2010: State of the Union Speech — One Student's Angle

In our president's State of the Union speech, Mr. Obama tried to reinstate hope in America's working class, as was so prevalent when he was inaugurated last January.

The main points of Pres. Obama's speech covered economic recovery, Afghanistan, education, clean energy, and how we need bipartisanship to solve our problems.

For the economy, our president proposed billing banks for bailouts, prolong unemployment benefits, lower the cost of health care, tax cuts, composing Obama's Recovery Act, or Stimulus Bill. To encourage small businesses, community banks across America will be given $30 billion from Wall Street banks to lend to these businesses. They will also receive tax credits and dismissal from capital gains taxes.

To take steps to a cleaner America, we will invest in clean nuclear power plants, advanced biofuels, and clean coal technologies.

Another topic I will focus on is education. As an eighth-grader aspiring for college or university, I was very taken aback to hear that after 20 years, college debts will be relieved. Many also have realized that in order for America to become a "more perfect nation," we need an educated and innovative work force.

sources: nytimes.com, NPR
by Brigette W.

State of the Union — President Obama Has Big Plans, Needs Citizens' Help

I think that Obama is a good president, someone who wants to take care of his country. But I think that he is offering to much all at once. But like he said, he cannot do this all by himself — everyone needs to help, not just the government. That includes the citizens of our country.

I think that if everyone helps, we could maybe could get all the things that he promised accomplished, like getting the economy back on track, getting our people jobs, and get our troops back home.

This image, from Newsweek, shows factors in President Obama's first 12 months in office. As the stock market and unemployment change, so do Obama's approval rating.

This image is also from CitizenTube, where you can submit questions for President Obama to answer. According to the site, the President will respond to questions in a live YouTube interview at the White House on Monday, February 1, at 1:45 p.m EST. The deadline for submitting questions is Sunday at 8 p.m. EST.

Kids Helping Haiti

All of us here at Hillwood Academic Day School have been doing bake sales all week to raise money for local dog shelters and Haiti relief.

Charlie, a 7-year-old in West London, rode five miles to raise money for the Unicef childrens' appeal to give food, water, and shelter for the people in Haiti. He was aiming to raise £500 ($1,000) but raised £110,00 ($220,000). He got sponsors from all over the world. To get all of these sponsors, he posted a blog on the Internet. (Charlie is shown in this picture from the BBC.)

Charlie isn't the only person who is trying to help Haiti, many kids around the world are and you can help, too.

The CBBC Press Pack — for The Herald?

The CBBC Press Pack has been around since 1992 and it mainly revolves around newscasting for teens under the age of 16. You can make an account on their website and you can earn points for doing a variety of games on the website from a journalism tutorial to Headline Grabber.

Members are allowed to send in a report to the CBBC website and it will be read by kids all around the world. Kids have written about autism, Harry Potter and appendicitis . Along with reports and news, members of the website can also send in videos, photos, and film ideas.

I think the CBBC Press Pack is a great website for kids who are interested in news reporting and online publishing. It teaches about journalism and has educational games which helps kids and teens brush up their skills in the verbal and written area.

The Hillwood Herald is capable of sending in reports to this website. We can send in interview videos, a few of our posts, and some photos. It can attract more people to our blog.

Miss Gayle Schmitt Is Back with the Ramblers!

The Ramblers — led by Hillwood's very own music teacher, Miss Schmitt — are back with another show.

It is the 11th year the San Francisco Bluegrass and Old-Time Festival has been showing amazing local and national acts all over the Bay Area. The Randall Museum has been part of their local community for fifty years. The Ramblers will be preforming Saturday, February 20, 2010. It will be taking place at the Randall Museum 119 Museum Way in the city. The museum's phone number is (415)-554-9609. The museum's site is www.randallmuseum.com. The price is six dollars for kids and nine dollars per adult.

Miss Gayle Schmitt is the music teacher at Hillwood School. She is a great singer and teacher. Her band includes the instruments Banjo, Mandolin, Fiddle, and a stand up Bass. Her band played in the Randall Museum for many years.

To listen to Gayle sing go to www.gaylesongs.com.

Written by Rubins H.

Sounds from Around The World

This is Camryn P. , a new student from the state of Georgia. She transferred to our school when she moved here to San Francisco. This is her first Herald post and since she is new, she doesn't have an account, so she will be using mine to post an article. — Irene T.

Recently, we stumped onto a website called bzzzpeek.com. It features sounds from around the world. For example, if you click on a horse, it will show it in a pattern of different flags. When you click on whatever flag horse, it will make the sound that the country thinks the horse makes. — Camryn P.

Picture sources from Google images

Honey Bees Dying Off

Honey Bees are being found all over countries dead. Scientist are worrying because bees collect pollen and help flowers and crops. The bees are dying from pollution and little pest called Vorroa mites. They attach to the bees throat and then the bees cannot eat, collect pollen, feed the colony, and clean the hive. The bees start to become weak and the die off.

Many local bee keepers still have bees, but they are also worried about the bees dying. They are also seeing a decrease in the bees number and less hives.

The San Francisco Beekeepers Association have monthly meetings that are free and open to the public. They have their meetings at the Randall Museum. You can vote for a local beekeeper in an international contest to find the cutest beekeeper.

Helping Africa with Water

Residents in Africa need water. They are drinking contaminated rain water. Mother's and their daughter's would carry gallons of water from wells back to their family's.

Thanks to Playpumps National (shown in this video on National Geographic Kids), they are giving the Africans Playpumps. The Playpumps are fun for children in Africa because they sit on it and it spins like a merry go round. As they play, it pumps water.

For Christmas, my brother bought me a doll, which a girl in Africa made. The girl's name is Buhlebenkosi, and she is 14 years old and an orphan.

The dolls that she makes get to America by a man who brings all the dolls the orphans made. They use the money to buy food and drinks. The man also gives the girl your address so she can send you letters. Above is a picture of me and the doll.

Lemur Hero Tells About the Animals of Madagascar

In the beginning, Luke Dollar was sent to Madagascar to study about lemurs.

Luke Dollars wakes up at 5 a.m., but in Madagascar it is 2 in the afternoon. Luke said, "One of the lemurs was eaten by a carnivore called the fossa.'' So Luke likes studying lemurs.

At the San Francisco Zoo on Sundays you might see the ring tailed lemur in a sitting position. The ring tailed lemurs weigh 6 and 1/2 to 7 and 3/4 pounds with a head and a body length of 10 to 12 inches. Ring tailed lemurs live in south and southern Madagascar. At the zoo ring tailed lemurs eat fruits, leaves, flowers, bark, and sap. Ring tailed lemurs are social animals that in groups of 3 to 24. The estimated population for ring tailed lemurs are 10,000 to 100,000.

Luke Dollar studies lemur in Madagascar. If you would like to read more about Luke Dollar, go to this story on National Geographics.

Fruit Fly

These images are from a New York Times slideshow.

These three pictures show the different regions of the fruit fly that control various muscles. The first one shows the beginning of the fruit fly. As it grows so does the controlling of it's muscles. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany.

This is a picture of one of Saturn's Moon's discovered by NASA. This next one is of a 48 year old Gorilla that has been trained to get its blood pressure taken. This one is of an ant taken in and treated as family because that ant has lost his queen. This last one is of Seals that scientists have discovered can sleep underwater.

These two ants are from different colonies. Researchers found out that when a colony has lost their queen, Neighboor colonies take in the worker ants and treat them like family.

The International Photo Contest

Are any of you out there who are interested in photography? If you are, I think it would be a great idea to check out this International Photo Contest held by The National Geographic.

The National Geographic has held an annual International Photo Contest for four years. Each year, people from all over the world such Italy to Japan, all send in photos that they have taken. Additionally, you can also mention people who have taken photos in the contest. There are also three categories of winners: Worldwide, English Edition, and English Edition Viewer's Choice.

The winners in the Worldwide section include ............. Debra Jansen in the US, Gemma Collier in New Zealand, and Laurent Mercey in Great Britain. Their pictures were unique and had great quality. The winners in the English Edition section include ......... Eve Wolf, Christopher De Bruyn, and Casey Johnson all in the US. You can view more winners at this link.

Sources from The National Geographic Website

PacMan on Google

http://www.google.com/pacman/

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/pac-man-rules.html

They Might Be Giants

This band, "They Might Be Giants," is a band inspiring kids to learn about science. As a band, "They Might Be Giants" performs rock and roll for adults and kids.

The band's new CD, "Here come Science," teaches kids about science. The song "I am a Paleontologist" teaches kids about dinosaurs. Here comes the "123s Nonagon" teaches kids about the polygons. Dr.Worm is about music, and Davy Crockett in outer space teaches kids about outer space and the legend Davy Crockett. These videos are perfect videos because they teach kids about science.

By Brandon

President Obama Celebrates Dr. King's Birthday

On the birthday of Martin Luther King, President Obama made a speech in the White House. He gathered young people and old people to listen to his speech. He wanted to remind us that there are many young courageous people like Dr. Dorothy Height, Mrs. Eleanor Banks, and Romaine Thomas and her husband. He also included many others who are actively involved in bringing about great moments in the US history.

Obama said he heard from Willie Glanton, who is a great activist in Iowa. She has done work on the behalf of the civil rights movement, which is reminding us that raciscm wasn't just isolated in some areas. Dr. Height told listeners what it was like meeting Martin Luther King when he was a 15-year-old at the Morehouse.

Click here to read The Hillwood Herald's coverage on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday and life.

Written by: Rubina H.

!Gung Hay Fat Choy!

New Year is a really big holiday in San Francisco because there is a big Chinese population in the city. The parade runs from Market St., up Geary St., to Kearny St. (for map click on tiny URL at bottom). There is lots to see at the parade like the dragon and many others.

Chinese New Year starts on the first full moon of the new year and ends fifteen days later. It has been a holiday for over 5,000 years. The last day is called "Lantern Day" because children carry lanterns in the parade. The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. A lunar cycle is about 29.5 days.

The first day of the new year is known as "The welcoming of the gods of the heavens and earth." Many people fast because they think it will ensure long and happy lives. On the second day, people pray to their ancestors and treat dogs very good because it is believed that that was the birthday of all dogs. The third and fourth day is for the son-in-laws to pray to their parents-in-law. The fifth day is known as "Po woo," people stay home and welcome the God of Wealth. From the sixth to the tenth day, people visit their relatives and pray in temples. On the seventh day farmers show off their produce and people celebrate the birthday of human-beings. On the eighth day the Fijian people have a reunion, and pray at midnight. On the ninth night people make offerings to the jade emperor. On the tenth to the twelfth nights, People invite relatives and eat a lot, for the thirteenth night they eat very little. The fourteenth night is spent preparing for the Lantern Festival.

NASA Creates Designs for Personal Flying Suit and Pictures of Space Suits from Past and Future

NASA announced that they are working on a flying suit. They are calling the suit "Puffin." They call it "Puffin" because it will have a wingspan of 14 and a half feet, and it will be 12 feet tall and at a weight of 300 lbs.

The suit isn't really a suit but a flying machine that you wear. Unlike a jet pack, it covers your whole body. It is powered by an electric engine, quiet, and lightweight. It also has a low impact to the environment. We should get rid of cars and just have these.

What Happened To The Sea Lions?

In San Francisco, at Pier 39, the well known sea lions are missing and there are not many left. Now you are lucky if you see one of them, and about a month ago, there was more than a thousand of them on the pier's floating platforms. So, what has happened to the sea lions?

The sea lions move up and down the coast a couple of times every year, but now they all are moving in great numbers at once. Some specialists think that they are following their food and instinct. Since they are following their food and instinct, there is no reason to panic.

Also the Marine Mammal Center is always on the lookout to find injured seals who need help. Once they get the seal all better, they will release it to the sea. If you are 14 years or older, you can volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center.

Ten Tips for Interviewing

Interviewing is the most significant way for reporters to get information. Like all of us here at The Hillwood Herald.

Here are the top eleven tips for interviewing:

• Schedule the interview ahead of time.
• Do some research on the person your interviewing.
• Say what is your name.
• Try to get the truth.
• Respect the person who your interviewing.
• Get to your interview early.
• Dress nicely for your interview.
• Write down all your question and ask to tape record them.
• Take some notes during the interview.
• Think of some answers you want to get.
• Be professional.

This is a professional interview with Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Walters. We are highlighting this not for the politics (it is from 2006) but for the interviewing techniques. Also, Nancy Pelosi is a neighbor to Hillwood. You can read more about her in Irene's story.

Matin Luther King Jr. Remembered

Marin Luther King Jr. is known by everyone for giving rights to blacks.

He began his career as a Baptist preacher. He went on to lead the civil rights movement, and he also made history.

Jim Crow laws were terrible. They did not let blacks sit in the front of the bus and they had to give up their seats if a white person was standing. They had to eat in separate restaurants, go to separate public restrooms, and even separate public schools. But in 1954 Jim Crow lost to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court declared separate schools for blacks and whites was unequal. The case was called "Brown v. Board of Education."

Black people were tired of the racism, so they boycotted the bus system because a woman named Rosa Park in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white person. Thirteen months later the bus gave in because of the cash flow problems with no one riding the bus.

The Montgomery boycott inspired more people to join him. In 1963 Dr. King and other civil right leaders organized the march in Washington. More than two hundred thousand people came to for demand equality for blacks.

The Civil Rights movement was changing the nation. In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights act which made racial discrimination in public places legal. He also got the Nobel Peace Prize.

On April 4, 1998 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, by James Earl Ray. But, still Dr. King's words, speeches and his legacy lives on with us. He inspired Hispanics, women, and even the disabled.

Below is an interview with Martin Luther King and several journalists on the television show Meet the Press, which ran on national TV, in the mid-1950s. Meet the Press is a news show that still airs on regular TV today.



Hillwood Herald readers: Don't forget school is closed on Monday in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King day.

Miep Gies — A life fulfilled (1909-2010)

Miep Gies, a true heroine, recently died at 100 years old on January 11. She and her husband, Jan Gies, helped hide Edith and Otto Frank and their daughters Margot and Anne. After the Franks were arrested, Miep Gies kept Anne Frank's diary, so it could be published in 1947.

During World War II, the Nazis, a fascist society, invaded and occupied large portions of Europe. During these times in Nazi occupied Europe, your life would be threatened if you were Jewish, physically or mentally disabled, a Gypsy, or homosexual. According to many historians, Nazi propaganda spouted that these peoples brought down the human race, referred to as "parasitic races" by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

In 1933, Miep Gies met Otto Frank and his Jewish family when applying for his spice company's open position as a temporary secretary. She and her husband, whom she married in 1943, were both very close to the Franks, which is most likely why they would hide them when their race was being persecuted. Miep was also very much against Nazism, having refused joining the Nazi Women's Association in 1941. Even before sheltering the Franks, she helped the family blend in with Dutch society.

The Gies couple, along with Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleinman, and Bep Voskuijl helped to hide the Franks, the Van Pels, and Fritz Pfeffer in the secret room upstairs of the spice company's office, where they remained undiscovered from 1942 to 1944. After the families were arrested and sent to concentration camps, the Gies were sure to take Anne Frank's diary and manuscript papers before the secret Dutch police ransacked the families' possessions.

Anne Frank's diary is still widely popular. The story of a young girl, an aspiring writer, living in the face of danger, The Secret Annex, by Anne Frank.

Source: Wikipedia
By: Brigette W.

Earthquake Leaves Haiti in Ruins, But People Are Moving to Help

There was a big earthquake in Haiti earlier this week.
Haiti's president,who survived this horrible happening, said that he had no idea where he would sleep. Schools, hospital, and prisons collapsed. Many people who were bloody squatted on the streets because their houses had been taken down. The people of Haiti had no idea how many people were injured or killed in the terrible happening. But people were sure that thousands have been killed or injured.

The Haiti earthquake was 7.0 magnitude. Lots of people were not even found in the wreckage of their own houses. Hillwood does fire drills and of course earthquake drills. Hillwood has a earthquake drill once a month. This Haiti earthquake was horrible and one woman is losing her 4 year old child because of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that happened in Haiti.

The United Nations was sure that sixteen of the nine-thousand peacekeeping troops and police officers in the country had died in the earthquake eleven Brazilians, three Jordanians, one Anrgentine and one Chandian.

Read Irene's blog post about San Francisco's history of earthquakes and what Hillwood Academic Day School will do in case of emergency.

The 1906 Earthquake — Our History

Everybody who lives in San Francisco should know about our historical earthquake -- the one that happened 104 years ago.

San Francisco, called "the Paris of America," was knocked down in the early dawn on April 18, 1906. Fires erupted, buildings fell down, and people were injured. The day before, it had been very hot and dry. No wind. Not at all. The magnitude of the earthquake was 7.7. States from Oregon to Nevada all felt a small part of the shaking.

San Francisco, at the time, was still a new contribution to the U.S. But the city already had 410,000 residents with 63,000 more a few months later. There were 42 banks, 120 places of worship, and also 3,117 places to buy liquor. Amazingly, some restaurants back then are still open today. They include Tadich Grill, Fior D'Italia, and Schroeder's Cafe.

San Francisco is right along the San Andreas fault. It is a daily worry for some that a sudden earthquake may hit. Here are some tips:

• When an earthquake hits, get under the nearest wooden object as soon as possible. A wooden object can include a table, a desk, or a chair.


• If you're in bed, get under the blankets and hold a pillow over your head. Other than that, you can also get under the bed.


• During a fire, try to get out as fast as you can. If you are in a room, feel the door with the back of your hand first before opening it. Also, cover your mouth and nose with a piece of cloth so the smoke doesn't get to your lungs.


• If you get fire on your body, you — stop, drop, and roll. I learned in a fire prevention assembly at my school.


• At home, parents can prepare safety kits for the family. You can include water, unperishable food, extra clothes, cash, a record of the house, a record of your car and car insurance, family member I.D.'s, flashlights, and something to comfort the kids.
  

At our school, we do a fire and earthquake drill about every 2-3 months. A loud alarm goes off and, depending on which drill, we have a few different procedures. During the earthquake drill, students get under their desks or under the doorway (our school was safe from the 1906). A second alarm goes off and the teachers lead their students out onto the sidewalk. During a fire drill, the students are expected to run out of the school onto the sidewalk and wait quietly for their teacher to take roll.

Parents who would like to be added to Hillwood Academic Day School's email notification in case of emergencies can contact Mr. Graham Clarke at hillwoodadmin@gmail.com.

Read Rubina's story about the terrible earthquake that happened in Haiti.

To see what Market Street looked like before the earthquake and fire, watch this video:



Picture and Article Source: SFGate.com, SFGate.com pictures

Why do These Litter Puppies Look Different?

These puppies are from the same litter, but they look different. Why? The wrinkly puppy probably had a mutation in its gene.

The grey wolf was domesticated 10,000 years, and since it was selectively breeded we now have more than 400 breeds of dogs. Scientists checked the DNA of two different types of dogs and found small differences.

For more information about the genetics of this story, listen to the video of this BBC news story. Also, read the following questions and answers.

What are genes?
Genes are sentences made up of the letters A C G and T.

What are genomes?
Genomes are the instruction set for life. The body is made up of genomes.

What is DNA?
DNA comes in two halves both with the same amount of information.

Get Ready for Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is celebrated in New Orleans in mid February. It all started in ancient Rome on the 12th night of Christmas. In French, Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday, and it is a tradition of using all the butter and fat in the kitchen.

In New Orleans, it start in 1857 as a secret society. The colors for Mardi Gras are purple for justice, gold for power, and green for faith. In New Orlean, they celebrated Mardi Gras with a parade.

For more information about the celebration, watch this video on this video on National Geographics Kids.

Source: National Geographic Kids

Space.....the Final Frontier!

This article is about the decision whether to keep the International Space station or not. Scientists have dicussed what is so important about the station and why the need to keep it.

I think that they should keep it because it is still useful for somethings. Maybe they could turn it into a tourist attraction or something.

Read this article for more information or click around on NASA's site .

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi

Hey Herald readers! How was your Christmas and New Year's? I hope it was good as mine was.

Anyway, I'm sure all of you know Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives. She is well known for being the first female, Italian-American, and Californian to take on this governmental role.

Pelosi was born in Baltimore, Maryland, as the youngest in her family. She was involved in politics at a very early age. Her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., was the Mayor of Baltimore and a U.S. Congressman from Maryland. Along with such a political father, Pelosi's brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III was also mayor of Baltimore and a Democrat.

Pelosi graduated from Institute of Notre Dame and Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University). She met Paul Pelosi and when they got married, the couple moved first to New York then to California. After moving to California, she worked her way up to Democratic politics. She was at first elected as a party chairwoman in 1977. Then on 1987, Pelosi decided to run for political office.

Just a little information about this strong leader, who lives just around the corner from Hillwood Academic Day School...

Source: Wikipedia

Questions We Would Like to Ask Nancy Pelosi:
~What is your job like as the Speaker of the House of Representatives?
~Are you always traveling around the U.S. because of your job?

~Do you have a favorite part about your job?

~What do you like about San Francisco? Did anything change over the years?

~Are there any ways kids can get involved with politics?

~What influenced you to become involved with politics?

~Why did you decide to move to San Francisco?

~What is a typical day for you?

T. Enami's photos are brought back to life

Photographer Okinawa Soba and Flickr have partnered up to reanimate the stereoscopic photos of T. Enami (1859-1926) .

Stereoscopy is the art of making the illusion of 3-D photographs. The stereoscope required an eye wear device that shows each eye two different images of the same object at slightly different angles, creating an illusion of depth between the pair of photos. Created by Sir Charles
Wheatstone in 1940, the stereoscope was popular throughout the rest of the 19th-century and the early 20th century.

T. Enami was Nobukuni Enami's trade name. He was a famous photographer and collotypist of Japan's Meiji period. Enami was featured in National Geographic.

To see the top image animated and other stereoviews, go to Pink Tentacle.

Sources: Pink Tentacle, Wikipedia

By Brigette W.

Recycling is Awsome!

In this world, there are things we need and things we want. For example, something we need is food and water, and something you want would be a game or candy.

Can you guess where all this STUFF comes from? It comes from NATURE! In fact, pretty much everything comes from nature. Since everything comes from nature, then it must harm the environment when we buy something like a cell phone or paper ... DUH!

So why don't you start recycling your supplies and remember the next time you decide to buy a new cellphone What are you going to do with your old phone? I know — you can recycle it just like this fellow is doing with all this plastic. (Read Julien G.'s post about recycling plastic and other things in San Francisco's blue bins.)

Recycle .... Worm Food

Phoebe is a phoenix that helps us reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost. She helps us by teaching to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost. By carefully dumping our trash to the recycling bin, trash can, and the compost box. We recycle our paper, plastic bottle, and plastic container. We can dump our food scrape, dirty napkins, and dirty cardboard tray. We can dump our trash into the trash can.

SF Dump made a reindeer out of trash. I like this because they use reuse trash to make this.

Above is Phoebe the phoenix. She is the mascot to SF Recycle.

What Do Those Triangles Mean?

The seven triangles mean to recycle, but it gets confusing for people to know what type of materials go in which bin. The blue bin is for recycling, the green bin is for compost and the black bin is for trash.

If people do no separate their garbage properly, "contamination" (or mixing of materials) happens. This is a huge problem according to SF Recylcling.

Here is SF Recycle's page about recycling materials for the blue bin (it's trickier than you think — coat hangers cannot be recycled).

This triangle collects soda cans, water and salad dressing bottles, and peanut butter and jam jars.



This triangle collects water pipes, rings, milk, water and juice bottles, and shampoo bottles.



This triangle collects juice bottles, cling films, and pvc piping.




This triangle collects frozen food bags, squeezable bottles, honey, mustard, cling films, and flexible containers.



This triangle collects microwwaveable ware, kitchenware, yogurt containers, margarine tubs, and disposable cups and plates.



This triangle collects egg cartons, packing peanuts, disposable cups and plates, trays and disposable containers.



This triangle collects beverage bottles, baby bottles, and electronic casing.



Here is a Wordle highlighting key words about recycling plastic:



Image and research information from Wikipedia.

Field Trip Highlight: The Zeum

The Zeum is a place where you and your family could go to have fun, and work on fun little creative projects. One project that I worked on with my class on a field trip earlier this week was with clay animation. What you did was, make a couple clay figures, and take many, many pictures of them doing something. When you play them all at once, it looks like they are moving all by themselves. You could also make a music video of yourself and friends singing your favorite song, with a back round of your choice. After, if you want to keep it, they could burn it all into one disc.


The above video clip is an example of the clay animation from the Zeum.

Adorable Animals and a Web Resource

On the top are three pictures taken in the UK. You can see these on the BBC website BBC.com.

All you have to do is go to wildlife finder on their website. The dolphins on the left are short-beaked dolphins. The four monkeys are called Lutungs. And the funny looking gremlin monkey is a phayre's leaf monkey.

The BBC website is fun for little kids who want to learn math or solve riddles you can also dance with Foxy Dancer. You can research animals at their website.

Now, watch our wildlife video:

By: Rubina H. and A. J.

A Review: ‘Avatar,’ the Movie

The movie Avatar was the one of the best movies that I have ever seen. If you do not see it in Imax 3D, you have to see it in regular 3D. There was something for everyone in it. It, in my opinion, was James Cameron's best movie yet. This movie is PG-13, so it might not be appropriate for some kids.

This preview (below) is shown on TV, so it should be OK for everybody to view. Still, parents of students in the younger grades may want to watch it first.

A Note to Students as We Sprint Off from the Starting Line in 2010

New year, new decade, and even better, a chance to start again with a clean slate. 2010 is finally here and as we enter the new decade we remember the good times we had in 2009, but greatly look forward to the exciting things we will do and see this year. However just because it is a new year doesn't mean we don't all still have work to do and lives to lead, especially us busy students.

Students, we may breathe a sigh of relief as we have now survived the first semester of school and wait expectantly for our grades, but we have to remember the work never ends, especially for all those eighth graders out there. You have to keep your wits about you as you progress towards high school. Even I, a high school-er already, have heard that I should already be looking at colleges, and I'm a freshman! This is just one of those reminders that keeps us on our toes to prepare us for the future. After all we are the future of this country, and by extent our planet, but that is still a while away. For now we are free to study up and express ourselves.

So remember to keep up the hard work and Happy New Year to all.