Magnolia's Rattler PIT Crew has taken a first place in the Video Yearbook category (competing against high schools in the secondary division) for the 6TH TIME OUT OF THE LAST 10 YEARS! Last years yearbook team (due to a June completion it is always 1 year behind) entered their video yearbook - Magnolia is Out of this World, in the 47th Annual California Student Media Festival and beat out all the high school competition. Congratualtions to them all: Megan Billingham, Harrison Costantino, Christina Cozad, Katee Gustavson , James Jacobson, Cassidy JamesKarthauser, Garrett Kenes, David Otwell, Jake Silva and Maddie Wernke. Wow!
Letter Writing: Fifth: Savannah Collyer - Magnolia
8th Grade
Expository Writing: Fourth: Adri Moses - Magnolia
Letter Writing: First: Adri Moses - Magnolia
Fifth: Devin Van Burkleo – Magnolia
The Magnolia Rattler PIT 8th grade video editors have done it.... again!
They have rocked the California Student Media Festival. The awesome editors took a first place in School Information and Physical Education. The video Rattler PE, edited by James Jacobson with camera help from all the tech aides swept the PE Category and the PSA team led by Megan Billingham and Katee Gustavson took a first place in the School Information category for their Positive School Announcement, "The Time Has Come to Lose the Gum" Congratulations to the future Spielbergs!
Holy Toledo, look what Lori Boothe's Seventh Graders are up to, wow!
Our Odyssey of the Mind Teams Do It Again at the World Finals!
Congratulations to our two Odyssey of the Mind teams who attended the World Finals at Iowa State University during the last week of May. One team won 2nd place, while the other placed 5th, each competing against approximately 60 teams, all of whom had won their state or foreign country competitions. The 2nd place team members were Blake Bergstad, Israel Branch, Danny Kollehner, Conor Manka, Myra Scott and Max Spencer; while the 5th place team was Summer Brown, Camille Faatz, Alli Hodges, Caleb Marsh, Alex Nelson, Grace Tortorici and Maddie Wernke.
Over 800 teams from the United States and 14 foreign countries participated in the 4-day event. Students lived in the dorms, traded pins, watched competition, used the college recreational facilities and exchanged emails with students from around the world. It was truly an experience of a lifetime!
Odyssey of the Mind an international creative problem-solving program. Each year, this program requires a team of five to seven students to choose an open-ended, extremely challenging problem developed by the organization and to solve it in the most unusual way it can, without assistance from anyone who is not a team member. Problems range from highly technical to historical to artistic. All solutions are presented in the form of an 8-minute skit. Working under a very limited budget, the team is rewarded for its creativity, risk-taking, and unique use of trash and second-hand materials.
After extensive hours of rigorous thinking and work during a several-month period, the team presents its solution at a regional competition. In addition, a team must solve a short problem on the spot called a Spontaneous Problem. If a team is successful at Regionals, it competes at the State Finals; and finally, if it wins States, the team attends the prestigious World Finals.
Odyssey of the Mind is part of the gifted program called Advanced Studies. New students enter the program through a selection process held at the beginning of each school year. For more information, contact Michele Uppman at muppman@prsd.k12.ca.us or go to the Odyssey of the Mind website, www.odysseyofthemind.com.
8th Graders Rock the Math World
SESF organized and sponsored a successful inaugural TechTestJr2012 exam for Nevada County 8th graders. Six Nevada County schools participated in the 1st annual TechTest Jr. fashioned after SESF's very successful Nevada County high school merit based scholarship exam called TechTest. 93 Nevada County students, primarily 8th graders, took the TechTest Jr. exam the week of April 16th (last week).
Magnolia performed extremely well overall. Jessie Coggan scored 93% to place first within the Magnolia class and runner-up for the entire county. Magnolia had 5 students score at 90%, all tying for 2nd place at Magnolia (Matt Lopez, Camille Faatz, Alli Hodges, Lilly Pruett, Jack Malek). Each of the aforementioned Magnolia students would have placed first-in-class at 4 other area schools.
Andrea Hardin Recognized byThe American Legion Writing Contest
Eighth grader, Andrea Hardin, was awarded second place for her essay in the Americanism Essay Contest. Sue Ellen Warner from the Women's Auxiliary presented Andrea with a check in front of her fellow English classmates on April 20, 2012.
American Legion Winners
Magnolia Intermediate School eighth graders Dustin Stroeve, Mikayla Laymance, and Aidan Ginn received (respectfully) first, second, and third place awards from local representatives of the American Legion Auxiliary for their essays entitled "What Being a Patriot Means to Me". All Nevada County students in grades 8 and 9 were eligible to compete and Dustin's first place essay will advance to District-level competition. He has also been invited to share his essay with the public during the Memorial Day ceremony in Memorial Park.
2011 Nevada County Writing Tournament
Congratulations and recognition are extended to our 2011 Nevada County Writing Tournament participants: (7th Graders) Meagan Billingham,Jenna Danieli, and Sarah Huiting and (8th Graders) Tayler Machado,Dustin Stroeve, and Maddie Bachus. All the students accepted the challenge of writing in Expository, Creative and Letter Writing Competition. Special acknowledgment goes to Sara Huiting for a First Place Award for Expository Writing, Meagan Billingham for a Third Place Award in Expository Writing, and to Tayler Machado for placing fourth in Creative Writing. This is a rigorous morning of listening, taking notes, and being creative. All of our Magnolia tournament participants deserve congratulations for representing our school to their best.
The Magnolia Rattler PIT has done it again. Last year’s video yearbook team (now freshman at Bear River) took first place in the video yearbook category for their production – Magnolia Superheroes at the California Student Media Festival. They compete in the secondary category, against high schools. Every year the video yearbook team working out of the Rattler PIT produces a 2-hour documentary on life at Magnolia and all the activities that take place. Congratulations to the Rattler PIT. The team was made up of : Michael Raigoza, Raegan Salivar, Cynthia Solomon, Lucy Haworth, Samantha Randall, Olivia , Alli Thill , Truly Thompson, Ari Jensen, Tyler Hajewski.
Mr. Peach with Samantha Randall and the Award!
California Distinguished School - 2009
Magnolia Intermediate School was awarded the honor of California Distinguished School in 2009.
Exemplary Practices: Technology and Step up to Writing
A California Distinguished School is an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. Approximately five percent of California schools are awarded this honor each year following a rigorous selection process. Eligibility is based on federal and state criteria including the No Child Left Behind program, Academic Performance Index (API), and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
CUE Names Mr. Peach as one of the Top Presenters from 2010 Conference
CUE (Computer Users in Education) has launched a new program to recognize the top twenty-five presenters from the CUE 2010 Conference held in Palm Springs in March.They are the "BEST OF CUE". These twenty-five outstanding presenters were chosen by conference attendees 'voting' through session evaluations and attendance. Mr. Peach, our Technology Curriculum Specialist, was named as one of the top presenters for his presentation, Raising the Bar--13-Year-Olds Rock!. Mr. Peach says he gets all his inspiration from the middle school students with whom he spends his days.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MAGNOLIA BANDS
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MAGNOLIA BANDS that participated in the Music in the Parks Festival in Milpitas May 1-2, 2010. Both The Rattler Jazz Band and Gold Band placed second with a rating of EXCELLENT! Green Band placed first with a SUPERIOR RATING! Special thanks to all the Parent Chaperons and Mr. Sands for all your help this weekend. Plus a great time was had by all at Great America on Saturday!
Magnolia Students Win American Legion's Writing Contest 2009-2010
Emily Freeman (1st Place) and Lauren Brennan (2nd Place) recieve their awards from the American Legion Auxillary for their essays titled, "What Makes America Great."
Magnolia Students Sweep Speech Contest 2009-2010
March 22, 2010
Nick Mertens took a first place competing against the 8th graders of Nevada County.
The Magnolia 6th graders swept the Nevada County Speech Contest. They delivered their speeches at the old Nevada City Theater. Each student Received a great trophy and a $50.00 savings bond. Congratulations!
Joel Rivett - 1st
Jenna Danieli - 2nd
Jade Shields - 3rd
Magnolia 6th Grade Students Win Big in the Elks Contest!
On March 24, Jade Shields and Kaitlyn Solomon, were honored at an "Elks Essay" dinner.
Jade Shields 1st
Kaitlyn Solomon 2nd
There essays were written and submitted to the prompt: "The American Dream - What Is It"
Maria LaRash - A Teacher Who Makes a Difference! 2009-2010
At Magnolia Intermediate, Maria LaRash is a teacher we depend on for many of our successes with struggling students. She is a kind and dedicated teacher. She is fair, hardworking and vigilant when it comes to helping our most needy students. Mrs. LaRash strikes a wonderful balance between being nurturing and demanding. This is a delicate balance, and she pulls it off with great aplomb.
Mrs. LaRash has high expectations and gets learning results from the students she serves. She is both a Special Education teacher and a Title 1 teacher of 20 plus years. She works with the classroom teacher as both an advocate for her students, and in an advisory capacity whenever necessary. Maria regularly provides opportunity and support to students who might otherwise be lost in a large mainstream program.
For the last four years, Mrs. LaRash has hosted our Friday Night Live mentoring program in her classroom, every Tuesday after school. Our students benefit tremendously from this program, that pairs up some of our students with high school students from Bear River.
Maria LaRash is a committed professional of the highest caliber, impacting students’ lives with her big heart, warm smile, tremendous patience and boundless determination. It is not hard to see why Mrs. LaRash is Magnolia’s 2010 Teacher Who Makes a Difference.
BrainBuster Challenge 2009-2010
Congratulations to Magnolia's Brain Buster Challenge group who this past weekend won first place out of ten teams who represented county middle schools. This was our first year to attend and we were well represented by our team aptly named "The Brainy Bunch". Team members include: Skylar VanHorne, Teryn Rath, Lauren Brennan, Karsten Staples, and Alex Moses. Also Margie Oxley and Josh Pugel volunteered to make up part of a wild card team of various schools who also did quite well. There were seven challenge categories including math, science, history, art/ music, problem solving, debate and a physical challenge. Congrats on a hard fought victory. Look for the Brain Buster trophy to be displayed in the school office.
Nevada County Writing Tournament 2009-2010
Magnolia was well-represented at the Nevada County Writing Tournament by seventh graders: Annie Merrill, Hannah Muzio, and Maddie Bachus and eighth graders: Teryn Rath, Alex Moses, and Lauren Brennan. This is a demanding morning filled with three writing tasks. The first competition was Expository Writing. The students listened to a magician speak about the art of magic, its history, and he even demonstrated some magic tricks. The writers took many notes and then had forty minutes to write an interesting essay that included the information. Teryn Rath placed third in that competition.
The second writing task was Creative Writing. The students were presented with a large brown stuffed teddy bear as their prompt for writing a story in only thirty-five minutes. Maddie Bachus placed fourth and Teryn Rath placed first in that competition.
The third and final writing assignment was a letter to the editor of The Union newspaper stating a position on the issue of school uniforms. Twenty minutes was allowed for this and Annie Merrill tied for fifth place.
Congratulations to each of our participants for applying their skills and creativity in a most-demanding way. After congratulating them, ask them to show you the disappearing coin trick.
Mr. Richards' Advanced Computer Class took home the award for Best Technical Arts for their creation of the Teacher Websites. This is a great achievement as they competed against high schools for the award. Congratulations!
Kaila Ponce took a first place in the Elementary Science category for her HyperStudio project, 'Journey to the Center of the Earth. Way to go Kaila.
The Video Yearbook Team from 2007-2008 won first place in the Video Yearbook category, again competing against high schools in the secondary category. This is the 5th time the Rattler PIT Video Crew has won in the last 6 years. Congratulations!
Kaila Ponce Receives her award at the Media Festival, May 30th, 2009
Congratulations to Mr. Nat and Kaila Ponce. Her "Journey to the Center of the Earth" Hyperstudio project is the first place winner for SchoolTube's Science Contest!
The Video will be featured on the Schooltube Wire, May 11-13th! Do a search for HyperStudio and look for the Journey to the Center of the Earth. Once again Congrats!
Award Winning Bands and Choirs!
On May 1st and 2nd, 2009 six choir and band ensembles from Magnolia under the direction of Ms. Anne Vaaler and Mr. Phil Richardson, participated in the Music in the Parks Festival in Milipitas. The ensembles received placements from first to third with excellent to good ratings. The second day was spent at Great America with the kids enjoying the rides.
Congratulations to all of our Odyssey of the Mind teams!. Two of our teams took fourth place and three teams took first! The fourth place winners are Shane Anderson, Maddie Bachus, Jack Herron, Annie Merrill, Josh Pugel, Noelle Duerwald, Rachael Price, Andy Schaefer, Jack Schaefer, Ryan Silva and Alyssa Thompson.
The first place teams have now won the honor of participating in the World Finals at Iowa State University at the end of May. One of these teams is comprised of Jacob Goldstein, Malkam Goldstein, Hannah Grimes, Delaney Kaper, Rachel Olsen, Mitchell Raab and Jaz Spencer; the second, Madison Dunn, Lauren Kenes, Beth Nelson, Kimmy Pugel and Michelle Taylor; and third, Nick Bachus, Bailey Bernier, Alexis Cook, Scott Dwelle, Robyn Fernandez, Troy Richardson and Joel Stroeve. This third team also won the only Ranatra Fusca award of the competition, given for exceptional creativity. Job well done to all of you!
On April 23, 2009, members of the Grass Valley Unit of the American Legion visited Magnolia School to recognize eighth grade winners in their annual Americanism Essay Contest.
First place winner is Elizabeth Chu, second place winner is Samantha Randall, and the third place winner (not-pictured) is Allison Thill. All are students in Mrs. Boyer's third period eighth grade English class. Each winner received a monetary award or certificate and has been invited to present her essay during a public gathering in Grass Valley's Memorial Park on Memorial Day. Congratulations to all!
Congratulations to Cathy Volmer
Magnolia's 2009 Teacher Who Makes a Difference!
Cathy Volmer is consistently professional, caring, and exceptional in all she does at Magnolia Intermediate. Her positive attitude and obvious love of teaching is uplifting to those she works with and has helped motivate her seventh grade students for the last 30 years.
One Magnolia teacher writes, "I am speaking both as a colleague and as a parent of a student whose growth this year has been outstanding. Cathy has always made herself available when I've had questions before school, at lunch, and after school as well. She makes sure that her website is up and accurate the weekend before for those students who need to work ahead. She actively pursues new knowledge in both technology and language and is constantly seeking new ways to enhance her language and social studies curriculum and does a wonderful job of integrating the two subjects together."
Cathy is also a teacher trainer and mentor, providing Step Up To Writing professional development to teachers in our district and to other teachers in California. She is highly respected for her presentations that are filled with real class examples of her students demonstrating success through the SUTW approaches. Participants in her workshops rate her very highly for her knowledge, experience, and passion for writing instruction.
Each and every day, Cathy Volmer makes a difference in the lives of her students, her colleagues, and her school.
Congratulations to the Gold Band members who received a Superior Rating at CMEA Solo/Ensemble Festival on Saturday, February 14th, at Sacrmento State! They performed their new theme song, Snakes, by Thomas C. Duffy, appropriate for the Rattlers! The ensemble was self directed. Bravo!
California Distinguished School - 2001
Magnolia Intermediate School was awarded the honor of California Distinguished School in 2001.
A California Distinguished School is an award given by the California State Board of Education to public schools within the state that best represent exemplary and quality educational programs. Approximately five percent of California schools are awarded this honor each year following a rigorous selection process. Eligibility is based on federal and state criteria including the No Child Left Behind program, Academic Performance Index (API), and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
produces a 2-hour documentary on life at Magnolia and all the activities that take place. Congratulations to the Rattler PIT. The team was made up of : Michael Raigoza, Raegan Salivar, Cynthia Solomon, Lucy Haworth, Samantha Randall, Olivia , Alli Thill , Truly Thompson, Ari Jensen, Tyler Hajewski.
CUE (Computer Users in Education) has launched a new program to recognize the
Milpitas May 1-2, 2010. Both The Rattler Jazz Band and 
trikes a wonderful balance between being nurturing and demanding. This is a delicate balance, and she pulls it off with great aplomb. 
esented county middle schools. This was our first year to attend and we were well represented by our team aptly named "The Brainy Bunch". Team members include: Skylar VanHorne, Teryn Rath, Lauren Brennan, Karsten Staples, and Alex Moses. Also Margie Oxley and Josh Pugel volunteered to make up part of a wild card team of various schools who also did quite well. There were seven challenge categories including math, science, history, art/ music, problem solving, debate and a physical challenge. Congrats on a hard fought victory. Look for the Brain Buster trophy to be displayed in the school office. 
cks. The writers took many notes and then had forty minutes to write an interesting essay that included the information. Teryn Rath placed third in that competition.
rstudio project is the first place winner for SchoolTube's Science Contest!
va and Alyssa Thompson. 
winners in their annual Americanism Essay Contest.
s before school, at lunch, and after school as well. She makes sure that her website is up and accurate the weekend before for those students who need to work ahead. She actively pursues new knowledge in both technology and language and is constantly seeking new ways to enhance her language and social studies curriculum and does a wonderful job of integrating the two subjects together."