The U.S. Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. The census is important because census data often affects decisions of national and local importance, including education and support services for children.

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Hillwood's Second Annual Walk-A-Thon! It's Time to Get Ready.

Walk-A-Thon 
Friday, May 14, 2010

Yay! Hillwood is having our seond annual health walk-a-thon! We had one last year, too, and we raised more than $3,000! We hope to raise at least $5,000 this year — and we need you, your family, and friends' help.

Participating students can raise from $25 to $50 per sponsor. You can collect a form for your sponsors at the Hillwood School front desk.

Students can ask family, friends, neighbors, or anyone you know to help us raise funds. The money is used for school improvements and may be added to the fund for bettering the play yard.

The Walk-A-Thon will be on Friday, May 6, 2011. We are going to be walking from Hillwood to Crissy Field and back. When we get back to school, we will have BBQ and refreshments. There will be prizes for those who raise the most money.

For details, go to the Hillwood Website. To see photos and read details from last year, read this story on The Herald.

Meteorology: Lightning And Thunder

In two years, lightning has killed 4 and 127 injured in Alabama.

Lightning is very dangerous. Thunder is not. Thunder is not dangerous because it is only the sound lightning makes when lightning heats up the air rapidly. When the air heats up it expands, and makes the sound of thunder.

It takes thunder five seconds to travel because light is faster than sound. Thunder comes after the lightning. You can tell how many miles away a thunder and lightning storm is if you count the seconds between the lightning and thunder and divide it by five, you know how many miles away the the storm is. Lightning can travel from ground-up or from cloud to cloud.

The most common lightning storms are from cloud to cloud.

Lightning doesn't have to be dangerous if you:

• Stay inside when there is a storm (cars, buildings, ect. not tractors or golf carts)
• Don't have any water near you (showers, sinks, dishwashers, bath, ect.)
• If there is no buildings or cars around, get on your hands and knees and tuck your head under your body DO NOT lay on your stomach. Your goal is to be as short as you can, but don't touch the ground too much with your body.
• DO NOT get under a tree or near anything taller that you.

For more info in meteorology, go to Dan's Wild Wild Weather.

Making the Kinetic Sculpture Move

Today, Faryn and I made a kinetic sculpture, which is one of the DESIGN SQUAD challenges. It took a lot of brain power, but we somehow managed to make a sculpture that only somewhat failed.

We started out not knowing how in the world we could make something that could spin by just blowing on it. At first, we had an idea with pipe cleaners until Faryn had one of her famous ideas and we decided to use paper cups. It didn't look so pretty, but it worked. Also, it took a lot of time and effort. Typically, challenges that look easy to make are not so easy!

At first I thought maybe we should cut out a swirly type pattern out of colored paper, but Faryn had an idea that we could maybe use the metal washers to hold up something that could spin with the power of wind. We tried to connect the paper cups to the metal washers, but it just wouldn't stick. Then we tried colored beads around two centimeters long to attach the washers to and, well let's just say they worked and our sculpture includes colorful beads.

Design Squad is made up of two engineers named Judy and Adam (see photo to the right) who help kids create their dreams through engineering. On their website at PBS Kids, Judy and Adam have lots of different challenges that you can try and plenty of videos for you to watch. You can read about The Hillwood Herald interview with Judy and Adam here.

You can watch the latest episode of DESIGN SQUAD on the website. Also, don't missing seeing Judy and Adam in person at the nearby Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of Berkeley.

• WHAT: Meet Design Squad Nation hosts Judy and Adam, watch sneak peeks of new episodes, and try engineering challenges inspired by the show!  
• WHEN: Saturday, February 26th  from 11:00 am-4:00 pm 
• WHERE: Lawrence Hall of Science 

For more information, visit www.lawrencehallofscience.org.

Photo credits: PBS Kids (top and bottom photos), The Hillwood Herald (middle photo)

Kinetic Sculpture Somewhat Failed

Today, Alysen and I made a Kinetic sculpture from the Design Squad challenges. The challenge was to make something that spins and stays up on a stick.

It was super tough to figure out how to make it stay up. We had to try at least four different ways to keep the "sails" up.

To make the "sails", we cut up a small paper cup into three parts and taped them onto about two centimeter beads with large holes in the middle.

To make the base we stuck three small scewers in to the bottom of a paper cut in different places.

The hardest thing was to was keep the the "sails" up so the LAST thing we tried was to get metal washers and put poster putty around the scewers. We put the washers onto the poster putty so the washers stuck then put the "sails" on.

It didn't work too well for us, but you can do whatever you want to make it work! Good luck!

From Rubber Band Car Challenge to Dance Pad Mania -- Here's How

Today Alysen and I made a Dance Pad Mania from the Design Squad Challenges. Last week Alysen made a Dance Pad Mania, and I made a Rubber Band Car. But this week, since I had no idea how to do the Dance Pad, she decided to make another one to show me how to do it.

First you need the "ingredients":

• wire
• wire strippers
• duct tape
• light bulb
• light bulb holder
• batteries
• and cardboard
• the black wire goes on the positive side of the battery
• the red wire on the negative.
• put the little light bulb into the light bulb older
• duct tape the wires onto the battery

Connect the wires to the silver screws on the light bulb holder. The light bulb will barely light up, but it most likely will. Make sure everything is good and taped down, then get a little piece of cardboard. Put the cardboard over a wire connected to the light and press it down so the light goes on.

For more information, go to the Design Squad website

Rubber Band Car Somewhat Failed

Today I made a Rubber Band car that was supposed to go really fast.

I couldn't make it go fast at all but it still goes a little bit. It's kind of lop-sided so it goes to one side. When I was making this, I cut my pinkie finger with scissors, I think, I wasn't sure what I cut it with but I got a band aid.

I did a rubber band car because it is one of the Design Squad Challenges. Here's how you can make your own:

Get a piece of cardboard, (5"6") then you get the thinnest wooden scewer, two compact discs (CDs), rubber bands, tape (Duct or masking tape), scissors, and 4 faucet washers. It calls for two faucet washers on the design squad website, but I used four because the discs were too wobbly and the faucet washers helped as a support for the discs. You can also use tape to help as a support.

1. First, make a 1" 1" square in the middle of the shorter side.
2. Then, stick the thinnest scewer through the short side where the square is. Picture the square as a trench and the scewer is a bridge to cross it.
3. Then, put a faucet washer onto each end of the scewer on each side of the "body"
4. Then put the discs on top of the faucet washers then put the other two faucet washers over the discs. Then put tape to hold them.
5. Tape the rubber band to the part of the scewer over the trench in the middle.
6. Make two slits about half an inch apart at the bottom of the piece of cardboard on the short side.
7. Pull the rubber band down and put the rubber band into the slits.

To make the car move, twist the rubber band around the "bridge" and let it go and the rubber band causes the scewer to turn therefore turning the discs.

The Design Squad Website Review

On the Design Squad Website you can register and make up a nickname and create a password. Then, you can make a sketch, make a wish, and make a prototype!

You can play games, such as "Figdit" and "String Thing," and when you're tired of those fun games, you can build things!

The Design Squad Website has a great application that teaches you fun crafts and building challenges, such as a "Rubber Band Car" and a "Hidden Buzzer." Keep a eye on The Hillwood Herald, and you will be able to watch and read about our efforts to do these challenges.

The Design Squad Website is safe and fun to play! Below is a screen grab, or image, from the latest episode about a girl in London growing and driving her own food around her Camden Town neighborhood.

Is There a Secret to Test Taking?

According to new research, testing is not just a list of questions testing what you know. Testing helps people learn, and it may be a lot better than some other learning techniques.

According to The New York Times, "The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, found that students who read a passage, then took a test asking them to recall what they had read, retained about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods.

One of the methods is recognized by legions of students who study before exams. The other method is prized by many teachers because it forces students to connect on facts.

Researchers gathered 200 college students in two experiment to read paragraphs about science. For the first experiment, the 200 students were divided into 4 groups. One group didn't do anything but read the text for five minutes. Another group of 50 studied the passage in four five minute sessions.

One week later all the groups were given a short answer test to recall facts based on what they studied.

Why standard testing helps is still a mystery. But it is an area that is being heavily researched and considered these days.

To find out more, go to the New York Times Website.

Kick Stick Challenge with Judy and Adam

Judy and Adam, engineers working with PBS Kids DESIGN SQUAD, made a new challenge, called the kick stick. The items that make the kick stick possible are paint sticks, duct tape, a battery holder, a battery, aluminum foil, a washer,wire, a ping-pong ball, and popsicle stick.

The kick stick is like an automatic ping pong ball hitter. First, you stick the washer on the motor. Then put the battery in the battery holder, and connect the wires so the motor will work. Check to see if your washer spins. Tape some paint sticks together to make that the handle on your automatic ping-pong ball hitter. Then attach your motor to the sticks. Make a blade with duct tape or your popsicle stick, by attaching them to the washer connected to the motor. Now see if your blade(s) spin. Now test it out with a ping-pong ball.

You can see Judy and Adams video at the Design Squad website. Also, you can read older Hillwood Herald posts — both Adam and Judy were nice enough to come to Hillwood, so we could interview them for this blog.

On January 26,2011, Judy and Adam will have a new show coming out on PBS Kids T.V. The show will inspire kids to "Dream it,Build it, and Live it." The show is expected to attract families, tweens, and teenagers to watch the show. Over 10 episodes will be premiered with the help of the co-hosts Judy and Adam.

Also, The Hillwood Herald has been reporting on Judy and Adam for the last month. You can read our posts and watch how our challenges went here.

Design Squad Hidden Buzzer Failed

Jennifer and I tried to make the DESIGN SQUAD Hidden Buzzer by getting a piece of cardboard, tin foil, double A battery, masking tape, scissors, buzzers.

We took the wires from the buzzer  and put the wires up against the sides of the battery. It didn't WORK! It vibrated, like you could feel the energy. But it didn't make any noise. Making noise is what it was supposed to do.

Jen is trying to see if the wires from the buzzer need to be more exposed. We learned that masking tape works better than duct tape.

I hope it will make noise next week — we'll try it again.

Facts of Congress — Why Primary Sources Matter

If you're doing a history test on Congress then you should go to the Federal Library.
Not possible to go the Federal Library in D.C.? Check out the library's website, which includes all sorts of primary source for research. Primary sources are documents that are very close to the original. With the Federal Library, the sources are photographed or scanned (digitally copied) materials like letters, diaries, and the Constitution.
Still not sure what a primary source is? It's like when your friend writes a note to you and another friend says that it was a mean note. That's to weird to believe, right? So, what do you do? You check it out -- it's not a mean note.


That's what primary sources are. You can watch this video below for more information.