Good Templates for Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts Activities

At the start of this year ReadWriteThink re-released all of their popular interactive templates for creating all kinds of things including poems, story plots, timelines, compare & contrast maps, and much more. If you haven’t looked at ReadWriteThink in a while, take a look at these updated templates that can be used for lessons in language arts, science, and social studies.

ReadWriteThink offers a good interactive guide that can help students craft a good persuasive essay. The Persuasion Map asks students to start with a thesis statement before walking them through developing support for that thesis. Students can print their persuasion maps or email them to you. RWT offers a number of lesson plans that incorporate the Persuasion Map. You can find those lessons at the bottom of this page.

Essay Map provides students with step by step guidance in the construction of an informational essay. Some of my students seem to struggle most with constructing an introduction and conclusion to their essays. Essay Map is particularly good for helping students visualize the steps needed to construct good introductory and conclusion paragraphs. After students complete all of the steps in their Essay Map they can print their essay outlines.

Read Write Think’s Crossword Puzzle Generator makes it easy to create your own crossword puzzles. To create your puzzle simply enter a list of words, a set of clues for your words, and then let the generator make a puzzle for you. You can test the puzzle before printing it. You can print blank puzzles and answer sheets from the puzzle generator.

Alphabet Organizer is a great little tool from Read Write Think that students can use to create alphabet charts and books. The idea behind Alphabet Organizer is to help students make visual connections between letters of the alphabet and the first letter of common words. Here’s my demo of how it works.

RWT Timeline provides a good way for elementary school students to create timelines that include pictures and text. It doesn’t offer nearly as many options as some other timeline creation tools, but it’s easy to use and more than adequate for elementary school settings.

RWT’s Animal Inquiry guide is a good fit for elementary school science lessons. Animal Inquiry provides students with four templates; animal facts, animal babies, animal interactions, and animal habitats. Each template is an interactive template in which students respond to three prompts to help them create short reports about animals they are studying. Read Write Think suggests using the questions in the Animal Inquiry template as prompts for research. The questions in the templates could also be good for helping students brainstorm additional questions to research.

RWT’s Theme Poems interactive provides students with 32 pictures to use as the basis for writing short poems. To write a poem students launch the interactive then choose a theme. Within each of the five themes students will find related images. Once they choose an image students are prompted to write the words that come to mind as they look at the image. Students then create poems from those words. The finished product can be saved as a PDF and or emailed to a teacher from the RWT site.

The Trading Card Generator is one of my all-time favorite templates from RWT. With this template students can create trading cards about people (real and fictitious), places, and things. Here’s the video that I made about the Trading Card Generator earlier this year.

The RWT Flip Book template lets students create books by typing or by drawing on the pages in their books. There is a variety of page templates that students can choose to use within their books. Some templates are text-only, some are drawing-only, and some are a mix of drawing and text templates. To use RWT Flip Book students simply open the template, enter their first names, then start creating their first pages.Read Write Think’s Word Mover helps students develop poems and short stories. When students open the Word Mover app they are shown a selection of words that they can drag onto a canvas to construct a poem or story. Word Mover provides students with various background colors and patterns on which they can construct their poems. If the word bank provided by Word Mover doesn’t offer enough words they can add their own words to the word bank.

REMIND

Please be sure that you have been added to my Remind account for any emergency contact needed.  Please enter 81010 and text this message @arnostaff to join our Remind group

 

Coming soon to Arno…

June 1

NWEA Reward Picnic for Top 10 Readers and Most Improved 11:30

NWEA Certificate students extra recess 1:30

June 2

3rd Grade to Greenfield Village

June 3

5th Grade to Greenfield Village

Senior Walk 1:45

June 7

5th Grade Graduation APCA 9:15

Honors Choir APCA 7:00

June 8

Mentor Celebration 1:20

June 9

5th Grade Picnic

Super Cougar Ice Cream Party 2:30

June 10

1st Grade to Bowling

3rd Grade to Barney Park

Kindergarten to the Zoo

June 13

Early Release 11:30

3rd Grade to Boccabella

4th Grade to Pretty Family Park

June 14

Early Release 11:30

3rd Grade to Pretty Park

4th Grade to Boccabella

Kindergarten Celebration Picnic Barney Park

June 15

Early Release 11:30

Last Day of School

June 22

Office Closes

2022-2023 School Year

August 22

Arno Office opens

September 1

Meet the Teacher

September 6

Student First Day

September 8

First PTA Meeting 6:00 New 

PBIS Stations

Arno Vision

Arno Elementary will provide a system of support to empower

and inspire students to become collaborative learners

that strive for academic excellence-

Final Committee Updates:

SRCR:

*NWEA spring assembly for students that met their goal or are at grade level – May 25, 2022

Fifth grade in gym 8:45-9:15, fourth and third grade in art room 9:30 & 10:00

*Top ten per grade level & most improved reward – park trip with Steve June 1, 2022 11:30-1:00

*Discussion on this year’s M-STEP scores

*Concerns expressed over the class sizes in current first grades and the impact on future scores – Is it possible to add an additional class of second grade for next year?

*Start fifth grade MSTEP prep earlier next year, not enough time to get it all in

*Add synonym word changing in directions as a strategy next year

PBIS:

PBIS Beginning of the Year Stations and Follow-Up Activities

Thursday, September 8, 2022

Thursday, January 12, 2023

There will be 10 minutes spent at each station which includes the discussion and travel time between stations.  You will rotate in sequential order.

Start Times and Station Double check 2022/2023 Specials schedule

8:45a–Trionfi (1), Talamonti (2), Johnson (3), Pushman (4), Watson (5)

9:35a–Warneck (1), Guyot (2), Kalis (3), Schultz (4), Martinchick (5)

10:25a–Garza (1), Zuke (2), Higgins (3), Cervantes (4), Amonette (5)

11:55a–Haskin (2), Harrison (3), Mercer (4), Roller (5)

**Presenters, please note that the 11:55am rotation are all littles.  Please shorten your presentation to short attention spans, highlighting the big ideas.  Thank you for making this accommodation!**

               1.Office Expectations

Staff: Kim Dowd or Cathy Anderson

Location: outside of office for space

2. Assembly and Bullying Expectations

Staff: Andrea Alvarez

Location:  gym or outside

3. Bus Expectations

Staff: Steve Zielinski

Location: bus located in parking area

4. Cafeteria Expectations

Staff: ????

Location: Cafeteria

5. Hallway Expectations

Staff: ????

Location: hallway outside of Media Center/Computer Lab

SEL:

• Continue monthly activities identified through the calendar.  Please use all of the literacy resources in the media center.

SRCM:

• The math committee reviewed NWEA math data. We worked to find the percent of students who met the cut score in each grade. We compiled the percent proficient from each grade and you can see the breakdown here. The plan is to track the percent proficiencent from each grade year to year. One teacher from each grade will receive the previous years’ scores so you can see where next year’s students ended this spring. Thanks for all of your hard work this year!

SIP:

Completed all sections of required plans and goals for submission to the district.  Planning is complete, the information will be shared at the first staff meeting.

Final Eval meetings/Data meetings

We will have our combined final eval and final data meeting together on June 8.  If we are unable to finish while we wait for final data, then I will schedule something separate with you to wrap this all up.

Senior Clap Out

Please mark your calendars for the Senior clap out on June 3 @1:45pm.  We will start at the 5th grade doors, and walkthrough to the main doors- Kindergarten can join in the main hallway.

FYI- PLEASE be sure this is up to date

School Supply Lists are out and ready to go…

This year we are using Teacherlists.com to post all of our supplies.  You can access the lists down below from the click-button, or you can access from our Arno site off the main APPS website.  This feature also allows you to choose a store, if you wish, which auto sets up the list for purchase and lets you finish the process without ever setting foot in a store.

https://www.teacherlists.com/schools/31210-arno-elementary-school

NWEA Celebration

We kicked off another celebration of our students who have worked so very hard to meet their goals on the NWEA.  This time around, all students who met their goal or achieved grade level on their NWEA will receive an extended recess.  We also have a Top 10 reading scores per grade, and a “Biggest Jump” category for those who saw the biggest jump in score from Sept. to May.  All Top 10 and Big jump kids will be attending a pizza picnic at Boccabella park on June 7- those students have a note and permission slip to take home.   It was so great to see all of the smiles and the M-STEP charm necklaces, which were very filled up to end our testing season!

Congrats to all of our hard working 3rd -5th graders!

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th Grade

Top Ten Readers

Most Improved

Tech Time

Alternatives to Book Reports – A Post Inspired By My Daughter

My five-year-old daughter has a healthy obsession with the According to Humphrey the Hamster series of books. She got one of the books for Christmas and we’ve been reading through the entire series since then. Last week I came home from a bike ride and she couldn’t wait to show me her latest art project! It was a paper replica of how she pictured Humphrey’s cage. She had even used some paper and tape to create a little hamster wheel to put in his cage. On a scale of 1-10 I was at about 15 for how impressed I was that she came up with that idea on her own.

Inspired by my daughter’s creation of a replica of Humphrey the Hamster’s cage, here are some other ideas for alternatives to traditional book report assignments.

 

• Create a book trailer video. This is a short video intended to get people excited to read a book. Students can summarize key points in the book and try to entice viewers to read the book. Canva’s video editor and Adobe Creative Cloud Express are great tools for making book trailer videos.
• Have students design and publish their own online games based on the plot and characters of a book. Flippity offers great templates that students can modify to create their own online games.
• Students can use Google Earth to create virtual tour based on locations featured in a book. Students using the web browser version of Google Earth can include videos in the placemarks in their tours. Students who use Google Earth Pro can record audio narration for their entire tours.
• Consider using the choose-your-own-adventure model and have students write some alternate endings to a story. They can do this in Google Slides. Here’s a video about the process.

 

Five Google Earth Activities to Get Kids Interested in the Outdoors

In last week’s Week in Review I mentioned a new book titled Outdoor Kids in an Inside World. In the book Steven Rinella presents a lot of ideas for getting kids interested and involved in learning about nature. In the first chapter he presents a big list of ideas for things that you can do to spark kids’ curiosity before you even head outside. As I was reading through those ideas it struck me that many could be done or be aided by the use of Google Earth.

Inspired by Steven Rinella’s Outdoor Kids in an Inside World, here are five Google Earth activities that you can do to get kids interested in learning about the world around them.

• Trace a drop of rain from your house to the nearest stream, river, lake, or ocean.
• How many total feet or meters of elevation change would you cross to walk from your school to the highest point in your state, province, or country.
• Create a tour of the five most interesting geological features in your state, province, or country. Let students decide what qualifies as “interesting.”
• Use the historical imagery in Google Earth to view changes in shoreline over the last fifty years. Have students create a list of the factors that contributed to those changes.
• Take a walk outside and look for bird nests. Record their locations in a Google Earth file. Repeat the process the following year with another group of students and see if the bird nests are in the same places.

If you’re interested in learning more about Google Earth, enroll in A Crash Course in Google Earth and Maps or take a look at Around the World With Google Earth.