News from the Nest — March 14, 2025

Posted March 14, 2025

In Case You Missed It: March 10 Principal’s Update

Please click here to read our March 10 Principal’s Update on our website, including our list of upcoming events and important dates for the remainder of the school year!

A correction: we missed one no-school day and one half-day in the list of important dates in our original update. Please see those corrections below (as well as in our full list of upcoming events and dates above)!

  • Friday, 5/2 – No School! (McKinley Staff Planning Day)
  • Tuesday, 6/3 – Last Day of School for K-5th Grade: HALF-DAY with dismissal at 11:30 AM. 

A Reminder About Our Spring Attendance Incentive!

Just a reminder that, as part of 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. 

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!

Destination Imagination Tournament TOMORROW:
Saturday, March 15

Tomorrow (Saturday, March 15), three groups of McKinley-Thatcher students will perform at the Destination Imagination 5280 tournament at Rangeview High School. Come support these creative and independent learners as they show their solutions to this year’s challenges! 

The fifth grade STARS (Super Toasty Asteroids Riding Stardust) will perform their solution to the Scientific Challenge at 10:20 AM. The second grade teams both solved the Early Learning Challenge; Stormers Rock will perform their solution at 2:20 PM and Food From The Sky will perform their solution at 2:40 PM.

Other School News

  • Mark your calendars: we have NO SCHOOL from Monday, March 24 to Tuesday, April 1. This is our Spring Break. School will resume on Wednesday, April 2!

  • Help Out During Tomorrow’s School Garden Work Day: please join our school garden club tomorrow (Saturday, March 15) from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM to help get our garden ready for spring! Plan to meet in our garden at 10:00 AM, or whenever you can arrive. Please note: all garden work days are WEATHER DEPENDENT and will be cancelled in the event of snow or heavy rain. Email our Garden Club coordinator, Liza Queen, at Liza@potlikkerbrooklyn.com with questions or for more information!

  • Our school health office is in need of donations of gently used clothing, especially gender-neutral sweatpants/joggers. We’re specifically looking for: pants & shorts with stretchy waistbands (sizes 4 to 12); shirts (sizes 6 to 12); NEW underwear for boys & girls. Donations can be dropped off in our main office during school hours. Thank you!

  • Volunteer with Our Free Book Friday Giveaways! We are looking for help with our Free Book Friday giveaways on most Fridays from now through May. During Free Book Friday, we hand out books from our donation boxes for FREE to our students after school, and we need volunteers to make this possible! If you’d like to assist, please sign up here.

  • 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.

  • Saturday, 3/15 – Garden Club Work Day @ 10:00 AM (see ClassDojo for details!)
  • Thursday, 3/18 – 4th Grade Field Trip: Young AmeriTowne 
  • Thursday, 3/20 – 3rd Grade Field Trip: Denver Museum of Nature & Science
  • Friday, 3/21 – Monthly School Value Assembly @ 7:45 AM
  • Monday, 3/24 to Tuesday, 4/1 – NO SCHOOL: Spring Break (school resumes on Wednesday, 4/2)

Upcoming DPS & Community Events

  • None at this time!