Weekly Update - Friday, June 4, 2020

Happy Last Day of School!
What a year this has been!  And, here we are, the last day of school.  Think back to that day in March when we realized we were going distance learning.  Many of you probably thought, "Will I make it???"  You did!  It was your passion, persistence, and dedication to our kids that made this year a success.  I'm proud to stand along side you in this work!

I hope you are able to turn the computer off and enjoy some downtime.  Do something you enjoy and be around those you love!  Take care of YOU!

PD Learning Reflection:
I hope you enjoyed the professional learning this week.   It was hard to put it all into one week - however, we made it happen!  A huge thank you to our Teaching and Learning Department for making this happen!

I hope you learned, reflected, questioned, & collaborated a lot this week!  We are life long learners!

Communication this Summer:
I will be sending out communication, as needed this summer.  I plan to use school email and the blog - make sure you peek in once in a while to keep up with this communication!

Our office is open next week, regular hours.  Below are our hours:
              June 15 - July 1, our office will have limited hours.  If you need something from the
              office, please email me if the office is closed.

              July 6- 30 we will have summer school at McKinley.  Our office hours will be 7:00-
              1:00pm.

              August 3 - 7 we will have limited hours

              August 10 - 31 we will resume our normal hours

Parade:
Thank you to everyone who turned out for our End of the Year Parade last night!  It was great to get into neighborhoods and see our kids!

Take some time this summer for YOU!   Have a great summer and keep being awesome!
-Justin

Weekly Update - Friday, May 29, 2020

Happy Friday!

Below is the video message for our students.. enjoy!

Summer Programming - Building Use:
As you know, we will have students in the building this summer.  When you clean your room/office, please be aware that it will more than likely be used for programming.  With social distancing, we will need to use every space available in the building.

Parade - June 4:
Please consider joining us for our end of the year parade on June 4 at 4:30pm.  We will meet at McKinley around 4:15pm and follow a route throughout our neighborhoods.  Consider decorating your car with signs, etc (remember, you will still need to be able to drive).  We are not doing candy or handing items out due to germs/contact. 

Family Communication:
This note will be going home today to families- I wanted you to be in the know!

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

Enjoy your weekend - gear up for a great week of professional learning and goodbyes!
-Justin

Weekly Update - Friday, May 22, 2020

Happy Friday, McKinley!

5th Grade Graduation:
Calling all staff- come join us on Wednesday night for our 5th Grade Graduation!  The graduation is on May 27 from 6-7:30pm in the pick up/drop off lane.  Please consider joining us!

EID - Saturday:

Nura said EID will fall on Sunday this year. This Muslim holiday marks the end of Ramadan and their month of fasting.  It is a time of celebration with family and friends.  I'm including a short description of this holiday in case you would like to know more about the meaning of Eid.

Eid’ul Fitr

Eid in Arabic means “feast, festival, holiday.”

Eid is a worldwide festival and celebration for Muslims. During the calendar year there are two Eid’s that are celebrated by Muslims. Eid ul Fitr, which means “festival to break the fast”, is at the end of the holy month of Ramadan in which Muslims fast for a whole month.

Eid ul Fitr is also known as the lesser Eid, and is determined by the confirmed sighting of the new moon. Eid is a time for reflection and starting afresh, a time to rejoice with family and friends, but also a time for remembering those who are less fortunate. It’s a time to count our blessings while also giving charity to those in need. Fasting teaches empathy and compassion for those less fortunate. In this time of year it provides Muslims belief and the opportunity to feel closer to God by carrying out various works of charity to benefit the poor and by offering prayers imposed and enacted. There are special morning Eid prayers offered in congregation to accompany the 5 daily prayers to mark the occasion. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) reported that servants who get cleaned by fasting and worshipping should wish for whatever they want from Allah in Eid prayers.

Eid is a momentous, happy and joyous occasion shared with family and friends, Muslim and non-Muslim. A celebration of this nature, with family and friends following a month fasting, is a reminder and expression of trying to be a better person in all aspects (health, spiritual, belief and faith)

ACCESS Scores- Celebrations:

As the 2019-20 school year comes to a close, our EL department has some exciting news to share.  After receiving our ACCESS scores for 2020, we are thrilled to announce we have 20 students who passed their test and will be exited from the program!  Also, 15 of the 20 are in fourth and fifth grade!  These results affirm the effectiveness of co-teaching, the cumulative results of three years of partnerships and being fully aligned with the K-5 curriculum!

Also, each of our English Learner's path to proficiency includes individualized language targets for each year. English language proficiency is the level of knowledge and skill with the English language required for academic success. Whenever a student increases their level of knowledge and skill, they are making progress toward English language proficiency.  This year, 71%  (46 out of 64 students) of the English Language Learners who had 2 years worth of ACCESS data sets at McKinley met North Star Proficiency.
 

Congrats to McKinley EL students and team for this remarkable measure of achievement! 

 We can ALL celebrate these amazing results!  What a way to end the year!

 -- Laurie, Caryn, Liz, and Martina

June 8 - Teacher Workday:
I've had some questions about June 8 Teacher Workday.  If you have your work completed on or before June 5, you do not need to report on June 8.

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


I hope you have a great, relaxing weekend!  Take care of YOU!
-Justin

Weekly Update - Friday, May 15, 2020

Happy Friday!

Finish Strong, McKinley!
As I stated in my email on Wednesday, finish strong!  I am continually impressed by you... enjoy the movie one more time! 

5th Grade Notes to Graduates

Please remember that notes to the graduates are due by Friday, May 20th.  Please use the form to leave notes for our students.  They would love to read notes from all of you!  Thank you. 

End of Year Checklist:

Below are two checklists for staff - one is for a teacher checkout & one is a to-do list for student events.  

Teacher Checklist (for teachers)

End of Year "To Do List" for Student Items & Events

Also, this note is going home today to families - just keeping you in the loop! 

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


Enjoy your weekend - get outside and do something for YOU!
-Justin

Weekly Update - Friday, May 8, 2020

Happy Friday!
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!
I want to thank you all for the effort, passion, love, and energy you give to McKinley!  You are truly remarkable educators - I am honored to serve our McKinley students along side you!  I hope you were able to feel the celebration and your "why" this week!

I Appreciate Teachers So Hard...

End of the Year Activities:

A big thank you to the volunteers who joined in helping with the organization of the end of the year activities and celebrations!

Celebrate Week: We are planning for the week of May 18-22 to be a Celebration Week.  We will be including options for events so that students and teachers can celebrate all of the successes from the year.  More information will be coming soon! Kate shared a slide for you to link a video of yourself reading your favorite book!  You can share these with students the week of 5/18, so please have them linked in before that date.  Questions can be directed to Kate Seifert or Kayla.

Track Meet: The PE department has plans underway to do a virtual track meet on Tuesday, May 26th!  This will likely look like a choice board of options for kids and a way to share their activities.  More information will come out next week!  Questions can be directed to Tom, Kyle, Luke, Sami, Kayla, Katie Schuster or Libby.  

End of Year Stations: This will be like the "last day" stations we've done in the past.  We will do this on Friday, May 29th.  Staff can sign up stations for kids to come on for. They can join others around the building and lead an activity. We brainstormed some activities already that are down at the bottom. This would be for all staff like it is at the end of the year. Staff would only need to sign up for one slot.  We will also have a time at the end of the day that students could click on teacher's links and pop on to say goodbye to have some closure.  Questions can be directed to Dani, Karla or Catie Stephani.

End of Year Student Slideshow: There will be an end of the year slideshow of pictures put together for students.  If each staff member would upload up to 5 pictures to this folder by Friday, 5/22, then we should have enough to put something special together to be shared the last week of May!  Questions can be directed to Katie Schuster. 

End of Year Goodbye from Staff Slideshow: We want to send the kids off with a slideshow of pictures of us too with our wishes for them!  Take a picture of yourself with a sign responding to one of the following prompts (you don't need to list the prompt on your sign, just your response):  

"What I Love About McKinley Students..." (Their passion, their smiles, etc)

"My wish for you over the summer is..." (Get outside, Go learn outdoors, Enjoy your family, etc) 

"My message to you is..." (Be Kind, Read a Book, Keep Learning)

*Please make sure your response a sentence of less.  Also, feel free to have some funny responses, too.  

  

Put your picture in the folder by Friday, 5/22. Questions can be directed to Justin Kiel.  

End of Year Parade: Thursday, June 4th from 4:30-5:30 we will do a driving through the neighborhood parade so we can see many students' faces one last time this year.  We will meet in the Mck parking lot at 4:15 to get all lined up and ready to go!  Here's the map and information that will be sent to families.  Questions can be directed to Libby or Sami.

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

Have a great weekend!
-Justin

Weekly Update - Friday, May 1, 2020

Happy Friday, everyone!
It's going to be a beautiful weekend - make sure you turn off the technology and get outside! 

Teacher Appreciation Week:
Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week (May 4-8).  Each of you have many things to celebrate - we have an amazing group of caring, supportive adults who put their all into supporting our students.  Please take some time next week to "thank" each other - virtually, email, text, note, or in person.  We have MANY things to celebrate! 

A huge thank to our staff for being compassionate, committed adults who put others needs before their own.  I am honored to work with our McKinley Staff! 

Teacher Workday Options:
Click here to access the teacher workday options.  This is a list to help guide teaching staff in planning for today and Monday. 

There is a reflection link in the document.  Please make a copy and complete the reflection.  Please take some time, on your own, to think deeply about the questions.   Please email to Justin when completed. 

How to Make Distance Learning Engaging:
Here's a link to some ideas on how to make distance learning engaging.  This will be super helpful as we enter into May...  https://www.giftedguru.com/make-distance-learning-engaging/

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

Have a great weekend, everyone!
-Justin

Weekly Update - Friday, April 24, 2020

Happy Friday, everyone!

As you know, distance learning has been extended to the end of the year.  I can't imagine the tears and disappointment yesterday - from students and our staff.  As much as we'd love to return to "normalcy" and end our year (physically) together, it's not going to happen.  I knew this was coming - but it only slightly softened the blow when I heard the official word.  I immediately went to our 5th Graders - our teachers who are leaving/retiring - our seniors at OHS.  All of the experiences they will miss in May. 

However, will they miss experiences?  Or will the experiences change?  I came across this quote that made me think differently about this experience.  This "storm" is making our roots stronger.  We will become stronger people after all the learning and new challenges we have encountered.  Our "roots" will be deeper, stronger, and ready for new challenges.   Our students' roots will be the same. 

We've got this.  We will continue to support, love, and encourage our students - and each other!  We are a McKinley Family and nothing can stop that! 

Ramadan:
Don't forget, Ramadan starts today.  Ramadan is a month of fasting for Muslims all over the world. Fasting during Ramadan is one of the “five pillars” of Islam, and is performed to learn compassion, self-restraint, and generosity.  The Muslim calendar is a lunar based calendar, so the dates of holidays change every year.  This year, Ramadan begins on the evening of April 23rd or 24th and ends with Eid al Fatir May 23rd (dates vary depending on location).   Here is a good article that answers some basic questions about this important holiday.  http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/06/18/ramadan-begins

Considerations for prayer times throughout the day should be taken into account with our distance learning adventures.  If you have a class that has a scheduled time to meet, please make appropriate accommodations for students if they need to be at prayers.  Prayer obligations differ by family and age of student, so don't make assumptions based on one or two students.  If you click HERE you will be taken to the prayer time calendar website.   Use this tool to help know when students and families will most likely be at prayer.

Many of our students and their families celebrate this holiday so it is important to be aware of the traditions and ceremonies that take place during Ramadan. 

Student Input:
This week, I came across a few tweets that reminded me of the power of getting student input on how distance learning is going.  Both of these below activities were led by a teacher on what students enjoyed about distance learning.   One of the teachers decided that any of the things students listed needed to become the changes he was making next year to his classroom.  What a powerful mindset shift - thinking of this as a learning experience and a way to grow as an educator! 

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

Have a great weekend!
-Justin