Coming soon to Arno…

March 26

5th Grade Camp Begins

Tornado Drill a.m.

March 27

Principals to Camp

March 28

5th grade camp ends

Professional Int day @APHS (Steve) 10:30

March 29

Early Dismissal 11:40

Teacher PD p.,m.

March 30

Good Friday-  No School

March 31-April 8–  SPRING BREAK

April 9

Class Resumes

M-Step Assembly Kickoff 5th grade 10:30

April 10

No events

April 11

PBIS meeting 7:45

April 12 

Fire Drill

ALICE Assembly 10:30 K-2/ 11:00 3-5

April 13

No events

Have a fun and restful Break!

ALICE Assembly

On April 12 (10:30 for K-2/11:00 for 3-5), we will hosting Sgt. Albright of the APPD.  He will speaking with our Cougars about safety, kindness, using good judgement on what we say, and how our drills are changing.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Bingo for Books MIRM Fun!

APPS Limited Schools of Choice Program Approved for 2018-19

The Allen Park Public Schools Board of Education approved the continuation of a limited Schools of Choice option for the 2018-19 school year for grades Kindergarten through 8^th Grade.  Application forms will be available starting Monday, April 9 through Friday, April 27, at the Riley Education Center between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.  For your convenience, applications will also be available on our website – www.allenparkschools.com

Completed applications may be presented in person at the Riley Education Center or emailed to schoolofchoice@appublicschools.com from April 9 through April 27 at 4:00 p.m.  No late applications can be accepted.

A random draw selection will be held on May 1, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. at the Riley Education Center if you wish to attend.  The draw will determine numerical selection for acceptance of candidates.

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

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

Young Fives

Early learning is a key component to the success of each and every child – the earlier we can provide solid educational opportunities to our younger learners the better.  With that being said, we are very proud to announce that the Allen Park Public Schools Board of Education approved the expansion of the Young 5’s Program held at Lindemann (currently for the district) to Arno Elementary and Bennie Elementary starting with the 2018-19 school year. 

Please share this information with friends and neighbors in the APPS boundaries with young children getting ready for school this fall!

Registration is still open for screening for the district’s Young Five’s Program.  Ideal candidates for the program are turning 5 years of age between July 1 and December 1.  (December 2 and later are not eligible and consideration will not be given to students born before July 1).  The Young Five’s Program is currently open for residents of Allen Park Public Schools.

WHO IS A GREAT CANDIDATE FOR YOUNG FIVES?

The Young Five Program is intended to be a bridge between preschool and kindergarten

Ideal candidates include children who:

• Turn 5 years old between July 1st and December 1st.
• Live in the Allen Park Public Schools district
• Could benefit from an extra year of social and emotional growth.
• Have made significant progress in preschool, but are not yet ready for the demands of Kindergarten.
• Have attended preschool (not a mandatory requirement, but strongly encouraged)
• Have a basic understanding of academic concepts
  • Able to identify several letters, letter sounds, shapes, and colors.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Is the Young Fives Program full day?

A: Yes, the children start and end school with all other K-5 students.

Q: Where will my child go after completing the Young Fives Program?

A: Your child will advance to kindergarten.

Q: Do students in the Young Fives program attend gym, art, music, media and technology?

A: Young Five students attend these classes as well as lunch with our Kindergarten students.

From the PTA

Happy Weekend! Just one more week before Spring Break and the Easter Holiday! Just a couple of reminders….

Daddy/Daughter RSVP’s are due on Wednesday, March 28th! This date is FIRM! We cannot accept any RSVP’s after this date! Also, this dance is for Arno Students ONLY! Please do not miss out on this Special Day with your Daughter!

Our next PTA Meeting will be held on Thursday, April  12th at 6:30 pm in the Arno Cafeteria. We will be holding our Executive Board Officers Elections and voting on our proposals for our year end funds.

A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Heather Manson, Debbie Burgess, and Mrs. Dalton for our successful Playworks Program. Please see our PTA Facebook Page for all the information on that program.

Have a Great Break! We will see everyone when we return!

https://arnofamily.edublogs.org/files/2018/03/Daddy-Daughter-2018-t3m9io-16v47ut.pdf

Don’t like to use popsicle sticks for getting students responses- look no further….

K-5 Yoga is here!!

This year we started yoga sessions for our mentors and mentees. We are excited to announce that we are opening it up to anyone who is interested.  Please see the flyer below for more information on this exciting opportunity

YogaFlyer-1yz374m

Bingo for Books MIRM Fun!

March is Reading Month guests…Thank you Mrs. Byrne for your hard work arranging our wonderful list of readers!

So many guest readers this month that included Dr. Jeanine Hall- AP Board Member, Sara Metzger- Bennie Principal, Dr. John Tafelski- Curr. Director, Mike Dawson- AP HR,  Tabor Pepper- Green Bay Packers, Dr. Matt Sokol – SPED, Humphrey himself, and Superintendent Mike Darga.

M-Step is coming…

Please mark your calendars if you have a child in 3rd,4th,5th grade.  The M-Step window opens up for 5th grade immediately following Spring Break.  The 5th grade schedules is as follows:

April 11- Social Studies test (2 parts)

April 18- English Language Arts

April 20- Science (Field Test, this is new to 5th grade this year)

April 25- Math

I will publish the 3rd and 4th grade dates soon, with their window starting the first week of May.  An informational letter will be coming home as well with additional details.

Kindergarten Registration Information 2018-19

Kindergarten Enrollment Flyer 2018-19 School Year-xy45zu

Tech Round-up

Pretty Eggs

 http://www.meddybemps.com/easter/index.html

Paint Easter Egg

http://sheppardsoftware.com/holidays/easter/paintandmake/paintandmakeeastereggs.html

ABCya Easter Egg hunt

http://www.abcya.com/easter_egg_hunt.htm

Easter Crafts and Activities

http://www.educationworld.com/holidays/archives/easter.shtml

Ten Great tools for creating stories

https://app.box.com/s/5htchviyphrnsopjl9tysapcpro71c2c

Coming soon to Arno…

March 12

Ad Council 9:00

ICC 4:00

March 13

Cervantes obs 9:45

Andersen obs 11:15

March 14

Comfy and Kind Day

SIP Team Meeting full day

PBIS meeting 7:45

SIP meeting 3:45

March 15

Green Team Meeting  full day

Safety committee meeting 9:30

Summer Reading Committee 7:45

Chris Bak Author Visit

• Grades K-2 @ 9am

  • In the gym

  • About 30 minutes long

• Grades 3-5 @ 10am

  • In the gym

  • About 45 minutes long

Bingo for Books

March 16

Nothing scheduled

March 19

Leadership Conf/Mike Schmoker full day

-Steve, Carrie, Sarah K

March 20

Stanley obs 9:20

March 21

Steve out

Dr. Hall reads

PTSA at Arno 7:00

March 22

Staff Meeting 7:45

March 23

Gordon Miller visit 9:00

Consultants and 1st grade team observe GR is Dawn’s room

Coaching Visits

Our week was certainly busy, report cards, spring pictures, normal everyday things, but through it all I was so proud of you all with your professionalism in the midst of this that you were able to collaborate with literacy coaches to add to your craft of guided reading.

I have numerous resources that I have copied from the consultants including the prompts, teaching plans, lesson plans formats, Jan Harding’s book plus the guided reading resource folder that I have already shared with you.

As we approach walk-throughs and observations, I am looking forward to seeing your guided reading groups at whatever level you may have implemented them.  Please use the resources that  I will get out to you, and let me know what else I can do for your professional learning.

Thank You Green Team!

Thanks to Carrie and our Green Team committee for earning us 2018 Evergreen School Designation!   Thank you to all for your efforts in energy saving and environmental activities!    I included the email below because there is a nice bragging point included below…

Dear Carrie,

I received and reviewed your Michigan Green School activity verification. Congratulations! Because of the hard work from the teachers, students and families, Arno Elementary School has received the 2018 Michigan Evergreen School designation, by completing at least 20 energy saving and environmental tasks. The efforts you made to complete the tasks are very impressive. I especially enjoyed learning about the Flip Your Lid project, the composting project and the very important storm drain lesson. I urge Arno Elementary School to continue with the energy saving and environmental tasks and hope you encourage others to follow.

Thank you for the well written and organized documentation, I very much appreciate it.  I hope it’s OK to use your application as a “perfect example” to share with those who need a bit of assistance. I’ll take off all names and locations.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

See my suggestions below. Let me know if you were thinking something different.

Thank you,

Nancy Gregor

Wayne County Michigan Green School Coordinator

Big Shout out to the ARNO staff! 

Thank you Rachel and all of the staff the helped make this year’s Fun Fair a huge success.  After expenses we netted $1700 towards the scholarship fun!  Enjoy some pics

March is Reading Month Pics

Mrs. Warneck’s room plays “reading” games with middle and high school volunteers, and more guest readers

From the PTA

It’s almost Spring!! What better way to get ready than to do a little Spring Shopping at our PTSA Spring Fever Craft and Mom to Mom Event at the High School this Saturday, March 10thfrom 9-3! All proceeds go towards our Senior Scholarship Fund.

The Daddy/Daughter Dance is approaching. Please get your RSVP’s in soon! Do not miss out on this Enchanted Night! All RSVP’s are due on or by March 28th (this date is FINAL)! Please see the attached link below and our PTA Facebook Page for the link for more information, to pay, and RSVP!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4ca4aa2aa4fe3-2018

Thank You to everyone that braved the weather to attend our last PTA Meeting. We heard some great ideas and proposals for our end of year funds! We will be putting together a ballot sheet with all the choices to be voted on at our April meeting.

We hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Golden Tray Winners

Congrats to our Feb. Golden Tray Winners:

Mrs. Haskin

Mrs. Martinchick

Mrs. Wesley

Mrs. Kalis

Ms. Andersen

 Syrup time!

Third grade recently visited the University of Michigan Dearborn’s environmental interpretive center. They had loads of fun and learned about trees, sap collection, and how maple syrup is made.

Fun Fair

Thank you so much to everyone who cam out enjoyed a Saturday afternoon at Arno’s annual Fun Fair.  Food, friends, and fun were all served up, especially a lot of desserts! Thanks to all of your donations to ticket and raffle sales, we were able to raise $1700 to put towards the annual APHS Scholarships!

Thank you!

Allen Park Middle School

PTSA is still looking for all kinds of GENTLY WORN OR NEW SHOES: sneakers, casual shoes, dress shoes, boots, slippers, etc. (All footwear except roller skates, roller blades and ice skates will be accepted).

Donations can be dropped off at the AP Middle School Office, Denise Crank at the Riley Education Center/Central Office or contact Christina Forth at bellaboxer10@gmail.com to arrange a porch pick up. Donations will be accepted thru March 15th.

Thank you for your help!!

Is your Kroger card linked to us? If not please do it  today!f you already have your card linked look at how you’ve helped!

Arno PTA Kroger Rewards History

Date Quarter    Households Amount

08/2016 Q1 10 $36.52

11/2016 Q2 19 $163.83

03/2017 Q3 37 $267.04

05/2017 Q4 48 $272.77

08/2017 Q1 51 $270.17

11/2017 Q2 64 $283.44

03/2018 Q3 70 $327.28

05/2018 Q4 ?                 ?

      ________________

Total two year income $1,621.05

Ist quarter May, June, July, check sent in August.

2nd quarter August, September, October check sent in November.

3rd quarter November, December, January, check sent in February.

4th quarter February, March, April, check sent in May.

Imagine what could happen if we could double our enrolment! Registering is fast & easy!

TO USE THE KROGER COMMUNITY REWARDS PROGRAM: Register your card online at www.krogercommunityrewards.com if you haven’t already. Click on Sign In/Register. Sign up for Kroger Rewards Account by entering your zip code, clicking on your favorite store, entering your email address and creating a password, and agreeing to the terms and conditions. You will get a message to check your email inbox and click on the link within the body of the email. Click on My Account and use your email address and password to proceed to the next step. Click on Edit Kroger Community Rewards information and input your Kroger Plus card number. Update or confirm your information. Enter NPO number 54361 or name of organization, select organization from list and click on Confirm. To verify you are enrolled, you will see your organization’s name on the right side of your info. Do you use your phone number at the register? Call 877-576-7587 to get your Kroger Plus card number linked with us!

Bingo for Books

March 15th marks our annual Bingo for Books event.  Please see the link below for more details on how to be part of the evening.

bingo for books 2018.doc-v8p8vj

K-5 Yoga is here!!

This year we started yoga sessions for our mentors and mentees. We are excited to announce that we are opening it up to anyone who is interested.  Please see the flyer below for more information on this exciting opportunity

YogaFlyer-1yz374m

District Communication on Young Five’s

Please share this information with friends and neighbors in the APPS boundaries with young children getting ready for school this fall!

Registration is still open for screening for the district’s Young Five’s Program.  Ideal candidates for the program are turning 5 years of age between July 1 and December 1.  (December 2 and later are not eligible and consideration will not be given to students born before July 1).  The Young Five’s Program is currently open for residents of Allen Park Public Schools.

(Kindergarten Enrollment Info is also attached)

Young Five’s or Kindergarten?

Children enter kindergarten with a range of skills, including physical, cognitive, social, and emotional. Often, children who turn five years of age later than their peers will have a significantly different level of development than a child approaching their sixth birthday. For this reason, we offer a Young 5’s Program.

The program is designed for students who have a summer or fall birthdate. The focus of the program is to provide eligible children another year to learn and grow, helping to prevent them from experiencing the frustration of the high demands of kindergarten when they are not ready.

This program does not replace preschool or kindergarten; rather, our Young Fives Program offers an additional year as a gift of time. Enrollment in the Young Fives Program is a decision made in collaboration between parents, teachers, and administrators that begins with a screening process.

Students enrolled in the Young Fives Program have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of activities designed to bridge the gap between preschool and kindergarten. Students engage in activities that teach thinking, reasoning, and decision-making skills. They also develop their listening, social/emotional, and literacy skills.

The Program allows children to use a hands on approach to learning. The curriculum is similar to kindergarten but moves at a slower more manageable pace. This program provides a strong foundation that helps children become more successful students and ignites a love for learning that lasts a lifetime.

Young 5’s Screening Sessions

Schedule a Screening for your Young 5 at the link below on March 12, 13 or 14, 2018:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e45adae22a4fb6-young4

Screening Location:

Riley Education Center

9601 Vine Ave
Allen Park, MI 48101

WHO IS A GREAT CANDIDATE FOR YOUNG FIVES?

The Young Five Program is intended to be a bridge between preschool and kindergarten

Ideal candidates include children who:

• Turn 5 years old between July 1st and December 1st.
• Live in the Allen Park Public Schools district
• Could benefit from an extra year of social and emotional growth.
• Have made significant progress in preschool, but are not yet ready for the demands of Kindergarten.
• Have attended preschool (not a mandatory requirement, but strongly encouraged)
• Have a basic understanding of academic concepts
  • Able to identify several letters, letter sounds, shapes, and colors.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Is the Young Fives Program full day?

A: Yes, the children start and end school with all other K-5 students.

Q: Where will my child go after completing the Young Fives Program?

A: Your child will advance to kindergarten.

Q: Do students in the Young Fives program attend gym, art, music, media and technology?

A: Young Five students attend these classes as well as lunch with our Kindergarten students.

NOTE:  The District’s Preschool Program will hold an open house on April 19 at Lindemann at 6:00 p.m.  Registration for the Preschool Program will begin on April 20 for in-district families (Open enrollment begins May 4)  For questions about the Preschool Program, please call Kristy at (313) 827-2662.

Barbara Zdrodowski

Kindergarten Registration Information 2018-19

Kindergarten Enrollment Flyer 2018-19 School Year-xy45zu

Alternatives to YouTube

And if you are fortunate enough to work in a school that allows you to use YouTube, you still might want to use View Pure, Safe Share, or A Cleaner Internet to prevent the accidental display of inappropriate “related” videos or advertisements.

Congratulations Nickie- Outstanding Educator!

Coming soon to Arno…

Feb 26

No events

Feb 27

SIP Team meeting all day

Feb 28

3rd grade U of M

MARCH is Reading month activities start per calendar

March 1

3rd Grade U of M

PTA Meeting 6:30

March 2

3rd grade U of M

Gordon Miller building visit 10:00

PBIS Reward

March 5

No events

March 6

No events

March 7

Higgins obs 11:15

March 8

DiCarlo obs 9:30

Andersen obs 11:15

March 9

End of Second Semester

Early Dismissal 11:40- Teacher PD p.m.

Sent to Parents: You may start enforcing it next week

Pokemon Cards

Pokemon cards have been increasingly been an issue in the classroom causing some disruptions as well as some conflict.  I am asking that all students keep their Pokemon cards at home for the rest of the school year to prevent any further issues in the building.  Thank you for your help in this matter

March is Reading Month

March is fast approaching and we are gearing up for our One Book, One School theme for this year’s reading month activities.  The calendar is attached below and contains all the info you will need to know about all the happenings here at Arno, and what should be going on at home.   Please let your teacher know if you clarification on anything.

march calendar-2d72z12

Flyer for Book Exchange 2018-2cao9rh

From the PTA

Happy Friday! 

The PTA had quite an evening on Wednesday night at our Founders Day Dinner!

Founder’s Day Celebration

The annual Founder’s Day awards celebration took place this past Wednesday as our amazing winners shined!  Congratulations to all of our award winners this year- you represent the very best of our Arno Cougars!!

2018 PTA Founders Day Winners

Outstanding Educator – Nikki Stanley

Outstanding Support Personnel – Tim Tanksley

Distinguished Service – Shannon Mihalik

Outstanding Program – Fun Run (Jeff Mouchet, Julie Hegedus, Nicole Atkinson & Shannon Mihalik)

Business Partner – ATS Tax Preparation, Allen Park

 

Title 1 Blog

We would to inform you of our new Title I blog brought to you by Mrs. Gorski, our Title I teacher.  Title I is a federal program that gives dollars to school with higher populations at-risk students.  We are a School-wide school for service, which means our whole population qualifies to benefit from services, parent meetings, resources, etc.

http://mrsgorski.edublogs.org/

Kindergarten Registration Information 2018-19

Kindergarten Enrollment Flyer 2018-19 School Year-xy45zu

Spirit Week Wrap Up…

Techy

Free Icons & Images for Google Docs and Slides

The Noun Project is a popular source of free icons and images. The Noun Project collections include thousands of public domain, Creative Commons, and royalty-free icons. Learn more about the Noun Project in the short video below.

The Noun Project now offers Add-ons for Google Docs and for Google Slides. Like other image search Add-ons, the Noun Project’s Google Docs and Google Slides Add-ons let you search for images and insert them into your projects without having to open a new tab or browser window.

Applications for Education
If your students need simple images for illustrations, diagrams, or multimedia projects, the Noun Project is a good resource for them to browse through.

Use Google Sheets to Create Online Bingo Boards With Pictures

Flippity is one of my favorite Google Sheets Add-ons because it gives you direct access to sixteen templates that you can use to create games, progress trackers, and random name selectors. One of Flippity’s most popular templates, the Bingo template, was recently updated to allow you to include pictures in your Bingo games.

Flippity’s Bingo template is easy to follow. Just the complete the steps listed hereand you’re ready to publish your game. You can print game cards to distribute to your students or you can have them play online.

It is important to note that in order to use images in the Flippity Bingo templatethe images must be hosted online and publicly accessible. A host like Flickr is ideal for this purpose. Google Drive doesn’t work for this purpose. Likewise, any site that blocks hotlinking will not work for this purpose.

A VALUABLE PERSPECTIVE

Coming soon to Arno…

Feb. 12

Spirit Week Begins

– Olympic Village Day

Dress up as your favorite sport or country

Ad Council 9:00

Feb. 13

– Medals Day

Wear a medal you have, or make one to show off your

favorite sport or subject

Data Dive Per Schedule

Feb. 14

Happy Valentines Day!

PBIS Meeting 7:45

PTS Skating Party 6:00

– Red, White, & Blue Day

Show your love of the U.S.A. by wearing Red, White, & Blue

Data Dive Per Schedule

Feb. 15

Arno Blood Drive

Team Motivate Open Meeting 7:45

–Reading Olympics

Bring your favorite book and Olympic Torch (flashlight)

to read in your class

Safety Committee 9:30

Feb. 16

Early Dismissal- 11:40 a,m. Teacher PD

Spirit week end assembly- Snow in the Face Day

K, 1, 3 10:20

2, 4, 5 10:55

Feb. 19

Winter Break- No School

Feb. 20

Winter Break- No School

Feb. 21

Founders Day Banquet 6:00

School Improvement Meeting 3:45

Feb. 22

Metro Parks- 5th Grade

Feb. 23

Nothing Scheduled

Feb. 24

Arno Fun Fair 11-2

Arno’s new sign has arrived!  Thank you voters for passing the special RESA millage!

Data Dive

Our data dive is scheduled for Feb 13 and 14.  During our meeting, we will cover:

• Dividing students into tiers based on data
• Analyzing those most risk
• IRIPs
• A look at the learning continuum for NWEA 

Spirit Week- Feb. 12-16

From the PTA

Happy Valentine’s Day!

️Grab your sweetheart and join us on Valentine’s Day for our Valentine’s Night Skate Party at Lincoln Park Skate Center from 6-8 pm! Cost includes admission and skating; cost does NOT include food. The Concession Stand will be open to purchase food if you wish.

️Also remember, the PTA Executive Officers Election will be held at our April Meeting. We will have vacancies that need to be filled in order to continue having an ARNO PTA! If you’re interested in running or have questions about each position, please send us an email, private message us on Facebook, or stop us when you see us out and about! We are happy to mentor anyone willing to step up and help continue to make Arno Great!!

Have a GREAT WEEKEND!!!️🏻

Buddy League Buddy Flyer -xklg4u

Start planning now to attend Arno’s Valentine’s Day Skate Party!

RSVP using this link!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4ca4aa2aa4fe3-arnos

Arno Blood Drive

The Arno blood drive is from 1:00-6:45 on Feb 15th.  You can call or email Mrs. Anderson at 827-1050.  You may also go on the Red Cross Website to register, searching for Arno Blood Drive.   Please call  the office if you have more questions.

https://www.redcrossblood.org/

Arno Fun Fair

Arno’s annual Family Fun Fair is Saturday, Feb. 24th from 11 am-2pm!  Tickets are still 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 stop by!

PBIS Zumba in Action!

4th Grade Book Club fun in Mrs. Smalley’s room

https://www.redcrossblood.org/

Metro Parks demonstrates for 3rd grade

INTERESTING ARTICLE

16 Videos About the Science of Winter Olympics Sports

The Winter Olympics begin this week. I’m looking forward to the skiing events and the bobsled events. The start of the Winter Olympics presents an opportunity to incorporate some science lessons into your students’ interest in a current event that they may be following at home.

The National Science Foundation offers a YouTube playlist of sixteen videos on the science of Winter Olympics events. These short videos teach lessons on the physics and engineering behind the events we see on television. The videos are almost eight years old now, but the science concepts covered are just as relevant to these Olympic games as they were to previous Winter Olympics.

15 Tech Tidbits To Bring the 2018 Winter Olympic Into Your Classroom

By Phil Goerner on January 5, 2018 1 Comment

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games premiere in South Korea for 18 days starting February 8 and ending February 25. Almost 3,000 athletes will gather to compete from over 90 countries in seven sports, including skating, skiing, bobsled, biathlon, curling, ice hockey, and luge. Over 102 medals are up for grabs, which is the most ever in Winter Olympic history.

Educators have a terrific opportunity to expand their students’ learning, and librarians can play a key role in research and support of classrooms during the Olympics. These games provide excellent moments to teach students about many subjects, including history, science, physical education, and social studies.

Even though the 2018 Olympics are proving to be more inclusive, hosting the highest number of female athletes and mixed events in Winter Games History, there can be many challenges for athletes that your students can study and evaluate.

For example, rock star librarian Alan Barbee collaboratively created a social studies unit for his middle school students that dealt with how religious beliefs may impact a person’s ability to play sports. His students had deep discussions after reading articles about high school and sport hijabs in The Washington Post and other pieces on Olympic figure skater Zahra Lari, who broke barriers wearing a hijab while skating but had points deducted from her score because judges considered her head covering a costume prop.

Science teachers have a plethora of resources like Science 360 videos that teach everything from physics of skiing to the transfer of kinetic energy using the sport of curling. Energy efficiency in Olympic venue buildings can be studied in resources that explain how the architectural design helps to maintain temperatures and the integrity of the ice.

Wondering how you and your students can watch the events? For the first time, this year’s Olympic Games will be broadcast and streamed LIVE in all times zones by NBCOlympics.com. The videos will also be available on the NBC Sports app for Android and iPhone. Both NBC and CBSsports will provide educators the opportunity to use archived resources, which include athlete profiles and specific stories and updates in their classrooms.

Don’t forget about social media! Olympians will be posting on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag  #PyeongChang2018 or you can simply follow via #WinterOlympics, TeamUSA, or through your favorite athlete. They must adhere to Olympics social media guidelines throughout the games, which could prove to be a great segue into a discussion on Internet safety.

Specific lesson plans are beginning to appear online and will no doubt be more accessible closer to the opening ceremonies from sites like Education World and Readwritethink, and of course the fabulous Teachers Pay Teachers site. Savvy educators have created solid resources using the historic Olympic.MU site and even the Team USA YouTube site.

Students may have special interest in the events new to the Olympics this year, including the Snowboarding Big Air, which promises lots of spectacular aerial stunts, mixed doubles curling, team alpine skiing, and the incredible mass start speed skating. Students and teachers alike may also enjoy learning about unique aspects of the Olympics like the Nigerian women’s bobsled team.

And don’t forget that after all this fun, PyeongChang, South Korea, will host the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games from March 9–18.

So many things to explore and discover! Whether you incorporate a math lesson about kilometers to events from the Olympic village or just lovable white tiger Olympic Mascot named Soohorang, we hope you and your students enjoy the competition and dream big.

 

Moving our little ones Forward…

Coming soon to Arno…

Jan 29

March is Reading Month planning meeting 7:45

IEP per schuedule

Jan 30

K DRA

Mid-year eval- Steve

Jan 31

Green team meeting 7:45

Feb 1

STAFF Meeting 7:45

Metro Park assembly gr 3

PBIS Pizza lunch

PTA Meeting 6:30

Feb 2

PBIS reward

Feb 5

No events

Feb 6

Dr. Hall reading 4th

Feb 7

P/T Conferences 5:00-:30

Feb 8

P/T Conferences 5:00-7:30

Metro Parks 4th gr

Feb 9

Happy Friday!

MDE State Visit

Last week Deputy Superintendent Sheila Alles visited  APHS and Arno Elementary.  Ms. Alles was in AP from the invitation of our new superintendent, Mike Darga.  We had a great tour of the building and various classrooms, observing everything from literacy to science, and technology.  Our staff was able to show her many of the current best practices that Arno to help each and every child learn.  Thanks to everyone who opened their classrooms and made our school look awesome!

PTA FOUNDERS DAY

From the PTA

Happy Friday! We hope that everyone has had a great couple of weeks!

Arno’s Mother/Son Night Tag Team Bowling was held last Friday at Skore Lanes and boy was it exciting!!! Strikes, Spares, dancing, pictures, food, and games OH MY! Thank you to everyone that came out and helped to make our event successful and fun and a BIG Thank You to our Chair, Melissa Koski, for organizing and planning our Night Out!

️February is coming and we have some exciting events happening: Valentine Skate Party, Valentine’s Day Celebrations, Winter Break, Conferences, Founders Day Banquet, and SPIRIT WEEK!!! If you are still in need for some Arno Attire to wear for Spirit Week, we still have some stock on hand that is available for purchase. Contact the PTA via our email address (arnopta@gmail.com) or our Facebook Page (Arno Elementary PTA).

Staff Survey

It is that time again, our annual staff survey will be active from Jan. 29-Feb 9 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 grades 3-5, and I would like that to just be completed 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://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/56486/20337

Building to Kindergarten Part 2

Our Arno kindergarten teachers once again held a training for parents and preschool teachers that included information on skills the kids will need to work on, and some awesome make and take letter activities.  Thanks to Jeanine Haskin, Nickie Stanley, Cristina DiCarlo, and Cathy Gorski (Title I) for an outstanding workshop!

PLAYWORKS TRAINING

A fantastic two days were spent working with Jamie and “MT” from Playworks this week!  Our lunch staff and Phys Ed teachers engaged in training related to developing safe and inclusive play during recess time at Arno!  Our lunch staff will be working hard to roll out all of the great ideas developed during this training.

If you are interested in taking a look at some of these games, here is the link:  http://playworks.org/

Conferences

Conf. links have now gone out and all of the links look like they are working well.  Please let me know if you need me to attend any conferences in Feb.

Data Dive

RESA was out last week and trained the principals on how to create reports for the data we need for our data dive in Feb.  Please expect that when you come down that all data will be in order and ready to discuss.   We expect to accomplish:

1. A discussion on your two lowest students, and updates on any others as needed

2. Identification of your tier, 1,2,3 students using the data and our points system of 0,5,10

3. Discussion of the new round of iRIPs, as applicable

Our meeting will take place over two days on Feb 13 & 14, schedule to be released soon.  Cindy will re-sharing (you already have access to this) the MTSS forms where you can updates those students you have discussed in the past, update them with current info, and add any addition students to the paperwork.  Please understand that when you walk in the door with that complete, it will only help.

Arno Olympics Wrap up

Thanks to Ms. Amonette, Mrs. Kalis, Mrs. Hool, and all of our volunteers yesterday at our annual Arno Olympics.   The weather was great and we saw a huge crowd attend as all of our Cougar competitors has their eyes set on Gold!  After our fun evening, we will be tallying all of the scores and awarding the Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals soon.  Congrats to all our Olympic Champions!

Mother/Son Night

What a great evening we had at Skore Lanes Friday night for our annual Mother/Son outing.   This year included pizza, friends, pictures, and of course lots of bowling.  Thanks to our PTA and volunteers for all of their hard work that made this event successful!

Here is a photo of our Lindemann project!  So cool.

M-STEP CHANGES

Please see below for this year’s changes to the MSTEP assessments.  The biggest thing to note is the removal of all ELA and Math Performance Tasks, as well as the shift in Science from grade 4 to grade 5.  Times should be reduced in all grades.  More info to come as it is received!

 

What will MSTEP Science items will look like for the pilot test this spring? Do you see phenomena? Are students engaged in practices, using crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas? https://tinyurl.com/MSTEPSciSamples  Use Chrome. Click Grade 5, 8, or 11. Use the guest login.

PLAYWORKS TRAINING

A fantastic two days were spent working with Jamie and “MT” from Playworks this week!  Our lunch staff and Phys Ed teachers engaged in training related to developing safe and inclusive play during recess time at Arno!  Our lunch staff will be working hard to roll out all of the great ideas developed during this training.

MICHIGAN TRANSPARENCY DASHBOARD

• How well is Arno Elementary School helping students achieve state standards?
• How many instructional staff per student does Arno Elementary School employ?
• How many Allen Park High School students graduate within 4, 5, and 6 years?
• What is the attendance rate for students at Arno Elementary School?

Parents and other caregivers of a school-aged child now can easily find answers to these questions and many more through one user-friendly online tool. Michigan’s new Parent Dashboard for School Transparency (or “Parent Dashboard”) makes it easier for parents to see many types of information about any public school in Michigan, including public school academies (charter schools).

The new dashboard is designed especially for parents and other caregivers. It will report on more than 20 different factors—or measures—that parents and other stakeholders have said are important to them when evaluating the quality of a school. Families and others can use the dashboard to get a more complete picture of how their child’s school is serving students. They also can use the dashboard to compare a school’s performance with the average performance of other similar Michigan schools.

Click the link below (or type the dashboard URL into your web browser) to access Arno Elementary School Parent Dashboard: 

https://goo.gl/2VEifo

The new easy-to-use Parent Dashboard:

• provides one easy location where parents and caregivers can view building-level information and data
• can be accessed on any computer or mobile device
• includes a tutorial video that can help you navigate through the various types of information available
• offers a more balanced picture of school quality, since it contains information about more than just test scores

Information in the Parent Dashboard:

• comes from data that are already collected from schools
• can be viewed for a whole school, or viewers can dig in deeper to see performance for certain groups of students
• can inform decisions and encourage richer conversations about school progress—with students, with other parents, with school leaders, and within communities
• complements other state accountability tools such as the School Report Card (required by federal law), financial data reporting (required by Michigan law), and other state, district, and building reports (MI School Data)

We encourage everyone to check out Arno Elementary School’s Parent Dashboard, and tell us which measures excite you most. We also want to know where you think we need to improve.  Equipped with this information, we hope to have richer conversations about our school and its students.

The new Parent Dashboard is a “living tool” that will continue to add information and adapt to meet parents’ needs. Parents and others are invited to send feedback to MDE-ParentDashboard@michigan.gov

https://www.mischooldata.org/EssaDashboard/EssaDashboardSchoolOverview.aspx?LocationId=S,5727,895,119&LocationCode=00279

READWORKS.ORG

Do your students struggle with reading comprehension because they lack background knowledge, vocabulary, or reading stamina?In just 10 minutes every day, Article-A-Day™ will systematically build all three! Watch Teachers do Article-A-Day in the Class

GREAT ARTICLE

Please take 5 minutes of your time and read this article.  You will not be sorry.  🙂

Why Understanding These Four Types of Mistakes Can Help Us Learn

By MindShiftNOVEMBER 23, 2015https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/11/23/why-understanding-these-four-types-of-mistakes-can-help-us-learn/

by Eduardo Briceño

This article was first published in the Mindset Works newsletter.

We can deepen our own and our students’ understanding of mistakes, which are not all created equal, and are not always desirable. After all, our ability to manage and learn from mistakes is not fixed. We can improve it.

Here are two quotes about mistakes that I like and use, but that can also lead to confusion if we don’t further clarify what we mean:

“A life spent making mistakes is not only most honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing” – George Bernard Shaw

“It is well to cultivate a friendly feeling towards error, to treat it as a companion inseparable from our lives, as something having a purpose which it truly has.” – Maria Montessori

These constructive quotes communicate that mistakes are desirable, which is a positive message and part of what we want students to learn. An appreciation of mistakes helps us overcome our fear of making them, enabling us to take risks. But we also want students to understand what kinds of mistakes are most useful and how to most learn from them.

Types of mistakes

The stretch mistakes

Stretch mistakes happen when we’re working to expand our current abilities. We’re not trying to make these mistakes in that we’re not trying to do something incorrectly, but instead, we’re trying to do something that is beyond what we already can do without help, so we’re bound to make some errors.

Stretch mistakes are positive. If we never made stretch mistakes, it would mean that we never truly challenged ourselves to learn new knowledge or skills.

Sometimes when we’re stuck making and repeating the same stretch mistake, the issue may be that we’re mindlessly going through the motions, rather than truly focusing on improving our abilities. Other times the root cause may be that our approach to learning is ineffective and we should try a different strategy to learn that new skill. Or it may be that what we’re trying is too far beyond what we already know, and we’re not yet ready to master that level of challenge. It is not a problem to test our boundaries and rate of growth, exploring how far and quickly we can progress. But if we feel stuck, one thing we can do is adjust the task, decreasing the level of challenge but still keeping it beyond what we already know. Our zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the zone slightly beyond what we already can do without help, which is a fruitful level of challenge for learning.

We want to make stretch mistakes! We want to do so not by trying to do things incorrectly, but by trying to do things that are challenging. When we make stretch mistakes we want to reflect, identify what we can learn, and then adjust our approach to practice, until we master the new level of ability. Then we want to identify a new area of challenge and continue stretching ourselves.

The aha-moment mistakes

Another positive type of mistake, but one that is harder to strive or plan for, is the aha-moment mistake. This happens when we achieve what we intend to do, but then realize that it was a mistake to do so because of some knowledge we lacked which is now becoming apparent. There are lots of examples of this, such as:

• When we lack the content knowledge: e.g. not finding water, we try to extinguish a fire with alcohol, which we didn’t realize is flammable.
• When we find there is more nuance than we realized: e.g. in our painting, we color a sun near the horizon as yellow, and later notice that the sun does not always look yellow.
• When we make incorrect assumptions: e.g. we try to help someone else, thinking that help is always welcome, but we find out that the person did not want help at that moment.
• When we make systematic mistakes: e.g. a fellow educator observes us doing a lesson and later points out, with compelling back-up data, that we tend to call on Caucasian girls much more often than we do other students.
• When we misremember: e.g. we call a friend for their birthday on the right date, but the wrong month.

We can gain more aha moments from mistakes by being reflective. We can ask ourselves What was unexpected? Why did that result occur? What went well and what didn’t? Is there anything I could try differently next time? We can also ask people around us for information we may not be aware of, or for ideas for improvement.

The sloppy mistakes

Sloppy mistakes happen when we’re doing something we already know how to do, but we do it incorrectly because we lose concentration. We all make sloppy mistakes occasionally because we’re human. However, when we make too many of these mistakes, especially on a task that we intend to focus on at the time, it signals an opportunity to enhance our focus, processes, environment, or habits.

Sometimes sloppy mistakes can be turned into aha moments. If we make a mistake because we’re not focused on the task at hand, or we’re too tired, or something distracted us, upon reflection we can gain aha-moments on how to improve, such as realizing we’re better at certain tasks after a good night’s sleep, or that if we silence our gadgets or close our doors we can focus better.

The high-stakes mistakes

Sometimes we don’t want to make a mistake because it would be catastrophic. For example, in potentially dangerous situations we want to be safe. A big mistake from the person in charge of security in a nuclear power plant could lead to a nuclear disaster. We don’t want a school bus driver to take a risk going too fast making a turn, or a student in that bus to blindfold the bus driver. In those cases, we want to put processes in place to minimize high-stakes mistakes. We also want to be clear with students about why we don’t want the risk-taking behavior and experimentation in these situations, and how they’re different from learning-oriented tasks.

Aside from life-threatening situations, we can sometimes consider performance situations to be high-stakes. For example, if going to a prestigious college is important to someone, taking the SAT could be a high-stakes event because the performance in that assessment has important ramifications. Or if a sports team has trained for years, working very hard to maximize growth, a championship final can be considered a high-stakes event. It is okay to see these events as performance events rather than as learning events, and to seek to minimize mistakes and maximize performance in these events. We’re putting our best foot forward, trying to perform as best as we can. How we do in these events gives us information about how effective we have become through our hard work and effort. Of course, it is also ok to embed learning activities in high-stakes events that don’t involve safety concerns. We can try something that is beyond what we already know and see how it works, as long as we realize that it may impact our performance (positively or negatively). And of course, we can always learn from these performance events by afterwards reflecting and discussing how things went, what we could do differently next time, and how we could adjust our practice.

In a high-stakes event, if we don’t achieve our goal of a high test score or winning the championship, let’s reflect on the progress we’ve made through time, on the approaches that have and haven’t helped us grow, and on what we can do to grow more effectively. Then let’s go back to spending most of our time practicing, challenging ourselves, and seeking stretch mistakes and learning from those mistakes. On the other hand, if we achieve our target score or win a championship, that’s great. Let’s celebrate the achievement and how much progress we’ve made. Then let’s ask ourselves the same questions. Let’s go back to spending most of our time practicing, challenging ourselves, and growing our abilities.

We’re all fortunate to be able to enjoy growth and learning throughout life, no matter what our current level of ability is. Nobody can ever take that source of fulfillment away from us.

Let’s be clear

Mistakes are not all created equal, and they are not always desirable. In addition, learning from mistakes is not all automatic. In order to learn from them the most we need to reflect on our errors and extract lessons from them.

If we’re more precise in our own understanding of mistakes and in our communication with students, it will increase their understanding, buy-in, and efficacy as learners.

Eduardo Briceño is the Co-Founder & CEO of Mindset Works, which he created with Carol Dweck, Lisa Blackwell and others to help people develop as motivated and effective learners. Carol Dweck is still on the board of directors, but has no financial interest in or income from Mindset Works. The ideas expressed in this article, which was first published in the Mindset Works newsletter, are entirely Eduardo Briceño’s.

 

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

Exclusive for our Foundation Club Members — TWO exciting grant opportunities! Meemic Masterpieces Art Contest and Grant Opportunity Help us celebrate a message of togetherness by having your students enter the third edition of our Meemic Masterpieces Art Contest and Grant Opportunity! Any Foundation Club Member can sponsor a student in grades K-12 to submit an original artwork featuring one of these three themes: Kindness Celebrating Diversity Anti-Bullying Up to 50 artworks will be selected! The winning student artist will receive a Chromebook, and the sponsoring Foundation Club Member will receive a $300 art supplies grant for their school. Artwork and required documents must be submitted by Friday, March 30, 2018. For the complete rules and art guidelines, please visit: MaceInsurance.com/Masterpieces First Quarter Traditional Grant Foundation Club Members who are currently employed by an educational institution are invited to also apply for our traditional grant for funding up to $500 to support their classroom, department, campus or district needs, such as new technology, STEAM initiatives, field trips, and more! Our easy-to-complete First Quarter Traditional Grant applications must be submitted by Saturday, March 31, 2018. For more details, and to see a sample application, go to: MaceInsurance.com/Traditional

As always, thanks again for all you do for education! Pamela Harlin Director, The Meemic FoundationBe sure to share The Meemic Foundationwith any school employee so they, too, can join our exclusive Foundation Club for access to year-round grant opportunities for supplies, books and special projects.Your Meemic Representative is: Mace Insurance Agency 2743 W. Jefferson Trenton, MI48183 MaceInsurance.com

TECHNOLOGY TIPS

Polar Bear “Street” View Lesson Plans

Polar Bears International offers a set of extensive lesson plans designed to help students learn about polar bears and their habitat. One of those lesson plans is called Street View and Polar Bears. In Street View and Polar Bears students use Google Maps to explore the geography, geology, and ecosystem of the tundra around Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. At the end of the lesson students should be able to answer questions like “what are the characteristics of the subarctic tundra?” and “what would be some of the considerations for the construction of buildings, schools, houses, etc. in the subarctic?”

Bear Tracker is another feature of the Polar Bears International website. The Bear Tracker plots the travels of collared polar bears in Hudson Bay and the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska. You can view the travel paths of one or all of the bears on each map. The map also offers play the travel paths recorded over time.

 

Coming soon to Arno…

Jan 15

No School for students- All Day PD

Playworks training for lunch paras

Jan 16

Playworks training

Dr. Hall Visit 2:00

Fountas and Pinnell Presentation APHS LGI room 4:00-6:00

Jan 17

Comp needs assessment conf- Steve and Cathy

SIP Meeting 3:45

Jan 18

Staff Meeting 7:50

Play at APAC for grades 1-3 9:00

SIP Team full day meeting

Jan 19

Mother/Son Night

Jan 22

Ad council 9:00

Candids for yearbook

Jan 23

Yoga starts for mentor/mentee

Safety Committe 9:30

PBIS Leadership meeting 1:00

Preschool Title I meeting 4:00-5:00

Jan 24

Lockdown drill a.m.

Jan 25

Arno Olympics

Jan 26

No events

Please welcome…

Please help me in welcoming Alexa DiCarlo to our staff.  She will be filling in for Megan for her leave and we are excited to have her on board!  Welcome to Arno Alexa!!

DEETroit Basketball…Assembly

 From the PTA

Happy New Year and Welcome Back! We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and break! Hopefully some of you took advantage of the Kalahari Fundraiser towards the end of break for some last minute fun!

A few reminders of our upcoming PTA Events for January:

**There is NOT a January PTA Meeting. Our FIRST Meeting of 2018 will be held on Thursday, February 1st from 6:30-7:30 in the Arno Cafeteria. Come join us for an update of our upcoming events we have scheduled for 2018.

** Our Mother/Son Tag Team Bowling Night takes place on Friday, January 19th from 7-9 pm at Skore Lanes in Taylor! A flyer went home with students this week, a Sign Up Genius Link has been posted to our Facebook Page and will be attached to this blog as well. Last Day for Sign Ups is Wednesday, January 17th. We will NOT be able to accept payment at the door either due the high numbers this event hosts. Do not miss out! Sign up today! We look forward to seeing many of you there next Friday!

Thank you for your continued support of the PTA!

Mother/Son Night Info

It’s HERE! It’s HERE! Mother/Son Tag Team Bowling Night is HERE!
Calling all Mom’s, Grandmothers, Aunts, etc., Mother/Son Night is coming!
Come join us for some fun at Skore Lanes on Friday, January 19th from 7-9 pm for some Bowling Fun! Two Games of Bowling, shoes, pizza, pop, and a picture of you and your son(s) for the bargain price of $27/couple and only $5 for each additional son(s). Please do NOT miss out on this event! All RSVP’s must be received by January 17th. Due to the large turnout we anticipate, we will NOT be able to accept payment at the door! Please pay via the Sign Up Genius Link below. If you prefer, you may also pay by cash/check. Please put your payment in an envelope and send it in with your child. Your child will hand it in to their teacher. Please make sure the envelope contains: your name, your son(s) name, their teacher(s), the amount enclosed, and a phone number we can reach you at in case of any questions.

If you have further questions, please contact the PTA at: arnopta@gmail.com or Private Message us on our Facebook Account- Arno Elementary PTA!

We look forward to seeing everyone at our first event of 2018!

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0F4CA4AA2AA4FE3-arno1

Testing Windows for January

K-2 teachers, please let me know a date for your DRA subs.  We may have an easier time as more subs have been brought on.  You will need to complete testing during the month of January.

New Parent Dashboard for the State of Michigan

https://goo.gl/a7ojQw

Changes to the M-STEP summative assessments for
Spring 2018 include:

• removal of all Performance Tasks in ELA and
mathematics
• removal of Claim 2 Writing short constructed
response items in ELA grades 3, 4, 6, and 7
• addition of one Claim 2 Writing text-dependent
analysis (essay) in each grade of ELA
• assessing science in grades 5, 8, and 11
(moving from grades 4 and 7 to grades 5 and 8)
• requiring all eligible grade 5, 8, and 11 students
participate in the statewide science field test (in
place of an operational science test)
M-STEP summative tests for grades 3–8 include:
• English Language arts (grades 3–8): computeradaptive
(CAT) assessment with textdependent
analysis (essay) at every grade
• Mathematics (grades 3–8): computer-adaptive
(CAT) assessment
• Science Field Test (grades 5 and 8): fixed-form
online assessment
• Social Studies (grades 5 and 8): fixed-form
online assessment

Arno Olympics Coming Soon!

PLAYWORKS

I am so excited to announce that all 3 elementary schools in Allen Park have been selected as recipients of the Recess Implementation Grant from Playworks and the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation!  What this means is that all of our Lunch Aides will be trained through this 2-day training that will engage our adults and students in a positive recess experience!  Click this link for more info on Playworks!  https://www.playworks.org/about/why-play/

MLK resources

January 16, 2017

Some video resources for MLK:

 

DR. KING VIDEOS FOR YOUNG LEARNERS

MARTIN LUTHER KING VIDEOS

JANUARY 7, 2017 BY JENNIFER @ SIMPLY KINDERhttp://www.simplykinder.com/martin-luther-king-videos/

Some topics are difficult to talk about in kindergarten and first grade.  We want to teach kids about history, but we don’t want to share some of the horrific details because it is just not developmentally appropriate.  And so here is a teacher approved list of Martin Luther King Videos.  These videos teach the ideas and history without the focusing on the negative (they can learn about that when they are in higher grades).

THE STORY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. BY KID PRESIDENT (3:26)

This is such a great video and it really should be seen by all kids.  It talks about Dr. King’s life and how wanted more people will show love.  “When more people were hurting, he came in to help”.  It talks about what happens in a developmentally appropriate way for our little learners.  This is honestly one of my favorite Kid President videos – very well done!  It has a great message “isn’t it cool that we can change things, like any of us.”  Very powerful video.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BIOGRAPHY FOR CHILDREN (6:04)

A great video full of details about what Dr. King stood for.  This is also very well done.

This video would go PERFECTLY with our Nonfiction Martin Luther King Books because it too is filled with facts and photos.  Students will love reading this book along with you (it comes with a teacher book and matching student version) and they will love using some of those same pictures in the writing activities.  Click here to see more.

FUN CARTOON ON DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. FOR KIDS (3:00)

This is an information packed video about Dr. King and his life.  It talks about thinks like his schooling, how he got his name, and many of the things did to make the world a better place.  This video is very tastefully done and

MLK – THE KING AND HIS DREAM (3:26)

Another great video.  This video talks about his life and his work as a person of change.  One of the best parts of this video is the real footage of his I Have a Dream Speech.  They play just a small, yet powerful part of his speech.

And in kindergarten we love to tie things back into our writing.  This Martin Luther King Writing Craft is the perfect support to get some amazing stories.  And then instead of illustrating the story, the kids do this fun craft.  Click here to see more.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. VIDEO FOR KIDS (2:32)

This video is just too fun.  It’s made by a kindergartener names Anna who was interested in learning about Dr. King.  She shares all of the important facts and since she herself is a kindergartener, the content is perfect!

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. I HAVE A DREAM SONG (1:36)

This is a super easy song from Kiboomers the kids can learn and sing about Martin Luther King.  It’s a cute and catchy tune.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR SONG (1:48)

Another great song.  This song would be a little harder to learn but it is still a great catchy little tune.

I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH (17:28)

And it just did not feel right to not include a link to the full I Have A Dream Speech.  It is my professional opinion that kindergarten students won’t be able to follow the message for this amount of time, but if you choose to show it it is completely up to you.

INDEPENDENT READING REFLECTION

Great article (applicable to all grades) on the importance of providing time for students to read independently during the school day!

http://www.ashleigh-educationjourney.com/independent-reading-upper-elementary-classroom/

My entire teaching career, I’ve known nothing but reading workshop and guided reading. I’ve never had a reading series to use, so I’ve spent an absurd amount of time researching and testing various reading resources, so I could implement that best strategies and practices for my students. Over the years, my instruction has evolved to meet the needs of different groups of students and to reflect current “best practices”. However, one thing that has remained constant in all 15 years is a dedicated time for independent reading. I always assumed this was common in every school and classroom. At least until I read an article on Cult of Pedagogy on How to Kill the Love of Reading. The post opened my eyes to the fact that a dedicated independent reading time was not quite a common as I thought it was, so I wanted to share how and why I incorporate daily independent reading into my classroom.

Reading for enjoyment should not be treated as an afterthought for as something “extra” students can do if they finish their work early. Students will never develop a love of reading if every time they read, they are required to do a reading related activity afterward. Reading for pleasure outside of school has real and long-lasting benefits. The amount of reading done outside of school has consistently been found to relate to growth in vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal fluency, and general information. Students who read independently become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas, and have greater content knowledge than those who do not.

There are MANY excellent computer programs to assist in reading instruction, and in no way, do I believe the programs are bad. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy using Read Theory in my own classroom, and my students love it too. However, I do not use any computer program to replace independent reading time. Instead, I use them in addition to our independent reading time. I’ve never seen a child get completely lost in a computer program, but I’ve seen it more than once with a book. The way students read a passage on a computer is different from the way they read in a book. If our students are reading just so they can move on to the next level or to earn more game time, they’re motivated by extrinsic rewards. If we teach that the only purpose for reading is to accomplish a task or to increase our reading level, we’re not building lifelong readers.

There has recently been a lot of debate on whether or not to level students or to require students to read on their reading level. As with most issues, I like to find a happy balance. It is incredibly important to allow students to select their own books or text for their independent reading time. When you let kids choose what they read, they are more willing to take risks and try new authors and genres. Of course there are times when I encourage students to break away from reading ruts. I often do this by asking students to alternate between what they typically reading (usually graphic novels) with something new and different. It’s important to never underestimate the value of a informal conversation about books. When you let kids choose what they read, they will read more, because reading is no longer a chore. Giving students choice empowers our students.

However, children with difficulties in reading often do not read independently, because they tend to find reading challenging and troublesome. These students may have a negative attitudes toward reading because of repeated failure. These are students who will want to use the restroom during, select a new book, ask to go to the library, or more or less anything that will allow them to escape reading time. Nevertheless, encouraging independent reading for pleasure with these students is important for developing positive habits of reading.  Be sure to help children find books that they will enjoy, such as books on topics that interest them, different book series, or books by a favorite author. It’s also important to make sure the students are not choosing books that are too difficult. Struggling readers will often pick a book that is too hard to look like they are reading like their classmates. However, optimal learning and enjoyment occur when the book is at the right level of difficulty for the child. Children should be able to read at least 95% of the words in a text accurately, or the book is too difficult for independent reading. If I have a student who wants to read particular book that is too hard for the child at the time, I may download an audio version of the book for the child to read along with. Upper elementary struggling readers usually resist books that appear “babyish” so, I try to find books that appear to be for older students, but are still easy to read. One of my favorites are High Noon Books.

I do level my students at the beginning of the year, so I can monitor their reading growth, but I don’t let that level define my students. Since I teacher upper elementary, I do want my students to take into account of their reading level for the main purpose of I want students to be able to read and comprehend the books they choose. I also know that students can often successfully read books at more than one level. If a child  has a lot of background knowledge on a particular topic, s/he can typically read books about that topic that are above their reading level.

I have many students who are reading above grade level, and I do not require those students to read on their level. Once a student reaches a certain point, I more or less let them choose anything they want to read. It’s my personal belief that just because a student can read a book, doesn’t mean s/he should read the book. For example, when I think about the book Hunger Games, I know I have many students who could easily read and comprehend the text, but their maturity level isn’t there yet. We have to be just as careful with our advance readers as with our struggling readers. There is nothing wrong with a student who can read at a high school level curling up with a copy of Charlotte’s Web. Students shouldn’t miss out on classics, because the books are at the wrong reading level. These readers can be challenged in more ways than increasing their reading levels. I like to group similar readers have have them participate in reading clubs or literature where they discuss the text in depth.

Naturally, independent reading can’t be the only component of  reading instruction. There should also be lessons, reading activities and/or practice, and reading groups. We don’t have to have an all-or-nothing approach, which can be all too common in education. While reading centers and task cards can be an amazing instructional strategy, they also do not replace time with actual books. These reading-related activities can certainly serve a purpose (I use them), but we have to be careful to place a priority on independent reading. I’ve found that if I don’t have something scheduled, it doesn’t happen. When I had a longer reading block, I was able to incorporate independent reading time and centers into my reading instruction. I had 80 minutes for reading, so I had a 20 minute reading lesson, and three 20 minute rotations: one for independent reading, one for reading groups, and one for a center activity. However, due to time and scheduling challenges, I now only have about 50 minutes for reading, so I have changed what I do during my reading block. I now alternate lessons and activities, where I teach a mini lesson one day and follow up with task cards or an activity the following day. I’m doing everything I can to preserve my reading groups and independent reading time. When my students are in their reading groups, I don’t count that as independent reading, because this is when my students are reading a teacher selected text and/or are focusing on various reading strategies.

I love using this Status of the Class form to keep track of what my students are reading. Once a week, I meet with students to discuss what they are reading and their feelings about the book. I keep that information on this form, which gives me an overview of what types of books and genres of books students are reading. It also lets me see how long students spend on a particular book. If a student abandons a book, I’ll write why s/he abandoned the book, and we’ll work together to select a book that hopefully the student will stick with. You can download the form here!

To have a successful independent reading time, it’s important to have a robust classroom library. There are some schools of thought that say bigger is better. However, I’ve found that too many books can be a bit overwhelming for students. I keep some books organized by level. This is probably the least used section of my classroom library.

I also organize books by author. I love Christopher Paul Curtis, Kate DiCamillo, Andrew Clements, and so many more! I also have books organized by genre with historical fiction, graphic novels, fantasy, biographies, etc. By far, the most popular books are my series books. Some of my students’ favorites are: Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Land of Stories, I Survived, Geronimo Stilton, 39 Clues, and Who Would Win books.

I do have student get in “reading ruts”, and they keep reading the same thing without branching out. I’ve found that the BEST way to get students to read something new is to read a chapter or two aloud to the class. I’ll hook students on a book, and then they can’t wait to finish it during their independent reading time.

Google Document URL Tricks

August 17, 2017

G Suite apps include Google Documents, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings. These apps can provide shareable links. Shareable links can be used for publishing a document or for collaboratively editing a document.

Documents are only accessible by you (the owner) unless you turn link sharing on. One way to turn on link sharing is by clicking the Share button in an open document. Then you’ll see an option to Get shareable link. Clicking that option turns link sharing on and copies the link to your clipboard. The link is set to Anyone with the link can view. You can change this to Anyone with the link can comment or edit.

Once you have the shareable link copied, you can paste it into a document, webpage, link shortener, Twitter, Facebook, etc. By replacing /edit in the URL, you can do some pretty nifty tricks. You can transform a shareable link into a Preview, Copy, Template, or PDFlink.

Below are glanceable graphics for each kind of link. Scroll down for detailed descriptions and tips.

Preview Link

Share a clutter-free view of your document
→ Replace /edit with /preview

Publishing what’s created in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Drawings as a Preview link presents the document without menu bars and buttons. A Preview link declutters the web page, which emphases your content over the tool you used to create it. In fact, your audience may not know you created the document in G Suite.

Preview links are good for newsletters, flyers, and instructional materials. It’s also great for when you want to present a Google Slides presentation full screen. A preview link shows slides in presentation view, and it keeps your browser tabs visible (making it easy to switch between the presentation and other webpages).

Example: Classy Graphics Manifesto

• Previewed documents load faster and work much better in mobile browsers than the standard shareable version. This is particularly true with Google Drawings, which does not have a mobile app.
• Comments and anything that is off the slide or canvas is not displayed in a previewed document. Furthermore, a Slides presentation does not have the slide sorter—the presentation is shown in Presentation view.
• The audience for a Preview link does not see editing in real-time. However, a recent version of the document is shown each time the page is loaded.  There’s no need to republish or reshare the document to update the Preview version. Note that the preview might take several minutes to update.
• Your shareable link from Google documents might have some additional characters after /edit. Don’t worry about them. Simply replace /edit with /preview. You can either keep or delete what was after /edit and your link should work just fine.
• Since a Preview link removes menus, viewers of your document will not have the ability to choose File → Make a Copy to add a copy to their own Google Drive. However, if you encounter a Preview version of a document and wish to make a copy, try this: Replace /preview with /edit in the URL. You’ll then see the version with menus and you can then access the File menu to make a copy.
• Adding a Preview URL for a document to a Google Classroom post ends up reverting to the original version, not the Preview version. If you want to add a Preview link, first paste the Preview link into URL shortener like Bitly. Copy the new link Bitly provides. Adding the shortened link to a post in Google Classroom will end up opening the Preview version. Alternatively, you could paste the Preview link into the body of the post (instead of using the link button to add the link).

Make a Copy Link

Force others to make a copy before viewing your document
→ Replace /edit with /copy

You’ve probably clicked a link to a Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, or Drawings file and had to click a Make a Copy button before proceeding. This method of sharing forces a user to make a copy of the original, and the copy is now fully owned by the user and placed in her Google Drive.

Make a Copy links are good for when you have created a document in G Suite and want students to have their very own copy. Students can fill in blanks, finish a slideshow, label a drawing, annotate text, or complete some task in their own document (and then possibly share it back with the teacher). Sharing this way is also useful for sharing templates with other teachers. They can simply click to make their own copy and customize it without affecting your original.

Example: Notes of Encouragement (for printing on 1.5 x 2 inch sticky notes)

• Google Classroom automates this process when teachers post assignments that include a Google document. Classroom gives the option to make a copy for each student.
• Your shareable link from Google documents might have some additional characters after /edit. Don’t worry about them. Simply replace /edit with /copy. You can either keep or delete what was after /edit and your link should work just fine.
• Comments will not be copied over when you change /edit to /copy. If you want to include comments, change /edit and anything after /edit in a document’s shareable link to /copy?copyComments=true. Read Eric Curt’s post How to Force a Docs Copy WITH Pre-Loaded Comments to Help your Students.
• When students and teachers make a copy, they have full ownership of the copy and the original document owner is no longer associated with the copy. If the first document owner makes changes to the original document, those changes be reflected in future copies, but will not change copies already made of the document.

Template Link

Share an easy-to-copy preview of your document
→ Replace /edit with /template/preview

Use a Template link to share the contents of your document with the option to make a copy—it’s a combination of a Preview link and a Make a Copy link.

A Template link presents a clutter-free version of your document. It also displays a Use Template button. Clicking this button makes a copy of the original document, and the copy is now fully owned by the user and placed in her Google Drive.

Template links are good for allowing others to see the document before copying to Google Drive. These kinds of links are usually preferred over Make a Copy links when posting on websites and social media since they allow the document to be seen before blindly being copied.

Example: Magnetic Poetry

• Unlike clicking the Make a Copy button, clicking Use Template does not put “Copy of” in the newly copied document’s file name.
• The audience for a Template link does not see editing in real-time. However, a recent version of the document is shown each time the page is loaded.  There’s no need to republish or reshare the document to update the Template version. Note that the document’s preview might take several minutes to update.
• Your shareable link from Google documents might have some additional characters after /edit. Don’t worry about them. Simply replace /edit with /copy. You can either keep or delete what was after /edit and your link should work just fine.
• iPhones and iPads are a little quirky when it comes to Template links. After clicking Use Template, the freshly copied document does not automatically open in the Documents, Sheets, or Slides app. However, when the app is opened, the new document is there. Sorting by Last modified can make finding the document easier.
• Adding a Template URL for a document to a Google Classroom post ends up reverting to the original version, not the Template version. If you want to add a Template link, first paste the Template link into URL shortener like Bitly. Copy the new link Bitly provides. Adding the shortened link to a post in Google Classroom will end up opening the Template version. Alternatively, you could paste the Template link into the body of the post (instead of using the link button to add the link).

PDF Link

Share a direct download of a PDF version of your document
→ Google Docs & Sheets: Replace /edit with /export?format=pdf
→ Google Slides & Drawings: Replace /edit with /export/pdf

Have the web browser download a PDF version of your document with a PDF link. Instead of displaying the document in Google’s viewer or app, a PDF is automatically downloaded when the link is clicked.

PDF links are good for when you want others to print or save your document. They are handy for sharing posters, infographics and cheat sheets.

Example: Google Classroom Post Options

• Since a PDF is a universal format, a Google account is not required to download and not necessary to open the file.
• PDF files may open in any number of apps: Adobe Reader, Preview, Google Drive, Foxit Reader, Explain Everything, etc.
• Automatic downloads do not appear in the browser window on computers. It is easy for someone to miss that a file was downloaded when clicked. Be sure to label your PDF link so that others know that a file will be downloaded.
• Downloads go to different places, depending on the browser, computer, and settings. The recipient might be prompted to rename the file and choose a location. Or, a downloaded file might automatically be placed in a Downloads folder or on the desktop.
• Hyperlinks do work in PDFs. Any text, images, or shapes that you have hyperlinked in your document will remain linked in the PDF version.
• Direct downloads are not limited to PDF. Other file types also work. Instead of using pdf in URL, try png, jpg, pptx, xlsx, docx, html, or txt.
• Your shareable link from Google documents might have some additional characters after /edit. Don’t worry about them. Simply replace /edit with /copy. You can either keep or delete what was after /edit and your link should work just fine.
• If you’d like the PDF to display in the browser, you can use Google’s online document viewer. Add https://docs.google.com/viewer?url= to the beginning of the PDF link. Click to see an example.

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BONUS TIP

Come across someone else’s tricked out link? You can reverse engineer a Preview, Make a Copy, Template, or PDF link to see the document in the regular way by replacing /preview, /copy, /template/preview, /export?format=pdf, or /export/pdf with /edit.

 

Please enjoy a holiday song from our Christmas Cougars!

Merry Christmas

Coming soon to Arno…

Dec. 18

Smalley Xmas 12:40

Christmas Sing-along K-5 2:30

Dec. 19

3rd grade mobile learning

K field trip

Dr. Hall reads to 4th

Dec. 20

No events

Dec. 21

Darga visit coffee and convo

Warneck Xmas 3:00

Dec. 22

PBIS reward

1st grade field trip

Jensen Xmas 9:00

Dec. 23-Jan 7     Christmas Break

Jan 8                     Happy New Year! School Resumes

Have a very Merry Christmas and a restful break!  See you in 2018

Christmas Sing along 

Bring your best Christmas spirit to the gym this Monday at 2:30 for our annual sing along with Todd and Jeff. I will start calling by around 2:15

And the winner is….

 Congratulations to all of the Founders Day Award winners!

From the PTA

️No January Meeting! I know we’ve said a lot lately, but it’s easy to forget. Our next scheduled PTA MEETING is Thursday, February 1 at 6:30 pm in the Cafeteria.

️Last day for donations to the Food Pantry is Monday, December 18th. Thank you for all of the generous donations we have received to date.

️January 19th from 7-9 pm we will hold our annual Mother/Son Night at Skore Lanes in Taylor. Coat is $25/couple with each additional child $5. Cost includes: 2 slices of pizza, pop, 2 games of bowling, shoes, and a picture with you and your child(ren).

️And Finally…..In case you have NOT read the PTA Facebook Page…

Way to go!

Congratulations to Dr. Barb Chuby and Sandy Artman on their $7200 grant from Rotary for AP elementary book rooms.  A check was presented Monday night at the Board meeting and it was a proud moment for all of our elementary staff and students!  They truly are a great example of our AP mission!

Congrats Megan and Trent!

Art on display

Here are the photos from our Luke and Lulu’s December display.  Each student featured receives a flyer for $2 off next purchase.   This display features six 2nd grade Lindemann artists and five 1st and Kinder Arno artists!  Art will be on display until January 15th.

Allen Park elementary art students are studying the elements of art this school year.  Kindergarten is learning that they can draw anything using basic lines and shapes, which you can see in their Rudolph reindeer portraits.  1st grade created implied texture by using found materials to print on their birch trees.  They used painted paper cut into simple shapes to create these snow birds!  2nd grade studied the work of folk artist, Heather Galler.  They created cute coffee cups with lots of patterns!  Artists featured here are from Arno and Lindemann Elementary schools.

Professional Resources now available in my office…

Benchmark Assessment Kit & Guided Reading from F and P, Jan Richardson

Get Registered to help our PTA

Flip you Lid for AP Benches Info here

Flip Your Lids For Allen Park Benches-159uhf2

 

More Holiday websites….

http://www.northpole.com/Academy/

http://www.abcya.com/christmas_lights_holiday_game_for_kids.htm

http://www.primarygames.com/holidays/christmas/christmas.php

http://www.akidsheart.com/holidays/christms/chgames.htm

http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/

Coming soon to Arno…

Dec. 4

BC IEP

Dec. 5

Stanley Elf 10:30

Super Cougar Lunch 11:00 Media Center

Dec. 6

No events

Dec. 7

Staff Christmas Lunch per schedule

PTA Meeting 6:30

Dec. 8

Report Cards Go home

Dec. 11

Ad Council 9:00

ICC 4:00

Board Meeting for Barb and Sandy’s Grant Recognition

Dec. 12

No events

Dec. 13

PBIS Meeting 7:45

Dec. 14

Saftey Committee 9:30

Detroit Pistons Assembly Grades 2-5 1:15

4th/5th grade concert 6:30

Dec. 15

Half-Day dismissl 11;40/ Teacher PD at High School

Arno Christmas Lunch

It’s that jolly time of year again for the Arno Ball Room to shine for our staff Christmas lunch.  Our lunch is scheduled for Dec. 7 starting at 11:00 (you will have an hour lunch)  3rd grade, you start around 5 minutes later.  I will get out the revised lunch schedule.  It will be an international christmas smorgasbord with chicken, beef stroganoff, potatoes au gratin, veggies, salad, Stella’s own Spanikopita, German chocolate cake, carrot cake, and brownies.  Please let us know if you cannot make it.  The schedule is below, I know it runs into some prep issues- come when you want or what ever worked for you the last time.

Special Lunch Schedule

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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 your kids.  Please stop by or send me an email when you would like me to come in.

From the PTA

Due to the HIGH DEMAND of Nacho Monday’s… on Monday, December 4th from 11am-9pm, at the Allen Park and Southgate Locations, we will be having an Angelina’s Fundraiser once again! Please come out or order out and mention Arno PTA and we will receive 20% of your bill. Thank you so much for your support!

Family Caring Night is coming!! During our Christmas Break we will be holding our annual Family Caring Night/Family night Out event at Skore Lanes in Taylor on Wednesday, January 3rd. Their event will benefit TASKK (Taylor Animal Shelter Kanines and Kats). A donation box will be available in the office if you would like to donate food, gift cards, toys, etc to the animals! More information about the event will be available soon!

Fundraiser Reminder…

Get Registered to help our PTA

Kindergarten Turkey Time

Our K students enjoyed a special time just before Thanksgiving and created a huge turkey for our hallway!

Dr. Hall visits 4th grade for some reading time

Flip you Lid for AP Benches Info here

Flip Your Lids For Allen Park Benches-159uhf2

Christmas Tech sites…

NORAD — K-5

Overview

Published by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), this eagerly anticipated annual collection of holiday games started as a mistake in 1955:

On Dec. 24, 1955, a call was made to the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs, CO. However, this call was not from the president or a general. It was from a girl in Colorado Springs who was following the directions in an advertisement printed in the local paper – she wanted to know the whereabouts of Santa Claus.

The ad said “Hey, Kiddies! Call me direct and be sure and dial the correct number.” However, the number was printed incorrectly in the advertisement and rang into the CONAD operations center.

On duty that night was Colonel Harry Shoup. He received numerous calls that night and rather than hanging up, he had his operators find the location of Santa Claus and reported it to every child who phoned in.

Thus began a tradition carried on by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) when it was formed in 1958.

The website opens with lively traditional holiday music and several options (like an introductory video and a Santa tracker that is not active until Dec. 24).

It includes a link to Santa’s Village, a collection of 24 G-rated, non-violent, K-5 games–critical thinking required. From December 1 – 24, one game a day is added like a virtual Advent Calendar. Students must know which day it is and find the corresponding number to select an open game.

To the accompaniment of toe-tapping holiday music, students play holiday versions of popular kids’ games such as Tic-tac-toe, Zippy Elf Word Sleuths, the Game Room, Ornament Collection, sledding, Christmas Putt and Play, and Snowball Warrior. The favorite of my students is Light the Christmas Tree. Students must rotate the black elbows until all are connected and the tree explodes with brightly lit bulbs.

Success requires logical thinking and if-then analysis. I have seen few adults complete it, but lots of 1^st and 2nd graders. In fact, they race to see who can do it the fastest (and they are quick). It took one boy 90 seconds. I asked him how he did it. His answer: “My dad told me to look backwards for the answers and that’s what I did.” Wow. It was another instance of me learning from my students.

On Christmas Eve, this site tracks Santa’s progress as he delivers gifts across the planet. I share this with parents so they’ll know when to get their kids in bed, allowing Santa to arrive in private.

Pros

No advertising. It’s intuitive with a minimal learning curve.

I like that the games are numbered, not named. This makes it more user-friendly for the target age group.

Cons

Students can only access one new game a day. This is only a negative for youngsters who are used to clicking and having everything at their fingertips.

Insider Tips

The Santa’s Village link was a tad difficult to find on the start page. The video is well done, but presented through YouTube. I remind students to go nowhere other than the selected NORAD video. That’s fine — I need these opportunities to teach digital citizenship.

Educational Applications

All games are educational with problem-solving opportunities.

If you play Light the Christmas Tree, have students who successfully connect all the lights print a screen shot (you may have to teach them how to do this), sign it, and hang it in the classroom gallery.

My students are always disappointed that they can’t play this game out of season. In September, I appoint one student to remind me on December 1 that the site is open.

Conclusion

Even though I faze students out of this by 3rd grade, they continue to play it on their own. NORAD does a great job of keeping the Christmas joy and wonder alive for children.

Design: 5/5
Functionality: 5/5
Fun Factor: 5/5
Availability: 3/5 (web-based only)
Overall: 5/5

Penguin Show — K-5

Overview

This site is as close to sluicing down an icy mountainside on your stomach, arms tucked for aerodynamics, wind whistling past your ears — with a penguin as guide — as you can get. Program the penguin and he does the rest, all to the sound of festive music that’s so much like the “Hakuna Matata” from “The Lion King” that it must have been written by the same artist.

Here’s how it works: You type a message into the website for your penguin to write onto the slope and push send. A penguin appears atop a cold snow-covered peak, limned against the pristine winter sky. He analyzes his task, picks the best route downhill, throws himself onto his stomach, and is off.

He swerves and jukes his way down the mountain’s face, ice crystals crunching beneath his belly, wind howling through his feathers, as he scores your message into the ice-and-snow-laden surface.

This always works and is easily shared by posting a link to a blog or wiki. There is no embed function, but there are ways to work around that.

Pros

I am always eager to find fun and unique ways to intrigue students about technology. This qualifies. I usually line up four or five holiday websites and give students 15-20 minutes the last few days of class (before the holiday break) to play. Penguin Show, because of the personal touch and its addicting music, is always a favorite.

Cons

The learning curve is surprisingly tricky for such a quick tool. The developers don’t explain the process well, which leaves several spots where users can stumble. Still, when it works, it makes up for difficulties.

It’s only available on the web. Since the site hasn’t changed since I started using it five years ago, I don’t believe there are any plans to expand the penguin’s reach this year.

Insider tips

To play, 1) enter your message (i.e., Happy holidays!) and 2) click Watch Again.

If you have problems getting the “show” to appear in your browser, switch browsers. For me, Firefox is problematic, but Chrome always works.

Educational Applications

This site is perfect for the holidays when you want to slow things down a bit, as well as during annual assessments when students need an injection of humor. I have several like this (check out Dancing Ponies, a Biplane Tour of America, and how to clean your monitor). I use these as reminders that tech and creativity go hand-in-hand.

Use this during a first grade penguin unit. Discuss whether a real penguin could do what this animation does.

Use as a creative approach to spelling practice, along with other word study sites like GeoGreeting and Spelling City.

Conclusion

Keep Penguin Show on hand throughout the year to reinforce spelling. It always motivates students to practice vocabulary.

Design: 5/5
Functionality: 5/5
Fun Factor: 5/5
Availability: 3/5 (Web)
Overall: 4/5

Reindeer Orchestra — K-3

Overview

This is a fun musical program that teaches mouse and keyboard skills to newly-minted techies. Pick one of three songs (“Deck the Halls,” “Jingle Bells,” or “We Wish you a Merry Christmas”) or compose your own music. Once you have made your selection, a number appears over one of the reindeer. Squeeze his nose or type the number on the keyboard and hear the note, and then repeat the process with each number as it appears over a new reindeer. Played in this numbered order, you hear the selected song.

The music is a cappella, with the single voice a musical instrument (it sounds like a tuba or a bassoon).

Colors are bright, the snow constantly falls, and the reindeer anthropomorphically approve of your musical efforts.

Pros

This is a holiday site that appeals to a wide range of ages. I’ve played it with kindergarten and 8th graders and all are transfixed. I appreciate that there are no ads, just the game. Because the selections include three popular songs, most students will go through all of them before moving on to another activity.

Cons

It’s difficult to keep up the traditional pace of these songs with mouse clicks. The music comes out fairly disjointed even for me. Still, that doesn’t seem to bother my students.

It’s only available on the web — no iPad or smartphone versions yet.

Insider tips

When the program says to squeeze the reindeer nose, that’s exactly what it means. Don’t get close — say, poke them in the eye or pat their stomach or hover. Nothing happens. Encourage students to use the number pad rather than a mouse click to squeeze the reindeer’s nose. This keeps the musical pace closer to the real song.

Educational Applications

This game is a festive and authentic way to practice mouse skills and number recognition for kindergarten and 1st grade during the holiday season. It’s also a great connection between music and tech.

Use this as one of several websites students play as the holiday break approaches. If you have a school concert, consider adding this musical keyboard to the agenda.

Coming soon to Arno…

Nov. 20

No events

Nov. 21

Half-day dismissal 11:40

PD P.M.

Nov. 22

No School

Nov. 23

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nov. 24

Shop ’till you drop

Nov. 27

RESA Steve 10:00

Nov. 28

3rd grade mobile learning

Dr. Hall 2:15 Read

Nov. 29

No events

Nov. 30

No events

Dec. 1

End of First Trimester

PBIS Reward

Congrats Cassie and Nick!

Arno PBIS team in action!

Last Thursday our Arno PBIS leadership team presented all of our programming that relates to PBIS in front of a packed auditorium at RESA.  The team included pictures, docs, and other examaples like shirts and our golden lunch tray program.  Observing the room really showed how engaged they were about all of the things our buildings does every day and month.  Thank you Lisa, Katie, Megan, and Sandy for your leadership in this area!

At our next PBIS meeting, we want to analyze all of the moving parts and start to assign responsibility to those in attendance for various parts/programs/rewards.  This will help ease the heavy load taken on by the team, and really reflect that being part of the (a) committee is both attending the meetings and getting involved in the wrap around activities.

Speaking of PBIS…

Thank you Sandy for kicking off our building Mentorship program with our young leaders.  The kids have been so very excited to get started, and now they are off to their assignments!

Pilot update

Results of our Monday meeting yielded inconclusive results and it was decided to table/reorganize and add more pilot classrooms and procede with a new timeline. Our goal is to have best comprehensive ELA program that also aligns to district best practices.

New Blog out…

Please take a look at a new blog from our At-Risk Reading Speacilist D. Barb. Chuby. You can find it at http://drchuby.edublogs.org/

From the PTA

Happy Thanksgiving!

Founders Day

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founders_day_2018council_member_award (1)-2c8nx0r

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Food Pantry

Dear Caring Cougar’s,

The AP high school counseling department reached out to our PTA. They informed us their food pantry supplies are running low. At APHS food pantry they provide food & necessities confidentially for families of AP students that are dealing with unforeseen circumstances, some of which have been tragic.

At our last PTA meeting members decided to support this cause in two ways. The Arno PTA received a $300 Consumers Energy Grant last year from one of our members for their volunteer service. We voted to allocate these funds to the pantry in the form of $300 worth of Kroger Gift card to assist in their inventory needs. We also decided to place a box in our main office to collect items from now through December. Students and staff can drop donations off and a PTA member will transport it to the HS pantry as our box fills up.

Suggested Items Need; cereal, cereal breakfast bars, pop tarts, canned vegetables, canned fruits, tuna, pasta and spaghetti sauce, macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles (or something similar that’s a quick fix meal) and any type of snacks. Personal hygiene products and socks.

Thank-you in advance for your partnership on this. We are excited to kick off the holiday giving season by supporting the kids in need within our district.

Sincerely,

Your Arno PTA

http://www2.inter-state.com/about-us/giving-back/spreading-smiles/?utm_source=Inter-State+Studio+Products+%26+Services&utm_campaign=f5bb737b7c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f5bb359696-f5bb737b7c-179717445