It's going to be a great day at McKinley!
As of today, we have 19 days left of school this year. Can you believe it - 19 days? That's 123.5 hours of instruction left in our year. Our students have seen such growth - let's keep that going! Please remember that we have 19 days left of solid instruction!
Don't forget your why...
Taste of McKinley:
The Taste of McKinley is next Thursday from 4:30-5:30pm in the gym! Come join us for some awesome food and fun!
Before School Assessment Days:
As you know, next year's start will look differently. We will not have a Home-Child-School Day. One of things many people wonder is - what will the students' day look like? Below is a link to a checklist that the family will receive when they come. Check it out!
Click here to access the checklist!
Classroom Relaxation Stations - From Annette:
I am excited to share that we have been awarded a grant to create calming corners in each classroom next year! These stations in your classroom need only take up a small corner (enough room for one student) and will include different types of calming tools such as
- Fidgets
- Manipulatives
- Sensory items
- Comfort items
Our building has seen some great success with the relaxation room and the hope is these classroom stations can be available to all students when needed. These areas can be simple small spaces, or they can be more elaborate. I encourage you to use your creativity to create your spaces, I am hoping this will be a fun project as you can design your area to fit your needs.
I will offer some training at the beginning of the year on how to use the areas if needed. As always, thanks for all you do to support our students!
https://youtu.be/Ar0GPsEYjqY
McKinleyStrong Word - Resilience:
Our May word is "resilience". Here is a great article on "does your classroom cultivate student resiliency?"
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-pathways-cultivate-student-resilience-marilyn-price-mitchell
As you know, this is something our students struggle with daily. It's important that we continue to teach and support resiliency.
Picture Writing:
We have a lot of buzz around the building on something called "Picture Writing". This has been spearheaded by our EL team through a co-teaching approach. Below is what picture writing is:
Picturing Writing is an approach to teaching the writing process that integrates art and writing. It can be used to support any content area EU. The steps involved for the artists’/writers’ workshop include:
· Literature Share mini-lesson and discussion
· Modeling of art technique or writing
· Work session for art or writing (this step could be integrated into the Daily 5 Cycle)
· Group Sharing of their art or writing
Liz Stitzmeyer and Laurie Wolhart have been using this writing approach since January with two different grade levels. Liz has teamed with Tamra Gonzalez in K1 and Laurie with Madie and Lauren in 4A and 4C. All of us have seen strong results in the students’ writing skills in the areas of: engagement, stamina, creativity, sentence length, word choice, spelling and figurative language.
According to the publisher, this philosophy benefits all students, especially those who struggle with the traditional approach to writing.
We believe Picturing Writing supports the McKinley STEAM core beliefs of instruction. We’re excited about the possibilities for next year.
Building Weekly Newsletter:
Click the link to access the weekly newsletter
McKinleyStrong Educator of the Week:
Our McKinleyStrong Educator of the Week goes to EL Teacher, Liz Stitzmeyer! Liz is a compassionate, collaborative, student-first educator! Liz is such a natural at collaborating, knowing her students, and providing the learning opportunities they need. One of the things I appreciate most about Liz is her "student-first" attitude. She is here to serve and support all kids, all the time. Nice work, Liz!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
-Justin
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