Friday, December 21, 2018

Indian Cultural Day 2018 by Zach

For Indian Cultural Day, we did some pretty cool stuff. First, we got to do Rangoli chalk art with
Some students wearing traditional clothing styles.
three partners while some people including me got to set-up our backdrops for the skits with Mrs. Meindl. We saw how to do some Rangoli art in Math class on Wednesday.

Then after the Rangoli, we all went into the NPR to get ready for the expression skit performance and Takio. Fourth period puppet show went first, then the 4th period dancing to Jai Ho. Their skit was really good and their dance was awesome. Then Mrs. Bibayoff’s two core class skits Demons in the Desert and Prince Five-Weapons and the Sticky-Haired Monsters. I was in Prince Five-Weapons. The skits for Core were for extra credit, and I really enjoyed doing them.


Up next were the skits and dances for 5th period expressions. Since that puppet show had a lot of people in it, the dance only had eight people in it but it was one of the best ones. Then after that, my period, 7th period had to do the dance and skit. I was performing in the skit and my role was Yama, the Hindu god of death. I really enjoyed doing the skit of Savitri and Satyavan in a puppet show. Then after our puppet show, 7th period did their dance to Jai Ho. All of the dances and the puppet shows were amazing! Then Takio performed a really good performance with their Japanese drums. And to top it all off, we got some delicious Indian food that parents provided for us. So all in all, Indian Cultural Day was awesome!


Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Award Ceremony Gives Out a Lot of Awards By: Zeeyad and Vishruth

The trimester one award ceremony was first scheduled for Friday 11/30/2018 but it got canceled and the date was changed to 12/3/2018, which is Monday. This really marks who did great during the first trimester. It is great to have a nice ceremony to celebrate personal achievements.

One of the most prized awards includes the high honor roll which will be awarded to students with 90% and above in all their classes. There is also just the normal honor roll which is awarded to students with 80%- 89% in all their classes. The principal's award is awarded to the same students as the high honor roll.

The most auspicious award is the pillar award. Every teacher picks a student for each pillar tech savvy is how well you work with technology, global thinking is thinking outside the community, cultural diversity is the cultures and religions in the earth, Problem Savvy is the thinking of thinking in solving problems skillfully, and building partnership is how well you can work with others.

Some of the people who won the super prestigious pillar awards in 6th grade include Anirudh, Andrew, and Vishruth Gudipati (Me). The high honor roll and honor roll had a great turnout as almost everyone was in one or the other. There are way too many to list though especially 8th grade.

All the teachers were able to give awards in 6th grade the most abundant award was critical thinking and innovative thinking. I want to thank the teachers who were able to give pillar awards including our core teachers Mrs. Bibayoff, Mrs. Leporiere, and Mrs. Meindl. And of course, our principal who gave out the honor roll and high honor roll.

We asked questions to some of the pillar award winners. We asked: How do you feel about winning the pillar award? Do you feel like you deserved it?

Andrew H. said, “I think that I deserved it and I felt very happy and proud when I heard my name called.”

Anirudh M. said, “I believe that I deserved the award and was glad and proud to accept the award.”

That was our report on the LE award ceremony. Hope everyone was able to accept an award! Thank You for reading this blog! Please check out the pictures below!

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Mummy's Tomb by Nate and Stanley



Recently, on the 9th of November, Leading Edge had its annual Mummy’s Tomb play to celebrate their unit on Egypt in Social Studies. Mummy’s Tomb is a play in which “tour guides” played by students, lead a tour group through the Nile and into a tomb. There were three pairs of tour guides per class, therefore making nine pairs of tour guides; each pair included a dumb tour guide and a smart tour guide, both of them would play an important role in the play because they are the main characters. The rest were characters like mummies, the Sphinx, Egyptian gods, and more. There were scenes in the play such as, the weighing of the heart, the mummification scene, and let’s not forget, the Thriller dance mummies. For those of you parents, students, and/or other people who couldn’t make it, here’s how things went down.

We started in the Multi-Purpose Room with the “King Tut” (performed by Jaxson) and “Walk Like An Egyptian”(performed by Sofia P), then the tour guides, under Mrs. Meindl’s instructions, started leading their tours, first was Mrs. Meindl’s class, then Mrs. Leporiere’s, and last but not last, Ms. Bibayoff’s class. Many of the tour guides that have not yet lead their tours performed as backup dancers for the “King Tut” and “Walk Like An Egyptian” performances. Once a tour was told to start, the tour guides, along with the tour group would go along the Nile, telling facts about it as the group walks along it. Then, the smart tour guide would stop the group right in front of the hallways entrance, and that was the scene of the Nile Beast(Landon) and the Ostrich(Max), the Nile Beast would chase the Ostrich and the Ostrich would get killed. After that scene, the group would continue to walk toward Ms. Bibayoff’s room. There would be a scene where tomb robbers were killing, then the group would proceed to Ms. Bibayoff’s room (the entrance to the tomb), but the door was covered in hieroglyphics. This is the part where the dumb/dodo tour guide would read the hieroglyphics, which said, “Do not enter or you will die,” Just before entering, Mariah, who was supposed to be an injured tour guide, who warned the group to not enter, as her group “all died when they went in there, only she survived” But the tour guides would ignore her warning and go in the tomb anyway. Inside, there was a king (Mark) and queen (Shalom), who were in their eternal rest, which they were soon to be awoken by the dodo tour guide, by touching them. The dodo tour guide touches the queen/king, and the queen and king order them to be killed, as the group try to go out, they would be blocked by earthquake zombies. The group heads to the main area, where the mummification scene began. Anubis (Nate), a high priest (Maya E), canopic jar girls (Kayla, Alaiya, Breanna A, Sofia N) would be performing a ritual on a dead body (Eric). Spoiler, the dead body tries to scare the group after been told by the priest to examine it. After that, the tour group heads toward Mrs. Leporiere’s room, as they enter Hall of Terror, which is a part of the class where there will be students who try to scare the group. At the end of the Hall of Terror, there was a snake pit. The snake(Nick) would eat/kill its victim (Evan M), after that, the group heads to the front of the classroom to see another mini-play, this time it’s a weighing of the heart, starring Anubis (Atharv), Osiris (Ibraheem T), the two souls (Ibrahim D and Daniel Y), and Amnet (Moses). One of the souls would weigh heavier than the feather of Ma’at, the goddess of truth, and justice, their heart would be fed to the god Amnet, who would eat the dead soul’s heart, and one would proceed to the Afterlife. Right after this scene, the tour group would go out, but get stopped by two guards (Lamont and David) to answer the Sphinx’s (Maya G) riddle. The riddle would be “What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the noon, and three at night?” A fake tourist, played by a student would shout out a random answer, and then he/she would be killed by the guards. Then the dodo tour guide would say the correct answer (a man), and the group would be granted access to the treasure room (Mrs. Meindl’s room). Once the tour group entered the room, the dodo tour guide would immediately focus on the treasure in the middle of the room. The dodo tour guide would take it, then Joaquin would kill the dodo tour guide. Then the queen (Emily) gets mad, and the gods Ma’at (Sam), Seshat (Lien), and Thoth (Andrew) would decide how they would punish the dodo tour guide. Then the king (Mycah) yells ENOUGH, and bring the mummies alive. Then the mummies dance and after the dance is over, the tour guide leads the group
back into the MPR where the tour finally ends.


That was a lot to say (or type), but the entire thing was really fun, and if I ever had a chance to go back to do it all over again, we would.

Friday, November 9, 2018

We’ve got spirit, yes we do! We’ve got spirit! How ‘bout you? by Bailey



Last week I participated in my first Spirit Week in middle school. Each day we was assigned a theme and the core class with participating students received “spirit points.” The core class with the most spirit points at the end of the year receive some sort of prize. I was sure there would be tons of students that would participate during Spirit week.

On the first day of Spirit week, we wore our pajamas to school. My mother hates pajama day, but I love it. This seems like an easy day for me. I get up and don’t really have to get ready. Everyone must have felt the same because there were a lot of students in pajamas on Monday. It was fun to see so many students participating in this. I think it helped to see others showing school spirit because it made it more fun to continue the week in spirit wear. On Tuesday, we had “sports day.” Most students wore their team jersey. It seems like the most participation came from kids who already play a sport. This was especially true to the kids that play soccer. There were lots of soccer and baseball uniforms. Although I play a sport, I didn’t not wear my sports outfit because I swim. This was the only day I choose not to participate. I guess it would have been easy to just wear one of my mom’s jerseys.

Wednesday had the largest group of participation because it was Halloween. Students came in costumes. Although there were not a lot of homemade costumes, I thought the ones that were not store bought were the most creative. I really liked Sam’s costume as a wind up doll. Her hair was up in two buns and rosy cheeks like a doll. Her parents made a turn key that attached to her back. I came as a “she wolf.” I’m not big on wearing dresses, but it was fun because my friends all dressed up for Halloween. It definitely made it easier for me too.

My personal favorite spirit day was “Twin/squad” day. My friends Mariah Brooks and Maya Goodwin wore the same shirts, jeans and converse. I thought there would be more people who would coordinate with their friends and dress up for this day, but I hardly saw anyone else participate. However, Mrs. Leporiere really stepped it up by dressing like Mr. Shane. It was clever and fun. I would have liked to see other student participate more, but it’s ok, it was still my favorite.

Finally Friday was “class color” day. Six graders were supposed to wear white, seventh grader wore red and eighth grader wore black. Our six grade class had pretty good participation. This was an interesting day because it was the first time, you could see immediately which grade people were in. You also saw where the different classes hung out during lunches and breaks.

I was a little scared to participate in spirit week, but I'm glad I did. I think most of the students felt the same. I know I will be better prepared next year.

Stranger Things Rally by Evan



This month we had our first rally. Since it was Halloween, the theme of the rally was “Stranger Things.” We were dressed up and ready. The rally was LOUD with Taiko drumming and the chant of the crowd. They had the letters for Will. They also had Demogorgons and recreated characters from Stranger Things. All of Leading Edge was there at the rally.

One person was chosen to represent there homeroom in each class. If you were chosen, You participated in the Eggo-waffle eating contest. I believe this was was inspired by Eleven in Stranger Things because she loved Eggo waffles. After that, all the people in the gymnasium were asked to line up with their homeroom teacher. From there, you played telephone with your class until you could get the answer right. Once you got it right, you were dismissed.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Quintessence: A Book Recommendation by Landon

Quintessence 

Book by: David Walton



Today I’m going to be telling you about an awesome book I am currently reading. The book is called Quintessence and it takes place five hundred years ago. The characters in this book live in a world that believes alchemy to be a true science. When a ship that was coming back from a supposed paradise returns with everyone on the ship dead people start to ask questions. They begin searching the ship and discover a few animals from the “paradise” with powers such as being able to pass through walls and telekinesis.


This book is in the fantasy genre and is a really good book for fans of the Percy Jackson series and also is just an awesome book in general. I really like it because it has an amazing plotline that is really fun to follow. I recommend it and think that people should read it if they are looking for a good book to read.