E-Learning
In the event of inclement weather (or an emergency day) the district can opt to call an “E-Learning Day” in place of canceling school. This will allow the district to focus on the safety and well being of our students and staff while still providing academic learning for students. Families are encouraged to review the following information to prepare for the possibility of an E-Learning day during this upcoming winter season.
Student Expectations
Kindergarten-1st Grade Students
1. Check in through TeacherEase by 8:20 AM (Student or a parent)
2. Students will be expected to complete ELA and Math paper packets and/or view instructional videos via SeeSaw. Paper packets must be returned to school on the next in-person attendance day.
3. An optional Google Meet will begin promptly at 9AM where teachers will answer any questions regarding paper packet assignments and/or instructional videos. Additional support will be available on the same Google Meet link until 12:00 PM.
Second Grade
1. Check in through TeacherEase by 8:20 AM (Student or a parent)
2. Students will be expected to complete ELA and Math paper packets and/or view instructional videos via Google Classroom during the 1st trimester. Paper packets must be returned to school on the next in-person attendance day.
3. After the 1st trimester, students are required to join the live Google Meet at 9:00AM and watch the posted video lessons at a later time. Additional support will be available on the same Google Meet link until 12:00 PM.
4. During trimesters 2 & 3, students will need to access and complete their assignments through Google Classroom.
Third-Sixth Grade Students
1. Check-in through TeacherEase by 8:20 AM (Student or a parent)
2. Students are required to either join the live Google Meets at 9:00 AM or watch the posted video lessons at a later time.
3. Students should begin working on assignments following the lesson via Google Meets or Google Classroom
4. Students must submit all assignments through Google Classroom prior to returning to school during the next in-person attendance day.
5. Students are still subject to each school's homework/assignment policies for the work assigned on the emergency day.
Cold Weather/Snow
As winter weather is upon us we would like to remind everyone regarding our expectations regarding outdoor recess. Students should have appropriate outdoor garments and if any assistance is needed please contact your child's classroom teacher or the school office. Students are also expected to have hats, gloves, boots, and snow pants if it snows and they plan to play in the snow.
Dress Up Days/PJ Movie Day
We have dress up days planned for students and staff the week before break and look forward to sharing excitement together before the holidays! On Friday, December 20th we will celebrate the start of break with a PJ Movie Day in the gym. We look forward to giving students an opportunity to celebrate in their PJs, however please refrain from sending students with blankets or stuffed animals.
Buffalo Wild Wings Fundraiser
If you like Buffalo Wild Wings this is the fundraiser for you! If you visit the Buffalo Wild Wings in Peru on Saturday, December 7th anytime from 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. a portion of the proceeds will donated back to McKinley. This fundraiser applies to both dine-in and carry-out orders, however online order or deliveries will not be honored. We appreciate your support!
Calendar Dates
December 6 - Mrs. Baxter's class performs downtown at Freezin' for a Reezin' (1:00 p.m.)
December 7 - Buffalo Wild Wings Fundraiser (11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.)
December 10-12 - Holiday Shop
December 11 - Tis' the Season drawing (3:00 p.m.), PTO Meeting (5:30 p.m.)
December 16-20 - Holiday Dress Up Days
December 17 - OES Board meeting at Central School (6:00 p.m.)
December 18 - Music Concerts at Central School - 1st Grade (6:00 p.m.) - 2nd Grade (7:00 p.m.)
December 19 - Class parties (1:45 p.m.)
December 20 - Half Day Dismissal (11:30 a.m.)
December 23-January 6 - Winter Break
January 7 - School Resumes
PTO
Happy December!
It’s hard to believe that we are already at the end of 2024! We are now heading into the busiest part of the school year for the PTO!
Thank you to every single person that went to Culver’s night! If you worked or just came for dinner and dessert, we really appreciate your support!
Our Tis the Season Raffle will be held via Facebook live on December 11th at 3pm! Best of luck to everyone who purchased a ticket!
Holiday shop is coming December 10-12! This is so much fun for the kids! Each child was sent home with an envelope that has a place for names of who they are shopping for. Everything is $2 and we do have a $20 limit. The teachers will let parents know when their kids will be shopping. If you do not want your child shopping at the Holiday shop, please let your teacher know! The office has sent out an online sign up form to gather volunteers. We do need a lot of people for this! It is so much fun!
A reminder that our spirit wear link is still up. You can order anytime and pick up locally in the Southside.
This month we will also start planning our Carnival! This is a lot of work so if you are interested in helping plan this event, please come to the meeting!
Our next PTO meeting will be held on Wednesday December11th at 5:30 in the gym! Anyone is welcome to attend.
Happy Holidays to you all!
If you have any questions you can reach out to any of our board members or send us a message to the McKinley PTO Facebook page
Amanda Waddell- President
Darlene Hess- Vice President
Casey Clemens- Treasurer
Amy Anderson- Secretary
DON’T FORGET…
-Like our Facebook page McKinley School PTO
-Save your Handy Foods receipts and send them into school. We can redeem these for gift cards to use for school events
-Join Kroger Community Rewards if you haven’t already. Select McKinley school as your organization to support and you can help our school just by grocery shopping!
Champion of the Charter
Congratulations to our November Champion of the Charter students! All of our Champions are invited to attend the December board meeting to be recognized.
Kindergarten
Pfeiffer T., Maverick C., Mariam W.
1st Grade
Jackson B., Maddie W., Violet R.
2nd Grade
Duke L, Grady N., Henry D.
3rd Grade
Parker S., Eleanor C., Donna W.
4th Grade
Clayton B., Annaliese S., Caleb A.
Life Skills
Divyan J., Donna H.
D/HH
Kaylani B.
Kindergarten
This month in Kindergarten we thoroughly enjoyed disguising our turkeys. Our students used such creativity when decorating them. We had fun seeing the amazing projects as they were hung for all to see, and we can’t wait for parents to see them at conference time. It seems all of our turkeys will be safe this Thanksgiving. Great job Kindergarteners!!
McKinley School celebrated World Kindness Day. Our classes enjoyed hearing stories and discussing the importance of being kind to others. We realized that when we are kind to others, not only do we brighten their day, but we also help ourselves have a great day too! We believe that every day is Kindness Day in Kindergarten!
Kindergarten is also working a lot on independence and being problem solvers. We are practicing putting coats on and zipping by ourselves. We are also working on keeping our gloves and hats together. It looks like we are getting ready for the approaching cold weather.
-Kindergarten Team
1st Grade
It's been a busy and fast month! We had Veteran readers from the American Legion come and read to our classes to help educate us on the meaning behind the day. First graders enjoyed their time at the school wide glow party. The end of trimester celebration was a big hit! 1st graders worked hard on their reading skills. We will be putting those reading skills to work in the next trimester. We are also hard at work learning about place value in math and writing our All About books in writing. Students are busy practicing for their upcoming Holiday Music Program on the 18th.
-1st Grade Team
2nd Grade
2nd grade has had a wonderful time this past month! Between voting, World Kindness Day, and Glow Day - these students have been working so hard!
In the classroom, students have been working on two-digit addition with regrouping, discussing character traits, writing small narratives, and practicing their handwriting!
In addition to all of our in class work, students learned a few helpful tips about honeybees and finances! McKinley second graders were lucky to have two presenters! Mr. Budach from Wuzzle Bee Farms came to talk about how to raise, work with, and harvest honey from his honeybees. Miss Crystal from Financial Plus Credit Union came to discuss the importance of saving, spending, and sharing money!
We are looking forward to our busy holiday month, especially our music program!
-2nd Grade Team
3rd Grade
It has been a fun and busy month in third grade! We read about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and designed and created our own balloon floats. We had lots of fun testing out our egg drop projects for Science. The students were so creative and did a fantastic job helping their “astronauts” survive. We enjoyed celebrating the completion of our first trimester with some fun glow day activities in the gym. We put all of our multiplication strategies together to create math turkeys. We celebrated Kindness day and created thankful notes for all of our classmates.
-3rd Grade Team
4th Grade
The fourth grade students had a busy November! They did a wonderful job of honoring our veterans with the songs they sang during the Veterans Day Program. They also had a presentation from Ameren where they received energy kits and learned about ways they can conserve energy.
In the month of December, students will be shifting from writing personal essays to writing persuasive essays. In social studies we will begin learning about the states, geography, natural resources, climate and history of the Northeast region of the United States. Students will continue learning multiplication skills in math, including how to multiply two digit by two digit numbers. In reading we will be learning about how to use context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words, and will also be doing some fun Christmas reading skill review. We are looking forward to a great month!
-4th Grade Team
Life Skills
November was a fun month in Life Skills! We learned all about Turkeys and Thanksgiving. We have been busy learning new Core Words! This past week, we worked on the word like and spent the week talking about things/food we like and don't like going into Thanksgiving. We're so excited for the Holiday Season in our rooms!
-Life Skills Team
D/HH
Another great month in the D/HH classroom. Our Project Based Learning project this month was: Plan your Thanksgiving Dinner. Our students planned a menu, worked with a budget and made invitations for their meals. We also worked on making our family trees. Our concert at Epworth Village was a big hit as was the concert for the 4th grade. We also held our annual D/HH and Life Skills Thanksgiving Feast. We ate so much food. Our final event of the month was our concert about Deafness we held for the 4th graders. They asked some great questions about hearing loss, hearing aids and Deafness. The kids did a wonderful job.
-D/HH Team
Music
We are having a great year in Music classes! A big thank you to all of our Veterans for their service and to those who attended our program on Friday, November 8. Our fourth graders sang two songs and several students served as narrators for the program. The whole school sang our national anthem and did the “Pledge of Allegiance” together. It was wonderful to honor our veterans!
All classes have been working hard on learning how to read musical rhythms, sing ascending and descending scales, and looking at the lyrics of songs that we sing. Our third graders recently learned the names of additional music notation and symbols and did well on their quiz! Kindergarten students have mastered their hand signs for the scale and are good singers already! Mrs. Berryman and Mrs. Sullivan’s classes are working on keeping a steady beat to different tempos of music and are enjoying playing a variety of instruments.
Our first and second grade students are preparing for their upcoming Christmas Programs! Both shows will take place at Central School in the cafetorium. We are so excited to share our programs with our families!
First Grade Program- “The Sights and Sounds of Christmas!”
Wednesday, December 18 at 6:00 p.m.
Second Grade Program- “Toys! The Night They Come Alive!”
Wednesday, December 18 at 7:00 p.m.
Ms. Hendrickson’s class recently performed a short program at Epworth Village. They sang and signed several songs and did an amazing job! The students shared what they were thankful for and painted turkeys for the audience. The class also did a program for the McKinley fourth graders on November 22.
-Mrs. Sanders
