November 23 Update

Happy Thanksgiving Break!

We made it - thanksgiving break!

I hope each of you is able to "unplug" from school for a few days and enjoy those around you.  Take some time for YOU, those you love, and the things you love doing!  

Reminders:

• Staff Check-In Survey (please complete before you leave today).
• Infinitec Training is due Monday, November 29.
• Gratitude Challenge closes Tuesday.  

Transition Day:

Just a reminder - our return day of Monday, November 29 is a Transition Day.  As you know, this is often a break that is hard on some students - and hard to return to a routine after five days away.   Click here to access the plans for November 29.  Thank you to 3rd Grade for your work around planning this day! 

Thankful Note:

And, finally, a huge thank you to all of you for the time, energy, and passion you give to McKinley each and every day.  I appreciate each of you for your role in making this such a great place to work, learn, and grow.  Thank you for being you!  

Building Weekly Newsletter:

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Have a GREAT, restful break!

-Justin

November 19 Update

Happy American Education Week!

I hope you know how appreciated, loved, and valued you are - even beyond American Education Week. Thank you for all that you do to make McKinley a great place.  You are valued!

This week's update is short...

Jokesgiving:

Just a reminder - Jokesgiving is next Tuesday!  

Transition Day:

November 29 is our next transition day - linked is the plan.  Thank you to our 3rd grade team for planning! 

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

Enjoy your weekend! 

-Justin

November 12 Update

Happy Friday!

Another great week at McKinley!  Thanks for all the time, energy, and care you put into conferences!  

American Education Week:

Next week is American Education Week!  This is a week to celebrate ALL educators in the building (which is everyone in the building!).  

Update from Annette:

Meet Miss. Jessica (Jessica Hanson), our Student Support Specialist

Jessica handles many of our SEL interventions for students.  She has been busy building relationships and supporting students since day 1 of the start of school.  Jessica shows students she cares and our students have come to recognize Jessica as a positive source of support during their school day.  Thank you, Jessica, for all you do for our students!

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Supports:

At McKinley we have several different types of SEL interventions that students can access depending on their needs.  Here are some of the different support systems we have in place and how to access them: 

Relaxation Room

• Purpose:  To provide a “safe spot” for eligible students to regulate their feelings using music, tools, and possibly sensory needs.  This is built into the student’s schedule and is meant to be a proactive measure.  

• Process: Complete the SEL Form 

• Who: Student Support Specialist 

Safe Base:

• Purpose:  To provide an extra relationship for students to start (or end) their day in a positive, supportive, one-on-one relationship.  This includes a student who comes in dysregulated, a student who needs someone to help “set up” their day, or a student who just needs consistent time to “chat.”

• Process: Complete the SEL Form 

• Who: Student Support Specialist and/or other staff identified

Mindful Art: 

• Purpose: To provide a weekly opportunity for identified students to use art, as a tool for self-regulation, personal expression, and to release emotions in a non-verbal way and feel successful through their strength.   This is once a week during the school day  for 30 minutes 

• Process: Complete the SEL Form 

• Who: Annette Warner

Movement Break

• Purpose: Provides a way to reset and regulate identified students as a way to have their body ready and to identify & regulate feelings.  This is a daily opportunity for students who are identified as having a need to get out and move around.

• Process: Complete the SEL Form

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to click the building weekly newsletter

Have an AWESOME weekend!

-Justin

November 4 Update

Happy Friday! 

Another great week!  Can you believe it's already November?

Perspective & Response:

I saw this on Twitter last night - it made me stop and think.  

Our jobs can get busy, stressful, and often times frustrating.  Especially this time of year.  I hope this quote helps ground you - are we "carrying around a hammer" and "seeing everything as a nail"?  I can honestly tell you, this week, I have.  

Don't forget to ground yourself - what's your why?  What's your purpose in this career?  And, how are you approaching difficult and challenging situations?  And, what is the consequence of that to those you interact with?  

Again, this quote helped ground me.  I hope it provides you some reflection, too!  

Happy File:

Please don't forget about your "Happy File Notebook".  Take all those notes, pictures, and other things you've received and get those in your notebook!  And, don't forget to be adding to other's notebooks.  Spread the positive energy! 

American Education Week - coming your way!

November 15 - 19 is American Education Week. This is a week to honor all educators (which is all of you!) in the building.   This is a great week to honor all of YOU!  Click here to see the AEW Events that are coming your way!

Conferences - next week!

We have conferences scheduled for next Tuesday (3-7pm), Thursday (3-7pm), and Friday (7:40-12:00pm).  This is a great time to connect with families to celebrate strengths & succcesses, as well as identify next steps and growth opportunities.  It is also a great time to continue to build that partnership (remember- we call them family-teacher conferences, as we know that families may not contain a "parent").  Just a few tips as we enter conferences:

• Listen and build a relationship by showing you care (remember- body language, tone, and your words matter in these interactions!).  
• Acknowledge and celebrate the assets that their child is bringing to your classroom.  
• Be honest with where the child is at.  At times, we focus on the positives and say things like, "Oh, they have grown so much!"  They may have grown a lot, but if they are still significantly below grade level, we need to acknowledge this, too.
• For interpreter conferences, talk to the parent/guardian/family, not the interpreter. 

Please note - you are in the building during the conference hours, even if you are not meeting with families.  

I look forward to seeing (and hearing) you continue to build partnerships with families next week! 

October ORD:

Linked is our office referral data for October.  We were down from previous years.  As we enter into November and December, we may need to create some plans for some of our friends to help support behaviors.  We also will have to do more re-teaching, as we start to see behaviors show.  

For this data, we have taken feedback from you on what you'd like to see.  You will notice two new data sets - by race and receiving services.  Take some time to look at this building wide data - does this match what you see?  

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

It's going to be beautiful this weekend - try and get outside and enjoy it!  Recharge yourself this weekend!

-Justin