May 12 Update

Happy Educator Week!

I hope you felt the love this week and shared your gratitude for each other, too.  When you think about it, we are very blessed to have such an amazing team at McKinley.  Thank you to everyone for the gifts you bring to our building every day.  

Update on Staffing:

A couple updates in staffing - 

• Paige Larson will be moving to 1st grade (previously it was 2nd).   Paige will be moving into 1B.  With Amy Wencl taking a leave, this created a spot to connect Kindergarten and 1st Grade.  
• Jodie DeKam Valentine will be moving to 2nd Grade (coming from Lincoln).  Jodie will be moving into the MakerSpace in room 2A.  Jodie started her career at McKinley and has been at both Washington (4th grade) and Lincoln (4th Gr, 1st/2nd Gr Looping).
• Katy Montgomery will be our new K-5 Special Education Case Manager.  Katy is coming from Waseca (previously Farmington) and has a strong background in behaviors and setting III.  
• Erin Kruger will be our new K-5 Behavioral Interventionist (BI).  Erin is currently a BI at Lincoln and is fabulous!  She will greatly help us establish this role next year.

End of Year Management - PLEASE READ:

As we know, the end of the year can be difficult for many.  This week, many of our students were dysregulated.  To be honest, I think we had adults, including myself, having times of this too.   

As we move into the end of the year, please remember a few things - 

1. Routines are still critical.  You may end up doing something different during your "math time", but keeping the schedule and routines is critical.
2. Smile - laugh - show love.  Now, more than ever, we need to show (with our body language and words) that we are still excited for school.
3. Explicit SEL Skills Should Still Happen -   Continue to teach, reinforce, and support SEL skills.  We often think of this at the beginning of the year - it's need now, too.
4. Recognize Positive - Continue to point out, recognize, and reward positive behavior.  Let's celebrate things going well, even if they seem little or seem to be a behavior that we have regressed in (that now the student is making slight improvements).   
5. Get Outside - remember what nature and fresh air do to a brain- get outside!  

Below are two resources with lots of ideas to use tomorrow in your classroom/work area - 

Laura Candler - Management Ideas for End of Year

End of Year Podcast (if you look below, you can see actual times they discuss the topics if you don't want to listen to it all)

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

-Justin