Leading Edge Student Sports By: Emily and Samara

Here’s the scoop on how sports are going so far in the fall season at Leading Edge:

Mr. Shane’s Perspective

“I think the teams have been working really hard,” says Mr. Shane the P.E teacher and coach of the boys' soccer and cross country team. He says that he thinks the teams have responsibly dedicated their time to the sports and that their hard work has paid off. He thinks the Volleyball varsity players are “Champs” and that they are playing well.

Pep talk before winning the game
against Bradshaw.
Photo by Karisa Bibayoff

Boys’ Soccer

As most of the boys' soccer team would say “It’s really fun to play at the games.” As Jacob (an eighth-grade player that has been on the team for quite a while) “Everyone has good sportsmanship and the coaches are really experienced.” Another person said, “It's really fun to play other teams.” Another mentioned, “Most of the people we play have good sportsmanship.”

Girls Volleyball

JV Girls won their first set against Bradshaw.
Photo by Maggie Bufflebe

We were able to interview a couple people on the Volleyball team and one girl on Varsity named Ava says “Some teams we’ve played had good sportsmanship, (like Bradshaw) but others (like Mills) weren’t very nice.” We heard that “One of the best parts are doing warm-ups and sometimes I get really nervous but excited too.” Also, the team is so far on a losing streak but the practices have been better.

Cross Country Team

“It’s fun to progress and get better,” says Nick, one of the runners on the cross country team. Even says “The best part is meeting new people and the coaches.” While interviewing a few runners they all had a lot to say about the coaches. All of them agreed that the coaches were “experienced and really nice.” “The coaches let you work at your own pace and they push you, but not in a strict way,” says Maya Goodwin. We heard that it wasn't a very competitive sport and that it was mainly about what you can do, not what others can. We also heard people have really good attitudes even if they don’t run the fastest.

The season is just getting started! Everyone is welcome to cheer on the team at the games. Most are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Check the schedule with Mr. Shane or in Mrs. Bibayoff's room.

Sixth Grade Greek Olympics by Jennifer C.

Sixth Grade Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tech Note: Scroll around the Padlet below to see each student's contribution to our wall. Click on the expander button in the upper righthand corner to view fullscreen.

Indian Cultural Day by Seneka

Of all the countries I’ve known India is one of the most culture bearing countries in the world, from three day weddings to symmetrical rangoli art. India not only created a unique culture, but it also created the best food in the world, potato samosas!!!

To wrap up our unit on ancient India we had an (amazing, unbelievable, fascinating, marvelous, incredible, shocking, prodigious, stunning, surprising, wonderful, and so much more) *in game show host voice* INDIAN CULTURAL DAY!!!!!! *applause*

I'm still to this day I’m amazed and shocked at how well it went. First we had a core, where we did a test on ancient India. Then we did symmetrical rangoli chalk art. We then went to the Multi-Purpose Room to show off our written skits and and our very own choreographed Jai ho dances. We then had a feast of naan and potato samosas (and some other stuff I didn’t try because I was busy eating naan and potato samosas. I mean what can I say they are delicious!!).

To wrap up this blog post I have a ‘Did You Know?’ fun facts we learned from our studies in ancient India.

• Did you know that the reason they respect cows so much is because it’s Lord krishna's favorite animal? 
• Did you know the most common religion in India, Hinduism, has 330 million gods? 
• (This is not part of our studies but I mean what can say I’m in love with these things!) Did you know that samosas claimed to originate in the middle east and were brought to India by Muslim merchants (thank you, thank you, middle east for creating the best food in the world)!!

Science Family Night by Emi

My school Leading Edge had an event called Science Family Night last week. At the event students and their family got to explore stations and experiment. This took place in the cafeteria and in Mrs. Melina’s classroom. This event was hosted by Mrs. Bibayoff and Mrs. Molina (Science Teachers in LE) and the engineering club. 

There were many stations to check out including bubble art, aerodynamics, 3D printing and so much more! It was set up by Mrs. Bibayoff, and it was open for anyone to join, like a volunteer sign up for people in engineering club. I participated and helped out at the dry ice bubbles for the first shift and bubble art station for the second shift. I worked with my friends Juna and Jennifer while we helped at the dry ice bubbles station and then we volunteered at the bubble art station next. After completing our last fun shift I got to explore different stations like

the oobleck station where we got to get our own oobleck and learn about the three states of matter. Also, for this event, LE had guests like Dickeys barbecue, Pasco Scientific, and a dental group called Image Orthodontists. Some of the guests provided food and prizes. One had fun science demonstrations. This was a great way for students and family to have fun while learning science and experimenting with the different subjects and that's why LE has set up this event like this. I really liked this event and it is so fun being in engineering club. I would love to do it again.

40 Book Challenge by Te'a

The 6th graders have been expected to try and read 40 books in the entire school year. That might sound easy for some, but there’s a catch. Not only do you have to log the books you’ve read so far in a paper log, but you also have to add the books you read into a Padlet; which is a website that allows the 6th graders to create personalized digital book logs that others can access with a QR code (here's a link to an example). Not only that, but you can’t just read “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” 40 times. No, you have to read 40 DIFFERENT books. And sorry to you comic book lovers, but you have to step out of your comfort zone because in order to complete the challenge, you have to read books of different genres, such as science fiction and mythology.

With all that set aside, the challenge is a great way to allow us 6th graders to start reading new styles of books, not only because we have to. Starting to read a new genre can introduce a whole different way that you think about reading. You might also be more drawn to reading after discovering that there isn’t just one style of writing a book. As we are now about a third into this year, we have had a lot of time to read in morning production, so some 6th graders should (hopefully) be even closer to the finish line. So, what are you waiting for? Start reading!

Digital Storybooks

Inspired by the beautiful picture book Weslandia by Paul Fleischman and our studies of ancient civilization traits, sixth graders wrote their own civilization stories. Here are some that decided to go with a digital storybook format. Just click on the books below to read them.

Chess by Noah Wells

Photo: Sixth graders learning chess in class
[Ms. Meindl's Twitter Page, twitter.com/expressivelea[

Leading Edge is an awesome school! I’ve learned so many new things and the year just started. But one thing was extremely fun to learn, it was chess! I had no idea how to play but Ms. Meindl taught me how to play in expressions and after that all I wanted to do was play chess.

I love the way chess is played. There are so many ways of winning and new strategies are being made. Chess is so relaxing to play and you use your brain the whole time. By playing chess my memory has been getting better, and I’m not forgetting anything. I’ve only been playing for about 2 weeks, and I’m never going to stop.

I have a really good friend Jensen. We have expressions together, and we have this rivalry. Every class that we can play chess, we always sit right next to each other and always try to win. Ms. Meindl thinks Jensen and I having a rivalry is funny, and it is. But for us, all it is bragging rights and the game is making us even better friends. The last game Jensen and I had, almost everyone in the class including Ms. Meindl were all around Jensen and I while we were playing chess. It was so cool that other people are as interested in chess as much as Jensen and I.