THE CHALKBOARD: Penngrove students build an arcade

What’s happening in Petaluma schools|

Ready, set, build! Friday is Penngrove Elementary schoolwide Caine’s Arcade & Cardboard Challenge Event. According to the Caine’s Arcade website, at the age of 9, Caine Monroy spent his summer vacation building an elaborate DIY cardboard arcade in his dad’s used auto parts store in East Los Angeles. Caine loved arcades, and he dreamed of the day he would have lots of customers come play. He spent months building and preparing his arcade, perfecting his game design, making displays for prizes (his toy cars), designing elaborate security systems for his Fun Pass, making his own Caine’s Arcade STAFF shirt, and even hand labeling paper lunch bags for customers to carry home prizes. On the last day of summer, by chance, Nirvan Mullick walked into the auto parts store to buy a door handle for his ’96 Corolla. Caine asked Nirvan if he would like to play his arcade. It turned out that Nirvan was also a filmmaker, and he helped spread the story about the inventive spirit of the young boy. Today, schools like Penngrove participate in the Caine’s Challenge Event! Using cardboard boxes, toilet paper/paper towel tubes, duct tape and decorating supplies, students let their creative spirit run wild. Stay tuned for the final installations that come from this program.

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Cinnabar Elementary School enjoyed the Ned Show, which teaches kindness, never giving up, encouraging others, and doing your best. The entire school participated, according to superintendent/principal Sandy Doyle.

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Harvest Christian School’s seventh- and eighth-graders took their first field trip of the year to San Francisco’s Legion of Honor. They toured the Truth and Beauty exhibit which is described by the venue’s website as the pre-Raphaelites and the Old Masters, which is the first major international exhibition to assemble works by England’s 19th-century Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with the medieval and Renaissance masterpieces that inspired them. Important loans of paintings, works on paper, and decorative arts from international collections, as well as works drawn from the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, demonstrate the Pre-Raphaelites’ fascination with Italian masters, including Sandro Botticelli, Raphael and Paolo Veronese, as well as northern Renaissance painters such as Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling. Students enjoyed their visit and spent time absorbing these incredible masterpieces!

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Dunham Elementary School students enjoyed a great field trip to the Heirloom Festival. The field trip helped bring the lessons offered through the school’s garden program to life. Through this hands-on program, students learn all about the plant life cycle, from seed to mature plant in their outdoor classroom setting.

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Petaluma High School students in Mr. Tacata’s class participated in the annual River Clean Up Day this past Saturday. Tacata’s Marine Biology class students helped gather up items inappropriately disposed of along the banks of the river, and also gained a new understanding of the topics discussed in the classroom thanks to this program. Kudos, PHS students for volunteering in the community.

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It was Makerspace Mania at Petaluma Junior High School this week according to principal Renee Semik. On Tuesday afternoon, the Sonoma Office of Education Mobile Makerspace was on campus for students to use all of their equipment such as a vinyl and laser cutter, DIY harmonicas, green screens and interactive art displays. Wednesday evening the campus hosted “Scribble Bots and Snacks” for parents and students. SCOE’s Mobile Makerspace will be back on campus again later in the school year, and PJHS’s Makerspace will be open for everyone to explore and create all kinds of fun projects.

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St. Vincent Elementary School’s Mrs. Almond’s Digital Media Art elective team was on hand for the Welcome Back Family Social at Lagunitas Brewing Company last week. The school’s Association for Building Community - ABC - partnered with the local brewery to plan this evening for the entire community. “It was a great way to celebrate the beginning of the another exciting school year and SVES reporters from the Digital Media Art class enjoyed interviewing students and parents, shares SVES Communications Director Danielle Rynning.

(Maureen Highland is a Petaluma mother and executive director for the Petaluma Educational Foundation. She can be reached at schools@arguscourier.com)

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