Local Teacher Receives $1,000 Grant; Sixth Grade Undertakes Greenhouse Science Project

Outside an open doorway of Mount Madonna School’s (MMS) upper campus greenhouse, three sixth grade girls fill small plastic garden pots with soil and compost. The team works efficiently, one passing pots to the next, who fills it and then passes it on to be placed on a nearby wooden table, in preparation for planting some native seeds they gathered earlier in the school year. Nearby some of their classmates work together on refurbishing an irrigation system, carefully piecing together plastic water pipe and fittings.

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Second Graders Seek Help for Shelter Animals

Recently Mount Madonna School’s (MMS) second grade students attended three classes through the “Growing Kinder” Humane Education Program of the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter (SCCAS). The program is founded by Jen Walker, an experienced animal welfare advocate and humane education specialist. The first session began with Walker guiding the students on a behind-the-scenes tour at the animal shelter. For their next couple meetings, Walker offered lessons at MMS with her cat, Guido, and dog, Moon.

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Sixth Grader Wins Bid to California State Science Fair

Congratulations to inspired young scientists Lekha Duvvoori, Sara Bautista, and Addy Catterall-Pendleton, each of whom won awards in the recent Santa Cruz County Science Fair!

Sixth grader Lekha’s project, “I See What Eye See, Low Light Color Vision” won kudos and multiple awards in the Junior Division (6th-8th grade), including a nomination to the upcoming Broadcom MASTERS middle school science competition; and an invitation to participate the 61st annual California State Science Fair.

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Eighth Graders Build Engineering Skills and Prepare for Solar Car Race

Eighth grade students at Mount Madonna School are developing engineering skills in preparation for building their own solar cars to race at the 6th annual Summit for the Planet Walk-a-thon and Celebration on April 28.

The class began a three-week engineering unit involving experiments and activities designed to give them an intrinsic understanding of engineering basics, electricity, solar panel placement, circuitry, fluid dynamics, gear ratios, Newtonian mechanics, and experimental design.

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Building Athletic Spirit: Middle School Soccer

In his third season as the volunteer coach for Mount Madonna School’s (MMS) middle school soccer program, parent Carson Kelly (Zoe, 9th, Indigo, 6th, and Cecily, 1st) remains committed to inspiring his young players to stay focused, play hard, and have fun!

“I like being able to provide MMS with an additional sport for the kids to participate in,” Carson explains. “It is important for kids to wear a jersey with their school’s name on it, and go out and participate on a school-based team. Our team this year has great athletic spirit, coupled with a positive attitude and strong desire to learn!”

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PLEASE Drive Safely to and from Our School

Quiz question:
When driving in mountains, who has the right-of-way on narrow road ?
a. vehicle going uphill?
b. vehicle going downhill?

Answer: Vehicle traveling uphill has right-of-way. Vehicle traveling downhill backs up to let him pass…

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Raising Funds and Awareness: It’s a Walk in the Park to Support Local Nonprofits

For nonprofit organizations, determining how to creatively and successfully meet annual fundraising goals can be difficult and time-consuming – and frequently not a lot of fun. With the dual intent of putting the “fun” back in “fundraising” and bringing together other local nonprofit organizations – including, educational, environmental, and youth-focused groups – Mount Madonna School (MMS) is again hosting its annual community walk-a-thon and celebration –a family event intended to make fundraising as easy as a walk in the park!

All nonprofit organizations are invited to participate in the 6th annual Summit for the Planet Walk-a-thon on April 28. Mount Madonna will coordinate the event and do most all the work, while participating groups are invited to organize a team of walkers to walk for their organization, and their walkers, in turn, are urged to gather pledges of support.

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