October 30 Update

Happy Friday, everyone!  It sounds like it's going to be a nicer weekend -  I hope you can get outside!

We've got a lot going on - and I can tell emotions and stress are high in the building.  Please make sure you are taking some time for you, as well as checking on and supporting your colleagues.  We all go through situations differently - as the picture above outlines.  Take care of YOU! 

Jokesgiving 2020! 

On November 24, we will celebrate "Jokesgiving!"  This is a time for staff to have fun and engage with each other.  Each of you are on teams - check out this document for more information!  So, work with your team and start plotting work-appropriate jokes and fun!  

Follow-Up from Staff Power Hour:

A follow-up from our meeting on Monday.  We had some great learning work and collaboration around independent and dependent learners.  There were three things I asked you to keep working on/reflecting around: 

1. Student-first language - what language are you using to talk about kids?  Are you using student-first language? (a student who receives EL services, a student who is struggling, etc).  Remember, your words become your beliefs which become your actions!  
2. How do we teach students to become independent learners?  
3. The CTA (Call to Action) you identified 

Outdoor Learning:

After our COVID meeting, I'm hearing from staff that kids need to move around, get out of their seats, etc... and that is hard with COVID protocols in place.   Don't forget of all the work we did around outdoor learning.  Taking your students outside is great for movement, but also for a fresh air break.  Your outdoor learning can range in complexity - from taking a math journal page outside to work to planning a lengthy research project that involves nature and outside.  It's all still outdoor learning! 

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

Have a GREAT weekend!

-Justin

October 23 Update

Good morning!
Ready or not, winter arrived this week!  

This quote is a great reminder for us all.   We often get bogged down on the negatives - our ever-growing to-do list, the lack of engagement from some students, COVID, etc.  We let those ideas drain our energy.  Over the next 24 hours, take some self-reflection time and focus on everything you've tackled - accomplished- and succeeded with over the last 3 months.  Your celebrations may range from huge things to much smaller self accomplishments.  Take the time to acknowledge all of these.  We have taken a situation that was impossible and made it work - and done well in the process.  Take some time to celebrate your strength and celebrations - and reflect back on how far you've come in only a month and a half of school! 

Reading Records

Have you found a time in your day to start reading records with students?  Reading records provide powerful information to help you be responsive to your guided groups.  It will help you to add goals (and also feel confident that other goals have been reached) and will guide your coaching, introduction and discussion questions for the following lesson.  Fountas and Pinnell suggest one reading record per day so that you have time to analyze and respond.  

If you are having difficulty finding time to complete a record each day, or would like to collaborate around administering or responding to the reading record, please reach out to Libby.

Fundraiser Update:
Happy Friday McKinley Huskies, We met as a McKinleyStrong team this past Tuesday and discussed the idea of doing the same fundraiser we did last year. Due to the overwhelming success with it and the items we were able to secure with the fundraising, we plan to do it again this year. Our packets will be here November 9th.  Plan on seeing more from us soon!

Schoolstore will be the program we will use again this year. Schoolstore runs a two-faceted fundraising approach. One facet allows families to provide “gift cards” to us which we use through a partner website. Last year, we raised over $7500 in gift cards. We still have money leftover from those. The second facet of this fundraiser is the ability to ask families who shop online, to go through schoolstore.com and support our school.   This is similar to Amazon Smile (don’t forget to support our wonderful PTO in Amazon Smile) where the shopper will select our school and depending on the company, we receive a kickback. Kohls, Sam’s Club, Disney, Verizon, Scholastic, DoorDash, are a few of the over 300 companies. Last year, this brought in $663! We will get either a percentage of the purchase or a flat rate.  Either way we win!  

The gift cards we receive from families have helped purchase all of our playground equipment, prizes for drawings and other items. I have included some of these items below. This year we wanted to offer the option for you to request items for your classroom.  These might include supplies you need, games or materials for indoor recess, ect.  Here is the link to the website where you can look at what your options are for your room.  Please use this form to request items. Note, some items are not always available, as they may be in high demand. The team will review the requests and purchase items as we are able to!

Thank you for supporting our fundraising efforts-we are able to make a big difference!
McKinleyStrong Team  

Jokesgiving - SAVE THE DATE!

Back by popular demand - our second annual "Jokesgiving 2020!" On Tuesday, November 24, you and your assigned team create fun jokes and pranks (work appropriate!). Please let me know by Tuesday if you are not interested. I promise it's a good time - nothing to stress about! Staff had a great time last year - we were silly and had fun all day long!

Click this link to read about Jokesgiving 2020!

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

I hope you have a great, relaxing weekend - spend time with those you love!

-Justin

October 14 Update

Happy MEA Break, McKinley!

We made it!  The blog this week is pretty short - but has some important things in it.  Please take some time to read the items carefully....

 
COVID Reminders - Please read carefully!

A couple of reminders when it comes to programming and COVID:

• Seating Charts - we should have CURRENT seating charts in Infinite Campus.  If you switch your room around at all, please update this.  This is the first spot we will go to if there is a positive case in your classroom.  I will expect this to be up-to-date so we can begin contact tracing.
• Management - start thinking of what you are having kids do in your classroom and where they are located.  If one student tests positive, and I had them all come sit up front on the floor, my class will more than likely be all counted as "close contact".  We can't do things we use to do - unfortunately.  
• Social Media - Please be diligent about only posting pictures of students honoring social distancing and masks.  You know I advocate for the use of Twitter - please do not stop doing this. Before you post a picture, please take a moment to look at it from the lens of "COVID" - are kids socially distanced and wearing masks (if they are outside, they don't need masks).  Please let me know if you have questions about this. 

Thank you for your support around these reminders!  

Self Care - This Long Weekend:

It's been a great start to the school year  - it thrills me to see you and our scholars together and learning!  This start has also created more stress and emotion than any other year.  We don't want to end up saying this...

Please take some time over this long weekend to take care of YOU!  Sleep in, don't get out of your pajamas, have lunch with a friend... anything that takes care of YOU!  Don't set any expectations for the day - just roll with it!  

I care about you and your health.  Please take some time this weekend to relax, rejuvenate, and refresh yourself.  You deserve every minute of it!  

Check out some ideas on how to take care of YOU

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

I'm honored every day to work along side you.   We work hard, we play hard, we have fun.  Now is the time to turn school off and focus on you and your family.  I hope you can enjoy some time for just YOU!  You deserve it.

-Justin

October 9 Update

Happy Friday, Everyone!
I hope you've had a great week! 

I know we have those days - days we are exhausted and have nothing left to give.  Keep this and remind yourself - you made someone smile and feel loved.  This hasn't been the easiest start to a year, has it?  One thing remains constant - we have our students HERE and they are loved.  And, that matters a lot.  

Google Tech Toolkit:

Kenneth Griswold recently shared a Google Tech Toolkit. This is a great document with family-friendly information regarding Google.  This may be something you consider sharing with your families - particularly so they are ready for Google in the event we go distance learning (HOPEFULLY NOT!).  

Tech Toolkit for Families and Guardians- Google for Education

Social Media:

Below are some tips and guidelines around using social media with students.  Please remember - I fully encourage and support you to be using social media, particularly Twitter.  If you haven't been, please get on and start to share our story!  Also, don't forget to be sending pictures to socialmedia@isd761.org.  

Notes from Libby:
Headphones:
If you have students who did not bring headphones/earbuds and you would like them to have some for use at school (we would collect them again at the end of the year), please send Libby the number of students who do not have some already by Monday (10/12), and we will see how many we can accommodate.

Response to Data Meetings Follow Up:
It was awesome to meet with each grade level team and brainstorm some ideas for supporting students’ growth in literacy and math! 
Here are some documents that came up in several of the meetings, and I wanted to make sure everyone had access:
Updated Assessment Criteria (Fastbridge Target Scores)
Fluency Routine
If you want to talk about any support for specific students, please reach out to me, and we can collaborate around that.  I’m encouraged by all of the ideas that people are already putting in place to meet students’ needs and foster their growth!

Independent Reading:
There has been a lot of conversation in the past couple of weeks around purposeful independent reading time.  We know that this year, with the shortened day, they will have even less independent reading time than normal.  It will be more important than ever to make every minute purposeful and productive.  I’ve drafted some ideas for independent reading time; however, the majority of their time should be spent in text, reading and responding.  

We know years ago, when we read some research from Lucy Calkins, it was suggested that elementary students need 90 minutes of purposeful time in text each day.  Other research suggests 40-45 minutes of independent in text time during the school day with additional time outside of the school day.  Keep in mind that while guiding reading and independent reading (applying a minilesson) count towards those minutes, IRA or other listening to the text type opportunities where they are not fully engaged in reading the words, does not count towards those minutes.  We need to continue to foster their love of reading so that they are so engaged in books, they want to bring them home and continue reading in the evening!  

Reading leadership will be talking at our next meeting about what we can do to encourage reading at home.  If you have ideas or suggestions, connect with your reading leadership rep in the next week. 

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

It's going to be a beautiful weekend.  Take some time to put school "away" - get outside and enjoy the weather and those you love!  - Justin

October 2 Update

Happy Friday, McKinley Educators! 
I hope you've had a great week of learning and relationships.  It's going to start the downward trend for temperature - please remind students we are outside, warm or cold temperature.  Dress for the weather!

What are your actions showing? Your priorities?  This is always a great reminder for me - the words I use, the things I do, and the way I behave all show my priorities.....

Check-In - ALL STAFF should complete:

We are four weeks in - it's time to check in on YOU!  Please complete the survey below.  It's designed around a 3-2-1 response.  Please include 3 responses for the 3 question, 2 responses for the 2 questions, and 1 response for the 1 question.  Please complete this by Wednesday, October 7.  Thank you! 

Click here to access the Check In Form 

Formative Assessments:
Just a reminder to continue to build in formative assessments into your daily instrcution.  We need checks for understanding and formatvie assessments to know if the teaching is becoming learning.  Technology is a great tool to use to build these formative assessments.  

Also, there is no formal reporting (report card) for quarter 1.  We will report for quarters 2, 3, and 4.  

Where Did Your Story Begin?  Coming Soon!

We will be putting a large world map in the main hallway in the next week.  Each student and staff will be getting a marker to indicate where in the world their story began.  We may move to having families add this too.  The goal is to continue to recognize - and value- that we started our story somewhere.  Each of our stories add to the assets we bring to McKinley!  

Google Classroom: 

Just a friendly reminder to get your students into Google Classroom.  In the event we move to distance learning, or need to quarantine a classroom, we are expecting students to be familiar with their Google Classroom.  If you haven't, you will want to get students into this - navigating it and doing learning activities on GC.   If you need help with this, please let Libby or myself know. 

On another note, please know that we have detailed plans if we need to close school or a classroom.  The plans clearly outline the steps we would take to notify and move forward with distance learning.  A huge thank you to Michelle Krell and Teaching and Learning for their work on this!  Don't stress, it's covered! 

Hashtags & Twitter:

First, I love getting on to Twitter and seeing all the great things you are doing!  If you haven't been sharing, now is your time! If you tweet with something, please use the following hashtags:  

#mckinleystrong - to share things specific to our program.  

#owatonnaproud - to share things, district-wide, you are proud of.  Our social media company watches this hashtag and uses it for retweets and marketing.  

If you do tweet, please make sure you are not showing students' last names.  

Building Weekly Update:

Click here to access the building weekly update

Just a friendly reminder to be reading your email carefully.  We do a great job at McKinley of communicating - and keeping everyone in the "know"!  Please make sure you are reading emails carefully and are aware of what is going on in the building.

Have a great weekend, everyone!  Go do something for YOU!

Justin