Principal's Update- Friday, May 20, 2016

Happy Friday!
I am out tomorrow all day (Friday, 5/20) - Justin Lang is available for anything you need. 

Can you believe we are nearing the end of the 15-16 school year?  Only a few more weeks and summer vacation starts.  Let's finish strong!

McKinley 60th/STEM Gallery/Ice Cream Social Night
We had a great night celebrating 60 years of McKinley.  A huge thank you to all who helped make this night a success - a lot of work went into this!  It was an awesome night of celebrating McKinley! 

Scheduling Changes/Field Trips
Teachers, if you have a scheduling change, special event, or field  trip, please update the shared document I sent out.  This is a requirement.   

DIBELS Spring Benchmarking
A huge thank you to the EA's for their flexibility and hard work in completing the DIBELS spring assessments.  This data has been put into your mailbox; there has been great growth in this area since winter!  Please remember to update the spreadsheet in 365 by Wednesday, May 25th.  Your math facts, DAZE and Words their Way assessment data also needs to be entered into the spreadsheets in the CBM folder under assessments.  First grade, please remember also to complete and record your nonsense word fluency.  See Libby with questions. 

Discovery Lab
Discovery Lab closes next Friday, May 27th (other than for MacLeod's music classes).  As you know, the Discovery Lab will be transitioning to a different instructional space for the 16-17 year.  If you have personal materials in this space, please remove them before May 27.  I will spend some time boxing the science/building resources and supplies to store for next year. 

Class Placements- Tuesday
Classroom teachers will meet on Tuesday, May 24th to create class lists for next year.  Teachers, please have your cards completed by this time.  Staff, if you know of students who should not be placed together, please let the child's classroom teacher know prior to this day.

5th Grade Graduation
The 5th Grade Graduation is Friday, June 3rd from 1:45-2:15pm.  Due to limited seating, we are doing some work now to see if it can be streamed into classrooms.  More information will come on this!

Stages- Goals
I am doing a mini-session for support staff on Tuesday, May 24th from 7:30-7:45am.  This will include entering goals only.  If you want to attend, this is open to any staff who work on goals.   As we get closer to the end of the year, I will individually email you with items that need to be addressed in Stages. 

Building Weekly Newsletter
Click here to access the weekly building newsletter

Valet Parking for the Week
The Valet Parking for the Week goes to Literacy Coach Libby Zeman.   Libby has been a great addition to the instructional support in this building (and Wilson).  Libby has an extensive background in reading and knows how to support/coach people.   The thing that impresses me the most about Libby is her desire to continually grow- individually, but also as a McKinley team.  I am so grateful for Libby and all the work she does to support reading in our building.  Thank you, Libby!

It's going to be a nice weekend- get outside and enjoy it!
-Justin

Principal's Update- September 18, 2015

Happy Friday, everyone!
Life has been busy around McKinley!  And, as much as we go home exhausted, it's been great seeing the excitement, energy, and learning throughout the building.

We had our Summer Learning Breakfast this morning.  We had over 85 students participate and turn their calendar in!  Congrats to Jack Langlois for winning the iPod Touch.   Below are a few pictures from the breakfast:   

Building Goals
Below is a link to our building goals.  Our building goals generated from work with Site Team on building data and needs.  These building goals will be the foundation of the work we do this year.  We are still working on our STEM goal- this may change slightly (just the wording).  If you have questions about the goals, let myself or your Site Rep know. 

Click here for the building goals

PTO Sign-Up
Teachers, please consider signing up to attend one PTO Meeting this year.  The link went out yesterday through Office 365. 

Garbage Cans in Hallway
At our Cabinet Meeting, Bob shared a concern that custodial staff had a hard time finding garbage cans in classrooms.  Can you have a student (or two) be in charge of placing the garbage at the door each night?  This will speed up the process so staff can get to other things (cleaning floors, windows, etc.)

PLCs:
Teachers, I will be sending an email out this weekend with some documents to help guide your work as a PLC.  Please use this email when working with your PLC on Monday or Tuesday.   I will try to make it around to each of your PLCs. 

Referendum Video & Representatives
This week, a McKinley team attended a presentation to learn more about the upcoming referendum. This team consists of Michelle Simon, Michelle Meiners, Sonya David, Diane Frazier, and Amy Cocchiarella.  There will be more information coming out from this group as the weeks progress.  If you have questions, see this team or the website:  http://www.owatonna.k12.mn.us/page/2776

Building Weekly Newsletter:
Click here to see the Weekly Newsletter

Valet Parking for the Week:
The Valet Parking for the Week goes to Kindergarten EA, Tarah Thompson.  Tarah always has a positive attitude toward her work and students.  Tarah and Trisha have a lot of energy coming from their classroom.  Tarah has nothing but respect and care for the students she serves.  She is dedicated to her job and will do whatever it takes to make Kindergarten a great experience for our K4 students.  Tarah, enjoy the parking spot!

Snapshot of Learning:

Katie Demmer's 2nd Graders working on reading stamina.

Courtney Hugs' Kindergarteners enjoying the outdoor classroom. 

Mark Langlois's Welcome Board- focused on growth mindset! :)

Welcome McKinley School Class of 2028!

Don't forget, fall benchmarking is due next week (closes 9/23, report by 9/25). 

Have a great weekend!
-Justin