End of School Year! by Maribela

Maribela decided to make a short video on our trip to Scandia. Check it out below! The Scandia trip marked the end to a fantastic year. Have a wonderful summer, everyone!

Body Systems by William and Brandon

~ From William ~

Recently at Leading Edge we started working on our body system projects the first step of this project is filling out a packet stating what body system your team wants and why. The different body systems you could choose were the Nervous, Circulatory, Muscular, Respiratory, Digestive, and Excretory systems. After you were assigned your body system you could start your handout and website. The handout had questions for the website and instructions for the activity. My team got the Circulatory system so for the activity we choose to have the class exercise and see if their heartbeat went faster after. Many of the other groups had us make 3D models for the activities and I really enjoyed it. For the website we had to make five pages of things having to do with our body system. And at least 10 interactive components such as videos, games, links etc.

I think my groups project was good but I liked other groups projects as well. I liked how instead of the Muscular system just doing questions they did a crossword and for their activity they did a working hand made entirely out of straws, string and tape. Also I liked the Respiratory systems model and how detailed their website was. In all this was one of my favorite projects in science and tech this year and I really enjoyed it.

~ From Brandon ~

Last week in Science & Tech, we were assigned a project about the body systems. I chose a team of 5 which included Pavansai, Mateo M, William, Nicholas, and me. We wanted to base our project about the Circulatory System because we wanted to know more about how our body worked. We were curious on what the Circulatory System was. Just like the other groups, they chose other body systems to learn about. We created a website that explained all about the Circulatory System. Here’s the link if you’d like to check it out: Circulatory System Website. We also had to make a handout which would be a list of activities for us to learn about the body system. Our group created a handout that had activities for people to learn about the circulatory system. It included activities such as running, jumping jacks, and curl-ups. Any activity that would involve getting your heart to beat faster.

Overall, I think this project was fun. My group and I learned a lot about the Circulatory System and how it works in our bodies.

"We're off to See the Wizard!" by Rachel T

It’s almost the end of the school year, and the sixth grade, including me, created an end-of-the-year play! Based on “The Wizard of Oz”, Toto, Marcus, and Julia were blown out of Rome when Mount Vesuvius exploded in Pompeii. They landed in Egypt, in the court of Ramses the Great, and crushed the evil pharaoh with a boulder on accident. The slaves rejoiced, and an Egyptian Goddess gave Marcus and Julia the Pharaoh’s magical ankle bracelets. The group even found a mummy who was in search of a brain. The goddess told them to search for the Wizard of China, so they traveled onward. They went past the Ancient Israelites, who helped them cross the Red Sea. They went through Ancient Greece, where they found a trojan soldier scarred by war, and brought him with them to help him get his “heart” back. Next, our main characters found themselves in Mesopotamia, where Julia almost got her hand chopped off! Quickly, the characters escaped, and arrived in in the Persian Gardens of Cyrus the Great. After smelling the beckoning flowers, Julia, Marcus, Toto, and the soldier all fell into a deep sleep. The mummy had no brain, and therefore was not affected by the flowers. He saved the others, and they moved on to the jungles of Ancient India. In the jungle, they encountered Hanuman, the great monkey god. There, they found a monkey guard in need of some courage. With Hanuman’s blessing, the cowardly monkey joined the search for the Wizard of China. Finally, the weary travelers entered China, and saw a giant castle. The Wizard of China was really not a wizard; just a wealthy man. As they were leaving, he noticed the ankle bracelets, and stopped them. The bracelets had the power to grant any wish, and so they could have gone home the entire time. After giving their friends what they wished for, Julia and Marcus started to wish to go home. Suddenly, someone called out that their home, Pompeii, was destroyed in the eruption. The characters decided that they all wanted to stick together and go on more adventures together.

This play was written and produced by the sixth grade class. It was a very fun experience, and we all had a part. We performed in front of our parents, and created a beautiful backdrop for the show. This play had aspects of Language Arts, History, and Expressions, which made it into a learning experience, too!