ICT exploration

Yesterday we explored some computer programmes with a buddy. We had lots of fun creating pictures and videos on 'Photo Booth'.
Some wonderful questioning and sharing. Ka pai!

Sending a "Tweet"

Today we have been taking part in Kids Chat with other children from around New Zealand. We have been talking about what makes us 'Awesome', about achieving our goals and being the best we can be.  Here is Niko sending a 'tweet' (a message).

We are Awesome!

We are going to participate in Kidsedchatnz tomorrow. The topic is 'You are a Genius'.  Today we talked about what makes us AWESOME!!!!   Watch the video below to hear how fantastic we are.

Kids Chat NZ

This Thursday we are going to participate in our first Kids chat discussion using 'twitter'.  This week's chat is about our unique talents and abilities. Click on the image below to visit the Kidsedchatnz website and view the questions we will be discussing.

During the week we will be exploring the questions as a class, and celebrating our achievements and our special talents.

Matariki Stories

Last week we wrote our own versions of a Matariki legend - The Seven Fish. Today we learnt how to record our stories using keynote.

By AndrewSaulEllieLukeEmerZavierTahlia CurtinHannah

Learning how to use Keynote

Today we have been learning how to record our stories using keynote.  We learnt lots of new skills.  We learnt how to drag pictures onto slides, order our slides, record and voices and save our work.  

Celebrating our blogging success

This month room 5 has reached 1000 views on their blog and we have reached 2000 views.
We decided to celebrate with hot chocolate and cake. We turned room 6 into 'Cafe Clyde'.

Thank you our blog visitors

Amelie's Dragon Story

Introducing Ourselves in Maori

On-line Identities

We have been learning about computer safety and what information should and shouldn't be shared on the internet.  We have made some avatars, which are cartoons of ourselves.  These are our on-line identities.  We have tried to make them look like ourselves. Who do you think looks most like their avatar?

To answer Miss Tyrrell's question - here is Mrs Kitto's avatar above.

Interactive Whiteboard

This week we started using the interactive whiteboard during our reading rotation.  It was fun moving letters around to make new words.

Mr White's Voice Message

Thanks Mrs White for leaving a voice message for us.  

To listen to the other 'Voice messages' that people have left, click on the 'Voice messages' tab at the top to the page.  We really appreciate all the messages we have received. 

Questioning skills

Last week we sent some questions to Gabby Zapata who created the short film that we used as inspiration for our bubble writing. She wrote back to us today.  You can listen to our questions and read her responses below.    

1.When did you make your movie?

I made my short film 2 years ago for my college thesis.

2.How did you make the bubbles see through?

There are settings in a 3D program that can help me adjust how see-through I want things to be

3. How many pictures did you have to draw?

This wasn't drawn. It was animated in 3D! Which means, I make things move on the computer and it basically creates "drawings". 

4. How did you decide which ones looked best?

Haha, mostly time! I didn't have enough time to be completely thorough and picked which ones looked best. So, whichever looked decent enough to continue production :)

5. Why did you make the movie?

I made it because I wanted to create something charming that everyone can enjoy and that can relate to. It was also part of my senior film project that we all as students had to make.

6. Was it hard to make the movie and how long did it take you to make it?

It was challenging at times for sure! But I just kept pushing hard until I got to something that I liked. This took about a year and a  half to make. 

7. How did you make the objects move?

Its a 3D program called "Maya" Where we model objects in the file and we put bones/skeleton so that we can move them around however we want, just like a puppet :)

8. How many movies have you made?

This was my only short film. In school though, we were given small assignments so I made little animations here and there. 

9. Why did you choose to be an artist?

I felt this was the easiest way for me to express myself as well as share the joy of creating new things and sharing it with the world!

10. How did you make the water splash in your movie?

Haha, those were actually drawings! I drew a bunch of images showing water splashing and them I put it into a program that put it together.

11. We see from your blog that you are working for Disney.  Can you tell us a little bit about your job and what it entails? 

I work at Disney Mobile! So I am working on their upcoming unannounced app game coming soon for free on mobile devices! Such as iphone, ipad, amazon, droid, and other major mobile devices. You guys should download it when it comes out :)! I can't talk about the title or anything yet, but it will be super fun I'm sure!What I do at work basically involves designing characters, drawing backgrounds, modeling objects in 3D, painting textures and many more things!

I am so honored and happy to see what your students have written! It really has touched my heart. Really great story-tellers and artists! :)

Thanks again!

Clifford's retelling of Rata and the Canoe

Rata and the Canoe

On Wednesday we listened to the story of Rata and the Canoe. As we listened to the story we drew four pencil sketches that would help us to retell the story to other people. It was really tricky remembering the story with only pictures as a prompt, but everyone did very well. During guided reading time one of our activities is to record ourselves retelling the story. You will be able to listen to our stories shortly.   
Megan recorded her story during reading time today and you can listen to it below.  

On-line Identities

Today we created avatars, which will be used as our on-line identities.  

Can you work out who each character is?

Megan's Story

Creative Writing -  “The Day I Turned into ..........:

During writing time we imagined what it might be like to turn into someone or something else.  Next, we created pictures using Kidpix, google images, and our interactive whiteboard to combine the images.  Lastly we wrote stories to accompany our pictures.  We hope you enjoy listening to our stories.

Liam's Story

Eli's Story - The day I turned into a monkey....