The netbook is a great learning tool because.......

* It is quicker than handwriting and you don’t need to sharpen your pencil. My example is if you learn how to “touch-type”, you can see it is much faster.

* It is easier to learn faster and not just looking at the white board being bored. My example is if I didn't listen I would have a second chance.

* We can use Internet like a library but different. We don’t need to share computers. We can just use a netbook of our own.

Netbooks are a great tool, it helps you a lot with your learning. It is better than a pen and a pencil. No more getting bored and just staring at the board all the time. The teacher can just send what you have to do. That's why the netbook is a great tool.

By Robertanna

Netbook Memory

Students remember the experience of getting their netbooks for the first time fondly.  Here is what a Year 6 student called Malia had as memories of the day.
The first thing on Monday morning we signed a contract as it was the start of the netbook project in our school, as we're are part of the Manaiakalani project. It was an awesome Monday 7th of March for rooms 6 & 7, for both classes it was breathtaking.

The first thing we did after signing the contract was to gently get our net books out of their boxes. The instructions to opening the interesting looking boxes were simple. First we had to carefully turn our boxes around to look at a special number called a Serial Number. Next we had to give our Serial Number to one of the adults walking around the class room, I gave my Serial Number to Miss G. “Next I want you to carefully turn it back around to the other side and then wait till I say the next instruction”

The instructions continued for awhile, but eventually we got to use our netbooks and explore what they could do to help us with our learning.

Sharing our Learning

On Wednesday the 15th June the students of St Pius X Catholic School had the opportunity to share what they have been doing on their netbooks with their parents.
This was wonderful to watch as the students shared their individual blogs and explained how they use Google docs in their classroom.

The expressions on the parents faces were both proud and amazement and the students were proud and enthusiastic.
These netbooks are a powerful tool for encouraging learning and motivating the students to want to both share and complete their work.

Home School Partnership

What a wonderful sight it was tonight to see so many St Pius X Catholic School parents coming along to support their children with their netbooks.
Tonight was a chance for the parents to get a better understanding of the Manaiakalani Project as well as share their opinions on the processes for sending the netbooks home.

The parents had some very interesting questions and also put forward some great ideas to the questions that were posed on chart paper around the room.

Once this had been done the students then shared their learning with their parents by showing them what they have been up to on their netbooks over the past two terms.  It was wonderful to see all the smiling faces and enthusiastic students being so proud of what they are doing in school.

An amazing night of learning and sharing.

Today's World

It is clear that in today’s world we must use computers as they have replaced the pen. As a learning tool in the classroom it provides me with access to the Internet.The Internet enables me to do mathematics games and google docs.

I think it is clear that it is very awesome, because it can help me with my keyboard typing and with my skill's generally.

It is very good because when there is a time when you want to tell some thing in private to the teacher you can always chat with her online.

I think it is a very good tool because it is always helpful in the class because when you have a presentation to share with the teacher with pictures in it, it can be done on line.

I think netbook's are so incredible because our class is so lucky to get one of these netbook tools and I am so happy to have a Netbook of my own too.

By Siliva

A Great Tool

Many students agree that the net books we use are a great tool because, it helps us more with our learning.
If we are studying on the Silver ferns netball team we can just jump on the Internet and search for them right away. It’s a faster and easier way.
I believe that the net book is an awesome tool because, when we want to ask our teacher something and with the class not knowing, we can just ask them on chat or email.
The net book is really fun to use. It helps me with my blogging, searching also helps me with typing skills. It really helps me with my spelling and because we can share our work with our teachers and other people.
I hope that I will try hard on my work, plus work hard to achieve my goals.

By Dorothy

The netbook is a great learning tool because.......

The Internet gives access to heaps of information. It is great for doing research on something when books have got not enough information.

It is quicker than handwriting and you don’t need to sharpen your pencil. If you learn how to touch type, you can see it is much faster.

It is much more easier to type than to write. My example would be when you are writing with a pencil and made a mistake and will need a eraser. But on a Netbook you could just press the backspace button and it would be gone like that.

When you are bored and want to have some fun, you could play some games or music on the Netbook. My example is to do it when times are appropriate and in your Netbook.

Finally the Netbook is a good use for school children because your documents can instantly be seen by the teacher on Google Docs once you “file” it. My example is to file a document once you created it.

That's why I strongly believe that the Netbook is a good learning tool because it gives you access to the Internet.

By Emmanuel

Sharing through our blogs

It is wonderful to see the thoughts of the students at SPX about their netbooks.  Here are some links to some of the individual blogs where students have shared their experiences with their netbooks.

Angelica's Final Countdown

Emmanuel's Netbook Experience

Anita's Rollout