Mark your calendar!

May 25, 2012

We’re down to two more weeks of school. Please take note of the events taking place, as it’s a pretty busy time!

Monday, May 28, Memorial Day
No School

Tuesday, May 29
Third and fourth grade to MOON Co-Op. Children will need to bring $5 with them to school.

Friday, June 1
Primary, Intermediate, and Upper units to Oxford Community Park. Depart at 12:15pm, return to campus at 3:00pm.

Sunday, June 3
Cloud Club for Upper Unit, “Merchant of Venice” at Cincinnati Shakespeare Theatre.

Monday, June 4
Second grade to Glen Helen. Depart at 9:00am, return to campus at 3:00pm. Wear good shoes and pack both a lunch and snack.

Tuesday, June 5
All-school field trip to the Cincinnati Museum Center. Primary, Intermediate, and Upper units to see the Pompeii exhibit. Pre-Primary to the Children’s Museum. Primary parents may request their children attend the Children’s Museum instead of Pompeii. Please email Carla to make this request. Depart at 9:00am, return to campus at 3:00pm.

Wednesday, June 6
McGuffey Spring Concert! Concert will be held from 6:30–7:00pm at the Memorial Park Pavillion at the corner of Main and Park Place in uptown Oxford.

Thursday, June 7
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
11:00am: Memorial tree dedication
11:30am: Family potluck—burgers and hot dogs served, please bring a dish to share
12:15pm: Egg Drop
1:00pm: Early dismissal (no Extended Day)

Posted in announcements, field trip, intermediate unit, McGuffey, pre-primary, primary unit, upper unit

Authors in the Afternoon

May 23, 2012


This summer, the Oxford Community Art Center is offering two sessions of the six-week-long creative writing workshop, Authors in the Afternoon, to students in grades 3-5 and grades 6-8. Each workshop session will be limited to 12 participants.

Students will explore poetry, fiction, and nonfiction through writing exercises in a fun, open, and supportive environment. The emphasis of the workshop is to build on kids’ imaginative approach to writing rather than emphasizing convention and correctness.

This is a great opportunity for kids who like reading and writing to share their enthusiasm with peers and without pressure, dusting off their literary skills in the last six weeks before school resumes.

Authors in the Afternoon will be led by Kathleen Veslany, who has an MFA in creative writing and has taught at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Arizona, the University of New Orleans, and the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project. She lives in Oxford with her husband and two daughters.

Authors in the Afternoon
July 11—August 15, Wednesdays
Grades 3—5, 3:00—4:00 pm; Grades 6—8, 4:15—5:15pm.
Cost: $70.00 (Scholarships are available upon request.)
Registrations taken at the Oxford Community Art Center, 10 S. College Ave.         Registration deadline is Monday, July 2nd.

Posted in announcements, community, language arts

Intermediate field trip to MOON Co-op on 5/29

May 22, 2012

The third and fourth graders will begin a short unit on money next week, and as part of that unit we are going on a field trip to the MOON Co-op grocery store. The MOON folks have provided us with a list of items that can be purchased for under $5.

Heidi is asking students to determine what items they would like to buy. If they want something from the bulk section, they also need to determine how much. Their grand total can not exceed $5.

We will walk from McGuffey in the morning and arrive at the MOON Co-op in Tollgate Plaza, ready to calculate our shopping totals. If you would like, your student can bring up to (but no more than), five dollars to spend on the items he/she has chosen.

We will sit outside in the courtyard of the co-op afterwards and enjoy any snacks we have purchased or brought along. We will then walk back to McGuffey in time for lunch.

If you have any questions, please contact Heidi Schran.

Posted in field trip, intermediate unit, McGuffey

Photo Friday

May 18, 2012

Posted in intermediate unit, McGuffey, pre-primary, primary unit, upper unit

STEM and simple machines

May 17, 2012

Each Friday for the rest of the year, the Intermediate Unit will further their study on Simple Machines. We are working with Lego, a computer tutorial/game at Edheads, rulers, spoons, pencils, pulleys, bikes, etc. As we increase our understanding by doing these various activities and exploring all of the simple machines around us, we are getting ready for our favorite biannual event: Take Apart!

In the last week of May we will spend part of our time working on taking apart a common household item (VCR, Radio, Printer, Toaster, etc.). If you have a non-functioning item that you were just going to throw away, let Heidi know—it might be great for take apart!

Posted in intermediate unit, McGuffey, science

Congratulations to our alums on the honor roll

May 16, 2012

We would like to extend congratulations to our alums that recently made the honor roll at Talawanda High School and other area schools.

Last term, 76% of the McGuffey graduates currently in high school were on the honor roll! Congratulations to these students, and all our alums, for their incredible achievements. We couldn’t be more proud.

Posted in alumni, announcements, community

Math and Subway sandwiches

May 15, 2012

In April, the upper unit took a trip to Subway. Students had been working on a project to estimate the number of sandwiches, slices of meat, cheese, and tomatoes as well as the cost that it would take to cover the distance from McGuffey to the White House.  Students decided that we would use $5 footlongs as the “standard” sandwich.

It was determined that the distance between the two locations is approximately 420 miles and, using the fact that there are 5820 feet in one mile, found out that this would mean that more than 2 million sandwiches would be needed. This, in turn, means that the cost would be more than 10 million dollars!

Posted in field trip, math, McGuffey, upper unit

The classics come to McGuffey

May 14, 2012

The Intermediate and Upper units have been exploring the classic Greek Myths, both during Read Aloud and when we were at Glen Helen. We were all very lucky to have Deborah Lyons PhD, a professor in the Classical Humanities Department at Miami University, come by and talk about our favorite myths and mythological characters.

The book we read from in Read Aloud is D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths, in case any of your students are missing these tales over the summer!

Posted in guest speakers, intermediate unit, language arts, McGuffey, upper unit

SOAR goes to the Miami Natural Trails on Saturday, May 19th

May 11, 2012

On Saturday, May 19, at 11:00am, we will be taking SOAR (Students Outside Active and Running) to the Miami Natural Trails for a McGuffey Community Hike. We will begin by hiking a three mile loop. Immediately following the completion of the walking hike, Heidi will lead a 3 mile run through the same course.

Both hikes are optional, but children will be allowed to count these miles toward their SOAR total. McGuffey families and friends are welcome to join us!

Even though staff will be on the trail, we ask that a guardian participate with your child.

Hope to see you there!

Posted in announcements, community, intermediate unit, McGuffey, physical education, pre-primary, primary unit, upper unit

A visit from David Ezra Stein

May 10, 2012

Yesterday McGuffey was visited by Caldecott Honor author and illustrator, David Ezra Stein. His visit was made possible by the Lane Public Library, who brought David to Oxford to visit local schools and libraries. Our Pre-Primary and Primary units spent part of the morning with David.

First he told us a bit about himself, how he loved to draw as a child, and even shared some childhood photos and illustrations. He also talked about his creative process, showing photos of his desk where he works and the couch where he thinks up many of his best ideas!

Then he read two of his books—Leaves and Pouch—leading the children in movements that coordinated with the stories.

Working with the children, he then created a collaborative illustration. Based on the children’s suggestions he drew a picture of the Pre-Primary room with a large spider, who was there for his first day of school. When the joey from his book, Pouch, saw the spider, he got very scared! One of our students helped model what a scared face might look like.

David left us with this one-of-a-kind illustration and several signed copies of his books.

We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Lane Public Library and David Ezra Stein for such a great experience—it made for an exceptional day!

Posted in art, community, guest speakers, language arts, McGuffey, pre-primary, primary unit