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 February 16th - 20th

BG Reading by Livia and Melia

This week in reading we are trying to get 25,000 mins.of reading from the BG so we can get a reading party on Dr.Seuss’s birthday!

P.S read more and write your mins. in your planners  

5th Year Math Calendar February Data on Area of Common Items. Photo by Saki

KFC Writing by Giselle

This week in writing on the KFC side, (Kool Fun Cookies) we are working on the third essay that was assigned to us. This essay was due this Thursday, but M was not yet back from her trip to Olympia, so we discussed the essay on Friday.  Hopefully all of you have the final draft of their third essay done, so you can turn it in fully finished to the KFC writing box. Make sure that you have checked your essay for mistakes, such as talking too much about causes and repeating the same sentence in the same way, over and over again. If have absolutely no idea of what to say, and are at a complete loss of words, you are allowed to write a  only three or four paragraph essay.  

Friendship Party by Ezra

 Friendship Note Boxes. Photo by Ezra

More Friendship Note Boxes. Photo by Ezra

Part of the food table. Don't worry the treats where at the end of the table. Photo by Erza

At our friendship party, we ate lots of yummy food and shared some amazing talents.  We spent most of the time listening and laughing with our performers, and had a great time.  Everyone sharing their talents were wonderful, and we all had fun. Some of the talents were lip syncing, violin, guitar, piano, some skits, and many more. We had a few people drawing and making cards after eating their food. We had lots of volunteers come and help us, (thank you volunteers!) and that made everything possible. We had a fun time, with lots of delicious food and awesome talent to top it off. Everyone made a box and decorated it for the party, and some people brought in candy and cards to pass out in the boxes. All in all, we all had a great time. Hope you all had a great valentines day!

STEM In-House Field Trip by Amy and Emma W

On Wednesday, Madrona had an in-house school field trip! We learned about atoms, touched fossils, and observed rocks.

Students get tuned up for Advanced Orchestra. Photo by Dorothea.

Beginning Orchestra by Isabella and Chloe

In Beginning Orchestra we are learning the A string notes for our May concert.  The last time we went to practice, almost  all we did was test the A string note for our May concert.  We are practicing the Mozart Melody.  Mozart Melody is the head song we are playing for our concert.  Our AMAZING teacher Mrs. Nelson is teaching us so many AMAZING things like how to remember certain notes, and reviewing the D string notes that we already learned.  Beginning Orchestra is SUPER FUN and I suggest to play an Orchestra instrument like a violin, viola, bass, cello, or any other stringed instrument!

BTW, Mozart Melody is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!

We had a few more visitors at Class Meeting on Friday!

Bill Gates shares about his life.

Stan Lee tells the class about his work with Marvel Comics.

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

Welcome to another blog post!  This week's pictures were taken by Saki.

BG Reading by Kelvin

This week we have been reading articles on endangered species. we have read a single article on our species that we are taking notes on. We got to choose from three animals: The Woodland Caribou, The Leatherback Turtle, and The Northern Spotted Owl.

Highlighting nonfiction articles

BG Writing by Ava G and Livia

This week in writing we are learning how to take notes on articles. the articles are about endangered species which we are also studying in science. we we have taken notes on 4 different articles and one of them was a test. We got to pick one of three animals, the Leather Back turtle, the Spotted  Owl or the Caribou. In conclusion we had a fun and productive week in B.G. writing!!!!!!!!!

KFC Reading by Dorothea

For reading we have our olympics. Some people are doing the diamond or ruby medal. Others are working on their sapphire medal. Incase you didn’t know, for the sapphire medal we have to read three books. Two of them have to have movies made off of them. you need to choose one of the book that were turned into and make a powerpoint or prezi comparing and contrasting the book and movie.

Ruby Medal Presentation

KFC Writing by Giselle

 This week we are working on getting our first draft of the 3rd essay done, so we can discuss our essays in class and get feedback on our essays so far. Our 3rd essay is due next  Thursday, on the nineteenth. We moved the due date from the eighteenth to the nineteenth because Wednesday, the eighteenth was too busy with the Friendship party and the Stem in house field trip to discuss our essays. Our third essay is a cause and effect essay, and you can either make it a four paragraph essay or a five paragraph essay, depending on how  much information you have.

KFC Science by Emma C

KFC (Kook Fun Cookies) has started to think about what our endangered species posters will look like. We wrote two essays, and our next one is due on 2/19/15. Our first essay was about one specific animal’s main causes for endangerment. Our second essay was a compare and contrast essay about two animals endangerment. In our third essay, we will write about causes and effects for the endangerment of our original animal and their habitat. For our last essay, which we have not done yet, we will write about a call to action. Our call to action essay will be full of opinion, which the KFC has been desperately wanting to write with since the first essay. All in all, make sure you are ready to turn in your essays!

5^th Year Math by Ezra

This week in 5th grade math, we are working on multiplying fractions. We just recently finished up a short quiz about it. Now we are working on finding out the dimensions of squares and rectangles. We just started this with Cassie, and it is already really fun. We got a small slip of paper that is about our new topic, (dimensions for squares and rectangles) and it was given to us as  homework on 2-12-15, which is due after our long break on Wednesday.

6^th Year Math by Charlotte

The 6th graders are finishing up the ratio unit and beginning to work on the algebra unit. We have been working out of the expressions volume 2 Homework and remembering book. The remembering questions say “ 4.5*11=n” did you get the answer? it’s 49.5. A question out of the homework side is “7/4=12/a a=___ the correct answer is 6.8 it’s okay that one was much harder. We have been sharing our ways to problems like that Jack talked about cross multiplying and I said I used a factor puzzle.

What would you say?

Poll of the Week by Amy and Amelia

This week, we did a poll on UFOs and what would you say if you saw one! Unfortunately, we didn’t get many results, but here they are!

Choice 1: “I saw a UFO!”

3 classmates would say this choice.

Choice 2: “I saw a martian inside a UFO!”

1 classmate would say this.

Choice 3: “I saw flashing lights on a UFO!”

1 classmate would say this.

Choice 4: “I have no idea what I saw!!”

1 classmate would say this.

Choice 5: Nothing. You fainted.

5 classmates would say this.

Choice 6: Other

15 classmates would say something else!

What would you say?

Advanced Orchestra by Emma W

In Advanced Orchestra, the songs we are working on is Dragon Hunter, Cripple Creek, The Voyage, Hunters Chorus.At our last concert, we finished up Modal Festival, which we are not working on anymore.

Soleil Student Blog Week of January 20th, 2015

BG Reading by Melia and Naomi

This week in Bubble Girafe (BG’s) reading, we are working on non-fiction packets, and are splitting up into groups to work with Kim. The first group did it on Maniac Mcgee, and the second group did it on Jim Thorpe. We are making a lot of progress and Kim is helping so much!

BG Writing by Livia and Ava G

This the  bubble giraffes are getting ready for a              

non-fiction assignment. We all got to pick topic that you know a lot about. when we were writing those papers we did not get to get to find information on the internet so we can compare that to when we learn more about it.  

   

KFC Reading by Amy

In KFC Reading, we’re learning about the colonial times. Soon we’re going to do something called “Sail America”, which is when we try to convince people to come to one of the 13 colonies back then. I can’t wait!

5^th year Math by Giselle

This week in 5th year math we have been studying the volume of 3D figures, or three-dimensional figures. Cassie gave us a packet of homework to do this Thursday, and I believe it is due next Tuesday. Your homework is based on how you answered the small test she had us take that Thursday. We are also still working on a new Observation Calendar, figuring out how to relate Coordinate Graphs to numbers and multipaction. Be sure to finish the packet so you can hand it in on time! -Giselle : )   

Orchestra by Sarah and Dorothea

In orcrastra we had our FIRST consert.Everyone did great. Advanced played Modal Festival, and cajjen fidler. The intermedet orcistra played New Horizens, Hunters Chorus, and

Soleil Student Blog Week of January 5th, 2015

Welcome to the first Soleil blog post of 2015! 

BG Reading by Ava G and Livia

this week  the bubble giraffes in reading are are getting together with kim and working on packets.  Each packet has a different topic like one was catwings that was a packet that we did response note on and answered questions. The response notes were for questions and sentences that give us hints about the setting. It was fun to have this packet I hope we do it again!

KFC Science by Charlotte

A Good Look at your Garbage Bin

This week in science we had a special guest come in to our classroom to teach us about garbage. Her name was Ali and she worked at the local Waste Management center. She explained where our garbage goes and how the average person  makes 4.5 lbs. of garbage a day. She taught us what goes in the recycle bin and what can’t, and what cannot be recycled. I found this to be quite interesting and useful. Did you know that as long as there is no food or liquid coming out you can recycle yogurt cups?!!

5^th Year Math by Giselle

Right now in 5th grade math we are working on using fractions and we have just started a new observation calendar. Our homework that was assigned to us by Cassie last Thursday is due today, Monday. Be sure to check that you have finished both pages and that they are ready to turn in! (If you finished them early, you can turn them in early.)

6^th year math by Nathanael

In 6th year math the 6th years are learning about percentage and discounts or coupons, we learned about how to change poles that have a total of votes that are not 100, and also we are learning about circle graphs. If you ask the 6th years favorite subject the will answer MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Art by Emilee and Athmar

In art this week, we have been drawing trees after they lost there brownness and turning a red/brownish color. In the background you would see a sun setting or rising sun depending on the drawers preference. We are using pastels to draw our trees.

Cocoa House by Grace

Previously, before winter break on January 12th Soleil celebrated Cocoa House. For parents don’t know what Cocoa House is, it is a winter celebration where 4th, 5th and 6th graders read poetry on a stage on Room 11 (M’s side). However, this year was a little different from last years Cocoa House because the rule was no poetry written by SHEL SILVERSTEIN! This was because our teachers, M, Cassie and Kim wanted to introduce Soleil to other poets other than Shel Silverstein. At first I thought that this was a terrible rule. I thought in my head NO SHEL SILVERSTEIN=ANGRY GRACE= UMMMMM……. WELL I DON’T REALLY KNOW... I FORGOT. Anyway, later on I found new poets I now prefer over Shel Silverstein. But, poetry isn’t the only thing we did at Cocoa House. Soleil got to have food! Such as, chips, sadly…. vegetables, wonderful fruits, donuts, cookies, candy canes and I bet you can’t guess what else………… ……………………………………………………………………Cocoa, what a surprise! For people sitting on Room 11 (Kim and Cassie’s side) got to see the Soleil Gratitude presentation. Overall, I thought Cocoa House was really fun!

Soleil Student Blog Week of December 15th, 2015

BG Reading by Melia and Ava G

In the Bubble Giraffes ( B.G.s) reading this week, we are working on ACTIVE reading: A: ask questions, C: connections, T: track thinking, I: inference, V: visualize, and E: EUREKA!!

Recently, we have been getting together in small groups with Kim and working reading pages.  At Cocoa House we will be reading are memoirs (see it in writing) or a poem.  Cocoa House is on Friday, Dec.19th. Hope you will come! No, seriously, see you there!   

           -Melia & Ava :)

BG Writing by Ava G and Melia

This week we are typing up are final copy of our memoirs. The memoirs are  our first writing assignment of this year. We have been working on them for about 4-5 weeks, and they are really looking good!  The Bubble Giraffes have been really working hard with this project, and it is due, final and first copy, on Dec. 16^th.  At our holiday party, Cocoa  House, some of us are going to be are going to be reading our personal narratives!  Hope to see you there!

   -Melia & Ava :)

BG Science by Josh

Over the past few weeks, we were working on pollution. We were polluting our eco-columns with either 1.Salt, 2.Vinegar, or 3.fertilizer. All three can badly harm the ecosystem. about a month ago, We added animals to our other ecosystems. We  ended our observations on thursday and we will see a science experiment next thursday.  

KFC Writing by Giselle and Ezra

For K.F.C. (Kool Fun Cookies), we are working on poetry. Our teacher, M, is having us look at other poets rather than Shel Silverstein to expand our poetry knowledge. Please encourage your kids to read lots of different poetry books (rather than Shel Silverstein) and memorize poems they like for Cocoa House.( Coming up this Friday December 19, 2014)

5^th Year Math by Ezra

Right now in 5th year math, we are working on identifying triangle sides, shapes, and width. We are also comparing fractions and adding different denominators. (L.C.D.) We are very lucky to have Cassie and Kim as our 5th year math teachers.

 Art by Ezra

In art, we just finished doing the sharpie/contrast project. Now we are doing a tree art project, using oil pastels. We make leaves on or falling off the tree, and a brownish black trunk. Our branches are long, thick, and beautiful. Everybody is very skilled and are great artists.

Soleil Student Blog Week of December 8th, 2014

Welcome Sunny Friends!

Keep reading to see what Soleil was up to last week. Our student writers and editors did great some work!

BG Science by Isabella

This week we are working on our ecocolumns and adding six droplets of pollutant in them. Every week we put a pollutant like acid rain, fertilizer and salt. It’s fun to see what it looks like.

BG Reading by Saki

In our class for reading we have something called Reading Olympics. Reading Olympics is where you read 3 different books and write an Annotated Bibliography and write a question test to get a medal. For each you will need to do that. For each medal we have an event. For example, Bronze medal is where you interview the main character from your book and write what he or she will respond you. For Silver, medal we a thing called Book talk. It is when you read a historical fiction book and present the plot of the book. For each medal it has different kind of event! Also we have Read Aloud. That’s when you read a page from 3books you read and your partner will grade you and give you some advice, because it helps us read it with really good expression, pacing, and accuracy. Reading Olympics is really fun!

BG Writing by Naomi and Melia

In writing we are doing personal narratives/memoirs. Kim is gone in Florida to see her mom, so we have Cassie to help us and she is doing GREAT!  We have already finished editing and revising and are just starting to print our final copies on the computers. We are having cocoa house and we are going to present them there and do a little of poetry. Hope to see you there!

KFC Writing by Giselle

Right now in KFC (Kool Fun Cookies) we are writing poems for Cocoa House. We have just finished making scientific observations and our science poems. They were due last Thursday, when you are finished make sure to tape it up on the wall. M wants the Cocoa House Poems to be at least 4 stanzas. Remember to practice your poem for Cocoa House until you are ready! It would be great if you can memorize your poem so you don’t have to read off a sheet for Cocoa House. Don’t forget to smile!

6^th Year Math by Charlotte

This week in 6th grade math we have been studying Percentages. We have been studying taxes and discounts with money with the Connected Mathematics 2 Bits and Pieces III Computing with Decimals and Percents. We have had three homework assignments and have had an extended day to finish. M has been wanting us to translate english into “Math Language” too.

Art by Amy

Soleil is making pastel tree art! We draw a tree on a blue piece of paper and start drawing leaves and a bright sun using pastel crayons. The fun part is cutting a paper leaf and using the hole to make our leaves! Then, we’re going color the tree to finish.

Advanced 

Advanced Orchestra by Dorothea

In advanced orchestra we are learning Hunter’s Chorus, New Horizons, Caggen Fiddler, and Modal Festival.

12/9/2014

Welcome to the first completely student written and edited Soleil Blog post!

BG Reading by Saki

In BG’s reading we are doing reading olympics. Reading olympics is where you read 3 different books and write an Annotated bibliography and write a question test to get a medal. Writing an Annotated bibliography and writing the question test help us understand the  plot of the book more. For each book you will need to do that.

BG Writing by Naomi

In writing, the BG’s (bubble giraffes) are writing personal narratives/memoirs! So far they are going great and Kim is being the best helper someone could have. We have been editing to make sure they have a “grabber beginning”. Also, to make sure we use synonyms  like changing run to dash, also to make sure the story makes sense when it is put together. We have read a few and they aren’t

BG Science by Cassie

This week we are continuing to pollute our eco-columns.  Students pollute by watering their eco-columns with one of three solutions every day.  We make observations and measure the soil and water pH twice a week. We are looking forward to finishing the experiment and seeing if our hypotheses were correct!

KFC Writing by Giselle

So far, the KFC’s latest  writing project is the Mini Poster.  It was due this tuesday, December 2 (the final draft). M asked us to use big letters. So that the poster stands out so people can see it. The people who are walking by in the hallway need to be able to read the whole thing within 5 seconds!

KFC Science by Sydney P

In KFC science, we just finished up doing our last observations before we pollute our eco-columns,(a model terrarium on top of a model aquarium.) Now, we have started polluting them with salt solution, vinegar solution, and fertilizer solution. We our polluting the eco-columns every other day, and are observing what happened to the eco-columns on the other days. I can’t wait to find out how the pollutants affect the eco-columns!

4^th year Math by Ben

In 4th grade math, we have been learning a lot of new things. We learned 3 different ways to multiply,the shortcut way,the window way and the mini shortcut way. and we are doing a calendar grid for each month with a different pattern/subject. We also play fun math games, such as closest to 100. Time tiles are also fun- we have to solve problems like, “what time is it 2 hours after 3:30?”We are about to start geometry!  

5^th year Math by Jacob

In our 5th grade math class we do a “Calendar grid observation” that changes every month.  We are (for now) using fractions. Like the kind of problem: ⅚ is less than 8/9. During fractions, we learn short ways to solve fraction problems like now, we’re doing LCD (Least Common Denominator ) find the lowest multiple of the denominator. (About) Every 4 weeks, we switched to something new!

6^th year Math by Emma, Grace, and Sarah

Sixth Grade Math is currently learning on how to work with percentages (multiplying, dividing etc...) We are usually assigned homework or class work in our math books everyday. Previously this year, we learned to divide and multiply decimals. We are also learning to describe our strategies for solving our homework problems in “math language”. For example, instead of saying what we did to solve a problem,  we would say what we need to do to solve this type of problem. Monica Wellman, or M, teaches us this so that we can become successful and grow as a “math meister”. After a period of time working on a strategy or problem, M will give us a short quiz to test how much we know about what we have just learned. M will later grade  these quizzes and hand them back to us. When students need support on some problems, M uses her time after a lesson to help them. Before sixth grade math, we have math practice. Math practice is during fourth and fifth grade math. During this time, we go on math websites such as, mobymax.com and tenmarks.com. The rest of the Soleil Center uses these websites as well. Mobymax.com is not only used for math but also for  language and vocabulary. Mobymax has you take a test to place you in the skill level that you belong in. On the other hand, Tenmarks gives you assignments that M assigns us. Sixth graders are so fortunate, proud and thankful to have such an amazing math teacher like M.

Art by Liam

This week my class is drawing pictures of trees in fall with leaves falling down. With the sun in the background. We are also using pastell.                  ART IS FUN!!!!!!!

Advanced Band by Charlotte

Advanced band is for kids who work hard in music and reach a more advanced level in band. We commonly play 7th grade music which is one-two years above our grade level as fifth and sixth graders. This semester we are playing three pieces, In The Hall of The Mountain King, Gypsy Dance, and Atlantis. We leave in the middle of olympics time for an hour before lunch on Fridays. We do miss part of olympics, but it is a lot of fun!

Orchestra by Ezra                                                                                                            

This year in Orchestra we will be doing a few concerts. For intermediate and advanced orchestra, our closest concert is on january 14, 2015. In intermediate orchestra, we will be doing a few songs, such a New Horizons, Cripple Creek, and a few other songs out of our music books (Essential Elements Book 1). Every time advanced, intermediate or beginning orchestra has a concert, you will need to be there at least 30 minutes earlier to tune and be ready to preform!