BigHugeLabs: Make a Movie Poster

Today we are going to look at BigHugeLabs. Make sure you get your user name and password for me. I want you to make a movie poster for me first. After you create it you need to post it on your blog and the ning. Make sure it is school appropriate.

After you have finished, you can check out some of the other

Voki: Keyboarding App of the Week

Get a Voki now!



Today you are going to create your own talking avatar at voki dot com. Choose a character, check out the accessories and then type in the text. Don't forget you can change your background as well.

Post your Voki to the class Ning. To do that you will need to log in and go to the blog button and create a new post. If you need help ask around.

Live Stream of Noel Lady Tigers Playing Anderson Lady Redbirds

Noel Lady Tigers Versus Anderson Lady Redbirds

Comments4Kids for November 4

Today you have an unusual opportunity. Public School 22 (PS22) has a very famous student chorus that performs regularly at big events and has been recognized by many famous musicians for their work. The blog has an incredible amount of content showing the students preparing and performing. I want you to spend time exploring the blog and checking out all the content. Then I want you to leave a comment.

Next we are going to Mr. McClung's class blog to leave him another message. This post is on how his students have showed him how much they care.

Next we will be visiting New Zealand again and commenting on two blogs from one school, the Yendarra school. The first post will be by the Yendarra School Pukekos. They have just started blogging and will love your encouragement. The second post has two parts. The first part is to read this post on teachers from the school visiting Samoa. Make sure you read my comment. The second part is to read my blog post on the reply I received from Miss Venturi. Incidentally, this is where I first found out about the Pukekos! I want you to leave a comment on their blog. Feel free to ask questions.

PS22 Chorus Blog
Mr. McClung's Blog
Yendarra School Pukekos
Yendara School Kiwis

Yendarra School Kiwis

While doing my usual snooping around for new blogs to read and comment on I came upon this wonderful site, the Yendarra School Kiwis.

What caught my eye was a post on several of the teachers of the school visiting Samoa to learn about the island. I also learned from the post that a tsunami had recently hit Samoa.

I left a comment asking about the Samoan schools compared to the schools in New Zealand. Soon I received this email.

Hi Mr C

Just thought I would answer the questions you left on our blog about Samoa. First of all, thank you for leaving the comment. My name is Vanessa Venturi and I am the classroom teacher here in Room 14. Yendarra School is in Auckland, New Zealand. The ethnic make up of our school is 70% Pacific Island (mainly Samoan, but also Tongan, Cook Island and Niuean) and 30% Maori (native New Zealanders). Earlier in the year, some of the staff went to Samoa to gain a better understanding of where our Samoan children come from and to better enable ourselves to transition children who move from Samoa to Auckland. What an eye opener! The schools there have little in the way of resources, no equipment, very little paper, some classes had no desks or chairs. Some of the classrooms had up to 45 students and some teachers taught two classes at the same time, just running between two rooms. Because of the heat, the classrooms have no windows. Because of the huge number of children in each class, we didn't see any group work happening. The teachers teach in both Samoan and English. It was amazing to see what they can do with so little, the children were incredibly happy and very proud of their schools. The Samoan people are incredibly musically talented and their performances were stunning.

Schools in Auckland are very similar to yours, I would imagine. We have lots in the way of resources, computers, books, internet access, interactive whiteboards, playgrounds etc. We work very hard to be at the cutting edge of education in New Zealand. Visiting Samoa has really helped me to understand where my students and their families come from and relate to them more effectively. We were very lucky that we didn't lose any of our students in the tsunami because we were on school holiday when it hit and many students were at home in Samoa. Families at our school lost a lot of extended family members, auntys, uncles and cousins etc. The other question you had was about karakia, karakia is the Maori word for prayer. At the end of each day, one child stands up and leads the class in a karakia. This isn't something we have to do, but one of my boys asked at the beginning of the year if we could do it and its become a really special way to end each day together.

Thanks so much for commenting on our blog, I hope I've answered your questions for you. Please let me know if you have any others!

Have a great week :)
Vanessa Venturi and Room 14

What a wonderful surprise for me. I suspect most people think that most of the learning in school (and especially in my lab) happens with the students. This is obviously not the case today! Again, our ability to communicate and learn from people all over the world is amazing. Thank you Vanessa!