worlds oceans day

    I am one for saving oceans, but even i can't put into words how importent our ocean is. The air we breath in isn't just from trees or leaves, its from the ocean too. The water that rains down from the clouds and creates lush rainforest come from the ocean. A lot of the fresh water in lakes actually comes from the ocean believe it or not. Some people don't realize how important the ocean is. We came after the ocean, and now were destroying what we evolved from. When we pullet the ocean were not just killing millions of species habitats along with the species themselves, were ask killing our selves. Say the oceans were polluted. if that happens we will die because of polluted rains pouring into the freshwater rivers pullting our water too, and killing everything in the rivers. No matter how you put it, we NEED the ocean, and the ocean needs us; it needs us to save it. If your not convinced, then listen to this video made by national geographic. to see this video go here.

Don't let our ocean die, because if it goes down, we go down with it

 -Kennedy S.

                                                                                 

Awesome Animation Highlights a Rube Goldberg Contraption

Last time we told about how a non-animated  Rube Goldberg worked. Now we will tell you how a animated one works. It's hard to explain so just watch the video. You will receive more info next week. We are in the process of deciding how we — the reporters from The Hillwood Herald — will build our Rube Goldberg contraption. Enjoy the video!                                                                                                                                                                
By Nikita and Andre                                                                                                        

Household Pinball

Joseph is an inventor who makes Ruth Goldbergs. A Ruth Goldberg is a machine that does a simple task in the most complicated way. Joseph got inspired to make Ruth Goldberg after watching several YouTube videos. Joseph uses household items for his Ruth Goldbergs. It is hard to explain how they work, so just watch the video.

The Liberty Bell Had Been Stolen by Metal Theives

Come Swim with OK Go!

Google and partnered with OK GO and a dance troupe to create another great music video. This take of "All is Not Lost" is a playful HTML5 music collaboration that lets you embed a message in the music video while the troupe dance to it. Sometimes the dancers seem underwater; other times, they seem to be water bugs or frogs scooting across the surface of a pond.

According to Google's daily blog, the site was built in HTML5 for use with the browser Google Chrome. As you'll see, various video clips move, or are rendered, in multiple browser windows that move, re-size, and re-align throughout the piece as the music changes.

In the Google blog post by Keiko Hirayama, a marketing manager for Google Tokyo, the collaboration had a "special significance" for the Google team in Japan. Apparently, the team worked alongside OK Go, and the message "All is Not Lost" is in support of all the people who were affected by Japan's earthquakes.

You can see our special message in the image with this post! For The Herald's coverage of OK GO, click here. For more information about the code behind this effort, click through to the Google Code Blog.

Anya's, Angela's, and Faryn's Windmill

This is a video on how we are going to build a windmill for our village.

First, we need to buy supplies for the windmill: a wooden stake, a hammer, a plastic water bottle, and a drill and 3 nails. Then, we need to cut off the bottom of the water bottle. Next, you cut off the bumps on the bottom of the water bottle, which makes the blades. Then, you drill a hole in the middle of the blade. After that, you cut a piece of plastic off a water bottle. You nail the piece of plastic onto the stake, and then nail the blade to the piece of plastic.

Fin

The Life and Tests of Students

The following is a video pulled together on Animoto by Faryn and Camryn.

The Big Cats, A Closer Look

When I was deciding what I should do with this video, my cats popped into my head. So I looked for tons of picture that had to do with all the cats' habitats and what all of them look like. The lions look innocent, some are sleeping, and some are curious about the nature around them.

They are all Big Cats, except for a little kitten looking through a water glass.

I think the video is really pretty, and leaves viewers with an impact. Many of these cats are endangered and in need of help. Of course, the cats are cute, especially if you love them, like myself, Faryn, and Angela.

Failing Buzzer — Ack!

The buzzer failed. Yes, building a working hidden buzzer is more difficult than it looks. Nikita and Zack's buzzer worked well and earlier on in our Hillwood Herald blog session, but the rest of us could not get our buzzers to work. The question now is, Why?

The tape? The batteries or the alarm? Too much aluminum or not enough. We're not sure, and we did compare our alarm set up to that of Nikita and Zack's. They looked pretty much the same, but clearly they did not work the same. Jay will be discussing the project with his dad for advice, and next Friday, we will try again.

Stop-Animation: What Is It?

Stop-animation is when you make a video by taking many photos of different poses so it looks like one movement. This video below was made using stop-animation. The people wore different color shirts and took many photos of them. In stop-animation you sometimes have to make more than one of a picture.

The video was made by French-Swiss artist Guillaume Reymond.

Barack Obama Talks to Students in Philadelphia

On September 14, 2010, Barack Obama gave a speech to Masterman Julia R. Secondary School. The school is one of the best schools in Philadelphia. Last week, the school was called the National Blue Ribbon School because of the students' record of achievement at school.

Obama talked about how students should work very hard to get good grades. Obama said a lot of things about how to study with results and pay attention in class. He said "Don't feel discouraged or give up if you don't succeed at something, try it again and learn from your mistakes."On September 14, 2010, Barack Obama gave a speech to Masterman Julia R. Secondary School. The school is one of the best schools in Philadelphia. Last week, the school was called the National Blue Ribbon School because of the students' record of achievement at school.

Obama talked about how students should work very hard to get good grades. Obama said a lot of things about how to study with results and pay attention in class. He said "Don't feel discouraged or give up if you don't succeed at something, try it again and learn from your mistakes."

Watch the president's 20-minute speech below. Although he is talking to students at Masterman, his message is for all American school kids, including those of us at Hillwood.

Each year, the president of the United States address students at a back-to-school speech. Last year,The Herald covered President Obama's first address. You can read Bridgette's 2009 story about the president's speech. (Bridgette graduated last year from Hillwood. She is now a freshman at San Francisco's School of the Arts.

Watch the president's 20-minute speech below. Although he is talking to students at Masterman, his message is for all American school kids, including those of us at Hillwood.

Each year, the president of the United States address students at a back-to-school speech. Last year,The Herald covered President Obama's first address. You can read Bridgette's 2009 story about the president's speech. (Bridgette graduated last year from Hillwood. She is now a freshman at San Francisco's School of the Arts.)

Great Moments in Lego History

Legos are used everywhere in the world by people of all ages. Also people use Legos to make videos and put them on the Internet. This first video is very interesting because a person used Legos to recreate a video game.

Most people who make these videos are very artistic. Usually the videos are two minutes which is pretty long for a normal video. It is also pretty hard to make the characters, back round, and vehicles.

These are some other Lego videos:

Poetry - In Reverse? Part 1

In 2007, Jonathon Reed created a poem called "Lost Generation" for the AARP @50 Video Contest. The poem, when first read, is very negative and violent. It talks about how one will behave in the next thirty years: celebrating divorces, work before family, and increasing the risk of global warming. But read to the end -- it will inspire.

Below is the poem, followed by another one, written in a similar fashion. I feel that this is a very unique way of poetry. It can be negative but still be positive when reversed.




Source: YouTube

Anya the Swedish Hero

Have you ever been a hero? A Swedish hero? You can be a Swedish hero just by going to this website.

I think I could help the world by planting trees, picking up trash, recycling, helping animals, and walk or ride my bike. I'm going to help animals by cleaning up oil spills, volunteering at animal shelters, and rescuing abused or injured animals. I asked Rubina what she would do to save the world and she said she "would not waste paper." Brandon said he, "would turn off the T.V. when he was done watching." You can also help by doing these tasks and if you have more ideas post a comment below.

They used Flash Player to make the video. Flash Player is a software to view animated videos. In this video, you upload or use the website its one to take a photo of yourself. It is then automatically put into the video -- and you become the world's hero for 60 seconds!

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.

‘I Am What I Learn’ Final Contestants Announced

The "I am What I Learn" contest, by the US Education Department, has just named the final eleven contestants from hundreds of videos submitted. You can vote on the videos until December 4.

Hillwood submitted one, too (shown in this post below). We made a two minute video about how education is important to us.

Some of these contestants didn't make that good of videos, but some of them were good. The video that I recommend the most is the one that was made by Kevin Phu. He practically made a music video about how education is important to you. Kevin is from Massachusetts.

‘I Am What I Learn’ Video Highlight

This video is very good (you can watch them all here). It tells you that is is good to be diverse (for example, learning more then two languages). Without an education you can' t get a very good job. This girl teaches us that you have to get a good education and also help the environment.

This video is very moving. It must of taken plenty of work making a song and a great video. This video was made by Kevin Phu at Watertown High School in Massachusetts. He tells us the you have to work hard to get somewhere.

Troy Simon's story is very touching. It tells you that even if you hit rock bottom you can still come back to the top. When life gets hard to must try and keep trying till you reach the best that you can get. This story tells people that you should never give up.

I Am What I Learn Review

I thought that Kevin Phu has the best video because, he makes a point, and at the same time he makes it fun and cheerful.

I thought that Troy also made a good point and a touching story to go with it. nicgiomagic has a very good story with a good point, but he uses his hands too much. I thought that Lenderman100 was kind of childish and had no point, and I did not enjoy it. All of the other videos were all right, but I don't think that there the best.

I am What I learn Contest

Out of all the videos, I thought that Troy Simon's video was probably the best because he probably worked the hardest to get to where he is right now. I also feel very bad for him.

I think that Kevin Phu did very good with his video.