Year 4 Netbook Information Night

Well it is time to get our Year 4's ready for using their netbooks next year.  A parent meeting was held last Tuesday night where parents could come along and hear about what Manaiakalani is and what they are to expect next year.

This was well attended by our parents and was a great opportunity for them to be more involved in their child's school life.

Mr Coakley gave an excellent overview of Manaiakalani and where we are at with the TLN (Tamaki Learning Network), how the project is working in our current classes and where we are going next.

Term 3

What a wonderful term it has been at St Pius X with the netbooks.  Many of the students have blogged about the awesome swimming pool that we had at the school and also we got to start taking home our netbooks.

There has been a lot of work happening on the Google Teacher Dashboards with children sharing all their work with their teachers which is fantastic.

With a writing focus on narratives it was great to see many students google docs with their individual narratives as well as collaborative efforts.  Many of these are being posted onto their individual blogs which I will share a link to over the holidays.

3 classes completed Films which have been entered into the Manaiakalani Film Festival which will take place on the 9th November at Sylvia Park, Hoyts Cinema, Mt Wellington.  I look forward to seeing them all on the X-treme screen.

I can't wait to see what the students will post onto their blogs next term.

Homeward Bound Netbooks

Finally the moment has come at St Pius X for the students to take home their netbooks.  


Tonight was the night where an extremely large amount of parents gathered with their children to take home their netbooks.


The Principal (Paul Coakley) went through the TLN (Tamaki Learning Network) zoning so that the parents understood that this is a 3 stage project, where stage one is complete.  This meant that some students at the moment would not be able to link into the TLN wireless just yet, but it is coming.  


The parents took away with them a Home Agreement, which they signed before taking away their netbooks.  This agreement also had information about the Kawa of Care and the expectations the school had for the netbooks.


Maniakalani is all about - 'Any time, Any place, Anywhere' and we are finally making this an even more realistic vision.


It will be wonderful to see all the learning that the students will be able to do with their netbook at home as well as at school.

Third Week of Term 3

In Room 8 this week I taught the students how to use Google Presentations so that they can share their learning in a different way.  Check out what some of the students put together about the All Black's by clicking on the pics below.

Second Week of Term 3

This week has been a week of posting about the new swimming pool the school has for the term.  Check out what some of the students had to say by clicking on the pics below.

Are Net books a great tool?

These net books are a great tool but it could make us lose our handwriting skills. We can use this equipment but not all the time we have to get ready for college because some people can get really lazy and tired of writing. Then comes confidence, they can just chat online line with each other but when they go college will they have the confidence to talk to people face to face?

Cyber Bullying its very dangerous, is it really worth it?

Students look like they on tasks, but are they? there are a lot of inappropriate websites like Face Book and YouTube and Games. One click of a button and your there.

What happens if someone or your child drops or breaks your net book? will you get a refund or do you have to keep on paying?

In our maths there a calculators installed in our net books so people who find math exhausting they have some help.

Net books are very addicted in room 7, they just can’t keep they hand off the net books our teacher and sometimes our teacher Mrs Tui gets very frustrated.

By Simone

Good Little Netbook

As the screen begins to fade and flicker, I shut you down and close your cover. But I cannot get through a day without you. You know how much I need you in all I do, but then I read a lot you know and from the pages these thoughts flow. Therefore, you jumble within and die. These thoughts which I cannot write. Good little netbook you’re such a delight.


By Ofa

Ideas about Blogging

Thanks to Elizabeth, Lavinia, Kahlanie and Angelica for sharing their thoughts about the positives of having their own netbooks and their own blogs.

Is Our Net Book a good learning tool?

Yes our net book a good learning tool as I know from what others in the class have told me it is benefiting them as well.

We do most of our reading, writing and some of our maths on our Net Book. It helps me lots and it is very useful and I am getting used to. It is clear that the net book is not a tool for playing games or anything like that. Many people agree our net book is for learning but we are allowed to play educational games like tux typing and tux maths.

Everyone uses computers in business and so by me learning with a netbook it is allowing me to build up my computer skills and allow me to experience the benefits when I go out into the work force.

That is my opinion on weather or not our netbook is a good learning tool.

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

Netbook Storage

We are well and truly underway with our netbooks now and are enjoying using them every day. Make sure that our netbooks are looked after when they are at school we store them in big metal boxes that are on wheels, called a COW (Computer on Wheels).

We have specific people in Year 7 & 8 who are in charge of putting all the netbooks in the COW's and ensuring that they are charged for the next day.

Here is Ilaisaane and Francis putting the computers away for the day.

Salamona's Netbook Thoughts

I enjoy typing on my netbook because when I write with a pencil my hands hurt but they don’t when I type. I really like to post my work on my blog because it lets lots of people view my work.

David's Netbook Thoughts

I enjoy looking at all the blogs, my favourite blog is spx Netbooks because it has cool movies. One thing that I find most exciting is using my netbook to help me with my work.

Robertanna's Netbook Thoughts

I enjoy playing games and doing learning activities on it. My favourite is the crossword game for my reading work. One thing I have learnt is to sign in to my blog with my google login.