Flickinger Elementary Nancy Brunetz, Principal

45400 Vanker, Utica, MI 48317 Flickinger E-mail:flickingerinfo@ucs.misd.net

586-797-4900 Phone / 586-797-4999 Attendance Line / 586-797-4901 Fax Flickinger Website: www.flickinger.uticak12.org

Utica Community Schools Website: http://www.uticak12.org

Table of Contents

Career Focus Luncheon-2

Essay Winner-2

Blood Drive-2

Kaleidoscope-2

Book Club-3

Ozobots-4

4th Grade-5

3rd Grade-6

March is Reading Month-7/8

Read To a Dog-9

Relatives Day-10 & 11

Jump Rope for Heart-12

Talent Show-12

Principal’s All stars-13

Mineset– 14

Make A Difference –15

Fun Keeps Happening-16

Weathering & Erosion-17

Parent Group-18

SACC-19

SACC Summer Camp-20

Academic Placement-21

ATG-21

Head Lice-22 & 23

April Calendar-24

Dates to Remember

4/3 -4/7 No School

4/10 School Resumes

4/11 1st&3rd Music concert

4/14 No school

4/25 Blood Drive 2-8pm

A Blue Ribbon School of Excellence

Dear Flickinger Families,

March was filled with creative and motivating ways to increase our students’ time reading. Thank you

for your continued support at home encouraging and praising your child as they strive to reach higher

levels of achievement through reading. The student body exceeded one of our school goals of reading

100,000 minutes by the third week of March.

It’s hard to believe that the month of April brings us to the start of our fourth marking period. Report

cards will be distributed electronically via email on Thursday, April 13th to all parent that have signed

up for a secure PowerSchool Parent Portal account. Please contact the office if you still need your

child’s information.

One skill we are working on across all curriculum areas is incorporating elaboration of evidence in our

written responses. This means the topic is developed and supported with evidence such as relevant

facts, definitions and quotes or examples from the text. A few tips for strong elaboration include or-

ganizing your facts into topics then organizing your topics into subtopics. The writer can use things the

subtopics have in common to tie them together so it doesn’t seem like a string of facts.

During the months of April and May, our students in grades 3 to 6 will be given the Michigan Depart-

ment of Education’s summative assessment called Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-

STEP). This assessment will measure student knowledge in the specified content area through the

grade level they are in. All grades will be evaluated in English Language Arts and Mathematics.

Fourth graders will have an additional assessment in Science and fifth graders will be tested in Social

Studies. We ask that you help us by seeing that your child has enough sleep each night, a good break-

fast and arrive to school on time. All of our testing is scheduled to take place in the mornings. Your

support has a tremendous impact on your child’s overall experience.

The last quarter of the school year contains off-site learning experiences for each grade level, music

concerts and Parent Group activities. If you are planning on attending a field trip with your child,

please make sure you have a UCS Volunteer Background Check completed at least 2 weeks prior to the

activity. This is something you only need to complete once.

I hope everyone enjoys the time off from school during Spring Break. I look forward to hearing stories

from the boys and girls when we return on April 10th.

Sincerely,

Nancy Brunetz, Principal

Pint Size Hero Blood Drive Tuesday, April 25th from 2:00-8:00 pm

Flickinger Elementary will be

holding a community

service project developed by the

American Red Cross to introduce

children to the importance of

donating blood. The program

encourages the students to invite

parents, guardians, and other adults to

give blood on their behalf.

Register: www.redcrossblood.org (sponsor code-Flickinger)

OR pick up a form in the school office. To donate blood,

you must be 17 years of age, weigh at least 110 pounds, be

in general good health, and have a valid photo ID upon

donation.

Each student who invites an adult who presents to donate

will be recognized as a Pint Size Hero and will receive an

American Red Cross thank-you gift. If a parent has more

than one child in the school, each student will be

recognized. Tomorrow’s life-saving blood donations will be

made by today’s children who are taught the importance of

blood donation. Please consider donating blood to help your

student and help save a life.

Career Focus Career Focus Luncheon, an annual “must at-

tend” event for area workplace professionals

and more than 2,000 Utica Community

Schools sixth graders, is set for Wednesday, May 3 and

Thursday, May 4 at Palazzo Grande in Shelby Township

from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Flickinger

students will go on May 3rd.

Keynote speaker will be Andy Appleby, Executive Officer

and founder of General Sports and Entertainment.

Mr. Appleby created the United Shore Professional Baseball

League, a professional baseball league in Utica.

Area businesses and individuals are invited to serve as table

sponsors to share their career and college experiences with

today’s students – tomorrow’s leaders.

School Essay Winner! I Love My School essay winner was Drew W. from Ms. Hartsig

Class. Flickinger came in 2nd place in the essay contest with i-9

Sports. Drew received a wonderful prize from i-9 Sports .

Great job Drew! On Sunday, March 12th Flickinger third grader, Max W.,

attended a luncheon in Grand Rapids where he was

honored as a Kaleidoscope writing contest winner. In

addition to receiving a medal and complimentary book

containing a published copy of his short story, "Snakezilla,"

Max and his family were able to meet Michigan author

Janie Panagopoulos. "My class had just read her novel

Traders In Time and interviewed her in a distance learning

so it was so neat to meet her in person," explained Max.

What a great experience for our Flickinger writer!

3rd Grade Book Club is Paws-itively Great!

The third grade teachers offered an after school book club to third grade students every Wednesday

during the month of March. Each week's activities were based on The Iditarod, a dog sled race in

Alaska. Students researched and tracked a musher as well as read and summarized both fictional and

expository texts. Students discovered that reading is Paws-itively great!

Fun with Ozobot Robots Ozobots are small robots that are controlled by colored markers or tablets. To control them the

students must create paths and codes. From the littlest kindergarteners to the sixth graders, students

are able to create maps, mazes and create tasks for their ozobot. This extends the online coding

courses that each class has been experiencing. Great Fun!

After reading, A Faraway Home: An Orphan Train Story, the fourth grade students had the opportunity to participate

in a video conference interview with the author, Janie Lynn Panagopoulos, about her historical fiction novel. Prior to

the interview, students read to learn about the history of America’s Orphan Trains, write personal reflections, and

analyze the author’s writing craft. The students were prepared with unique questions that focused on the book’s content and

the author’s successful writing habits.

Distance Learning At Flickinger Flickinger third graders recently participated in the ASK program through the Macomb ISD. Students read a novel about

Michigan history entitled, Traders In Time as well interviewed the author Janie Panagopoulos. "I liked reading about how

they went back in time and learned about Native American life," said third grader Kevin Kent. Students were given the

opportunity to ask the author questions about her work. "I asked the author if the character LeClaire was based on a real

person," commented third grader Jade Burnham. Integrating reading, writing, social studies, and technology has created

meaningful learning experiences for Flickinger students. Traveling through time in Michigan studies has taken on a whole

new dimension.

March is Reading Month Fun

Eppler students

read to Flickinger

students

Flickinger Students Read to a Dog

As part of March is Reading Month some Flickinger students kindergarten through 6th grade were able to read a story of

their choice to Lola the dog. What great fun our students had reading to Lola. She really enjoyed it and so did we!

A Big Thank You to Lola and her owner. Thank You to Ms. Slade for getting Lola to come to our School.

1st Graders celebrate Relatives Day

Ms. Goral’s Class

1st Graders celebrate Relatives Day

Ms. Slade’s Class

Jump Rope from Heart 2017

Flickinger Talent Show Flickinger students performed with great talent in our Annual Talent Show. Lots of

great talent! What a fantastic time students, parents and staff had at this wonderful

event. Here are all the great performers! Thank You Mrs. Nicol for chairing this

What’s Your Game Plan?

To be successful in school and life, a person needs to demonstrate strong social, achievement and intellectual character. Social character facilitates positive relationships with other people and is exemplified by social intelligence and gratitude. Achievement character assists with the achievement of personal goals and is demonstrated by grit. Intellectual character accelerates learning and is shown through curiosity. Principal All Stars are students who have demonstrated growth mindset during the past month by displaying positive social, achievement and intellectual character.

Congratulations to all of these students for the month of March!

Sebastian P. Hannah U. Layla G. Alexis A.

Jacob D. Andy C. Ella C.

Shila L.

Students showing Curiosity

“MAKE A DIFFERENCE” AWARD The “Make a Difference” Award is given on an annual basis to individuals who have made a significant positive

impact on the educational experience of a special needs student. The nominee must be presently employed by a school

district within Macomb County or the MISD. As parents, we feel that it is impor tant to recognize these people

who have had a positive effect on the lives of our children. Flickinger’s own Mrs. May, Ms. Diskin, Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Winningham were nominated. What great teachers

we have at Flickinger Elementary.

Flickinger’s 3rd Grade Book Club

The Fun Keeps Happening

Students enjoy the last Book Club. Students brought their favorite book to share

The second graders completed a weathering and erosion

experiment with a cookie. They used the cookie to see how rocks

are broken down by wind, animals, and rain.

Academic Placement for 2017-2018

As a staff, we work hard to meet our student’s individual needs and to facilitate successful learning in

every classroom. The make-up of the classroom is a time consuming process for our staff. Many factors are

considered while designing the optimum learning environment for each student. Our first priority is the best

instructional placement for all of our children and their needs.

Parents have a wealth of information about their children and their insights are important to the process. As we plan for

next year, if you have specific educational concerns about your child that you would like our professional team to consider

during the assignment process, please ask the office for an “Additional Educational Information Form.” Do not include an

individual teacher’s name. These forms need to be turned into the office by Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at 4:00 pm.

The staff will take your concerns into consideration for next year’s placement. I can assure you that we will make every

effort to provide your child with an outstanding 2017-18 school year. While parental input will be considered, specific

placement can not be guaranteed as we work to establish a balanced environment in each of our classrooms. Please place

your trust in our professional judgment for the best overall placement of your children and all children at

Flickinger Elementary. If you have any questions, please contact the school office at 586-797-4900.

ATG Program

Utica Community Schools is committed to an educational program that recognizes the unique value, needs and talents of

each student. Instructional programs for the gifted and talented are an integral part of this commitment. The Academically

Talented and Gifted (ATG) program supports unique opportunities for students who are identified as

gifted and talented. ATG students possess a capacity for excellence far beyond that of their

chronological peers. This capacity includes many and varied characteristics that require curriculum and

instruction directed to their particular talents.

Program Goals

To provide for differentiation of instruction to address the needs of ATG students in order to

create life-long learners

To foster creativity, talent development and problem-solving skills to expand each student's awareness of choices

for satisfying contributions to society

To support the social and emotional needs of gifted students in order to help students develop healthy self-esteem,

increase commitment to personal responsibility and responsibility towards others

To foster participation in challenging enrichment opportunities for students in their areas of talent and interests

To provide professional development opportunities related to gifted education to teachers to support and improve

educational opportunities for gifted students.

Utica Community Schools identifies students at the end of third grade for the ATG Program. Students in fourth through

12th grades are given various opportunities to develop their talents and skills.

ATG Enrichment Program for Grades 4 - 6 The ATG Enrichment Program has been designed for academically talented and gifted fourth through sixth grade students.

The curriculum is built upon student interest, using community resources. It stresses creative thinking skills at the highest

levels, problem-solving activities, competitions and in-depth studies beyond the regular classroom experience. Our diverse

coaching staff is made up of teachers or parents.

Gifted Resources at M.I.S.D The Macomb Intermediate School District's website for gifted and talented children includes resources that will guide you

in finding out about gifted children and the education of gifted children: http://www.misd.net/gifted

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

3

SPRING BREAK

NO SCHOOL

4

NO SCHOOL

5

NO SCHOOL

6

NO SCHOOL

7

NO SCHOOL

10

Math O. 3:15-4:15 Junior Girl Scouts Meeting

6:00-7:30pm

S.O 4:30-5:30/6-7

11 Chess Club 7:30

SO 3:15-4:15 &

6:30-7:30

1st gr. Music concert

6:30-7:15

3rd gr. Music concert

7:30-8:15

12

SO 11:30-12:10

SO 3:15-4:14/6-7 &

6-6:45

Cub Scouts

6:30-8

13

SO - 3:15-4:15

SO 4:30-5:30/6-7

SO 6:30-7:30

Cub Scouts

6:30-8:30

14

NO SCHOOL

17

Math O. 3:15-4:15

SO 4:30-5:30/6-7

18 Chess Club 7:30

SO 3:15-4:15 &

6:30-7:30

Daisy meeting 6:30-7:30

19 SO 11:30-12:10

ATG 3:15-5:15

SO 3:15-4:14/6-7 &

6-6:45

Cub Scouts

6:30-8

20

SO - 3:15-4:15

SO 4:30-5:30/6-7

SO 6:30-7:30

Cub Scouts

6:30-8:30

21 SO. 7:45-8:25am

Bagel Day

5th Grade

Sharing Assembly

24

Volunteer Appreciation

Week

Math O. 3:15-4:15

SO 4:30-5:30/6-7

Junior Girl Scouts Meeting

6:00-7:30pm

25 Chess Club 7:30

Blood Drive 2-8pm

SO 3:15-4:15 &

6:30-7:30

Parent Group meeting

7-8pm

26

SO 11:30-12:10

SO 3:15-4:14/6-7 &

6-6:45 Brownie Meeting 6:15-8

Cub Scouts

6:30-8:30

27

SO - 3:15-4:15

SO 4:30-5:30/6-7

SO 6:30-7:30

Cub Scouts

6:30-8:30

28

Science O. 7:45-8:25am