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.


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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!

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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!).

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Have a great weekend, everyone!
-Justin