Feb. 22

 Coming up at Arno…

Feb. 22

Jensen mid-year 9:30

SIP chair meeting full p.m. (Sarah, Carrie, Steve)

Feb. 23

Data Day per schedule

SIP meeting 3:45-4:45

Feb.24

Illuminate training Riley 9:30

Founders Day Banquet 6:00

Feb. 25

Principal’s Meeting 9:00

Sbonek mid-year 3:00

K registration @Riley 4-7

Skating Party 6:00

Feb. 26

Yeah mid-year 12:50

1st grade mid-year 1:45

 

Is that Pie in your face??

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 M-STEP Prep and Discussion 

On March 2, I will be hosting an M-STEP review of what will be required and latest updates from the state.  We will take the practice test, talk about the tools the kids need to know, and the content.  We will also take a look at some of the other resources that need to be practiced weekly at this point.  I am offering a session from 7:30-8:30 OR 3:30-4:00.  If you are in grades 3-5, please try and attend- all our welcome as we all have a hand in the M-STEP.

 

 

data

 

February 23 is our upcoming data day.  We will follow the same schedule and cover your 2nd common assessment, talk M-STEP, and look at reading.

8:45-9:30 Grade 3

9:-35-10:15 Grade 5

10:20-11:05 Grade 2

11:10-11:55 Grade 4

12:45-1:30 Grade 1

1:45-2:30 Grade K

Retention

Now that we are heading towards the end of the year, the issue of possible retention for some students has surfaced.  As many of you may have heard, research indicates that retention is not a viable strategy.  Meeting to put in place a structured intervention plan for the following school year, in the next grade level, aligns more with our MTSS plans and helping students succeed, not to mention the social-emotional benefits of remains with your classmates.  That said, I will certainly sit with all of you and review your thoughts on students that may be on the bubble, but there will need to be enough data evidence and lack of progress to show that retention would be of benefit, beyond an intense intervention plan.   Please see me as we go through the next few months to review any students you strongly feel should be retained.

Some research:

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/new-research-failing-students_2034/

http://intranet.niacc.edu/pres_copy(1)/ILC/The_Retention_Debate.pdf

http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_199005_shepard.pdf

 

Mid-Year Review

As we make our way into February, I will need everyone to set up a time with me to go over the mid-year review in relation to your goals you wrote in the fall.  Please review the docs below and arrange a time to meet me with Feb 29 being the end date for all to be complete.

MidTerm Evaluation Checklist 2014-15

Mid-Year Evaluation Reflection 2014-15-2

Walkthrough obs will resume in March with full completion of the cycle by May

star-wars-reads

 

March is Reading Month 2016 Teacher Information

THEME: “Star Wars… In A Galaxy Far Far Away… We Read!”

February 29-March 21

Listed below are numerous activities that we are incorporating to encourage students to read during the month of March. This year, we are not “bribing” students with an over-the-top prize. We are simply encouraging the love of reading!

 The activities will run from Feb. 29-March 21 due to 5th grade camp and Spring Break.

 Weekly Time Sheets/Reading Activities– Each student will be given a Star Wars cut-out to be posted outside each classroom. Each week, time sheets will be sent home to record their reading. Recommended reading time per grades:  

Grades K-2 – 80 minutes per week

Grades 3-5 – 100 minutes per week

 Time sheets must be returned on Monday, March 7th, 14th, and 21st. Once the student hands in their time sheets with the recommended reading time, they will get a sticker on their cut-out, as well as:

Week 1:  (March 7th) Sticker and Star Wars Pencil

Week 2: (March 14th) Sticker and a Star Wars Book Mark

Week 3: (March 21st) Sticker and a Flying Saucer (Krispy Kreme donut)

 Wednesday, February 24thAn informational letter will be sent home to families explaining activities for March is Reading Month.

KICK OFF ACTIVITIES:  February 29thStar Wars Theme Music on Broadcast, Book Raffles, Door Decorating Contest, and Class Poster Contest  

Decorate Classroom Door – Please have your students decorate your classroom door to represent Star Wars or a Space theme. The door judging will take place on Wednesday, March 2nd.

Class Poster Contest – Each class will create 2 informational posters to display around the school. The posters can be based on a Star Wars/Space theme or an informational poster your class created. Please include your class name on the front of the poster.

Wear It Wednesdays – Every Wednesday during March is “Wear it Wednesdays!”    Wed., March 2nd – Wear a hat with words on it

Wed., March 9th – Wear a t-shirt with words or a phrase on it

Wed., March 16th – “Be a word” day! Wear a word pinned to the front of your shirt. Pin the definition on the back.

Friday, March 4th – Student Book Exchange (See upcoming link to sign-up)

Friday, March 4thBingo for Books

Fun-Fridays reading activities planned

March 4 – Dress for Space/Star Wars: Wear clothing to school that depicts your favorite Star Wars Character or Space Character and bring in your favorite Star Wars/Space book. No masks please.

March 11 – Light Saber: Bring a flashlight and your favorite book to school.

Unplugged Night, Wednesday, March 9thWe are encouraging students to turn off the TV and turn on their reading.

Penny War – Tuesday – Thursday, March 7th -10th – 8:35-8:50 – All proceeds will help provide books to our classrooms. A parent in Rachel’s room will help organize this.

“I Was Caught Reading Display” There will be a display outside the media doors. If you “catch” a student reading or their parents “catch” them, snap a photo and hang it on the display outside the media doors.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, from 8:45-9:10 School-wide DEAR

(Drop Everything and Read) March 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, and 17. Silent reading for all.

Guest Readers – If interested, let Colleen know, and she will try to arrange a guest reader for your room.

Teacher Reading Swap – Sign up with Renee to “swap” with a teacher and read

to another class while someone reads to your class. You can sign-up multiple times.

Monday, March 21st – Culmination-Read a Thon – Kids can wear their pajamas and bring in their favorite books/magazines. Flying Saucers (Krispy Kreme donuts) will be given out to each child.

Thursday, March 24th – Author visit from Paul Orshoski.

 Happy Reading! Thank you for helping to make this month a great success!

If you have any questions, please ask.

 

 

Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser K-4

Please review the timeline below for the fundraiser that just ended.  All forms and monies are due to the office by Feb. 19.  Checks may be made out to Arno

February 19 All money due

February 29- March 4 Come to Arno to pick up your voucher

March 7-March 18 Window to pick up rolls at the restaurant.  Your voucher will specify the date

2016-17 KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

February is Kindergarten Registration Month in Allen Park!

Allen Park Public Schools is ready to welcome your child for Kindergarten for the 2016-17 school year! The process is easy and we’re here to help.

Please share this information with friends, neighbors and family members who may have a child ready for Kindergarten next fall. Whether this is your first child attending school, or you live in the district and already have a child attending APPS, or already have a child attending APPS through our School of Choice Program, we need you to enroll your school age/younger siblings through our registration process.

*The entry age for Kindergarten for the 2016-17 school year – child must be five years of age by September 1, 2016. NOTE: All incoming Kindergarten students will be screened after Kindergarten Round Up. Placement recommendations will be made for students with early birthdates for Young 5s Program or Kindergarten based on screening indicators.

Kindergarten enrollment takes place at the Riley Education Center, 9601 Vine, AllenPark, Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:30 a.m. –3:30 p.m. (Office closed February 15 & 16)

Please bring:

  • Birth Certificate of Child
  • Driver’s License of Parent/Legal Guardian (for ID purposes)
  • Proof of residency (Warranty Deed/closing statement, tax or utility bill, homeowner’s insurance policy, rental agreement)
  • Current School of Choice Families – Name/grade of student currently enrolled in Allen Park Public Schools
  • Immunization Records or Wayne County Health Department Waiver (Required for enrollment)
  • Health Information Form/Physical (Required for entrance, but not required at time of enrollment)
  • Vision Screening Record (Required for Kindergarten enrollment)

As a convenience to our families, APPS will host evening hours for Kindergarten enrollment on Thursday, February 25 from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the Riley Education Center. Please bring items mentioned above.

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.apps.k12.mi.us or call (313) 827-2105.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR – KINDERGARTEN ROUND UP

at Arno, Bennie and Lindemann Elementary

MONDAY, MAY 9, 2016 – 6:00 p.m.

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

 

book

 

Please be sure that I have your grade level order for scholastic by Feb. 26.  I’ll submit when I have all of them.

 

Have a spectacular weekend

 

February 15

Coming up at Arno…

Feb. 15

Winter Break

Feb. 16

Winter Break

Feb. 17

MATH ASSESSMENT DATA TIME (Bring your class to the gym)

The schedule is as follows:

3rd Grade:  8:35-9:20

5th Grade: 9:30-10:15

4th Grade: 10:25-11:10

Kindergarten:  12:15-12:50

1st Grade: 1:00-1:45

2nd Grade:  1:50-2:35

Feb. 18

District Safety committee 9:30

Haskin mid-term 12:50

Feb. 19

2nd grade filed trip

Blood Drive

Smalley mid-term 12:50

Liedel mid-term 12:50

2nd grade mid-term 2:35

 Arno Spirit Rocks!!

Winter Break

Just a reminder that winter break for Allen Park Public Schools is Feb. 15th and 16th- No School

Arno Blood Drive

The Arno blood drive is from 1:00-7:00 on Feb 19th.  You can call or email Cathy.  You may also go on the Red Cross Website to register, searching for Arno Blood Drive.

Mid-Year Review

As we make our way into February, I will need everyone to set up a time with me to go over the mid-year review in relation to your goals you wrote in the fall.  Please review the docs below and arrange a time to meet me with Feb 29 being the end date for all to be complete.

MidTerm Evaluation Checklist 2014-15

Mid-Year Evaluation Reflection 2014-15-2

Walkthrough obs will resume in March with full completion of the cycle by May

data

Please add February 23 to your calendar for data day. We will follow the same schedule and cover your 2nd common assessment, talk M-STEP, and look at reading.

8:45-9:30 Grade 3

9:-35-10:15 Grade 5

10:20-11:05 Grade 2

11:10-11:55 Grade 4

12:45-1:30 Grade 1

1:45-2:30 Grade K

Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser K-4

Please review the timeline below for the fundraiser that just ended.  All forms and monies are due to the office by Feb. 19.  Checks may be made out to Arno

February 19 All money due

February 29- March 4 Come to Arno to pick up your voucher

March 7-March 18 Window to pick up rolls at the restaurant.  Your voucher will specify the date

 Class Dojo

This is episode 3 in the series of building mindset

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5t-RKm0VFg

 

2016-17 KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

February is Kindergarten Registration Month in Allen Park!

Allen Park Public Schools is ready to welcome your child for Kindergarten for the 2016-17 school year! The process is easy and we’re here to help.

Please share this information with friends, neighbors and family members who may have a child ready for Kindergarten next fall. Whether this is your first child attending school, or you live in the district and already have a child attending APPS, or already have a child attending APPS through our School of Choice Program, we need you to enroll your school age/younger siblings through our registration process.

*The entry age for Kindergarten for the 2016-17 school year – child must be five years of age by September 1, 2016. NOTE: All incoming Kindergarten students will be screened after Kindergarten Round Up. Placement recommendations will be made for students with early birthdates for Young 5s Program or Kindergarten based on screening indicators.

Kindergarten enrollment takes place at the Riley Education Center, 9601 Vine, AllenPark, Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:30 a.m. –3:30 p.m. (Office closed February 15 & 16)

Please bring:

  • Birth Certificate of Child
  • Driver’s License of Parent/Legal Guardian (for ID purposes)
  • Proof of residency (Warranty Deed/closing statement, tax or utility bill, homeowner’s insurance policy, rental agreement)
  • Current School of Choice Families – Name/grade of student currently enrolled in Allen Park Public Schools
  • Immunization Records or Wayne County Health Department Waiver (Required for enrollment)
  • Health Information Form/Physical (Required for entrance, but not required at time of enrollment)
  • Vision Screening Record (Required for Kindergarten enrollment)

As a convenience to our families, APPS will host evening hours for Kindergarten enrollment on Thursday, February 25 from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the Riley Education Center. Please bring items mentioned above.

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.apps.k12.mi.us or call (313) 827-2105.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR – KINDERGARTEN ROUND UP

at Arno, Bennie and Lindemann Elementary

MONDAY, MAY 9, 2016 – 6:00 p.m.

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

Book Fair

Thanks to everyone who stopped in and supported our PTA’s Spring Book Fair!  We will be sorting the numbers and report the funds raised at the March 3rd PTA meeting.  Thanks for helping to make our fair Groovy!

Under the Dome

Hopefully all of your classes enjoyed being “under the dome” yesterday watching a great video.  Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on it.

IMG_1031 IMG_1032

Arno Fun Fair

What a grand time we had last week at the annual fun fair to benefit the Arno Scholarship Fund.   From all the delicious treats at the cake walk, the dime toss, games, prizes, baskets and a great hot dog, there were many smiling faces throughout the day.  Thanks to all of the staff that participated!

IMG_0541 IMG_0536 IMG_0537 IMG_0538 IMG_0539IMG_0542 IMG_0543 IMG_0545 IMG_0546 IMG_0547 IMG_0549IMG_0558 IMG_0557 IMG_0555 IMG_0554 IMG_0552 IMG_0550 IMG_0549

 

Breakfast/Lunch Program

This post went into the parent blog.  The district is seeing a decrease in the number of meals ordered across the board.  Please make sure you remind kids daily that it’s available and even send out the flyer in your blogs or texts.  Thanks

Here at APPS, we take our meal service seriously by providing the best quality food that lines up with federal nutritional guidelines.  If you have never given our breakfast or lunch program a try, it’s always a good time to start.  Breakfast starts around 8:10 in the morning (You can drop off early and get the kids in a warm place) and of course we have our hot lunch and salad bar available every lunch time.  Please see the flyer for more information- did I mention that every Friday a.m. breakfast time also includes some fun dancing?

Breakfast and Lunch Flyer w color Feb 2016-pdf (1)

break pdflunch pdf

 

 

Office gets a musical visit

Mr. Hoffman recently treated the office to some wonderful music to top our day.  Thank you to Mrs. Brown’s class- you were super spectacular!

IMG_0567 IMG_0568 IMG_0569

 

 Have an awesome break!!!

February 8

Coming up at Arno…

Feb. 8

Spirit Week- Arno Wear

Book Fair

Ad Council 9:00

Board Meeting 7:00 Math- Passage of math series

Feb. 9

Spirit Week- Pirates and Princesses

Book Fair

PBIS meeting 3:45

Feb. 10

Spirit Week- Inside Out

Book Fair

Steve @ Riley 9:30

P/T Conferences 5:00-7:30

Feb. 11

Spirit Week- Rainbow

Book Fair

P/T conferences 5:00-7:30

DOME Theater Assembly per schedule

Feb. 12

Spirit Week- Tropical (Remind students NO Bathing Suits)

Spirit Week- Pie in the Face Assembly 3-5 @1:30-2:00, K-2 @2:30-3:00

Book Fair

 

Reminder- 

Please schedule your mid-year review as soon as possible

Texas Roadhouse

Just a reminder that all forms are out for our Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser for K-4 families which wraps up on Friday Feb.12th.  A new note will come out informing everyone of when they can come to the office to pickup your voucher(s) for the rolls (restaurant roll pickup).  This fundraiser is for the building- with the purchase of Kindles in grades K-2 as the goal.

letter rolls form

 

Conferences

All report cards are going this Friday in preparation for next weeks conf.  The P/T conferences will be next Wed., Feb. 10 and Thursday Feb. 11 from 5:00-7:30 daily.  Please let me know if you need me to attend one of your conferences.  Please encourage your parents to head out to the book fair when finished.  I have put some conference resources below.

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 8.29.41 PM

(from Teaching With a Mountain View)

I will never forget the 20 minute conference for my step-daughter that included no time for questions, no time for discussion, and no time for parent input.  When the 20 minutes of her talking was over, we were told she had another parent following us, and if we wanted to discuss anything further, we could set up a separate time. Wait, what?

I always start off the conference with “What questions do you have for me?  I want to make sure we make this time together valuable.”  I have found that parents really appreciate starting the conference by opening up the floor to them.  It is my belief that if a parent is coming in with a question or a concern, it’s going to be the only thing on their mind regardless of what I’m saying, so it’s better to start with it right off the bat.  That, and sometimes a concern that parents have is more worthy of your 20 minutes together than discussing data.

Of course, you are always going to come across parents who have absolutely no concerns (or absolutely no idea what is going on in school) and want you to do all of the talking.  Regardless, after starting the conference this way, I am always left with some sort of feeling of how the conference is going to go, the level of involvement that parent has, and what is important to the parent. Giving the option never hurts, though, and I have found that it really helps guide the direction of the conference.

Bottom Line: Don’t Be The Star of the Show

During that same conference I referenced above, we were left with not one single piece of paper.  Grades had been spewed, test scores had been referenced, and we had been told about a number of upcoming projects that would be due.  How could I remember all of that information, even with my background in education?

That said, I believe it crucial to let the parents leave with something and to be prepared with the appropriate copies and materials.  If you are going to discuss the report card, make sure you have a copy of it to leave with the parents, and better yet, have pens on the table for parents to take notes.  If you are going to discuss test scores, make sure you have a sheet that interprets scores and briefly describes the test.  Most parents don’t know what a CBM (Curriculum Based Measurement) is, or the number of words a student SHOULD be reading per minute.  They don’t know what a Lexile Level is or how to use it.  Include that information with their scores.

Now with the Common Core and Standards Based Grading, this is going to be even more important.  If you are going to chat about the common core, type up a quick blurb about what it looks like in your classroom so that parents can take it with them if they so choose.  If you are going to discuss a book report that is due two weeks from now, have a few extra assignment sheets handy in the event that Little Johnny has forgotten to mention it to mom and dad.

This is the organizational method that has worked for me for years… I grab a large piece of construction paper for each child in my room, fold it in half, and write their name on the top.  When I get my conferences scheduled, I write their date and time below their name.  Then, I put all of the folders in the scheduled order.  I include something tangible for just about everything I am going to be talking about so that I don’t have a chance to forget anything.

Bottom Line: Be prepared and don’t let parents leave empty-handed!

This was one that I missed my first go around, and in hindsight it looks so completely obvious.  I had all my papers ready to go, but nothing with which to take notes!  I would try to remember all the parent requests and quickly write them down, hoping I recalled them all, before my next conference arrived.  (Was it Jimmy that needed to use the restroom every 2 hours, or was he the one who mom wanted me to send home extra addition practice sheets?)  I quickly learned the importance of having a notepad nearby and jotting down any important notes.  I would place a *star* next to any note that required a response or immediate action from me and review it the Monday after conferences.

Bottom Line: Make sure you have a way to make sure you keep your promises!

I remember anxiously awaiting the return of my parents each time they attended a conference for me when I was young.  I try to alleviate this anxiety by having a little mini-conference with my students beforehand and giving them the kid-friendly version of the conference.  If this isn’t possible for timing reasons, I at least tell my whole class what we will be talking about.  Most kids have a general sense of how they are doing (especially in third grade and up), so if you tell them you are going to discuss behavior, participation, attendance, and report card grades, they may or may not leave with a valid reason to be anxious. :)

Bottom Line: Don’t let your students stew at home while their parents meet with you!

Try to keep in mind that the main thing parents care about is that you care about their child and his or her education.  Find a round table or a pair of desks to use and sit next to the parents. Never, ever, ever, ever sit behind your desk for conferences.  Avoid putting your desk between you and the parent, which can be a literal and figurative barrier to your partnership.

Bottom Line: Teaching is a partnership with parents.  Show them that!

Give parents the option to write a little note to their student to leave on their desk.

Bottom Line: Let them say “Hello!”

Long gone are the days that the only two times parents and teachers communicate are at Spring and Fall conferences.  I end every conference by emphasizing to parents that they can call or shoot me an email anytime.  This gives parents a sense of confidence and an open line of communication.  Make sure you mean it–if parents email or call you, do your best to respond within 24 hours.

Bottom Line: Parent communication doesn’t end when conferences do.

If you are reading this with that pang of worry in the back of your mind about that one conference that isn’t going to be so fun…consider reaching out now, before conferences.  The last thing you want to do is blindside a parent with significant behavior concerns or major academic concerns when you only have 20 minutes to talk.   If it has been three weeks since Kimmy has turned in homework, give parents a call ahead of time and come up with a plan.  If Jackson is failing every single spelling test, it’s probably a good idea to let parents know ahead of time and start coming up with some ideas together.  Then, at conferences you can spend a few minutes following up on those issues, updating the progress, and brainstorming how you will tackle it together.

It’s difficult to make uncomfortable phone calls, but I can almost guarantee that your conferences will go much more smoothly when you reach out to parents ahead of time with any sort of earth-shattering news.  Don’t let parents have a reason to go home and say, “How did I not know about this for the past two months?”

Bottom Line: If at all possible, avoid surprises!

I know there are people who won’t agree with me on this one, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to bring up every concern you have with a child.  Parents need to leave feeling like this was a positive interaction, and if you spend your entire time telling them all of the negative things about their child, I assure you, they won’t remember the two positive things you said.  So, choose wisely.  If Emma chats with her neighbor often but is also being a bully on the playground, it’s probably more worthwhile to mention the bullying than the chattiness.  If Tyler is failing math and using the restroom at inappropriate times, math is probably most worth your time.

Bottom Line:  If you have negative agenda items, choose wisely.

If you are anything like me, I am incredibly awkward with goodbyes.  Conferences bring out that fear-of-goodbye tenfold because sometimes I have to end the conversation, and that is tricky, tricky for me.  I want to give parents my full attention, but therein lies the problem. I want to give ALL my parents the full attention, which means I need to start and end of time.

Figure out how you will end a conference, especially if it’s time for your next parent, and you are still half way through your conversation.  Consider saying something along the lines of…”I am so glad we were able to meet today, but there is another parent waiting.  I know we still need to talk about XYZ, so when would be the best time to do that?”

Bottom Line: Be prepared to end it.  Know how that will go!

 

February is Kindergarten Registration Month in Allen Park!

Please feel free to share attached info with friends and neighbors…  (This information is for families living in APPS boundaries as well as current School of Choice families)

 

Kindergarten Information & Registration

 

MATH ASSESSMENT DATA TIME

In order to prepare for our next Data Day on February 23, I will once again gather each grade level in the gym or outside for an activity or recess so you may complete and score your Q2 Math Assessments with your grade level partners.  You have been provided with several resources that should make the job a little easier (see last week’s post).  This day will be Wednesday, February 17.

The schedule is as follows:

3rd Grade:  8:35-9:20

5th Grade: 9:30-10:15

4th Grade: 10:25-11:10

Kindergarten:  12:15-12:50

1st Grade: 1:00-1:45

2nd Grade:  1:50-2:35

Mission for Miles School Challenge

The sponsors of the Martian Marathon, Running Fit of Ann Arbor, are issuing a school challenge!  In an effort to encourage healthy lifestyles, Running Fit is offering Arno Elementary students and families a $5 off code when registering for the 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon.  The school with the most participants will win a Flyer Saucer Pancake Party by Chris Cakes!

On the day of the race, there will be a meeting spot for Arno Elementary but there will not be a group start for the 5K, 10K, half marathon, and full marathon since these are timed races.  There will be NO group packet pick-up prior to race day.  Individuals are responsible for picking up their own packets.  Those students participating in the Cougar Tracks Club Kids’ Martian Marathon can run both!  For those participating in the Cougar Tracks Club race, there will be group packet pick-up and group start time.

5K, 10K, Half, Full, Milky Way 26k REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

Students, Staff, Parents/Family should individually register* at:https://runningfitevents.redpodium.com/2016-martian-invasion-of-races

YOUR Mission for Miles School Password**(Coupon Code): arnocougars

**Please be mindful that this coupon is issued to Arno Elementary students and families only.**

 

Olympic Medal Winners

Now that all of the medals are out, its time to congratulate all of our Arno Olympic Medal Winners from the January games.  Congratulations goes out to:

Kindergarten

Haskin:   Connor Sheperd ~Gold,  Heather Muse ~ Silver,   LeNorah Steward~Silver,   Olivia Kalis ~ Bronze

Liedel: Jack Grzebyk ~Gold,   Alayna Lavoie ~ Silver,   Camden Ward-Flynn~Silver,   Nolan Olechowski~ Bronze

Yesh:  Carmino Koski ~ Gold,   Bryce Brewer ~ Silver,   Grace Grabowski ~ Bronze

1st Grade

Watson:  Cooper Obrycki ~ Gold,   Ethan Rozman ~ Silver,   Ava O’Donnell ~ Bronze

Pushman: Xander Warneck ~ Gold,   Brady Sauve ~ Silver,   Kaitlyn Choppa ~ Bronze

Martinchick: Peyton Keys ~ Gold,   Kate Simpson ~ Silver,   Juan Vega ~ Bronze

2nd Grade

Shultz: Samantha Muse ~ Gold,   Benjamin White ~ Silver,    Peter Lenart ~ Bronze

Brown: Jordyn Koski ~ Gold,   Zachary Niemeyer ~Silver,   Savannah Schonfeld ~ Bronze

Amonette: Nicholas Closs ~ Gold,   Nolan Leitz ~ Silver,   Alyssa Thomas ~ Bronze

3rd Grade

Wesley: Reina Garza ~ Gold,   Lulu Schutt ~ Silver,   Anahi Chapa ~ Bronze

Warneck: Kimareah Steward ~ Gold,   Elizabeth White ~Silver,, Morgan Kraft ~Bronze

Guyot: Tessa Sheperd ~ Gold,   Abigail Obrycki ~ Silver,    Liam Sheperd ~ Bronze

Kalis: Mackenzie Mouchet~ Gold,    Gabe Montie ~ Silver,   Alex Rogers ~ Bronze

4th Grade

Trionfi: Alex Varga ~ Gold,   Kadyn Rodgers ~ Silver,   Luke O’Donnell ~ Bronze

Smalley: Gracyn Gartside ~ Gold,   Kaylee Williams ~ Silver,   Anna Watson ~ Bronze

Solak: Vinnie Kulaszewski ~ Gold,   Bryce Sauve ~ Silver,   Gerry Klos ~ Bronze

5th Grade

Hool:Teagan Montgomery ~ Gold,  Addison Bacheller ~ Silver,  Olivia Garza ~ Bronze

Walkup: Joshua Armbruster ~ Gold,  Dylan Hammock~Silver,   Anthony Codd- Bronze,  Madelyn Vaugn-Bronze

Uhring: A.J. Lavoie~ Gold,  Selena Guzman ~ Silver,  Mason Lada ~Bronze

Creutz: Andrew Hernandez ~ Gold,  Carla Schultz~ Silver,  Joshua Ditzhazy ~Bronze

 

Class Dojo Mindset video

When you have an opportunity, please show this short mindset video from Class Dojo.  This is episode 2 in the series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg_MeWhJW7I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January’s PBIS rewards was a healthy round of Zumba for those student who earned the monthly reward.  Enjoy some pics below

IMG_0510IMG_0506IMG_0508 IMG_0511 IMG_0514IMG_0510 IMG_0519 IMG_0521 IMG_0522

 

Text Features School Improvement Strategy 

Some examples are below of our Arno students hard at work creating their information text feature booklet, that highlights important features that students need to be aware of when reading informative text.  This is a highlight strategy in out School Improvement Plan that is reviewed annually

 

IMG_1535 IMG_1536 IMG_0877 IMG_0876 IMG_0874 IMG_0871 IMG_0873

snoopy

 

 

 

Special MSTEP update

MSTEP

This was just posted by the state which contains many practice sets for the M-STEP.  The chart illustrates the kind of practice available for a particular system.  At this point- you should focus on those practices labeled as “Chrome”.  This will work awesome on the chrome books, but you would have to use the chrome browser in the lab if you practice there.  Internet explorer and safari do not function with this program.  Please read the information below, their data showed that schools that used the practice sets last time showed good data in the test.

M-STEP Sample Item Sets

The Office of Standards and Assessment (OSA) has created online Sample Item Sets for the Spring 2016

M-STEP for students in grades 3–8. Sample Item Sets are a select group of test items in English language arts (ELA), mathematics, science, and social studies that encompass

different item types, such as multiple choice, constructed response, and various kinds of technology-enhanced items. The sets provide students practice in solving grade-level and content-specific test items aligned to Michigan’s content standards. Since the item sets are embedded in the online test engine used to deliver state assessments, students will develop familiarity with taking tests online while they practice using the test engine’s online tools and navigation buttons. The Sample Item Sets are contained within the Online Tools Training (OTT) component.

Students needing designated supports and/or accommodations on state assessments can practice using the M-STEP Grade 3 ELA Sample Item
Set with accommodations. For more information about a student’s use of Designated Supports and Accommodations, please refer to the Student Supports and Accommodations section on the M-STEP Web page (www.michigan.gov/mstep). The Grade 3 ELA M-STEP Sample with Accommodations demonstrates some of the available online embedded accommodations and designated supports:

  • Text-To-Speech (TTS)
  • Color Chooser
  • Contrasting Text
  • Masking

Links are at the bottom of the page, focus only on those sets that you can access with “Chrome

 

M-STEP Sample Item Sets

Content

Grades

Item Types

Access

English Language Arts Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)

3-8

multiple choice, technology enhanced, constructed response

Chrome*

English Language Arts – Performance Task

5 and 8

technology enhanced, constructed response

Chrome*

English Language Arts – Accommodated version

3

multiple choice, technology enhanced, constructed response

INSIGHT**

English Language Arts – Text-To-Speech

3

multiple choice, technology enhanced, constructed response

INSIGHT**

ELA Paper/Pencil Sample Items (includes Performance Task for grades 5 and 8)

3-8

multiple choice, multi select, constructed response

M-STEP Website

Mathematics Computer Adaptive Test (CAT)

3-8

multiple choice, technology enhanced, constructed response

Chrome*

Mathematics Online Performance Task

3-8

multiple choice, technology enhanced, constructed response

Chrome*

Mathematics Calculator Practice

6-8

basic (6) and scientific calculators

Chrome*

Mathematics Paper/Pencil Sample Items (include Performance Task for all grades)

3-8

multiple choice, multi select, grid-in response, multiple answer, constructed response

M-STEP Website

Social Studies

5, 8, 11

multiple choice, technology enhanced

Chrome*

Social Studies Paper/Pencil Sample Items

5, 8, 11

multiple choice

M-STEP Website

Science

4, 7, 11

multiple choice, technology enhanced

Chrome*

Science Paper/Pencil Sample Items

4, 7, 11

multiple choice

M-STEP Website

* If Chrome is not your default browser, you will need to cut and paste the Chrome access link below into a Chrome browser.

** INSIGHT requires installation. See the Technology User Guide and other support materials on eDIRECT (https://mi.drcedirect.com) for more information.

M-STEP Web page: www.michigan.gov/mstep
Chrome access: https://wbte.drcedirect.com/MI/portals/mi/ott1

 

February 1

Coming up at Arno..

Feb. 1

Parent, Student, and Staff survey window begins

Texas Roadhouse fundraiser kickoff Grades K-4

Medical Meetings- Sandy 10:00

Feb. 2

Science training 2nd grade all day

Feb. 3

Science training 3rd grade all day

Feb. 4

AXA Equitable reps will be here during lunch if you would like to meet with them 11:00-1:00

ICC 4:00

PTA Meeting 6:30

Feb. 5

No events

Feb. 6 (Saturday)

Arno Fun Fair 11:00-2:00

 

Board Appreciation Month Video

Thank you Board of Education-

 

Dear APPS Staff and Community Members,

January is School Board Recognition Month – a time to salute the work of our elected School Board Members and to celebrate public education. The theme, “School Boards Lead” reflects our combined commitment to leadership and accountability assuring that ALL children succeed.

As a state, Michigan has faced many challenges, but the key to a brighter future is a strong public education system. Public education is the backbone of American society, and local school boards are deeply rooted in U.S. tradition. It’s the foundation on which our democracy was built. The Allen Park Board of Education continues to do the most important work of the community – that of educating our youth.

School Board Members in Allen Park Public Schools develop policies and make tough decisions that help shape the future of our education system. Their job is to ensure schools are accountable to the community and strongly advocate for continuous improvement in student learning. They bear responsibility for an annual budget of $35.6 million, 3,800 students, 428 employees and six buildings. They are citizens whose decisions affect our children and build our community.

Showing appreciation for the important work of school boards should be a year round process, but too often we neglect to recognize the dedication and hard work of these men and women who represent us. We are asking all members of the community to take a moment and thank a School Board Member.

At the Board of Education Meeting on January 25, Allen Park High School and Allen Park Community School staff and students will play the lead role in honoring the Members of the Board of Education this year. APHS and APCS Art, Industrial Arts and Life Management students are creating a special gift for Board Members and the Allen Park High School Jazz Band will perform a few musical selections.

Thank you to the men and women who dedicate countless personal hours to ensure the needs of our community are met by our public schools. We salute the public servants of APPS whose dedication and civic responsibility make local control of public schools in our community possible. We applaud them for their vision and voice to prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s leaders.

The men and women serving the Allen Park Public School District are: Mr. Guy DesJardins, Dr. Janine Hall, Mr. Paul Klenczar, Mrs. Margaret Marten, Mr. Gordon Miller, Mr. Rick Moynihan and Mrs. Julie Sheppard. 

Sincerely,

John J. Sturock, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

 

conf

Parent/Teacher Conferences (from Parent blog)

Winter conferences are coming up quick on February 10 and 11 from 5:00-7:30 each night.  This conference is slightly different in that not every family generally attends, but is still open as an option for all who would like a conference with the teacher.  Some fast facts:

1. If your classroom teacher is requesting a conference with you, you will receive a notice by Feb. 4.

2. If you did not receive a notice from the teacher, you may still request a conference with the teacher OR decide that you don’t feel a conference is necessary at this time.

3. All classroom links will come from the teacher and be live on the Feb. 5 blog release to sign up for a time on signupgenius for those who need to attend conferences.

Once again, please do not sign up for a slot on signupgenius if a conference is not needed at this point.

 

Perception Surveys

All surveys for this year’s SIP- parent, student, and teacher will be made available on Feb. 1.  The perception surveys will remain open the first two weeks of the month, with the closing of all surveys on Feb. 12.

– The blog and email blast will advertise for the parent surveys, with links, computers will be set up on both conf. nights for those wishing to do it on the spot

– The student link will be on bookmark bar on all chrome books (as well as the lab).

Once the surveys begin, please be sure to organize a time for your class to complete it online.

The staff survey is now open at:

http://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/269/20337

 

Class Dojo Mindset video

When you have an opportunity, please show this short mindset video from Class Dojo.  There will be a series of them and I will get them into the blog as they are available.  These are in line with the B B in the main hall.

 

sip

SIP

We had a great working session at our SIP meeting this past Tuesday, as we tackled the interim self-assessment and completed it.  This year’s assessment is very important in that it will be the one used for the upcoming external state review.  Participants reviewed a section of the doc, discussed last year vs. this year and made determinations to either add, delete, or leave answers the same.  We then had our groups log this into the system and we will submit sometime next month- 1 down!

We have the SIP Data team meeting this week to look at m-step data, DRA and NWEA.  They will have the task of completing some areas of the School Data Analysis Document, in preparation of the main SIP plan

banner_mstep

M-STEP

Not much new on the m-step front.  At some point soon I will be sitting down with each grade level and looking at building that test schedule, which will work well with our many carts.  I’ll keep you updated as info come out.

 

Mid-Year Review

As we make our way into February, I will need everyone to set up a time with me to go over the mid-year review in relation to your goals you wrote in the fall.  Please review the docs below and arrange a time to meet me with Feb 29 being the end date for all to be complete.

MidTerm Evaluation Checklist 2014-15

Mid-Year Evaluation Reflection 2014-15-2

Walkthrough obs will resume in March with full completion of the cycle by May

 

Arno Olympics

A big Shout-Out to Nicole for running another fun Arno Olympics!  It was great to see such a large crowd out on a late January night to compete for bragging rights in golf, ring toss, and hockey to name a few.  In the end, it seemed that the kids were always coming up the winners!  Thanks Nicole for organizing all of this, the families had a great time!

olym olympics 1 olympics 2 olympics 3 olympicsolympics 4olympics 5olypics 6olypics 7olypics 8

 

Spirit Week

Calling all Arno spirit!!! Please read the flyer below for more information on our upcoming Spirit Week and our ending activity- Pie in the Face

Monday: Spirit wear- Students may wear their Arno or Allen Park spirit wear

Tuesday: Pirates and Princesses- Students may dress as pirates or princesses. No weapons allowed

Wednesday: Inside out- Students may wear their clothes inside out.

Thursday: Rainbow- Each grade level wears a t-shirt of a designated color

K- Red     1- Orange     2- Yellow     3- Green     4- Blue      5- Purple

Friday: Tropical- Students may wear school appropriate, tropical attire.

Our Pie in the Face assembly will take place in the gym on Friday, Feb. 12th K-2 @2:30-3:00, 3-5 @1:30-2:00

2016 Staff Spirit Week Info

 

**If you read this far, comment here by Monday 2/1 for a free 30 minute prep coupon

 

Texas Fundraiser

Just a reminder that the Texas Roadhouse roll fundraiser starts on Monday.  The timeline is below, all proceeds go towards our purchase of kindles for the lower elem.

Fundraiser Timeline

February 1- February 12 Fundraiser Sale

February 19 All money due

February 29- March 4 Come to Arno to pick up your voucher

March 7-March 18 Window to pick up rolls at the restaurant.  Your voucher will specify the date

Description: Description: http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bookfairs/cptoolkit/assetuploads/171213_LG_feelin'_groovy_book_fair_clip_art_logo.jpg

Spring (winter) Book Fair

Our spring/winter book fair will be taking place the week of Feb. 8, with a Groovy theme!  The book fair will also be open on some special days that week including Feb. 6 (Fun Fair) and Feb. 10 and 11- the nights of parent/teacher conferences.  Please stop by and browse all of the great books that Scholastic offers.  This is a PTA sponsored event with proceeds going to the Arno PTA.

 Have a great week Cougars!

 

 

January 25

Coming up at Arno…

January 25

MTSS Forms meeting @ Riley- Cathy and Steve 12:30

MTSS Committee meeting 4:00 Lisa, Jennifer, Steve

January 26

Principal meeting 9:00

SIP 3:45

Middle School Parent Orientation 6:30

January 27

PTSA Council meeting 7:00

January 28

CPI training p.m. for team members

SIP Data Team meeting 1:00

Math Comm meeting 4:00

January 29

End of the first Semester (Half-way there!)

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Thank you to all of our staff for your great work at last Friday’s Professional Development day.  We know that the work is challenging and can often feel like it is leading us in circles.  A few concerns have been raised related to why we could not have waited to begin the creation of common assessments until we decided on a math series.  The simple answer to that is because we can not afford another year without data on how our students are progressing towards the standards we have determined to be most important.  Now, this comes with strings attached, of course, as we are doing our best to create assessments that we have now realized need constant revision.  In addition, we have determined that the math series that is ultimately selected may impact the pacing of the power standards (slightly or majorly, depending on the final outcome).

There is no question that our students are receiving better instruction from more well-informed teachers who are much more familiar with the Common Core Standards in each grade level.  The fact that you are able to discuss the need for an amendment in the pacing and/or assessment means that you are constantly reflecting on your practice, and adjusting based on information you have.  That is not to say that the process is easy.  It is clearly not.  For this reason, please let me know how I can support you in this process.  Here are some resources in which you can take your common assessment, use a web resource to insert an answer key, and then give the test on Chromebooks, if appropriate.  This could give you the kind of instant data you are all looking for.

http://www.socrative.com/

http://www.fiftysneakers.com/

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2014/03/seven-good-student-response-systems.html

 

More SIP…

It’s official now, the State has informed us of their intended visit to our district next school year (most likely late fall) connected with our school improvement.   The purpose of the External Review is to provide our district with powerful insights and feedback to enhance our improvement efforts. Although we are at just the start of looking a the process, the overview is below.  One of the biggest keys to success is the involvement of all staff in school improvement initiatives and meetings.  For that reason, I highly encourage you to participate in the final SIP meetings of this school year, especially the meetings where decisions are being made like our upcoming January meeting where we will be working on our Interim Self-Assessment- a document that will be the most current for our review.  Hope to see you there on the 26th. 

Key Components of a Typical External Review Schedule:

1. Evening Before Review (or early morning of the review): Team meeting for orientation (2-3 hours)

2. Activities During Review System Overview and Standards Presentations •

-Superintendent provides general orientation to team •

– System personnel provide brief presentation on the system’s adherence to each of the five standards and highlight key artifacts related to the Standard Interviews •

3. Team interviews system leadership and improvement team, Governing Body Members, parents, building administrators and community members. Additional time may be allocated for interviews with support staff and students. (Each interview lasts approximately 45 minutes.)

4. Artifact Review • Team reviews system artifacts (this occurs on an ongoing basis)

Observations at Schools Selected for Visits

-Principal and/or designee provides an instructional tour of the school • Team conducts classroom observations • Team makes general observations throughout the review

5. Professional Deliberations

-Team meets to examine the data collected and reach consensus regarding the team’s findings

6. Meeting with the Superintendent

– Prior to the delivery of the Exit Report, the Lead Evaluator meets with the Superintendent to review the team’s findings and discuss the team’s required actions

7. Exit Report

– Lead Evaluator provides Exit Report to system’s stakeholders at the conclusion of the review

 

Texas Roadhouse

As you may know, 5th grade has taken on a targeted fundraiser for 5th grade parents for Texas Roadhouse rolls.

Playing piggyback to them, we are going run the same fundraiser starting in Feb. for grades K-4 with March pickups before Easter.  The timeline is on the letter I wrote below, please help us to facilitate this as best you can with getting forms and money gathered.  All of the proceeds will go towards equipping the lower el with additional Kindles this year.  The only difference between 5th grade and the K-4 version is that we will be giving vouchers to the restaurant for parents to pick up the rolls as we cannot house such a quantity, if it does well.  Forms should be in your boxes the last week of Jan.  Let me know what questions you have, this is an office run event- not PTA.

Dear Parents,

In our 21st century classrooms, integrating technology into the curriculum helps to prepare all of our Arno students for college and career down the road.  Currently our building has a chromebook cart for our mid-upper grades, with lower grades(K-2) relying on a mix of chromebooks and a limited number of classroom Kindles to enhance their literacy program.  This school year, we are attempting to purchase more Kindles to bring the ratio of student devices in K-2 to 2 kids for every 1 device, opening up the way we can deliver classroom instruction, intervention, and enrichment.   The PTA has been Amazing in their help to meet our technology requests, but this request will stretch PTA’s budget.  Therefore, we have partnered with Texas Roadhouse to offer you a “Roadhouse Rolls” fundraiser, which will go directly to the purchase of Kindle devices in grades K-2.  some highlights of the fundraiser are below:

 

  • The fifth grade is running their own version of this fundraiser for 5th grade camp.  This fundraiser included on this sheet is for K-4 families and will go to technology purchase for the building.  
  • The fundraiser allows you to purchase as many dozen Texas Roadhouse rolls that you would like.  Each dozen roll is $6.00, with $3.00 going right back to the school.  
  • You will actually not pick up any rolls at Arno.  The purchase is for a voucher that is good for a dozen frozen rolls (that you can bake when you want), and includes a free appetizer with meal purchase (up to $6.00),
  • You will receive one voucher for every dozen rolls purchased
  • We request that only 1 family member pick up the entire order of vouchers that your child sold
  • Voucher pickup will be during the week of February 29- March 4
  • Roll pickup will start the following week at the restaurant.  You will have a specific date you can go pick up the rolls and you will have up to 4 months following that date to do so.

The restaurant address is at 14660 Pardee Rd.  Taylor, MI

Fundraiser Timeline

February 1- February 12 Fundraiser Sale

February 19 All money due

February 29- March 4 Come to Arno to pick up your voucher

March 7-March 18 Window to pick up rolls at the restaurant.  Your voucher will specify the date

NCI TEAM (Non-violent Crisis Intervention)

As we all know, there are sometimes situations when we must deal with a student who is displaying behavior that could be considered a danger to themselves, staff,  or their classmates.  In this instance, traditionally someone was called down to the room to get the student.  This is not, however, the best recommended way to deal with a situation.  In response to issues we are currently facing or may face in the future, we have a trained,organized team now to respond to any high needs situation, our call sign is NCI TEAM.

You may need the team if:

 

  • A student is a danger to themselves or others
  • You have tried your good behavioral strategies, think the student is at-risk, and you need support for classroom removal

Current Team Members for 2015-16

Diane Peyton

Stella Boyer

Sandy Bennett

Michelle Sbonek

Barb Chuby

Cathy Gorski

Steve Zielinski

Process

1. Call the office first to see who is available from the team.  The office will make a connection with Team staff

2. If this is an urgent matter, please call the office and tell them you need the NCI Team.  It will go over “All Call” and that is our queue to get down to the location immediately as a whole team to assess and deal with the situation

What to expect if the team is in your room

The main goal of the NCI team is to de-escalate the student so that we may calm them down bring them to the office.

 

5th Grade Science

Students in Mrs. Hool’s class are using the Chrome books as part of their science lesson on the Skeletal and Muscular Systems.  To enhance learning, they are using the website Edheads.org to perform virtual knee and hip replacements.

IMG_1098 IMG_1100 IMG_1102

 

High School Performance

Students in grades 3-5 were able to enjoy a fun performance at the high school this past Thursday.  The high school students were performing “Knights of the Rad Table”,  which coincided as a grade for their final exam.  The performance was funny and creative, a job well done- and a good model to encourage our young actors and actresses.

IMG_0454 IMG_0457 IMG_0464 IMG_0465 IMG_0467

 

 FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TIPS

It’s a new year, which means it’s the perfect time to start planning for a productive and engaging second semester. Because formative assessment is most likely an essential practice in your classroom, WriteSteps has some tips to help you improve collecting formative assessments for the rest of the school year.

1. Create a cooperative, not a competitive, atmosphere. Help your students understand that you are all working together as a team. Many formative assessments are cooperative activities.

2. Focus on quality rather than quantity. Quality work and skill practice do not have to take long, and they can usually be done in the context of the lesson as opposed to an added-on work sheet. Remind your students that learning is a process. Help them set goals for improvement, and feel confident that they can meet them.

3. Don’t emphasize grading over learning. Your goal should be to see where you can adjust your instruction and help students master the content, not to collect a grade.

4. Keep a list of skills and a record of how your students are doing with our formative assessment data collection handout. Save time by re-teaching the most prevalent skills to your entire class, and see what the focus should be for individual student’s conferencing sessions.

 

M-STEP

The state just released a video that summarizes M-STEP and walks viewers through how to read and interpret student scores within the M-STEP Parent Report.  This is a great resource that can hopefully help answer some questions about the report.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM55xZ-ZuNU

 

January 18

Snoopy-Christmas-peanuts-452772_1280_960

Coming up at Arno…

Jan. 18

No events

Jan. 19

SIP Chair meeting @Riley

Wayne Resa- Steve

Jan. 20

1st grade DRA day

LOCK DOWN drill

REED per schedule

Jan. 21

K DRA day

High School Play Grades 3-5- Bus pickup at 9:00, starts at 9:30

Jan. 22

Arno Olympics 6:00

 

X-Tra math

Just a reminder that we will eventually need your year-end report from X-tra math, as it is a named strategy in our school improvement plan.  At this point, involving parents is optional.

As this was an agreed upon strategy,  this must be happening in all of our classrooms.  Please let me know if you need assistance on the program.

School Improvement_0

An update from our Chair meeting with Sarah, Carrie, and Steve

This past week, our team met for a half-day to strengthen our focus on our path to school improvement.  Some of the outcomes included:

* An established timeline and plan for completing the interim self-assessment

* A clear agenda for our new SIP data team

* An established timeline for completion of the School Data Analysis

* An established timeline for perception surveys

*Identifying who will responsible for these first pieces.

As we make our way through February, final decisions will be made on the distribution of tasks to be done by members of the SIP team, SIP team content leaders, and SIP team data team.

Perception Surveys

All surveys for this year’s SIP- parent, student, and teacher will be made available on Feb. 1.  The perception surveys will remain open the first two weeks of the month, with the closing of all surveys on Fe. 12.

– The blog and email blast will advertise for the parent surveys, with links, computers will be set up on both conf. nights for those wishing to do it on the spot

– Teachers will be sent a link for your own survey

– The student link will be on bookmark bar on all chrome books (as well as the lab).

Once the surveys begin, please be sure to organize a time for your class to complete it online.

 

High School Play

Just a reminder that we will be taking our 3rd-5th graders to the high school on Jan. 21 @9:00.  This production is a culminating activity for the students and I hear it will be quite good.  Permission slips were in your box Wednesday, be sure to have them all before boarding.  As you will remain with your class, no chaperones will be needed.

 Arno Olympics

http://room118news.podbean.com/e/arno-2016-olympics-1452196502/?token=72337f14c0ee0f39b69182436dbedf91

Link to sign up below if you would like to volunteer for the Olympics:

fun fair

Arno Fun Fair

The Arno Fun Fair is on Saturday, February 6th. We are looking for baked goods for our Cake Walk.
 
If you are able to donate a baked good, please click on the link to sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4eaaac2ea4f94-cake2
 
Thank You,
 
Dr. Chuby & Mrs. Gorski

 

PBIS

The team met on Wednesday to cover some topics on PBIS.

* Smencils and stickers have earned the PBIS fund over $1100.  Plans are to spruce up some of our rewards

* Reviewed current tier 2 kids

* Car clings and possibly smencils will be sold at conferences.

WIDA testing

WIDA testing for our ESL students will be starting on Feb. 7th and will last 2-3 weeks.  During that time, Barb Chuby and Cathy Gorski will be pulling rostered students for testing.  This year’s testing will be on the 2nd grade chrome cart, which will out of service until all students are done.  During that time, 2nd grade will have no access to use chromebooks and I would greatly appreciate if other grades could step in and help them fill some need during that time.  If you have any questions on the testing itself, please see Barb or Cathy.

M-STEP

Additional information has come out including the estimated time it may take a student to complete a particular part.  The big change this year is that a student may stop a test session and come back to finish it anytime during the window.  Basically, it gives some control to the teacher using best judgement on when a student may need a break.  Please take a look below, refer to the PDF for larger version

Spring_2016_Guide_to_State_Assessments_510915_7

2016-01-14_21-44-03

The M-STEP test is based off of Claims-Targets-Standards as you may know.  I have included the claims for both math and reading, and then included the crosswalk document that shows the relationship among the claims, targets, and standards to help clarify exactly what the M-STEP test is made of.  If you have any questions, I would be happy to go over this with you.

Mathematics instruction and assessment will reflect broad evidenced-based measures based on what students know and can do. These high level mathematics claims include concepts and procedures, problem solving, modeling and data analysis, and skills in communicating reasoning (see Figure 1).

MATH Claims

Claim #1 Concepts and Procedures Students can explain and apply mathematical concepts and interpret and carry out mathematical procedures with precision and fluency.

Claim #2 Problem Solving Students can solve a range of complex well-posed problems in pure and applied mathematics, making productive use of knowledge and problem solving strategies.

Claim #3 Communicating Reasoning Students can clearly and precisely construct viable arguments to support their own reasoning and to critique the reasoning of others.

Claim #4 Modeling and Data Analysis Students can analyze complex, real-world scenarios and can construct and use mathematical models to interpret a

MATH link:  CROSSWALK

 ELA Claims

Claim 1: Reading:  Students can read closely and analytically to comprehend a range of increasingly complex literary (Targets 1-7) and informational (Targets 8-14) texts.

Claim 2: Writing:  Students can produce effective writing for a range of purposes and audiences.

Claim 3: Speaking and Listening:   Students can employ effective speaking and listening skills for a range of purposes and audiences.

Claim 4: Research:   Students can engage in research/inquiry to investigate topics, and to analyze, integrate, and present information.

ELA link: Crosswalk

 

Dollars and Sense Assembly

Arno students enjoyed an assembly that blended magic and a lesson on money (saving).  Chris, our presenter, energized the crowd and helped everyone to think about ways they could save money in the future- and some awesome tricks!  Thanks to Mrs. Warneck and Dr. Chuby for bringing Dollars and Sense to Arno.

IMG_0398 IMG_0401IMG_0402IMG_0406IMG_040720160114_10371820160114_102938

 

Make it a great week!!

January 11

snow

Coming up at Arno…

January 11

Ad council- Steve 9:00

January 12

2nd Grade DRA day

January 13

Child Study team planning 2:30

PBIS Meeting 3:45

January 14

Dollars and Sense Assembly

K-2 9:00

3-5 10:00

January 15

No School- Teacher PD at Bennie 8:00

2016-globe

 Happy New Year everyone!  I am looking forward to all of our educational adventures in 2016, it certainly was a great end to 2015.  Having such fortune to work with a remarkable staff is a true blessing, all of the dedication to your profession is apparent in each and everyone of our students .  Happy New Year and may 2016 be a banner year for you and your family!

data

Please add February 23 to your calendar for data day. We will follow the same schedule and cover your 2nd common assessment, talk M-STEP, and look at reading.

8:45-9:30 Grade 3

9:-35-10:15 Grade 5

10:20-11:05 Grade 2

11:10-11:55 Grade 4

12:45-1:30 Grade 1

1:45-2:30 Grade K

 

M-STEP Update on Classroom Activities

The Office of Standards and Assessment has decided to remove the classroom activities associated with the mathematics and English language arts (ELA) Performance Tasks (PT). In the last few months, the performance tasks in all grades underwent extensive review to determine if the classroom activity associated with the performance task was crucial to student understanding the context of the performance task. The ELA performance tasks were determined to have sufficient embedded resources to allow students to demonstrate what they know and can do without participating in a preceding classroom activity. Similarly, most of the mathematics performance tasks can stand on their own without a classroom activity. However, the review documented four mathematics performance tasks for which the classroom activities are likely necessary additional supports for students. Those four PTs have been removed from the pool of available performance tasks. For the Spring 2016 M-STEP administration, the mathematics assessment will continue to contain performance tasks at grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, but there will no longer be classroom activities to administer. The updated ELA assessment will contain performance tasks at grades 5 and 8 only, which will no longer require classroom activities.

 

M-Step

You may have already heard, M-Step state test results are now out and can be seen on MiSchoolData.

MSTEP DATA RELEASED TO PUBLIC

Spring 2015 M-STEP data can be found under the Student Assessment tab located under the left navigation category titled Kindergarten – 12 atwww.mischooldata.org. For a direct link to the Student Assessment page click here:https://www.mischooldata.org/DistrictSchoolProfiles/AssessmentResults/AssessmentSummary.aspx

Once on the assessment page, select either Grade 3-8 Assessments or High School Assessments. Once on the grade specific assessment page, select M-STEP and using the dropdown menu, select the information you are interested in reviewing.

Parent reports are being prepared this week and will be going home the week of Jan. 11.  These results contain individual student results and come with detailed explanation from the state on what each of the scores mean.

ARNO Scores: Although this was a baseline test, Arno scored very well in comparison to the rest of the state.  We are very proud of our students for performing so well on this new academic test, that will now move to web based testing this year.  As you will notice we scored well across the board in ELA, while our continued focus will be in the areas of math and science.  Of course, our data team will be reviewing these scores and making the connection to our SIP.

Kudos to the entire Arno staff for outstanding numbers on the M-STEP.  If you look at what the state average is, you can see just what master teaching at Arno can get you.   While we enjoy our success, we must also keep in mind that the state is all about growth- which we start higher, we must get our kids even higher than that.  This is a challenge I feel confident that we are up for as we make our way to the next round.  Congratulations on doing whatever it takes to reach our Arno Cougars!

 

Arno Grade % Proficient Arno % Proficient State
ELA 3 76.81% 50.1%
4 71.74% 46.6%
5 47.71% 48.7%
Math 3 71.01% 48.8%
4 68.48% 41.4%
5 24.77% 33.4%
Science 4 17.39% 12.4%
Social Studies 5 21.10% 22.2%

 

Arno Fun Fair

Arno’s annual Family Fun Fair is coming up soon!  This exciting event will take place on Saturday, February 6th from 11 am-2pm.  A note will come home soon with more information and a chance to pre-order tickets (they will also be available at the door).  There will be games, raffles, prizes, food, a cake walk and more!  This is a great family event so be sure to put it on your calendar today!

 

Arno Olympics

Please enjoy a podcast from Ms. Amonette’s room on the Arno Olympics with Lilli Acker

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Arno Olympic Podcast

Arno Olympics Flyer 2016

 

parent-teacher-conference

It’s going to be conference time again…

Believe it or not, we are getting closer to the next round of conf.  I will be working with our signupgenius star, Sarah, as we once again use this convenient tool to schedule all building conferences.  Stay tuned for more info over the next few weeks.

 

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TYPES OF MISTAKES

Please take some time to read the article on the 4 Types of Mistakes in the coming days.  This is a great reminder about how we need to help students identify the types of mistakes they are making, and how we can maximize the learning opportunities from mistakes!  Understanding Four Types of Mistakes

 

 Razzing it up on RAZ Kids with Julie’s class

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Kindergarten practices social skills…

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 Haskin and Warneck book buddies pay a visit to Snow White at the Marquis Theater

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The advanced Google searches every student should know

The truth is that every student can use Google on some level. What is interesting to me is that when I interview students about their search strategies and I ask them if they have ever asked their teachers for help with a search the answer is almost always, “No”. What if our students are overconfident about their search skills?

Person push CLICK HERE website link button

 

Donors CHoose overview

Have a great cougar week!

 

January 4, 2016

2016-globe

 

See you next year!

I would like to wish everyone a joyous Christmas and hope that all your wished come true over the holidays.  This is a special time to relax, reflect, and look forward towards an abundance of joy in store for you in 2016.  Cherish your time and enjoy your family and friends!  Have a Merry Christmas and an Awesome New Year!

Steve

 

Coming soon to Arno in 2016…

Christmas Break December 19-Jan.3

January 4

Welcome Back!!

January 5

Nothing Scheduled

January 6

3rd Grade DRA Day – make sure your subs are set

PTSA Reflection Tea

January 7

PTA Meeting- Founders Day Nominations read

ICC 4:00

January 8

Nothing Scheduled

 

Ugly Sweater Day- The New Awesomeness!

Check out these in style, Christmas masterpiece sweaters that some of our great teachers wore on Ugly Sweater day (Check out the pants, too!).  Way to get in the holiday spirit!

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Arno Decks the Halls with Christmas carols

The building was alive with the sounds of our Arno students belting out some awesome Christmas carols, helping all of us feel the holiday spirit (still no snow to do that).  Huge thanks to Todd and Jeff for an outstanding performance and in leading in holiday song this morning, much appreciated!

 

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Honor Choir Holiday Concert

What a wonderful holiday performance from our Elementary Honor Choir Thursday from Arno, Bennie, and Lindemann.  congratulations to all of our students and to Mr. Tracy Hoffman for showcasing the incredible talent we have at Allen Park Schools!

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data

 

February Data Day

Please add February 23 to your calendar for data day.  We will follow the same schedule and cover your 2nd common assessment, talk M-STEP, and look at reading.

The schedule is as follows: Arno Elementary

8:45-9:30         Grade 3

9:-35-10:15       Grade 5

10:20-11:05      Grade 2

11:10-11:55        Grade 4

12:45-1:30         Grade 1

1:45-2:30           Grade K

 

M-STEP Update on Classroom Activities

The Office of Standards and Assessment has decided to remove the classroom activities associated with the mathematics and English language arts (ELA) Performance Tasks (PT). In the last few months, the performance tasks in all grades underwent extensive review to determine if the classroom activity associated with the performance task was crucial to student understanding the context of the performance task. The ELA performance tasks were determined to have sufficient embedded resources to allow students to demonstrate what they know and can do without participating in a preceding classroom activity. Similarly, most of the mathematics performance tasks can stand on their own without a classroom activity. However, the review documented four mathematics performance tasks for which the classroom activities are likely necessary additional supports for students. Those four PTs have been removed from the pool of available performance tasks. For the Spring 2016 M-STEP administration, the mathematics assessment will continue to contain performance tasks at grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, but there will no longer be classroom activities to administer. The updated ELA assessment will contain performance tasks at grades 5 and 8 only, which will no longer require classroom activities.

Arno Family Caring Night

What a great time we had together last Friday night as an Arno family, enjoying each other’s company and showing how much Arno cares about the community.  At our Caring Night, kids and parents enjoyed pizza, listened to Christmas stories, of course crafted an ornament for the residents of the local senior center.  Way to go Caring Cougars!

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Arno Cares

What an incredible job Arno did in collecting cold weather gear and food.  That included 166 cans of Spaghettios!  Thank you for being so generous and showing the true meaning of Christmas!

Below, Darren Putnum, Seth Black, Tyler Tillery and Bryce Sauve help load up all the donations to area people in need.

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 Winter DRA Schedule- Mark your calendars & call a sub

Date Grade Level/Teachers # of Subs Needed
January 6 Third Grade 4
January 12 Second Grade 3
January 20 First Grade 3
January 21 Kindergarten 3

 

The advanced Google searches every student should know


GOOGLE HAS AMAZING TOOLS FOR FINDING SCHOOL-WORTHY SOURCES. TOO BAD MOST KIDS DON’T KNOW THEY EXIST

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/11/23/how-search-google-592/

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3rd Grade Fur Trade

Metro Parks visited Arno 3rd graders once again this past week to talk about the fur trade back in the day.  The students got treated to lots of history on the fur trade in Michigan hosted by a French accented colonial woman that helped them understand what it involved.  Thank you Metro Parks!

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Obsolete Books/Textbooks

Guidelines to support policy/regulation 3900, 3900-R, 7350-R-3

-Annually, prior to June 30, the building administrator seeks permission from the superintendent in writing (electronically is acceptable) to dispose of obsolete books/textbooks.  

-The building administrator shall provide a list of the books/textbooks, year published, reason for disposal, and other pertinent information to the superintendent.

-After permission for disposal is granted, the obsolete books/textbooks shall be stamped on the inside cover as “obsolete.”  

-All books/textbooks for disposal shall be placed in boxes, secured with tape, and disposed of via the school district’s waste receptacle.  

See you in 2016 Arno Cougars!

 

 

 

 

December 14

 

A Merry Christmas message from the office

Coming soon to Arno…

Dec. 14

Ad Council 9:00

Liedel X-mas 2:00

Wesley Xmas 2:45

MTSS district meeting 4:00

5th grade maturation program

Dec. 15

Steve @Riley all day

5th grade maturation

Dec. 16

Haskin/Warneck Field trip 8:45

Santa Cash pizza party per regular lunch schedule

Watson Xmas 1:30

5th grade maturation

Brown Xmas 2:45

Dec. 17

RESA leadership conf. Steve

Elementary Honor Choir

Dec. 18

Christmas sing-a-long 9:30

Kids Hope Pizza Party 2:00- cafeteria

1st grade to The Henry Ford

Dec 19-1/13/16

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jan. 4, 2016

School Resumes

 

Please let me know if you need any room space to reserve this week if your class is doing any projects.  Almost there, 5 days and counting!

 

Congratulations Mrs. Pushman, Mrs. Ellis!

IMG_0284Congratulations goes out to Mrs. Pushman for the Founder’s Day Award for Outstanding Educator 2015. This is a well deserved award for Mrs. Pushman’s hard work and dedication to her students, parents, staff, and her teaching craft. Mrs. Pushman, along with other award winners from around the district will attend a dinner in their honor in February.

In addition, Congratulations to Mrs. Ellis for the Founder’s Day Distinguished Service Award. She has been very active on the PTA and spent a lot time making sure our Arno Fun Run was a huge success. Mrs. Ellis currently serves as secretary for the PTA, among other responsibilities that she gladly takes on for our kids.

Other results just released from our PTA:

Stephen Zielinski for the 2016 Outstanding Support Personnel
Barbara Pushman for the 2016 Outstanding Educator Award
Kelley Ellis for the 2016 Distinguished Service Award

 

Title 1 room change

Cathy Gorski will be relocating all of our Title 1 materials, etc. to the larger room next to Sandy’s office.  This will help accommodate her materials more efficiently, and we will use her old office as an extra room for testing, etc.

 

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Arno Christmas Sing-A-Long

Get ready to fa la la la this December as Jeff Skebo has put together a wonderful Christmas sing-a-long down in the gym on December 18th .  We are going to pack the whole building in to have some yuletide fun!

December 18  @9:30 in the gym

 

MTSS Site Visit

Lisa, Jennifer, Cathy, Barb, and myself were invited to participate in a building site visit to an elementary school in Livonia that as established an intervention system.  It was great to hear their building dialogue and learn about their processes on implementing interventions, as well as learn of their core expectations (guided reading, 90 minute ELA block, math, etc.)  Some of our key take-aways included thoughts about setting criteria on who gets additional time, who does the interventions, scheduling ideas (they have a building wide recess), and how they structured child study discussions.  The MTSS district team will debrief after school Monday about what we are already doing (which is a lot, and what are the additional things we need to address moving forward. As with the district team, I would like to assemble a building team in January to look at all of things we are doing for kids, and what are our strengths and weaknesses.  I will let you know when I schedule that open meeting.

 

This just in to the newsroom… Big education policy change

Senate scraps NCLB: education; battle moves to states

 

The Senate sent a bill to the president’s desk Wednesday that replaces much of the widely disliked No Child Left Behind Act and shifts more power over education to states and school districts.

The bill passed the chamber 85-12 on the heels of its passage in the House last week. After No Child Left Behind established a high watermark for federal involvement in education, the new bill slashes the federal role by historic proportions, experts say. The bill — which the president is scheduled to sign Thursday — would dump the current law’s intense focus on test scores and the well-intentioned but impossible goal of having all students reading and calculating at grade level.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (S.1177) allows states to set their own guidelines for rating schools and improving them, with federal oversight and restrictions. It was a victory for many Republicans and teachers unions, who were allied in their mission to undercut what they viewed as prescriptive, top-down regulation and intrusion into local schools.

The bill would “put education back in the hands of those who understand their needs best: parents, teachers, states and school boards,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday. “It’s conservative reform designed to help students succeed instead of helping Washington grow.”

Democrats see the bill as a chance to offload some of the aspects of NCLB that are unpopular with constituents, while maintaining their paramount goal of protecting poor and minority students, whose performance often lags their peers and who disproportionately attend the worst schools. The bill requires states to track performance of such students closely and intervene when schools are failing. Because of this, it earned the backing of the president and overwhelming support from Senate Democrats.

Senate Republicans supported the bill, with the exception of a handful of conservatives including 2016 presidential candidates Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, who don’t think it walks back the federal role in education far enough.

The bill “unfortunately continues to propagate the large and ever-growing role of the federal government in our education system—the same federal government that sold us failed top-down standards like Common Core,” Cruz, who didn’t vote, said in a statement Wednesday. “The American people expect the Republican majority to do better.” Fellow 2016 contenders Marco Rubio and Bernie Sanders also didn’t cast votes. Paul voted against the bill.

The new bill bans future Education secretaries from pushing a Common Core-like set of academic standards and limits what the department can and can’t regulate. Dozens of waivers from No Child Left Behind granted by the Obama administration would be void starting in August 2016. States would have more than a year to shift to the new system, which would take hold starting in the 2017-18 school year.

But there will also be places for the Obama administration to leave an imprint, thanks to a streamlined regulatory process written into the bill that it will have a year to leverage. For example, the department could place broad parameters on when a group of students would be considered “consistently” low-performing, signaling a need for intervention.

Even before the bill was headed to the president, a swath of education, civil rights and business groups were already lining up ways to shape the law’s implementation. Since the bill returns power to states, advocates plan on waging state-by-state battles over education policy that were previously fought in Washington.

Advocates in D.C. have worked furiously over the last year to preserve strong federal protections in the bill for poor and minority students. But in the coming years, they’ll be “trying to make equity at the heart of education in states,” said Ryan Smith, executive director of The Education Trust-West, the California arm of the Washington-based education advocacy group.

“With all of this wonderful flexibility comes great responsibility” for states, said Cheryl Oldham, vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is highlighting the need to continue to focus on minorities this week with a conference it is co-hosting with the NAACP on African-American student achievement.

One central issue for the Chamber will be making sure states continue to heavily weigh academic measures of students success — like test scores and graduation rates — when they rate schools. The new law allows states to also use some non-academic measures, such as student engagement, when evaluating schools.

That change in school rating metrics alone was a major legislative victory for teachers unions. Unions pushed all year to ditch No Child Left Behind’s embrace of testing, which they’ve dubbed a “test-and-punish” approach. Lawmakers ultimately settled on keeping a federal requirement that schools test students annually — but they gave states more leeway in how much test results matter. The law will also provide new funding to help states audit and get rid of excessive tests.

“You’ve had 15 years of test, test, test, test, test, test, test,” American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten said. “This is a vast improvement over what we have right now.”

And in another win, states will no longer have to evaluate teachers in a way that takes student outcomes — such as test scores — into account, a provision in the Obama administration’s waivers that unions opposed.

Now unions are making preparations of their own for the new law.

The National Education Association is pulling together a task force to begin planning how to educate teachers and organize in states.

The Obama administration, too, has begun positioning itself for an intense new phase — designing regulations to implement the law.

“We’re gearing up,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an interview Saturday. Getting the law passed now is important to the Obama administration so it has “13 months to think about implementation,” he said. On Tuesday, Duncan was at Maryland’s National Harbor kickstarting outreach about the new law in a speech to educators.

Duncan is set to step down at the end of the year, so the dash to regulate the law will be the work of his successor, John King. And King will be operating in a different environment than Education secretaries did in the past because of the bill’s limit on the secretary’s power.

Senators celebrated the bill’s passage, but the next steps already loom on the horizon. Senate HELP Committee ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) pledged Tuesday to keep close watch on implementation now that the work in Congress is done.

“We can’t just sign the bill and walk away,” Murray said. “We have to follow through and make sure they’re doing what we wanted to do with this law.”

 

Kiwanis donates dictionaries to all third graders

Kiwanis, which has been in Allen Park since 1939 and is celebrating their 100 year anniversary, came to Arno on Thursday to donate a new dictionary to every third grade student.  Dave Goodwin, who spoke with the classes indicated that this is the Kiwanis’s 10th year of donating dictionaries.  We thank them for this great resource gift to our kids!

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Santa Cash

Thanks to everyone for participating in Santa Cash.  The pizza lunch will be Dec. 16th at the student’s normal time to eat.  They can come down to the conf room for the lunch.

 

concert

5th Grade band a holiday hit

Thursday night’s 5th grade band concert that included students from Arno, Lindemann, and Bennie helped raise our Christmas spirits as the band played a selection of holiday favorites in front of a packed crowd at the Center for Performing Arts. Although no snow was falling, the holidays never looked, or sounded better. Congratulations to all of our your band members, you sounded professional!

Arno 5th grade band members include: Alexis Ballard, Avery Loving, Teagan Montgomery, Glenn Doss, William Keysaer, Samantha Manson, Juliette Torres, Molly Hool, Victoria Koziel, Carla Schultz, Madilynn Vaughn, Jackson Pettit-Pokora, Drake Steele, Luis Diaz, Cameron Greene, Mia Hool, Cameron McGinnis, Cole Mucha, Damani Dewberry, Meadow Merchanco, DiegoSanchez

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Make it a great week!