Manaiakalani Film Festival

Digital Storytelling is the new thing in education and I suggest that you should not be afraid of it neither should you praise it instead you should use it as an education tool. That’s what the Manaiakalani Cluster is doing by holding the Manaiakalani Film Festival. Tamaki Intermediate School and Pt England School were the first to view the films made exclusively by the
Manaiakalani Schools. It was chilly that November morning when we all piled on to the bus. It soon became clammy inside the cramped bus all the way to Sylvia Park Hoyts to see the films on the X-treme Screen.

After the confined, clammy, cramped bus journey the bus came to a halt outside Sylvia Park and we all skipped, hopped and jumped off the bus. It was raining so we all ran across the pedestrian crossing like we were running a sprinting race. When we walked into the courtyard it was like a scene out of a movie. The arch above us slowly moved as we walked to reveal a huge, beautiful Christmas tree decorated from top to bottom with reindeer, sleighs, Santa, toys and everything related to Christmas.

We then followed on to the escalators and then we turned and went up the stairs while Pt England were happily gliding up the escalator. We ran as fast as we could and then we stopped so suddenly that it was like we hit a brick wall only because the door could only fit two people at a time.

Soon we were seated and the films started.. First up were two people from our school, Afu and Apelu. Their movie was fantastic and an enormous success. It was about Digital Storytelling and it was called Are You Ready? It was aimed at teachers and parents/caregivers. The next few movies passed through my mind like a hot knife through butter. Until one great movie caught my eye, Who’s Your Neighbour? was what it was called. It had a great moral and good filming and cute little actors playing the good Samaritans.

Over all I thought that all of the movies were fantastic but a few really caught my eye.

Unity in Diversity

As an end product of our inquiry learning project on "Heroes" we made this movie. It is a documentary worth watching.

Inter Zone Boys Softball Tournament at Tamaki Intermediate School

On Thursday the 11th of March I was sitting in class doing my work when Mr Horan walked in and asked for some helpers. I put my hand up and he chose me and seven others who would help him run the softball tournament.
We all went under the A.S.B. tent and put our vest jackets on. We asked what we were going to be doing for him. He told us that we would be scoring and recording the softball games for the day.
We all had a diamond to look after and we got our first scorecard with Tamaki vs Bailey Road but I swapped with Taiapa for the shade that his diamond was in. So then I had Parnell vs Panmure District School. Parnell won that game.
The next few games were quite boring as no-one got many runs. Right up until the Parnell vs Saint Thomas’. Parnell got 10 runs in the first innings. But unfortunately Saint Thomas’ only got 1 run so it was over for Saint Thomas’.
At the end of the day all of the teams lined up and waited for Mr Horan to tell them who came 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Parnell came 1st, Ellerslie came 2nd and Sylvia Park came 3rd.
I had a really fun, exciting and exhilarating day but I was very disappointed that Tamaki Intermediate lost but at least everyone had fun in the sun!
By Scott
Room 2

Just So Story - How the Giraffe got a blue tongue!

One day in the Savannah Gerry Giraffe got an invitation to a party titled ‘Party in the Jungle’ in the jungle from his friend Harry Hippo.
Harry Hippo was an old friend of Gerry’s from when they worked together in Gary’s Garbage Swamp.

“How am I going to get there in time I don’t have a car or even a bike?” He asked himself. He worried so much that he lost track of time and he only had five minutes before he was not going to not be allowed into the ‘Party in the Jungle’.
Gerry quickly ran next door to his neighbor ‘Old Lady Zee’ to see if he could get a ride but then he remembered that she was always testing her crazy potions on him but he still went in.

“Oh hello deary how can an old witchdoctor help a young buck like you” Old Lady Zee asked Gerry.

“I really need a ride to a party before it’s too late, if you can?” Gerry asked.

“Oh well try this then hop in my car” Old Lady Zee said quickly.

“Oh No! Not more soup well ...O.K” Gerry said.

She made him have the potion and suddenly Gerry’s tongue turned dark blue.
“Arrrrrgggggh” He screamed. What he didn’t know was that it was permanent.
That is how Giraffes got their blue tongues.

By Scott (Room 16)

Room 16 - Inquiry learning is a clever way to learn!

The first thing we did this term was swimming at Swimarama to improve our swimming skills. The walk down to the pools was long and hot. We did this so our fitness levels could improve as well. We struck two birds at one go!
This term we have been busy filming for our BlogSpot Tamaki Tales. Earle is our camera whiz! Some more of us are training to be cameramen and presenters. Thanks to Miss Walley and Mr. Munnik. All of us students involved with EHSAS work have had to work on our voice and expression.
In unit studies we have studied about conflicts and how to resolve them. We studied about conflicts in the world and how they are being resolved by the world leaders and common people. We made conflict art, using words about conflict. Each student in the extension unit is researching about a different world conflict. Social Inquiry learning is a clever way to learn!
We have been writing a lot of awesome narratives and painless poems for our writing. We have endeavored to make sure our writing has interesting adjectives, similes and better phrases. Overall it has been a fantastic experience as first years and we have had a lot of fun. We are looking forward to next term and different learning adventures.

Written by Scott, Jorjah and Lorraine

Room 16 - Painless Poetry 2

Room 16 has written more painless poetry in class. In this video Scott, Ramona, Renz and Taiapa share their painless poems. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed writing them.