Meet Ms Haapala!

Greetings! My name is Ms. Megan Haapala and I have been working in Mrs Lagitupu’s fantastic Year 7 & 8 class this week.  I am from the United States, specifically from the state of Michigan (the one that looks like a mitten).  I traveled to New Zealand with a group of 11 new teachers.  We all just graduated from the university.  We are from two different universities - Michigan State University and Oakland University.  I am in New Zealand for 3 weeks and am visiting schools around Auckland and Wellington.  Point England is definitely the best around and I don’t want to leave!

This week in class I have watched the students working hard on various assignments.  With the theme “Art Alive”, I am very impressed with learning the class is doing on different artists.  They have been working hard learning about famous artists, where they came from, and how they became the way they are. I sure have learned a lot from the discussion I have had with the students and by reading their compare and contrast 5 paragraph papers!  Very impressive!  

They have also been working on describing their “favorite place”.  I have read about many different places including the rugby field, beaches, homes, and cities.  The students are starting to draw these favorite places in the styles of the artists they have been working on.  I can’t wait to see the final results!   I also got to experience tech (at Tamaki College) with the Year 7s and got to try my hand at making some delicious chocolate cookies. Yummy!  Along the same line, I was able to read some awesome podcasts on books the students have been reading.  They are absolutely fantastic.  

It has been an exciting week at Point England.  I have had so much fun talking to the students and learning about their lives and sharing some laughs.  I really love this school and have been very lucky to have been able to visit for a whole week!  It has been absolutely fantastic!  I look forward to looking at the students blogs when I am back in the states and leaving some comments on their work.  THANK YOU FOR THE LOVELY WEEK!!

Matthew - Comparing Matisse and Van Gogh

Our class teacher has asked our class to compare Vincent Van Goghs painting of ‘Sunflowers’ and Henri Matisse’s painting ‘La Musique’. Henri Matisse was a French artist who used a very different style of painting called Fauvism. Fauvism actually means ‘wild beast’ in French and that’s how Henri Matisse painted. Vincent Van Gogh became a famous artist when he died. When he was alive he was very sad and he even chopped his ear lobe off and sent it to his girlfriend.

When I observe Vincent Van Goghs painting ‘Sunflowers’ I can see that the flowers look rotten and have not been taken care of. The background colours look dull. Lots of yellows and browns have been used. Also some flowers have lost their petals. The colour yellow is meant to make you feel like dancing but the painting doesn’t express that emotion. I think that Vincent Van Gogh was painting how he felt.

As I carefully eye up the painting La Musique I think that there are lots and lots of bright colours and patterns. By looking at the background patterns I could tell that Henri Matisse was a happy man. There is a mixture of colours and he used lots of triangular shapes. What I really realised is he painted two ladies and no men and one of the ladies is holding a guitar and also there are heaps of contrasting colour.

To me I think that ‘Sunflowers’ and ‘La Musique’ have hardly any similarities between each other. Mostly because ‘Sunflowers’ colours are dull, meaningless and sad colours and ‘La Musique’ has bright colours and lots of contrast. But one similarity is that both of the paintings have included types of plants. Another is that they both used the same colour yellow in their patterns. From what I see I don’t think that there are any other similarities.

From what I have experienced I think I had a good time observing both paintings. Also I have learnt to look at things more carefully to see some really unoticable similarities.


by Matthew T

Our Magic Winners!

Congratulations to the group of students who won their category in the competition. They received their prizes in assembly from Josephine Bartley and Alan Verrall from the Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board.

From left (standing): Makerita, James, Alan Verrall, Shoal, Huelo-ata, Josephine Bartley, Selena,

In front: Toreka, Gabriel, Mary L

This was our entry for the MAGIC competition. We would love to see a few of these ideas happen when the Glen Innes Music and Arts Centre opens. You can also view our entry on the following website: http://gimusicarts.co.nz/competition/ and leave us a comment if you like our movie. Thanks!

Camp Concert 2012 by Toreka

“Next we have......... THE RESPECT CREW!!!” Mr Barks excitedlly announced. “YAAAY!!!!”, “WOOHOO!!”, “GO RESPECT CREW!!!!!” was all I managed to hear. Although it was our second night on our final year of camp, we still hadn’t had that much time to adjust to our group name. Sooo... while everyone was cheering for us, we actually didn’t realise that it was our turn to perform. We simply sat there waiting for an exciting performance, only to find that we were the ones actually performing.

Let me take you back a couple of days. We were at school. It was camp week. The hall was filled with anticipation, excitement, and big bundles of nerves. It was time for the camp concert. There were 12 long rows of crazy campers crammed into a small stuffy hall, all of them ready to perform. 

Maybe not all of them. Well technically, three people weren’t ready. And don’t you go thinking it was me and one of my Respect Crew that wasn’t ready. It was the judges! They weren’t ready for the most awesome and exciting show of their life!

Our Respect Crew walked up the steps looking like the real deal. But unfortunately none of the realio dealios wanted to walk on stage first, so I got pushed forward. I walked on stage angrily, but still graciously hopping in to my rehearsed spot. Our chosen songs were ‘Hey Baby’ and ‘Stop, Drop and Roll’ - in that song the boys decided to catdaddy instead of the original choreographed moves.

Soon my crew was on and dancing, enjoying the camp concert atmosphere, and laughing at each other. The song transitioned in to ‘Hey Baby’, and our group were all jumping around clapping. We finished our performance with one of our members Jephte, thanking the audience. We walked off proud and happy, making sure the judges saw our thrilled faces.

After the Respectorz performed we got ready for the final judging. I looked up at my crew and they were all looking down and glum like it was the end of the world. 6th place was announced, it wasn’t us. 5th place was announced, it still wasn’t us. 4th went, 3rd went. My team all looked up and started smiling and crossing fingers and anything else they could.

“Finally, 1st place goes to..............THE RESPECT CREW!!!!!!!!” Mr Barks shouted! I looked at Lepa. Lepa looked at me. We looked at our crew, our crew looked at us. Then we all jumped up screaming and yelling, “WOOHOO!!!!” “YYYAAAAAAAAY!!!!!” “YEEEEESSSS!!!!!!” 
We had won.

Welcome to Room 21 2012!

Welcome to the start of another new year in Room 21. Check out these photos to see what we have been up to so far. 

The Year 7 students in our class put together a movie about the Treaty of Waitangi. We have been learning about the treaty in class. The movie was a re-enactment of what might have happened leading up to (and during) the signing of the treaty. They all had a lot of fun making the movie. 

 Every Thursday for the past couple of weeks, we have been lucky enough to receive some netball training from our instructor, Liz. We have picked up lots of new skills to help us improve our skills and understanding of the game. 

During our Art session, students had to select a cartoon character or superhero to draw that best represented them. They came up with a range of characters such as SpongeBob, Smurfs, Ariel, Dragon Ball Z etc. Which superhero or cartoon character best represents you?

EnviroTravel

In the following movie a team of scientists travel into the past and future to see how we can make changes to help save our planet. It screened today at the Manaiakalani Film Festival at Hoyts cinemas in Sylvia Park.

Pollution is a major threat to the sustainability of our planet. With each passing day, the air we breathe and the water we drink becomes adversely affected because of the amount of pollution that is produced and released into the environment. One way that we can prevent this is by reducing, reusing and recycling.

EnviroTravel from Team 4 Pes on Vimeo.

Rugby World Cup Finals

Sitting at the end of my chair waiting nervously for the game to start not knowing if the Mighty All Blacks would take it out in the end or having a major upset against the fearsome team France.

As Richie Macaw and Thierry Dusautoir (captains of France and All Blacks) led their teams out of the holding rooms and into the end of the tunnel where they would experience the last 80min of the Rugby World Cup and battle out in the final for that William Webb Ellis cup. Lining up together you could see the determination of both teams eagerly wanting to win that cup and take it out to make their country proud. Soon as both teams came out the camera went straight to the crowd, you could see a sea of white and black backing up the All Blacks. Excitement was really in the air.

After the National anthem both teams ran out onto the field as the All Blacks were getting ready to perform the Haka. The Haka was led by Piri Weepu the scrum-half. The All Blacks performed the haka with pride and dignity. But the french weren’t afraid to put up a good battle.

The whistle blew and Piri Weepu kicked off to the french. That’s when I knew that the game was going to be really intense. Seconds after seconds then minutes after minutes nobody was scoring. I guess my parents finally knew I was quite not together with me screaming and yelling at the T.V yelling “pass the ball or are you serious reff” I guess I couldn’t help it. Finally the All Blacks tried. An outstanding try by Tony Woodcock. It was amazing. In the second half France scored by that wasn’t enough for them to win the Webb Ellis Cup and take it out.

Richie McCaw led his team to victory and was very proud of his boys. They made history. It has been 24 years since the Rugby World Cup has been to New Zealand and 24 years since they have won it.