Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors

There is an upcoming free play in The Presidio's Main Post Parade ground Lawn. It is going to be a smash hit. The play happens on Saturday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m.

Scrabble-Lovers, Let Me Introduce You To DeepLeap!

Are any of you Scrabble-lovers? Well, here's a new game ... DEEPLEAP! DeepLeap is exactly like Scrabble except, you have to be fast. Mentally and physically. When you open the game link, beware. There is no start button nor a pause button. It just starts automatically.

DeepLeap requires the players to have a large vocabulary and to be a fast typer. There are nine tiles and each one will turn red in about ten to fifteen seconds if you don't use it. When I first played this game, I was annoyed to be honest with you. As I've said above, there was no pause or start button and it starts automatically ends after you use 75 tiles. My highest score would probably be around 550.

But, my favorite part of the game was that it listed all the words i typed in along with how much points it's worth in a straight line right below the game. That was helpful for me so I knew which ones are already done. Also, you hvae more tiles. In Scrabble, you only got about 7 tiles of letters.

Hehe. As you look at the picture in this post, it states that this game is a "fast-paced time wasting game." It can pass time quickly for one who needs something to look forward to or just wants to play a game. It's definitely not a time-waster since it can improve your language a little.

Picture Credit From Google Images

Worldle Word Cloud

I chose this post because this is what I really think about Hillwood. It really is fun to play games like these and run and have a good time. Hillwood also has good games to play.

Watch Brigette and Irene talk with Jacob about his Wordle. Filmed by Zack O.

Commentary: My Take on President Obama's Speech to Students

As I was watching Mr. President Obama's speech on C-Span, I was once again taken aback by the way he has inspired millions of people at a time (including myself), but in this case, his audience was the students of America. I stared at the television, concentrating, trying to digest every word he said.

He didn't talk about health care, immigration, or something else like that. He talked about how we as students have certain duties at school and for school. These duties are to take responsibility for your actions, to always try your best, to never give up. If you do give up and quit school, you're giving up on your country, one less person that could lead us throughout the 21st century.

As for teachers, their jobs are to guide and to inspire students, to help students reach their full potential. The government, to provide the tools and supplies to set the high standards necessary to live in the real world.

As an eighth-grade student at Hillwood Academic Day School, I am very much looking forward to college and to hopefully get a career.

By Brigette W.

Watch Jacob M. interview Brigette about her story.



Video credit: Zack O.

9 Year Old Kid Reporter

Brennan is a 9 year old news reporter. He runs and edits a blog. His 2 year "blogging" anniversary is February 2, 2010. He lives in Jefferson County, which is around Seattle. He calls his blog the Spruce St. Weekly. He wants to become a journalist when he grows up. He sells his newspapers for 25 cents each and has made about 100 dollars.

Read Lance Y.'s story about how to win TIME magazine's kid reporter award.

By Anya J. and Rubina H.

Photo of Rubina (left) and Anya by Irene X.

Here's Hillwood — in Pictures

This is a video of Hillwood. We used an application on "animoto.com." Here are the five main steps of creating a video on this application.

Each week, a Hillwood student will create a photo essay on the site.

1. Go to animoto.com
2. log in as laura_moorhead@mindspring.com Password:hillwood
3. Upload pictures
4. select music
5. POST!

Photo essay by Zack O. and Julian F.

My Feelings About the Students Across America Speech

My feelings about the Students Across America speech on Tuesday September 8, 2009, at Hillwood Academic Day School, where I watched it on TV was inspirational. The Students Across America speech by Barack Obama was great. It really spoke to me. He spoke with such confidence, again the speech was inspiring!

Photo credit: Wall Street Journal

Photo of Samantha Z. by Irene X.

President Obama's Message for America's Students

On Tuesday, September 8, President Obama talked to all the students of America about education. Tuesday was the first day of school for Hillwood.

President talked in Arlington, Virginia, at Wakefield High School. He told the students that you need to work to get somewhere. You cannot drop out of school and then somehow land into a good job. Even if you did land in a good job, you would not have the education to do well at the job because you dropped out of school.

Video credit: The White House

The 'Why I Learn' Contest

Most of you know about the "Why I Learn" Contest. It is a journalist contest for students, and kids under 13 can enter. It is on June 19 2010, but the date might be changed, and you can apply on the internet. if you win, you get money and you get a job on the Time's magazine. Students from The Herald may try to enter the contest during the summer.

Read Anya J. and Rubina H.'s story about Brennan, a kid — a blogger — who won the award this summer.

Watch Irene X. interview Lance Y. about this article.



Photo credit: Corbis for TIME for Kids. This is a picture of the past winner.

Video credit: Zack O.

The Interesting, Exilerating Music of the Presidential Speech

I really liked the music because it gives you a chance to know that the president of the united states is going to come on the platform. I also liked how he kept talking about how education was going to take us to where we want.

I'm writing this because a lot of people in the United States need this advice The music was also cool because I like that kind of music. The speech was also very interesting because Obama started telling stories about how he had to wake up at 4:30 A.M to be home schooled.

Photo credit: Current.

President Obama's Message for America's Students

Tuesday, September 8, 2009, President Obama wanted to make the speech at Wakefield high school. He wanted to make a speech there because kids have dropped school during high school. President Obama made the speech so he can help the students for hat the future. Now student are studying very hard so that the student can have a better future.

By Rachel and Brandon

Photo of Rachel and Brandon by Irene X.

'I Am What I Learn' Contest

I'm sure you've heard about President Barack Obama's Education Speech on Tuesday, September 8. Obama spoke about how learning will lead you where you will be someday.

Just recently, Secretary Arne Duncan, spoke about a new 'I Am What I Learn' video project. The U.S. Department of Education are encouraging kids 13 years or older to enter in this contest. For this contest, you videotape yourself and you talk about why education is important right now and how it will help you to fulfill your dreams. The video should be under two minutes.

Back-To-School Get Together? Check!

It's back-to-school time folks! Hope all your summers were good. As you know, Thursday, September 3, was the Back-To-School Get Together for fellow Hillwood parents. Many of them attended and got to know one another.

At the get-together, there were many new ideas to contribute to Hillwood. One of which is the Hillwood Afterschool Program. For the Fall semester, Hillwood is offering afterschool program activities with Ema's dad, Murat, in charge. The program includes karate, soccer, gynastics, yoga, and creative drama. These activities are available to all children, kindergarten through eighth.

During this get-together, we ate many foods. There was hot dogs, chicken wings, chow mein, cookies, chips and salsa, and many varities of drinks from red wine to just plain water. I'm sure everyone had a full share! The food was delicious!

Well, just wanted to give a small update. Hope you all had a great summer and have another fun year during your new school year! Bye.

reding Harry potter.

The book is from j k rowling. it is a grate.

by oliver.

I am in second grade.

Back-To-School Food

Hey Parent readers! Hope your summer has been going good! Your kids will be going back to school in just a couple of weeks. I remember when I was younger, I used to ask my parents for food when I came home. So, I'm going to write some fun but healthy snacks for after-school or to take to school!

After-School Snacks:
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich (recipe)
- Oatmeal Cookie (recipe)
- Granola Bar (recipe)
- Fresh Fruit
- Yogurt


Can I recommend some On-The-Go Breakfast ideas? *wink wink*

Breakfast:
- Dry Cereal (Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Cinnamon Toast) w/ bottled milk
- Graham Crackers (The bears are so cute!)
- Yogurt w/ cottage cheese
- A hard-boiled egg
- Sandwiches (Here is a link for different sandwich combinations)


Anyways, hope you continue to have a nice summer! Bye!


Pictures from Yahoo! Images

What Comes to School?

You've probably read Darien C.'s post about shopping for back-to-school supplies. Here are the specifics from the Grantzes and the teachers about what comes to school.

Kindergarten and first grade: Students should have a backpack to carry school work and sweaters. Hillwood supplies pencils and paper at this grade level. First graders should have a folder for homework assignments.

Second grade through fourth grade: Students need to bring wide-rule binder paper and binder, a few pencils, a ruler and a blue or black ball point pen for fourth-grade assignments. Art materials such as colored pencils, markers, or crayons will be needed. A back pack is also necessary for homework.

Fifth grade through eighth grade: Students need college role (regular) binder paper and binder, a few pencils, two ball-point pens, ruler, art materials, and a backpack to carry assignments. Additional supplies will be needed later during the year.

Bonus points if you bring in a box of Kleenex.

Words of Advice from Darien: What to Do Now; More Summer Fun in the Car, But Back to School Not So Far

Hey everyone, hope you are all having a great summer. I bet you are all having a great time going different places, seeing different things, doing fun activities, or even just relaxing at home.

But, now is the time you might start preparing for back to school. With school still about a month away for many kids, most people aren't thinking about supplies and other school needs right now. However if you are smart -- and I know you are -- why not get a head start.

Right now is a great time to start contemplating different things you may need for school and also to start buying. If you read my article on applying for high school or watched the video then you'll know I gave a few tips. Well, those tips can also be applied to now. Don't let the shopping overwhelm you and don't make a really big deal out of it. Also a good idea is to first make a list and also before you start your major shopping, if you are in a major store stop at the supplies section. This will help tell you where you can find what supplies and where you can get them for cheapest, which is a real help nowadays.

For example, if you are at Target or Walmart doing some shopping, stop at the supplies section and check out the different things you think you or your kid (if the parent is only one present), might need for school and then compare the prices and the amount with other stores. Also, look for sales that give you more for less. For example some stores have already started back to school sales. Take advantage of these sales and use them to purchase more supplies, which will help you in the long run, as you may not have to buy as many things the next year.

Anyways thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your summer. =)

Picture credit: Google images.

An Email Message from "Words," aka Zara A.

The following is a note from Zara A., our contact in India for the Design for Giving Contest.

My name is Zara A., I just turned 18 and i am totally loving it! I am 100% indian though i have almost no command over any indian languages, i prefer to think of myself as linguistically challenged. I joined the "Design for Giving Contest" Team because my mom and Mrs Kiran Sethi, Principal of Riverside school, were college roommates and know each other well. I actually moved from Chennai, a city in the south of India, to Ahmedabad, which is in the west, to work on the competition. I just finished highschool and am currently doing a gap year to primarily introspect because I, like most teenagers, am not entirely sure what i want to do with my future.


The original team that worked on the contest was aged about 18 to 21 (me being the youngest technically) and we all served different purposes. I was in charge of letter writing, press releases, website content etc. so they nicknamed me 'Words'. It was an amazing experience to see how people who had just met each other formed a team that worked very well with one another and managed to actually produce something as large as the Design for Giving Contest. All together on of the most memorable things ii have ever done and i am so glad that you guys want to be apart of it =D


Looking forward to speaking to the kids! if you need any more answers please feel free to email me! oh and warn them that i do have an indian accent so they might have to speak slowly for me to understand and vice versa.

Words

Photo credits: Images of Ahmedabad from Wikipedia

June 12, 2009: Graduation

Hey everyone! Are you having a good summer? Just want to tell you guys about Graduation Day. Now, I know I should've posted an entry right after Graduation but I forgot. =3

Class of 2009

Anyways, for those of you who didn't attend Graduation, I'll give you a description of what happened. Darien Caine, an 8th grader at Hillwood, has been accepted to Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory and Stuart Hall High School as well at the Scholar level. He is attending Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in the fall.

Hillwood Foundation Incentive Scholarships

During the party, Hillwood Foundation Scholarship checks were awarded to fellow Herald bloggers Darien Caine, Brigette Wang, and I (Irene Xie). Darien received the $200 award for "General Academic Excellence", Brigette received the $50 award for excellence in Language, and I also received the $50 award for Spelling. I also won the stock market challenge. Aren't Darien and Brigette awesome? I'm so proud! Hehehe.

Kindergarten Graduates

You know, not just Darien graduated to high school. Our six little kindergarteners also graduated to first grade! They have done very well this year and are very excited to enter the first grade. As for our two first graders, I'm sure they can't wait to go to second grade in Ms.Tom's class.

Source: 'June Party' Newsletter, Me from experiencing the party

Pictures: My mom's phone

Summer Session Basics at Hillwood

Hillwood's summer session runs from July 1 through July 31. As usual, the school will be open from 7:30 am until 6 pm. Students should arrive at Hillwood before 9 am, as everyone will be doing outdoor activities.

Some activities include:

• Library visits (Tuesday mornings)
• Field trips (Wednsdays)
• Marina Green or Moscone Park (Mondays and Thursdays)
• Art (Tuesdays and Fridays)
• Alta Vista Park (Tuesdays and Fridays)
• Marina Playground (Mondays or Thursdays)
  

Students should bring backpacks or school bags to school for art projects and such things as sunscreen. Hillwood T-shirts should be worn and can be left at the school. (The school will provide two T-shirts for each student.) Toys from home are allowed at the school during the summer session.

The photo above shows students at Hillwood’s lodge in Muir Woods. Click here for more information about the lodge; to read Julien G.’s article about the upper-graders sleepover at the cabin, click here.