Friday, April 17, 2015

Principal's Update- April 16, 2015

Happy Friday!  It's a beautiful morning and life is good around McKinley!  It's fun to see some of our students start to observe and explore the outside world.  I can't even count the number of worms I've had students bring me each morning.

32 days left to motivate, inspire, and educate....


STEM Hours
Just a reminder, Amy has graciously given us 2 days of STEM planning to do some work with math.  We will talk through expectations at our June 2nd staff meeting.  For now, decide on 2 days you and your team will commit to for June (6 hours a day).  Please let me know the dates/times you will be meeting. 

Also, June 5th is our PLC day (for those who participated in PLC's, you do not report).  Because this is an actual staff day, your team cannot be compensated for STEM hours to work this day (you can still meet, however, you can't be compensated through the STEM hours). 

School Board Presentation
McKinley is presenting to the School Board on Monday, April 27th @ 6:30pm.   We'd love to have you in the audience to help show support and answer questions regarding McKinley.

Book Study & Scheduling
After we met, I had an email (from a group I follow) about creative scheduling in an elementary.  This connects directly with the discussions and work we did at our last meeting.  Below is the link to the article- it's a great read.    

http://www.allthingsplc.info/blog/view/291/strategic-school-schedules-support-interventions

Translations
Please remember Sylvia and Nura need time to do translations.  They are getting more and more requests asking for the translation to be done in a day or two.  Because they have full schedules in classrooms, they need around 3-4 days to translate the documents. 

Student Council (Next Year)
If you are interested in serving as the Student Council Advisor next year, please let me know.  This position can also be shared between two staff members. 

Hettinga Fundraiser
As many of you know, Don Hettinga's cancer has returned.  Don and his wife, Chris, are both teachers in the district.  Their daughter, Lauren, is a kindergartener in Jen Koziolek's class.  To raise money for the family, there is a Spaghetti Dinner & Silent Auction on Friday, May 15th from 5-8pm at the Eagles.  We have tickets in the office for sale ($8, kids 5 and under are free).  Also, we are gathering items for a basket (see Jayne Jacobson with questions).    To visit their Go Fund site, click here:  http://www.gofundme.com/p21ekw

Valet Parking of the Week
Our Valet Parking for the Week goes to Karen Thurnau.  Karen is an amazing teacher and team member here at McKinley.  The thing that continually impresses me about Karen is her desire to advocate for every student in our building.  Not only does she intervene with students academically, but Karen understands how much the emotional and social pieces can impact student learning.  We are so fortunate to have Karen on staff.    Thank you for all you do, Karen! 


Have a great weekend!  Those of you on the Chocolate Run, have fun! 
-Justin



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