Calendar Dates
April 9
-PTO Meeting (5:30 p.m.)
April 10
-Kindergarten Registration Assistance - optional (3:30-5:30 p.m.)
April 11
-Midterm
April 14-16
-Book Fair (during the school day)
April 15
-OES Board Meeting at Central School (6:00 p.m.)
April 16
-Evening Book Fair (5:00-6:00 p.m.)
April 17
-Half Day (dismissal at 11:30 a.m.)
-Registration forms due
April 18
-No School
April 21
-No School
April 22
-School Resumes
April 28-May 2
-Fine Arts Week
May 1
-Young Authors Celebration
2025-26 School Year Registration
Online registration for next school year is now open on TeacherEase. In addition to registering online, each child has a paper packet of information that will need to be completed and returned to the school. We ask that families please have the registration process completed by April 17th.
Young Author Winners
Congratulations to our 2025 Young Author winners!
Barrett B., Maddie W., Ben S., Norah T., Brynlee C., Veronica S., Audrina A., Ella W., Brody B., Melina S., Maddox N., Lacei J.
Fine Arts Festival
April Lunch Menu
PTO
We hope everyone had an amazing Spring Break!
We just want to give a big thanks to all the moms and sons that came out to our first ever bingo night! It was so much fun! It was definitely a nice change from the mother/son dance. Everyone seemed to have a great time!! We will do it again next year.
At this month's meeting we will be starting our Staff Appreciation planning. So bring all the ideas! We will also be getting our Field day plans going because we know that will all be here before we know it.
The Vice President position and the Treasurer position are up for election this month. If you are interested in joining the board and have been to at least 3 meetings, please be sure to be at the meeting.
The Scholastic Bookfair will be back in just a few short weeks. A google link was sent out for volunteers. Someone will be reaching out soon for that.
On the PTO Facebook page, there is some great information on redeeming box tops. It really is an easy way to get some money for your kids school by purchasing things you already buy!
A reminder that our spirit wear link is still up. You can order anytime and pick up locally on the Southside or you can have it mailed to you.
Our next PTO meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 9th at 5:30 in the gym! Anyone is welcome to attend.
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 March Champion of the Charter students! All of our Champions are invited to attend the April board meeting to be recognized.
Kindergarten
Franki V., Levi W., Olivier B.
1st Grade
Trent D., Kole S., Aubrey A.
2nd Grade
Ryder S., Evelyn D., Mia K.
3rd Grade
Paige M., Sophia S., Kylie D.
4th Grade
Gianna R., Ryder D., Michael H.
Life Skills
Gunnar N., Thomas J.
D/HH
Justin E.
Kindergarten
The kindergarten classes had fun celebrating Dr. Seuss and his birthday in March. Students were able to enjoy special dress up days and to hear lots of great stories. We all learned about how Dr. Seuss’ imagination and talent in rhyming can help all of us to be wonderful writers.
In Math, students have been breaking apart numbers into two parts, showing addition patterns, and solving problems. As always, our Math journals continue to provide plenty of opportunities to practice a variety of skills.
We are certainly looking forward to spring weather. Students are excited about the arrival of short sleeve weather and playing out in the fresh air.
-Kindergarten Team
1st Grade
March was another fun month in 1st grade! In Social Studies we learned about changes in time from the past to the present. Families completed timelines to show change and important events from birth to present. We have all enjoyed looking at the timelines displayed in the hall. Character, setting, problem, and solution have been the focus as we read. Next month we will put those concepts into our own stories as we begin our realistic fiction writing unit. In math we have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes. Everyone enjoyed the Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament and did a fabulous job competing and showing good sportsmanship.
-1st Grade Team
2nd Grade
March has been a quick, but busy month for 2nd grade! We were able to fit in Read Across with Dr. Seuss, the tournament of March Madness books, Friendship Friday on a Tuesday that we renamed "Totally Nice Tuesday", and lots of holiday centered activities.
Within the classroom, we have been working on graphing, main idea, character traits, friendly letter writing, and solids, liquids, and gases.
We've created crafts including balloons about where we will go in the future, wanted posters for leprechauns, rainbow writing, coffee filter rainbows, and cards for the 4th graders for state testing.
-2nd Grade Team
3rd Grade
Third grade has been working hard this month getting ready for the IAR state assessment. In writing, students finished their information writing unit and students were able to take home their animal research books. In social studies, we continued our unit on the levels of government. In math we worked hard on our measurement and data unit. For reading, we finished our February book report, in which students had to use their visualizing strategy to recreate a scene from their chapter book in a box. We also invited other grade levels to come to see our hard work and learn more about the books we read. We ended the month with our Spring Music concert and a celebration to wrap up testing. Students worked so hard on their tests and we are so proud of them.
-3rd Grade Team
4th Grade
March has been a busy month for Fourth Grade. We completed the IAR tests and held our Spring Music Concert, where the fourth graders performed wonderfully— we are very proud of them! In social studies, we have been learning about the states and capitals of the Southwest, and our next topic will be the West Region.
In writing, we have started researching a famous person, and in math, we are focusing on adding and subtracting fractions. For reading, we've been enjoying stories from StoryWorks Magazine. Finally, we are all looking forward to Spring Break!
-4th Grade Team
Life Skills
March was a busy and fun month in Life Skills. We learned all about the weather and rainbows. We had fun celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and enjoyed a few days of nice weather on the playground. Both classes have loved exploring core words, cooking and growing our independence! We are so proud of these kiddos!
-Life Skills Team
D/HH
The Leprechauns, once again, invaded our classroom for the month of March. They did some crazy things but we had a lot of fun. We completed our Tower of Books Challenge this month with the kids reading 40 books. Our Rock,Paper, Scissors champ for our classroom was Adam, who also did a great job at the 4th grade concert.
-D/HH Team
Music
We have been very busy in Music classes! Our kindergarten classes have begun working on the music for our program! Parents and families, please note that our program will be on Thursday, May 8 at 2:00 p.m. at Central Intermediate School. More information will be sent home soon!
The first graders have been working on reading a variety of rhythms, as well as performing these with rhythm sticks. We are also listening to and studying “Carnival of the Animals” by: Camille Saint-Saens. Our second graders have been learning all of the note names for the treble clef and are playing these on xylophones.
The third and fourth graders recently performed their spring programs. They did an AMAZING JOB!!!!! The third grade show was called “Hats” and the fourth grade show was called “Making the Band!” We also performed for the students and staff at McKinley.
The third graders will host some guests from Friendship House on Friday, April 11. We will perform our spring program and play BINGO with our new friends.
Our fourth graders will soon begin a unit on playing the recorder. The students will use the skills they have learned of reading notes and rhythms and apply these to an instrument. They will continue playing the recorder at Central as well in fifth grade.
Notes were recently sent home and recorder money ($3.25) is due by Friday, April 4.
We will travel to Central Intermediate School on Wednesday, April 30 to hear Friendly City Sound perform. This is the choir that students may audition for in fifth grade. The Shepherd band will perform at McKinley this spring as part of their recruitment process for students to join the band.
-Mrs. Sanders
