‘Wow! A new egg!’ said a wide-eyed six-year-old girl, extending her arm to show this ‘treasure.’ As students took turns wrapping their fingers around the egg’s warm brown shell, nearby classmates cuddled accommodating hens or peered through wooden pens, coming face to face with hairy goats.
On a recent morning, Mount Madonna School (MMS) preschool and kindergarten students, along with their visiting first and second grade ‘buddies,’ celebrated the fall harvest with an array of apple-themed activities.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Mount Madonna School (MMS) second grade class is leading a community social service effort at MMS, to collect donations of canned, boxed and packaged dried food for the Grind Out Hunger Program and Second Harvest Food Bank. This year, partnering with their 4th and 11th grade buddies, the students set a goal of collecting enough donated food to provide 700 meals.
Colorful, handmade books, authored and illustrated by Mount Madonna School (MMS) students were on display earlier this month at the 31st annual Student Authors’ Fair at Capitola Mall in Capitola. The event featured hundreds of books created by students from throughout the area.
Sharing Their Learning: On a recent day in Mount Madonna School’s fourth grade classroom, students presented their Spanish Mission project and reports with third grade students.
Photos by Linda Pope
The Mount Madonna School (MMS) graduating class of 2013 and the current third grade class have a special story to tell together. They are the first two classes who have maintained a mentoring relationship across divisions for three consecutive years.
Mount Madonna School teachers Lisa Catterall and Hamsa Heinrich smiled and looked on as about 30 students frolicked together at the shoreline, enjoying a break after a morning of kayaking together at Elkhorn Slough.
“My favorite moment was at lunch when we played at sinking down to our knees in the wet sand, and discovered all kinds of interesting life in the mud-flats,” said twelfth grader Aimee Hopkins. “We even found a red ghost shrimp.”
With so many parents seeking out positive learning experiences for their children, teachers and administrators are often asked just what it is that sets their school apart. At Mount Madonna School (MMS), located atop a mountain overlooking the Monterey Bay, the inspiring natural environment of 355 acres of redwood forests and oak meadows is one significant and unique offering for local students and their families.
