Allanah's Appleby Showcase

Here is another poem written by Philippa Werry.

The photos were taken on one of our school camps. Every year I take the class somewhere. This time it was to the Abel Tasman National Park, We stay in tents at a camping ground and go out on the launch along the coastline and walk back through native bush.

Class Blog about our camp

Abel Tasman National Park

The poem was read by Sam P and Tyler

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'Write a Poem' was written by Desna Wallace in the Part 2 Number 2 2001 NZ School Journal. Multiple copies of school journals are a wonderful free resource given to all NZ primary schools to support the teaching of literacy. There are four general levels of journal published four times a year. I only have good things to say about these journals.

Seeing advertising is now visible on Podomatic here is a link to a reading resource you can buy. Allanah's Book. I get a grand total of $1.32 per book sold from which I have to pay tax and Accident Insurance (ACC). Paper cuts can be hell. Yippee! I'm a millionaire!

It was ably presented by Sam J, Fynn and Jackson P and Dino.

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In celebratrion of the New Year Jordy, Jackson P, Braden and Nathan recorded this poem by New Zealand poet, Philippa Werry.

They cleverly decided to add their own sound effects.

The video was recorded by myself at the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar which was celebrated in Nelson, NZ in 2005. They had anchored a barge out in Nelson harbour which is overlooked by the Port Hills. Everyone got an excellent viewpoint and the fireworks looked spectacular reflected in the water.

Well done guys.

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On the last day of school for 2006 we recorded some of our favourite poems that we had learnt over the past year.

Our plan is to publish a new poem each week over the holidays so you wouldn't forget about us. We know that a lot of people listen to our podcast in the northern hemisphere and your school only takes a short break over Christmas. We go back to school in February- that is a long time to take a break.

Check out our blog to keep in touch.

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Tonight was Appleby School's Year Six Leaver's Assembly. We sat in the evening under the canvas eaves of the ampitheatre to listen to Metamorphic, the school band, play a set.

Then we had some interesting speeches and all the leaving children got an Appleby School leaver's badge. Chanelle stood and gave a lovely speech on behalf of the children, we sang a couple of Christmassy songs and then had a family supper before going home to bed.

We only have one half day of school left before we break for Christmas but we are going to record some poems tomorrow so we have some podcasts to go on with over the holiday break.

4MB 48 seconds - short and sweet

We have just returned from an outdoor education experience at Bridge Valley in the hills near Nelson.

We had a wonderful recipe for success- warm weather, happy children, great parent support and a challenging range of facilities.

This video gives you an idea of some of the highlights.

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One of the features of Appleby School is its wonderful yearly Pet Show Day. This year's one was really great with lots of entries in all the events. What a great day we had.

Through our podcasting we have found kindred spirits in linking with Cefn Fforest School in Wales. We have exchanged letters, emails, photos, blog posts, gifts and a very small geocaching bear which is travelling about in Nelson having a wonderful time. Look for photos on our Moturoa Blog of his travels.

After a couple of practice runs, Cefn Fforest School teacher, Paul H and I arranged to record a Skype conversation this morning. Children in my class decided on a question they would like to ask Paul and we started chatting.

It was a great experience for the children. I was really pleased with their new confidence in speaking. I am sure their podcasting experiences over the last six months have really improved their oral literacy and confidence.

We have come such a long way in those six months. My digital natives take it easily in their stride and think of it all as unexceptional. I have learnt a great deal and feel at home with the technology. Podcasting has given me a greater audience also which I am appreciative of.

Nelson, NZ is at the bottom of the globe but we are still 'connected'.

Please leave a comment. We love feedback and you get a pin on our classroom wall map if we know what part of the world you are listening to us from.

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I am trying to see what kind of podcast you can get just with Podomatic's recording.

As I see it the downside will be that you only get one shot of making the recording. If you muck it up you can't edit it, add or delete. It all has to be done in one go. It is a really quick way of doing the business though if you know what you want to say.

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I am exploring all of the different ways I can think of to make a podcast or vodcast. For this one the basis was a Powerpoint presentation I had made some time ago for my class on composing photos using the rule of thirds.

To turn the Powerpoint into a podcast I saved it as a movie then dragged that movie into iMovie to add the voice track.

I had found another open-source music website and couldn't get the music track I wanted to download so played it through the laptop speakers and recorded it with Audacity. The result doesn't have the same sound quality as a downloaded MP3 version but it is OK.

I hope the topic of the Powerpoint is useful to you.

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