Dragon Tale

9/2 - No School - Labor Day

9/6 - Community Council Meeting @ 8:30am

9/6 - New Volunteer Training @ 2:20pm

9/10 - Morning Chess Club Begins @ 7:50am

9/10 - Site Council Meeting @ 3:15

9/12 - Harvest Fair/ Contra Dancing/ Open House @ 6:30pm

9/13 - Early Release Day

9/19 - After-School Archery Begins

9/20 - Coast Walk Clean-Up - All School Field Trip

9/23 - Talk & Dress Like a Pirate Day

9/24 - Picture Day

9/26 - After-School Archery

9/27 - Family Game Night @ 7:00pm

9/30 - Artist in the School - Sharlene Cline

The first 8 days of school have been wonderful. We have a great bunch of students this year and many great additions to all of our classrooms with new students and families joining us from all over. We have a great enrollment of 143 students and they are all ready to learn. It is fun getting to know these students and as the year progresses I look forward to getting to know the rest of their family as well. Your continued support of the McNeil Canyon community is so important to our successes. We will continue to provide as many opportunities for our students as possible and we count on your help in so many ways to accomplish that. A couple of things that you can do towards that end is sign up as a volunteer and make sure that students with any signs/symptoms of illness are kept home until symptom-free. We believe that the best possible educational experience is being provided here at school and in-person instruction. Thanks for all of your great support in getting this school year off to such a great start!

KPBSD is looking for calendar committee members. If you are interested, please complete the application below and email to the listed address on the form.

We are still needing some parents to jump on Powerschool and complete their student's registration forms for the new school year. You can access these through your parent portal under "forms" and then "assign forms". Please make sure to complete all of the forms listed so that we have the necessary/updated contact info in case of an emergency.

***Also, if you have a student in K-5th please make sure to send in the $6 Scholastic News fee if you haven't done so already.

Thank you!

The McNeil Canyon Elementary School Parent Volunteer Workshop will be held Friday, Sept. 6th at 2:20 pm. We will be covering the Parent Volunteer Handbook, how to run most of the school equipment, and safety issues such as Blood-borne Pathogens and the Emergency Action Plan. Any parents who have not previously had this training will need to attend. If you can not make it at this time please contact Joy to set up another time. If you have not submitted your online volunteer application yet please click on the appropriate link below.

On Thursday, September 12, 2024 we will hold an Open House & Fall Harvest Fair with contra dancing. Parents will be able to enjoy looking at the Fair during Open House which begins at 6:30 pm. Come in your best farming gear! We look forward to seeing you there!

Students and community families are invited to bring fruits, vegetables and flowers to the Harvest Fair. Bring your entry to display at school on the morning of Thursday, Sept. 9th. Consider which category suits your entry best:

· Largest . . . vegetable, fruit, grain, leaves, and flowers

· Smallest . . . vegetable, fruit, grain, leaves and flowers

· Unusual Looking. . . vegetable, fruit, grain and flowers

· Harvest Hat . . . Decorate one or make one with fruits, vegetables or flowers

· Tiniest flower arrangement

· Most colorful flower arrangement

· Smelliest – good or bad

· Creations: (children attempt to create characters or objects with vegetables i.e. stick a carrot on a potato face for a nose)

- Funniest

- Dragons

- Unique Setting or Scene

- Camouflage Creatures

· Family Project (any category)

· People’s Choice (students will vote for the entry they consider most

outstanding)

***Join us during the Harvest Fair for baked goodies. Sixth grade students will be bringing in homemade cookies, brownies, breadsticks, muffins, croissants, cinnamon cake, and more! We will accept cash or checks. This is a fundraiser for our Peterson Bay trip on September 16-18. We also hope to be able to do more overnight trips this school year and any donations help!

Our Site Council will be meeting on Tuesday, September 10th at 3:15. The public is welcome to attend.

Welcome back to school! I'm Veronica Jones, your Title I Tutor, and I'm excited to start this new school year with all of you. Our school-wide model ensures that Title I funding and support are accessible to every student, offering essential resources and opportunities for all to thrive. Together, we'll work on building strong foundations in reading and math to help each child reach their full potential. Keep an eye out for a flyer coming home with your child about our upcoming Title I Annual Meeting and Game Night, featuring “Capture the Flag” on September 27th! Stay tuned for more updates on the Title I program in future newsletters, and let's make this year a fantastic one! Go Dragons!

What is it? We are a group of parent volunteers who work together to encourage and support our community of McNeil staff and students.

What does it do? The McNeil Community organizes two primary fundraisers: The McNeil Fall Carnival in late October, and The McNeil Family Talent Show in the Spring. These are wonderful, community building celebrations that have traditionally provided funds for our Artist in the School program, Swim lessons for the kids, Scholarships, etc.. We also seek to support our staff members when they need additional classroom materials, and show our appreciation for their tremendous investment into our children’s lives.

What can I do to support the Community Council? We all lead busy lives, but the good news is that there are many ways you can support the Community Council at McNeil without doing it all!

If you are a planner/ organizer with time off on Friday afternoons: Attend a Community Council meeting. Look for our next meeting date and time in the McNeil newsletters.

If you don’t have time during the day but are able to make phone calls: Become a room parent. You can be in charge of calling the parents in your room 3 times during the year to let them know about upcoming events and how they can participate. There will be a sign up sheet in your child’s classroom the evening of the Open House/ Harvest Fair, September 1st.

We look forward to working together this year!

We will have an Early Release Day on Friday, September 13, 2024. McNeil Students will be released at 1:20 pm and buses will leave at 1:30 pm. Your child will arrive home 1.5 hrs. earlier than usual.

Monday, Sept. 23rd, is Talk and Dress-Like-a-Pirate Day. Aaaargh. Join the fun!

Please mark your calendar – Picture Day is Tuesday, September 24th. Two parent volunteers are needed to help the photographer that day. Parent helpers will receive one free packet of pictures for their assistance. Call Joy in the office if you can help. All pictures will be taken in the morning with preschoolers invited to have their picture taken at 10:30 am.

Our Annual Beach Coast Walk Clean-Up Day will be held on Friday, Sept. 20th. Teachers will be looking for volunteers to help with student groups and 2 volunteers will be needed to prep hot chocolate at the school for the students return. Additional information was sent home today.

Family game night will be held on Friday, Sept. 27th from 7:00-8:30 pm. Bring board games to share. Join the Fun!

Contact Mrs. Evensen at kevensen@kpbsd.k12.ak.us with any questions

We are thrilled to have our Resident Artist, Sharlene Cline working with our K-6 graders starting Monday, September 30th through October 10th. She is presenting Chinese Brush Painting. The students will explore Chinese brush painting with Chinese black ink and watercolor, signature chops, Mandarin, Chinese art history, culture, and calligraphy.

On Thursday, October 10th we will have a gallery walk and every class will be participating with work from Chinese Paint Brushing in the gallery. Stay tuned for the time of our gallery walk. Parents and community members are welcome! We hope to see you there!

The following students have been selected as Spotlight Students for the month of September: Quinn Gefroh, Eve O'Laire, Luka Reutov, Leiv Rogers, Honor Evensen, Elsa Kaufmann, Walter Simpson, Sienna Rummery, Rona Lovelace, Ole Fonkert, Emrie Wahl, Emilian Reutov, Nyla Landmesser, Ramona Stowe, Dedim Basargin, Stefan Kuzmin and Olive Sackett.

Parents are invited to join their child and the principal for lunch on Thursday, September 26th at 11:55 am.

Spotlight Student forms are being sent home with these children today. Please return them as soon as possible so they can be placed on our Spotlight Student bulletin board. Thank you!

There have been cases of Pertussis (whooping cough) on the peninsula recently. Typically, symptoms of pertussis are severe coughing spells that can lead to vomiting. If you are concerned that your student may have pertussis, I am happy to help get you connected with care. Pertussis can be treated with antibiotics and it is important to start treatment as soon as possible to help prevent the spread of the bacteria to others, especially to babies as they are particularly vulnerable to complications from pertussis such as pneumonia.

Are you curious to see what activities are happening in the Homer area? Click the link below to access the activity page on our McNeil Canyon Elementary website.

Email: joverson@kpbsd.k12.ak.us
Website: kpbsd.org/schools/mcneil-canyon/
Location: 52188 East End Rd, Homer, AK, USA
Phone: 907-235-8181
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McNeilCanyon/