Weekly Update- February 17, 2017

Happy Friday - and Happy 100th Day of School!

It's been great to see kids showing their "boomerang" this week during Random Acts of Kindness Week.  This may be a message we continue to say - whatever you throw out, always returns to you. 

Staff Recognition at Torey's:
Last night was our staff recognition at Torey's.  Thank you to all who attended- we had a great turnout.  I spoke last night, but I wanted to say it again to everyone.  Thank you for all you do.  We get so busy with the craziness of our days that we forget to celebrate the small victories we have at McKinley.    This place is really a gem.  Thank you to everyone for all your hard work.  You do great things for our students.

Random Things From Twitter:
Over the week, I have found some random things on Twitter that made me think of you and the work we are doing:

This is a composite of a brain- you can see one is sitting quietly and one is after a 20 minute walk.  The red and yellow areas in the brain are tissue growth- the brain is ready to absorb new information. 

As we know from our work around outdoor learning, the outdoors (air and environment) are so important to learning. 

 

This statement stood out to me - it's so true.  The future of our world is sitting here at McKinley.  How are we going to shape the future?

As we know, students need a positive, authentic relationships to learn.   This was a great reminder to me to continue to focus on the positives and find one positive thing about each child, each day. 

Supervision in Hallways & Bathrooms:
Please make sure we are supervising students in the hallways and bathroom.  Lately, I have seen a lot of students on their "own" in the hallway.  This includes a teacher walking their class - they continue walking, never turning around to monitor students.  The students at the end of the line get farther and farther behind and eventually are on their own.  Please watch this.  Not only is it loud in the hallway, but students get "amped up" as they get louder.  Then, we expect them to come into a classroom and work.  Their brains are not wired this way.   Please be aware of this, especially as we transition into an open school. 

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

Valet Parking for the Week:
The Valet Parking for the Week goes to 1st Grade Teacher, Jess Zupansic!  Jess is such a caring, dedicated, collaborative, and flexible educator who will do anything for her students.  One of the things that impresses me the most about Jess is the way she balances compassion and accountability.  Jess knows how to make her students feel loved and wanted - but also hold them accountable to high standards.  Jess is awesome- keep up the great work, Jess!

Have a great weekend and enjoy the "heat wave"!
-Justin