December 3 Update

Happy December, everyone!

Welcome!

We have some new staff joining us this week.  Welcome to Kristy Wright, who will be filling in as a 4th and 5th Grade EL Teacher, while Jen Schwab is out.  Also, welcome to Danika Brown, who is filling in for Rachel Anderson as she is out on maternity leave.  

Last week, we welcomed Roxy Manzano as a new Special Education Paraprofessional.  

Join me in welcoming Danika, Jen, and Roxy!  

Referral Data:

Linked is our October and November referral data.  Our McKinleyStrong team went another step and looked at the McKinleyStrong slips per grade level - and compared this to the amount of office referrals per grade level.  This is not meant to be a "gotcha" at all, but a great reminder for us - the positives (deposits) should outweigh the negatives (withdraws).  Years ago, we read Eric Jensen's Engaging the Brain with Poverty in Mind.  In there, Jensen states -  In poor homes, the ratio of positives (affirmations) to negatives (reprimands) is typically a 1-to-2 ratio. Contrast this to the 6-to-1 positives-to-negatives ratio in the homes of higher-income families (Hart & Risley, 1995).   The McKinleyStrong slips are another great way to create those positives, or deposits into students.  

Click here to access the document.

A huge thank you to Justin Lang for calculating all this data! 

United Way Campaign:

Thank you to everyone for contributing to the United Way Campaign.  A huge congratulations to McKinley for winning!  We won a pizza party - more information to come.  Also, thank you to Selena for organizing the events and coordinating the campaign at McKinley!  

Article - How to Counter Learned Helplessness:

Click here to read the article.  

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

Have a great, relaxing weekend!
-Justin