WES Reads

Each week children at Macdonough School are visited by students from Wesleyan University. There are several initiatives in place which provide opportunities for local college students to support elementary students at our school.

One of the most popular programs is entitled WES Reads. This activity matches high achieving second, third, fourth, and fifth graders from Macdononough with Wesleyan students to form small group literature circles. The groups read classic children's books such as Stuart Little and Mr. Popper's Penguins and participate in rich discussions related to the reading. Making connections between the text and their lives, predicting future events, summarizing story lines, analyzing character traits are examples of some focus points for the literature discussions.

This semester over a dozen university students are meeting with more than twenty Macdonough students on a weekly basis. The groups will participate in an end-of-semester celebration of learning in early December.

Test Prep Fun is Back!

TestPrepFun.com is a website dedicated to providing opportunities for students in grades two, three, four, and five to improve their reading, writing, and math skills. Each student has a special password enabling them access to this resource.

The site has thousands of questions to help children sharpen their skills. In a few weeks, the site will open "The Official CMT League" to challenge students across the state to compete for the title of MVP (Most Vigorous Player).

Right here at Macdonough School, Mr. Glover will be offering a variety of prizes for students who complete the most questions including a $50 U.S. Savings Bond!

The President's Back-to-School Message to America's Students!

On Tuesday, September 8, the President spoke directly to students across the country on the importance of taking responsibility for their education, challenging them to set goals and do everything they can to succeed.

Macdonough School broadcasted this speech in our gym so that our students and teachers could participate in this special opportunity.

Second Graders Create Time Capsules

Second graders in Ms. Jukins and Miss Monarca's classes created Time Capsules today. Inside each time capsule is a photo, a length of string to record our height, and an "All About Me" page. The time capsules will be saved until the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! On that day we will open them to see how we've changed and grown. Only 178 more days to go!!

First Day at Macdonough!

Today was the first day of school!
Here is a slide show of some great Macdonough moments (and a few of their neighbors).

Also, my friend Gus (whose parents happen to be videographers!) had his first day of school as a kindergartner. It's a pretty cute video and also shows the Macdonough Surf's Up assembly where the kids sing the school song, are welcomed and the new teachers are honored. Congratulations everyone and have a great year!

Storyteller Comes to Macdonough

This week a storyteller named Tom Lee visited Macodnough School. He spent time with each of the classes. His visit was funded in part through the Middletown Cultural Council.

Tom Lee has told stories professionally for fifteen years. His interest in traditional stories began while he was working as a cook in a tiny fishing village in Scotland. In the United States, Tom has worked in classrooms with children of all ages. "When it comes to stories," he says, "children have taught me everything I know."

3rd Grade Studies Middletown History

The 3rd graders have been learning about the history of Middletown and today they were lucky enough to have Kay Shaw, parent, share photos she had taken of some of the important buildings and compared them to photos of the same buildings from the late 1800s. It was fascinating to see how the buildings changed, how Main Street has changed and how the people have changed over the last 100 years.

Knowledge is Power at Kids Korner Too!

The recently-modified version of Macdonough's school song, "Knowledge is Power" can be heard on the Middlesex YMCA website.

To hear the song, just scroll down on the home page to "What's New @ YMCA." The second entry in this section features a media player with the song, as well as the awesome student-created CD cover.

"Knowledge is Power" is an incredible song, originally written by Teresa Jennings, with a fantastic "stay-in-school" message. The song now features an original "Macdonough School" skit and refrain performed entirely by students from our school.

The song was unveiled to the school at the final SURFS Up Celebration of the school year and now you can hear it here!

Macdonough School Field Day - 2009

Thanks to our physical education teacher, Miss Erin McCann, and our wonderful parent volunteers for another terrific field day event. Children and teachers were dressed in red or blue to show their team spirit and participate in a variety of fun-filled events!

SURFS Up Celebration

The May SURFS Up Celebration had something for everyone... students, teachers, volunteers, and, of course, our SURFS Up winners were all honored.

Highlights included:

• Three Macdonough staff members were honored for earning degrees. Miss Green and Miss Johnson were awarded Bachelors Degrees from Central Connecticut State University while Mrs. Walsh earned her Masters Degree.
• Scott Santos, Macdonough Spelling Bee Champion, and Shakiera Hernandez, Runner-up, received special recognition for their accomplishment.
• Representatives from Liberty Bank presented Macdonough School with a check in the amount of $2,000 for the Scholars Academy program.
• Volunteers from the Middletown Mentor Program were honored for their service.

Macdonough Marathon Team

On October 10, 2009, teachers from Macdonough School will be running in the Hartford Marathon. The race will be completed as a relay made up of five runners, where each runner will complete a leg consisting of 5.5 miles, 3 miles, 5.6 miles, 7.5 miles and 4.6 miles.

Teachers have already begun training for the upcoming race. The Hartford Marathon Foundation will also be sponsoring a Kids Relay Team from Macdonough School.

Please save the date and come out to support our students and teachers!

North End Nights

On Friday night, about 200 kids, parents, community members and teachers came out to Donovan Park for the first North End Nights Basketball Tournament, hosted by Macdonough School and the North End Action Team.

The games were serious but friendly, the hot dogs were cooked to perfection, thanks to the grilling skills of Deputy Police Chief, Pat McMahon and the expertise of Elsie Arnold and Laura Hall, and everyone had a great time. It was a perfect night. In fact, it was such a success, that we've decided to run these once a month throughout the summer. Mark your calendar for the third Friday in June. 6:00 pm.

Thanks to the Park and Rec department for supplying the hoops, the cityf or supplying the grill and to NEAT for their continuous support. And, especially to all of the great kids and families who came out to enjoy one of the nicest evenings of the year.

Marine Science Day

Eight fifth grade students from Macdonough School attended the Connecticut Association of Schools' Marine Science Day.

The day long conference was held at the Connecticut River Museum in Essex on May 14th.

Macdonough students had the oppportunity to participate in experiments, take a boat ride on the Connecticut River, and learn more about the importance of the marine environment.

Musical Macdonough at Kids Korner

The boys of a local band, named LoveBad, dropped by Macdonough School on Tuesday May 12th for an after school mini-concert. LoveBad performed most recently for the Buttonwood Tree's 20th Anniversary North End Arts Rising Celebration Extravaganza and were happy to perform for the children in the North End again.

The band shared their "folk-a-billy punk 'n' bluegrass" versions of The Beatles, Toy Dolls and Gorilla Biscuits, as well as traditional Scottish and American songs, like "I Will Go" and "Old Slew Foot." After the band played for the children, the children sang for them. They shared the newly-recored version of our school song, "Knowledge is Power" (with the special Macdonough verse) that was created at the Coffeehouse Recording Studio.

You can see a video clip of our Macdonough students at the Coffeehouse Recording Studio on The Hartford Courant's iTowns.

Macdonough School Spelling Bee

Fourth and fifth grade students participated in the annual Macdonough School Spelling Bee. A group of students from each class were selected as finalists as a result of class spelling bees.

A special guest judge was on hand to read words to the children. Mrs. Shalan Paul returned from her maternity leave to participate in this fun filled event.

Parents and friends joined our fourth and

fifth grade classes to watch the event. The

third grade students came too for a

preview of the spelling bee.

The Macdonough School PTA donated a dictionary for the champion and a thesaurus for the runner-up. Each of the finalists were presented with a certificate and passes to A New World Laser Tag.

Kids' Korner at Macdonough School

Nineteen Macdonough School students have been learning about the music-recording industry, hands-on, at the coffeehouse recording studio during their after school program. Each "Studio Day" a group of children walk to the coffeehouse on Main Street and work with Michael Arafeh, the propietor.

The coffeehouse has been in business since 1988 and Michael has been a friend to the Kids' Korner at Macdonough School program since

2007, by offering his time and space for special group tours, instrument-sharing, and technology demonstrations. This Spring, Michael is working with the children to complete a special recording project. He has volunteered much of his time and effort to make this an incredible experience for the children.

Melanie Carfora, Director of School Age Care for the YMCA, proposed this recording project idea to the Connecticut After School Network and was awarded a competitive "Quality Improvment Grant" to further fund the project. The children have had a chance to use some special technology and computer programs to create sound tracks and have also laid down some vocal tracks. Most importantly, they've all had a voice in creating the final product. They are very excited and can't wait to share it with everyone. The coffeehouse is one of our great North End resources. We are so thankful to have this community connection and unique opportunity.

Walking the North End Trail

Students, parents, and staff at Macdonough School participated in this year's Project ACES (All Children Exercise Simultaneously) on May 6 at 10:00 a.m.!

We walked the North End Trail in Middletown. The trail is a one mile loop through historic sections of the city's north end neighborhood. Following the walk, there was a fresh fruit snack for all.

Macdonough Students Selected for Marine Science Day

Eight fifth grade students from Macdonough School were selected to take part in the Connecticut Association of Schools' Marine Science Day.

The day long conference will be held at the Connecticut River Museum in Essex on May 14th. The purpose of this conference is to educate students about Long Island Sound and Marine Science. Students will have the opportunity to participate in hands on science programs to investigate the Connecticut River and discover the impact it has on the Long Island Sound watershed area.

Macdonough School's participation in the Marine Science Day program was partially funded through a grant from the Connecticut Association of Schools.

United States Map Donated to Macdonough

Macdonough School received a donation of a custom made wooden map of the United States. The colorful map measures more than three feet in height and is six feet across. Each state is hand painted in bright colors.

The map was installed on a wall on the lower level next to the cafeteria. Be sure to check it out on your next visit to Macdonough School!

Cooking for Literacy!

Fifteen Macdonough second graders have completed “Cake Capers” from Cooking for Literacy! An Edible Enrichment Program with Miss Chaelyn from YMCA's Kids' Korner program. This four-week cycle featured lessons, games, activities and cooking based on the storybooks Cook-a-Doodle Doo by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel and Eight Animals Bake a Cake by Susan Middleton Elya. Each child has received their own copy of the book Cook a Doodle Doo, to keep, for successfully completing the first half of the program. The second four-week cycle, Griddle to Greatness, will be based upon the Eric Carle book, Pancakes, Pancakes!

Kindergarten Registration

Teachers welcomed the incoming kindergarten class at Macdonough School for the annual registration activities. Students had the chance to hop, skip, sing, and play while moms and dads filled out paperwork.

Mrs. Angela Spaman, Mrs. Kelly Lenihan, and Mrs. Kym Ciccia each worked with students while Mrs. Mary Beth Brick coordinated the many forms to be filled out by parents. The children also had the chance to visit with our Nurse Parmelee.

Children and families will be invited back to school soon to participate in the kindergarten transition program!

The Kindergarten Show

The annual Kindergarten Show was performed on Tuesday, April 28th and featured a variety of songs about the season of spring.

Daffodils, frogs, baseball and more put everyone in the mood for more of this beautiful spring weather.

Thanks to our kindergarten teachers and paraprofessionals for coordinating such a terrific program. Special thanks to Mrs. Sorensen for providing accompaniment on the piano.

First Grade Fashion Show

First grade students in Mrs. Walsh's class participated in a Recycling Fashion Show to celebrate Earth Day and reinforce the importance of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle."

The children were joined by a representative of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection to lead the fun.

Turn Off The TV Night

Thanks to the Macdonough School PTA for hosting a "Turn Off the TV Night" at Macdonough School. Activities ranging from board games to art activities were held for some old fashioned fun!

Children’s Photography Workshop

Miss Alison May, art teacher at Macdonough School, arranged for four students to attend the Children’s Photography Workshop at Wesleyan University.

The children will spend an afternoon with Friends of the Davison Art Center docents learning about portrait photography, taking pictures, and directing their own photo shoots. Also, they'll receive a special tour of the current photography exhibition by Judith Joy Ross. The event will take place at Wesleyan's Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University on Saturday, April 25th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Macdonough School Running Club

Members of the Macdonough School Running Club attended the Daffodil Festival Road Race in Meriden on Sunday April 19th, 2009. Our young runners competed in the children's race in Hubbard Park. The race was organized by the Meriden Rotary Club.

Third grader Garrett Dandridge led the way with a strong showing in the Kids Fun Run.

In addition to race t-shirts each child was awarded a race medal as he or she crossed the finish line.

Macdonough School's participation in the race was sponsored by the 21st Century Schools Program

Kids on the Block

Miss Claffey and Miss Johnson welcomed Wesleyan University's Kids on the Block program to Macdonough School on April 9th.

Kids on the Block is a community service group that teaches elementary school students about people with disabilities through puppet performances.

The program is a chapter of a national organization called Kids on the Block, Inc., which provides puppet programs to help inform children on issues of disability awareness and social concerns of people with disabilities.

Wesleyan's Jazz Band at Macdonough!

Professor Jay Hoggard of Wesleyan University brought a 20 piece jazz band to Macdonough School for a Thursday afternoon concert. The band delighted students and staff with the sounds of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Among the crowd favorites were "Don't Be Sassy" and "The A Train."

Yet it wasn't all entertainment. Students learned about various instruments including the drums, guitar, bass, saxophone, trumpet, and trombone. They saw first hand how many individuals working together can make wonderful music.

Special thanks to the Wesleyan Office of Community Partnerships for coordinating the performance for Macdonough School.

Spaghetti Eddie

An autographed copy of Spaghetti Eddie, written by Ryan SanAngelo, was donated to Macdonough School by the Nutmeg Reading Council.

The story is about a resourceful young boy named Eddie. Thanks to his bowl of noodles and his desire to help, Eddie comes home a hero after he meets three neighbors with problems (a broken shoelace, a broken fishing rod, broken guitar strings), and he comes to their aid with his spaghetti. At the store, he stops a robber with the only thing left in his bowl, a meatball!

The author is a native of Connecticut and an advocate for promoting high quality children's literature in elementary schools.