After Wednesday morning Mass, Father Luke sometimes has a talk with the students. He talks about different things in the Church. This past week, he was talking about altar cards that were in Latin. There were three cards that the priest read off of during the Mass. These cards were used before the Vatican II changes.
By: B.K.

We are finally making our masks in art! Most of the kids in Mrs. Vrooman's art class absolutely love to  make masks in her class. We always enjoy all of the time she puts in so that we can have an art class. Art class is one of my favorites! I am sure everyone else likes art class as well. Making the masks is by far my favorite thing to do in art! By: PW

In art we have been making many things. One of the things was a project with pumpkins.  We used black paper, and we used glue to draw the outline of the pumpkins.  Then we used orange and yellow chalk to fill them in.  This is just one thing we've done in art.The affect was really cool.  By SH.

The 7th grade band will be going to Ainsworth on the first Friday of November for a band concert. The members consist of BJ, PW, and DD.  BJ and PW play the drums and DD plays the saxophone.  They will leave in the morning for the concert and practice all day.  The concert will be at seven PM.    They will play with kids from all over. By BJ

Priest Vestments

Every week after Mass Father Luke teaches us things about the Church. The first week he showed us the different vestments he wears and why he wears them. It was very interesting. The first vestment was the red one which he wears on martyr days and on Pentecost. The green vestment is worn in ordinary time and purple which he wears during Advent and  Lent.
Posted by:  D. D.

Science

This year in science we did an experiment on diffusion. We put water and corn starch in a bag. We put that in a cup that contained a mixture of water and iodine. Over time the iodine went into the cornstarch. It was neat how the iodine could move through the plastic bag. This experiment represented the diffusion of water though a cell membrane.
Posted by A.W.

Marko

Recently, Atkinson Police Officer, Mr. Genereux came to the visit the school. He told us about what his job was. He also told us about his police dog, Marko. He is an incredible & intelligent dog! We even got to see the highly trained dog in action! He sniffed out some drugs hidden in a car. Thank you for your wonderful presentation, Mr. Genereux, (and Marko!)

IMPORTANT VIDEO

One of the presenters at NETA last week was Mr. Kevin Honeycutt.  The link to the video below gives you all a reason to become a "friend" to your child on Facebook or any other social media.  For better or worse, our children are growing up in a social networking world and we ALL need to give them the strategies to use these types of media correctly.  The video will take a while to download, but it is well worth the view!  Please take a break and watch it.

http://web.me.com/khoneycuttessdack/kevinhoneycutt.org/eBook_Preview.html

D&D Tonight Show

This is an iMovie made on a MacBook by two 6th grade students.  They did an interview about their recent field trip to the Stuhr Museum.
If you are having trouble viewing, you may need to update your Flash Player.

Pioneer Living at the Stuhr Museum

             For our field trip we went to Grand Island to the Stuhr Museum. When we first got there our instructor showed us the out buildings they would have had when the pioneers were there. We made our own dinner that day.  The stew was made of potatoes, ham, and carrots.  We also made corn cob jelly, corn muffins, and butter. When making the muffins we used a corn sheller, and then we ground it and put the cornmeal through a sifter. We used the cobs to make jelly.  First we broke the corn cobs in half then we put the cobs in boiling water, we added sugar and pectin.  Milk was in the churn, we spun the handle then it turned color and became butter.  After we added sugar, it tasted very good.

           After lunch, we made candles.  First we got some yarn and the instructor put a can of wax on the stove.  Then we dipped the yarn three times in the wax, and dipped it in cold water, then the yarn turned curly. We had to straighten the yarn by rolling it on the table.  We did that several times.  We had a really good time.  We recommend that you go sometime.

By:   A.W. & L.J.

Junie B. Jones

We went to see a play in Norfolk called, "Junie B. Jones' Top Secret Personal Beezwax" at the Johnny Carson Theater.  It was about Junie's adventures in the first grade and how she got glasses and everyone liked them. But her old friends ended up making new friends, and stopped being Junie's friend. Junie also made new friends. 

Our favorite part of the play is when Junie wanted to help Mrs. Guttsman in the kitchen. Junie's job was to greet the kids when they came in the lunchroom. The lunch was tuna noodle casserole. Junie said it smelled like garbage in a glob. After that Junie helped Mrs.Guttsman pass out huge sugar cookies. It was a very fun show to watch, we had lots of fun! 

By:  NK & LF

Recycle!

This video was created by students in the 7th & 8th grades.  Students put together their ideas, researched for their facts, wrote a script, found props, recorded video, and then used iMovie to produce this video.  Enjoy! 

Monkey on a slide

Here is the latest Animationish drawing from a student.  We haven't perfected the use of the software yet, but the kids are learning.  Advancedish is the hardest of the three sections and this is what the jr. high students were using as they are showing motion. 

Swinging monkey

The Supersuit

My new invention, the Supersuit, will change the world forever. If you or someone you know has a disability or is unable to get around very good it will help you get around better. It will transfer any little movement you make and make it stronger. Electrical energy from the suit moves your limbs.
The supersuit is sort of like a wheelchair or prosthetic device. It will help you become more mobile.
It will include a power cord, a solar panel for charging, and a flexible battery that will stretch all around the suit.  It will be the best thing for people with disabilities or people who cant get around very well.

Auto-Cooker

            For my Tool Time assignment I made the Auto-Cooker. The Auto-Cooker is an oven, grill, and smoker. It can cook up to four times faster than the most modern leading brands out there as well! With different add-ons, the Auto-Cooker will capture all of you cooking needs. If you like style, your Auto-Cooker can come in various colors. One bad thing about the Auto-Cooker is that it may be hard to fit in your kitchen. 

                                                                                 

                                                                                  

      

This is my animationish drawing, it is a golf ball bouncing on the green.  It needed a background with movement. 
Student in computer lab

Cutting Tool

This is an assignment for science. I made a new design called the cutting tool.

It is easy to use and very light. You can use it for cutting. It has four blades, big and small. It can cut wood, vegetables, and meat.

Swimming Fish

I made a video on Animationish of a fish swimming across a pond. The background is made of rocks and bubbles from other fish. Animationish is a software program where you make animations that will move. We had to draw a picture that moved across the screen and had to have a background.

Man Running With a Sombrero

In computer class, I drew a man running in the desert with a sombrero on.  We had to draw an object that moves across the screen through air, land or water.  We also had to have a background.  We used a software program called Animation-ish.  With this program, you can draw a picture and make it move across the screen.

Lapconsole

This is an invention I made for a science assessment, Tool Time.  It is a laptop and a game console.  You can do anything that you can do on a laptop and you can play video games on it too, it also has built in Wi-Fi.  So you can bring it with you on road trips.  You just have to put a game in it then plug in your controller and start playing your game.  It works for any game from any console.  It’s fun for the whole family.

O

/|\

/\

Bounce 'n' Grabs

In February we started a tool time assessment in science. We had to come up with, and build a model of our own invention that would help someone in real life, with a real life problem. I had the idea of making some sort of shoes that could bounce. So like if you see something up on a high shelf that you can’t reach, you could just tie on your fancy shoes and bounce up to reach them. They will be much lighter and easier to use than a ladder. You can easily get to something that you can not use. I call this invention the “Bounce’ n’ Grabs.” 

6th grade student                                                                

Through trial and error, we are figuring out our blogs.  We thought it would send you a link, but instead it just sends you the blog entry and doesn't take you to the blog.  Be patient with us as we figure out this process.  If you would prefer we don't send you the blogs via email, let me know and I will remove you from the list.  You may view our blogs on the school's website http://web.me.com/st.josephschool.  Thanks for your cooperation.

We are finishing up our assessments in both Science and Technology.  The students have done very well, and I'm excited to see their presentations this coming week.  The science assessment was called "Tool Time" and they were to design an original tool or enhance an existing tool.  The technology portion has them making presentations to show us their "tool".  PowerPoint, Keynote, and Prezis are the different ways the students will be presenting.

Learning to blog

As part of the teachers inservice today, we are learning to blog.  Mrs. Borer is doing a great job teaching us!  We are gearing up for Catholic Schools Week!!

F.R.O.G
"Fully Rely On God" is the theme this year in the 6th Grade Classroom.