'Another Hitachi Day' movie competition

This is our entry for the 'Another Hitachi Day' movie competition. It was put together by Joshua and other Year 8 students in our class: Toreka, Selena, Matthew T, Toko, Aidan and Joe (from Room 22).

They had to show how they would bring the outdoors inside. The students chose a beach scene with volleyball, swimming, surfing and sunbathing etc. They used green screen effects to recreate their scene. The top prize is $10,000 and the top 5 schools can win a heat pump for their school.

You can also watch it on Youtube on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yRFZn_SvJw

Please click on this link to vote for our entry: http://www.hitachiheatpumps.co.nz/

Follow these instructions to vote:

Once you are on the website, click on the competition page.

Go up to the top of the screen and click on the 'enter' tab.

Go to 'create new account'.

Your username can just be your first name (make sure that you can remember it).

Put in your email address.

Put in a password that you can remember.

Don't put in a YouTube URL - our school has already got a video entry.

For your 'entry type', just click on the third option which is ‘voting only’. 

Then click on 'create new account'. 

Once you have done this you should be automatically logged in. 

Next, go to the 'voting' tab up the top. 

Go down to 'schools' and click on it.

This will give you a list of all the entries. 

Scroll down and click on 'Pt England school'.

You may be asked to verify your account with a simple code or maths problem.

Click on 'vote'.

Log out when you are done if you use a shared computer.

You can go back to 'enter' and then 'log in' and vote again every hour. 

Voting ends next Sunday 3rd of June. 

This screen recording will also help you to vote if you get stuck. Thanks for voting!

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!