Earlier this week, ninth grade students explored creative constraints in their Creative Writing and Artistic Expression class by writing six-word stories, timed haikus, and drawing self-portraits with their non-dominant hands — and feet. #### Contact: Leigh Ann Clifton,…
Integrating seasonal elements – with generous measures of creativity and imagination – into first grade curriculum One delightful, learning-filled way to spark the engagement of young students includes incorporating a seasonal, monster-themed curriculum. In recent weeks, Mount Madonna School (MMS) first graders…
Congratulations to alumna Shruti Swamy (’03) on having her short story collection, A House is a Body, published! “Swamy’s A House Is a Body will not simply be talked about as one of the greatest short story collections of the 2020s; it will change…
Mount Madonna School (MMS) values the arts and offers a vibrant performing arts program geared to building confidence, character, and community in our student body. Physical movement, creative expression, and cognitive activities such as memorizing lines stimulate new neural pathways and aid…
The Jivanti Rutansky Memorial Award In honor of Jivanti’s memory, the Mount Madonna School (MMS) faculty is giving one high school student and one middle school student an award in her name each year. These awards are presented to students who embody…
For a recently completed Native American village project, Mount Madonna School fourth grade students were tasked with creating a model of a Native American village from a California tribe, a research report and slideshow presentation. The students studied native tribes from throughout…
Gail McCredie, mother of alumni Jack (’10) and Renata (’15), volunteered at Mount Madonna School for years prior to joining the staff as the librarian 16 years ago. She is retiring in August. Drawing from family stories, shared experiences and recent conversations…
By Sampad Martin Kachuck Despite the pandemic’s unmooring from our usual routines, life marches on in the Zoom worlds of middle school English. I want to acknowledge that for students, families, and teachers alike, our current new realities have certainly had an…
To truly embody a character requires the actor to see and experience the world from that character’s perspective. Discovering a connection to character takes detective work, personal reflection and an embracing of the journey. Aside from spontaneous discoveries within rehearsal, another method…
Feeling Safe in the Present through Stories from the Past As John Webb tells it, his southern granny was a talented storyteller who made an important distinction between “telling stories” (“they can get you switched”) and “storytelling” (“they can get you claps”)….
