What Bothers me about San Francisco

What bothers me about San Francisco is that the traffic, nobody walks anymore, and there is a pollution.





Photo credit: Wikipedia media

What Brothers Me

What brothers me in San Fransisco is that people don't recycles or reuse trash that you dump away. I would find peoples like friends, families, other schools to make a fundraiser so we can recycles or reuse trash.

What bothers me in the USA is wasting engry like turning on the lights when were not using it or wasting water. I would tell them to turn of their lights or turning of the sink when it is running.

By Brandon W.

Photo credit: Cornice Black

What Bothers Me

A Little Bit Dimmer from IDEO on Vimeo.

I think what bothers me in San Francisco is careless people who litter. I am going to help by telling people to pick up their trash if I see them litter. I think what bothers me in the United States.

A Little Bit Brighter from IDEO on Vimeo.

Global warming and the Green House effect. I am going to try and do my part by keep ing the heater in the house down, and take the bus to my destination.

Just Wanted To Give A Small Update....

Hey Herald readers. Just wanted to tell you that Ms. Moorhead, our blog adviser, has already printed the news/story forms. The forms are on the front counter, which is where the front door is. You can pick one up, fill it in, and when you're done, you can drop it into the news box. If you spend more time on the computer, you can also comment and give the news ideas. Of course, we'll have to have Ms. Moorhead look it over, but, I guarantee, we will report on it some time. Have a nice day!

United Nations: President Obama's Speech and History

As you may know, President Obama gave a speech at the United Nations meeting on Thursday, 9/24, morning. His speech ranged from nuclear weapons, the global economy, to disease and democracy. He seemed to focus the most on nuclear danger from North Korea and Iran. He talked about the importance of the United Nations and about how all nations should cooperate.

To read the President's speech, you can go to this link on The New York Times website.

The United Nations originated after World War II to replace the League of Nations in 1945. It's an international organization with aspirations for the world concerning the economy, security, human rights, international law, social progress, and world peace. It consists of 192 member states and its six official languages are: English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese.

Watch Julian interview Brigette about her story:



Sources: The New York Times, Wikipedia
By Brigette. W

Why I Learn — the Wordle and the Contest

This is a Wordle about the ''Why I Learn Contest." If you want to make one of your own go to wordle.com and press create. It's a very easy process you just go to Wordle .com and press create, then put a couple texts in it, and press go.

Read Irene's story about the contest. The Herald will be entering this contest. Please email us your story ideas.

You can also watch this video for more information.

Here are two videos about this story. Filmed by Zack O.

How Different Groups Spend Their Day?

People spend their time working, watching TV and movies, sleeping, and household activities. Unemployed people do lots of household activities, watch tons of TV and movies,and spend lots of their time sleeping. 15-24 year olds spend 25% of their time studying, another 25% of working, and spend half of their time sleeping. 25-64 year olds work,eat and drink,and they also watch TV and movies. People ages 65 and over spend most of their time watching TV and movies, doing household activities, and sleeping.

The image show is an "infographic," or slang for "informational graphic." An inforgraphic can be any map, chart, or diagram used to show an event, object or place. This infographic from The New York Times is made with a computer program called Flash. Flash is program for creating interactive features for websites. You can click on it and different thing will happen.

By Samantha Z. and Rachel N.

Photo credit: The New York Times

Awesome Hillwood Pictures

This video are of a bunch of photos of Hillwood school. Some of them might be from Six Flags, from the time we went in May.

The Awesome Field Trip

On 9/23/09, the upper graders from Hillwood Academic Day school went on a field trip to the Academy day. First we split our class into three groups. Next the parents and our teacher drive us to the Academy of Science. Later our group arrived at Academy of Science in the front door. Then our class waited in line. Then we went in and we saw a movie called Bugs in 3D. When the movie was done our class split up. I went with my group to the aquarium which was downstairs. At the aquarium we saw a bunch of animals that we saw and animals we never saw. Later we went upstairs and went to see a bunch random science. Finally we went to a diorama of African animal and saw a bunch of real penguins.

By Brandon Wong

Photo credit: Academy of Sciences

Hillwood Academic Day School in Photos

The Lego Artsist

Nathan Sawaya chooses not to sculpt out of clay but Lego's. Nathan was busted on Mythbusters that a ball of Lego's will not crush a car. Nathan started in 2000 and lives in New York. His childhood dream was to have fun. After college he discovered Lego's.

Nathan's art is in South America in the show titled, The Art of the Brick. Nathan was born in Colville,Washington and raised in Veneta, Oregon. Nathan's newest work is Circle Triangle Square.Today Nathan has more than 1.5 million bricks in his New York art studio.

By Rubina and Anya

Below is Rubina and Anya's highlights from their story:

A Trip to the Academy of Science

The uppergrade students get to go to the museum. We got there in Mrs. Woods car. the most interesting things there was the rainforest dome, the plastic model of the dinosaur skeleton, t-rex, and the model of the sharp tooth shark.

If I was given an opinion to choose from I'd say "This place is the most spectacular planetarium I've ever been to''. I also liked the little fish there. I really liked the little eel tunnel that had eel garden inside. When entering the museum you see a shark pond which is mixed with other fish. I expected the other fish to be eaten, but I guess they fed the shark well. I hope I go there again.

The Good And Bad About Wikipedia

I'm sure many of you guys (and girls) have used Wikipedia before. For the ones who have never heard of it before, here's a small explanation of what Wikipedia is. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia about almost anything. From countries to movies to books and even to art. But, there's a catch. The information is not always accurate. That's because people can just log in and change the information to anything they want. Usually, they are generous enough to give the correct facts but there are a few who purposely mess it up for everyone.

The History and Founders of Wikipedia

Wikipedia was originally based off the idea of Nupedia, another online encyclopedia. They were both created by Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales. Nupedia was founded on March 9, 2000 under the name of a company called Bomis, Inc. Jimmy Wales was the Bomis CEO while Larry was the editor-in-chief. Jimmy was in charge of designing the encyclopedia while Larry used a wiki to search up the results. In conclusion, Wikipedia was launched officially on January 15, 2001.

Wikipedia: The Good Uses
On Wikipedia, there are articles about almost anything. You can look up different movies, books, countries, and even some schools. It can give you the info you need for your report or something. Wikipedia is open to everyone so a scientific article can be written by a real life scientist.The Inaccuracy of InformationSometimes, this online dictionary can give false information on subjects. Since anyone can just sign up and post words onto subjects, it's pretty easy to discover that the information you found is fake. Some articles are also really short. It gives the really main point that you know. Usually, I wouldn't use Wikipedia as a source for a major assignment, such as a report on a certain topic because, like I said above, anyone can just post false information on the page about my topic.

Differences Between Britannica Online Encyclopedia and Wikipedia
The Britannica is somehow more organized than Wikipedia. It gives categories to choose from where as Wikipedia just has a search box. They list their blog and stuff along with a small search box. But, the Britannica only has articles about certain subjects. They don't have information about movies, people, and shows. Wikipedia has all that since real people are contributing to it.

Source: Wikipedia
Picture Credit From Google Images

Letters to the President

The upper graders are writing letters to the president, about his speech at Wakefield High School. First we wrote about who we are and what we liked about his campaign. The second paragraph was what we liked about his speech and what it meant to us. The third paragraph was what three specific goals we would do as students and as citizens and how we would achieve these things.

The video below shows the president and his staff talking about all the letters that he receives and what he and the White House does with all of them. Each week, the president answers ten letters.

Photo of The Herald staff by Irene X.



Watch Rachel interview Lance about his story. Filmed by Zack O.

"Birds on the Wires"

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Jarbas Angellis has written an original composition. His inspiration came from a picture in his local newspaper. The picture was of birds sitting on electrical wires. Angellis drew notes on composition paper to represent the birds. Later the notes became chords, then becoming different rhythms, all in the key of C Major.

This must have been quite an effort to be able to create a song based on the position of the birds, however, the effect is the same as any other song. This song, though short is much worth hearing.

The picture was by Paul Pinto, the music by the birds, the idea from Jarbas Angellis.

by Brigette W.

Word Collages About Life at Hillwood

I made this post at wordle.net. What I did to make this post is I typed words that describe the benefits of being an upper grader. As you see when you are an upper grader, you get to bake, you get candy, you get to go on lots of field trips, and we get to go to the park everyday.

The second worldle is about lunch. At Hillwood, the lunch is hot and delicious. One of my favorite lunches at Hillwood is creamy chicken. It's so yummy mmm....

Oliver M. made this Harry Poter Wordle after reading Samantha's article.

Samantha and Brandon discuss making Wordles. Filmed by Zack O.

Viki the Pop Singer

Virginia Maestro Diaz or Viki a pop singer from Spain. When she was 7 she found out she was in love with music. In the 60's she was the lead singer of a cover versions band, or in a piano voice duet. At 19 she went to college to study music.

Viki was in the TV show "Operacion Triunfe". When Viki was 12 she composed her first song on guitar. When she was 15 she joined her first band. Soon she was interested in blues and jazz.

Play with the video that goes along with one of her popular songs. Wait for it to download (about 30 seconds) and then click on the screen.

By Anya J. and Rubina H.

Watch Rubina (left) and Anya discuss their story. Filmed by Zack O.

Any News Ideas or Requests For 'The Hillwood Herald'?

Hey Herald readers! Do you have any recent news or requests for us upper-graders to report on? If so, please comment below or if you attend Hillwood, there is a "News" box at the front counter which Mrs. Woods, the upper-grade class teacher brought in. You can write the idea on a slip of paper and put it in the little slit at the top of the box. We'll get back to ya!

For new families, I am pleased to introduce 'The Hillwood Herald' on behalf of my fellow bloggers. It is a blog where the upper-grade classroom report about recent happenings regarding about Hillwood School or families. We also post news about educational topics such as NASA moon plans and about the Address To Students Across America by President Barack Obama. So far, my favorite Herald posts would have to be about Zach, our school's dog by Zack O. and the post 'Create Your Favorite Super Hero' by Julien G.

The Bay Bridge Update

Check out Bay Bridge 360 for updates and interactive website activities.

A Word Cloud About Fall

We used word Wordle.net to make this post about the fall. This is how
we made our Wordle. First we typed a bunch of words about the subject.
Next we did edited the text to make it better.Finally, we changed the
image and then we post it into The Hillwood Herald.

By Brandon Wong and Rachel Nguyen