Weekly Update 10/12/12

This week's bloggers were epic.  William says they were better than everyone else, and Sean says they were humble:)  In honor of Sean's birthday today, our bloggers took some freaky and interesting pictures.  

Devin, Rocco, Sean, William, and part of Owen!

Devin, Sean, Rocco, Owen, and William

In LA we read All Summer in a Day, a science fiction story by Ray Bradbury.  He set the story on Venus in the future, which we know can't really happen.  He wrote the story 50 years ago, and he didn't know that Venus is unlivable.   In the story it was very overcast on Venus.  The sun only came out for one hour every seven years!  The story didn't have a very happy ending or a real resolution. We don't know what happened to Margot  at the end.  We chose quotes from the story and drew pictures to analyze the dark mood and setting.  Below are some of our best mood and setting projects.

By Trey

By Ziran

By Kayce

By Morgan

 By Veronica

 By Emma

By Matt, who used Fireworks to draw his setting on the computer, which was challenging!

 By Alex S.

 By Isabel, who drew cool mushroom-shaped plants, just like Ray Bradbury described them 


In science we are learning about the phases of the moon for our light and reflections unit.  We are making Keynote projects which show the moon's phases as it waxes and wanes.  On one slide we have to show all of the phases of the moon, and Devin figured out how to make the circles curve.

Connor B.

Nathan H.

Michael P.

In social studies we're studying the Stone Ages and how our ancestors used stone tools and were very resourceful.  Today we brought in tools we use today.  In these pictures we lined up from the least technologically advanced tools (on the left) to the most technologically advanced (on the right). Here are the tools our bloggers brought in:  Devin brought a whisk; Rocco a paintbrush; Owen a pair of scissors; and Sean brought tape.   We think the panoramic picturesbelow are cool!

Period 2 with their tools

Period 3

During Team Time we shared tech tips and tricks. We got to try some different ideas for using the computers.  Not everyone got a chance to teach the class, so next week we will share more tips.  Most of us learned at least one or two things we didn't know before!

Cecelia showed us how to lock images in Keynote. Locking makes it easier to make images like faces. This is a very helpful tip. Thanks, Cecelia.

Michael B. showed us how to use command "W" to quit out of the server quickly.

Charlie showed us how to get back to the main screen quickly by using command, shift, "Q."

Jackie demonstrated how to change to different world languages in Word.

Ben shared a cool website called worldometers.com.  On this website you can see cool and useful very current facts like how many people are born each day and how many people are alive right now.

Devin showed us the fastest way to connect to the server and how to type the apple sign: , and for all you computer geeks out there you hit "option W" or for the apple shift- option- K. ∑ :)

Matt showed us that if we hold down command "G" it will highlight your key words or letters so that you can find words on a page.

Sean taught the class how to see the keyboard on the screen.  It ca be useful for when you are using the command button or learning how to type.

German Fest!!  Last week the German students celebrated German culture.  They ate pretzels and tried different mustards, played German games, and listened to American songs sung in German.  Everyone had a great time!  Watch the video below to see all of the fun things they did and to listen to the German gummy bear song!  Special thanks to Matt from Frau Lussem for taking all of the great pictures!!

∑igma Celebrations!

Isabel was really excited to meet one of our all-time favorite authors, Rick Riordan, last weekend at a bookstore in Alabama.  Riordan writes the VERY popular Percy Jackson books.  She bought his new book, The Mark of Athena, and had it signed by him!

Paul decided Sigma needed a class pet.  Meet Mr. Oinkers!

Mr. Oinkers in his new home.