Weekly Update 4/26/13

Weekly Update by

Jack S, Jack B, Rocco, Trey, Paul, Nathan W, Matt, Owen

Poetry Night
On April 17 Thomas held its annual Sixth Grade Poetry Night.  Mr. Bill Buczinsky, the poet who held a workshop for us the previous week, acted as our host for the night.  The LMC was decorated with lights and flowers, and there were cookies and lemonade to make the night festive.  Many sixth graders shared their poems, and they did a great job.

This is a bunch of guys who read at poetry night.

Here is a picture of the crowd.

More parents and siblings

Here is another picture of the crowd.

To the center is Mr. B calling up the readers so they can share their poems. 

Poetry Night Videos

Thanks to Michael P. for putting together this iMovie of our Sigma poetry readers.

 Mr. Bucinzky was amazed by our talented poets!  Congrats to everyone who read and who attended!

Kraft Presentations

On Friday, April 19 we presented our final new package designs to a group of Kraft engineers, our parents, and our teachers and principals.  The presentations went really well, and we all had fun with this project.  We liked  how each group got to design something new and put their own touch on it.

Jell-O Tubes 

     Cecelia was part of the Jell-O Tubes group. 

Rocco, Lorie, and Claire 

They created tubes with Cool Whip and Jell-O.

Rocco and Lorie

If you don't like Cool Whip, you can break the tubes apart and eat Jell-O and vice versa.


Jumbo Jello-O Pudding 

Keatyn, Veronica, and Kayce

Charlie, Keatyn, Veronica, and Kayce

They created a big, resealable box of Jell-O pudding.

Keatyn, Veronica, Kayce, and Charlie

Slides showing their new package

Michael P, our tech assistant

Big Noodle Macaroni and Cheese 

Annie, Patrycja, and Trey

This group made the big noodle, a large plastic container to hold
many servings of macaroni and cheese.

Eat big or go home was their slogan!
Annie, Trey, and Patrycja

Om

 Stacker Marshmallows S'mores

Morgan, Jackie, Carol, and Cassy

Matt was advancing their slideshow.

Jackie, Cassy Carol, Morgan

They created a backpack with marshmallows, chocolate bars, graham crackers, and sticks.  Everything needed for s'mores.


Lunchables 

Rhea, Michael, and Henry

The Lunchables group added carrying handle and a cold pack tray to keep food fresh.



Capri Sun Keg 

Ziran, Michael B., Emilia
The awesome Capri Sun keg group made a big keg with cups.

Connor explaining the Capri Sun Keg idea

Cool Whip Squeezables

Tyler, Nathan H., Sean

The way too cool Cool Whip group

Ale Y. explaining their idea for squeezable Cool Whip 

with different tips to decorate cupcakes and cakes

String Cheese

Technical difficulties occurred before the string cheese group presented but were quickly resolved with lots of helpers.

Paul, Colin, Emma, and Isabel

Their new design has an animated character, Stanley String Cheese, and a smaller package to reduce air space. The individual cheese pieces also have a tab for easier opening. 

They also added a token which the kids could trade in for a toy!

Taco Bell Dinner

William, Jack B., Owen

The Taco Bell Dinner group's design includes fresh foods like meat, cheese, and lettuce.

Ben explaining the Taco Bell design

Kraft Singles Pop-Ups

Alex S., Nathan W., Devin

Their new design is a pop-up box to easily dispense slices, 

along with a tab to easily remove the plastic film around each slice.

Jack explaining the Pop-Up design

Our Audience:

Rhea, Keatyn, Emilia, Cassy, and Connor watching the presentations

Mrs. Ziegenfuss thanking Megan and Elizabeth and all of the Kraft engineers

 and Thomas teachers who helped with this project

The crowd of parents, students, and teachers after the presentations

Time for Nilla Wafers and Capri Suns

All of our visitors

Congratulations!

SS Greece Research Project:

iBooks
In social studies we finished our Greece iBooks and shared them with each other on iPads.  We added lots of really cool features like photo galleries, interactive quizzes, embedded videos, and great facts about different topics.  Once they were all exported we got to choose three other people's books to read on the iPads.  Then we wrote a blog post about what we learned.  Some of our favorites were about the Persian Wars, Sparta, architecture, the economy, farming, philosophy, and medicine.  We are working on getting all of the books published to the iTunes store so that our families can read them at home.  

Cecelia, Patrycja, Owen, Matt, and Jackie looking at Michael P's book.  

He added a keynote and lots of quiz questions.

Paul, Jack B., and Rocco sharing books

Charlie, Ziran, and Nathan checking out other people's books

Annie, Lorie, and Alex Y.

Claire and Morgan reading together

∑igma Celebrations!

Thomas Garden Club!

Here is a picture of the new Thomas Garden!  It is on the south side of the building, right outside of Mrs. Ziegenfuss's room.  Mr. Slowinski, a 7th grade LA teacher,  started it, andEmilia, Cassy, Rhea, Tyler, Michael P., and Michael B. are all members.   They are excited to plant and take care of the garden over the next few months.

The T will contain spice plants and vegetables used in chili and pizza.

The M will be a rainbow garden with colorful vegetables

The S is for super foods.  Really healthy foods will be grown here.

Garden article by Michael B.