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!