The Storm Tracker
Basketball
When discussing the season to date with players, a common theme appears: “Teamwork.” Whether coming off of a recent win, or a tough loss, the focus on playing as a team, working hard together and supporting teammates remains. “When we play as a team, we all do good and win as a team. But when we lose, we all lose as a team. Teamwork is really important to the game,” said 7th grader Matt F.
The 7th/8th Grade Team's current record is 5-2, the 6th graders have a 1-6 record and the 4th/5th Grade Team is currently at 4-3.
Click here to read comments from Coach Mather and Coach Gonzalez, full stories on each team's season so far and the outlook for the coming weeks.
Winter Volleyball Clinic
The 2011 Volleyball Season was a great success. The 8th Grade Team and the 6th/7th Grade Team were both undefeated, while the 5th Grade Team ended with a 9-1 record.
Click here to read the full season wrap-up.
In an effort to help MMS players continue to build on the great skills showed off in the fall, Coach Mohr has been holding a Winter Volleyball Clinic since the end of November. 4th-8th graders interested in improving their volleyball skills could sign-up to attend and receive personalized attention from the coach. Mohr works with each player on the area they want to improve most, and some players have drastically improved over the winter. Coach Mohr said that before the clinic, 5th grader Caterina V. was serving only under-hand; however, now she is able to serve overhand and outside attack. Ellen K., who is coming off of an injury, has been training in the clinic and is recently playing against college athletes.
Look for information soon regarding the Spring Volleyball Clinic, open to all 7th-8th graders who want to get in on the action and improve their skills with Coach Mohr.
Track and Field
The 2011 spring season of Track and Field was a great one. At regional competition, our track and field team qualified the largest number of students from any single school, and our team was among the top statewide for number of competition qualifiers. At state we took first place in the 7th grade 100m and 200m events and in the 8th grade girls relay.
This weekend, three elite MMS athletes will be participating in the
USATF Wisconsin Indoor Track & Field Championships at Carthage College in Kenosha. Top athletes from around the state will be there, and medals will be awarded to only the top three in each division. We are thrilled that Abby D., Jordan B. and Turquoise B. have chosen to take on this challenge, and we wish them luck!
Look for information soon about this year’s Track and Field season registration.
Gaming in the News
The fact that Game Design is integral to our Technology curriculum is certainly not news to anyone reading the Monte”stories” (if it is…read these articles:
Post STEM Challenge Win,
The Next Frontier for Gaming at MMS, and
1 of Just 12 Schools…). But, the fact that games can serve an educational purpose is starting to make the national news.
A recent USA Today article,
White House office studies the benefits of video games, reveals that the White House has hired Constance Steinkuehler from the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin to help shape the “Obama administration's policies around games that improve health, education, civic engagement and the environment, among other areas.”
Click here to read more about the White House's stance on gaming and education as well as how Milwaukee Montessori School is being honored for the forward thinking of our technology curriculum.
An Artistic Honor
Through the end of January, MMS had an art exhibit on display at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. The hospital was extremely impressed with the caliber of talent from our students and the expressive techniques used by our students to create their self-portraits. Children’s Hospital has requested that these artworks be donated to their permanent collection. The children's self-portraits will be displayed in the ER entrance and ER hallways to brighten up the lives of visiting children, families, and hospital staff. The artwork will be displayed with the student’s first name, last initial, and the school’s name. Each donating artist will receive a photograph of their portrait as a memento for their kind donation.
Click here to connect to the Art Room Blog to see more of the artwork that will now be part of the permanent collection at Children's Hospital. Also on the Art Room's blog, you can to see some of the new self-portrait work that students have done this year, which is now on display through the halls of MMS,
click here.
Besides this most recent honor, MMS's skilled visual arts program has lead our students to a number of regional and statewide awards,
click here to learn more. Our alumni continue to receive recognition for their artwork after they leave our halls, for instance, 2010 graduate Sydney K.'s (3rd place ribbon winner at State Fair 2010) high school art teacher was so impressed with the techniques and knowledge of art that she had already been exposed to before attending New Berlin West that she moved her straight to AP art! Francis K. (MMS '08), who won a 2nd place ribbon at State Fair in 2008 for his delicate watercolor while at MMS, just received a Gold Key award from Scholastic Art.
MMS Alumni Blog
Independence
Author: Alumna, Kaity Loder
When Milwaukee Montessori asked me to write a post for the alumni blog, I felt initially honored, and then a little bit anxious. I didn’t want to bore readers with the same old musings on how MMS shaped my life etc. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wouldn’t be boring, it might even be interesting because it was coming from my point of view. The most interesting thing I found, however, was that it allowed me to reflect on my time at MMS, and come to the realization that, while many years removed, it did indeed have quite the impact.
One of the most important things Montessori education taught me was independence.
Click here to read more from Kaity...
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Alumni, would you like to be one of our bloggers? Email Stephanie Ziemke at
sziemke@milwaukee-montessori.org. Or, just want to update us on what is new with you?
Click here to fill-out our alumni survey.
