Augustan

1. Augustan 4.23.14 Science by Mrs. Hale In this six weeks, we learned about force and motion. We participated in a walking lab, so we could learn how to graph speed. We also had a unit of the Solar System where we built a scale model out of playdoh. We just finished a unit over plate tectonics. We learned a song about Alfred Wegener. He was the first person to come up with the idea of continental drift, but everything thought he was crazy! Now we know the continents are moving and we call the theory plate tectonics. Newsletter Social Studies by: Claire HeadingsSocial Studies in Mrs. Hale’s class is very interesting lately. We completed maps of China, the Middle East, and South Asia. We’ve learned about many cultural features of each area, including Chinese New Year traditions, India’s snack festivals, and the three main religions of the Middle East. Hope this keeps you up to date! The Electric Car Competition by: Hien Doan and Preston Mullins The Electric Car Competition happened on April 12th. Teams build cars powered by small engines and the teams have to carry a salt container. The salt cars will race down a track trying to hit a fast speed to put them at the top of the chain. The farther you make it the more challenging the races get, as the competing cars are faster. Design is a extremely important feature to allow you to win or lose. Our own team included the former Science Bowl team. The team made it to the quarter finals past 3 rounds. The team members were: Hien Doan, Justin Le, Santiago Pinedo and Ben Stormer. Reading By : Avery Blackwell and Claire Lindley You sit in dry grass, the burning sun boiling the air around you. The towering, lofty trees and their leaves shade you, but not enough to cool you down. You think you know this town, but it has a side to it you yet to encounter. And so do you…a connection we made to Tuck Everlasting. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, is our latest novel we read in our ELA classes. It’s nothing like our previous books : Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen , and The Cay by Theodore Taylor. We personally think that’s a good think though, nothing alike gives it a distinct feel to it where we constantly wonder about the numerous endings. The characters were Winnie Foster, Jesse Tuck, Miles Tuck, and Mae and Angus Tuck. It didn’t take long to find out who they were, truly. Other than Tuck Everlasting, we have our annual vocab tests every few weeks. Math by Emma Ambs and Dannika Graef Hey you mathematicians! We all just finished our graph unit and now we entered the world of probability. If you need some help with probability, check out our forecast! They use it all the time. I hope you studied hard for the Math STAAR which was yesterday. Let’s beat Canyon and amaze our teachers. From left to right: Justin Le, Hien Doan, Santi Pinedo, Ben Stormer

2. Scale Karate Conclusion by Hien Doan and Preston Mullins Scale Karate ended last 6 weeks (5th 6 weeks.) You have to play 12 major scales to pass the last belt (Sensei). The belts go in order of: White, Yellow, Orange, Red, Green, Blue, Brown, Black then Sensei. If you reach Sensei, you will get to go to a restaurant called Kabuki. If you accomplish your first seven belts you will be able to go the Greater South West (A music competition.) These amazing students have achieved Sensei: Percussion: Josh Schmidt, Elijah Velasquez, Hien Doan, Emmett Schniederjahn, Jaycie Day, Flutes: Justine McAllister, Baily Wilson, Claire Lindley, Brass: Santi Pinedo, and Ben Stormer. New Movies by DevaneeSena Go check them out! There are a lot of new movies coming out like a great time travel movie, Mr.Peabody and Sherman. Or maybe for the boys? Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a great movie for them! There’s lots of great movies, such as Muppets Most Wanted. You don’t want to miss this opportunity this month and watch the best movies this year. I would suggest another movie! Everyone loved the first movie so how bout another one, Rio 2! Have an awesome time at the movies and sit back, relax, and enjoy your movie!! Summer Fun by Bailey Wilson The end is near! Summer is so close, but what will you do if you don't have any plans? Well, you could volunteer to work at the zoo. There, you could learn about animals and their habitats. Another fun thing you could do is check out activities at the library. You could also do some outside activities like sell lemonade or baked goods and earn lots of money! You could even ask your mom to take you swimming or to a splash pad, go roller skating, and a ton more! There are many fun and educational things to do in the summer! Should STAAR Tests have a 4 hour Time Limit? By: Ben Stormer Seeing as it is time of the STAAR tests again, I decided to bring up this question, which might have outcomes that you didn’t expect. I took two student’s thoughts on this topic - Emmett Schniederjan and Cassidy Beck- and they both raised different answers. Emmett said “I do NOT think that the STAAR tests should have a time limit, because then some students might feel rushed and not do their best work.” He does raise a fair point, but so does Cassidy. “I feel like we should have a time limit on our STAAR tests because if we didn’t some students might get left behind working by themselves, and nobody wants to be working on a test like this by themselves,” says Cassidy. Although it seems as if an even amount would choose for a time limit as those who do not, 3 out of 4 students in Mrs. Christian’s 2nd Block said that they do not want a time limit on our STAAR tests. To show you what this would be like if I asked our whole school this question this I created the circle graph below. Now you see that theoretically 675 of our students would think that we shouldn’t need a time limit. What do YOU think?