Thursday, January 27

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT edgewood fifth grader builds award-winning robot


Nishant Chaturvedi, an Edgewood campus fifth grader, was one of five local students to be recognized for his skill in robotics at the Southern California LEGOLAND Cup on December 5.  The competition was part of the First LEGO League (FLL) 2010 Challenge with the theme “Body Forward”.  Nishant’s team, the Bionic Bots, took first place in the “Research” category for the 9-14 age range.

Through the 2010 Body Forward™ Challenge, FLL teams explore the cutting-edge world of Biomedical Engineering to discover innovative ways to repair injuries, overcome genetic predispositions, and maximize the body's potential, with the intended purpose of leading happier and healthier lives.  After conducting research on the human body, the Bionic Bots selected a broken spinal cord as their real world problem.  They delved deeper into this complex part of the human body and created an innovative solution to fix a spinal cord.

Each FLL Challenge has two parts – the Robot Game and the Project.   Teams build and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS technology to score points in 2.5-minute matches on a themed playing field.  For the project component, teams explore an actual problem that today's scientists and engineers are trying to solve, develop an innovative solution to that problem (either by creating something that doesn't exist or building upon something that does), and share their findings.

Nishant has been exploring his passion for robotics with classes at Mathobotix in Irvine.  The classes are designed to promote the support and learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) using robotics through a grade level structured curriculum.  

Contributed by Danyelle, Marketing

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT mable first grader shows "locks" of love


As we enter February, the month in which we celebrate love, it helps to be reminded that love comes in many forms.  Mable first grader, Raajasvi T., demonstrated her love for helping others when she decided to cut off ten inches of her hair to donate to Locks of Love.  Locks of Love creates high quality wigs for financially disadvantaged children who have lost their hair due to illness. Raajasvi’s favorite part of cutting her hair was that she was doing something nice for someone else, and we are very impressed that such a small child would choose such a big way to show how much she cares. Raajasvi says she was inspired to donate her hair because her Mom recently had donated her hair to Locks of Love. We think Raajasvi's new "do" makes this compassionate cutie even more beautiful!  For more information on Locks of Love visit www.locksoflove.org

Contributed by Karen, Mable campus 

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT anaheim hills pianist plays carnegie hall

How many kids can say they've played at Carnegie Hall?  Not many.  But, the Anaheim Hills campus is home to one such talented student.  Fourth grader Allison To is an accomplished pianist.  She is also a very skilled violinist.  Allison has won multiple awards in numerous competitions such as SYMF (Southwestern Youth Music Festival), MTAC (Music Teachers’ Association of California) festivals, the Long Beach Mozart Festival, and was awarded Gold Medal at the 2010 International Young Musician’s Competition. In the same year, Allison gave her debut performance at Carnegie Hall in New York.  Her favorite subject is math and she enjoys shopping, drawing, and playing with her best friend Suma, her Maltese dog.  She currently studies piano under the direction of Ariel Yang at Opus119, the school of music’s prestigious Conservatory Program.

Contributed by Vicky, Anaheim Hills campus

LUNCHBOX february menu, anaheim hills

Nutrition Management has lots of fun lunches planned in February! Check out our Preschool-1st Grade Lunch Menu and our 2nd-8th Grade Lunch Menu to plan ahead for the month.


Contributed by Kim, Nutrition Management 

LUNCHBOX february menu, citron

Nutrition Management has lots of fun lunches planned in February! Check out our February Lunch Menu to plan ahead for the month.

Contributed by Kim, Nutrition Management

LUNCHBOX february menu, mable

Nutrition Management has lots of fun lunches planned in February! Check out our 1st-3rd Grade Lunch Menu and our 4th-8th Grade Lunch Menu to plan ahead for the month.

Contributed by Kim, Nutrition Management

LUNCHBOX february menu, edgewood

Nutrition Management has lots of fun lunches planned in February! Check out our February Lunch Menu to plan ahead for the month.

Contributed by Kim, Nutrition Management