Upper School Student News - April

The Upper School Student News is an online publication written by students Alia, Olive, and Lily S., with help from faculty supervisor Jonell. 

Pi Day! Pi, Pi!

Many people around the world celebrate Pi Day on March 14 (3/14) each year. Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The ancient Chinese used 3 as the value of pi about 1650 B.C. The Egyptians improved on the approximation during the AD 100’s. The first Pi Day celebration happened in 1988 at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The US House of Representatives designated March 14th a National Holiday in 2009. 

We celebrate Pi Day because it is an excellent excuse to learn about pi. Also, pi is just a really cool number. The number pi is 3.14159 etc... Pi has over 1 trillion decimal numbers in it and cannot be written as a simple fraction or decimal. That means it’s an irrational number! The symbol for pi is the Greek letter 𝛑.  

This year on Pi Day, students and guides in the US2 building watched a PowerPoint lesson about pi presented by Jennifer, then we found circles to measure, made mini pizzas for lunch, and had a small slice of pie. 

 

Everyone wrote down the measurements of the circumference and diameter of their circle on a chart on the whiteboard, then divided them to see how close to pi they were. 

Ben, Max, and Evan found the average of all of our measurements, which was 3.243. 

Fun fact, if you write 3.14 on a piece of paper and look at it in a mirror you will see the word “pie” (you must write the 4 like this: 4, or it will not say “pie”)!

A Review of “Me... Jane”

By Alice

Recently, the youngest students in Upper School 2 visited TPAC to see a performance of "Me...Jane." “Me...Jane” is a musical about Jane Goodall as a young girl who loves nature, animals, and wants to go to Africa. Her neighbors thought that she would never go to Africa and research different kinds of animals. The actress playing Jane always carries a bag with jubilee, her stuffed chimpanzee, inside of it. She has adventures with chickens, squirrels, and her dog, Rusty. The play takes place in England, and at the very end, there is a video of the actual Jane Goodall. She even argued with a scientist if dogs had feelings or not. The actress that played Jane looked like what Jane looked like when she was that age. There were only five actors in the play, and they changed clothing fast. The music was great, and in the first song, they acted like different animals. I didn’t love the costumes except for Jane and her mom's outfit. The background changed scenes, and it was terrific. The dancing was right; at one point they did the floss dance. Overall it was a good show, and it was funny, exciting, it had a happy ending, and it teaches you that hard work and determination will make your dreams come true.

Photo courtesy of Now Playing Nashville 

Perspective Drawings

This month in Art we are practicing one-, two-, and three-point perspective drawings. One-point perspective is where every diagonal line connects to one point. Two-point perspective is where all of the diagonal lines connect to two points to form a room or a room-like space. Three-point perspective is where all the diagonal lines connect to three points. 

We practice drawing one-point perspective by drawing railroad tracks or roads.

We practice drawing two-point perspective by drawing our dream bedrooms.

We practice three-point perspective by drawing buildings.

Testing Tips

During the week of April 15th, second-year students in US1 and all of the students in US2 will be participating in the Stanford and OLSAT tests. Here are some tips from the student newsletter staff:

• Eating a good breakfast and getting lots of rest will help you have the energy for testing and will help you stay focused and do your best work.
• Students will be taking tests in different places around campus each morning. Your testing room may feel chilly to you, so you might want to wear layers.
• When you are taking your test, be sure to read all of the directions and questions carefully.
• Make sure to read all of the multiple choice options before choosing your answer. Trust yourself, and remember to breathe.
• If you have extra time, double-check your answers.

We wish everyone a great testing week! ~Alia, Olive, and Lily S.