Happy Holidays!

Ngā mihi o te Kirihimete! Kilisimasi fiefie! Manuia le Kerisimasi!

Our first year of creating our learning in a 1:1 digital environment has come to an end. We have all learnt lots of new things in 2015: creating a capital letter on a keyboard; our Kawa of Care; being a Smart Learner. Other highlights? We walked to Point England Beach to welcome the Hokule'a. We made a movie. It was the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli. We launched our personal blogs. We learnt to play badminton.

Now we are excited about the holidays, but we are also looking forward to continuing our Cybersmart learning journey in 2016 in Year 6.

The year ends ...

Celebrating success at prize-giving:

Congratulations to Zion (Year 5 Academic Excellence), Jessie (Most Improved Year 5 Student) and Katrina (Most Helpful Student Years 4-6).

Celebrating our heritage at our cultural festival:

Smart Learning by Prudence and Solomone

We have been learning to become Smart Learners. Mrs Grant has taught us to write a quality blog comment. We have learnt a lot about being Cybersmart, like kawa of care, secure password and Smart Footprint from Mrs Grant.

This screencast is about being Smart Learners.

Making cress seeds by Elisha

We were learning about how plants grow and seeds sprout. We grew cress and sprouted broad beans in class. We watched how water moves through plants by putting celery in coloured water.

This is how my cress changed over time.

Dare to explore

A librarian from Glen Innes library visited during today's assembly to let us know about the summer reading programme at Auckland Libraries for young people aged 5-13: Dare to explore.  Want to find out more? Pop into the GI or Panmure library, or sign up online.

A touch of fractions: what's a dummy half?

Trevor from Kiwisport has been improving our skills and knowledge of touch over the last four weeks. We were a bit worried when he started talking about a dummy. There were drills to practise planting the ball, stepping over the ball and passing the ball along the attacking line. We learnt that a dummy half is the player who picks up the ball after a rollover. On Thursday we put it all together and showed our thinking and speed when we played some mini games with Room 9.

Thank you, Mrs Grant!

While it seems like only yesterday that Rooms 9 and 10 began a digital learning journey, we are nearing the end of our first year as Smart Learners. It is remarkable how much we have learnt: from logging in and typing a capital letter to our kawa of care, digital footprint and generally being Cybersmart. None of this would have been possible without Mrs Grant! Thank you, Mrs Grant, for setting us up for success on our incredible learning adventure!

Awesome athletes!

Our awesome athletes showed their speed over 75 metres, 100 metres and 400 metres on a very warm afternoon last Wednesday in front of family and whānau.  Certificates were presented to our winners and runners-up today.  We wish Jessie, Kuini, Saluselo and Elisha the best of luck at inter-schools athletics at Lloyd Elsmore this Wednesday.

Snagit Reflections by Elisha

Athens and I made a snagit video and published it to our blog. We answered the questions that Miss Ginders and Mrs Buchanan made up.

Charles and Jerricho visit

Room 10 was excited when Charles and Jerricho came to visit yesterday.

They brought us a special card made by Room 1 after watching our movie, Kotahitanga.

The happy faces as well as the writing seem to say that they liked our movie.

My Favourite Movie - by Solomone

This is the screencast that I made with Mika in Room 9. We talked about a movie we liked best at the Film Festival. This movie will show you positive ways to be thinking of when you're on the internet. Watch the words!

A string of pearls, a lion with curls ...

Look what we found Down the back of the chair!  As part of Book Week, we created a class display which shares some of the treasures that appear in Margaret Mahy's rhyming story. Today it was hung in the library, so if you are looking for one of the twins or a diamond ring you will know where to find them.

Let's work together!

Yesterday Room 9 and Room 10 worked together to learn how to create a screencast using Snagit. Every Room 9 learner buddied up with a Room 10 learner to talk about and reflect on the favourite movies (so far) from Film Festival 2015. This talking and thinking was to be shared as a screencast. Miss Ginders and Mrs Buchanan were so proud of everyone learning together so successfully at this even though there were some challenges with the internet. When the final versions are ready, students will share these screencasts on individual blogs.   

Cybersmart Driving: Dum Dee Dum

Our Cybersmart learning focus at the moment is learning to write quality blog comments. Back at school after our visit to the movies on Wednesday, it was time to put our learning into practice:

 There was also a spontaneous reflection on Room 9's film ...

Film Festival Fever!

What an awesome day was had by all at the 8th Manaiakalani Film Festival.  Such excitement to be watching Kotahitanga on the big screen at Sylvia Park at our first film festival.  We were proud to share what we had created with our friends, family and whānau. Thank you to Katrina and Saluselo for presenting our movie during the day and at the evening showcase with such confidence.

Kau ma te wehi!

R is for ... Ruapotaka!

This is the first year that Ruapotaka School has created movies to share at the annual Manaiakalani Film Festival. This is also the first year that all learners in Room 10 are enjoying learning in a 1:1 digital environment. So, we decided to have some fun and experience new learning, creating a music video to showcase who we are and what we do in Room 10. As for the music, it was an easy choice: Stan Walker is an idol and a role model. He launched Aotearoa for Maori Language Week 2014 celebrating our country, our language and our culture. Here we celebrate kotahitanga: the unity of our shared culture, shared learning and shared experiences as one group belonging to a larger group - Room 10, Ruapotaka, Manaiakalani, Tāmaki-makau-rau, Aotearoa.






Aotearoa (Stan Walker feat. Ria Hall, Troy Kingi and Maisey Rika) used under Ruapotaka School's OneMusic copyright licence.

View the original music video Stan Walker - Aotearoa (Maori Language Week 2014).

I'm in a rotten mood!

Kuini was feeling in a much better mood after she had recited her poem, I'm in a rotten mood!, by Jack Prelutsky. Kuini was selected as one of the students in Room 10 to perform her poem at our whole school poetry assembly yesterday. Having practised and practised, she was able to remember all of the words with confidence, although the trickiest word ended up being the name of the poet - Prelutsky (say "Prayer-loot-ski"). Well done, Kuini!

Finding more fun down the back of the chair!

For the first time Ruapotaka School held a poetry recital yesterday.  Three students from each class each shared a poem with the whole school and parents. Saluselo and Zion so enjoyed reading Margaret Mahy's "Down the back of the chair" that they both learnt it off-by-heart. What effort and commitment!  It was a pleasure to watch their shared recital of this amusing poem.

I see fire on top of the mountain

Solomone knew what to do when he saw fire on top of the mountain last night. While in his garden, he saw the yellow flames climb high into the night sky and made a call to 111.  What quick thinking!

To find out how many fire trucks were needed to control the scrub fire on Mt Wellington, check out this NZ Herald video. 

Down the back of the chair!

This afternoon Room 10 were excited to host senior syndicate assembly to share what we learnt and created during our Book Week.  Did you know that the New Zealand author, Margaret Mahy, had over 200 books published for children and young adults?  As well as sharing this and other interesting facts in a quiz, we read her hilarious poem, Down The Back Of The Chair.  Our artwork will be displayed in the library once we have pulled out everything that hides down the back of the chair!

K is for ... Kotahitanga

 

Coming soon!

Room 10 is pleased to announce that

its new release will soon be screened at a theatre near you.

The place to be is Sylvia Park on 11th November!

Positive and specific!

What do we need to think about when writing a quality blog comment?

By using these helpful ideas and tips from Mrs Grant, we are learning to create quality blog comments.

My comic collage - by Jessie

When we were making a comic collage, we had to take photos of us doing these four steps. The reason why we had to do a comic collage was to make sure we will look after our chromebook safely. When we were finished our comic collage, we all had a look at them as a class and there were mainly photos of Malae!

Who has the longest perimeter?

To check what we know about measuring length, we each measured our perimeter.  We agreed that we would use centimetres as our unit of measurement. Most of us predicted that Bella would have the longest perimeter in Room 10 as she is quite tall.

We worked with two buddies so we could help each other.  First of all, while one of us made the biggest shape we could, our buddies drew the shape.  Next it was time to measure the four sides of the shape accurately.  We worked out the perimeter by adding the length of the four sides together.

After finding the longest perimeter in each group, we compared measurements to decide the longest perimeter in Room 10.  Yes, our prediction was correct: it was Bella.  She made a shape with a perimeter of 584 cm.

Homai Te Pakipaki

Yesterday we were really excited when Tyrone Toka, a Year 10 student at Tamaki College, visited to share his amazing singing and ukelele skills at our school assembly. Tyrone has appeared on Homai Te Pakipaki and will be performing again in a semi-final. He has immense talent and big dreams. Tune in to Maori TV to support our local talent at 8:30pm this Friday evening. Kau ma te wehi!

"We're making clay pizza" by Leilani

My class mates and I were making fraction pizza out of clay. It was fun. We were talking about what toppings we were going to put on and who we were going to share the pizza with. When we made our pizza, we had to make sure that me and my buddy had the same amount of topping when we cut the pizzas into quarters, thirds and halves.  That's what we're up to with our maths.

The ShakeOut

We practised to get ready for the national

earthquake drill at 9:15am yesterday morning:

DROP, COVER, HOLD!

We now know what to do if we are indoors, outside

or driving in a car and there is an earthquake:

DROP, COVER, HOLD!

Going to save the world! by Zion

This is one of the first Digital Learning Objects that we created and it was quite tricky.  I chose somewhere in the world I would like to visit one day.  Then I found an image of it on Google images.  Next, I cut around a photograph of my head using Pixlr so I could put  myself in that place.  Maybe I will travel there in the future in real life.

Notice Anything Suspicious? by Mary

We are learning to create strong, unique passwords and make sure our Google account is secure.

Whakarongo mai!

On the last day of Term 3 we enjoyed listening to the different speakers at the Year 4-6 speech finals. As well as Zion speaking about crocodiles, Tupouseini shared her knowledge of moa and Bella spoke in her first language, Tongan.  Next we were part of the audience listening to the Year 7 & 8 speech finals about rugby, friendship and goals for the future.

All about crocodiles

Thank you, Zion, for sharing your knowledge about crocodiles at the Year 4-6 speech finals on Friday.  You carried out a great deal of research and thought carefully about the facts you wanted to share.  You remained calm and confident in front of your large audience.  Well done!

Happy about homework

And the certificate goes to ... Alexandra.

Alexandra is happy about homework because she is the one and only student in Room 10 to be presented with an A-grade homework certificate for Term 3. Her homework was completed to a high standard and handed in on time during the term. What a terrific effort!

Good job, Alexandra!

Representing Ruapotaka

Julianne and Solomone were the Year 5 representatives from Ruapotaka at the inter-schools cross-country competition this week. They both thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of running around the course at Bailey Road.  Julianne showed grit and determination to come 6th in the girls event. Solomone stumbled and fell in the muddy area but picked himself up and felt proud to finish the event with runners still behind him. Ka mau te wehi!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Blast Off!

Today we each launched our personal blog. Mission accomplished!  We were excited and proud to publish our first post, a blog profile. This writing lets us share a little about ourselves and our goals. It also makes us think about how much we have learnt about the Chromebook and being Cybersmart with Mrs Grant so far this year. 

Sadly, Mrs Krausse spent her final session with Mrs Grant in Room 10 today, although she will be able to check in with us digitally in future.  Our next step on our Cybersmart journey is learning how to make quality blog comments.  We look forward to sharing this learning here and in our personal blogs during Term 4.

I want to be a superstar like Maria Tutaia

Kia ora! My name is Mary. I am nine years old and my culture is Cook Island.  I go to Ruapotaka School and I am in Room 10.  I am a Year 5 student and my class teacher is Mrs Buchanan.

I am learning some Cybersmart stuff in Room 10, like creating some Google drawings. My favourite subjects are reading and maths. I like maths because we do other things like problem solving.  My goal is to learn my 8 and 9 times tables. I like reading because we get to read different stories. My favourite thing to do is sports.

I admire my family because they take care of me. When I grow up, I want to be a superstar like Maria Tutaia.

K is for ...

Manaiakalani Film Festival 2015

Co-operation + Effort + Fun = Our class movie

   Filming ✔ Music ✔ Editing ✔ Release date: 11th November 2015

Sailor the Puffer Fish

Asthma is a problem for a lot of people in New Zealand.  Last week Chris and Sailor the Puffer Fish visited to teach us all they know about asthma.  Some of us already know a fair bit, but now we all know why it can be difficult to breathe with asthma; how to use a puffer properly to help treat asthma; and how we can help and what to do if someone has an asthma attack. Saluselo did a great job helping Chris with the show too.

Watch us ... running!

We have celebrated the success of our running winners and champions, but everyone in Room 10 tried their personal best as they ran twice around the block last Wednesday. It is wonderful to see greater fitness and stamina after our regular running this term. Awesome work!

Just keep running!

Awesome Origami

While making origami twirling birds, there were lots of things we needed to think about.  First of all we had to create a square out of our rectangular paper. Next we had to carefully read the instructions so that we were able to fold our paper in the correct sequence. Voila!  Soon there were birds twirling all around Room 10.

A flash of light

Some of Room 10 put on a fantastic performance singing at Room 12's syndicate assembly this afternoon.   Although the road was long, they weren't afraid!  They sang along and were placed second in Room 12's talent quest.  Ka pai!

10, 9, 8 ...

Everyone in Room 10 thought carefully as they began to create a profile for their personal blog last week.  They had to remember what information they would like to share and what they would like to keep private.  Decisions also had to be made about an image to be inserted in the profile: a photographed face, a self-portrait or another piece of artwork?

Soon our individual blogs will be ready to launch! 10, 9, 8 ...

Golden moments

 Room 10 created a host of golden daffodils on Friday using paper of different colours and textures. Congratulations to Alexandra whose daffodil has been "planted" in a display in our school library.

Blog profiles: the same or different?

There is a lot to think about as we learn about becoming and staying Cybersmart.  To help us, we have been exploring the personal blogs of some Manaiakalani learners to see if they match our "To share or not to share" ideas.  We have learnt that each blog is unique as bloggers don't all share the same kinds of information about themselves.  We have used a Venn diagram to show what is the same and what is different.

A picture of kind words

How do we make it easier to learn with others when we're part of a group?

We created word pictures of our ideas and discussions.

Watch us! .... at our syndicate assembly

Yesterday we hosted senior syndicate assembly.  We gained confidence and overcame some challenges as we prepared and practised for our assembly.  We laughed a lot too!

Many thanks to our special guests who performed such stylish moves.

To share or not to share?

Following his dreams ...

Mr Calver has been coming to Ruapotaka for two and a half years to talk to us about following our dreams, working hard, being responsible and being a good friend.  Today it was time to say goodbye and thank you to him at a special assembly before he begins a new job.  We wish him all the best.

Lazy Boy!

This week we have watched some movies from the Manaiakalani Film Festival 2014 to find out what kinds of films other schools and classes have created.  We are also learning about the techniques that were used to create the movies.  We thought The Last Apple and Lazy Boy were hilarious.

After watching the movies, we wrote our ideas about what we had learnt.  Here is an example:

Netball News

Stop, look and listen!

Ronald McDonald visited Ruapotaka this morning to share his messages about keeping safe around roads.  We were reminded about crossing the road safely at a crossing, taking care crossing "sneaky" driveways and being safe in the car by going "click, click, click".  We all have certificates to show that we learnt these important safety messages.

Fit to dance and read ...

We have been busy having fun as we prepare to host our syndicate assembly.  Our Nae Nae crew shared why we like dance to practise speaking in front of a camera.

As two special visitors from Tamaki College came to Ruapotaka this afternoon, we will now host our syndicate assembly in two weeks' time. Our visitors told us how much they love reading and how much reading they need to do at college.  This means that they will be ready to go to university next year! Duffy will be very proud.

A smart footprint

Now that we can use the Chromebooks more quickly and have learnt some tips and tricks to create a strong password as part of being Cybersmart, we are finding out what types of information learners can share on blogs.  Here is an example of an infographic that Katrina has created to share what she has discovered.  She has thought carefully about her layout and when choosing colours so that it is easy to read the information.

How secure is my password?

There are some important things to think about when choosing and creating a password: how do we create a strong, secure and unique password?  Here are some things Mrs Grant has asked us to think about.  We will share some more of our ideas as we complete our posters!

Our Top Tips!

We have been learning lots of shortcuts so that we can work efficiently
on the Chromebooks.  Here are our Top Tips!

The Return of The Mad Messenger

The MAD Messenger visited Rooms 9 & 10 at Ruapotaka on Friday 31st July 2015.  Through music, art and drama, he came to share his wisdom about making wise choices in life and being the superhero that you can be.

Our Snail Mail from England