Soleil Student Blog - Week of March 16th - 20th

Bubble Giraffe Reading Party. Photo by Ava D

BG Reading by Liam

This week we are studying magazines that help us understand non-fiction text features and we are learning about cause and effect and having loads of fun doing it.

We also have some new study groups to help us understand as a group.

BG Writing by Melia

This week in BG writing we are working on finishing our Conclusion for our informational essays on the same endangered specie we are doing our infographics on!

… Which are the Leatherback Sea Turtle, the Northern Spotted Owl, and the Woodland Caribou!  

BG Writing has been REALLY fun!

BG Science by Jacob

In BG Science, we are starting to add color  onto our infographics on Magic Piktochart templates. We need to make a black and white copy so if we lose the color copy, then we can still start on the black and white copy.

Students collaborate on their Olympics every Friday.

5^th Year Math by Ezra

This week in 5th Year Math, we are just now starting decimals with Kim! Yay! With Cassie, we are doing volume, and a little bit of area. Currently, we have a single sheet of homework from Kim that is due on (you have a choice) either Monday, (3-23-15) or Thursday. (3-19-15) With Cassie, we have an assignment that is due on Thursday, (3-19-15) and it is about volume on boxes. Make sure to have it done by then! We also have our calendar with Cassie too, which we work on every Thursday. The calendar is also about volume! Everyone in the 5th year math group is so lucky to have Cassie and Kim as our wonderful teachers!

 A student works zooming in on part of an animal. Can you guess the animal?

Students hard at work on art.

Art by Emma W

This week in art, we are working on a fun project, where the students use a picture of an animal. Next, you would take your window, (M calls it a window) and find a part of that animal that would be hard to figure out what the animal is. You would then copy the area of the animal on a small piece of paper. Then you would color it in, and you’re done! We are going to put them in the hallways as a fun activity for the people going by to try and guess what the animal is!

Schoolhouse Rock by Amelia

Schoolhouse rock is a play that Madrona theatre is doing. In the first act are the songs 1. Verb thats what happening, 2 Noun is a person place or thing, 3. Is the magic number, 4. Mother necessity,  5. Sufferin till Suffrage, 6. Lolly lolly lolly, 7. Unpack your adjectives, 8. Just a bill, and 9. The preamble. In act two are 10. ready or not, 11. Do the circulation, 12. Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla, 13. Figure Eight, 14. A Victim of Gravity, 15. Zero, My Hero, 16. Conjunction Junction, 17. Great American Melting Pot, 18. Elbow Room, 19. Interplanet Janet, 20. Interjections, 21. The Tale of Mr. Morton, 22. Bows, and 23. Exit Music. We hope you can come and see it!

Soleil Student Blog - Week of March 9th - 13th

Here is a short blog post from a short, half-day filled week.

BG Reading by Kelvin

This week in reading we are reading about endangered species and making essays and infographics about northern spotted owls, woodland caribou, and leatherback sea turtles.

BG Science by Melia

This week in BG Science, we are finishing up our black and white copies of our infographics, that we will print, and starting, or editing, our colored infographic, that we will post on the internet, and maybe on the Soleil blog. We are doing them on endangered animals such as the Leatherback Sea Turtle (LST),  the Woodland Caribou, or reindeer and the Northern Spotted Owl (NSO). We are having a great time and Cassie is helping so much!

KFC Science by Athmar

We have finished our essays and so that leads us to writing our posters. All of the groups have finished cutting and now we are jotting down ideas about what to write and what to draw for the background. We are doing endangered animals not just any regular animals. Our posters are Due soon on the 19th of March. We have also been doing pour infographics and those were due a while ago but M, Kim, and Cassie want us to revise and pure edit with the teachers. Then we will get our grade. There are many ways you can access the infographics at home too. Of course it is easy to get a 1 or a 2 but to get a 3 is pretty if u put effort. ( there is a effort grade too,(; ).

Posed Pictures from March 17th by Cassie

Our rule in Soleil is no posed pictures unless told.  Our hope is that this rule allows students to be more focused on working instead of having their picture taken.  

Soleil Student Blog - Week of March 2nd - 6th

BG Writing by Livia

This week in writing we are writing about our endangered species   

Student planning out paragraphs for a non-fiction piece. Photo by Bam

BG Science by Naomi

In Bubble Giraffes science we have been working on our infographics about our endangered animals which are the Leatherback Sea Turtle, Woodland Caribou, and the Northern Spotted Owl.  

KFC Reading by Giselle

In KFC (Kool Fun Cookies) we are reading and learning about the Revolutionary war, and what it was like. We have also been studying a new form of note taking, called and named the Cornell note taking system. So far, we have organized it so it will be easier to find information, and have tried it out with a few different topics.

KFC Writing by Ezra

In KFC Writing, we just finished up writing our last essay for endangered animals, and our new project is making a giant round poster. These posters are about our endangered animals, and every group is going to make their own. These will probably be shown in the Art Walk, so everyone who comes can see the beautiful art of Room 12.

Collaboration is key when students work on Endangered Species Posters. Photo by Bam

KFC Science by Charlotte

In science this week we are working on our endangered animals species posters they’re for the art walk sadly I can’t give you any more information except that we are doing seven different species the red fox, the dugong, the loggerhead sea turtle, the bald eagle, the saola, the snow leopard, and  the galapagos giant tortoise. I guess you just have to find out more information for your self at art walk night 2015.

5th Year Math students are using cubes to calculate volume.

6^th Year Math by Athmar

This week in 6th year math we have started a new subject, algebra. We have not completely started it but M has notified us that we will be taking out test soon and after the test we will start our algebra lessons. We have just about finished up our ratios. M is helping us review what the 4th years are doing to so we can help them out with there homework.

Students reflect on their Hopes and Dreams for the school year in a card to self. Photo by Bam

Art by Amy

In Art, we are writing cards to ourselves and decorating them. These cards are to check on how we're doing, since at the beginning of the year, we made our Hopes and Dreams. We wanted to see if we achieved our Hopes and Dreams. You should make some Hopes and Dreams and check on how you’re doing once in a while! :)  

Jazz Band 2 by Charlotte

In jazz band II we are working on 3 songs. It don’t mean a thing if it ain't got that swing, Inside Out, and Killer Joe. For these songs I play the piano and so I play the bass line in my right hand and the saxophone part in my right haNd. These can be extremely hard because there can be swing rhythm in the right hand and a steady beat in my left hand.

Intermediate Orchestra by Athmar

This week in orchestra Mrs. Nelson (our teacher) gave us a new piece called Joust. It starts out small and boring but then the firsts come in and help us do the really hard notes. YAY!

in the middle we get some really upbeat and fun notes then get to the coda and play it one more time. We really have a lot of fun playing with the notes and acutely playing the notes.

Beginning Band by Jacob

In Beginning Band, on are new music book (Essential Elements ) On page 13, 14 and 15 we all have been learning new notes like “LOW G”, “LOW A”!

Advanced Band by Emma C

The quad concert went extremely well. We have begun practicing our songs for our next concert already. The songs we will be playing are, “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Classic Overture”, and “Ancient Moon”. Make sure you practice because, we will be missing lots of advanced band practices due to breaks!

Thomas Edison shared about his life during Class Meeting on Friday. 

Albert Einstein also dropped by during Class Meeting! 

Soleil Student Blog - Week of February 23rd - 28th

Welcome to this week's blog post! We are figuring out the best way capture our learning with pictures. This week's method is not the one. Look for more pictures next week!

BG Writing by Kelvin and Ben

This week BG writing, we are taking notes on our endangered animal. We got to choose an animal out of these three: Northern Spotted Owl,  Leatherback Sea turtle, and Woodland Caribou. We will use the information we got to make infographics.

BG Science by Livia, Naomi, and Melia

This week in science we are working on infographics. Pictochart is an app that you can create infographics and presentations on a certain topic. Our topic is endangered animals that live in Washington, and those animals are: Leatherback Sea Turtle, Northern Spotted Owl, and  We are having a great experience!

KFC Science by Sydney P

This week in science we are working on our infographics. An infographic is a special type of informative poster that is done digitally. We are making them through this really cool sight called piktochart, and they are about the endangered animal we chose to study a few months ago. Our infographics include threats to the species we chose and also how we can help save them. All of the infographics are looking really cool, plus they are fun to do!

4^th Year Math by Nicolai and Ethan

This week in math we are  learning fractions. On the 23rd we played with fraction cards to learn more about fractions. We learned about different fractions such as unit fractions.

5^th Year Math by Saki

We are learning about multiplying fraction with whole numbers! It is FUN!!!!

6^th Year Math by Charlotte

This week we didn’t have 6th grade math. We are starting to work on Algebra we will have our unit test next week! AHHHH! ;)

Intermediate Orchestra by Athmar

This week in intermediate orchestra we went to the Edmonds Woodway HS for a re hursel and concert with other middle schools and elementary schools in one giant concert! Madrona as well as the other elementary schools played HUnters chorus, Dragon Hunter, and Cripple Creek tougher! And the others played awesome music! We had a rehearsal then the concert! It was awesome and we all had a lot of fun. Everyone did a amazing job!

Brightwater Field Trip Report by Bubble Giraffes

The Bubble Giraffes did a writing exercise about Soleil's field trip to Brightwater.  Each student wrote a nonfiction paragraph that described what the picture showed and that gave their audience enough information about the trip to have a clear idea of what we did.  Under the photos are the paragraphs that were written about it. We really enjoyed learning more about what makes a cohesive blog post and look forward to building our skills in the future.

Check out BG's work by clicking read more below!