Awards Assembly by Paolo and Ethan

Our school loves to celebrate people that go above and beyond. So that’s why we had an assembly to do that. Each grade sat in a different section. The people that went above and beyond got awards. It was really cool due to that lots of people we knew got an award! Also, one person from each grade got a really special award for using one of our 5 leading edge pillars. The five Leading Edge pillars are thinking globally, technological savvy, appreciate cultural diversity. Building partnership and sharing leadership, critical thinking and problem solving. If our whole school used these Leading Edge pillars, I think everyone will be able to win at least one award. I think this assembly was a great idea to have because it was a chance to appreciate everyone that went above and beyond. It was an amazing chance to celebrate all of those hard workers. Just because you didn’t get an award this trimester, it’s alright. There is always next trimester to rethink of what you could have done better and do it. It was a great assembly and a great time to celebrate people. LETS GO LEADING EDGE KNIGHTS!!!

India Maps by Maggie B.

            Before                 After                              

On Wednesday November 29, 2017 we made India maps with salt dough! The first thing we need to do was make to the salt dough which is made of salt, flour and water. When the salt dough was finished Mrs. Bibayoff got cardboard boxes from her car with the help of Mission Impossibles and the class got into groups of two and started to make India and the boarding things. The class used textbooks to map out India, the bordering countries, and the Himalayas. The class waited until Tuesday to paint the Maps because the dough wasn’t drying and on Tuesday December 5 we painted them and on Wednesday December the class labeled them and put some finishing touches. At the end the class felt like we were in India!

The maps were painted with yellow, brown, and blue paint the class was each given on small and big brush to paint the maps. Most of the class started to paint the sea and not the land. Some of the class said the paint was hard to put on because the dough wasn’t hard enough. The next day we were got to make the key and label the land and ocean. Some of the groups made elevation chart to show what the colors other just put down what the colors both great ideas. This project was a success and all the groups maps turned out great.

Bibayoff Core Class Odes

Picture Day by Laiba and Myah

Picture day is super important! You need to make sure that you dress nice and you look your best! I made sure to get up early to curl my hair, and put on my dress! I like wearing dresses to different events that is why I have a lot of different dresses! Picture day very important to my parents so that is why like to dress up! Don't overthink it just dress your best and try your best.! For picture day you can wear anything you want, a shirt, shorts, dress and much more! When it is time to take your pictures the office calls you. Then we head off to the multipurpose room and take our pictures! Before you take your pictures make sure you fix your hair! If You don’t like your picture you are always able to retake it!

Mummy's Tomb By Mehak Aulakh and Kritika Gosain

This year of 2017- 2018 there was a Mummy’s tomb hosted by 6th graders! It was held on November 9, 2017 in Leading Edge Academy. The Mummy’s tomb was an event relating to our unit on Ancient Egypt. This event was a tour by 6th grade students to teach people many different things about Ancient Egypt. This was an event open to all 6th grade parents and former 6th graders here at Leading Edge. There were different times for each core class and there were 6 tours in total. Mrs. Meindl’s parent showing started at 6:30 PM. Mrs. Leporiere’s parent showing started at 7:00 PM. Mrs. Bibayoff’s parent showing started at 7:30 PM. Every student had a job in this event. Some of the jobs included tour guides, fake tourists, and gods and goddess. In the beginning of the event there was a speech given by a famous Egyptologist, Dr. Strangelove and his assistant Igor. Then the parents and guests went along the Nile River where there was a great discovery. To teach parents and students about Ancient Egypt there was a stage that showed how Egyptians embalmed bodies, how they prepared for the afterlife and many more amazing things. Everyone did at least something to help make this event amazing and everyone had an amusing time.
There was a big event about Ancient Egypt in each classroom. In Mrs. Bibayoff’s room there was a mummification scene. In Mrs. Leporiere’s room there was a weighing of the heart scene. After the weighing of the heart scene there was someone saying a riddle that you had to answer correctly in order to pass. In Mrs. Meindl’s room there was a god and goddesses scene. There was also a Hall of Terror in Mrs. Leporiere’s room. Besides a god and goddess scene in Mrs. Meindl’s room there was also a dance on Thriller performed by mummies. Instead of having all the big events happening inside the classrooms there was also an Along the Nile scene. In the Along the Nile scene there were wolves and also god and goddess Isis and Osiris. There was also three tour guides for each tour. There was a smart tour guide, a dodo tour guide, and a zombie tour guide. The tour guides stayed with the people the whole time and guided them through the event. If you were someone in the Hall of Terror you would hide behind a black paper wall with holes so then you could try to grab someone and scare them to death. In the weighing of the heart scene there were people who were getting their heart weighed to figure out if they were going to have a happy afterlife or if they went to the underworld. In the mummification scene there were people who were showing us how Egyptians mummified bodies. These informative parts were big things that happened in Egypt’s culture.




This was an amazing experience to remember. It was really fun to perform and at the same time it taught us many things about Egyptians and their culture. Everyone practiced for about 1 week to get ready for this great event. This was our first event that we performed to our parents and other students and it turned out to be a great success. We got to teach, learn, scare, and do many amazing things at this fantastic event.

Mummy's Tomb by Nathan

On November 9, 2017, at 6:15 PM, the 6th grade mummy’s tomb began. It was really fun with the costumes and the props. But mostly the fun of performing. My part of mummy’s tomb was the Priest who would read from the Book of the Dead in the Mummification scene. I would read the first lines then my friend Ali Anwar would read a few lines then glam girls said their lines and Ali was pulling out fake body parts in the body. My favorite inside body part that he pulled was the intestines because it was really long and he would pull it out really slowly. And the crowd would usually say, “Ew.” But if they didn’t, we

would just stand there awkwardly. Then I would tell him to pull faster because it was getting awkward. This happened it Mrs. Bibayoff’s classroom. Outside of the classroom was the Nile Beast on the Nile River with a crowd lead by tour guides.

In Mrs. Leporiere’s classroom there was the weighing of the heart scene. A soul would be weighed on a scale with the feather of truth. If the soul is heavier than the feather of truth, the soul would not enter the happy afterlife. Then the Crocodile God would eat the soul. If the soul was lighter than the feather of truth, then the soul would enter the happy afterlife. When the tour crowd or tour group leaves, a sphinx would ask them an ordinary sphinx question. The “What walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and 3 at night?” question. One of them gets it wrong and they died, then the tour guide got it right and they proceeded into Ms. Meindl’s room.

In Mrs. Meindl’s room, was the scene where a tour guide touches gold, tries to steal it, dies because of Isis and Osiris, then think how they should be punished, and finally releases the mummies on them. The mummies come out and dance Thriller By Michael Jackson. The dancers have been practicing all week for the big day and they did pretty good.

Expressions by L.J.

Expressions is one of my favorite classes here at LE. It’s a really fun class. You can play chess, color, arts and crafts, and more. The fun never ends. I am not saying that I don’t like the other classes, I just like this one a lot. It’s even more fun since I am in period 7 and this is how I end my day. In Expressions we did a couple of projects. We have done cave art, shading, chess (Doesn’t really count), apples four ways,etc… This class made me learn chess, now I am pretty good at it.It also made me learn how to shade better. We did a project that was on display in the MPR Gallery. The project is for Day Of The Dead. You would take a paper plate and paint a nice design that will take up the whole plate. Then you cut parts of the plate and then use yarn to weave over the plate. We just finished our production of “Mummy’s Tomb” and we all had a blast! I like Expressions, it’s fun, cool, and nice- and I can’t wait to see what we do next!!

Odes by Meindl's Core Class

Halloween by Abby and Huddy

Halloween this year at Leading Edge was one to remember! There were lots of festive activities when Halloween got near. One of the sixth grade activities was one that the web leaders put on. During the afterschool event sixth graders went around the campus trick or treating and then had pizza and watched a movie. In Mrs. Meindl’s class, we sixth graders had a project to weave a day of the dead picture. We made a loom on a paper plate and then weaved with yarn. This project took a lot of work for some of the sixth graders. Everyone could buy candy grams. A card with a skull on it cost 50 cents or you could buy a card with candy for one dollar with the money went to Mrs. Novello’s class for new art supplies. Then there was an event where you could give some of your extra candy to troops in the army to thank them for their service and brighten their day. So these were the Halloween events at Leading Edge this year and it was really cool that there was something for everyone!   

At Leading Edge this year for Halloween it was really cool that people wore their unique costumes on Halloween. It was really great to see so many creative costumes on Halloween. The cool thing about costumes is that everyone has a different costume. On Halloween there were costumes like a spirit from the Day of the Dead, a dinosaur, a reindeer, a pineapple, a cucumber, lots of cats--white and black, and there was even a Pokemon. These were all amazing costumes, and it was awesome of those people to wear their costumes!  

Super Short Scary Stories by Meindl's Core

Taiko Drumming by Jordan Florento

When my brother told me what Taiko was, I was amazed! The sounds were magnificent and the different sounds of different drums were so creative! Some were small and some were big, each playing a part of the song. At my first Leading Edge Rally, the Taiko team performed for the whole school and that inspired me to try out for Taiko.


The Taiko training was on Wednesday, 8:00 A.M. When I walked into the Taiko room, I was amazed about how many people signed up. When we divided into groups, we practiced the audition beat and people were still learning. Before that day, my brother had taught me because we both thought the audition was the next day. The Taiko member said that I drum very good.

There were about two to three practices. I noticed there were less people practicing and others weren’t interested anymore. I saw people get better and I too. Besides, we needed to work on our synchronization and playing the right part at the right time. When we tried playing the audition beat alone to see if we need help, it would be nerve racking and frightful. Some people went fast and sometimes messed up.

When it was day for the auditioning, it was scary. There was drums outside for people to practice before they go inside and perform. I was practicing and telling myself just to play the music and don’t focus on anything else. After that, I figured out that 8th graders were going next, I wished good luck to them and tell them “I hope you pass!” After that, the 6th graders go next. When they finished the audition beat, they heard them saying that they did bad and messed up and rushed. When it was my turn, I was very scared in the inside and confident in the outside. When I came inside the room, I saw Taiko members that were judges. They would write down stuff that is happening during the audition beat of each person. I played the beat and went fast at one part, then played the song well. I felt like I did splendid. After a week, my expressions teacher Ms, Meindl told me early that I have passed. I have informed some people that I know. After about one to two weeks later, there was a list on Ms. Meindl’s window about the people who passed. I saw my brother had passed and I was happy for the other people who had passed.

Our Mentors by Jeffrey and Diego M

Mentors can help anybody in many different ways. They also make fun activities like social activities you did in the beginning of the year. They are very nice and they check up on us once in awhile. Everybody has their own group of students with 2-3 mentors. They always make everybody feel welcome to our school. Mentors are part of a group called WEB(Where Everyone Belongs). In eighth grade anybody can apply to get to be a part of the WEB leadership too!!

You get your mentor when you first start the year when you have orientation. All kinds of people are in your group, like some people you know that went to a different school, but used to go to your school, or some of your friends might be in your group, or even some people you’ve never seen before and don’t know one thing about them!

Just recently our mentors came in and talked to us about the 5 Leading Edge Pillars. These pillars are Technical Savvy, Critical Thinking, Building Leadership, Cultural Diversity, and Global Thinking. We are having a parent conference in three weeks. We will talk to our parents about our work, our goals, and challenges. We’ll also make a digital portfolio to showcase our work.

In conclusion, our mentors are people that help us throughout the year and make us feel welcome to Natomas Charter School.

Book Review by Yathin

My Life as a Ninja

By:Janet Tashjian

I think My Life as a Ninja was a great book, it is about a boy named Derek and his friends trying to uncover a mystery about who vandalized the school with an artwork of a minotaur with graffiti. Ever since Derek and his friends tested out a video game called Arctic Ninja they have been obsessed with ninjas.So they started to take Junior Ninja lessons their sensei is Sensei Takai, but soon they figure out that all they do in their lessons are to stay silent. Then at school the principal announced that the school had been vandalized and will do anything to catch the vandals. So Derek and his friend in a wheelchair Umberto decide to put their ninja skill together and try to catch this vandals. So they try to catch the vandal, but something goes wrong they get caught by the principal, and the principal thinks that they are the vandals. So the principal tells their parents and they get in trouble. The next few days another mural of the minotaur was graffitied onto a wall of a high school so Derek and his friends began to collect clues, but then as Derek walked across the hall he saw a glimpse of Umberto’s backpack and saw a can of purple spray paint. So Derek starts to think Umberto’s the vandals and he doesn’t trust him. Derek mom’s birthday happens and caricaturist appears and draws everybody and Derek asks him if he could look at his drawings and on the last page he saw a minotaur grinning back at him. So he starts to think that the caricaturist is the vandal. So he decides to follow him at night thinking he will be there and he was he was staring at the artwork. Next night he goes to the same spot hoping to find him there but he found a new person graffitiing the walls with a minotaur. The vandal takes off his mask so he could take a breath and Derek found out it was Felix his dad’s colleague. So he catches him and Felix gets sent away. I hope you all take the chance to read this great book!!

Lawrence Hall of Science by Jordan and Jackson

So we went on a field trip to the “Lawrence Hall of Science Museum” and it was soo fun. When we got to the Museum the first thing we did was eat lunch. We ate lunch outside on the big blue whale, the spiral statute, and by the fountain. When everybody was done eating their lunch we went inside the building and we were able to explore for a few minutes. But after that we got to go and dissect squids, well I mean at least my group did, though there were two other groups, fantastic gas, and hydraulics. But man dissecting the squids was so fun.

We learned a lot about our squids too. Like how eat, and what they prey on. Although I do still have one question, what preys on a squid? I wonder. And then after we learned in one of our three classrooms we were able to explore all the other fun activities there were to do. Such as floating beach balls, along with our paper airplane aerodynamics, and planetarium. I believe that's what it was.

In the hydraulics group we were supposed to make creations that could move in two directions or could hold six or more ounces. The materials we used were syringes, long rubber tubes, water, and other things like pegs and peg boards.

Lawrence Hall of Science by Mari

Today was the day we went to the Lawrence Hall of Science. During this field trip, we got to do a variety of cool things. This included dissecting squid, learning about hydraulics and dry ice, and checking out some awesome exhibits.

The first thing we did was eat lunch. During lunch, we had time to play. There was a giant whale and a life-sized model of our DNA. We also had an opportunity to take photos of the amazing view.

Next, it was time to go to the labs. We got into our groups and went downstairs. I was put into Squid Dissection. We got to dissect a squid and learn how it survives.

The very last thing we did was look around in the exhibits. This included math, weather, and animals. My personal favorite was the animal area. There were lots of insects like butterflies, cockroaches, bees, and even walking sticks!

I had a great time at the Lawrence Hall of Science. I definitely think this is a field trip to remember. I think everyone will have an amazing time at the Lawrence Hall of Science.

2017 Varsity Volleyball Tournament by Amanda

This year varsity volleyball did a blast this season playing their games, the best part is that they won all! But the most important match was Championships. The Championships were located at our school. There were 4 teams who made it into the tournament. Varsity played the 2nd match and the 4th match. They played against Capital for the 2nd match and guess what……they won! Now it was time for the final game to see who is going to win the tournament, Knights vs Mills! It was the second set, everyone was excited… it was the winning point…..and boom they won! The Leading Edge families cheered and was so happy! And that’s a good end to their season.

First Dance of the School Year by Ava

On 10/6 we set sail to our first dance of the school year! Mrs.Meindl’s leadership team worked very hard for making this dance special. The school dance themed was cruise themed which was pretty cool cause we were setting sail to our first dance. Everyone was enjoying the food, music, and hanging out with their friends.This year we decided to have open up the outside of the MPR for more people to hangout if they just want to enjoy spending time with their friends. This is a night that the 6th graders will never forget. Especially since it was their first middle school dance.

      

Chess by James

Every Friday, in Mrs. Meindl’s classroom, everyone plays chess. Sometimes, two people will play for fun, or two people will challenge each other to a competitive game. It is a chance, for some students, to have a break from the school day and relax. Or, for others, it is a chance to challenge their friends to a long, heated match. Almost everyone loves it. A lot of people probably didn’t even know how to play chess before Mrs. Meindl taught them. There are a lot of good chess players in class, and it is crazy to see how easily they beat you, but also fun. I think I’m speaking for everyone when I say that Mrs. Meindl is an amazing teacher, and that chess is an amazing part of her class.


Comments About Chess

Gage-”I love playing chess, just for the fun of it.”


L.J.-”It’s fun and intense.I like to play competitive games.


Shaine-”I like the game. It’s fun. I learned a lot.”


Yathin-”It’s fun, exciting, and it involves lots of strategy. Sometimes I try hard to win, or I just play for fun.”


Audrey-”It is glorious, but I like to draw while I play, because if I don’t, I get very bored. I mostly just play or fun. I don’t like when people scream a lot, though.”

LE Basketball Team by Aziel

The LE basketball teams are going to be good. I see the many of the varsity team playing everyday at lunch.They look pretty good out there already. They talk to each other, know hot shoot, have defense, know how to dribble, and they know how to be teammates.They can be good, I have seen them play now they need to do in the basketball season.They know how to play pretty good with each other. I have some friends on the team. Their names are Xavier Bowen and Isaac Tong. They are pretty good at basketball. Xavier is in 6th grade and Isaac is in 8th grade. The basketball season starts this month.Their first game is in the middle of this month, on the Tuesday after October break. Xavier feels like this team is doing well so far. He said, “We have a good team and a lot of good players.”

When I asked some of the players about the season, they said they need to be smart always. The varsity basketball team has one sixth grader, a couple of seventh graders, and then the eighth graders. They are aggressive. They can take some wild shots sometimes, but they are practicing to get better. The varsity basketball team I believe will do well this year. The basketball team is I think will have a lot a have of ups and downs. The team will do good though. I predict they will have a great season.

GO KNIGHTS!

Art Project by Danny B.

In this blog post I am going to be talking about the recent project of the apples 4 ways this project was already due but I decided to talk about it in this blog post. The apples 4 ways was when you had to draw an apple and then color/making it different than others. For example one of the apples had to be a collage as in putting materials like fabric or newspaper to make a simple object. There were three more that you could make one of them were a colored pencil or oil pastel, Mrs. Meindl said that marker would ruin it so that was not one of them. The second apple could be shaded with only black and white and charcoal which Mrs. Meindl provided, you would shade the apple, and then use charcoal to make the apple more darker. The last apple you had to do was water colors this was the easiest for me because water colors take a lot of room so it would get done faster.

In this project there had to be a background in every of your apple drawings except for the shaded one (black and white) Mrs. Meindl told that the background could not be childish as in no clouds or sun especially with faces.this project was worth a lot of your grade and if you finished it then you can’t get a very bad grade. This is the apples 4 ways project and a recap on this is that there is needed color pencil/oil pastel for one apple, fabric, tissue, and colored paper for a second apple and water colors and shading for the last apple that was all of this project for Mrs. Meindl.

Leading Edge Volleyball by Paris

On Thursday, there was a girl volleyball game. The team has six and seventh graders. The people on the team were Jasmyne, Hailey, Sophia, Lauren, and Lauren M, Paris, Myah, Reese, Ava, Amanda, Skyline, Juliana, and Sarah. The game was at our school. A lot of people came to support the team and they cheered for everyone. They also were very excited they were cheering as loud as they can for their teammates. Everyone was playing hard and were very aggressive and they had some very good plays. They almost lost the first set but they with teamwork they caught up. At the end they won the game! But sadly it was the last game for the junior varsity team. They almost made it to the championships but they didn’t. Even though they didn’t make it to the championships everyone was happy and cheering even though they didn’t make it. That’s our week. Thanks for reading! I hope you like our blog!

The Book is Better than the Movie! by Sam A.

My Book Review about

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games was a great book with lots of action and I really enjoyed this book better than the movie because I felt it was more descriptive. The story is about people being separated into 12 districts, they are very poor and hardly even have food. Each year two young people from each district are picked randomly to go fight in the Capitol. The young people are selected as tributes and they are forced to basically kill or be killed, there can only be one survivor. There is a brave teenage girl named Katniss, she was brave because when her little sister’s name was called to be a tribute to go participate in the hunger games, Katniss stepped forward and took her little sister’s place. Everyone is forced to watch the hunger games on big televisions while each person eliminates the other. 

This book is filled with lots of action and you will probably find that once you start reading it is hard to put down.I have a hard time choosing favorite characters because I think they are all unique in their own way. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good book with action, suspense, and a good survival story.

Hope you enjoyed my book review.

Cross Country by Audrey

On Wednesday, September 20, the NCS cross country team went to Capitol Christian middle school for the second track meet of the cross country season. Our cross country team had come here once before, and had placed well with first, second, third, and fifth for the sixth grade girls.

This time, we got first, second, fourth and fifth for the sixth grade girls, and first for the sixth grade boys. The runners on our team all got new personal records, getting better times by at least 10 seconds. A few of our team members got better times by minutes, and a some got better times by 2-4 minutes.

The top five in the race received medals, and around half of the NCS team got them. The times are down below, showing the improvement from the first to the second race.

First	Last	Grade	CC 1.4 mile 9/6	CC 1.4 mile 9/20
Abby	Orozco	6	13:08	11:48
Hannah	Patterson	6	17:37	13:12
James	Race	6	11:04	10:42
Audrey	Reimers	6	10:33	10:08
Ashley	Richter	6	17:36	15:28
Jordan	Washington	6	14:12	DNR
Noah	Yang	6	DNR	13:58
Nareg	Chopourian	7	10:22	9:43
Adam	Hawarneh	7	DNR	11:45
Grace	Kampmeinert	7	15:41	DNR
Nicholas	Keller	7	10:16	9:56
Ariana	Lugo	7	DNR	10:56
Gabriel	Mabalot	7	15:56	11:53
Casey	Munoz	7	12:53	10:58
Yusuf	Nemr	7	15:20	12:01
Devraj	Patel	7	15:35	13:21
Rohan	Sheemar	7	10:43	DNR
Michael	Solis	7	12:04	12:02
Gabriel	Monero	7	DNR	DNR
Mia	Yang	8	DNR	11:54

*DNR= Did Not Run