FRC Playgroup "Happy Notes" with Mrs. Kathye

 

Playgroup children, preschoolers, teachers, and parents sang and danced the morning away with

Mrs. Kathye from Happy Notes!  Fun, Fun, Fun!

 

 

 

 

MAC IN ACTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the months of January and February Mac in Action has worked on a school wide initiative called Intentional Acts Of Kindness.  The activity is modeled after Random Acts Of Kindness but MIA agreed that good deeds should not only be Random but be purposeful as well. Students have created I.A.O.K. Ribbon bracelets with special tags for teachers to give students who are displaying Intentional Acts Of Kindness.  Teachers will return tags to be displayed in the Cafe on the bulletin Board.  Students will be able to wear their IAOK bracelets with pride and also inspire their peers to show kindness.

Basketball for Great Attendance!

Fifth graders in Mrs. Ellis' class keep on earning their 5th golden owl for great attendance. This week, they got to go outside to enjoy some extra recess time as a prize for their great attendance. It was a beautiful day and students enjoyed friendly games of basketball!

 

Art Projects

Fifth graders have been working for weeks to create paper mache snakes. Students first used newspaper and tape to put their snakes together, then they paper mached them. Students then painted them and added finishing touches. They came out great! Check out the pictures of students working on their snakes and if you want to see their final products, be sure to stop by the library to see them on display!

 

Greek Mythology

Fifth graders in Mrs. Ellis' class had visitor Jen Alexander (Kobi's mom) come into their class last Friday afternoon to tell some Greek Mythology stories. Jen used sticky notes to tell stories of various Greek Gods and Goddesses. Students enjoyed learning new information and we can not wait for Jen to return!

 

Wesleyan’s Jazz Orchestra

Professor Jay Hoggard of Wesleyan University, will have his jazz orchestra class perform at Macdonough School on April 4th at 1:15 p.m.

Arrangements for this special performance were made through Wesleyan's Center for Community Partnerships.

First Grade Celebrates Their Fifth "Owl"

 

Friday, first grade celebrated getting their fifth "owl" with a pajama party! Classrooms at Macdonough receive "owls" each time, all of the students are on time for school.

Great job first grade!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day in Kindergarten!

Macdonough School Chosen to Host 2013 Comcast Cares Day!

Comcast Cares Day brings together Comcast employees, their families and their friends across the nation to volunteer in their local communities and help change others’ lives.

 

This year, Macdonough School will host a Comcast Cares Day Celebration to install a Born Learning Trail in the playground and work on several community gardens!

 

The day will feature opportunities for Macdonough staff to join students and families to volunteer in our learning community.  Look for more information about Comcast Cares Day in April!

 

Middletown District Art Show

The Middletown Public Schools' Annual Art Show is just around the corner!

 

The opening reception will be held on Saturday, March 8th from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at the Zilkha Gallery on the campus of Weselyan University.  Artwork from students, K-12, will continue to be on display through Sunday, March 17th.

Congratulations to our young artists and special thanks to art teachers Mrs. Alison Kaye and Mr. Sean Callahan!  Thanks to Mr. Marco Gaylord, Director of Fine Arts, for his work in honoring the art programs in Middletown!

 

Gallery hours are as follows:

• Saturday and Sundays: 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
• Monday- Friday: Noon to 7:00 p.m.

 

Macdonough Running Club to Participate in Iron Horse Races!

Students, parents, and staff members, will participate in the Amica Iron Horse Half-Marathon, 10k, 5k, and Kids Fun Run in Simsbury on Sunday, June 2nd. 

 

 

 

The Macdonough Shake

 

Check out the "Macdonough Shake" our very own version of the "Harlem Shake!"

As some of you may know,  an internet sensation called the Harlem Shake is when one person wearing a helmet dances, while the rest of the people either are frozen or don't pay notice to the helmeted person. Then everyone joins in with various costumes and or props for the remainder of the music.

Enjoy!

NoRA Cupcakes with Ms. Swan!

Three lucky students had the chance to enjoy a special cupcake treat with Ms.Swan and took a walking field trip to NoRA Cupcake Company! Students were selected for this special treat for exhibiting SURFS Up behaviors at school (Self-responsibility, Understanding, Respect, Fairness, and Safety). Yummy!

Pasta Night

A special thanks to all the family and friends that attended our pasta night last night.  We enjoyed pasta with meatballs, rolls, and a salad  as well as entering for a bike raffle, and receiving free books. Congratulations to Daphnie, Sean, Jenna, and Daniel for winning bikes.

 

Also a special thanks to our volunteers that helped make this such a special night!

First Grade Celebrates the 100th Day!

Wednesday, first graders celebrated the 100th day! We counted different objects such as turtles, bears, and linking cubes and read a story, The Night Before the 100th Day. We also had a party to celebrate not only the 100th day, but Mardi Gras as well. One of our students went to New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras and brought us back beads, feather boas, hats, and so much more to celebrate with!

SURFS Up at Macdonough!

Thursday, students and families at Macdonough attended the SURFS Up Assembly. Students and families enjoyed singing along to "Knowledge is Power," and listening to the first graders story of what they did on the 100th day. The first grade teachers then did a read aloud of one of the new books about bullying to the students. We also welcomed new staff and family members to Macdonough. Afterwards, we watched a video of our silly staff members doing their own version of the "Harlem Shake." Other students and classes received certificates and books, and won golden awards. We ended the assembly by recognizing our SURFS Up winners.

A special thanks to all of the families that were able to attend our assembly today!

 

The 100th Day of School

Today was the 100th day of school. The children made pictures of what they will look like at 100 years old.

Macdonough School selected for World Book Night!

We are pleased to announce that Macdonough School has been selected to participate in this year's World Book Night celebration!

World Book Night is an annual celebration dedicated to spreading the love of reading, person to person. Each year on April 23, tens of thousands of people go out into their communities and give half a million free World Book Night paperbacks to adults looking to increase their reading for pleasure time.

World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading. But it is also about more than that: It’s about people, communities and connections, about reaching out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways—through the sharing of stories.

Thanks to the Family Resource Center for coordinating this exciting initiative for the adults in our school community!

The Macdonough Shake!

The Harlem Shake is an Internet sensation that went viral on YouTube this month.  Macdonough's very own Harlem Shake video will be featured at this month's SURFS Up Celebration!

Harlem Shake videos last 31 seconds and feature an excerpt from the song "Harlem Shake" by electronic musician Baauer. Usually, a video begins with one person (often helmeted or masked) dancing to the song alone for 15 seconds, surrounded by other people not paying attention or unaware of the dancing individual. When the bass drops, the video switches to the entire crowd doing a silly dance for the next 15 seconds. In the second half of the video, people often wear crazy outfits or costumes while wielding strange props.

Third Grade Learns About Where We Came From



Leslie Conner Reading to our students

      On Thursday, February 7, the third grade class went on a field trip  with their writing buddies to the Connecticut Historical Society.  There they met Leslie Conner, the author of the book "Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel", a book that tells the story of a woman immigrating to America.  She read the book and answered questions. 
      The students also learned about the many reasons our family and ancestors immigrated to Connecticut. 

Students opened suitcases and trunks of immigrants  of long ago and learned about where they came from and what they brought with them. 

     Students also learned about jobs that immigrants did when they arrived in Connecticut.

 They stacked bricks, hung tobacco leaves, and changed thread spools to see what it might have been like to do one of these jobs.      Thanks to the LEARN program for making this wonderful experience possible for our students.

Book Bower Field Trips

Did you know that many of our classes take walking field trips each spring to the Book Bower on Main Street? This wonderful store provides gently used books for very reasonable prices. They have a wide selection of children’s books.

 

As part of our walking field trips, every child at Macdonough School gets to select a book for free!

Owl Pellet Dissection

Owl Pellet Dissection

Fourth grade students dissect owl pellets as part of a program called Biobuddies made possible by a grant through LEARN. Students discovered the bones of moles, voles, mice, field rats, and pocket gophers. They learned that the human body contains many of the same bones as these animals.

 

 Students expressed enthusiam when they discovered the contents of the pellets.