February 5 Update

Happy Friday, McKinley!  

Stop what you are doing and read this picture below.   After you are done, take a deep breath and remind yourself that you are ENOUGH.  In life (and this work) we can get caught up on everything we aren't doing.  Take a few minutes this morning to reflect and celebrate that you are enough and are appreciated!  

Conferences:

We have family-teacher conferences coming soon (note it's "family" and not "parent" - many of our families live with a non-parent who supports their learning).  With conferences coming, take some time at your team to discuss your format for conferences.  As you do this, think about what information, message, or mindset you would want if you were in the seat of a family member.  We can often spend time discussing the report card- but does this tell us enough?  Does this tell us about the student as a person?  Does this tell us about any goal setting you have done?  Student strengths?  

I challenge you to think through this process and challenge yourself.  Think about the last time you were at the doctor - were you more engaged and respected when the doctor listened to you?  Talked to you as a human?  Or, when they just read your chart to you?  Family-Teacher conferences are another great opportunity to build meaningful partnerships.  

Guided Reading Books: 

We are so fortunate to have some of the guided reading books from F&P in our library to use for students who are not yet in the kit that you have for your grade level.  Several have talked to me about how there are several books missing from different levels (especially j, k, l).  

Please only keep books for 2-3 days and swap out frequently so that people have what they need.  

A few reminders:

*There is 1/2 of an extra 1st and 3rd grade kit behind Denise so that we have levels A-R available if you do not have them in your grade's kit.  There's also a full set of Kindergarten's set in the guided library that you can also use for earlier levels.  

*Please check these out with Denise.

*Please return them quickly so others can use.

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

Have a great weekend - stay warm! 

-Justin