
Mackay Newsletter
Malcolm S. Mackay Elementary School - April 2024

Principal's Message
Dear Mackay Families,
Happy Spring Mackay families! I hope you had a wonderful spring break and had some time to celebrate spring, enjoy the outdoors and relax and recharge! The end of the year is going to fly by here at Mackay School as April, May and June are jam-packed with fun, exciting events, special learning opportunities, and more!
In April we are super excited to celebrate International Week. This year’s country is South Korea! We will become immersed in Korean culture, food, literature, art, music and more. A huge thank you to all of the parent volunteers and staff who have been working hard to make it the best International Week yet!
The spring also brings our NJSLA state testing for Grades 3-5, field trips, 5th grade events and more. Hopefully you heard the “O’FISH-AL” exciting news that Mackay School plans to visit the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium on Wednesday May 29th with our entire school and faculty. The aquarium connects to curriculum standards in all grade levels, in addition to promoting a sense of togetherness, unity and community within our school. We plan to make the visit interdisciplinary with ELA, science, art, stem, and more built into our pre-teaching and hands-on experience. Thanks to our amazing HSA and families’ fundraising, the cost of the trip will be completely covered by fundraising and district funds. We are so excited for this special event! Stay tuned for even more details as it gets closer.
Thank you for your help and efforts with our traffic circle in the morning. Please remember to pull up and continue to move forward on the carpool line. Parents should not be getting out of the car and students should exit their cars as quickly as possible. Thank you for your continued support at arrival and dismissal. As the weather improves and students are out on the playground more after school please be mindful that all school rules apply outside of school hours. We share our facilities with SACC after school- and students and adults should be respectful. As a reminder there are no dogs allowed on school property and on the weekends and in the evenings there are no bicycles, or electronic toys or vehicles allowed on the turf. They are really damaging to the turf field. Please be mindful that our grounds are always monitored by surveillance cameras. We want our play areas to be safe and fun for all!
Happy Spring, Mackay!
Heidi Chizzik
Principal
Upcoming Events
Save the date for these important upcoming events for April:
April 15th -19th - International Week
April 17th - Author's Day
April 24th-25th - Scholastic BOGO Book Fair
April 25th - HSA Meeting 1:45 PM @ Mackay Library
Counselor's Corner
Happy Spring, Mackay Families!
For the month of March, we have been building up our Mindfulness muscles by practicing weekly mindfulness breathing exercises as a whole school. According to research, the practice of mindfulness breathing supports improvements in self-confidence, emotion regulation, and overall mood. The benefits are so worth the extra minutes it takes to Stop Everything and Just Breathe. Please consider practicing some mindfulness at home! On YouTube, search up Fablefy mindfulness for kids. This site offers 3-5 minute guided mindfulness exercises for kids and families. Check them out when you have time! There’s even a 21-Day Mindfulness Bootcamp!
As we move into April, I will be visiting all classrooms with lessons on Problem-Solving and the difference between BIG problems and small problems. The goal is to teach the students how to solve small problems by providing them a list of problem-solving strategies. By equipping students with problem-solving tools, they should feel more confident in solving small problems on their own!
-Mrs. Angerson
I wanted to give a shout out to my Peace Builders! They have created a newsletter for the school. Please click the BUTTON below to see what was shared to the Mackay students and staff in March!
Awesome Art 🎨
This month in the art room, we are finishing up our International Week projects and displaying them in the halls of Mackay for the week of April 15th! Next up we are moving onto new projects and gearing up for the art show for the rest of the year come late May. Very exciting things are happening in the world of art here at Mackay!
Until next time,
-Ms. Bracero
Music Sound-Off 🎶
During March, we celebrated Music In Our Schools Month with our First Grade and Kindergarten Dance Day performances. Parents/Guardians, thank you for coming to show your support of Music at Mackay and for learning some folk dances with us! Piloting this new program has been a long but eventful journey, and our students were very excited to show off what they have learned.
We’d like to give a special thank you to our first grade teachers (Mrs. Bertolini, Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Mrs. Manessis, and Ms. Mui), kindergarten teachers (Mrs. Saric, Mrs. Jordan, and Ms. Mui), and our K-1 paraprofessionals (Mrs. Vanderlinden, Mrs. Arfuso, Mrs. Baker) for their flexibility in scheduling and their support during Flex Music classes to make our assemblies as great as they were. We also thank our custodians Mr. Ruby and Mr. Lawler for setting up and taking down everything we needed in the gym, and our P.E. teacher, Mr. Marciano, for letting us use his space for our practices and our performances!
In April, Mackay School will be celebrating our annual International Week. During April Music classes, students will learn about traditional Korean instruments and folk songs, as well as the popularization of K-Pop in the United States throughout the 21st century.
We come closer and closer to our Mackay Spring Concert on Thursday, May 16th! Students in all performing ensembles have been rehearsing diligently, and we cannot wait to perform for our school community and our families. Please keep a look out for emails during April regarding rehearsal/concert information. As a reminder, students in Band and Orchestra should be bringing their instruments home at the end of the day—no instruments should be left in the Music Room, hallways, or students’ homerooms. Additionally, Chorus students can access all of their music digitally on Google Classroom, along with recordings and practice tracks, so they can practice at home. Practice makes progress!
Musically,
Mr. Fugaban and Mrs. DeJoseph
Mackay Field Day! ⚽🏀
Mackay's Field Day is coming up on Thursday, May 23rd.
INFLATABLE OBSTACLE COURSE
We will be having an inflatable obstacle course as a station again this year. A waiver is required for each student in order for them to participate. Click the link above for more information.
PARENT VOLUNTEERS
We are also in need of parent volunteers to help with the stations throughout the day. Sign up for one or both timeslots if you are available! All volunteers will get a field day shirt to wear the day of!
2024 Total Solar Eclipse
Safety is the number one priority when viewing a total solar eclipse. Except during the brief total phase of a total solar eclipse, when the moon completely blocks the Sun’s bright face, it is not safe to look directly at the Sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing. All Tenafly HSA's have purchased specialized glasses that will be distributed to all students and staff to wear during this time, which is expected to be between 2:11 PM - 4:36 PM.
NASA. "2024 Total Solar Eclipse". https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/
Let's Get Social!
Follow Mackay's social media platforms to keep up-to-date with upcoming events and happenings in our school and community.
Instagram - @principalmackay
Twitter - @PrincipalMackay