The Olympic Message

The Olympic Message

Since the beginning of the Modern Olympic Games, the message has been: “The most important thing about the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part...just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle”. ( Baron Pierre De Coubertin)
                  
What the Olympic message is trying to say is, that people think that winning is the most important thing in life. In my opinion I think that the struggle is more important, because if you fail you can get back on your feet and strive forward as many times. Eventually all of your struggles in life will lead to success and triumph if you work hard to strive to succeed.

Many of the greatest athletes in the world have struggled in life and then excelled to become one of the greatest inspirations in the world. You may know Michael Jordan. He is the best basketball player who ever played the sport. He quotes in his inspirational speech “You may think that I would of made basketball look easy but my failure was my success and my pain was my motivation”. What Michael said really inspired me because when people put others down, they can advance to the next level of success because they can keep on developing on their weak areas in life.
 

I agree with the Olympic message because it is a really inspiring message. In parts of it, it that the olympics are not about winning but to take part. Athletes who strive for gold but don’t achieve their goal get really upset. It is good to aim high, but they should be proud of themselves for actually making it to the Olympic games to represent their country.

by Joshua

Room 21 on Tagata Pasifika

We were lucky enough to be interviewed by Tagata Pasifika last week. It was a chance to talk about how talented many of our Pt England students are at making movies. A snippet of last year's winning entry in 'The Outlook for Someday' movie competition was included, as well as some thoughts from Selena and Toreka about our intention to enter this years competition. Anyone up to the age of 24 can enter a movie about 'sustainability' and this is the first time that Tagata Pasifika is sponsoring an award. The deadline for entries is September 21st.

Art Alive

The term our topic was Art Alive. Team 5 studied the life and art of 5 famous artists: Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Daniella Hulme. Students had to take photos of their 'special place' and use it to provide inspiration for their artworks. They also attempted to paint their 'special place' in the style of an artist that they selected.

Please take a look at their individual blogs to find out more.

                                          Shoal

                                           Huelo-ata

                                         Stephanie

                                                   Toreka

                                          Makerita

                                            Joshua

                                         Shawn

                                          Niuma

'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!