News from the Nest — February 21, 2025

Posted February 21, 2025

Once Upon: A McKinley-Thatcher Auction

Once upon a time, in the heart of Denver, a small but mighty school became the place where your child’s story began. McKinley-Thatcher is more than just a school—it is a vibrant and supportive community where our children’s love for learning and imagination takes root. 

Even though our school is growing, we are receiving less budget assistance from DPS and we are having to make several reductions to our staffing. We need your help to ensure that we can continue to provide services from a school counselor, expanded specials programming, a librarian, and paraprofessionals to all McT students.

This is why we need your help more than ever.

Our Annual McKinley-Thatcher PTA Auction is our biggest fundraiser of the year, providing the majority of the funding for essential school programs. This year, our auction, “Once Upon” will feature both an Online Auction and an In-Person Event on May 9, 2025, at Moss Denver. Your participation makes a direct impact on the services we can provide for our students.

While our #1 goal is raising funds, participation is not limited to donating. You can help by:

  • Donating Items – We are accepting donations of items, services, and experiences, big and small.
  • Donating Your Skills – Share your expertise! Whether it’s woodworking, photography, cooking, or another talent, your skills can become an auction item.
  • Donating Your Time – We need volunteers both leading up to and on the day of the auction.
  • Joining and Promoting our Community – Show your support by just joining us at the live auction – no bidding required!

Sign up to donate items, expertise, or time using this Google form!

This is our opportunity to ensure that McKinley-Thatcher continues to provide the resources and support our students deserve. If you have questions, donations, ideas, or are ready to volunteer – please email us at McTAuction@gmail.com. Last year our community raised over $100,000 – with your help we hope to make this year’s auction fundraiser the most successful yet!

With gratitude,

McKinley-Thatcher PTA Auction Committee

A Message From Our School Attendance Team

As we get to the second half of February, we wanted to introduce our whole-school attendance initiative for March and April. Any student who is present 95% of days or above between March 1 and April 18 will be invited to our spring attendance party with extra recess and a popsicle to celebrate!

To help keep all of our families in the loop, we’d like to share information about attendance from the district. In accordance with DPS goals, every single whole-school attendance initiative we have at McT will be set around the goal of 95% attendance. Data show that, the more students are present at school, the more likely they are to learn, grow, foster strong social relationships, and build important habits for their futures. 

We aim for 5-7 attendance initiatives throughout the year. The incentive itself may change (e.g., extra recess, a movie party, or a certificate and a piece of candy) but, from here on out, the benchmark will always be the same – 95% attendance. 

Please note that 95% is simply a goal – we do understand that important things can come up in life, and please be sure to follow guidelines around student illness to take care of your kids, your family, and our community. 

Please reach out to Grace, Sonia, or Alex with any questions. Thank you!

Other School News

  • Mark your calendars: we have NO SCHOOL on Friday, March 7. This is a McKinley-Thatcher staff planning day.

  • Kindergarten, 1st grade, & 2nd grade families, save-the-date: our Kindergarten – 2nd Grade Student Learning Showcase is Wednesday, March 12 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.! We’ll share more details next week!

  • Help Our PTA Stock the Lounge! Our PTA’s Wellness Committee is asking for your help to stock the McKinley staff lounge with goodies. The Wellness Committee created an Amazon wish list here that has all of our staff’s favorite foods. Please take a look and make a purchase if you are able to. The items will be set up in the staff lounge as they arrive! Thank you!

Community News & Resources

  • None at this time!

Upcoming School Events

Click here to view the McKinley-Thatcher school calendar.

  • Friday, 2/28 – Monthly School Value Assembly, 7:45 a.m.
  • Friday, 3/7 NO SCHOOL: McKinley Staff Planning Day

Upcoming DPS & Community Events

  • None at this time!