X is for xylophone

The children in kindergarten go to play a xylophone today for the letter X.

Macdonough School Supports the Amazing Grace Food Pantry

Students from Macdonough School collected nearly 400 pounds of food for our friends at the Amazing Grace Food Pantry.

Special thanks to fifth graders for delivering the food and to Mrs. Swan, our amazing school secretary, for supervising the trip!

Nurse P Conducts Vision / Hearing Screenings

Most people know that Nurse Parmelee takes care of children when they are not feeling well. She is wonderful at that part of her job!

What some don't know is how much more she does for the children of Macdonough School. One example is the vision and hearing screenings. Nurse Parmelee does both vision and hearing screenings for every child at Macdonough School!

The hearing and vision screenings will start next week.

New Paras

Macdonough is pleased to welcome new paraprofessionals to our team!

Mr. McKenzie moved to Connecticut from Texas where he spent the past 11 years teaching special education. He is currently pursuing his certification in special education in Connecticut. In his free time he likes to read, write and travel.

Ms. Rothman has her bachelors degree in Elementary Education and her masters degree in educational foundations. She is currently pursuing her second masters in reading at Southern Connecticut State University. In her free time she is a fitness instuctor for spin and pilates.

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Count by ......

It is hard to miss the colorful stairwells that are new to Macdonough this school year! Knowing the importance of numeracy understanding in all grades the 'numbers project' was put together at Macdonough this year. The walls in the middle stairwell are host to large colorful numbers 1 through 9, while each step counts up by number 2-9 to help learn multiples!

Recognizing Important History Past

A new addition to the walls of Macdonough is our Freedom Shrine, located just outside Mrs. Brick's office. The Freedom Shrine was generously donated by Macdonough PTA and allows for great educational learning. Stop down at the wall to talk about it with your class!

Signs to Navigate around Macdonough

New visitors of Macdonough School have a way to navigate through our halls without needing any help. The colorful crayon signs hanging on the walls were donated by Lake Compounce, these signs are written in both English and Spanish to accommodate our diverse population!

School Based Health Center at Macdonough!

The Community Health Center, Inc. is pleased to offer school-based health services at Macdonough School during the school day.

Licensed healthcare providers are available to provide expanded medical (treatment for illnesses or injuries, and physicals), behavioral health (individual, group, and family therapy), and dental hygiene (exams, cleanings, and sealants) services.

Our school-based health services work in conjunction with the care provided by your child’s pediatrician and/or dentist and are not intended to replace regular care by your child’s primary health-care provider.

For additional information about Macdonough's School Based Health Center, please contact Mandy Sullivan or Nat Holmes.

Macdonough School Invited to Run for Something Better Day!

Students from Macdonough School have been invited to participate in the 2011 ING Run for Something Better Day program at Bushnell Park in Hartford. The program is designed to encourage a healthy, active lifestyle in the fight against childhood obesity for elementary and middle school students.

This program encourages students to train to complete a half marathon, covering 13.1 miles in 6 weeks. On Friday October 14, 2011, students who complete 12 miles through the school program will run their last 1.1 "Final Mile", cross over the official ING Hartford Marathon Finish Line, receive a Finisher's Medal and then enter the "World of Fitness” area.

Thanks to our fabulous fifth grade teachers, Mr. Nelson, Miss Weindruch, and Mrs. Paul, for coordinating the event!

Macdonough Students Selected for Special Field Trip!

Miss Claffey's class has been selected by Wesleyan University to participate in a special field trip to the Mansfield Freeman Center as part of the East Asian Studies Outreach Program.

The class will participate in the unique and varied resources the center has to offer including:

• Japanese-style tatami room and garden

• a kitchen completely equipped for cooking and serving Chinese and Japanese meals

• collections of Chinese and Japanese clothing

• art gallery with changing exhibitions of East Asian art

The walking field trip will take place on November 4th.

Staff Make-Over in the Family Resource Center

Miss Nikki Belton and Miss Heather Haouchine joined the team at Macdonough School as our new FRC coordinators. They have been working together at Bielefield at Family School Connections to build bridges between families and school. Miss Nikki Belton enjoys reading and spending time with her 3 children (ages 11, 16, and 17). Miss Heather Haouchine enjoys hanging out with her 17 year old and 10 year old triplets.

Vistor to Kindergarten

Today Mrs. Spaman's class had a special vistor Sadie's Grandfather. He entertained the class with some musical selections from his clarinet.

Kindergarten Teddy Bear Picnic

The kindergarten enjoyed a teddy bear picnic today. They used their teddy bears this week in graphing activities, sorting and arts and crafts.

Kindergarten goes to the Farmer's Market

The Kindergarten classes went to the farmers market today. The children enjoyed listening to music and purchasing apples, pears, peaches, and egg plant to name just a few.

Class Teddy Bear

This week was Teddy Bear week in Kindergarten! Sadie from Mrs. Spamans class had a Teddy Bear specially made to stay in her class for everyone to share! Enjoy the rest of Teddy Bear week :)

Fall is here!

To celebrate the coming Fall kindergarten learned all about acorns and squirrels. The students enjoyed creating their own acorns out tasty treats! Yum!

Monday is Bread Day at Macdonough

Thanks to a generous donation from a local business, dozens of loaves of bread are delivered to Macdonough School each Monday afternoon.  Families are welcome to take a loaf of bread, package of muffins or bagels, or other related product.  The bread is free to all Macdonough families.

This program is supported through the efforts of our Family Resource Center and our friends from Wesleyan University.

Middlesex Hospital Fit for Kids Program

Macdonough School has been selected to host a special program presented by Middlesex Hospital called Fit for Kids! 

The event will take place on Thursday, October 13th beginning at 6:00 p.m.  This family friendly event is sure to be fun for all ages!

Science Club with Ms. Chaelyn

Second grade Science Club met for the first time today. This is one of the many wonderful programs offered at Macdonough School during lunch/recess. Ms. Chaelyn from Kids Korner runs this club and today the kids were brainstorming and exploring many different science topics. We will try to get all students interested in this club involved throughout the year, so if you love science, let Ms. Jukins, Mrs. Raney, and Ms. Green know!

Gingerbread hunt at Macdonough!

All three of the Kindergarten classes read the story "The Gingerbread man." After the story each class made their own gingerbread man. The students watched as the dough was rolled out and shaped into a gingerbread man! The Kindergarteners then went down to the cafeteria and put him in the oven. They asked the lunch ladies to not open the oven just incase he tried to run away.





When the classes came down to pick up their gingerbread man, he was gone! The kindergarteners went on a search through Macdonough to find him. He left clues in the office, at the nurses office, Mrs. Jukins classroom and the library. Finally the Kindergarteners found the gingerbread men in their classrooms and enjoyed the tasty treat!

Brown Bear Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see Kindergarten looking at me!






Kindergarten had fun today reading the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?" As a class they acted out each page of the book putting each animal or person in order.

Happy Birthday Ice Cream Cone!

Kindergarten celebrated the birthday of the ice cream cone! Students enjoyed making a graph with ice cream cones on who in the class liked ice cream and who didn't. Surprise, surprise! Everyone in the class likes ice cream. Students also made A B patterns using different colored ice creams.



Treat yourself tonight with an ice cream cone. Hopefully we will see you tonight at the ice cream social!

Liberty Bank Awards Grant to Macdonough School

Macdonough School was selected to receive a grant from the Liberty Bank Foundation's Academic Grants Program. 

The grant will help to fund Macdonough School's Scholars Academy, a before school program designed to provide extra support to at risk students.

Staff from Macdonough School will be recognized by representatives from the bank at a reception in November.

Macdonough PTA Meeting

The Macdonough School Parent-Teacher Association began the year with a packed crowd for their September PTA meeting.

Teachers and parents discussed activities for the upcoming school year including the school's Open House / Meet and Greet event scheduled for September 22nd.

Exemplary School Climate Recognition for Macdonough School!

The Connecticut Association of Schools formally recognized Macdonough School with its "Exemplary School Climate Award." The presentation of the award was held at our September SURFS Up Celebration

Congratulations to students, staff, and families for making Macdonough a school we can all be proud of!

Goldfish Graphing

First graders have been working on graphing. On Tuesday, students learned how to make a picture graph. Each child was given rainbow goldfish which they first sorted by color. Students then used their data to create a picture graph. After the activity, the children were able to eat their yummy snack!

Second Grade Guest Reader

Second Grade was treated to the wonderful book, Thank You World, written by Alice B. McGinty and illustrated by Anderson Halperin. Ms. Lynn Baldoni, of the Middletown Kiwanis Club read the story and led the students in a discussion of how children all over the world are thankful for the gifts of our planet. Ms. Baldoni is the former Middletown Chief of Police and a good friend to Macdonough School and we were honored to have her visit us today.

We will be donating this book to the Macdonough School Library on behalf of Ms. Baldoni and the Kiwanis Club through our "Book for Macdonough" program.

Hungry Caterpillar Visits Kindergarten

Kindergarten read the story "The Hungry Caterpillar" and learned all about the life cycle of a butterfly. Students had fun creating their own hungry caterpillar and also enjoyed re-creating the life cycle of the butterfly!

Mobile Dental Clinic at Macdonough School

Our Health Center has been transformed into a dental clinic this week as Macdonough School was visited by the Mobile Dental Clinic. Many of our students will have the opportunity to see the dental hygienist for check-ups and cleanings!


The Mobile Dental Clinic visits Macdonough School twice each year - once in the fall and again in the spring.

If you would like your child to have access to this program, please call the school and ask for information on the Community Health Center at Macdonough School.

Macdonough Selected for BioBuddies Program!

We are pleased to announce that our fourth grade classes have been selected to participate in a special program called BioBuddies!

BioBuddies is an interdistrict environmental program. As a non-traditional field and laboratory program, BioBuddies provides an opportunity for students to experience a collaborative learning environment through hands-on activities and experiments about environmental science and conservation. 

The program pairs ten urban and suburban classrooms in four districts in a yearlong partnership with mentor students from the Bioscience Environmental Technology department of Grasso Regional Technical High School as mentors.

Community Builder Award for Macdonough School!

The North End Action Team presented the staff at Macdonough School with its Community Builder Award for their volunteer efforts at providing a summer academic program for students.

The award was presented at NEAT’s Annual Garden Party.

Hartford Courant at Macdonough School

To balance the many works of fiction that students enjoy at Macdonough School, we've added some non-fiction sources as well. 

Classes in third, fourth, and fifth grade are provided copies of The Hartford Courant each morning.

Special thanks to the our teachers for coordinating this valuable resource for our students!

Kindergarten Experiences The Little Red Hen First Hand

This week kindergarteners heard the story The Little Red Hen. In the story they learned how wheat is turned into flour, and then how flour can be used to make bread. Each student had the opportunity to kneed some dough and then we put it in the oven to bake.

Afterwards, we got to enjoy a nice late morning snack of the bread we baked. It was delicious!

Long Distance Learning!

A student at Arroyo Vista Charter School in Chula Vista California visited Mr. Ferrero's web page as part of a classroom internet project. 

The students in California are using the links in Mr. Ferrero's page to support their learning!  They've even made a suggestion for a new link to help our students in math. 

Welcome to 3rd Grade Mr. Ferrero

We are pleased to welcome Mr. John Ferrero to Macdonough School and as our newest 3rd grade teacher. Mr. Ferrero has previously worked at Spencer and Farm Hill before joining our community at Macdonough. Since beginning teaching in 2001 Mr. Ferrero has taught third, fourth, and fifth grade. He enjoys hiking, skiing, and spending time with his 3 children and dogs.

New School Psychologist

Miss Edna Caamano is a graduate of St. Joseph's College, studied for her Masters and 6th at Southern Connecticut State University . Miss Caamano enjoys playing basketball and hiking.