Happy Tiger Tuesday!

Madison Elementary School's staff and students have been working on some exciting initiatives this year! Not only have they been highlighting #kindnessWCS projects, but because they are STEM certified, they are incorporating many STEM activities as well!

They are great example of how to move the WCS mission forward. They work to support the four Strategic Plan Pillars: Empathy, Experience, Adaptability, and Inclusivity.

As part of WCS’s “Year of Kindness,” Madison was laser-focused on celebrating student kindness and making sure students know it’s #CooltobeKind.

They kicked off our "Cardinal Kindness Coupon" Initiative this year. When a student earns a "Cardinal Kindness Coupon" for being caught in the act of being kind, the student places their coupon in a grade-level bucket in the cafeteria. Students' names are drawn during the Cardinal Friday Rally celebration each week, and students participate in a special opportunity with Mrs. Hoffmann on Monday afternoons.

This year, Cardinal Kindness winners have had the opportunity to make “bean art” that was displayed at Hacienda, partake in winter bingo, and help to make posters and cards to recognize our school resource officers and custodians, to name a few.

This week, Cardinal Kindness winners have the opportunity to help plant an oak tree at Madison in celebration of Earth Day!

We are so proud of our Madison Cardinals, who have earned over 2,359 cardinal kindness coupons this year for being caught in the act of being kind!

Mrs. Kelly’s 3rd grade class brainstormed additional ways that they could be kind at both Madison and in the wider Warsaw community, ranging from “open the door for someone” to “stop bullying” to “paying it forward in the drive through line.” She challenged her class to do as many of the kind acts as they identified together, at least one kind act per day, and then they circled them as they completed them!

Will McConnell, Mrs. Kelly’s 3rd grade class - “I donated to a local food pantry. I enjoyed what we did in Mrs. Kelly’s class because it taught us new ways to help our community.”

Madison Elementary School is one of Warsaw Community Schools' STEM Certified Buildings. They have some unique extracurricular offerings for students in addition to the great things happening in classrooms every day!

Madison is proud to participate in the Warsaw Elementary Robotics Showcase alongside the other elementary schools. With the help of Zimmer Biomet, all elementary buildings are able to facilitate an after school club where students engage in different robotics challenges. This year students either participated in a programming or mechanical engineering challenge.

Madison students have been hard at work after school collaborating and exercising their problem solving and critical thinking skills to show them off at the showcase!

In partnership with the Fort Wayne Zoo, Kindergarten and 4th grade students were able to have up close experiences with some of the zoo’s critters!

Kindergarten students used their senses of sight, hearing, and touch with the help of science tools to study some of the zoo’s animals, like a tortoise!

In 4th grade, students were able to study millipedes up close.

Our kindergarten students had the opportunity to take part in "Kindergarten Cruise-in Thursdays," where our students had the opportunity to experience real-world, hands-on learning about community helpers and learn about the application of engineering and technology.

Students have had the opportunity to see a combine (special thank you to Patrick at Greenmark), a sheriff's car (thanks to Officer Mulligan from the Kosciusko Co. Sheriff's Department), a helicopter (thanks to Mark Walsh), an ambulance (thanks to Lutheran EMS), a snowplow (thanks to Kosciusko Co. Highway Department), a firetruck (Warsaw Fire Department), and a bucket truck (KREMC).

This year was the inaugural year for students to earn the highly-coveted “Golden Spatula.”

Each week, one grade level is recognized at our Friday Cardinal Rally for following all cafeteria expectations and is awarded the “Golden Spatula” for that week.

The grade level with the most “Golden Spatula” wins for the year will earn a special prize at the end of the year.

Every other Friday, Madison comes together as a whole school to recognize those who are making a difference in the Madison community, celebrate our Golden Spatula winner for the week, do our drawing for our “Cardinal Kindness Coupon” initiative, and recognize our Cardinals of the Month for their outstanding hard work, leadership, and dedication that help to make Madison the special place that it is.

At our last rally, we were thrilled to recognize Officer Reed, one of our school resource officers, who helps to keep Madison safe.