Special Report #5

Brainssss! by Ava D and Chloe

Last week intermediate went to the gym to look at human organs.  They showed brains, livers, lungs, heart and bladder.  They compared lungs to lungs of people who smoked.  Did you know your heart was bigger than your hand?  We learned a lot from the visit to the gym.  We learned about what is in cigarettes and never to smoke, and the ingredients in alcohol.  We learned about the danger of heart diseases, and how smoke from cigarettes can affect your body.  Here is a video of where the body parts are.

Madrona Morning Broadcast by Aaron G and Grayson

Our school has a morning broadcast every friday morning where the 7th and 8th graders talk about thing we are doing at school.  First, the teachers choose different kids to be in the broadcast every time.  Second, they also explain the highlights of the week.  For example, this week we honor Dr. Seuss's birthday by having a Dr. Seuss week.  They also showed pictures of Dr. Seuss. They showed another video of the soleil and summit centers on the broadcast were we get to make a video about soleil and it went on the broadcast.  The broadcast is made so that every week the students can see the highlights and important events that are happening.  

Here is a link to our school’s broadcast: Madrona Morning Broadcast   

Brooklyn Bridge

By: Ezra and Aaron J

 

 On Tuesday, March 1st Soleil went to go see a play at the Seattle Children’s Theatre called Brooklyn Bridge. It was about a little girl who didn’t have a pen to do a project that was due the next day and she thought that was the reason she couldn’t write her report but really it was because she didn’t know what to write. I think it was really a good teaching experience. For one thing it showed that you should do your assignments before the day their due. Also don’t judge a book by it’s cover.

      In our Madrona courtyard, trees are blooming.

Spring is here! By Lucy and Saki

       In Madrona, spring has arrived. The sun has been coming out for a longer time each day. (Except for the spring storms.) Everybody in Soleil has been acting like our name, (our name means sun.) Along with the real sun.

All of the flowers are blooming, the first signs of spring. The daffodils have already poked through the ground. Now, everyone is excited to go to recess and play around. We also have another reason to be excited, spring also brings holidays like Easter. Spring brings cheers all around.In conclusion, everybody loves spring!

Name: Austin and alec

We have a short video of music here that will be played this week at  the Edmonds art festival  

This video is about the music at the edmonds art festival. The video shows a pieces of music  called AfterBurn.

 

This is what the slip of music look like that was in the video we played the people who are in the video are in orchestra. They will be in the concert.

Interview with Jeanice by Sid and Evelyn

1.   Why did you decide to be a teacher?

Jeanice: I have always wanted to be a teacher, and I came from a family of teachers. I like working with kids, and I want kids to love learning.  

  2.  What is your favorite thing about being a teacher?

Jeanice: I enjoy introducing kids to good books.

  3. What is the hardest thing about being a teacher?

Jeanice: The hardest thing would probably be long work hours.

  4. What do you like about the classroom you teach in?

Jeanice: The great students, supportive parents, and nice teaching partners.

  5. What is your favorite thing about teaching at Madrona school?

Jeanice: My favorite thing would probably be the friendly staff and community.

Center Happenings 3/14/16 - 3/25/16

Favorite Character Election by Emilee and Reed

After waiting in line, they sign a piece of paper

to registrate! Photo by Austin and Colin

In class we held a Soleil caucus for our favorite book characters. Some students nominated book characters to be nominees in our caucus. We watched a video about what a caucus is, and then we had certain spots in the room where you would go if you voted for that character. The nominees were Fregley from Diary of a Wimpy kid, Hermione from Harry Potter, Percy Jackson from The Percy Jackson Series, Firestar from Warriors, Thomas from Maze Runner, Annabeth from The Percy Jackson Series, and Biggin from Spirit Animals.

4^th Year Math by Francine and Alexa

4th graders discussing math problems and solutions.

Photo by Kohl and Isa

This week, in 4th year math, we took our unit 4 test.  In unit four, we did rounding, measurement, and adding big numbers with different algorithms strategies. Some of the different ways we measured things is with volume capacity, mass and weight, length, and time.

Unicorn Reading by Neha and Mira

Student working on word bank while reading Lewis and Clark for social studies.

Photo by Jacob and Nicolai

This week in the Unicorns reading we just finished our nonfiction reading assessment. The assessment was about fire ants and killer bees. We were so close to earning a reading party! We earn one by reading in a total of 3,050 minutes.That’s almost 50 hours! We have to read that many hours each week for four weeks! Altogether every four weeks we read 12,200 for a reading party!  In total we read about 200 hours every four weeks in order to earn a reading party!

Himps Writing and Social Studies by Amy and Braeden

Photo by Lowata and Emma

In the HIMP’s writing and social studies, we are writing Western Expansion papers and starting an Oregon Trail simulation. The HIMP’s papers are about a specific topic from the Western Expansion such as the Trail of Tears, the Pony Express, and Cowboys. Our papersThey have to be at least five or more paragraphs, with a beginning and an end. We are finishing them around this time, and M, our teacher, is starting to read our work and grade them. Also, we are starting to work on our Oregon Trail simulation. We have our families and, the wagons, preparing for our “long” trip ahead. We have already decided who our wagon masters, who lead the wagons and make the decisions. Recently, someone’s wagon hasis been swept away by a flood, and they had to go home to wait for next year, and we wrote about what happened in journals.

 In conclusion, we are going to finish our papers and with much excitement, continue our Oregon Trail adventure!
Orchestra and Band Update by Sofia Marie and Sydney P

The piano, used in Band!

This week in advanced orchestra we went on a fieldtrip to The Edmonds Center for the Arts. During the day, we watched other schools perform, ate lunch, had a clinic on our playing, and performed with the Madrona middle school students. In band, we are preparing for a concert that will be soon for the advanced band. We are working very hard on the songs, and the advanced band only has a few more rehearsals before the concert is held here at Madrona.The band students are very excited to perform in the concert! Both orchestra and band are working very hard.

The new blogging rubrics. Blogging grades will be part of student communication grades.
Photo by Bam.  Caption by Cassie

Daylight Savings Time by Ethan and Billy

Photo by Amelia and Ava G

Last week on the thirteenth of March, daylight savings time made it, so parts of the world had to switch their clocks one hour forward to save daylight. This way, people can have more time in the light for spring and summer, and it will take a couple days to get used to, and then you will have more time to be outside in the sun. Daylight savings was first used by Canada in 1904. But some places don’t use daylight savings like most of the areas of Africa and Asia .    

Soleil was on the Morning Broadcast! Special Report #4

Our latest Special Report is actually the video we shared with the school on the Morning Broadcast. Soleil and the Special Reporters worked really hard on the video.  First the class came up with the concept of the video and decided which 5 unique things we wanted to share with Madrona; we also chose a production company name and title for the video.  Then the Special Reporters did everything else including writing scripts for presenters, deciding how and what to film for each topic, and editing. The Special Reporters were assigned roles, like camera person, presenter, poster maker, director, and editor so each person knew how best to help. We spent multiple Friday mornings planning, filming. and editing. Check out the video below to see some of the things that makes Soleil unique!

As promised, here are some additional acts from the talent show, including the devolution of the talent show into karaoke. Take a look!

Center Happenings 2/29/16 - 3/11/16

Nature Walks by Amelia and Ava G 

Holly is an invasive species in Washington.
Photo by Kelvin and Sydney D   Caption by Cassie

In Soleil we have small groups that we go in every Friday for example there are the Banana Slugs and the Worms. In those groups we will go on something called a nature walk which is when Cassie takes a group out into the woods to look at different types of plants and animals. Last week in our nature walk we looked for invasive species like the Himalayan blackberry.

Olympics by Emma and Lowata

Here is a picture of Queen Elizabeth telling us about her life. Photo by Lane and Henry

 The Olympics are book reports that Soleil does. There are different medals such as the Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Pearl, and others. Currently in Olympics, the H.I.M.P.’s are working on their Sapphire medal, which we read books that were made into movies. The Super Pink Fluffy Unicorns are starting their gold medal. Plus working on finding their two nonfiction books for the Gold medal. * 

*Teacher Addendum

               The Unicorns are working on the Gold Medal one piece at a time as part of their weekly Language Arts homework packets.

Art by Kohl and Isa

Two students partner up to finish a marble maze with straws and popsicle sticks. Photo by Sophia and Melia
For this week in art, we are making mazes out of box lids. We are using straws, marbles and glue. The main goal for this project is to get a marble through the maze by tilting the box lid. Last week we started of by drawing a rough draft of what our mazes would look like. Some people already got to gluing the right size straws onto their boxes. Today most of us are starting on gluing the straws to the maze to make walls to guide the marble to the finish. Overall, this project is going to take some time and will be sort of difficult but it will be exciting because we get to use our imagination.

Unicorn Social Studies by Nicolai and Jacob

This is a photo of a list the Unicorns made. The list is about reasons to vote.

Photo by Ben, Josh, and Josh

This week, in social studies, we learned about how presidential voting works and the voting process. We also did writing about how to help more people vote. These are the ideas we made:

How can we get more people to vote?

• Give people the day off
• Vote by mail
• Make it a holiday
• Vote on the weekend
• More than one day
• Vote for one week
• Pay people to take others to polling places
• Let people vote at home and other people pick it up
• Bus stops by polling places
• Teach about voting and government in school and tell parents
• Government send letter telling people why they should vote
• Vote online
• More polling places 

Read Across America Week by Payton and Naomi

Unicorn's Door
Photos by Isabella and Livia

HIMP's Door

This week in school we celebrated Read Across America. Kids in our school have decorated doors of their favorite book. Most of them are Dr. Seuss related because two days ago (March 2nd) was his birthday! We took pictures in library with props (Lorax’s mustache Thing one and Thing two signs etc. It was so much fun!! Both kids and adults love his books and he brings smiles to our faces. He has made our hearts two sizes bigger.

Washington Caucus and Primaries by Bam and Zane

Graphic by Josh K

This year, Washington is using a primary and a caucus to help choose who their Candidate is. Democrats choosing through caucus, Republicans through Primary. Democrats can vote in Primary, but it doesn’t count.*

*Teacher Addendum
          Primaries and caucuses are how citizens can help choose their party's candidate for President.  Delegates are assigned to candidates based on the outcome of the primary or caucus. Eventually delegates will represent their state's party in the Democratic and Republican National Conventions where the president and vice president nominees are chosen for each party. Each state decides which system to use; in some states the Democratic and Republican parties use different systems. 

             This year Washington will use both primaries and caucuses. Republican's will use the Primary in May to decide how to allocate 100% of its delegates.  Democrats will use the Caucus on March 26th to decide 100% of its delegates. Every registered voter will receive a ballot for the primary. The Primary on May 26th will be a closed primary; this means that you must declare a party on your ballot and how you vote must match. Democrats will be able to vote in the Primary, but it does not affect how delegates are allocated.
         See this Washington Primary and Caucus Dates website for some basic information. See this video for the difference between primaries and caucuses. For more information about the process a candidate goes through during an election see this link.  Register to vote here. Democrats can find out more information about the Caucus here and follow a link to find their meeting place here.  Here is the Washington State Republican Party website. 
          

Final Salmon Update by Austin and Colin

The baby salmon are ready to be released back into the wild. Photo by Abby and Giselle

For the past few weeks we have been raising salmon in our school library. It has been really exciting getting to see the salmon’s growth every time we go to the library. We have seen them grow from eggs to fry We recently released the salmon at a hatchery in Edmonds. It was sad to see them go after spending weeks with them, but they will be happier in the river. It had been so fun seeing the salmon grow, I wish we would have been able to keep them longer.

Center Happenings 2/15/16 - 2/26/16

Unicorn Reading by Melia and Sophia

The unicorn’s are working on researching weather topics. For example earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

6^th Year Math by Giselle and Abbie

Photo by Ezra and Aaron J

 This week in sixth year math we are revising our unit tests that we got back on Thursday. We are going to fix and edit the mistakes we made on our tests so we can improve the grade we got. Currently the unit we are working with, involves ratios, algebra, and graphing. In Mr Barnes class, if we do not know the piece of homework that was assigned for that day, we can go to the website for Summit, where Mr Barnes will post the pages of homework that were assigned.   

HIMPS Social Studies by Kelvin and Sydney

Photo by Evelyn and Sid

In the H.I.M.Ps social studies, we are working on the Westward Expansion, which we are now working on a 5 paragraph Essay on a chosen project for the westward expansion. Some of us are doing things like Cowboys, hydraulic mining, and trail of tears. We are working on thing like that.

AED Assembly by Ben, Joshua W, and Josh K

Photo by Austin and Alec
This is an AED Machine.

On February 12th, Soleil went to see  the AED assembly.They taught us CPR,  a very important thing you can use to save someone's life. They also taught us how to use a AED. They taught us by putting on a little play with Olaf, who pretended to have a heart attack. Then 6th graders and middle school students came out on the stage and pretended to do  CPR  on Olaf and dummys. All in all, it was a very fun, informative, and a very serious topic.       

Soleil is going to be on the Morning Broadcast by Livia and Isabelle

Photo by Saki and Lucy

We worked hard on the Soleil morning broadcast videos.

The banana slugs went on a nature walk. They walked around the field by the track and they looked for Abiotic and biotic things in the forest. For art we finished up our snowman selfies that we made and we put a silver outline on our fish that we water colored. Finally, we did a talent show and the valentines party. There was a lot of talented students.  Some student did funny acts,  overall it was a lot of fun, we all had a good time.

Friendship Party By Henry and Lane

Photo by Ava D and Chloe

At the friendship celebration we had lots of fun!  We had boxes full of valentine’s along the walls they were all about space, because the theme was out of this world! On one side we had the talent show (which was mostly karaoke). On the other side we had games like valentine card making and picking up skittles and putting them into a separate bowl with chopsticks. We also had bingo and trying to eat a donut on a string. (The fastest time was 20 seconds). Once we finished partying we had a Soleil potluck which had desserts like cupcakes and cookies and we had savory things like salad and pizza. That’s what we did at the friendship party!

Photo by Liam
We had lots of fun creating snowman selfies!