January 29 Update

Happy Friday!

I hope you've had a great week  - it's so great to have students and staff back in the building!  

Paraprofessional & EA Week: 

A huge shout out to our awesome paraprofessional and educational assistant team!   This team works hard to support every learner, every day.  

We could not do our work without each of you!  

Thank you to Kara, Bernie, Stacy, Sonya, Grace (Distance Learning), Natalie, Tarah, Jennifer, Val, Denise, & Katie!  We appreciate you! 

 

Valentine's Day:

Please consider how your class will celebrate Valentine’s Day and work with your teams to send a consistent message to parents.  Use the following bullet points from me and tweak them to fit your grade level.

• Valentine’s Day can be celebrated on Friday, Feb. 12th

• Due to COVID, if students want to bring a treat to share with their classmates, they should bring an unopened bag of individually wrapped treats by Tuesday, February 9.

• If you have students do cards, please treat it as the treat - they need to be brought in by Tuesday, February 9 (they need to sit and decontaminate).

• Please know that Valentine treats are completely optional.  We know this can be a financial issue for families and we want to be respectful of this.

Supporting Behaviors & Stamina:

Just a reminder - in many ways, we are starting the school year over. We need to remember to revisit expectations and support students' needs - particularly with stamina. This has been a hard time for students (and staff) - and we are rebuilding routines. I'm asking you to think through expectations and supports with students who are showing need. I am NOT saying to lower your expectations or not send students down. I'm just asking us to think about what the student is communicating and if they need to be retaught any skills (particularly since we have returned from distance learning). If you are struggling with a student, please let me know and I'd be glad to brainstorm and assist.

First-Person Language: 

Karen Thurnau shared a video that her daughter made to share about person-first language (thanks Karen and Annie!).  We've worked hard to remember when we put the person first in our language, we can see their identity as a person and not a label.  Specifically, about services received.  For example, you would say a student who receives EL services.  This is also true when we talk about where a student is at in their learning.  Instead of saying, this is a "low student," try saying, this is a "student that is working on ____". When we talk about kids as kids first, that is going to affect our belief in them, which will affect our expectations for them, which affects what they will achieve.  Let's continue to hold each other accountable for shaping this language.  

Building Weekly Newsletter:

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Have a great weekend!

-Justin

January 22 Update

Happy Friday!  

I hope you had a great week of students, learning, and happiness! 

The above quote is so true.  I would add staff to this, too.  Think about the past year. We've learned, grown, cried, and been pushed to do different things.  We continue to show up, even with these challenges.  That is true hope.  Keep being that hope dealer!  

Interventions:

We are busy finishing up winter benchmarking.  A huge thank you to Libby and our EA team for making this so smooth!  Once we finalize this data, we will prioritize interventions for students which will be led by Gia Davison and our EA team.  This work is coming soon - just know that this is a work in progress until we get all the data completed.

Also, next week, EA's will be assigned to grade levels during the day (see Justin's email).  This would be a great support time for those who need extra help - reading aloud, sight words, math facts, or just overall assistance.  This is temporary, but please have a plan for the EA's during the assigned times next week.  

Hearing/Masks:

This past week, I had a conversation with a Speech Language Pathologist in the district who shared that studies are emerging about wearing masks and students' hearing.  We know this - when you wear a mask, it muffles your voice more than without.  She shared that one easy thing a teacher can do is use your microphone/sound system.  I thought this information was interesting - just sharing!  

Lighting Issues:

If you are experiencing any lighting control issues in your rooms, please email Orrie Anthony (district electrician) with a description of the problem(s) ASAP so I can address them individually.  

Social Media:

It's so great to have students and staff back in the building!  Let's show the world the awesome things you are doing on a daily basis - get back on Twitter and start showing the learning, fun, and excitement of your classroom! 

Building Weekly Newsletter:

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Have a great weekend - I hear there is snow on the way!

-Justin

January 15 Update

Happy Snow Day Distance Learning Day!

I think flexibility is the name of our game - here we go again!  I hope you are safe, bundled in, and ready for a fun day!

Just a reminder - Monday is our MLK/Professional Learning Day.  Please make sure you know your schedule for the day.  Tuesday is a Teacher Workday - paras and EA's do not report.  

Every Precious Minute:

What a year this has been!  Now that we are back in-person, we need to work VERY hard to make sure we stay in this model.  It's great to have students and staff back in the building!

This is a reminder about using every single instructional minute, every single day.  Our students have had gaps in their learning since last March.  Because of this, we need to commit to looking at our days and ensuring that students are getting high quality instruction, every single minute.  

With your day today (and Tuesday), please take some time to check your schedule and do some planning around making sure this occurs.  We really need to treat our day - including reading and math blocks - as sacred times in which we are capitalizing on every single instructional minute.  

After School Program:

Coming soon - After School Program!  The program runs February 2 - March 4 (Tuesdays and Thursdays) from 2:05-3:15pm.  Our goal for ASP is to look at what critical skills were taught during distance learning - and offer supports and re-teaching to those who need it.  We need help staffing this program.  If you are interested in supporting after school program, please apply online AND email me.  Again, we need help!  It's only 10 sessions (it can be broken down) and is really fun! 

February Conferences:

February conferences are virtual.  Steph and Selena are working to set this up - we will let you know when PTCFast goes live.  Also, Nura and Sylvia will have our multilingual families scheduled.  More to come! 

Reading - The Pandemic Has Revealed What Really Matters in Education:

Below is a link to an article - it's a great read about the positive things that this pandemic has helped remind us about education.  Take some time to read through it - we will be doing some follow-up work around this in the near future!   https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-01-06-the-pandemic-has-revealed-what-really-matters-in-education-spoiler-it-s-not-tests

Teacher Absences:

Please remember, we have three interns now available to support substitute teaching.  If you are planning an absence, please connect with Steph before putting this into AESOP.  We will check the intern's schedules to see if they are available. 

If an emergency occurs or you get ill overnight, please put your absence into AESOP with "no sub required".  Please email me, too.  I will check to see if an intern is available - if not, I will change your absence and look for an external sub.  

As always, please let Steph or I know if you need help with your absences.  

Building Weekly Newsletter:

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Have a great weekend, everyone!  

-Justin

January 8 Update

Happy Friday, McKinley!

Welcome Back!  It's going to be a great second semester for us!

Documents from Thursday's Meeting:

Below is a link to the documents we used on Thursday morning.  

COVID Phase-In Plan

Grading and Assessment Clarification

Grading Window:

Just a reminder - the grading window will close on Wednesday, January 20 at 8am.  We will print report cards that day - they will be sent home with students on Thursday, Jan 21.  

Upgrade - AESOP:

We’ve upgraded our Absence Management system to Frontline Education’s Insights Platform.  If you haven’t already logged into your account, you will receive a prompt to create a Frontline ID and Password the next time you login.

Tips for creating your new Frontline ID:

• Log into Absence Management (AESOP) using your old login credentials.  Once you click "login" you will be asked to create your new account.  
• Your new username must contain 1 alphabet character and at least 4 total characters. The password must have 1 alphabet character, 8 total characters, and 1 number or special character.   
• Once you create your new Frontline ID, an email will be sent to your school email to verify the new account that you created. Please check your email to verify your account.
• If you receive an error message that says "link has expired" when verifying your account, close down your internet browser and try logging in again at a later time.  The system takes some time to get your accounts linked. 

Creating your new Frontline ID will allow you to login to all Frontline programs.  You should see the different programs/apps in the upper left hand corner when you click the dropdown under Absence Management.

Now Accepting 761 Foundation Grant Applications
Deadline: January 15

Every spring, the 761 Foundation awards approximately $100,000 in mini-grants to Owatonna Public Schools teachers and principals. Grants are awarded based on the following criteria:

1. Benefits a large number of students.

2. Meets an important need, which is not likely to be funded in other ways.

3. Maximizes good cost to benefit ratio.

4. Shows creativity and innovation.

5. Needed funds to continue a past approved project.

Click here for the grant application

Application deadline: January 15

• Please itemize and prioritize requests that include multiple items/expenses.

• Applicants must discuss the feasibility and implementation of the proposal with the appropriate building administrator. Comments and a signature from the building administrator must be included on the application.

• Projects that include the purchase of technology also require a technology request form, which can be found at the end of the grant application.

• No incomplete or late applications will be accepted.

Note: this is an electronic application and approval process. After clicking the submit button on the application form, your administrator/supervisor will receive an email to review, comment on, and sign your grant application.

Questions about the grant application process can be directed to Sarah Hoffman, ext. 8610.

Building Weekly Newsletter:

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Please get your updated schedule in the shared folder:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19Vnv_P8nzaw9fRLuILOpG3kbaEGAqGKr?usp=sharing

Have a great weekend, everyone!  I'm excited to return to in-person on Monday!

-Justin