Te Wharau Graduation

What an awesome graduation ceremony at Te Wharau School last week.

Family and friends gathered to celebrate Te Whara whanau collecting their computers and strengthening the learning ties that have been created with their fellow school families.

Mayor Meng Foon was at hand to present participants with their graduation certificates and spoke about the fantastic opportunity Computers in Homes for Gisborne households.

Comments that some participants made to me were:
"This has been so good for me and has opened up lots of opportunities"
"I can't wait to get my computer as I have learnt so much"
"I have a far better idea of what the computer and especially the internet can do for me"

The last photo shows one of our older participants, Whare Toko, recieving his certificate from Mayor Meng Foon. Whare commented that it has been a great learning experience for him and how awesome it is sharing the computer with his mokopuna.

Comic Life

Here is a cool little software programme to download to your Computers in Homes machines.

Go to the "Comic Life" website and download the software. Download to a folder in your hard drive then open it to install

It is a fantastic bit of software to help the kids with story writing. Very easy to use and they will pick it up in no time.

Parent Introduction Meetings + GOOD NEWS

The next cluster of schools have started planning for their individual projects.

St Mary's - Elgin - Makaraka - Sonrise Christian have all had their parent project introduction evenings.
Numbers who have joined the project during this cluster roll out look to be high and it's great to see all who will be learning through their school.

Wainui Beach and Makauri will be having their parent evenings this week.

GOOD NEWS
the article below is from a recent news brief from Microsoft.

"$3 software suite aims to bridge digital divide
Microsoft will sell its new Student Innovation Suite for $3 to governments that subsidize student computers "
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports

To qualify, governments must supply computers meant for students' personal use, regardless of their manufacturer. The computers need not be new, Microsoft said, as long as they can run Windows XP. That means countries such as New Zealand, whose ambitious and ground-breaking Computers in Homes project aims to supply all New Zealand families who are socially and economically disadvantaged with a refurbished computer, an internet connection, relevant training, and technical support, also could be eligible.

This means that our Computer in Homes projects are being noticed Internationally and we will be able to enjoy Microsoft's software for awhile.

See http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=7069
for full article.