Weekly Update- Friday, December 22, 2017

We made it! 

Don't forget, taco lunch today in the lounge.   Thank you for all you do! 


Staffing Changes:
Below are some staffing changes that will occur after Winter Break:

• Marie Sjulstad:  Marie is retiring on January 12, 2018.  Marie has been an asset to our Special Education Department, as well as McKinley as a whole.   Marie will be taking some time to travel with her husband!
• Isabel Mendoza will be joining us January 9 as our Student Support Specialist.
• Amy Manderfeld will be joining us January 2 as an Educational Assistant (long-term for Melina). 
• Crystal Hobart has already joined us as an Art Teacher (long-term for Amanda). 

As I stated in my email, we are excited to have our new staff join us, but also sad to see Marie leave us. 

January 2, 2018:
When we return, we will be doing a different schedule for the day.  We found out at Thanksgiving Break that students returned unregulated and not ready to access learning.   To address this (and to just make our welcome back a smooth transition for all), we will be focusing on re-establishing relationships, routines, and regulating everyone.  Lorri has included a schedule in the weekly bulletin (below)- I will also send an email out over break.  This will be an "all hands on deck" day, as it always is.  All staff will be joining groups to rotate through stations.  It's also a jeans and STEAM shirt day (staff and students).  I'm excited to see how this day will support our learners!

Trauma Training:
A huge thank you to Annette for leading us through some professional learning on trauma.  I have to say I am so proud of all the work we are doing in this area.  I know we still have work to do, but our awareness and supports for students are making an impact.

Here is a great 1 minute video on tips for teachers (well worth the watch):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXfsoQMqlyY

Guided Library/Text Requests:
We are fortunate to have an amazingly supportive PTO at McKinley!  They plan to support us with the purchase of some additional texts for the guided library in the spring.  As we dig into guided reading, we are sure to discover the need for additional text.  If you have a request, please send the following information to Libby and she will compile it:

*Title

*Author
*Reason for Request

For example:

*One Green Apple
*Eve Bunting
*We need more texts where the main character is new to the country and school system.


Building Weekly Newsletter:
Click here to access the building weekly newsletter


Have a great, relaxing break!  You deserve it.   We will come back on January 2nd ready to finish the year strong!  Or, better yet, McKinleyStrong!

-Justin

Weekly Update- December 15, 2017

Happy Friday!

Engagement or Compliance?

I found a great article this week on knowing if students are engaged, or being compliant. Click here to access the article.

January 2, 2018
Just a reminder - we are looking at doing a different type of day when students arrive back on January 2.  We are hoping to spend the day (or possibly morning) helping rebuild relationships, routines, and regulating students.  If you are interested in helping with the planning of this day, please let me know.  More information will be coming next week on this!

PBIS Office Referral Data:
Our PBIS team met this week to look at our office data from November.  We jumped from 60 to 104 referrals in one month.  A couple of things to consider - are kids "on edge" and needing more time to regulate?  Are we being as proactive in providing these supports? Are we being proactive in supervising?  We are going to do some work at our January meeting around this.  Click here to access the data

A SnapShot of Learning:

Principal's Book Club was completed this week.  We had some awesome conversations around our book - we've got some great reading strategies happening at McKinley! 

Kate Seifert's 2nd Graders are searching for nonfiction text features.  

Principal's Advisory Lunch was on Wednesday.  I got to enjoy a pizza lunch and hear about what students love about McKinley, and what they would change!   Student voice matters! 

Jess Zupansic's 1st Graders took pictures of patterns they found outside and shared them with the class.  

Engineers at Work with Shelby Johnson's 1st Graders & Lori Huisenga's 2nd Graders!  

Mark Langlois's 5th Graders collaborating and showing grit during a math project.

Sami Nelson's 1st Graders doing some early morning meditation!

Eric Johnson's 4th Graders exploring fractoions and making connections! 

Michelle Simon's 1st Graders investigating paw print patterns and then sharing with the class.

Kate Seifert's 2nd Gaders are making snow observations.

Karen Thurnau's 3rd Graders are doing some exploration around snow- weight, how much water, what temperature it melts at?  

International Fun Day at Work:
International Fun Day at Work 2018 is coming to McKinley on Friday, January 26!  More information will be coming soon... however, you may want to start the planning around your "team dress".  Your team (5 people max) should create, plan, and dress around a theme of your choice.  In the past, we've had some pretty creative ideas around this!   Again, more info to come... but start planning! :)

Winter Concert:
We had another great Winter Concert last night at OHS.  Our students are extremely talented - wow!  A huge congrats to Paige Moon & Abby Budin, also.  You are talented music educators!

Building Weekly Newsletter
Click here to access the building weekly newsletter


Have a relaxing, enjoyable weekend!
-Justin

Weekly Update- December 8, 2017

Happy Friday!
We survived our first cold, snowy week!  I've quickly discovered - along with many of you- that I need a better winter coat!  The wind is crazy here! 

Exit Slips:
I know a lot of you are using exit slips to check on student mastery during and after instruction.   It's great to see the precise focus we have on student needs, especially in the area of small group reading.

One tool I shared last year was how to add student voice to the exit slip process.   Below is a structure to use when students turn in the exit slip - their "voice" tells you where they are at with mastery of the lesson.  This can be an extremely powerful tool.   For example, a student who says they are a "4" and mastering content, but are really a "1" - what is the disconnect?  Perception? Lack of knowing what mastery really is?   The same goes for the opposite - a student who says puts their exit slip in a 1 or 2 but is really mastering content.  Self esteem?  Perfectionist?  Too hard on themselves? 

This is an extremely valuable way to add student voice into the assessment process.  For younger grades, you may change it to a smiley faces? 

Brightbytes Survey - 3/4/5th Grade:
3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Teachers - stop during your library time to complete the Brightbytes survey.  Connect with Denise if you have questions. 

Update on Student Support Specialist:
As you know, we are looking for a Student Support Specialist.  This person would help coordinate and supervise our proactive student supports - things like the Relaxation Room, Check & Connect, or just connecting with identified students throughout the day.  If you know of anyone interested, please have them apply ASAP.  We are setting up interviews for next week with the hope of this person starting January 2, 2018. 

Lockdown:
Great work with our first lockdown practice.   This drill was valuable- we discovered some glitches and changed a few things.   As I have shared, the best practices in this area have changed greatly.  Bob Olson is working on a district plan for training us in how to respond in this situation.   More information will be coming with this change. 

STEAM Superbowl Family Night:
We had a great time at our STEAM Superbowl night on Tuesday!  Thank you to everyone who helped with this night.  We had three stations - toss a football, design a stadium, and football math.  It was a great night! 

 

Reading Leadership Team:
We have a new leadership team starting at McKinley- Reading Leadership.   This team will help guide our professional learning in the area of reading - with the focus this year on knowing our readers through small/guided group instruction.   I'm excited to have this team provide guidance on the professional learning happening here.   A huge thank you to the following people for agreeing to be on this team:  Paige Larson, Jess Zupansic, Catie Stephani, Kayla Davis, Lauren Bogda, Paige Gilligan, & Libby Zeman.  We meet next Thursday - after this, we will gather some feedback on what supports you need. 

Teacher Workday Fun:
Our staff had some fun on Workday!  Enjoy the pictures (I should have taken videos!).

Weekly Building Newsletter:
Click here to access the weekly building newsletter

Have a great weekend, everyone!
-Justin

Weeky Update- November 22, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving!

Core Instruction Reminder:
This was interesting to many of us last year- thought it was worth a revisit!  These are the guidelines for direct instruction of new content - how long can kids actually stay engaged and focused during new material in your classrooms?

#McKGratitude2017 Challenge:
We have only a few more days left of the challenge - keep tweeting (and watch your spelling of gratitude!).  We will announce our winner (and winning team) next week!

Engaging with Poverty in Mind:
Last year, we did some learning work around poverty, engagement, and the brain.  I spent some time last weekend looking back through this resource - I forgot about all the great ideas in this book!  It may be worth a "revisit" on your part, too!

I am going to highlight a strategy or idea each week to keep these ideas fresh.

Monday Review:
In our work, we discovered that many students are arriving to school each day with disregulated thinking - especially on a Monday morning.  Brain research shows that students who are exposed to stress and trauma are basically living in their emotional brain, or amygdala.  When a student is stuck in their amygdala, they can't access their prefrontal cortext, which is where learning takes place.

Our job is to help students move from the amygdala to the prefrontal cortext.  We learned that a few things help, especially on Mondays:

• Safe, welcoming environment - students knowing routines in the classroom, as well as knowing their classroom is predictable and safe.  
• A positive relationship: Greeting students on a Monday morning with a smile and showing them you missed them all weekend!
• Spending Mondays reviewing mastery from the previous week.  Students need to be regulated before they can access new learning. 

Staff Power Hour: 

Our Staff Power Hour is this coming Wednesday, November 29th at 2:40pm in Langlois & Seath's room.  We will focus on shoutouts, biases, and guided/small group instruction.  Can't wait!  

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

This quote stood out to me this week - appreciating what you already have.   I am thankful for our McKinley family, each and every day.  This place is a special place with special people.  We are very lucky ... very lucky.


Have a great weekend with family & friends!  Take some time to relax, rejuvenate, and appreciate living "in the moment".
-Justin

Weekly Update- November 17, 2017

Happy Friday!

PBIS ~ Office Referral Data:
Our PBIS team met this week to look at discipline/office referral data from September and October.  Click here to access the September & October referral data

Our team had some recommendations/observations from this data:

• Don't let the data stop you from referring students.  This data is critical for our team to look at the true picture of what is happening at McKinley.
• We saw a decrease in behaviors in the playground - possibly because kids were actually able to start playing on real equipment!
• Referral motivators - please take some time to find out the "why" behind the behavior.  Why did a student misbehave?  What is their motivator?  Our team is really looking at this to determine if we need to add motivators to the referral.  

Our leadership jar is almost filled.  Please keep this is a secret - we are going to have a school wide movie (K-2 and 3-5 at different times) on Friday, December 1.  More information to come on this- we will announce this at our PBIS meeting next week.  Please keep this a secret!!

The Power of THINK TIME:

I recently came across this on Twitter - it reminded me of the power behind THINK TIME!  So often, we are under a crunch and forget about how important "think time" is for our students.  It's alright for us to give students time to process and think during lessons.  Plus, there is so much power behind making student have "productive struggle" with their learning.  My challenge for you is to start providing think time - more than just 15 seconds.  See how your students respond and engage with their learning.  

Family Listening Sessions:

This past week, we had our first family listening sessions for both our Latino & Somali families.  It was a great experience to hear from our families.   We had a better turnout at our Somali session on Thursday than our Tuesday session.  One of the things I want you to know is how powerful our relationship is with these families.   We heard comments of families saying how much they "loved McKinley" and how "McKinley teachers are my family and friends - I can call them for anything".  Families are grateful for all you do and how visible you are - and how easy you are to talk to.  We have some continued work to do - however, be proud of what these families are saying about you.  We are McKinley Strong!  

Student Support Position:

In the next few weeks, you will see a position posted for a Student Support Specialist at McKinley.  This position has grown from a need around behavior and social emotional needs with our students.  The position will work with identified, at-risk students in the areas of social-emotional learning and behavior - he or she will work closely with Annette.  This person is not dealing with discipline or students who are escalated.  This person will handle things like the Relaxation Room, Check and Connect, and other proactive interventions we are putting into place to make our students successful.  I will share more as this position is finalized - just wanted you to be aware.  

ASP Block II:
Classroom Teachers, please start thinking of what you focus will be for ASP Block II.  We will be sending paperwork out soon - block II starts in January.  Also, please let me know who will be teaching block II.

Also, Block I ends next Tuesday!


STEAM Night: 

Tuesday, December 5 is our Superbowl-themed STEAM night.  It's going to be a great night - and get us ready for the Superbowl in Minneapolis!  

McKinley- Education Edition:

Last month, McKinley was featured in the Owatonna People's Press Education Edition.  This is a community publication for us to highlight the work we are doing at McKinley.  Click here to access the Education Edition.  

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

Have a great weekend, everyone!  Make every second count in your personal life, too!

-Justin

Weekly Update- Friday, November 10, 2017

Happy Veterans' Day, everyone!
Thank you to all who served our country!

Gratitude Challenge:
It's been SO cool to see all the gratitude happening on Twitter!  We have A LOT to be thankful for!  Keep tweeting with the hashtag #McKGratitude2017.  If you haven't participated yet, you still have time! 

Family Reading Night:
Our Family Reading Night last night was a huge success!  We had almost 400 people attend!  A huge thank you to the committee who did all the planning, as well as volunteering at the event. This building remarkable!

Listening Sessions:
Next week, have two family listening sessions- Latino (Tuesday) and Somali (Thursday).  The listening sessions will be from 4:15-5:00pm in the library.  The goal of these is to listen and gather information from families on education, McKinley, and their students.  Superintendent Elstad will be joining. 

Assessment Days Note from Libby:

For years there has been discussion around Home Child School Day and many have questioned if it is the best venue for accomplishing the goals that we have at the beginning of the year.  This year, many of you have had conversations about how difficult it is to complete the Fountas and Pinnell assessments efficiently at the beginning of the year when routines are still being established. 

Several teachers have asked about the possibility of assessment days at the start of the year.  If you would like to provide feedback around assessment days, Michelle Krell will be available on Thursday, November 30^th at 3:10 in the District Office Board Room. 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Buffalo Wild Wings Fundraiser:
McKinley's PTO, in conjunction with BWW, is offering a fundraiser all day on Wednesday, November 22.  A portion (I think 10%) of the proceeds from that day will go to McKinley School.  This includes take out orders!  What a great reason to go eat out!

Important Dates:
Just a reminder of some important dates at McKinley- click here to access the dates.  Reminder- all staff should attend our Staff Power Hours from 2:40-3:10pm. 

Building Newsletter:
The weekly newsletter will come out later today.  Lorri has been out sick the last few days!

Have a great weekend, everyone! 
-Justin

Weeky Update- Friday, November 3, 2017

Good morning!
Happy Friday!

At Welcome Back Week, we all chose a word to focus on this year.  Just checking in - how's it going with your word?  Are you thinking about it?  Using it?  Living by it?  Me-  not so much.  I need a good reminder to stay focused on my word of the year.  How are you doing?

November 6 Staff Development Day:
Monday, November 6 is a Staff Development Day at OHS.  Below is the schedule for the day:

7:40-8:00         Coffee & light grab-n-go breakfast at location of your first session

8:00-11:00       Professional Learning Session 1
11:00-12:00     Lunch (on your own)
12:00-3:00       Professional Learning Session 2

If you want more information on the agenda, see the email from Taylor Petrich on October 27.  

EA's, you do not report on this day.  I hope you have a productive day of learning!

Guided Library:
There's been some questions on the Guided Library - just a couple reminders!
1. Please check all guided library books out with Denise in the library.  If she is not there, you can record the barcode number and email it to her so she knows you checked it out.

2. The guided library books are for teachers to check out.  You cannot check these books out to students.

3. Junior Great Books, Ladder books, EIR books, Bill Nye DVD’s, the professional library and math manipulatives are all in the guided library now.  We are still waiting on one more book shelf to make things easier to find, but they are all in there and available for checkout.

Monday Monkey Message & Bell System:
I have an email into Maintenance to see when our paging system will be completely up and running.  Because the Scoop is now live on Monday mornings, we will not be doing a Monday Monkey Message.  

Reading Night- Thursday:
Thursday, November 9 is our Family Reading Night.  This is a day where we will "unplug from electronics and plug into a good book!"  Students (and staff) will wear pajamas to school and participate in a reading switch-a-roo at 1:50pm.  Then, that night, families can come to school in their PJs and enjoy pizza, books, and family time!  

A huge thank you to our committee for their work on this night - Mark Langlois, Lori Huisenga, Eric Oppegard, Val Seath, Kathy Feltes, Michelle Meiners, Sonya David, & Laurie Wolhart.  


A SnapShot of Learning:

Student Council worked with Young Professionals to create Buddy Benches for our playground!

A huge thank you to our staff who agreed to be "pied" at our PBIS Assembly! 

Weekly Building Newsletter:

This will be updated at some point today- Friday.

Don't forget to take some time this weekend and "YIELD"..... enjoy a relaxing weekend!  :)

-Justin