St Mary's Catholic School Training Evening

I visited St Mary's Catholic School recently and caught up with some of the families who were hard out with their training.
They are all looking forward to their graduation this week.

Check out the Podcasts from Quannah, on of the participants and also Michelle, the project champion.

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Makauri School Graduation

Makauri School was the scene of another exciting graduation ceremony where 13 participants completed their training programme and received certificates.

Makauri completed their training in extra quick time as they all elected to do two training sessions per week. Well done Makauri for your commitment and enthusiasm. A special thanks to Caroline Butland who was able to commit to all of the sessions as trainer.








Project Chairman - David Langford and Makauri Principal - Judy Nicholl thank participants and discuss the huge benefits for the school and families as they forge stronger learning links between the school and home.

Check the Podcasts below from Makauri School Graduation!

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Di Lucas.wma

Lynda Brodie.wma

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Judy Nicoll.wma

Central School Graduation Photos

Photos from last terms graduation ceremony. Deputy Mayor Margaret Thorpe congratulating Computers in Homes participants.

Makaraka Participants in Training

A recent visit to Makaraka Schools saw many of their participating families hard at work improving ICT skills and enjoying a relaxed learning environment.

Thanks to Rose Finucane and Roz Kelly for giving up some time to talk to me on the below podcasts.

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Mayor Meng Foon Speaks at Te Wharau Graduation

View this short video of Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon addressing families during their graduation ceremony at Te Wharau School.

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.

STARFALL.COM

Here is a great site to help your younger children with literacy.

The books and games offer beginning readers the opportunity to explore and interact with words and the sounds that make up those words. With a focus on simple, fun inter activities and the sounding out of almost every word. All your child has to do is click on the screen, watch and listen!

We know that children learn to read at different developmental stages, but encouragement and support of your child's interest in reading is very important. These stories and games are meant to foster your child's exploration and curiosity with the written word. Let your child play and have fun learning! Then, ask them to read to you, listen carefully, and be patient.

Podcasts from Gisborne Central School

Kia ora koutou

I was lucky enough to catch a few parents at Central School at the beginning of one of their training sessions.
The photo shows them hard at work.
By all accounts Central parents have created an awesome learning environment. Ka pai koutou!

Please click on the Podcast links below to hear what John (Central Trainer) and April (Parent) have to say about the project.

Podcast from John (CIH Trainer)

Podcast from April (CIH Parent)

Graduation at Central School is set down for next Wednesday4th April at 5.30pm - All Welcome.

Atomic Learning

Atomic Learning is in full swing with all of our Computers in Homes schools.

Please take this opportunity to use the Atomic Learning tutorials any way that you see fit.

Your school will be able to provide you with a User Name and password.

If you want to create music using Audacity software click here "Audacity" and download the software to "My Documents" folder, or a folder of your choice, then go through the steps on the screen to instal it on your computer.

Next go to the above Atomic Learning site and try out the "Audacity" tutorials to get you started. It's a cool bit of softeware for composing and manipulating music files.

I hope your on line learning is progrssing well.

I would love to hear from some of you on how the project is going so far.

Whanau at Te Wharau and Mangapapa Start Training

This week has seen the start of training for more than 40 whanau as they begin their digital learning experience. Ka pai whanau!

Both Mangapapa and Te Wharau schools have embraced the project and we all look forward to the graduation day. Thanks to Ian Hunter at Mangapapa and Roger Quinn at Te Wharau who are leading their schools projects.

Check out the Atomic Learning site for video tutorials on all sorts of software. Your schools and trainers will have the usernames and passwords for you to access this site. It will be a big help for some self paced learning.

I hope to visit you all during your training sessions and capture some pictures and comments for this Blog.

Gisborne Central School Sign Up

A fantastic first up hui with interested families was held at Gisborne Central School on Monday night.

There was a big turnout and the response was very positive. Whanau will kick off their training modules next week.

Ka pai koutou.

Central - Mangapapa - TeWharau

It's All On!!

Three new schools start this term and it's another great opportunity for whanau of these schools to participate in the CIH project.

Gisborne Central School kicks of with a whanau hui tonight (12th Feb) at 5.30pm. Their training is due to start either this week or the following week.

Mangapapa has their initial whanau hui at 6.00pm on Thursday 15th February with training commencing the following week.

Te Wharau will have their whanau hui on Monday 19th February with training kicking off the following week.

Welcome to all whanau who will be participating during this roll out cluster and I look forward to helping you and your family move into the digital world.

Ivan Lomax
Project Manager

Next Clusters About To Roll

The new school year is just around the corner and our next cluster roll out is through Te Wharau, Mangapapa and Central schools.

These schools were busy identifying families at the end of last year and will complete training and graduation at the end of term one or the begining of term 2. (Term 1 is a short school term this year).

Our graduation whanau will be getting bigger as the year goes on and any ideas on developing a more collaborative learning environment will be greatly accepted.

Need some help?

Hi, hope everyone has had a great holiday break and looking forward to the New Year.

There is extra training at hand with plenty of tutorials on these sites:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Computers_for_Beginners

http://members.aol.com/shobansen3/

Also Computers in Homes - Gisborne has signed up with Atomic Learning and you will have access to many short video tutorials in Fenruary.

Will let you knpw as soon as possible as Atomic Learning will assist you with your e-Learning .

First Graduations - Waikirikiri & Riverdale

Our first whanau have graduated with flying colours.

I wish you all the best and I'm sure you will find your new on-line environment stimulating and helpful. You have all completed your training modules with success and now you can explore e-Learning more in your own time. Tino pai rawa atu koutou!

(Above) Waikirikiri School whanau during graduation ceremony.

(Right) Riverdale whanau who graduated recently.

Podcast 1 - Yolanda (Waikirikiri Principal)

Podcast 2 - Yolanda

Project Launch - News Clippings

These clippings are from the Gisborne Herald on Tuesday 28th November.
One of the clippings is from a sister Computer in Homes programme that was run at Te Karaka school.
If you can't read the clippings right click on the picture and go Save Picture As, and save in My Pictures. You can then increase the magnification of the picture when you open it in a picture viewer software programme like Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

"Move it" - for computer crazy kids!

Here is a small news item on a new video called "Move it" a computer program that teaches kids better habits in the hope that it will decrease their chances of getting work related injuries later in life.The program is called "Move It" and it emphasises the importance of changing position regularly and getting the right support.

Check it out at http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/488120/909259

Launch Comments

I have had lots of positive comments from our launch day and also thanks to those who have left a comment on the last blog posting. I appreciate the feedback.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Margaret Thorpe and Nona Gaskin, elected members of the Gisborne District Council, who also attended and have been supporting this project.