Sneak peak

Here's a little sneak peak of what we have in store for our Arts Extravaganza Evening, which is being held this Wednesday at 7pm. The show includes an exhibition of student art work, with an installation project involving students school wide.

 

 

There is also a full program of of student dance, drama and musical performances.

Make sure you see the full show line-up, including student dance, dama and music performances, plus a teacher performance and our guest performance by Denelle. Tickets $5, under 18s free!

Arts Extravaganza Evening

Musical messages

Wondering what students do in Music? Here are some recently completed projects from some of the groups.

Signing our songs

Last Wednesday the H.I.S APPA Choir members went to East Tamaki School for their very first rehearsal this year in order to get prepared for the APPA Festival on November 12th. We had lots of fun learning songs, and did a great job singing with sign language for the song “Islands”, as seen below. Hope you enjoy it. Come to see us at the concert!

 

Music Extension Progress

Orchestra – The students are currently learning “Raiders March” by John Williams. We have also started “The Imperial March”.

Bands – Band 1 worked on “Fine China” and “Stand By Me” on Week 8. Band 2 played “Lean On Me” and chose their favourite songs on Week 9.

Helping to preserve our Wetlands

Tanner, Elim, Matthew, Ashton, Uzziah, Anisa, Kelly and Ella from Rm 20 are currently learning instruments. Their goal is to create a musical composition that informs people about how important wetlands are and ways to preserve these. They are planning to go to a trip on next Monday to gather resources for their movie.


Preserving Wetlands through Music by Slidely Slideshow

Music notes in extension groups

Choir – We started singing in parts for “Kia Orana”. It was a challenge but fun!

Jazz Group – We have improved on “Doxy”. Some students are learning to improvise this week. It is fantastic to see everyone working hard and developing their musicianship.  

Aiming for a life saving composition

Julius, James, Junior, Nikhita, Chao Qi, Georgia, Bahar and Demetrius from Rm 16 are currently learning instruments in order to achieve their goal of creating a musical composition that informs people about how marine life suffers from people’s litter. 

Talent on hold...

Ignite Talent Competition is postponed due to low number of applicants. However, the Ignite Team plans to run a “Talent Showcase” – a family friendly and fun event that provides you with an opportunity to perform your item and be in to win prizes. Thanks to all children who applied for the competition. Please visit www.ignitetalent.org.nz for more details. 

Like this!

Ofaloto (Room 6), Shekinah (Room 16), Tomai (Room 15), Jayden (Room 20), Creshanda (Room 16), and Dante (Room 16) were filmed for the Ignite Talent Competition last week. Please visit the following Youtube links and 'like' them. They need lots of likes to get them through to the next stage of the competition.

Dancing to their own tune for Inquiry

These students have done an awesome job creating their own music tracks and exercise routines to help keep us fit and active in an exciting and fun way. Check out their sweet dance moves!

Progress in Music Extension

Choir – We started working on “Let It Go”, “Love Is An Open Door”, “Kia Orana”, “Somewhere Out There” and “Haere Mai” on Monday of Week 7. We had lots of fun!

Jazz Group – Our guitarists and bass player did a great job with learning the Blues Scales and “Doxy” on Week 7.

Bands – Band 1started practising “Stand By Me” on Week 6. Band 2 practised with “Lean On Me” on Week 7. All band members have chosen their favourite songs and we will work on the most popular ones in the future.    

Orchestra – We started learning music at 1.30pm on Wednesday of Week 7. We are learning to play on time with each other.    

Ukulele Group – We practised “Pokarekareana” and “Haere mai” on Week 6 then we worked on “The National Anthem”, “Kiwi Ukulele” and “Malimali Mai” on Week 7.     

Navigating the globe and promoting water safety through music

Jorja, Tiara, Aaliyah, Kendyl, Naashia, Ajay and Aven from Room 17 have been learning their instruments since Week 5. They plan to create a musical composition with a focus linked to teach people how to use navigation tools such as maps and a compass. We were learning about the texture of music last week, and we had a fun time creating our own percussion music using suggested formations during Week 6.    

William, Violet, Priyanka, Samantha, Jorale, Rayleina, Luke, Lorraine, Liam, Ezekiel and Jasmine from Room 14 have started learning instruments on Tuesday. Their goal is to create a musical composition that encourages people wear life jackets while being involved in water activities. We had a great time learning simple rhythm notations this week that are going to be useful for making music.

 

  

 

Update from Mrs Chang

Mrs Chang has been busy working with a number of groups this week...

Choir – We have started our first weekly practice at 1.30pm – 2.50pm for choir on 10/3. Students and I have chosen a waiata, two Samoan songs, one Cook Island Maori song and a number of English songs that they enjoy.

Jazz Group – We have started practising at 8.40am – 9.20am on 13/3 and we will run this group weekly.

Bands – We have two bands this year. Band 1 has started practising at 1.30pm on 14/3. Band 2 will start practising at 1.30pm on 21/3. Each band will have practice fortnightly.

Ukulele Group – We practise at 8.40am – 9.20am on every Friday.

Ignite Talent Competition 2014

If you think you have got a talent worth showing, then come to the music room to register for the Ignite Talent Competition 2014. A “talent” could mean a song, a dance, a juggling act, a drama, a musical piece, magic tricks, you name it! ­ As long as it’s “G rated”, and free of foul language.

The prizes are 1st place $500 for the winner, $500 donation towards their nominated school/charity, 2nd place $300 for the winner, $300 donation towards their nominated school/charity and 3rd place $150 for the winner, $150 donation towards their nominated school/charity. The winner’s prizes will be awarded on the night and the donations will be forwarded to the schools/charity directly.

The winners of the competition will be decided by the judges and audience votes. Most Likes Video Prize: The video with the most likes on our Ignite YouTube channel will win $100.

Important Timeline for Ignite Talent 2014:

23 March (12PM)

Ignite YouTube submissions close

29 March (1PM-5PM)

Ignite contestants interviews

5 April (6PM-9PM)

Ignite full dress rehearsal, Panasonic Performing Arts Centre, Botany Downs Secondary College, 575 Chapel Road, Dannemora.

11 April (7PM-9.30PM)

Ignite talent competition 2014, Panasonic Performing Arts Centre, Botany Downs Secondary College, 575 Chapel Road, Dannemora.

Good luck to our future stars!

Music Inquiry

We started the inquiry classes last week and Dante, Darren, Connor, Creshanda, Naomi, Shekinah & Jimmy from Room 16 have been busy making their own music tracks on the computer for their exercise routines. These will be used for School Wide Fitness.

Creshanda and Naomi

 

 

Daniel and Connor

 

 

 

Jimmy and Darren

 

 

Shekinah and Dante in action...

 

Extension Groups

Students have been auditioning for extension groups over the past few weeks for Sewing, Food, Art and Music. Groups are currently being finalised, after a huge amount of interest. Specialists will work with these groups throughout the year, producing all kinds of exciting creations.

Music Extension Groups

Students are offered a variety of music extension groups to extend their music abilities. There are lots of students who expressed their interest in participating in these groups. We have some amazing talents at school! The Music Specialist has finalised the lists for the School Choir, Jazz Group, Ukulele Group and Bands. We are currently looking for more instrumental players for orchestra. Most of the music extension groups will start running this week.

Tasters

The first weeks of the school year saw all Year 7 and new Year 8 students, along with our International students at H.I.S take part in our Taster programme.

 

In Visual Art students were introduced to the art room and given an idea about some of the things we get up to here. We looked at some previous inquiry projects, as well as the kinds of things we do in Art Extension. Then we got stuck in to a watercolour workshop, starting with some basic techniques, followed by a painting of their choice.

At Soft Materials, students sewed dot to dots and lines on paper to give them an idea of how it feels to operate a sewing machine, as this was a new experience for many of them. 

 

 

In Food Technology, students used lots of cooked vegetables to make a quick snack, encouraging the use of left overs at home. They also made our special H.I.S cookies, which have been a school favourite for some years. 

 

 

During the Music taster sessions students were introduced to various music learning opportunities. We looked at ex-students projects to provide students with ideas of how they can link music into their inquiry. Students were given hands-on time to experiment with a variety of instruments and learn about music technology. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so it begins...

Welcome to the Howick Intermediate Specialists Blog. We are looking forward to sharing some of the fantastic things students create here, and we hope you enjoy this glimpse of life in our specialist classrooms at H.I.S.