Awesome Literacy Presentation

Awesome preschool workshop!

Coming soon to Arno…

Nov. 6

Book Fair Preview Breakfast 7:30 am

PTA Book Fair Kickoff

CPR Training 4:00

Nov. 7

Andersen obs

Stanley obs

Nov. 8

PBIS Meeting 7:45

P/T Conferences 5:00-7:30

Conf. Dinner 3:45

Nov. 9

PBIS Forum RESA

P/T Conf A.M & P.M.

Nov. 10

Happy Friday!

Nov. 13

Admin meeting 9:00

ICC 4:00

Nov. 14

SIP Team meeting Full day

Nov. 15

Resource Room IEPs

SIP Meeting 3:45

Nov. 16

Picture Retakes

Nov. 17

Steve @MISD Mindfullness Training

Conferences

We will provide dinner on Nov 8 around 3:45ish so you don’t have to rush out to eat.  Please let me know if you anticipate needing me for any conferences so I can get it scheduled.  Let me know of any questions.

Christmas Luncheon

Please mark your calendars for Dec. 7th as we will be having our annual Staff Christmas Lunch.  We will do the one hour block again and will have a schedule when we get close.

From the PTA

CONGRATULATIONS to all of our FUN RUN WINNERS! We heard they had a fabulous lunch and an “unexpected” stop at McDonald’s for ice cream. Thank you for all of your hard work and support.

Our Fun Run was a HUGE SUCCESS, we raised over $19,000 and after all of our expenses, we ended up raising over $16,000. We really could not have done such an outstanding job without the support of our Arno Community!

Our Membership Drive has come to an end, but don’t worry, you can still become a PTA Member! Use the link below to sign up or pick up an application from the Bookfair to join! While you’re at it, we can help you link your Kroger Cards too!

The Winners of our Membership Drive were:

*** 1st Place- Mrs. Jensen’s Class! They received $100 in Scholastic Dollars and ear buds

*** 2nd Place- Mrs. Pushman’s Class! They received $50 in Scholastic Dollars and Emoji Pens

*** 3rd Place- Ms. Stanley’s Class! They will receive $25 in Scholastic Dollars, Stickers, and Licorice Erasers.

The 5th Graders are getting ready for Camp! In order to raise the funds needed for their 3 days of fun, they will be selling treats through Classic Recipes! If you would like to help support the 5th Graders please follow the link below and place your order.

Classic Recipes sells:

*** Cookie Dough (in tubs and proportioned)

*** Gourmet Popcorn

*** Pumpkin Rolls

*** Individual Personal Pizza Kits

*** Entertainment Book or Entertainment Book App

https://fundraising.entertainment.com/arno-elementary-1

Founders Day Applications are now available! Nominations will be accepted through December 5th and can be picked up in the Main Office. Once we receive them electronically, we will also post them on Facebook and have Mr. Zielinski post them on the School Blog Site and in a School Wide email. If you have any questions, please contact us in person, via email, or via Facebook.

Thank you to everyone that attended our meeting tonight! We appreciate all of the support and ideas!

Preschool Workshop

Arno Elementary hosted a prescool/kinder skills night this past week as part of fulfilling our Title I school improvement plan.  Parents and their children were invited from Lindemann preschool, as well as Cabrini and the local AP Presbyterian church preschools with the main purpose of helping families better prepare for the transition into kindergarten next fall. Parents were able to learn about kindergarten readiness skills, reading startegies to use with their child, and an activity that can be used for learning letters.  Congratualtions to our kindergarten teachers Jeanine Haskin, Cristina DiCarlo, and Nickie Stanley for organizing and producing an amazing evening.  The event will held at Arno for both parents and local preschool teachers

Literacy Essentials

A BIG Thank you to Barb and Sandy for presenting on the Literacy Essentialsat our PD.  As we all know, building a strong core program is at the cery heart of success- and this will help to solidify and narrow the kinds of things we need to do in our literacy instruction.  I have provided the link below which will also contain modules and videos that go with docs.   At this point, I am not sure where additional training may connect with this, but if it looks like relevent PD that we can provide, we will go that route.

http://literacyessentials.org/k-to-3/

3rd Grade Reading Law

Thursday evening Arno hosted a parent meeting on the new 3rd grade reading law.  I have attached the ppt. from that meeting for your review.  If you have any questions please call the office.

3rd Grade Reading Law-1m9frv9

Volunteer Signup for Wild West Book Fair

We are seeking Cowboy and Cowgirls (volunteers) to help out with our Wild West Book Fair! Leave your electronics at home and come help us explore the world of books in our “Town” (Media Center)! All Wranglers who seek to help us with our shenanigans will receive $5 in scholastic dollars for each shift worked!

There are various Wrangling opportunities available each day (9:00-Noon and/or 1:00-3:15). Of course if you decide to join us for both opportunities, you will earn $10 in Scholastic dollars! Our wrangling stops at Noon-1:00 daily for Lunch or a Nap! There will be additional opportunities for an evening wrangling session on November 8th and 9th from 5:00-7:30 during conferences.

We look forward to Wrangling and Hootin’ and Hollerin’ with all our Cowboys and Cowgirls Big and Small!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4ca4aa2aa4fe3-volunteer2

YEE-HAW!

Your Book Fair Sheriffs!

Happy Halloween Happenings…

Do the Mash…

Roary the Lion Visits Arno

To thunderous applause, Roary the Lion ran into our assemebly Thursday along with Lion personnel Coach Chris and Coach Pat for a good message on Anti-Bullying.  Our Arno Cougars were very excited and enjoyed Roary’s performance as well as his message.  Go Lions!!

3rd Grade Mobile Learning- Three Fires Tribe

In addition to today’s Lion’s assembly, we also had a visit from Metro Parks to work with 3rd grade.  The presentations were very educational and many items from earlier Native Americans were on display.

Fun Run fun with Limo and Lunch for our top fundraisers!

We had an awesome time together as the Arno top fundraisers got treated to lunch at Red Robins and a limo to get us there.  What great weather we had to head out in our decked out limo!

A special shout out to Red Robin for great service from a very friendly staff, which really topped off the afternoon!  Thank you to all of our contributors for the Arno Fun Run!

Principal for the Day

Arno had a very special guest principal for the day as Isabella Chodkiewich took over the office as the “Boss”.  Isabella won the position through being the top fund raiser for the Fun Run this fall.  She enjoyed walking around, talking to classes, calling bingo, and a special lunch.  Thanks for a great day Isabella!

PBIS Smencils for Sale

Smencils sales will begin again next week!  Smencils will be sold on Tuesday afternoons at 2:30p.  The proceeds from Smencils benefits the PBIS program at Arno.  With the funds, we are able to have great monthly incentives such as pizza lunches for Super Cougars and Zumba.  The prices for items are as follows:

Smencils: $1

Smens: $2

Smencils Pouches: $8

Happy Smelling!

The results are in…

Although new members will always be accepted, the membership drive is over.  Winners were determined by highest % of stars per enrollment count of the classroom:

1st Place: Mrs. Jensen’s room with 162% will receive $100 Scholatic money to shop at the book fair and student ear buds.

2nd Place: Mrs. Pushman’s room with 79% will receive $50 Scholastic money to shop at the book fair and student pens

3rd Place: Ms. Stanley’s room with 75% will receive  $25 Scholastic money to shop at the book fair and student sitckers.

Thanks to everyone who has become a member of the PTA, there is always plenty of room for more members! We are proudly sitting at 141 members, but we are still striving to break our record setting 191 members from last year.

From the Tech arena…Trello

Trello lets you work more collaboratively and get more done.

Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible and rewarding way.

Trello is a great tool for project management.  Check out a couple of examples below, there are more ideas on their website:

https://trello.com/home

Lesson Plan Use

“A simple, visual way to create, coordinate, and share lesson plans and assignments with other teachers and colleagues.”

Student Research Project Use

“Teachers can quickly see how students are progressing in their assignments, provide feedback,

and facilitate peer communication and collaboration with a research project board.”

Coming soon to Arno…

Oct. 23

Admin Team Meeting Riley 9:00

Oct. 24

Dr. Hall reads to 4th grade 2:15

Skating Party 6:00

Oct. 25

Staff Meeting 7:45

Sbonek IEPS

Preschool Parent Meeting 4:30-5:30

Oct. 26

MTSS Committee Meeting 7:30 (open to everyone)

Cervantes obs 9:30

Higgins obs 10:15

Conference Links due

Fire Assembly

• Grades K-3
• 9am-Grades 2 & 3
• 9:30am-Grades K & 1
• Location: Gym

Oct. 27

Conference Links go out to parents

PBIS Reward

Membership Drive Winners reward

Oct. 30

No events

Oct. 31

Halloween Parade 10:00

Teacher PD half-day, dismiss 11:40

Nov. 1

No events

Nov. 2

3rd Grade Mobile learning

Proud Like a Lion Assembly 

K-2 9:00-9:45

3-5 10:00-10:45

Super Cougar Pizza Lunch 11:00

PTA Meeting 6:30

Nov. 3

Happy Friday!

Arno Vision

Arno Elementary will provide a system of support to empower

and inspire students to become collaborative learners

that strive for academic excellence

From the PTA

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f48a4af2bab9-holiday2

Halloween Parade

Our Halloween parade will take place on the 31st around 10:00.  Everyone will join as the line goes by and we will exit out of the 4th grade doors, go around the inner playground perimeter and enter through the main office doors.

MTSS- Intensifying Interventions

As mentioned last blog, there were 4 levels of intensification that we will look at in the blog- the second key feature will be engagement.  Please take a look below at some information from the session:

What it is NOT:

The second of 4 Key features of intensifying supports:

http://www.intensiveintervention.org/sites/default/files/DBI_Framework.pdf

Think of when support comes to your room- instead of working or helping with an assignment from the room- the intensified support drills down and services the deficit areas so that the student can complete the assignment that was given.

Critical Question– How can you apply this notion of drilling down to PBIS in your classroom at the Tier 1 and 2 levels (see below

Techy Stuff

Alternatives to YouTube

Kindy Engineers

Students in Ms. Stanley’s kindergarten class participated in a STEM Challenges this month to learn more about engineering and science! The students met four different engineers from our community, including PTA Treasurer Mrs. Hegedus and Ms. Stanley’s father, Greg Stanley. They had a lot of fun learning about safety, goal setting, design testing and planning, problem solving and collaboration! Kindergarten engineers are hard at work!

Summer Reading

Congrats to all of our readers who hit 1000 plus reading minutes over the summer.  For all of their efforts, Arno gave them a pizza lunch with the principal where we shared our favorite summer reads!  Great job to this group and all of our summer readers who earned various rewards!

1000 Minutes Plus Club

Grant Szwed                             Kylee O’Connell

Jacob Gombos                          Anahi Chapa

Carlos Sanchez                          Cole Newsted

Jordyn Russel                            Reese Hastings

Haley Kuryvial                           Alivia Gonzalez

Stacey Stecconi                          Allan Irick

Stephanie Warneck                   Julia Schroeder

Benjamin Mayor                        Gavin Leeman

Xander Warneck                       David Richarson

Bentley Vu                                   Gabrielle Moore

Kylee O’Connell                          Rosaria Orskinski

Samantha Muse                         Peyton Will

Miley Keysaer

New Chromebooks

Our district has been great at keeping us current, and there latest task was to replace an aging cart of chromebooks that were becoming useless in the tasks we needed them for.  Our new HP cart for 5th grade is filling the need right away as our students were enjoying them just minutes after delivery.  Thanks AP!

PBIS Smencils for Sale

Smencils sales will begin again next week!  Smencils will be sold on Tuesday afternoons at 2:30p.  The proceeds from Smencils benefits the PBIS program at Arno.  With the funds, we are able to have great monthly incentives such as pizza lunches for Super Cougars and Zumba.  The prices for items are as follows:

Smencils: $1

Smens: $2

Smencils Pouches: $8

Happy Smelling!

Full Brochure:

Walk4Water Flyer-1orb9k3

Brochure:

ToT-2ajg013

Please see the flyer below for exciting details on how to enter your class into this contest.

Fall Poster Contest-2hwk4q9

“It all works out in the end. …
If it hasn’t worked out, it’s not
the end yet.”

Arno PTA

Thank you for an awesome Fun Run!!

Coming Soon to Arno…

Oct. 9

No events

Oct. 10

Dawson @Arno

EDTAC Committee Meeting

Oct. 11

PBIS Meeting 7:45

Leadership Workshop (Steve)

Oct. 12

Stages Training 9-11

Summer Readers Pizza Lunch 11:00

Oct. 13

PTA Reflections Contest Kickoff

Oct. 16

Data Dive meetings per schedule

Oct. 17

Data Dive meetings half-day per schedule

Oct. 18

SIP Meeting 3:45

NWEA Conf (Steve)

Oct. 19

DTE Presentation to 4th grade

Oct. 20

No events

From the PTA

Here is a link to view pictures form our Fun Run! Please share with
families on your social media pages.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JcfyeuIfeCVDhshd2

Tomorrow, Friday is the last day for fun run donations for students to
be eligible for a prize. Families can contribute online or send money
into office tomorrow labeled with student name & “PTA fun run” to get
credit.

Prizes will be distributed to students next week. We will also be
announcing the highest contributing classroom winner & plans are
underway for the limo lunch for our top earning students!

Thank-you for the generosity to those who have participated so far!
We’d also like to give a huge shout out to all the teacher’s,
student’s and parent volunteers for making this years event
outstanding! Way to go Cougar community!

Much love,

Your PTA executive board

PBIS Smencils for Sale

Smencils sales will begin again next week!  Smencils will be sold on Tuesday afternoons at 2:30p.  The proceeds from Smencils benefits the PBIS program at Arno.  With the funds, we are able to have great monthly incentives such as pizza lunches for Super Cougars and Zumba.  The prices for items are as follows:

Smencils: $1

Smens: $2

Smencils Pouches: $8

Happy Smelling!

Walk to School Day

This past Wednesday was Walk to School day to encourage physical activity and the healthy benefits

MTSS- Intensifying Interventions

One of the sessions I attended was presented by an MDE rep.  The overall topic was MTSS and he discussed intensifying interventions, and what that doesn’t look like.  There were 4 levels of intensification that we will look at in the blog- the first the week will be precision.  Please take a look below at some information from the session:

What it is NOT:

The first of 4 Key features of intensifying supports:

Please note that Precision is very purposeful, it is not “tutoring” or having a reading specialist service work on classroom work- it’s working on ID the specifics so that each deficit can be addressed, and intensified based on ongoing progress monitoring and any additional assessments.  Please feel free to leave a comment here

*Next week, we will take a look at intensifying student Engagement.

Halloween Parade

Our Halloween parade will take place on the 31st around 10:00.  Everyone will join as the line goes by and we will exit out of the 4th grade doors, go around the inner playground perimeter and enter through the main office doors.

Pilot update

At this point the district is running pilots of ELA programs Making Meaning and Journeys.  While both programs have good components, we will be looking through the lens of a Workshop Model and how well each connects to that, as well as cost being an important factor.  The initiative is being looked at to provide a means of instruction and program that is consistent across the district and provides the best resources at a reasonable cost to the district.

The pilots are scheduled to run through Oct. and will then be evaluated.  Beth, Cristina, and Melissa are piloting Making Meaning- Beth and Nickie are piloting Journeys.  If you wish to go and observe a lesson in their room, let me know and I can arrange coverage.

Meemic Grant Award

Todd was awarded this week with a $100 grant that he wrote for Scholastic books.  Representatives from Meemic stopped in to present and congratulate him with a big check.   This is another great example of how Arno is always advocating for our kids!  https://www.meemic.com/the-meemic-foundation.aspx

Tech Corner

How to Create a QR Code for a Google Form

The process is rather straight-forward as it requires just one simple tool outside of Google Forms. To create a QR code for a Google Form simply click the “send” button in the upper-right corner of your Form, highlight the link and copy it. Then paste that link into the QR code generator on QR Droid. The video embedded below illustrates this process.

Ten Great Tools for Telling Stories With Pictures – A PDF Handout

Composing a story from scratch comes naturally to some people. For the rest of us creating a story from scratch can be a struggle. Over the years I’ve found that using pictures helps a lot of students get started on crafting stories. In some cases I’ve had students create collages to represent elements of a story. In other cases I’ve had them choose five pictures and write two hundred words about each. Being asked to write two hundred words about five pictures feels a lot less daunting than being asked to write one thousand words in one shot.

The PDF embedded below (click here if you can’t see the embedded document) outlines how to use ten of my favorite free tools to create image-based stories.

Are you a member of the PTA yet??

Coming soon to Arno…

Sept 25

Jensen IEPs

ICC 4:00

Board Retreat (Steve) 6:00

Sept 26

Leadership Workshop RESA (Steve)

Sept 27

No events

Sept 28

Steve/Sandy @PBIS

Sept 29

PTA FUN RUN

PBIS Reward

Steve/Sandy @PBIS

October 2

Fire Drill

Jensen IEPs

October 3

Super Cougar Lunch 11:00 Media Center

CPI training Rachel, Alex, and Renee

October 4

Steve @Title 1

October 5

Picture Day

PTA Meeting 6:30

Steve @Title 1

October 6

District PD- Half-Day Dismissal 11:40

Steve @Title 1

From the PTA

Happy Friday!

PTA Fun Run Schedule

Please see Katie with any questions

Friday, September 29

Class Schedule

Good afternoon and welcome back to school!

Concordia University Ann Arbor is pleased to be offering your staff a 24% tuition discount, per the Preferred Educational Partnership (PEP). The updated tuition form is at www.cuaa.edu/PEP. We wish you a great year and look forward to another wonderful year of providing opportunities and serving teachers. No one is more important than our teachers!

Fall 2017 Program Info:

Attached is a back-to-school information sheet on graduate program opportunities, including English as a Second Language Endorsement, Special Education Learning Disabilities, and more. Applications are currently being accepted for all graduate programs. Most are offered online, and some are offered seated on Saturdays. Please forward to staff.

Notable Dates:

–          Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction with Early Childhood Information night at CUAA, Thursday, October 5^th at 6:30 p.m.  Interested candidates can RSVP to Julie.Edler@cuaa.edu

–          Deadline to register for the last State Required Reading Course of 2017: Friday, October 13^th

–          Fall 3 courses begin October 23^rd

Thank you for coming to Summer Institute:

Thank you to all the teachers who came out to the 3^rd annual Summer Institute Workshops for SCECHs! CUAA offered two weeks of workshops in July for professional development. Stay tuned for info on next year’s institute.

Just for fun:

Just for fun, this Saturday, September 16^th, CUAA is inviting community members and friends of the university to join the campus for an Oktoberfest from 12-4. There is no cost and there will be polka music and entertainment.

I hope your year is starting off well. Have a great day!

Julie A. Edler  

School of Education | Concordia University Ann Arbor

(734) 995-7459  |  julie.edler@cuaa.edu  

Now on to Tech…

Little Bird Tales:  This application is a simple-to-use, voice-capture tool for storytelling. It’s free, works on iOS devices and has a Web-based version.

Scratch: Lots of elementary school teachers use Scratch to teach rudimentary coding. This tool built at MIT Media Lab allows students to make neat programs, enhancing their coding knowledge as they go. It is Web-based and free.

ABCya Animate: This versatile platform is so easy to use that kindergartners can make animations on it. It’s Web-based and compatible with iPads, but costs $1.99.

Remind

Please be sure that you have been added to my Remind account for any emergency contact needed.  Please text @arnostaff to 81010 to join the staff remind.

Coming soon to Arno…

Sept. 11

No events

Sept. 12

Lockdown Drill A.M

Sept. 13

PBIS meeting 7:45

Sept. 14

Title 1 Parent Meeting 6:30

Meet the Teacher 7:00

Sept 15

Happy Friday

Thank you to everyone for a smooth start to the school year.

Please continue to share your photos throughout the year so we can tell our story

of all the great things happening here at Arno!

From the PTA

️Welcome Back!

Learning A-Z (Raz Plus)

Thank you to all who were able to make the A-Z training in August, it gave us great insight to many of the features of the product now in our SIP.  If you were not able to make it, I am having the company do a live, after school webinar for Arno on Sept. 25th at 3:45-4:45.  In the meantime, you can access previous webinars below from the link.  Our building purchased the Raz Plus, that is the area to look for on the page.

Remember- as it is built into our Plan, the expectation is to see this used in your classroom to instruct, differentiate, and for intervention purposes.

https://accounts.learninga-z.com/accountsweb/training/video.do

John Hattie’s interesting thoughts on homework- the effect size, the value, and how can we do it different?

Tumble books

TUMBLEPREMIUM

TumblePremium is your answer to building reading, math and literacy skills. TumblePremium combines everything you love about the original TumbleBookLibrary Deluxe, with TumbleBookCloud Jr’s books for older readers into one easy access point. One super collection, one login!

Our TumblePremium collection has over 1100 titles and is perfect for public libraries and elementary schools, with content most appropriate for those in grades K-6. It includes animated talking picture books, chapter books, videos, non-fiction titles, playlists, books in languages other than English such as French and Spanish, graphic novels and math stories. 

School subscribers have access to a rich collection of educational resources such as lesson plans, quizzes, educational games and puzzles related to both math and language skills. School subscriptions also include the FREE Common Core Portals: a K-5 English Common Core Portal and a Math Common Core Portal. These portals have resources aligned to core standards and make integrating TumbleBooks and the Common Core into your classrooms effortless. For those of you not following the Common Core, these portals are also useful since they contain lesson plans and quizzes which help build certain skills, such as vocabulary building or understanding elements of a story.

http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/about_tumblebooks.aspx

PBIS Stations

A BIG thanks to Katie and Lisa for launching the PBIS stations this week which turned out to be very helpful for kids, and I have heard a lot of positive comments about the day.  Thanks to everyone for helping make this a success, especially our presenters- Cathy, Michelle, Linda, Michelle S., and Debbie!!  I am working on a video of the whole thing, but it’s in many pieces so it may be a week or so before I can send it.

Looking to treat your class to a real adventure? Then sign them up for the Oakwoods Nature Center’s AUTUMN ADVENTURE PROGRAM. This fun and exciting program is designed to immerse the kids in the sights, smells, and tastes of autumn. The program consists of:

– Hayride

– Cider Pressing

– Cider and Donuts

– Leaf Printing

            The program runs Monday – Friday from September 18th – October 31st. We can accommodate two classes per day, and each class (up to 30 kids) will be split into two groups. Each class will be involved in the program for approximately 90 minutes. The cost of the program is $6/child. If you have any questions/concerns, or would like to register for a date, please contact the Oakwoods Nature Center by calling 734-782-3956 or via e-mail kevin.arnold@metroparks.com. We look forward to scheduling your next adventure.

 From the district…

Good Morning Teachers!

One of our employees came across this grant info below from Target and I thought I would send it out to those of you who were interested in programs DIRECTLY AT the Metroparks (or other destinations J). Of course we still have our Outdoor Explorer Vehicles that comes directly to YOU, whether you use our FREE GRANT PROGRAM or not, but it never hurts to make our teachers aware of other “perks” they can apply for!  This next week I’ll also send out an email listing other FREE teacher programs and grants you can also apply for from my personal website “Julie’s list”.

But until then, here’s a note from my co-worker regarding the Target Field Trip Grant:  

In researching Target and their giving program, wanted to send over this information for the  Target Field Trip grants– it must be applied through from the school but could be a great/easy option for those interested in field trips to the Metroparks/Interpretive Centers but do not have transportation —  it is a grant up to $700.

https://targetfieldtripgrants.target.com/rules.php

Julie Kennedy Carpenter

Community Outreach Interpreter, Southern District

From the Superintendent

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5TW2LFZ

Dear APPS Staff,

Please take some time to click on the above link to take a staff survey.  The purpose of this survey is to find out your opinions about your school, department and the district.  Please read each statement and choose the response that most closely matches your opinion.  Open ended responses/comments are most welcome.  Please answer each item honestly as I wish to assess the decision making process and your overall feelings about the culture and climate of your school, department and the district.  Your responses will be completely confidential through Survey Monkey – IP addresses/email will not be tracked.

As your new Superintendent of Schools, the information will be extremely valuable to me in launching the 2017-18 school year as I evaluate our needs as well as our strengths.  Please complete your survey by Thursday, September 14, 2017.  Thank you in advance for participating.

Michael Darga, Superintendent

From HR….

Good morning staff and welcome back to the 2017-2018 school year.  As a friendly reminder to protocol when you need a substitute teacher:

Now on to some tech…

Buncee

A creation and presentation tool with unlimited possibilities for bringing learning to life. Transforming people of all ages into creators, storytellers, and future-ready digital citizens.

https://www.edu.buncee.com/home

 Pixabay 

Welcome Back!!

Coming soon to Arno…

Sept 4

Labor Day- No School

Sept 5

First Day of School

A.M. Classes only- DISMISSAL 11:40

Teacher PD in p.m.

Sept 6

Full day of school

Sept 7

PBIS stations

PTA Meeting 6:30

Sept 8

Fire Drill

And Beyond…

Sept 11

No events

Sept 12

Lockdown Drill

Sept 13

PBIS Meeting 7:45

Sept 14

Meet the Teacher 7:00

Title I Annual Meeting 6:30

Sept 15

No events

Arno Vision

Arno Elementary will provide a system of support to empower

and inspire students to become collaborative learners

that strive for academic excellence

Meet the New Folks…

I am very excited to introduce our two new staff members- Andrea Alvarez and Sarah Andersen.  Andrea will be taking on our Speech position, while Sarah will be the new teacher in 5th grade.  Congratulations to both as they did an outstanding job in the interview process!  In addition, a big Arno welcome to Cassie Harrison and her two aides Tammy Nemeth and Lauren Khattar- ECP program coming from Lindemann.  The fenced area will be the playground area for our new little additions.

***Please post to your blogs, parent communication, and Meet the Teacher Night materials

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

NEW FOR THE 2017-18 SCHOOL YEAR

UPDATE MiSTAR PARENT CONNECTION – CONTACT INFORMATION

As our district continues to build towards more and more digital communications in the future, it is important that you take a moment to update your contact information in MiStar.  Under the “My Information” tab at the top right, you will now be able to update:

• Email address for parents/guardians
• Phone contacts for parents/guardians
• Primary phone number – “Under Student Demographics”

o   This is the phone number used for automated phone notifications. 

• Add Text Messaging

o   If you wish to receive text messages from the district, please select “SMS Cellular” as the “Telephone Type” for your primary phone number or other parent/guardian phone contacts.

• Emergency Contact Updates (Authorizing release of your student)

Info on Parent Connect from the district website:

You must have a PIN and Password to log into ParentConnection. ParentConnection is a web program that allows parents to view information about their child.
To receive a PIN and passwords for ParentConnection contact your child’s school.
If you have more than one account to view your children, please contact the school office.
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From the PTA

Welcome Back! We hope everyone had an enjoyable Summer filled with lots of fun events!

️August 31st we will launch our new Spiritwear design at our New Family Day! Come check out our newest design and purchase a shirt for Back To School! We will also have Membership Applications on hand and will be able to answer any of your questions about the PTA! We’re excited to see everyone!

️September 7th at 6:30 marks our FIRST PTA Meeting of the year! All meetings are held in the Arno Cafeteria and includes free babysitting for school aged children. We look forward to seeing many of you there!

️We are looking for a few volunteers to help out with some of our first events: Welcome Back Bagels and Coffee and a few Veteran Members to help those new to our school community navigate the halls the First Day. Please contact the PTA on our Facebook Page (Arno Elementary PTA) or send us an email to: arnopta@gmail.com. We thank you for your support!

From the Superintendent

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5TW2LFZ

Dear APPS Staff,

Please take some time to click on the above link to take a staff survey.  The purpose of this survey is to find out your opinions about your school, department and the district.  Please read each statement and choose the response that most closely matches your opinion.  Open ended responses/comments are most welcome.  Please answer each item honestly as I wish to assess the decision making process and your overall feelings about the culture and climate of your school, department and the district.  Your responses will be completely confidential through Survey Monkey – IP addresses/email will not be tracked.

As your new Superintendent of Schools, the information will be extremely valuable to me in launching the 2017-18 school year as I evaluate our needs as well as our strengths.  Please complete your survey by Thursday, September 14, 2017.  Thank you in advance for participating.

Michael Darga, Superintendent

Remind

Please be sure that you have been added to my Remind account for any emergency contact needed.  Please text @arnostaff to 81010 to join the staff remind.

Flipped Staff Meeting

Please be sure that you view the flipped staff meeting so you are prepared with any question during the F2F staff meeting on Sept. 5.

6 Questions To Ask Your Students On Day One

PBIS UPDATE

Thursday’s PBIS Kickoff will have a different “feel” this year.  We will have 6 stations around the school and classes will travel to hear about the expectations at each station.  Please be on time to your station at the designated times below:

PBIS Beginning of the Year Stations

Thursday, September 7, 2017

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

Start Times and Station

8:45a–Trionfi (1), Smalley (2), Kalis (3), Warneck (4), Guyot (5)

9:35a–Haskin (1), Stanley (2), DiCarlo (3), Wesley (4), Watson (5)

10:25a–Pushman (1), Martinchick (2), Schultz (3), Brown (4), Amonette (5)

11:15a–Cruetz (1), Higgins (2), Hool (3), 5th grade new teacher (4)

1.Office Expectations

Staff: Michelle DesJardins or Cathy Anderson

Location: office

2. Assembly Expectations

Staff: Sandy Bennett

Location:  Gym

3. Bus Expectations

Staff: Steve Zielinski

Location: bus located in parking area

4. Cafeteria Expectations

Staff: Kristin Melidosian or Debbie Burgess

Location: Cafeteria

5. Hallway Expectations

Staff: Michele Sbonek

Location: hallway outside of Media Center/Computer Lab

MORNING LINEUP

This year we will start the same as last- the first day will be line up outside the main doors for each teacher, then after return to indoor lineup.  This will give the parents an opportunity to hangout with the kids before the bell, then hopefully clear after.  Please be sure to be visible outside your door area so kids know which line to enter.

Beginning the School Year: It’s About the Learners Not the Content

 Jackie Gerstein, Ed.D.

2 weeks ago

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pi54QMZVoE0X6NWW6gKSe2MFsuLEqfbq6wYgkNb4Aec/edit

Room Configuration

In order to address the need for student collaboration as part of best practice/turn and talk- please make sure you have students set up in table groups as opposed to rows.  This will continually give you the ability to facilitate collaboration within your room.

NEW FAMILY OPEN HOUSE

Next Thursday, August 31, is our New Family Open House at 12:00 p.m.  At this time, our new Arno families will be coming to check out our wonderful school.  If you are around and are able to help guide our new families on a short tour, I would really appreciate it.  In the past, families have loved spending a little time with our great staff and learning all about Arno!  Please let me know if you think you’ll be able to help out so I can plan accordingly!

MATERIALS

All material orders have arrived and have been delivered to your grade level.  If you feel as though you are missing something that was ordered, please let Michelle know.  As far as I saw when unpacking the boxes, we have received most everything that we had ordered in the spring.  Construction paper will be arriving soon!

Teacher Professional Development Dates

This year, the district calendar reflects 7 half-days of teacher PD plus 1 Full day that is required by the state.  Those half-day PD dates feature no school in the afternoon, 11:40 dismissal.  The dates for this school year are as follows:

10/6, 10/31, 11/21, 12/15, 1/15 (FULL DAY), 2/16, 3/09, and 3/29

Let’s Get Techy…

21 Things for Chromebooks Basics

Video worth checking out…

http://mistreamnet.org/videos/3714

Making & Science with Google

What it is: Making & Science is an initiative by Google aimed at showing students that anyone can be a maker or a scientist. Using the featured Science Journal app (Android and Chromebook only), students can measure light, sound, and more. They can also use the app to record observations, organize data, and add observational notes. Making & Science has partnered with Exploratorium for some fantastic activities that will have students exploring the world as a makers and scientist in no time. Students will explore light, sound, motion, graphs, conductivity, and much more through activities powered by the Science Journal app.

How to integrate Making & Science with Google in your classroom: The Science Journal app makes any Android phone or Chromebook computer into a scientific tool that students can use to collect data on light, sound, and motion. The activities included encourage students to explore the world as scientists and makers. The activities are simple enough for any classroom, and lead the students through understanding how the world around them works. They are a great kick-off to more in-depth studies of light, sound, and motion and teach students how to use the sensors on their phone and computer to collect data.  Most activities take 15-30 minutes, so would be the perfect length for groups of students to visit as a center if you have a few devices for students to use. I love the way each activity thoroughly introduces a concept, and equips students with the tools and understanding for further experimentation and investigation. The activities included are wonderful, but after students have a basic understanding, encourage them to come up with their own investigations of light, sound, and motion.

Students could use the Exploritorium Activities as guides for creating their own investigations and activities to share with the class.

Don’t miss out on the Making and Science YouTube channel, and recommended podcasts. They are AWESOME!

Tips: While the activities reference the Science Journal app for data collection, if you have access to other types of devices you can still use these activities! Just download a light, sound, and motion sensor app and your students can complete any of the activities on the Maker & Science site.

Coming soon to Arno…

June 12

Board meeting honoring PTA 7:00

Ad council 9:00

June 13

K Picnic

Half-day- Dismissal 11:40

Classroom placement/Common schedules per schedule below

June 14

5th Grade Graduation 9:00

Half-day Dismissal 11:40

June 15

LAST day of school!!

Half-day dismissal 11:40

June 16

Teacher Final Day please complete and turn in checklist

Code of conduct meeting 10:00

***Office closes June 23

Things have certainly become interesting lately.  We have seen some uptick in behaviors, and certainly the thoughts towards June are occupying many of our young minds.  The constant that is always yet present is your consistent drive to excellence, and sometimes it takes more effort this time of year, but your drive and passion for teaching continues to show our students a shining example.  Finish strong in these final days of the year, and if you are having any concerns, apprehensions, difficulties, no matter the issue- please know that my door is always open to address your needs.  Working together is the way to continue to move Arno forward… Have a great wrap up to the school year!

From the PTA

As the school year comes to an end, the PTA would like to extend our heart-filled thanks to everyone that helped to support us throughout the year! We look forward to seeing everyone next year and meeting new friends!
Congratulations to our Graduating 5th Graders as they head off to new adventures and beyond in Middle School and to our Kindergarteners as they travel down the hall to 1st Grade!
Make sure to “Save the Date” for our Fun Run next year! This event will take place on Friday, September 29th. If you would like to volunteer for our Biggest Fundraiser of the year, please contact us and let us know. We welcome anyone that would like to be part of our planning team to make this event a HUGE SUCCESS like last year!
The PTA wishes everyone a safe, fun-filled Summer! We hope that your school year rocked!

YEAR END TO-DO LIST

Please take a look at the Year End Checklist page at the top of the blog for all of the to-dos as we wrap up the year.   As final walkthroughs are completed and final testing recorded, please check the calendar and schedule a time that we can meet and have our final evaluation meeting!

EndoftheYearChecklist2017.doc-148eig2

MTSS Survey Link

Please take the time to respond to the MTSS survey for our building.  We will use the district data to improve our approach both at the building level and at the district level of support.

MTSS Survey

Math Survey Link

Please take the time to respond to the MTSS survey for our building.  We will use the district data to improve our approach both at the building level and at the district level of support.

Math Survey

Class Lists

Just a reminder of the schedule below for class list review.  Please come to the meeting with your lists completed.

From the District:

STAGES UPDATE

You have received a document outlining the steps needed to complete elements in the STAGES system for the final evaluation.  Please let me know if you have any questions!

**Reminder — if you are using NWEA for your evaluation data, you will find the scores in the report titled “Achievement Status and Growth Report: Projection or Summary.”  Make sure you select the Growth Comparison Period as Fall 2016 through Spring 2017.  I am happy to help you if needed!

If you are using DRA, please be sure your data is entered into MISTAR DnA as soon as you finish testing!

PreparingtocompletefinalevaluationinSTAGES-27fna9f

 PBIS Stations

We are a bit away at this point, but plans are always in the works for next year.  Please see below for the plan on day 2 of school in the fall for our new PBIS learning stations.  Let us know what questions you have, or ideas moving forward.   Thank you to our chairs Lisa and Katie and all who have participated this year on the PBIS team for the hard work to maintain a positive climate for kids and teachers at Arno!!

PBISBeginningoftheYearStations-15qufy6

NGSX OPPORTUNITY

Please see the message below from Phil.  If you are around this summer, I wold definitely encourage you to consider participating in this training.  It is a big shift in science instruction and the experience is so valuable!

Good morning, teachers!

INTERESTING ARTICLE

Coming soon to Arno…

May 29

Memorial Day- No School

May 30

Higgins, Smalley 4th grade boat trip

1st grade DRA

Steve @Plymouth/Canton Science training obs

May 31

504 LB 8:00

SPED APMS walk

K-12 ELA Committee

June 1

STEAM Science museum/assembly

ICC 4:00

June 2

Kindergarten to Zoo

From the PTA

Have a Great Weekend! Stay Dry and Warm!

Class Lists

I have now shared with you the forms to record the class lists for June 13th.  Along with that you also received a form to identify the rooms that will serve as the SPED and ELL homerooms, please be sure to fill that in so the grade below you can start the process.

Some questions have come up:

1. Should the SPED homeroom have less students?

This will be looked at on a case by case.  This is neither a building mandate, nor district.  In the end I would expect that all class lists are appropriately balanced

2.  What is the grade has an A1 ELL student, would they need to be considered for the ELL room?

My thoughts on this would be for any student labeled ELL, that would mean that is their current designation and they service from RESA.  If they are formerly designated as ELL (no longer being serviced), I would not put them in with this grouping

3.  Once the grade decides who will be the ELL or SPED teacher, is that a permanent designation?

No, this is something that may change annually

Let me know what other questions you have along the way

MTSS Survey Link

Please take the time to respond to the MTSS survey for our building.  We will use the district data to improve our approach both at the building level and at the district level of support.

MTSS Survey

Math Survey Link

Please take the time to respond to the MTSS survey for our building.  We will use the district data to improve our approach both at the building level and at the district level of support.

Math Survey

From the District:

Field Day Volunteers

Arno Families,
Please click on the link to volunteer for Field Day 2017 during one of the half day sessions on Monday, June 5 or Tuesday, June 6. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jenny Dalton-Arno P.E.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0b4fa8ad2ea1f58-field1

Rain Date Volunteer Link:

Arno Field Day Volunteer Sign Up-RAIN DATES

Rain Date Volunteers:  Please report to the gym at your scheduled time so I can give you game materials and brief instructions before your first class arrives at your station.  Classes will be rotating through each station at 15 minute intervals.  Thank you in advance for your help and support with this event.  

Jenny Dalton-Arno P.E.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0b4fa8ad2ea1f58-arno

SAFETY TOWN

Who:  Kindergarten and 1st Grade Students in September 2016

When:  Session (A) June 20 -June 30  (9:00am to 11:30am)
Session (B) June 20-June 30 (12:30pm to 3:00pm)
Where:  Lindemann Elementary (9201 Carter, Allen Park)

A registration form will be sent home with your child the first week of April. Walk-in registration will also be available at the Allen Park Recreation Center Lobby on April 11th from 4-6 p.m.

Safety Town is an interactive safety awareness program for children from 5-6 years of age. Each day the children will be introduced to various safety issues in a fun and safe environment. The program is taught by a Police Officer and a certified teacher, with hands-on topics led by community guest speakers as well as visits from the Allen Park Police & Fire Departments. Teen volunteers from Allen Park High School lead the children through safety town every day and receive valuable training along with obtaining National Honor Society service hours. The children learn about stranger danger, water and beach as well as playground safety, fire safety, pet and bus safety, electrical and gun safety, and personal safety with an emphasis on pedestrian safety. The kids will be bicycling about a miniature town complete with streets, sidewalks, buildings, stop signs and a working traffic signal. Importance is placed on having the children memorize a cell phone number to call if they should ever become lost. We use fun songs to reinforce all of these principles and the children memorize our very own Safety Town Pledge!

Comments and questions can be directed to Officer Marcos Madrigal via email madrigal@appublicschools.com

Officer Madrigal teaches safety to our first graders

Summer Reading Ideas…

2017SummerResourcesLettertoTeachersandParents-1nuyphm

It’s that time again…

We are looking forward to another wonderful 5th grade graduation ceremony on June 14th at 9:00.  Following the ceremony there will be “picnic” for all the students with lots of yummy treats.  Please contact the office with any questions.

CLASSROOMSCREEN.COM

Classroomscreen.com: A Web Tool Teachers and Students will LOVE

Classroomscreen.com is a FREE web tool that launched this past March. Laurens Koppers, a teacher from the Netherlands, created this tool to utilize the digiboard in their classroom to help students focus on their work.

How classroomscreen.com works:

Launch your web browser and visit classroomscreen.com. Project it on a screen in your classroom. Your browser turns into an interactive board and has the capability to display various tools that you and your students will LOVE.

Tools and Capabilities:

🖥 choose a background
🖥 type your instructions in the text area and zoom
🖥 choose a work symbol
🖥 set a timer
🖥 show the clock & calendar
🖥 use the traffic light
🖥 pick a random name
🖥 use the calculator
🖥 draw in-screen or full-screen
🖥 generate a QR-code
🖥 drag and drop the icons in the right place

🖥 select a language

What makes this web tool stand out?

Many teachers I have shared this tool with have already said that the QR code generator is their favorite tool. Simply click the QR code icon, enter the url of a website you would like your students to visit and the tool instantly generates a QR code for students to scan with a handheld device.

I really like the work symbols that can be used as a visual reminder for students:

Here are the different options you can choose from:

I also think the stoplight is a nice component! Use it as a visual reminder for voice levels as well as other activities. I could even seen students using classscreen.com on their own devices in which they could change the stoplight to indicate their progress on a project or their understanding of a concept.

But really, you need to check out ALL of the fabulous functions of this web tool.

Check out my Facebook Live to see classroomscreen.com in action:

TEACHING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES & SKILLS

LONG POST but full of great information!  from http://snippetsbysarah.blogspot.com/

Teaching Comprehension Strategies and Skills

This post has been a LONG time coming! I just keep adding to it, reorganizing it, and adding some more. I’m happy to finally push Publish on this one!

So I must warn you: This is like a three year photo dump. This post is a collection of pictures and activities that I’ve used with my 1st-3rd grade reading groups. I wish I took more pictures though!

I’ve been working hard to beef up my comprehension instruction. If you stick with this post and scroll down to the resources section, I break it down a little more for you. This might be one of those posts where you need a big cup of coffee! There is a freebie at the end for you, too!

I’ll start with a very quick explanation. Then, you can scroll further down to see more examples and visuals to go with it.

For every text, I choose a comprehension strategy and skill to focus on.

• The STRATEGIES are used while we read. I introduce those first.
  • I explain the strategy and model how the strategy is used.
  • I explain why that strategy is helpful.
  • I tell them that we are going to practice this strategy with the text.
  • After the usual book introduction, students read on their own a few pages (or however far I ask them to go. I try to chunk up the text in meaningful ways. For example, if the characters, setting and some background are introduced in the first two pages, I’ll have them read that first then stop. Then they will read the next few pages to find the problem or conflict.
    • Before each set of pages, I set a purpose. “Read to find out…”
    • After each set of pages, I model how I used that strategy. As the text continues, I ask the students to share how they used it. If they are unable to do so, I will find a passage from the text that lends itself to that strategy and we will practice it together.
    • Continue this throughout the entire book. Sometimes I provide sticky notes or a graphic organizer in a sheet protector for that strategy.
    • After we have learned a few strategies, I give them a comprehension strategy bookmark so they can always remember and refer to the strategies we’ve learned so far.
• Next, I introduce the SKILL. Before reading, I do tell my students what skill we will be working on and will show them the visual for it with a quick explanation. Then I remind them that they will learn more about the skill as we read or after we read.

• • I may wait until after reading to explain it, if we are going to go back for the second read to practice the skill.
  • In some cases though, I will introduce it somewhere during reading. For example, if the skill is cause-and-effect and there is a clear example of it in the middle of the book, I will point it out then.
  • I always want to provide some kind of visual, like a graphic organizer or a group anchor chart. I usually “hold the pen” for this simply for time reasons.
  • When they have already been introduced to the skill once and have seen me model how to use it, then they will “hold the pen” with a shared anchor chart or a graphic organizer for their notebooks.
  • Usually it involves going back to the text and rereading. For example, I might ask them to reread page 10 and share an example of cause and effect. OR I will name the effect and they have to search for the cause. They have to show me where in the text they found the cause. This is so important. My students are always going back to the text.  I will often say “prove it” with a  smile. They use language like “I think _____ because the text says…” Providing sentence stems is so helpful! (More about that below.)

Here is what my lesson plans look like now:

PS. They may look like this week one but then they are pencil chicken scratch as the year goes on. 😉 I’m sharing this as a freebie at the end of this post.

I’ll start with my photo dump.

Part 1: Classroom Anchor Charts

Warning #2! You are about to see some NONPinterest-friendly, unartistic anchor charts. However, they are effective, give the job done, AND smell super yummy (because I always use smelly markers.)

Before I introduce specific strategies, I show my students how I am always thinking as I read. It can be an “aha moment,” a question, an exclamation, or just a random thought. An anchor chart like this is always a good place to start. Then you can do another where the kids all share their thoughts.

This is a favorite! I put some of the same types of thoughts as I mentioned above. Then I place little stickies in the book where I had those thoughts. After students have read a section, we go back and reread the parts of the text that I marked. They choose which sticky note fits with that part of the text.

This picture is from a 3rd grade group, but I do this with my first graders as well. Give kids the opportunity to write their thoughts as they read. The first time you do it, you should pick parts in the text that lend themselves to an “aha moment,” an exclamation, a questions, an “”I think…” moment, etc. Then have the group write their thoughts on stickies. The next time you do it, you can have them choose places in the text.

During Reading: Comprehension STRATEGIES

This is not news to anyone, but I’m saying it anyway: Model, model, model. The more I model my thinking and create a visual to go with my thinking, the more I get out of my students.

When I make predictions, it doesn’t end there! We must read on to confirm and change our predictions. In this first chart, I modeled what it means to confirm predictions. Then in the next one, I modeled how to confirm or change a prediction.

First, I teach them to choose what is important to the story before we work on actual summaries. In this first chart, we reread to find things that were important to the story and things that were just added details. Then, we practice writing the summary together. I also use the “______ wanted _______ but __________ so __________” frame often. The kids love when I project that on the white board so they can fill it in with markers.

This is from an old post that you can find HERE.

I like to make simple charts that guide my students thinking.  The chart above shows how to evaluate a nonfiction text. The chart bellows shows my class’ evaluation of a fiction text. They shared their thoughts, which I recorded on the chart, but they had to give me reasons from the text.

Sticky notes are a constant theme…

Sometimes you just need to draw a puzzle on the fly. That’s about as far as my artistic ability goes. 😉

This one involved a projector and a pre-made PowerPoint slideshow with a thinking bubble that grew. As we gained new ideas, we added our sticky note ideas to the growing bubble.

This is an activity I do quite often. I take a sentence, either made up or from a book, then I show student how many strategies we could use for a single sentence. For example, from this sentence you might wonder if she’s on a business trip or if it is a vacation. You might wonder why there is bad traffic. You might infer that she’s super frustrated. You might predict she will be late for something. Explain that when reading this sentence in a full book or reading passage, we would likely read on to find the answers or reread if it is something we need to clarify.

After Reading: Comprehension SKILLS

I often take a comprehension question, then I really break it down. After that I will provide a sentence stem and model how I would answer the question. Kids need lots of practice with both of these steps in the process.

Here, I modeled for a second grade group how I would answer this question using text evidence.

These are a few ways I have broken down my thought process while drawing conclusions. I especially like using the different colored sentence strips.

I used this visual to explain how details support the main idea.

I used this with a third grade group to show the difference between theme and main idea.

You can stop here and focus on character lesson or you could take it once step further and find the themes.

And of course, I am all about sentence stems to get kids talking!

This is shined up on the big white board using a projector. Then we wrote in our thoughts. The next time, students wrote their thoughts.

Part 2: Resources

This year, one of my professional goals was to beef up my comprehension instruction. Specifically, I wanted to be more explicit with my teaching and find ways to organize and track the skills and strategies I was teaching. In years past, I taught strategies and skills but it felt more haphazard with how and when I delivered it. When we read books, I would always incorporate a strategy focus and I would follow up with a skill that worked with that book. I realized though, that I was using those two interchangeably. Honestly, some can be used interchangeably in my opinion, but once I took time to really separate them out and categorize them once and for, everything got easier and my teaching became more explicit. This was not a quick process. I looked at the resources that I’ve been using including readings-z.com books, some supplemental leveled readers from our basal program, and some random reading passages.  I reflected on the main strategies that I use first. These are the strategies that I want my kids actively using while they are reading. Then I sifted through the skills that I wanted them to have in order to complete activities after reading.

Comprehension Strategies

First, I made this strategy bookmark.  It is a guide for my students, a reminder of strategies we’ve learned, and a sneak peak at strategies to come. It also keeps me on track.  It reminds me to model previously learned strategies and encouraged me to make sure I was getting to all the strategies.

I made posters to go with the bookmark. I used these as anchor charts when I introduced a strategy and referred back to them when needed. Once I introduce a strategy, the big poster can go on the wall.

(These come in brights, no color background, and classic colors)

I had already made graphic organizers for strategies but they were all scattered. I put them together, spiffed them up a bit, but tried to keep them simple and usable. I put them all into sheet protectors and stocked up on Ultra Fine Tip Expo markers. This way, students could use them over and over and I never had to worry about making more copies.

I’ve learned that ULTRA fine tip EXPO dry erase markers are the best! The picture on the far right is ultra fine tip. It makes a big difference.

Comprehension Skills

This year, one thing that I tried to be better about was focusing my lessons around a skill. I’m not bound to a basal, so I’m able to do that.  I would pick a skill, like character analysis, and focus on it for two(ish) weeks.  In that time, we would read different texts that lend themselves to practicing that skill. As we read those texts, I would focus on a different strategy as well. For example, while focusing on the skill character analysis, I may read 3-4 texts, each with a different strategy focus. To help students distinguish between the two, I made these comprehension skill notebooks. I sort of made these on accident. I was using the notebooks to keep it all together, then realized I wanted them more organized. Years ago, I had made these writing notebook tabs and loved the organization, so I thought I’d do the same for these comprehension skills. It has been SO helpful! Kids can look back at different skills and different activities we’ve done. Win-win!

I made several graphic organizers to go behind each tab because different books may use a skill in different ways. For example, one book may be good for looking at how a character’s actions affected another character. Another story might be better at simply analyzing the character and looking for text evidence. These each need a different graphic organizer.  I cut around the outer box and glued it right behind the tabs when needed. FYI: I have to keep it real here. This is a sample. The real kids’ notebooks have graphic organizers that are not cut so straight and glued so perfectly. 😉

I spend a little more time thinking about my learning outcomes for each skill.

Strategies and Skills on one poster:

Finally, I made these mini-posters to have right at my reading table. Once I introduced a strategy or skill and put the big poster on the wall, I found myself wanting another poster right at my fingertips to display at the reading table. Now I can’t imagine not using it! It helps me to be more explicit with my teaching. It helps me to be accountable every time we are at that reading table.

Part 3: Putting it all together

So just to recap:

• Introduce strategies and use these strategies as you read. Model, model, model how to use these strategies. Use posters as a visual aide when you introduce.
• Depending on the strategy and story, provide a graphic organizer or sticky notes for students to use as they read. Read the text in smaller portions. I have my students whisper read or read in their heads. I will tell them to read to a certain point in the text. Then, when they finish, I model how I used that strategy for that text. Before reading the next set of pages, I remind students to try to use the strategy as they read. As they whisper read, I listen in to one student and I may encourage use of the strategy if applicable. After reading a few more pages, I invite students to share how they used the strategy.  If we are using a graphic organizer, I will model how to fill it out in a way that helps me stay engaged with the text.
• Make sure you practice each strategy with several different texts. It doesn’t need to be all in a row though. Once I introduce a strategy, I always review it, but may wait a few weeks before focusing on it again.
• After a couple strategies have been introduced, I bring out the strategy bookmarks. Then, we use these every time we read. We review the strategies we’ve learned. Even if we are focusing on a new strategy, I always invite kids to share any strategy they may have used.
• Keep your strategy graphic organizer in page protectors so you have easy access and can use them again.
• I usually focus on comprehension skills after reading as a post activity. Those graphic organizers are usually put in the skill notebooks or just printed on paper. 
• I use the mini-poster display to show students what skill and strategy we are using for a particular text. Before reading, I’ll put up the strategy card using velcro. As we read or after (depending on the text) I will add on the skill. This helps me to be explicit with my teaching.

I am a HUGE fan of readinga-z.com. Honestly if there is ONE thing you should spend your money on, it’s that subscription. Endless books at ALL levels and they keep adding MORE! They have close reading packs as well! And I just discovered their shared reading books. I’m telling you, it’s the best thing I ever did. I first subscribed in 2003 when I started out and didn’t have any books and I haven’t looked back. I don’t blink an eye when renewal time comes up.

If you are interested in any of these resources, you can find them all HERE:

And since you’ve made it ALL the way to the bottom (cheers to that,) I am sharing a little freebie with you. This is what I use to plan my guided reading instruction. It reminds me to find a focus for strategies and skills.

The one on the left if for first grade and early second. The one on the right is for later second and third grade. You can get this HERE.

Arno Awesomeness!!

Coming soon to Arno…

May 22

Parent Strategic Plan times 10:30 and 6:00

Admin Strategic Plan 1:00

5th Grade Maturation program begin

504 LB 8:00

May 23

504 NR 11:15

Kinder DRA Day

May 24

Schoolwide Title meeting all day

SIP Meeting 3:45

May 25

3rd Grade DRA Day

Principal”s meeting 9:00

May 26

2nd Grade DRA Day

M-STEP Window Closes!!!

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Colleen and Erin for being recognized at Monday’s Board Meeting for their hard work in organizing many guest readers at all three elementary schools during March is Reading Month!  Many of our classes enjoyed a guest reader from the AP community and we appreciate the efforts of Colleen and Erin to invite and coordinate the readers!

Schoolwide Title I Update

The Chair team recently met all day with district to wrap the main SIP and any loose ends.  At this point, we are just about complete with the PD plan portion and that will complete the entire process!  Next Wednesday, we will reconvene to review the entire plan and diagnostic, then meet and present to Mike Darga in the p.m.  If everything is done, we will then submit the entire package to the state for final approval and our letter to confirm our move to schoolwide.  It has been a tremendous process, but one that I feel was worth the work to make our school an even better place.  Thanks to all of our team members that have attended the entire years worth of meetings; Todd, Beth, Jeanine, Megan, Cathy, and Sara.

Please give your important feedback…

Assessment Surveys for Spring 2017 Administrations

The Michigan Department of Education would like to say THANK YOU for your part in a very successful assessment administration this spring. We ask that you take a moment to provide your feedback in our administration surveys. Your feedback remains an important tool for the future planning and development of quality assessments and testing practices for educators and the kids of Michigan. We have made significant changes overall based on much of the feedback from last year. The surveys have been categorized by your role in the testing process and require about 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

Based on your role, please complete the surveys mentioned below by selecting the link and proceeding with the survey or you can access the link on each assessment’s web page under What’s New: M-STEP Administration Survey for coordinators and assessment administrators – located on the M-STEP web page (www.michigan.gov/mstep)

From the PTA

Happy Friday! 

Just a quick reminder from the PTA that our Stevie B’s Fundraiser is next Tuesday, May 23rd from 11 am- 9 pm. Teachers EAT FREE and the class with the highest amount of participants gets a FREE PIZZA PARTY! Just let the cashier know when you order you’re from Arno and what teacher you have. If you have more than one child at Arno, you may split the number of people in your party. So, if you have a family of 5 and 2 students that attend Arno, you can give 2 credits to one and 3 credits to another or divide it up as you please. They also have a small arcade there and token purchases also account for credits as well!

Have Fun! Eat some delicious pizza and earn a free pizza party while raising funds for our kids at Arno!

Have a Great Weekend!

Summer Reading Ideas…

2017SummerResourcesLettertoTeachersandParents-1nuyphm

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.   The following links are full of information about increasing text complexity in the classroom and include text sets and resources to help teachers navigate text complexity in the classroom. http://www.ccsso.org/Navigating_Text_Complexity/Learn_the_Ropes.html http://www.ccsso.org/Navigating_Text_Complexity/Find_State_Resources_to_Support_Your_Journey_.html

 Science live in First Grade…

SAFETY TOWN

Who:  Kindergarten and 1st Grade Students in September 2016

When:  Session (A) June 20 -June 30  (9:00am to 11:30am)
Session (B) June 20-June 30 (12:30pm to 3:00pm)
Where:  Lindemann Elementary (9201 Carter, Allen Park)

A registration form will be sent home with your child the first week of April. Walk-in registration will also be available at the Allen Park Recreation Center Lobby on April 11th from 4-6 p.m.

Safety Town is an interactive safety awareness program for children from 5-6 years of age. Each day the children will be introduced to various safety issues in a fun and safe environment. The program is taught by a Police Officer and a certified teacher, with hands-on topics led by community guest speakers as well as visits from the Allen Park Police & Fire Departments. Teen volunteers from Allen Park High School lead the children through safety town every day and receive valuable training along with obtaining National Honor Society service hours. The children learn about stranger danger, water and beach as well as playground safety, fire safety, pet and bus safety, electrical and gun safety, and personal safety with an emphasis on pedestrian safety. The kids will be bicycling about a miniature town complete with streets, sidewalks, buildings, stop signs and a working traffic signal. Importance is placed on having the children memorize a cell phone number to call if they should ever become lost. We use fun songs to reinforce all of these principles and the children memorize our very own Safety Town Pledge!

Comments and questions can be directed to Officer Marcos Madrigal via email madrigal@appublicschools.com

Upcoming Fundraiser- TEACHERS eat FREE!

Class Lists/Common Schedule June 13

Just a reminder of the schedule below for class list review/common schedule update.  Please come to the meeting with your lists completed.

Great Job 4th and 5th Graders!!

What a great performance by our 4th and 5th graders at Tuesday evening’s concert performance with Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Skebo at the helm.  It was a great  theme, perfect for this time of year.  Very impressed as always with our Arno talent!

Arno Elementary 4th & 5th grade students did an awesome job at the concert this evening! @szArno pic.twitter.com/GkSyZ7Kx1S

— Dawn Watson (@dpawatson) May 19, 2017

High School Jazz Band Visit

We recently had a visit from the high school jazz band that rocked the gym with some great music!  Our 4th and 5th graders were treated to an awesome start to their day and we loved seeing some of our former Arno kids!

M-STEP Is Almost Complete 

3rd grade will be wrapping up  their testing on Monday and the whole building will be complete this year.  It certainly has been a process but I feel that you have all prepared the kids in an exemplary way and have given us the best scores we could ask for.  The state data is supposed to be in by mid August, so I will share what I can, when I can and we will certainly get the data team on this when its time.  Again, great job on test completion, I look forward to our scores!

Mike Dawson has indicated that the Safe Schools training window will open on July 1 with a due date of October 31.  Please let me know if you need any access assistance

Color Run 2017 Info and Signup Genius for volunteers

Volunteer Link: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15bf27a301a6b5a6

The Color Run/Walk is an end of the year event for Arno families geared towards being healthy and having fun.  It will be held at the Middle School Track on Saturday, June 3rd starting at 10:00 am.  We are seeking volunteers for this event.  Volunteers will be expected to be there 30 minutes prior to the event at 9:30 am.  If you are interested in volunteering, please sign up and we will see you Saturday morning.  Current Arno students may not be volunteers.

Children must be accompanied by an adult and families will be running in heats that are predetermined.  Heat times will be communicated to families the week before the run.  Participants should come to the event wearing white and Eco-friendly colored corn starch will be thrown on runners/walkers as they move around the track.

ArnoColorRun2017.docx-22htfc5

Now that PD has concluded for the year, please print and submit you PD log from the MOECS system and turn it in no later than May 31

New District Summer Hours

APPS Summer Hours

Monday thru Thursday

7:00 a.m. – 4:00 pm.

Closed Fridays*

(July 1 thru August 14)

*Summer Kids Camp at Riley Education Center will be held on Fridays

All District Offices and Programs closed on July 3rd & 4th

Google Drawing is the forgotten stepchild of Google Drive. It doesn’t have a MS Office / iWork equivalent and most people aren’t quite sure what to do with it.

Drawing is a simple shape tool in which you can create and annotate simply graphics and illustrations. It’s great for organizational charts, mind maps, flow charts, infographics, and graphic organizers.
John Sowash presented a half-day workshop on Google Drive to a group of elementary teachers in Dexter, Michigan. He provided the groups  with practical ideas for incorporating these tools into their grade level rooms, so he put together a collection of a half-dozen traditional graphic organizers for elementary students:

Main Events Quilt
Main Idea Umbrella
Prediction Chart
Problem / Solution Chart
Story Comparison Chart
Story Elements Butterfly Chart

Simply click on one of the links and make a copy of the original (File -> Make Copy). Please note that you will need a Google Drive account (and must be signed in) before you can make your own copy.

http://electriceducator.blogspot.ie/2014/11/graphic-organizers-with-google-drawing.html

The Electric Educator by John R. Sowash is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

5 THINGS TEACHERS CAN DO NOW TO PREPARE FOR NEXT YEAR

Coming soon to Arno…

May 15

Lindemann Principal Interviews Round 1 8:00

3rd Grade M-STEP ELA

May 16

Steve @Tech meeting

May 17

3rd Grade M-STEP Math

SIP District Meeting all day

May 18

Middle School Orientation Gym 9:00

4/5th grade concert 7:00

May 19

Kids Hope Year End Party 2:00

In the parent blog…

FIDGET TOYS

Many of our classrooms have fidget “toys” available for students who need them to maintain focus on work while expending energy in a quiet, personal way.  However, we have seen many fidget toys coming to school with students from home.  These fidget toys, designed to improve attention, are actually becoming a major distraction for our students at all levels.  Student attention is actually ON the fidget toys, rather than the lesson.  For this reason, we are asking that all fidget toys be left at home from this point forward.  If your child needs a fidget to do his or her best work at school, it will be provided by the teacher.  Thank you in advance for your support and understanding.

From the PTA

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mother’s out there! We appreciate all that you do! Lets hope this weekend will bring us some beautiful weather along with all the beautiful mom’s we will be celebrating.

We are currently looking for team members and chairs for our Fall Events: Welcome Back, Fun Run, and Reflections. If you’re willing to lead one of these events, please contact us.

Our STEAM Museum is coming to Arno and we still need a few volunteers to help make it a success! If you would like to see what this event is all about, please consider volunteering! Link is available below and on our Facebook page.

Here is the sign up genius link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4bacad22a4fd0-steam

Class Lists/Common Schedule June 13

Just a reminder of the schedule below for class list review/common schedule update.  Please come to the meeting with your lists completed.

Mike Dawson has indicated that the Safe Schools training window will open on July 1 with a due date of October 31.  Please let me know if you need any access assistance

Color Run 2017 Info and Signup Genius for volunteers

Volunteer Link: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15bf27a301a6b5a6

The Color Run/Walk is an end of the year event for Arno families geared towards being healthy and having fun.  It will be held at the Middle School Track on Saturday, June 3rd starting at 10:00 am.  We are seeking volunteers for this event.  Volunteers will be expected to be there 30 minutes prior to the event at 9:30 am.  If you are interested in volunteering, please sign up and we will see you Saturday morning.  Current Arno students may not be volunteers.

Children must be accompanied by an adult and families will be running in heats that are predetermined.  Heat times will be communicated to families the week before the run.  Participants should come to the event wearing white and Eco-friendly colored corn starch will be thrown on runners/walkers as they move around the track.

ArnoColorRun2017.docx-22htfc5

Now that PD has concluded for the year, please print and submit you PD log from the MOECS system and turn it in no later than May 31

Thanks Katie!

Katie has agreed to rep Arno for the district Strategic Planning committee

New District Summer Hours

APPS Summer Hours

Monday thru Thursday

7:00 a.m. – 4:00 pm.

Closed Fridays*

(July 1 thru August 14)

*Summer Kids Camp at Riley Education Center will be held on Fridays

All District Offices and Programs closed on July 3rd & 4th

10 Tips for Organizing Google Drive

Clear the clutter and  take control!

Is your Drive Account a hot mess?

Google Drive has become one of my essential tools. All my files are in Google Drive. With unlimited storage and easy access from any device, I put everything in Drive. At first, this was no big deal. But after about five years of heavy drive usage, it became more difficult to find and manage my files. Here are my top 10 tips for organizing your Drive account.

1. Use folders

Your files are like people. Folders are like houses. Make sure that everyone has a home! The goal is to eliminate any “homeless” files.

Test it out: click on “my drive.” What do you see – files or folders? Move any “homeless” files into folders.

Tip: Don’t be shy about how many folders you create. I have folder “trees” that are 7+ deep. If you want your files to be in a specific order, add a number prefix.

Tip: if you have a LOT of homeless files to organize, open the file tree on the left and drag and drop your files into folders. You can also hold down the ctrl key to select multiple files at the same time.

2. Name your files carefully

Generic file names were okay when they were only your files. But Google Drive is for sharing, and when you share a file called “notes,” you aren’t doing your friends any favors. Be super detailed and specific with your file names.

• Bad: Lesson Plan
• Good: Week 3 Lesson Plan | John Sowash, 2017
• Bad: Meeting Agenda
• Good: Curriculum Meeting Agenda, March 21, 2017

You can use hashtags and special characters to draw attention to special files. I use [template] to identify documents that I copy frequently.

3. Color your folders

Add color to your most frequently used folders to make them easy to find. Right click on a folder and look for the “color” option.

4. Use emoji 😀

If color isn’t enough for you, you can add emoji to your folder names. Install Emoji for Chrome and add your favorite emoji into your folder names!

If you add your emoji at the front of the folder name it will move to the top of your list.

5. Share folders not files

Sharing individual files is fine if you are sharing with a small number of people on an infrequent basis. But most of us work in teams, groups or committees and share and pass files around. This is a prime use for a shared folder.

When you share a folder, no one has to remember everyone on the team. The folder already knows. Dump your file in and you’re done!

I recommend sharing folders as “view only.” You can make any file within the folder editable, but you don’t want everything editable by default.

Google Groups

When sharing with large groups of people, set up a Google Group and share the resources with the group, not individuals. You can manage access to resources simply by adding / removing individuals from the group. No need to re-share files with people who were recently added to the group.

Google Groups are important when sharing files with more than 200 people (like all students). You can manage access to resources simply by adding / removing individuals from the group. No need to re-share files with people who were recently added to the group.

Benefits of Group Sharing:

• Share once, to everyone
• Eliminates forgetting individuals.
• Retroactive sharing
• Works across the Google ecosystem
• Can “nest” groups
• No limit to number of people.

Team Drive

Your team could benefit from using a TEAM Drive folder. This feature became available in the spring of 2017 and offers new features for team sharing:

• The TEAM owns the files, not a person (important when team members leave)
• Team Drive files do not show up in shared with me
• Team Drive has a very different visual design to set it apart from a shared folder.
• Team Drives can be centrally created and managed through the Google Admin Console.

Learn more about Team Drive here.

6. Use shift + z to add files

Tip #5 creates a problem: “How do you add a file to the shared folder and keep it in your files”? The answer is “shift + z.” Use this shortcut to ADD a file to several folders. Now you can keep files organized using your personal system AND put it in a shared folder.

Click on a file in drive and press “shift + z.” It’s magic!

Note: you can’t use shift + z to add a file to a team Drive, only a traditional folder.

7. Deal with “shared with me.”

It’s hard enough organizing your own stuff.  With Google Drive, you also need to organize shared files! Going into “shared with me” is enough to trigger a panic attack. Here’s how to handle the clutter:

• If you see something you want, drag it into my drive and place it into a folder. You are not making a copy, you are organizing the original into your personal system. Now that you have added it into a folder, you don’t need to find it in shared with me.
• Ignore any file in shared with me that you don’t need. Don’t do anything. These files will will “disappear” eventually. Yes, you can “remove” a file, but if your goal is to empty out “shared with me” it is going to take you a LONG time.
• Do not treat shared with me like email. It is NOT your responsibility to visit and empty out shared files every day. It is the responsibility of the person who shares a file with you to explain why they are sharing the file.
• If you are using Google Classroom you are going to see a LOT of files in shared with me that come from Classroom. Ignore them. To view or manage these files, visit Google Classroom.

8. Purge old files

Google Drive has unlimited storage (for those using G Suite for Education). This is a blessing and a curse. Over time, clutter increases.  Take a few minutes and delete any duplicate or outdated files. This make is much easier to find what you are looking for!

Create an archive folder for files you can’t delete, but don’t access use. Hiding old content cuts down on the number of folders you need to sort through to find what you are looking for.

9. Upload with care

If you are a Microsoft Office user  you can upload and convert your existing MS Office files into Drive. While it might be tempting to use the “folder upload” button to upload your entire my documents folder, resist the urge!

If your documents folder is anything like mine, it’s a mess. I had hundreds of files that I had not used in years. Why upload them to Drive? Instead, adopt the Drive migration challenge:

Google Drive Migration Challenge

1. Each day, upload only the files that you use.
2. Create new files in Drive
3. After 1 year, throw whatever is left on to an external hard drive and toss in a drawer.

10. Use Google Keep

Need somewhere to jot a quick note? Making a grocery list? Trying to keep track of your to-do list? This is a job for Google Keep, not Google Docs!

Google Keep is great for all of your digital odds-n-ends. Putting these items in Keep reduces clutter in your Drive account. Need to move a Keep note into Drive? No problem! You can quickly convert an entire note to a Google Doc!

Author

John Sowash is an experienced classroom teacher, former school administrator, author of The Chromebook Classroom, and founder of the Google Certification Academy. John inspires educators to use technology connect with and challenge students. Schools around the world have invited John to come and share with them. You can connect with John via his blog (electriceducator.com) or Twitter (@jrsowash).

John R. Sowash, M.Ed
231-sowash-1
jrsowash@sowashventures.com
www.SowashVentures.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Read the article here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j-CtbsEXtLDnLf0oYnJht3VG_SfULyLSe20J9HjmPVo/edit#heading=h.o8jg7s1roq8t

AP Drama Club

Mars Rover Challenge wraps up in 5th grade

As you can see form the photos below, the students have had so much fun and learned much about engineering from our guests from Bosch.  The winners in there competition will have their names on a plaque sent to Mr. Creutz for accuracy and distance.  Way to go  5th grade!