"Murder in Athens" by Jennifer

Right now we are learning about Ancient Greece so we did a skit that went along with what we were learning. “Murder in Athens” was the skit and this was a real trial that happened in Athens a long time ago. Our core class decided that Daphne was guilty. We game to this decision after hearing from Daphne’s son Leon and her step-son Milo. The story was that Timotheos, who was Daphne’s wife was going on a trip to somewhere far away with his friend, Philoneos. Daphne and her slave friend Themis, Philoneos’ girlfriend, decided to buy a love potion to save their relationships. So, before Timotheos and Philoneos left for the trip, Daphne and Themis had a dinner together. Daphne and Themis bought a love potion from a mysterious potion seller and they put it into Timotheos’ and Philoneos’ drink. Philoneos dropped down dead but Timotheos suffered in pain and agony for three weeks before he died. Themis was killed on the spot because she was a slave but, Daphne was put into trial for she was a wife of a citizen. During the trial the judge(Rachel) was the one who announced if Daphne was guilty or not. Mihir was against Daphne and Josephine was defending Daphne. I didn’t have a part in the actual script but I was part of the jury and I got to tell my opinion if I thought Daphne was guilty or not. It was a close result but 10 people said that Daphne was guilty and 9 people said she was not, so the guard(Ayesha) killed Daphne on the spot. I had a great time while watching and participating in the skit “Murder in Athens.”

Murder in Athens the Movie by Casey

Mock Trial by Dez

History Day at County Competition by Josephine

On March 4th, six of Leading Edge’s sixth graders competed in county history day. Over the span of a few weeks they were working on their projects perfecting and finishing them. The six students who competed were Jenifer Hong, Dana Yoon, Rachel Tokarski, Tea Novello, Olivia Carrillo and myself. We had been working on our projects for weeks, then the day came and it was time to go to Inderkum High School to get interviewed about our projects. I did a website, and Dana, Jennifer, Tea, Rachel, and Olivia made tri-folds. When we arrived at history day we collected our things and prepared to be interviewed. I was the first to be interviewed, inside of the room I was asked questions about my project and why I chose to do my person for the theme, taking a stand in history. Afterwards Olivia, Rachel, Tea, Dana, and Jennifer went. Before going back home there were tables with historical presentations upstairs, like soap carving, information about slavery, and so much more. After exploring a little bit we were excused to go home before coming back at 3. When we came back we were allowed to look at everyone else's projects as well. They had posted the finalists for the tri-fold presentations at that point and unfortunately none of our six graders who worked on a tri-fold got into the finalists. Although, they did not post the finalists for websites. They then did a presentation about what history day means and gave out special awards. Then, they gave out awards for exhibits and websites. Several other Leading Edge students got into state history day. And then, when they were listing the winners for websites they called my name! I was so excited and went up to get my medal. I will now be competing at state history day in May. Great job to everyone who competed in history day, you all did incredible! 

Track and Field Team by Maribela

Here at Leading Edge we have sports such as Volleyball, Soccer, Basketball, and Track and field. I wanted to try out Track and Field this year because I have a love for running. My experience so far on the team has been great! The team is mixed with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders and everyone is collaborating.

We start practice off with warm ups. Then we usually either do sprints, running long distance, or field events. Recently we have been doing mostly sprints and field events. My most favorite field event is Long Jump but there is also high jump, shot put, and hurdles. And lastly we end the practice with stretches so we don't feel sore afterwards.

Everyone has progressively getting better and better. This season I wish to do the mile, 800, 4x1, and long jump! This track season is already starting off good and I know it will end with a fantastic outcome.

Trimester 3 Has Begun! by Ethan

[Image Source: http://www.rome.mrdonn.org/milestone.gif]

My Blog post is about trimester 3. The reason I picked this is because everyone can start fresh. Like me. And what I mean by fresh is like you start over with your grades so if you weren't doing well before with your grades they reset and you can do better next time. But enough with the grades. Trimester 3 is all about new projects, new rally's, new dances,new grades,new assemblies, and,if you are already on it, a new unit. And if you don’t now it’s the Rome unit. So look forward to that. I also heard we will be having a greek olympics, so have fun.

Harry Potter for Hospitals by Grace and Angel

On Thursday, March 9, we had our Harry Potter Movie Night fundraiser. The movie that we watched is Fantastic Beasts. It started after school and we had a great turnout. There was a lot of snacks and beverages to enjoy while watching the movie. After the movie, there was also a taiko performance and a Harry Potter art gallery in the multi-purpose room that the 7th and 8th graders participated in. Tickets went on sale for $2-$3 and they sold Harry Potter themed candies. They also sold chocolate frogs with trading cards we made in Expressions. All of the money went into a fundraiser called Harry Potter for Hospitals. We bought sets of Harry Potter books and movies to donate to children suffering from illnesses. In the end, hosting a movie night, having a taiko performance, and an art exhibit raised enough money to buy 8 full sets of Harry Potter books! Sierra Garrett raised $400 to buy Harry Potter books for sick children!!. Thank you to everyone who took the time to make this happen!

Greek Drama Masks by Natalin

A few days ago in expressions, we started working on our Greek Drama Masks. These masks were based on Ancient Greek’s masks used for acting. Their masks represented emotions like sad, happy, mad, scared, etc. 

What we did was draw on 2 paper plates 2 masks on that were opposites from each other like fire and ice or a dog and cat. Also we were allowed to choose any characters we wanted as long as they were opposites or something. I decided to choose 2 characters from a cartoon. When we were finished drawing, Sharpieing, and coloring our characters we staple them together and hole punch ribbons on both ends to finish the project. Overall I think this project was a fun project to do and I bet others enjoyed it too!

Movie Night by Millan

We have recently had our second Movie Night in Leading Edge Academy! In this movie night, we watched Fantastic Beasts. There was food, drinks and candy to enjoy while watching the movie. Not everyone went because it was after school, but most people did show up! Thanks to Ms. Novello and 8th grade volunteers, we had this awesome event. Also, after the movie, there was different Harry Potter themed candy. The candies were about 1-2 dollars. The money used to pay for the candies was used for kids in hospitals going through illnesses and surgery. These kids are extremely strong and have such perseverance that we need to acknowledge it and help the cause. Thank you everyone that made this happen!

Chinese New Year Parade and Rally by Mihir

Very recently, our Leading Edge 6th graders had been working very hard to get ready for the famous and annual Chinese New Years parade, while the beloved 7th and 8th graders prepped up for an amazing taiko performance. We had spent 3 week painting, drawing, and practicing for the Chinese New Years parade. Everybody had had their posters ready, and the lion dancers had huge fearsome masks on, while the ribbon twirlers were putting up an amazing display. Unfortunately due to horrible weather conditions our parade was postponed, but we were still as pumped up to participate in the Chinese New Year ceremony the following Monday. We had started our grand march from the back of the school, and we slowly walked through a hallway filled with 7th graders who presumably joined us in our march to the gymnasium. When we entered, we made three laps around the polished wood floor, while the taiko drummers played echoing beats that seemed to vibrate in your chest. After we had walked our three laps around the gym, we sat down on the velvet red bleachers, excited to watch our fantastic rally. It was very hilarious rally, with much shouting and cheering people on. Our class representatives, one from each grade took the stage and performed comical tasks, like kicking shoes on a table, or trying to keep two balloons in the air and not letting it touch the ground. After the rally was over, we picked up our floats, ribbons, parasols, and posters and trudged back to our class rooms. Around this time, the bell had rung and many people were heading for the school gates. It had been a marvelous day, with an amazing parade, and an awesome rally.

Greek God Posters by Maveel

The second trimester we were designing Greek Gods. It was really enjoyable. We had to choose our teams and work with them on creating our ancient greek god. My partner and I were an amazing team. We worked on Hephaestus. You could choose your team's god or goddess as long as it is not chosen or taken. I enjoyed coloring Hephaestus and outlining his arm. When I was walking around and looking at others, they looked so extraordinarily fantastic. All of theirs were turning out pretty amazing.


To make us work faster and get it done we worked on one thing by ourselves so we would not be distracted. All we had to do was outline it, then go over it with sharpie, and color and cut. When we had to create our Greek Gods and Goddesses, we had to look up an image of our god or goddess and outline it on our poster. My favorite part of this project was being a team and working together. Oh hey this connects to one of the LE pillars: Building Partnerships! My partner and I worked extremely well together.

Current Events by Danil Furman

As many of you know, we in sixth grade at Leading Edge have to do a current event in class as part of your Social Studies grade. We need to report on an event outside of the U.S. I did mine in the second week of school and it was about Brexit. And as the year progressed I saw students do their current events about terrorists and bombings in the Middle East. I'm not saying that those incidents don't matter. It’s just that all of them feel the same. But I can’t blame the students, Donald Trump and terrorists are the only things on the news. But there must be something else interesting in the world going on right now, right? Well I did a quick Google search and yes there is other stuff going on in the world, like the first artificial 3D embryo was made in a lab, this is some important stuff. This might be our first step with making an artificial person and changing genes. At the end of the road,I hope more students do different current events about different topics.

Spirit Week by Daniel Poedyasmara

A couple of weeks ago on Monday we had a Rally Day for Spirit Week, we did many events on the Rally Day. We had a Chinese New Year parade consisting of all of the 6th graders. In the parade we had lion dancers, skateboarding roosters who pulled a big float, big Dragons, pogo jumpers, parasol dancers, fan dancers, flag holders, and banner marchers. In the rally we played minute to win it 3 times, the games were flip the shoe on the table and whoever didn't flip it onto the table fast enough lost.
The Tuesday of that week we could wear every sports clothes that we could find, but if you didn't want to participate then you didn't have to. I wore a Golden State Warriors t-shirt. On Wednesday we could wear anything with neon on it, and again if you didn't want to participate then you didn't have to.




On Thursday we had a Bow-Tie day, you could wear a bow, you could wear a tie, or you could wear a bow-tie, but again if you didn't want to participate you

didn't have to. Also on Thursday we had a dance. It was casino themed and there was a photo booth with a spades background. Also there was a magic booth with someone hypnotizing people, if you wanted to get hypnotized you would have to wait in a line. This rally week was very exciting and we had a surplus of fun.

The book, The Hunt by Adam R.

I have been reading a book called “The Hunt” and I’ve been really enjoying it. I highly recommend reading it. “Imagine The Hunger Games, with Vampires” is a quote from the back page of the book that is really spot on in describing it. Like it said, it is about vampires that are in their own world. But humans are hunted, and the main character has to blend in, to not be eaten alive. It is a great twist in a normal plot of books and I really love it.


In terms of content in the book, there’s a lot of it. There are around 300 pages and I’ve read around 100 or so, and it jumps right into the story as soon as you start reading. It is in first person which I love and includes dialogue and great plot. It is my favorite book so far that I’ve read, and once again, I highly recommend it.

The Greek Alphabet - Meindl's Core

Marin Headlands Reflection by Lexi

This year my sixth grade class went on a field trip for about a week. We made our way to San Francisco and stayed at an organization named Marin Headlands. As we all got a chance to discover new divers animals, plants, and more we all had a chance to get to know each other better. The girls got to stay in one cabin while the boys stayed in another. Everyday we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Most people liked the Tacos and chips the best. A few times there we got to go to the beach, most people got wet and got to go in the water. I was one of them that fell halfway in.

I think this trip was a really fun way to get to know each other more and hang out with your friends more. It was really awesome that we had a chance to explore that outdoors, for example like when we went to the lighthouse, and when we went hiking. I had a really fun time going to this trip and I think all my friends did too.