Black History Month Celebration!

Macdonough School Selected as Finalist in National Video Contest!

Macdonough School has been named as one of six finalists in a nationwide video contest sponsored by Recess Rocks! 

The contest engaged children and young teens in grades 2 through 8 across the United States in addressing childhood obesity. Children—either individually or as part of a school class or youth group — were asked to submit videos featuring a speech, song, dance or commercial that answered two questions: “How do you feel about the childhood obesity problem?” and “What can you do about it?”

The Macdonough entry, created as part of the school's after school Video Production Club, features students putting away electronics in favor of outdoor activities. 

View the finalists' videos by visiting the Recess Rocks website.

Jazz Concert

Thanks to our School - Family - Community Partnership team, a lucky Macdonough family is receiving tickets to a "sold out" jazz concert by the Charles Lloyd New Quartet.

The concert will be performed at Crowell Concert Hall on the campus of Wesleyan University.

Student-Teachers Begin the Semester at Macdonough!

We are delighted to welcome a group of student-teachers from Central Connecticut State University to Macdonough School this semester.

• Miss Olivia Delaney will be working with Mrs. Shalan Paul in fourth grade.
• Miss Amanda Adams will be working with Miss Sarah Claffey in fourth grade.
• Miss Crystal Kolman will be working with Miss Allison Monarca in second grade.
• Miss Kristie Fergusson will be working with Miss Lauren Weindruch in fifth grade.
• Miss Danielle Velodata will be working with Mrs. Spaman in kindergarten.

Junior Achievement Selects Macdonough School!

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.

Youth Issues: A Lecture Series

SURFS Up at Macdonough School

Teaching behavioral expectations and rewarding students for following them is the focus for our school-wide positive behavioral support program. Through the acronym SURFS, students and staff have a common understanding of expectations for behavior in a variety of settings.

S=Self-Responsibility

U=Understanding

R=Respect

F=Fairness

S=Safety

We believe that introducing, modeling, and reinforcing positive social behavior is an important of a student’s educational experience.

Please join us in helping to instill these important character traits in your children - at school and at home!

Macdonough Student Honored at MLK Ceremony

A celebration of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., was held Monday at the First Church of Christ on Court Street.

The 18th annual event featured music and dancing in honor the civil rights leader's birthday.  As part of the celebration, Macdonough School 4th grade student Kendalyn Zipf read her entry into the "Letters to Dr. King" contest.  Her letter detailed ways that the work of Dr. King had changed Middletown for the best.
 
The event was sponsored by the Scholarship Committee of Greater Middletown which provides scholarships to deserving students.

Macdonough Mariners at Wesleyan University

Coach Teresa Morello brought the Macdonough Mariners basketball team to Wesleyan University this weekend. The team cheered on the Wesleyan Mens' Basketball team as they took on Amherst College.

At halftime, the Macdonough students took the court for a scrimmage before a packed house at Bacon Fieldhouse.  Miss K served as the ref for the intersquad game between the Mariners.

After the scrimmage, the team stayed for the second half of the college game and watched as Wesleyan lost a close game to their rivals from Amherst.

New Electronic Keyboards at Macdonough!

Thanks to Farah DeAngelis, our music teacher, for writing a grant to get additional electronic keyboards at Macdonough School.  They arrived today from UPS!

The keyboards will be used by students in our after school program.  Miss DeAngelis, along with Professor Barbara Johnson from the Hartt School of Music, provide free piano lessons to Macdonough School students each week.

Macdonough Students to Attend Dave Fry Concert!

Thanks to the efforts of our School-Family-Community Partnership team, two lucky Macdonough families have been invited to the Dave Fry Concert at the Buttonwood Tree this weekend.

Dave Fry is a wonderfully engaging family folk musician with decades of experience performing for kids and adults at festivals, clubs and schools throughout the East Coast.  Dave is a CT Teaching Artist, NJ Master Artist, with award-winning children’s music CD’s and several national PBS-TV shows.  Dave features banjo, guitar and mandolin and a bag of instruments to involve the whole family in making music together.

Macdonough School... In the news!

Featured in The Middletown Press on January 10, 2011

MIDDLETOWN – Ronald McDonald House

Charities® of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts has honored one area teacher with the fourth annual RMHC Local Hero Awards.

A teacher for over 20 years, Joanne Jukins has been a second grade teacher at Commodore Macdonough Elementary School in Middletown for the past six years. She was selected for the award due to her superior teaching skills, as she gives individual care to each of her students and creates an environment where her students can excel. RMHC awarded a $500 grant to Macdonough Elementary School in her honor.

A Book for Macdonough

A Book for Macdonough is a new program that provides the opportunity for people to donate a book to our school library in honor of someone.

The newest book donation is the Children's Book of Music by DK Publishing.  This book was donated by the Macdonough School staff in honor of our two amazing music teachers: Miss DeAngelis and Mr. D'Amato.

The Children's Book of Music takes readers on a chronological journey around the world, exploring the sounds and rhythms of different cultures, the development of instruments, and the progression of musical styles. The book also includes a bonus CD, featuring a selection of music from around the world!

For more information about A Book for Macdonough program, please click here.

Donors Choose Project - Technology!

DonorsChoose is a simple way to fulfill needs and foster innovation in our public schools.  Teachers post projects and donors fund those that are of interest.

Ms. Jukins, a second grade teacher at Macdonough, is seeking money to purchase a document camera for our school.

This is part of her project description:

“The doc cam is a wonderful technology tool that allows us to share student work on the spot. We can project work in order to edit and revise as a class, to explore and create together, and to have instant access to projected images for all to see and learn from!”

Want to learn more? Click here!