December 2019

party glowing GIF by Kristin Carder

Coming soon to Arno…

Dec. 2

No events

Dec. 3

No events

Dec. 4

No events

Dec. 5

Super Cougar Pizza Lunch

PTA meeting 6:30

Dec. 6

Report Cards available after 4:00 p.m. via Parent Connect

Dec. 9

No events

Dec. 10

Reflections Breakfast

Dec. 11

No events

Dec. 12

No events

Dec. 13

Half-Day Early Dismissal 11:30

 

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Dec. 16

Arno Christmas Sing A Long 2:30

Dec. 17

Metro Parks 3rd Grade

Honor Choir Concert APAC 6:30

Dec. 18

Kindergarten to Marquis Theater

Dec. 19

No events

Dec. 20

PBIS Reward

**Christmas Break begins at the end of the day

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Christmas Break Dec. 21- Jan 5Classes Resume Jan 6, 2020

 

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Arno Vision

Arno Elementary will provide a system of support to empower

and inspire students to become collaborative learners

that strive for academic excellence

 

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On behalf of all the staff at Arno, we wish you and your family

a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season!

Celebrating being a Super Cougar at Rewards Clubs

This month we ran a second version of PBIS Clubs for our students as their monthly reward.  Lots of fun clubs for the kids to visit from Legos to book club to drawing an Elf!  Providing this incentive is a way of recognizing student effort in following all of our Arno PBIs expectations for behavior.  Way to go Cougars!

 

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Conferences

Thank you once again for attending parent/teacher conferences.  A strong school/home connection is research proven to make a difference in a child’s education.  In addition, please consider contacting your teacher if you are available to volunteer in the building and/or interested in doing projects at home.

 

 

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Congratulations…

To all of our students who entered the PTA sponsored Reflections contest on “Look Within”.  We are so very proud that so many students entered this year.  As part of that contest, winners are picked for each category and will go on to the state judging where they can earn additional recognition.  All of our  winners are below!

Photography
Makenzie Warneck

Literature
Ameria Bellinger
Cecilia Bergman

Visual Arts
Primary:  k-2
Nina Hegedus
Lainey Sisson

Intermediate:  3-5
Ameria Bellinger
Cecilia Bergman

Our breakfast for all students that participated is Dec 10

 

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District-wide Holiday Toy Box Drive

The annual district-wide toy drive for local families, as in the past we are looking for donations of new or gently used clothing and toys.  The box for drop off is in the main office at our school until December.  Please consider donating something if you are able.

 

Help! Volunteers needed for the classroom!

Arno parents are encouraged to sign up and become involved in our Cougar day!  Volunteers are such an important part of being partners for your child’s education.  If you have not had the chance yet, the volunteer form is below:

Parent Volunteers Needed

 

Reminder-Free NHS  Tutoring is Back!

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In case you missed the Facebook post…

Fourth grade had an awesome experience at the Parade Company this past month, with up close and personal tour of all the floats that were featured in the Thanksgiving Parade!

Traffic Pattern

Parking/Drop-off

As we all need to get our children to school, safety is always the primary concern.    We will do our best to help ensure an orderly drop-off/pick-up daily, but we need your help in making that happen.

** No child should run across the street to get into a car, or out.

**Help our traffic issues around school by parking a block or so away and WALKING your child before and after school.

**School traffic flow MUST go clockwise around the school. Make sure that your passenger door is ALWAYS closest to the curb.

BE SMART! BE PATIENT! BE CARING! BE KIND!!! BE RESPONSIBLE!!

 

Breakfast and Lunch Program

Parents can setup a free account online at https://www.mypaymentsplus.com/ . You will need their child’s student id number to setup the account and can get the id number from parent connection,  the school office or the FS office. To view your child’s meal account information and/or make payments online at https://www.mypaymentsplus.com/ (link is on our website).  There is a small transaction fee charged to make online payments.  The lunch program will continue to accept cash or check as we always have.

Parent Information:

Parent website: www.mypaymentsplus.com

Parent support line for questions: 1-877-237-0946

MyPaymentsPlus Free Mobile App available for download on IPhones, Androids and Tablets!!

**If you believe that you may qualify for free or reduced lunch, we ask that you please submit the application that went home in September or pick up a new one from the office as soon as possible. Our total count for free/reduced lunch helps the district receive federal funds to run our Title 1 program and help our at-risk students.

If you are not sure about the guidelines or have

any other questions, please call the office @827-1050

Free and Reduced Meal Application 19-20 SY (1)

 

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Top Ten Ways to Encourage Children to Read Over Christmas Break

 

10. Set expectations. I expect my students to continue to read daily over break. I expect the same of my own children at home. I tell them up front that I will be checking in after break and want to know what they read. As a parent, I ask my boys what they are reading each day and talk to them about the book when they’re done. There is not a question of if they will read on a given day, but when and how much.

9. Make plans. . In my classroom we will plan out what we think we will read before we leave for break. In my home we will plan out the best time for us to read, daily. My students know I plan to read a book a day over break. I need to plan ahead so that I have enough reading material to make it over the long break. I ask them to think about the books they are reading – do they need to take more home? My own children ensure they have reading material to read each day. If they don’t, we jump down to number 8. (Or, we jump to number 8 if it is Saturday, rainy, or we’re just in the mood.)

8. Visit a library or a bookstore. Just going to either one of these places is great – you are immediately surrounded by a community of readers! Both of my boys have library cards and a trip to the library is guaranteed during winter break. I immediately head to the new picture books and plop on the floor and read as many as possible. They usually head to the non-fiction books and look for something new on their current obsession. The bookstore is just as wonderful and we could all spend hours there.

7. Connect them to an author. I’ve seen it in my classroom and I’ve seen it at home – when children connect to the authors of the books they are reading, magic happens. Luckily, in this era, this is easier than ever. Kids can tweet out their love of their books to the author who wrote them. Many authors will tweet back. At home and at school we also check out the author’s website. Sometimes you can email them, but even more than that the resources are often incredible. Watch book trailers; find out the story of why they wrote the book, and more.

6. Talk. In my classroom I make time to sit down with each child over the course of two weeks and talk about what they’re reading. This is just as important at home, if not more so. I want to know what my boys are reading and what they are connecting to. I want to be there when they read the sad/hard/scary/funny part and get to discuss the reaction they had. I want to discuss why they feel this is the best series of all time and debate it. We connect through books and the discussion around them strengthens that bond.

5. Make it fun. We hold read-a-thons in my giant bed on a regular basis on the weekends. It’s a great feeling to look up from my cozy spot and see both of my boys curled up near me reading their books. If it is cold outside, we hold our read-a-thons downstairs by the fire with hot chocolate. There are challenges to see who can read the most, book talks to try and convince family members to read the book next, and more.

4. Make it important. When we value something, we devote time to it. By doing so, we show its importance. That’s why when I heard this idea from author Linda Urban; I knew I was going to steal it. In Linda’s family they bring their books to the dinner table on Tuesday nights. Whatever you’re currently reading is welcome. Finger food is on the table for dinner and for the entire meal everyone reads. Let me say that again, everyone reads. Think of the message that sends children!

3. Give books. We give books to everyone on our list. I include my boys on the title discussions for each recipient so they can see the thought that goes into matching the perfect title with the recipient. We talk about how wonderful the gift of a book is because it gives the person we’re giving it to an experience. (For more on giving books, and Chronicle’s #givebooks campaign, check out this link: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/landing-pages/givebooks/)

2. Get books. Books are part of the gift of Christmas in our home. I can think of no better way to send the message that I want you to be a reader than to give books. My boys can tell me titles that they are looking forward to reading and I will purchase them, but I also buy some because I think they will be a good stretch. I also give them gift cards so they can go to the bookstore and pick out their own books. If you are looking for great titles this year, look no further than the Nerdy Book Club nominees for 2013: https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/our-2nd-nerdversary-and-the-2013-nerdy-award-finalists/

1. Be a role model. In the classroom I share my reading life with my students. Returning from Thanksgiving break I will tell them what I read over break and share titles. I want them to know I am a reader. I do the same with my children at home. If I don’t model it, they won’t do it. Be a reader. Magazines, novels, comics, newspapers, etc. – let them see you read. Let them see you react to books. Inspire

Katherine Sokolowski has taught for fifteen years and currently teaches fifth grade in Monticello, Illinois. She is passionate about reading both in her classroom and also with her two sons. You can find her online at http://readwriteandreflect.blogspot.com/ and on Twitter as @katsok.

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Health Corner

Winter time brings some additional challenges to school aside from the cold weather.  Below are a few reminders for helping our students to stay safe and healthy at school:

  • Wash hands frequently — especially after using the restroom, coughing, or sneezing.
  • Cover your cough — cough or sneeze into your elbow or a tissue.
  • Encourage children to put hats and gloves into coat sleeves when hanging among others’ items.

Please report all cases of communicable illnesses or circumstances to our office when reporting your child’s absence.

** Students should be fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication before returning to school.

** Students who have been treated for head lice must have a head check in the office before returning to class, even if the head lice was discovered over the weekend.

By reporting these things to our staff, we can limit the spread of germs and other things.  The two attachments contain additional information that may be helpful to you.  Please know that information related to illnesses is kept confidential.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

 

 LL_May_101_Parents (2)-2128vgf

 

flu-guide-for-parents-2018-vd5ks3

 

 

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DRESSING FOR THE WEATHER

Brr!  The weather has turned chilly!  Please send your child to school with a warm coat daily.   It’s always a good idea to dress in layers to adapt to changing temperatures.  Please label your child’s jackets and sweaters so they can find their way back to their owners if left somewhere.  The Lost & Found is currently full of items needing to be claimed!

 

 

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Take a peek at Santa’s Reindeer

https://reindeercam.com/

 

 Track Santa with NORAD help

https://www.noradsanta.org/

 

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November 2019

Coming soon to Arno…

thanks giving running GIF by Leannimator

November

4

No events

5

Election Day

6

No events

7

Limo/Lunch Day

PTA Meeting 6:30

8

Reflections due

District Assessment Reports go home

11

No events

12

No events

13

School improvement meeting 7:50

14

Picture Retake Day

15

Principal for the day

 

18

Book Fair week begins

Mr. Peace Assembly

Hearing Rescreens

19

No events

20

Parade Company 4th grade

Parent/Teacher Conferences 5:00-7:30

21

Early Release 11:30

Parent/Teacher Conferences 12:45-3:15 & 5:00-7:30

22

PBIS Reward

25

No events

26

Early Release 11:30

27

No School

28

Happy Thanksgiving!

29

No School

 

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Wishing all of our Arno Families a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

ARNO VISION

ARNO ELEMENTARY WILL PROVIDE A SYSTEM OF SUPPORT TO EMPOWER

AND INSPIRE STUDENTS TO BECOME COLLABORATIVE LEARNERS

THAT STRIVE FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

 

Happy Halloween!

 

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Parent/Teacher Conferences 

Please mark your calendar for Nov. 20 & 21 as parent/teacher conferences are just around the corner.  The sign up links for your child’s teacher are below. Be sure to click the link to get a time slot.  The annual PTA Book Fair will be that same week this year with a parent night to purchase on November 20 & 21 until 7:30.

 

Haskin https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4AACAD2DA0FC1-young
Mercer https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090b45a8a629a6fc1-mercer
Harrison https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0D48A5A92FA2FF2-harrison
Stanley https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4faea82dabf94-msstanley
Pushman https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e48a4a92eaaf58-pushman1
Watson https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0c4cafac28aa8-watson7
Martinchick https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b054ea4a92ca20-martinchick7
Schultz  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4caeaf28abf58-schultz3
Cervantes https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4eaaac2ea4f94-cervantes
Amonette https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c44aaaa22a1fd0-amonette1
Kalis https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4eaaac2ea4f94-kalis2
Warneck https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4bacad22a4fd0-warneck1
Guyot https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e48a4ab22a5fb6-guyot1
Talamonti https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050449A9AE28A0FA7-talamonti
Trionfi https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4eaaac2ea4f94-trionfi1
Johnson https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0E49ACAD23A1F94-johnson1
Zuke https://www.signupgenius.com/go/805054daba82aa5fb6-zuke
Garza https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050444AEA72FA1FF2-garza 
Higgins https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084aafa92fa3fc1-higgins
Jensen https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4BA9A62CA5F49-jensen4
Bleau https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A094EA8A728A6FD0-ecpfall

 

Picture Retake

Picture retake day is Nov. 14.  For those students who would like to get their picture retaken and bought a package, they MUST bring their package down to the cameras for an even exchange.  

 

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From the District

We are excited to announce that with our most recent bulk purchase, APPS is able to offer families our educational discounted pricing on Chromebooks – Lenovo 100E Generation 2 – with 4 GB RAM for $170.  (25% savings over current Amazon price)

If you are interested in taking advantage of this offering for your student(s), please see the attached letter for more info!  (Great holiday gift!)

email contact: chromebooks@appublicschools.com

Dr. John J. Tafelski, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction

Mr. Adam Michalak, Director of Technology


Parent Technology Letter 2019.pdf

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Teacher Sites

Many of our teachers maintain educational websites or blogs- please see the list to see of your teacher has a site to access.  Some teachers also use other means of communicating such as class dojo, so there may be alternate tech piece for your teacher not listed here- you can contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions.

 

Teacher Website/blog, etc
Lisa Smalley http://lisasmalley.edublogs.org/
Lindsay Garza http://garza1920.edublogs.org/
Julie Martinchick https://mrsmartinchicksclass.shutterfly.com/
Rachel Warneck http://warneck.edublogs.org/
Katie Jensen https://www.facebook.com/groups/2283017308391431/?ref=bookmarks
Megan Schultz https://www.facebook.com/groups/kidsinroom111/?ref=bookmarks
Emilie Talamonti http://talamonti.edublogs.org/ 
Andrea Alvarez  https://appspeech.weebly.com/arno-elementary.html
Nicole Amonette https://www.facebook.com/groups/rm118/?re=bookmark
Carrie Solak http://apelementarytech.weebly.com/
Kindergarten Team (stanley – but shared) https://sites.google.com/appublicschools.com/

kindergartenconnection

Sarah Kalis http://skalis.edublogs.org/
Erin Higgins http://fifthgrade1920.edublogs.org/
Ciara Zuke  http://zuke5thgrade1920.edublogs.org/
Colleen Byrne (Elementary Media Center Blog) https://apelementarymedia.weebly.com
Megan Johnson https://johnsonmegan.edublogs.org/
Sara Bleau (Allen Park ECP) http://allenparkecp.weebly.com/

https://mrsbleausclass.shutterfly.com/

Jeff Skebo (5th Grade Band)  https://apelementaryband.wordpress.com/
Alex Cervantes https://www.facebook.com/groups/room113/

 

 

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Building up to Kindergarten

We had a terrific turnout for our third annual Preschool meeting with parents and their preschooler.  This is an event that is open to all of our local preschools in the area and is designed to give parents a better understanding of the skills that their child will need as they enter kindergarten next fall.   We had over 53 amazing  families from various preschools attend the event, well more than the amount over last year.

A huge thanks to our staff , Nickie Stanley, Cristina Mercer, Beth Wesley and Cassie Harrison, as well as our Bennie colleagues for an excellent job on helping our future kindergartners be better prepared for next year.

The presentation slides can be seen below- there will be Part 2 of Building up to Kindergarten in the winter.

Building Up to Kindergarten Part 1 Night Fall

 

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Dear Moms, Dads, Grandparents and Members of the Community,

We are hiring lunchroom paraprofessionals!  Please see attached flyer for details and consider joining our team!

Thank you,


APPS-Job Opportunities-Join our team.pdf

 

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Traffic Pattern

Parking/Drop-off

As we all need to get our children to school, safety is always the primary concern.    We will do our best to help ensure an orderly drop-off/pick-up daily, but we need your help in making that happen.

** No child should run across the street to get into a car, or out.

**Help our traffic issues around school by parking a block or so away and WALKING your child before and after school.

**School traffic flow MUST go clockwise around the school. Make sure that your passenger door is ALWAYS closest to the curb.

**We now have some volunteers for the dropoff/pickup, but we need more.  Please contact the office if you can help out!

BE SMART! BE PATIENT! BE CARING! BE KIND!!! BE RESPONSIBLE!!

 

EXCITING NEWS

Wahoo!  Introducing Arno Elementary’s first Facebook page! “LIKE” us to see lots of great updates and photos from school!  This format is much easier to share photos in real time, so the blog photo gallery will now be coming to you in the form of Facebook posts!  Thank you for promoting this social media platform as a positive way to share the good news and great things happening at Arno!

HERE IS THE LINK!  

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

**I have learned that there is an Arno Elementary Facebook page out there with pictures- this is NOT an official school page- The real Arno Facebook page is titled “Arno Caring Cougars”.  Please check the page to make sure it has current photos before you “LIKE” it- The most recent post is on a lesson from Mrs. Byrne.

So what’s happening with the blog? 

The blog, after a post on Oct. 11, will then only be updated once monthly on the first Friday of every month.  It will still contain a calendar and other news, but will no longer contain pictures- those will be on the Facebook page.

Of course, as always, if you have a concern or question, please contact me directly by email or by calling our office.  I am here to help you in any way you need.

Free NHS  Tutoring is Back!

Help! Volunteers needed for the classroom!

Arno parents are encouraged to sign up and become involved in our Cougar day!  Volunteers are such an important part of being partners for your child’s education.  If you have not had the chance yet, the volunteer form from Meet the Teacher is below

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