February 1

Coming up at Arno..

Feb. 1

Parent Survey open (see link below)

Texas Roadhouse Fundraiser Kickoff Grades K-4

Feb. 2

No events

Feb. 3

No events

Feb. 4

PTA Meeting 3:45

Feb. 5

No Events

Feb. 6 (Saturday)

Arno Fun Fair 11:00-2:00

Board Appreciation Month Video

Thank you Board of Education-

 

Dear APPS Staff and Community Members,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sincerely,

John J. Sturock, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

 

 Parent Surveys

It’s that time of year already in our school improvement planning where we need to send out surveys to our Arno stakeholders.  You will have the opportunity to take a brief survey from the State of Michigan rating some of your experiences here at Arno.  The survey will be available starting on Feb 1, and end on Feb. 12.  The link is embedded in this article, and can also be found in the right column under “Parent Survey Link”  If you are unable to access via computer, we will also have sets of computers set up in the gym for both parent/teacher conference nights if you wish to take it there.  Giving us good feedback helps us plan better to meet the needs of every Cougar stakeholder.  In addition, students and staff also take a similar survey during the school day.

All of the feedback you provide is then summarized and becomes part of our school improvement plan for the 2016-17 school year.  Thank you and look for that link to be active on Feb. 1.

Parent Survey Link: http://eprovesurveys.advanc-ed.org/surveys/#/action/266/20337

conf

Parent/Teacher Conferences 

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

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

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

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

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

 

Building Fundraisers

There are 2 separate Texas Roadhouse fundraisers coming up from Arno, with 2 different goals.

Fifth grade is currently selling the popular rolls among the fifth grade parents for camp.

The other Roadhouse rolls fundraiser will be for parents in grades K-4 and those funds earned will go towards technology in the lower elementary grades.  The letter below explains the fundraiser for parents of students in grades K-4, which will go out with the selling form the last week of January.  The timeline is also included with a kickoff date of February 1.  This is a building sponsored fundraiser and is not being run by the PTA.

Dear Parents,

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

 

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

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

Fundraiser Timeline

February 1- February 12 Fundraiser Sale

February 19 All money due

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

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

 

Spirit Week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spirit Week 2016 flyer

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

Spring (winter) Book Fair

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

 

 

Arno Fun Fair

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

Arno Olympics

A big Shout-Out to Ms. Amonette for running another fun Arno Olympics!  It was great to see such a large crowd out on a late January night to compete for bragging rights in golf, ring toss, and hockey to name a few.  In the end, it seemed that the kids were always coming up the winners!  Congratulations to all of our medal winners, and great job to everyone who competed!

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

 Have a great Cougar week!

January 25

 

Coming up at Arno…

January 25

No events

January 26

Middle School Parent Orientation 6:30

January 27

PTSA Council Meeting 6:30

January 28

No events

January 29

End of the first semester

 

Arno Olympics

The annual Arno Olympics is tonight.  Please listen to the podcast below for more information from Ms. Amonette’s classroom.

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

Arno Olympics Flyer 2016

 

Building Fundraisers

There are 2 separate Texas Roadhouse fundraisers coming up from Arno, with 2 different goals.

Fifth grade will be selling the popular rolls among the fifth grade parents for camp.

The other Roadhouse rolls fundraiser will be for parents in grades K-4 and those funds earned will go towards technology in the lower elementary grades.  The letter below explains the fundraiser for parents of students in grades K-4, which will go out with the selling form the last week of January.  The timeline is also included with a kickoff date of February 1.  This is a building sponsored fundraiser and is not being run by the PTA.

Dear Parents,

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

 

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

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

Fundraiser Timeline

February 1- February 12 Fundraiser Sale

February 19 All money due

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

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

IMG_7895

 

Parent Surveys

It’s that time of year already in our school improvement planning where we need to send out surveys to our Arno stakeholders.  You will have the opportunity to take a brief survey from the State of Michigan rating some of your experiences here at Arno.  The survey will be available starting on Feb 1, and end on Feb. 12.  We will be providing the link to it via email blast on that day, as well as posting it in the blog.  If you are unable to access via computer, we will also have sets of computers set up in the gym for both parent/teacher conference nights if you wish to take it there.  Giving us good feedback helps us plan better to meet the needs of every Cougar stakeholder.  In addition, students and staff also take a similar survey during the school day.

All of the feedback you provide is then summarized and becomes part of our school improvement plan for the 2016-17 school year.  Thank you very much and look for that link around Feb. 1

5th Grade Science

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

IMG_1098 IMG_1100 IMG_1102

 

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

Spring (winter) Book Fair

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

 

 

Arno Fun Fair

Dear Parents,

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

Attention 5th Grade Parents

From the office of Mark Lowe, Middle School Principal:

Dear 5th Grade Parents/Guardians,

We would like to invite you to the 6th Grade Parent Orientation, which will take place in the Middle School cafeteria on Tuesday, January 26th from 6:30 – 7:30. This orientation is for the parents/guardians of current 5th grade students who will be attending Allen Park Middle School for the 2016-17 school year.  This is a great opportunity for you to come and learn about your student’s first year at Allen Park Middle School.

Although we cannot make this meeting mandatory, we strongly encourage you to attend. Even if you are not a first time parent of a middle schooler, the information provided is always being renewed.

This is a PARENTS ONLY event. We ask that you leave your student at home for this evening, as they will have their own orientation at the end of August.  Principal, Mr. Mark Lowe, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director, Mr. Bruce Andrews, and our counselors Mr. Curry and Mrs. Kristin Gladd will be presenting information and will be available for questions.

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, January 26th!

Sincerely,

Mark Lowe

Principal

 High School Performance

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

IMG_0454 IMG_0457 IMG_0464 IMG_0465 IMG_0467

M-STEP

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

 Have a great Cougar week!

January 18

Snoopy-Christmas-peanuts-452772_1280_960

Coming up at Arno…

Jan 18

No events

Jan 19

No events

Jan 20

Lock down drill

Jan 21

High School Play grades 3-5 9:00

Jan 22

Arno Olympics 6:00

 

Parent Surveys

It’s that time of year already in our school improvement planning where we need to send out surveys to our Arno stakeholders.  You will have the opportunity to take a brief survey from the State of Michigan rating some of your experiences here at Arno.  The survey will be available starting on Feb 1, and end on Feb. 12.  We will be providing the link to it via email blast on that day, as well as posting it in the blog.  If you are unable to access via computer, we will also have sets of computers set up in the gym for both parent/teacher conference nights if you wish to take it there.  Giving us good feedback helps us plan better to meet the needs of every Cougar stakeholder.  In addition, students and staff also take a similar survey during the school day.

All of the feedback you provide is then summarized and becomes part of our school improvement plan for the 2016-17 school year.  Thank you very much and look for that link around Feb. 1

 

Arno Fun Fair

Dear Parents,

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

Arno Olympics

The annual Arno Olympics of fast approaching on January 22.  Please listen to the podcast below for more information from Ms. Amonette’s classroom.

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

Arno Olympics Flyer 2016

 

Attention 5th Grade Parents

From the office of Mark Lowe, Middle School Principal:

Dear 5th Grade Parents/Guardians,

We would like to invite you to the 6th Grade Parent Orientation, which will take place in the Middle School cafeteria on Tuesday, January 26th from 6:30 – 7:30. This orientation is for the parents/guardians of current 5th grade students who will be attending Allen Park Middle School for the 2016-17 school year.  This is a great opportunity for you to come and learn about your student’s first year at Allen Park Middle School.

Although we cannot make this meeting mandatory, we stronglyencourage you to attend. Even if you are not a first time parent of a middle schooler, the information provided is always being renewed.

This is a PARENTS ONLY event. We ask that you leave your student at home for this evening, as they will have their own orientation at the end of August.  Principal, Mr. Mark Lowe, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director, Mr. Bruce Andrews, and our counselors Mr. Curry and Mrs. Kristin Gladd will be presenting information and will be available for questions.

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, January 26th!

Sincerely,

Mark Lowe

Principal

 

High School Play

Just a reminder that we will be taking our 3rd-5th graders to the high school on Jan. 21 @9:00.  This production is a culminating activity for the students and I hear it will be quite good.  Permission slips went out Wednesday.

 

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

Spring (winter) Book Fair

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

Dollars and Sense Assembly

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

IMG_0398 IMG_0401IMG_0402IMG_0406IMG_040720160114_10371820160114_102938

 

Have a great Cougar week!

 

 

 

 

 

January 11

snow

Coming up at Arno…

January 11         

No events

January 12

No events

January 13

No events

January 14

Dollars and Sense Assembly K-5

January 15

No School- Teacher PD Day

 

happy_yearflag

 

Happy New Year Arno Families!  I hope that you and your family had a joyous holiday season as we now get set for an exciting 2016 at Arno.  We are really looking forward to some great events coming up like the Arno Olympics, special assemblies, spring book fair, and our skating party to name a few.  Of course, we always focus on the wonderful family we have here at Arno,  with our caring cougar staff, students, and parents all working together to make this the best school it can be!

Looking forward to an Awesome 2016, Happy New Year!

Steve Zielinski

 

snow

Brrr… it’s cold outside!

Please remember that we still continue to have outdoor lineup and outdoor recess unless the wind chill hits 10 degrees.  Be sure to properly dress your child before sending them on their way to every morning as we make our way into the heart of winter.  If we see snow, be sure they are dressed with boots and snow pants for the younger ones if they wish to play in it.  Think Spring!

 

M-Step

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

MSTEP DATA RELEASED TO PUBLIC

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

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

Parent reports are being prepared this week and will be going home the week of Jan. 11.  These results contain individual student results and come with detailed explanation from the state on what each of the scores mean.  If you have questions on the report, please contact the office.

ARNO Scores: Although this was a baseline test, Arno scored very well in comparison to the rest of the state.  We are very proud of our students for performing so well on this new academic test, that will now move to web based testing this year (We still took the paper/pencil version last year).  As you will notice we scored well across the board in ELA, while our continued focus will be in the areas of math and science.  Please let me know if you have question on the scores below.

 

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

Attention 5th Grade Parents

From the office of Mark Lowe, Middle School Principal:

Dear 5th Grade Parents/Guardians,

We would like to invite you to the 6th Grade Parent Orientation, which will take place in the Middle School cafeteria on Tuesday, January 26th from 6:30 – 7:30. This orientation is for the parents/guardians of current 5th grade students who will be attending Allen Park Middle School for the 2016-17 school year.  This is a great opportunity for you to come and learn about your student’s first year at Allen Park Middle School.

Although we cannot make this meeting mandatory, we strongly encourage you to attend. Even if you are not a first time parent of a middle schooler, the information provided is always being renewed.

This is a PARENTS ONLY event. We ask that you leave your student at home for this evening, as they will have their own orientation at the end of August.  Principal, Mr. Mark Lowe, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director, Mr. Bruce Andrews, and our counselors Mr. Curry and Mrs. Kristin Gladd will be presenting information and will be available for questions.

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, January 26th!

Sincerely,

Mark Lowe

Principal

 

 

Arno Fun Fair

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

 

Arno Olympics

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

IMG_1646 2

Arno Olympic Podcast

Arno Olympics Flyer 2016

 

 Razzing it up on RAZ Kids in Mrs. Martinchick’s class

IMG_0379 IMG_0380 IMG_0381

 

Kindergarten practices social skills…

 IMG_0385 IMG_0387 IMG_0389 IMG_0392

 

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

20151216_094857 20151216_095034 20151216_100146 20151216_100158

 Make it a great Cougar week!