WES Arts

A new initiative of the School-Family-Community Partnership team kicked off on Saturday evening at Wesleyan's Center for Fine Arts. 

The new WES Arts program pairs a Macdonough staff member and a Macdonough family for a night out to enjoy the arts.

This month's performance of Dunya, a band featuring folk, classical, and popular songs of the Ottoman Turk tradition, was enjoyed by members of the Macdonough School learning community.

CMT Field Day at Wesleyan University

Photos from our CMT Field Day at Wesleyan University!

School-Family-Community Partnership

Parents and teachers joined together to continue work on Macdonough School's Reading Compact.  The Reading Compact is a document outlining school and district reading goals with specific actions that teachers and families can take to help students achieve these goals.

For example, teachers pledged to keep families informed of student's reading progress and suggest ways to help support reading at home.  Families listed things that could be done at home including setting aside a time for reading aloud or taking trips to the Russell Library.

The completed compacts will be unveiled at the New Vision of Title I Compacts Training Institute in April.

Movie Night at Macdonough

Students, teachers, and families were treated to an old-fashioned movie night at Macdonough School complete with popcorn, beverages, and a movie on the big screen.

The movie night was sponsored by the Macdonough School PTA.

Macdonough Students at Wesleyan University

Third, fourth, and fifth grade students from Macdonough School are traveling to Wesleyan University on Friday, March 26th for an afternoon of sports and fun at the Bacon Field House.  The event is to celebrate the conclusion of this year's Connecticut Mastery Testing.

American Heart Association’s Jump Rope for Heart at Macdonough School

Thanks to Mrs. Ehnot, our physical education teacher for coordinating this year's Jump Rope for Heart event!

Macdonough students in Grades 1-5 recently participated in the American Heart Association’s Jump Rope for Heart Event. They learned about the importance of regular physical activity, good health & nutrition and volunteerism.

With Macdonough families and friends making generous donations, the students raised over $300.00. Congratulations to all who participated!

2nd Grade NUMBER KIDS Visit Bushy Hill Nature Center

On Monday, March 22, Ms. Jukins and her NUMBER KIDS met their Essex Buddies at Bushy Hill Nature Center in Deep River, CT. We learned about gallons, quarts, pints, and cups of maple syrup and we visited the Sugar Shack to taste some delicious syrup straight from the Maple Trees. We hiked in the forest and learned to identify Beech Trees, Tulip Trees, Mountain Laurels, and Maple Trees. Do you know what to do when your leader yells "CAMOUFLAGE?" Run to the nearest tree or rock and hide behind it and freeze!! A great time was had by all.

Junior Achievement Selects Macdonough!

Macdonough School has been selected for a one day program by Junior Achievement.

Junior Achievement Worldwide is a partnership between the business community, educators and volunteers — all working together to inspire young people to dream big and reach their potential.

JA’s hands-on, experiential programs teach the key concepts of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy to young people all over the world.

Junior Achievement Day at Maconough School will take place on Friday, May 21st and focus on the following themes:

Kindergarten: Ourselves
Students are introduced to basic personal economic issues and the role individuals play as workers, consumers, and family members.

1st Grade: Our Families
Students learn about the role of families in the local economy, the jobs they have, and their economic needs and wants.

2nd Grade: Our Community
Students examine responsibilities and economic opportunities available to citizens within a community.

3rd Grade: Our City
Students conduct business operations, make city-planning decisions, and examine economic development issues.

4th Grade: Our Region
Students learn about state economics, the economic resources of regions, and decisions businesses must make

5th Grade: Our Nation
Students experience the concept of globalization of business in terms of high demand STEM skill based careers and the need for students to be entrepreneurial in their thinking.

Crayons for Cancer

Students from Macdonough School donated crayons to the Crayons for Cancer event this weekend at Kid City Children's Museum. 

Crayons for Cancer was founded in the fall of 2008 to raise funds for the Oncology Unit at Connecticut Children's Medical Center (CCMC) in Hartford.

Old crayons are collected, peeled, melted into new shapes and sold.  The goal of the program is to raise money by selling fun and cute-shaped crayons to replenish Family Funds and Treasure Chests at children’s hospitals nationwide while teaching children the value of helping others.

Video Production Club Field Trip

The Macdonough School Video Production Club took a field trip to Middletown High School's Blue Tube Studio.  Students had the chance for a behind the scenes tour of the television studio.

The Video Production Club is an after school program led by Ms. Jukins, a second grade teacher and one of Macdonough School's Creative Learning Facilitors.

District Art Show

Congratulations to the young artists from Macdonough School who had art work on display at this year's District Art Show at Wesleyan University.

Special thanks to Miss May, our art teacher, for coordinating this year's show!

Macdonough's Video Production Club

We are very pleased to announce that Macdonough School will offer a new program, the Video Production Club, as an after school enrichment program. 

The goals of the program are:
• to teach students the basics of video production
• to produce a short film about Macdonough School

Ms. Joanne Jukins, a second grade teacher at Macdonough, will be teaching the program.  The Video Production Club, open to children in fourth and fifth grades, will meet on five Thursdays: February 25, March 4, March 11, March 18, and April 1 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. in the computer room at Macdonough School.  A field trip to Middletown High School's Video Production Lab will take place at one of the sessions!

Literature for Lunch - Fifth Graders

Sixteen fifth graders have been invited to join a new “Literature for Lunch” book club with Miss Chaelyn.

These enrichment clubs are part of Macdonough’s Spring Session of Recess Plus and will be held on Wednesdays and Fridays for eight sessions in the Family Resource Center. The children will enjoy enrichment activities based on Gordan Korman’s three-book Island series. Activities will include geography, art, team-building, knot-tying, survival skills, physical fitness, science experiments and more.

Each child will receive a brand new copy of Gordan Korman’s three-book Island series to keep!

Super Science at Macdonough

This Spring, sixteen first graders will be participating in a new Recess Plus Club called, “Super Science.”

Once a week (for eight weeks), students from each Grade 1 class will join Miss Chaelyn in the Family Resource Center during their recess period.

Through experimentation, participants will explore many different scientific concepts, like chemical reactions, density, and other properties of matter to name a few!