Collaboration with other Countries: Exemplar

While school has just finished for 2014 in New Zealand for the year we were thrilled to find out that our friends Mrs Yollis and her class from California, USA have created a video based on our students work. Earlier this year our Kapahaka Group created a series of 'How To' videos about different games that were traditional to Maori. Mrs Yollis and her class, across the other side of the world have used that video and work to teach their students
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They would like some feedback about their videos - have they done the correct moves? They would also like to know if there are any other traditional games that are played here, or in your country that you know of.  We're very fortunate to have Mrs Yollis recognise our work, she is famous in blogging, being one of the top teachers in the world with a massive audience.  We were pleased to have 60,000 pageviews this year - Mrs Yollis has had 1.5 million.  She is an amazing commentator and a great online model and friend.   This is her class video:

Google Education Group NZ

This is well worth having a look at. Learn about blogging and why to blog and also some great ideas from the SMACKDOWN!

Edublog Student Blogging Challenge

You don't have be using the Edublog Platform to be part of this challenge. You can also opt into the challenge and then pick and choose what you complete during the time. I would suggest you look into it as it provides a ready built resource for challenges and tasks that you can complete. Its also an opportunity to collaborate with other teachers involved in blogging and also you can register your students individually. This is the post describing the challenge that I posted on the Room One Class Page:

Today Room One discovered some fantastic news - we've had our work featured in Miss W's Student Blogging Challenge.  The challenge which is run every year, features the best online work and is a great introduction to online blogging with classroom and student challenges.   Miss W has highlighted the work of Alyssa in writing an introduction about Auroa Primary School and our area from the start of the year.   You can click on the link to see the feature here, and you can sign up for the blogging challenge here.  If you want to click on Alyssa's blog you can do so here.

Its a great introduction for blogging for teachers looking for resources and ideas and wonderful to see some of our other online friends mentioned - Mrs Yollis from the USA and our friends from If Only the Best Birds Sang in Ireland.  You can click on the links to the wonderful work of these fantastic teachers and classrooms here.

Emily Post About Auroa School Market Day

Today Auroa Primary School held their Re-Purposing Market Day. One of our students, Emily, whose had nearly 8,000 pageviews on her student blog, wrote this recount and created this slideshow about the event. You can source the original post on her blog here. 

Today was a very important day for our school, our unit topic for this term is "Re-purposing - the art of turning something old and making it new again" Every student enjoyed it but without a doubt the best part for me was the market day. At the start of term we all chose a re-purposed product that would be thoroughly tested and tried over the next few weeks. Our group chose an original idea called "Drinking Jars"

The Concept-

It was made of a Re-purposed jar, taped with a stripy design and then spray painted, once you peel the tape off it reveals a nice design we then drilled holes into the lids and added a straw. Afterward we filled it with juice for our customers. But the great part is, it can be used again, and again, and again!
We thought our idea was pretty cool.  Everyone must have thought so too because the customers kept pilling in so much that we actually sold out in a matter of minutes!  However there are also many other businesses and classes that need to be credited for their hard work and dedication.  Here is a slideshow with a few photo's capturing the day in all it's glory.

Market Day 2014 on PhotoPeach

Connecting with the Current Events in our Area

This afternoon thanks to a big supporter of our school, Sanfords, Auroa Primary School students were able to view the 'missing' trans Tasman Kayak of Scott Donaldson.   Scott Donaldson attempted to solo Kayak from Australia to New Zealand, however sadly after 83 days at sea he had to abandon his attempt.   Since then he's been looking for his Kayak, including searching for it extensively, but being unable to locate it.  Today it was found, close to Auroa Primary School.  It was recovered today and brought into school for our students to have a look.  These photos of the craft were taken this afternoon.

Kayak2014 - Video Maker

You can read about Room Seven writing about the event here. You can read about Room Eight writing about the event here. You can read about Emily from Room One writing about the event here. The fantastic thing about this post is that Scott Donaldson contacted us directly after we posted it, and mentioned on breakfast TV today that his Kayak was visiting some local Taranaki Schools.

Room 3@Auroa Schools Amazing Pick-A-Paths

Auroa Primary School Holiday Blog Posts

Theres some fantastic work from our students to highlight in the meantime. Emilys Blog continues to go from strength to strength and soon she will reach the 7,000 page views mark. You can keep up to date with her fantastic postings, including her review of the New Plymouth Phantom of the Opera here.

We've been successful during these holidays with our Basketball team winning the Langton Cup, a local competition you can read a report about it by the tournament MVP (Girls) Isabelle here.  We've also had students completing work independently in the holidays.  Have a look at Alyssa's review of Frozen here.

Gemma played in the Taranaki Development A Team - you can read this recount of her tournament here.

Alice has just returned from holiday in Fiji.  While she was there she took a number of photos and has since created a slideshow with some amazing images from her time away.  You can click on this link to view her work.

There are also some other fantastic Auroa Primary School Class Blogs Ongoing.  Mr Spice has just celebrated a fantastic achievement - 15,000 page views this year! Room Eight have posted some great pictures from the snow, which you can see here.  Mrs Ericisson Class produced some outstanding examples of our Ako, Repurposing.  You can see their amazing planter boxes here.

Practical use of 3d Printer

During the past several weeks a group of Auroa Primary School students have been working on a design project with our 3d Printer.   As mentioned in the original post it centred around a broken latch for a classroom cupboard in Room One.

Today was an exciting day in class as the students believe that they have solved the problem.  The latch has taken many designs and many forms from its original incarnation to the version that has been printed in the last day.   You can see details of this in the video created by the students.  Michael and Logan, with the assistance of James, who is currently overseas have driven a project from the start.

They have identified the problem, created the design on paper (in their own time), designed it virtually (using Tinkercad), printed versions of the latch, re-designed the latch several times (currently in its eleventh version) and continued to re-model and redesign the latch.  They are at the point were they have created a 'ball and joint' mechanism, modelled on a socket design, that fits perfectly and will tomorrow be attached to the cupboard to solve the problem.


3D printer project: cuboard clips from Myles Webb on Vimeo.


A student solution to a problem with a great process and we couldn't be more proud of them.   This video below was created by the students and detailed the entire process.   The students are currently re-working a Google Presentation about the process which will be posted shortly.  This video created by Michael and Logan on Thursday 3rd July, 2014.

Blogging from Overseas

Recently some of our Auora Primary School students have had some fantastic opportunities in other countries.  One of the great things about the potential for blogging is that the students can contribute or post, even if they are in a different country and continue to share their learning.  Three students from Room One have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to do so recently.

James is currently in Europe, having posted about some amazing adventures along the way.  Dayna recently was able to blog about her time in Fiji.  Will also has published an amazing series of posts about what he's been able to do.  You can see some of his images and his media by clicking on the link here.  He was also able to visit a School and be involved in a Kava Ceremony, you can watch his slideshow here.

Movenote

Check out this new item. Go to the chrome store to download this great app.

Dr Seuss guide to tweeting

A Dr. Seuss-Inspired Guide to Twitter from HootSuite

MOA CLUSTER WORkSHOP #1 - Auroa

Auroa School would like to welcome Matapu and Opunake school to our first of 3 workshops this year.  Please find below a copy of the programme and a little information to inform you about the workshops that we will be running.  In each of the two sessions we will be running 3 different workshops that you will be able to attend.  We will also be videoing the workshops to put up on the blog afterwards so if later you wish to see them or you have forgotten something you can go back and revisit it.  It is very important that you fill in the registration form.  Only those email addresses will have permission to view the video's.

4:00 - Welcome and meeting and greet.  Myles and I will also share some stories about our trip to Singapore last week

4:10 - Session 1 begins -  Please refer to the timetable

4:30 - Session 2 begins -  Please refer to the timetable

4:50 - Wind up and questions

Room 8	Room 1	Room 5
Padlet – Online collaboration    Presenters – Alidia Ericsson and Kelly Davidson Be introduced to the power of padlet.  This is an online tool to gather the thoughts and ideas of your class.  You are also able to use the embed code to post on your class blog	Student Blogs – Getting your children connected! Presenter – Myles Webb In this workshop you will get to see some of the sample of what children in Room 1 have been up to this term.  A great place to get some ideas of how to kick off student blogs in your classroom.	YouTube - More than you think Presenter – Heath Chittenden In this workshop you will learn about how to use the different tools in YouTube.  Learn about video editing, slideshows and other tips on how to get the most from this web 2.0 tool.
Arasma, Educreations and more – An approach to Maths     Presenters – Shakira Nicholas and Shelley Berry This workshop is action packed full of information about how to bring your learning intentions to life through these apps.  Looking for a quick embed code to show a maths strategy.  This workshop will provide the answers through educreations	Presentation – How to use this tool to inspire young writers Presenter – Brent Spice Learn about how to create picker path stories for children that are fully interactive.  Brent will also show you how to embed these straight into your blogs so your children can enjoy them at home with their families.  This workshop will open your eyes to new and exciting ways to use presentation	Chrome add ons – Unlocking the power in the chrome Presenter – Heath Chittenden In this workshop you will about a few tricks in Google chrome. Have multiple email accounts and are sick and tired of logging in and out, how do you match that perfect colour from your browser, these questions and more will be answered at this workshop.

MOA Cluster Workshop Registration Form

Auroa Room 2 - Kidsedchat

Today Room 2 participated in Kidsedchatnz for the second time.  For more information, go to kidsedchatnz.blogspot.co.nz  It is highly engaging and Room 2 are very enthusiastic tweeters. This week the topic was:  'The Courage to Continue'.  Today Josh, Joe, Jacob, Ben, Danielle, Te Putu, Haze and Caleb answered the following questions:

Question 1:

What sports are offered at your school?

Question 2:

What makes a great sportsman?

Question 3:

Who is your favourite sporting hero? What attributes of theirs standout?

Question 4:

Why is it important to be involved a sport?

Question 5:

What sport do you need the most skill to play?  Persuade the rest of us (try and start a conversation with another class)!

Question 6:

How have you displayed courage while playing a sport?

Question 7:

If you could take 3 sportsmen out for dinner who would they be?

Room 4 - Matapu - Blend Brainstorms!

This week Room 4 have been focusing on the sound that the letters 'bl' make. They went around the school and took pictures of things that start with a 'bl' sound. Jazmyn and Jahvana made this in 'pic collage' and labelled all the pictures, to show our learning.

Room 7 Auroa - Basic Facts Ladder

We just got our basic facts ladder up and running today. Most children are working on finger patterns to 10. Parents and Whanau please come in and have a look at what your child's next steps are. 

Room 7 Auroa - Writing

They have been learning to use full stops and capital letters in the correct places. 

Room 8 Auroa - Listening to Music

In Room 8 this week, we  have started to learn about music. We have been thinking about tempo (fast and slow) and we have been learning how to read musical rhythms. We discovered that by listening to music we can hear a story. We listened to Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King, and closed our eyes to imagine what was happening in the music. Miss Nicholas didn't tell the class what the piece was called, so that they could form their own ideas. After, we watched an orchestra performance of the same piece on youtube, and discussed and researched the instruments we could see. Room 8 has been asking to listen to the piece every day since! We hope you enjoy some of our stories about what we heard!

Room 8 Auroa - Counting On

The Pentagons maths group is learning to add by counting on from the biggest number. Here is a video Bailey and Siobhan made to explain how to use this strategy. We used the App "Farmyard Make a Scene" to create a problem, then the children took a snapshot of this and imported it into Educreations to solve it. 

Room 8 Auroa - Puppet Pals

In reading at the moment, Isabella is focusing on using expression, and thinking about what is interesting to listen to. Today Isabella used the Ipad app Puppet Pals for the first time. She first read her new book with Miss N, then she created her characters by taking photos from her book. She then went outside onto the deck to create this animation all by herself. You can hear her using her reading strategies when she comes to a tricky word, and using some beautiful expression. Kapai Isabella!

Isabella Reads- Help Me- Using Puppet Pals from Room 8 Auroa on Vimeo.

Room 6 Auroa - Our Passions using Padlet

Padlet

Created with Padlet

Room 6 Auroa - Bio Art

Please watch our 'Bio Poem Art' video where students have written poems about themselves and then used warm and cool coloured oil pastels to create these vibrant works of art. Take a watch and then come in and look in the classroom to see your child’s beautiful poem too!
 
Bio Poem Art from Alidia Ericsson on Vimeo.

Look how well the students blended in the pastels so no white paper could be seen!

Room 3 Auroa - Scary Story

Room 3 are looking at descriptive writing this week and it gave me an idea about how to make it more interactive. Here is a little pick-a-path adventure. Click on the dark blue links to escape the haunted house. But be warned it's scary. This works best with Google chrome. The links may not work with other web browsers

Room 3 Auroa - Making a blog title in comic life

Here are some students from Room 3 demonstrating how to make your own custom blog title in comic life and upload it to your own blog. We hope you enjoy the video. Please leave a comment if you found it helpful.

Room 1 Auroa - Haikudeck

Today in class we looked at using 'Haiku Deck' as a way of displaying information. As part of the Global Blogging Challenge we made a connection from Austin Texas with Mrs Kriese's Classroom. They created a Haikau Deck about their home town and state of Austin, Texas - which inspired us to do the same. Most of our class were unfamiliar with Haiku Deck but we had a tight deadline, which was to plan, complete from scratch and publish a Haiku Deck about our area. These are two examples from the students of Auroa Primary School about our School and area:

This was produced by Tahana from our class:

 
Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

This Haiku Deck about our area was created by Kaiah, Meg and Heavenlee
Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app

MOA Digi Awards 2014

On the 25th of September 2014, the MOA cluster proudly presents the very first Digi Awards.  These awards are designed to recognised digital excellence in education at Matapu, Opunake and Auroa Schools.  The categories for the 3 schools to enter in are as follows

There are 3 sections.  Junior (Years 0-3) Intermediate (Years 4-6) and Senior (Years 7/8).  Children and staff will be able to enter in the following categories

- Best Student Blog (Intermediate and Senior)

- Best Class Blog(Teacher)                         

- Best Short Movie (Junior/Intermediate and Senior)                

- Best Animation (Junior/Intermediate and Senior)           

- Best Music Video (Junior/Intermediate and Senior)          

- Best Educational Video (Junior/Intermediate and Senior)  

- Best Actor (Overall)

- Best Actress (Overall)

- Best Narrator (Overall)

- Best Teaching with ICT

- Graphic Design Poster (Junior/Intermediate and Senior)  

- Best Original Image (Junior/Intermediate and Senior)                                        

- Best Te Ao Maori (Overall) 
                                       

- Supreme Junior/Intermediate/Senior