January 8 Update

Happy Friday, McKinley!

Welcome Back!  It's going to be a great second semester for us!

Documents from Thursday's Meeting:

Below is a link to the documents we used on Thursday morning.  

COVID Phase-In Plan

Grading and Assessment Clarification

Grading Window:

Just a reminder - the grading window will close on Wednesday, January 20 at 8am.  We will print report cards that day - they will be sent home with students on Thursday, Jan 21.  

Upgrade - AESOP:

We’ve upgraded our Absence Management system to Frontline Education’s Insights Platform.  If you haven’t already logged into your account, you will receive a prompt to create a Frontline ID and Password the next time you login.

Tips for creating your new Frontline ID:

• Log into Absence Management (AESOP) using your old login credentials.  Once you click "login" you will be asked to create your new account.  
• Your new username must contain 1 alphabet character and at least 4 total characters. The password must have 1 alphabet character, 8 total characters, and 1 number or special character.   
• Once you create your new Frontline ID, an email will be sent to your school email to verify the new account that you created. Please check your email to verify your account.
• If you receive an error message that says "link has expired" when verifying your account, close down your internet browser and try logging in again at a later time.  The system takes some time to get your accounts linked. 

Creating your new Frontline ID will allow you to login to all Frontline programs.  You should see the different programs/apps in the upper left hand corner when you click the dropdown under Absence Management.

Now Accepting 761 Foundation Grant Applications
Deadline: January 15

Every spring, the 761 Foundation awards approximately $100,000 in mini-grants to Owatonna Public Schools teachers and principals. Grants are awarded based on the following criteria:

1. Benefits a large number of students.

2. Meets an important need, which is not likely to be funded in other ways.

3. Maximizes good cost to benefit ratio.

4. Shows creativity and innovation.

5. Needed funds to continue a past approved project.

Click here for the grant application

Application deadline: January 15

• Please itemize and prioritize requests that include multiple items/expenses.

• Applicants must discuss the feasibility and implementation of the proposal with the appropriate building administrator. Comments and a signature from the building administrator must be included on the application.

• Projects that include the purchase of technology also require a technology request form, which can be found at the end of the grant application.

• No incomplete or late applications will be accepted.

Note: this is an electronic application and approval process. After clicking the submit button on the application form, your administrator/supervisor will receive an email to review, comment on, and sign your grant application.

Questions about the grant application process can be directed to Sarah Hoffman, ext. 8610.

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

Please get your updated schedule in the shared folder:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19Vnv_P8nzaw9fRLuILOpG3kbaEGAqGKr?usp=sharing

Have a great weekend, everyone!  I'm excited to return to in-person on Monday!

-Justin

December 18 Update

Happy Friday, McKinley!

I hope you had a great week of learning and relationships!  

Return Date - January 11:

As you saw from Superintendent Elstad's email yesterday, we are returning students to McKinley on January 11.  Many of our leadership teams have been brainstorming what a re-entry plan would look like - more information will come out on this!  Please know that there is a lot of time, energy, and collaboration going into this process.  Staff will be wearing masks and shields - shields are being ordered and will be available to you.  

I will continue to update you as I know more information.   

Transition Days:

We will still do a student transition day at on January 4 - when students return virtually.  The options and activities for that day may be used that week, instead.  We have students on January 4, 5, and 6.  

School is closed Thursday, Jan 7 and Friday, Jan 8 for staff to transition back into the new learning model.  More will come on this.

When students return on January 11 to in-person, we will have another transition process for students.  

So, basically, we have a lot of transition coming :)

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

Click here to access the Jan 4 - 8 building weekly newsletter

There will be no blog next week.

Have a great weekend!
Justin

December 11 Update

Happy Friday, McKinley!
I hope you've had another great week of learning and relationships! 

A huge thank you to Steph and Selena for doing the material pick up on Wednesday.  We handed out materials for both McKinley and Distance Learners - over 600 items.  A huge thank you for doing this!  

Reporting COVID Symptoms:

If you have COVID or are a close contact, please continue to report this to Judy.  This is critical - honestly, this data will help get us back into "in person learning" at McKinley.  This is for both a positive test as well as if you are a close contact.  Please, please, please remember to report this - even as you are teaching virtually.  

Transition Day - Jan 4:

We are working on some activities for a January 4 Virtual Transition Day.  More information will come out on this.  Just a reminder - these days are to help get us back into the routines and relationships of school!  

Return to School Plan:

We are beginning to look at our return to school in January - and what this will look like for both students and staff.  I am working with Building Leadership, Reading Leadership, and our Equity & Inclusion Team on what questions, supports, and other things we need to consider and implement before students come back.  If you have questions or feedback, please let a member of one of these teams know.  We will share this plan as it becomes final.  

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

Have a great weekend, everyone!

-Justin

December 4 Update

Happy Friday, McKinley!
I hope you had a great week back with students.  I've been in and out of classrooms this week - WOW.  Your compassion, flexibility, and knowledge of students is easily observed through everything you do.  I appreciate our team so much.  

How to be an Anti-Racist:

Below is a link to an article on "How to be an Anti-Racist" (Educational Leadership).  Our job, as educators, is to move to the level of an "anti-racist".  Ibram X Kendi says, "The opposite of racist isn't no racist.  It is anti-racist".   This article gives us some concrete ways we can move to stopping racism -  please take some time to read.  

Article - http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/oct19/vol61/num10/How-to-Be-an-Antiracist-Educator.aspx

Absences & COVID:

We are starting to see more staff out with COVID.  I wanted to remind you of the plan for this type of absence.  First, if you are positive or a close contact, please let Judy and Steph know.  We need to track this information.

If you are able to teach, you can do so.  If you are not able to teach, we have a few options - 

• Pre-record your lesson(s) and post in Google Classroom. Please let students know you are out.  
• Have your co-teacher teach.  
• Have students attend a teammmate's Google Meet.

If those options are all exhausted, we can try and find a sub for you.  Bringing a sub in for distance learning is hard, as they need to be added to your classroom, kids won't know them, and you need to write sub plans.  It's not impossible, just way harder.  

Feel free to reach out to me if you run into a situation and just need to brainstorm your options.  I'm here to support.  Also, you may want to run this by your team for a proactive plan - what would you do if one of you goes out sick?  

SeeSaw- from Mike Halverson:

Great news, if you are already using the free version of Seesaw account, we've converted it to the premium paid version of Seesaw for Schools over the weekend.  With the Seesaw for School paid version, there are many features available to you such as unlimited activities and the ability to schedule activities (click here for a full comparison of versions and features).

I know many of you are already familiar with Seesaw, but for those that would like a refresher or are new to Seesaw, please watch this quick video.  There is also additional "beyond the basics" PD located here that will help you master your Seesaw skillset to support students & families.

From a personal, parent perspective, I wish we would've been using Seesaw long ago as I know more about what is happening with my son's education than I ever have before thanks to Mr. Langlois and Seesaw. Many parents I've had the opportunity to talk with over the last couple of months are saying the same things so keep up the awesome work all of you are doing.

If you have any questions or concerns, please submit a technology ticket and someone will assist as soon as they are able.

Learning Material Pick-Up: 

We are offering a learning material pick-up on Wednesday, December 9.  Please remind families this is a curbside pick up (they should call the office and we will bring it out) between 7:15-4:30pm.  Also, if you have materials to distribute, please have them individually bagged up with the student's name.  We will be offering another one in early January.  I've had a grade level ask about your Volume 2 Math Journal.  Please talk to your team and decide - should the math journal go home now or wait until early January?  Please let Ann or I know if you need assistance.  

Distance Learning - Manipulatives:

Here is a site I have come across with some free manipulatives - http://toytheater.com/category/teacher-tools/virtual-manipulatives/

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

Have a great weekend, everyone!  

-Justin

November 20 Update

Happy Friday!

I hope you've had a great week of learning and collaborating with families.  It's a long week, I know.  Thank you for your time, passion, and commitment to our kids and families. 

Weekly Schedule - Google Classroom:

Be sure to post your classroom's weekly schedule in your google classroom each week.  It is super helpful for families to be able to see a one pager with all of the live meet times for the week.  Distance learning teachers are also using this form and families have appreciated it.

All School Field Trip - Wednesday, December 2:

Save the date - we are going on an all-school field trip on Wednesday, December 2 at 1:00pm.  More information to come!  

Gratitude Challenge:

Don't forget about our November Gratitude Challenge - there is still time to participate!  As you know, expressing gratitude actually helps you, too.  Below are some reminders for us on how important gratitude is for us, too!  

Transition Day - Monday, November 30:

We have a transition day on Monday, November 30.  A huge thank you to our transition day team for helping create these activities - and then making sure they are virtual.  Click here to access the transition day document.  

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access next week's building weekly newsletter

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter (Nov 30- December 4)

There will not be a blog post next week.  

Have a great weekend, everyone!  Get out and do something for YOU!

-Justin

November 13 Update

Happy Friday! 

I'm going to say it again - I am so proud of this staff.  We literally packed up a school and transitioned to distance learning in a short period of time.  I have had great feedback from families about McKinley - things like, "McKinley really did it WELL", "This is a thousand times better than spring!", and "My student was smiling and happy - I love the McKinley Staff!".  Great work for making this transition so smooth.  You have stayed focused on our students and what is best for them.  Great work! 

Can you Relate...

Updates - Distance Learning:

I met with Building Leadership Team this morning to discuss distance learning.   Just a few things for you to know:

• Staff Absences - if you have a planned absence, please pre-record a lesson and post an activity in your GC.  Also, please let families know that you will be out.  You may want to ask a teaching partner to check in that day.  If an absence is an emergency or illness, please put into AESOP and email Justin.  We will find a sub for you (more than likely Justin or Libby) - so make sure we are collaborators in your classroom.  Let me know if stuff comes up and I'll be glad to help!
• Student Attendance - please take at the end of the day.  Also, please add comments in - this helps us on what is going on and what communication has already occurred.  Also, you can email Selena, Annette, or I if you have questions or need input.  We know this will be a case by case thing to start and want to help!  
• Get Away From Technology - please don't forget to let families know your hours and to get away from a computer when you are not working.  You need to take care of YOU, too!  
• Engagement Spreadsheet - please watch for an engagement spreadsheet that will come out next week.  This will be a spot to list students who are not engaged or completing work.  Our first job was to get them in (attendance) - now we can support them to get work completed.  

Please let me know if you need help or have questions!

Conferences:

Don't forget about conferences next Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Please send a reminder out to families with their times.  Also, please don't forget to focus on strengths, as well as areas of growth for students.  We can capitalize on those things that students do well - and it's great for families to know this.  Also, it's important we are honest about areas we are concerned - where students are at, academically/socially/behaviorally.  This is a great time to work with families on this, as well as re-engage them with our new learning platform (distance learning).  

Virtual Conference Reminders

*Review the Preparing for conferences link.

*You should have the link on your calendar to access conferences.

*Here is a guide for families on accessing the meet.

*Parents have the link in their email confirmation from PTCFast.com.

*Use this as an opportunity to learn a little more about your students' stories.

*Reach out to Justin or Libby if you want to talk through what to share at conferences.

Building Relationships - Virtually:

As you know, our focus will continue to be on building meaningful relationships with every learner.  You already do this so well - now we get to test it out virtually!  Below are 10 ways to continue to build student relationships.  If you come across other things, or try ideas that you like, please share with our staff.  You can tweet it (#mckinleyPD) or send an email.  

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

I hope you have a great weekend - get outside and do something you love!

-Justin

November 6 Update

Happy Friday, McKinley!
I hope you've had a great week of learning and relationships!  A huge thank you to Steph and Selena for organizing our food truck yesterday.  It was a great lunch!

Please make sure you are engaged (camera on, not doing other work) during today's learning.  Today's learning is very important and will greatly help us as educators.  It's going to be a great day! 

COVID Updates:

Thank you for meeting yesterday.  Just to recap some of the big learning(s):

• Class Lists/Contact Tracing -  We need to make sure that students are with the same student(s), as much as possible.  As I told you, we need to go through a student's day to find out what exposure has occurred.  It's critical that we decrease the contact students are having for over 15 minutes. There is more below.   
• Privacy - When we are notified of a case, we begin contact tracing.  We contact those that may have come into contact with someone.  If I do not come to you, and you are concerned, you can come directly to me.  It is a directive that we are not talking/gossiping about the situations with colleagues.  This is a privacy issue.  Again, come to me.   Additionally, this includes students. Please talk to your class/classes about discussing this.  As I stated yesterday, it is extremely hard on a student when kids are saying things like "Oh, I bet they have COVID", etc.  
• Google Classroom - Please continue to use Google Classroom (Meets, too) as much as you can. If we need to move to distance learning, it's imperative that students know how to use the device and your digital classroom.  
• Planning - Please think through long-term planning as we move into the winter months.  In the event your class (or the building) go distance learning, it's very helpful to have things ready to go home.  I'm not asking you to plan out 3-4 weeks; I know that you need to be responsive to your students, too.  It's more of a general idea planning - and having copies and other resources ready.

Thank you for your continued energy and support toward these things.  I know this is not easy and we are all tired of it.  I keep telling myself, we need our students to not feel this.  You've done a great job of keeping McKinley a happy, positive place that is focused on students.  

Conferences

I have heard several of you talking about the excitement around visiting with families.  Here is the preparing guide that Kenneth created that walks through a lot of the logistics of the virtual conference.  

As you plan as a team, you will also want to talk about what information you’ll be sharing for conferences.  This is a great opportunity to hear a little bit more about their stories and share about some of the assets of the students.  

You will not have a data sheet printed from the office this year; this is intentional as Fastbridge is cautioning use of the data since it was not normed for the situation we had last spring.  Therefore, please do not share national percentiles with families, as they are unlikely to paint an accurate picture of the student’s academics.  I know that you have seen a lot of growth even since fall, and we do want to share how students are doing academically (as well as socially).  Here are some ideas of things you could share:

• Progress monitoring information (growth)

• Formative assessment data (could even be anecdotal)

• Reading behaviors or goals (instructional goals)

• Skills or things you are working on and where you are headed (or where we want them to be in this grade level)

You also might share ideas for reading at home (encourage reading at home).

If you have questions about what to share or how to share it, please reach out to Libby as she is more than happy to brainstorm.  

Grouping Students/COVID:

I received several questions about partnering and grouping students based on our conversation yesterday.  One idea that has worked well for a few teachers in the building, is to seat students somewhat near their guided reading group members.   This will reduce the number of students that they are in close contact with throughout the day.  We have collaboration time at the end of the day, and it will be important to collaborate with your teams around the professional development that you all received.  However, if you want to take the last few minutes to talk through how you might shift things in your room based on the discussion yesterday and then implement those changes, please do so.  

Remember to print the seating charts for specialists when you change them, and give them to them every time you make a change.  Minimizing the frequency of changes will help to maximize students’ time in specialists.  

Building Weekly Newsletter:

Click here to access the building weekly newsletter

Have a great weekend, everyone!

-Justin