Dear McKinley Families,

As we enter the final month of school, there are many wonderful things on which to reflect! This year, we worked to strengthen our students’ interpersonal skills through a monthly Character Trait assembly and recognition of Students of the Month. Many of our students were selected to work with our community partners in extracurricular activities including Playworks Junior Coaches, San Jose State’s Las Flores, Verve Lacrosse, The City Peace Project lunch group, and Catholic Charities skills groups. Our teachers planned amazing field trips to places like History San Jose, Levi Stadium, and The Tech Museum to name a few. We also helped to educate our families about how to support our students at home through Tiger Talks which included guest speakers from the San Jose Police Department, Planned Parenthood, and Youth Space as well as many others. Ms. Orozco planned monthly La Placita meetings to help parents learn new games to practice math and reading at home with their children and Mr. Vee restarted our bilingual reading program for parents, Cuentos, and helped incorporate the cultures of our families into The Day of the Child (Dia del Nino).

In addition to our successes from this year, we anticipate some changes for the next school year. As you may know, Mr. Vee will be moving the Assistant Principal position at Sylvandale Middle School and Ms. Orozco will be transitioning to an Instructional Coach position at the District Service Center. We wish them both the best of luck as they begin the move to their new positions. Here at McKinley, we look forward to continuing our Character Trait focus as well as Tiger Talks to help bring community resources into our school. We will continue working with our community partners and we hope to expand our connections to include even more resources for our students. If you have any specific programs you would like to see brought to McKinley, please let me know and we will see what we can do!

While your child is home with you during the summer, there are many things you can do to support his or her education. The San Jose Public Library has a free summer reading program that starts June 1. Your child can earn prizes just for reading during the summer. Our school uses Lexia during the school year and your child can continue using it during the summer. If you do not have internet access at home, there are computers that are free to use at the San Jose Public Library. Ask your child’s teacher how you can access Lexia from home. Also, many teachers use SumDog or another online math program that your child can access during the summer as well. Ask your child’s teacher if you would like any additional resources to help your child continue their learning throughout the summer vacation.

While we are looking forward to relaxing in the summer with friends and family, we also look forward to the fall and all of the exciting things the new school year will bring. Come by the office after 4pm on Friday, August 17th to find out who your new teacher will be and we look forward to seeing you bright and early at 8am on Monday, August 20th for the first day of school!

Sincerely,

Julie Aguirre

Principal