KPE Episode 203: "Destination Disaster"

"Destination Disaster" by Fleur Beale Portia interviews Tamika about this book for episode 203 of KPE. Fleur Beale is an author who Pt England students really enjoy and Lacey and the Drama Queen was one of the favourite podcasts of 2008. Destination Disaster is popular with Year 6 students because it is about something that they really enjoy doing - going camping. You should listen to these girls review the book and then if you want to hear about it from boys' point of view check out the podcast Lorenz and Apelu did in 2007 and see what they have to say. Let us know what you think about the different versions of the story. And maybe you could tell us about YOUR camping experiences too...

KPE Episode 202: "Seadog"

"Seadog" by Dorothy Butler
Taiapa and Mokani have really enjoyed reading Seadog and recommend this tale of Old New Zealand to us. Dorothy Butler seems to like writing stories set in New Zealand over a 100 years ago and we learn lots about life for the early settlers from these books. Last year Kayla and Crystal entertained us with another one of her old tales, "By Jingo".
"Seadog" is set in the wild west coast of Waitakere in 1890. It tells the story of a 10 year old boy called Joseph who is disabled and what happens when a dog comes from the sea and befriends him. Joseph's family has settled by the sea at Karekare during the 1890s. One day, unable to scamper about the rocky outcrops with his brothers due to his disability, Joseph discovers a dog washed up on the beach, injured and exhausted but still alive. Josephs father reluctantly agrees that they may keep the dog until its wounds are healed but no longer. Joseph and his brothers set out to convince their father otherwise.
Let us know what you think of this story and life over 100 years ago...

KPE Episode 201: "The Boy Who Bounced Around Aotearoa New Zealand"

"The Boy Who Bounced Around Aotearoa New Zealand" by Christine Hurst
This is another special podcast made by two members of the same family. We love it when older family members help the younger ones with their reading and in this podcast you will hear Jordan, who is in Year 6, help his young brother Kingston produce his first podcast for KPE. Kingston has chosen a funny book to share with us (you probably guessed that already from the title) about a boy called Zac who does a lot of bouncing - including bouncing on the bed. And from what we hear in the podcast it is not only Zac who who does this! We wonder how many kids annoy their parents bouncing on the bed?
In the book Zac bounces from one place to another in New Zealand, so if you want to learn more about New Zealand as well as enjoying a fun read you should read this book. Why don't you tell us if you have been to any of the places in the book.....
We have also discovered that a class at Bucklands Beach Primary School got to meet the author of this book and wrote a blog post about it!

KPE Episode 200 - Yes, TWO HUNDRED

"Recycled" by Sandy MacKay
Korero Pt England has published 200 episodes. Well done KPE podcasters past and present!

Jaydn and Elijah are proud to be podcasting the 200th book for KPE. They have chosen a book that fits with the school-wide Inquiry for term 4 -"Go For Green" The book is called "Recycled" by Sandy MacKay and as you can guess by the title it is a story based around the theme that is very important at Pt England School at the moment; reduce, reuse and recycle. At Pt England School we even have a song about this that was written by our own music teacher, Mr Jacobsen. You can see the MTV of this song here.
We enjoy reading books by Sandy Mackay as she is one of our favourite authors. She came to Pt England School a couple of years ago and published a podcast herself with Alosina, one of our past pupils. Click here to listen to "My Dad, the All Black". You may also enjoy "Barry and Bitsa" which is published in an earlier blogpost.

KPE Episode 199 : "Ratso"

"Ratso" by Lorraine Orman
Uani and Mele share another New Zealand story that takes place at the beach. You should be able to tell that Summer is coming here! This book is the exciting adventures of a boy and his pet rat! We have some people at Pt England School who quite like pet mice and you can find out about that on the Room 12 and 13 webpages.
We are sure you will enjoy this podcast, so let us know what you think about keeping rats for pets!

KPE Episode 198: "The Pipi Swing"

"The Pipi Swing" by Sarona Aiono-Iosefa Malama and Kathleen tell us about this cool New Zealand book that talks about something most New Zealanders do every Summer. Even if you have never called it 'the pipi swing', when they start telling you about it you will know what they are talking about. You know when you go to collect pipis, and you dig your toes in the sand and start swivelling your feet so your toes go under the sand until they feel the pipis? And then you bend down and pick them up before a wave washes over you? Well, that's the pipi swing.
Collecting pipis is such a big part of Summer in New Zealand that quite a few books have been written about it. We have podcast "Dad's Takeaways" and "Jive's Pipi Diggers" since we started this blog. Why don't you check them out too - and tell us YOUR pipi experiences....

KPE Episode 197: "The Cindy Limpics"

"The Cindy Limpics" by Michael Wilson
Caleb and Ibyss review a story from the School Journals. This was a story inspired by the Sydney Olympics in September 2000 and their class had been reading lots of books and stories about the Olympics in Term 3 because of the Beijing Olympics.
In this story Cindy Baxter is determined to do well at her class Olympic Games. But Cindy is accident-prone and her training sessions always seem to end in disaster.
This funny story tells us about a series of incidents that eventually wind up with Cindy (who is injured) having an Olympic event made up especially for her. We think you will like this story.
At Pt England School our students celebrated the Olympics with an Olympasifika. You can see some highlights from the opening ceremony if you click on this link.

Preserving Culture

The students in Room 18 have a very cool movie to share with you. Mrs Lagitupu and her class of Year 6 students have been working on this for some time and they are very proud to publish their finished movie. They have not only written, filmed and edited the movie themselves but as you will see when you watch it, they have been all over Auckland in the filming process. You will see the markets in Otara, the Museum in Auckland, a Niuean hair cutting ceremony, Samoan tatooing, visit a Kohanga Reo and much much more. Prepare to be amazed.....

KPE Episode 196 "Brodie" by Joy Cowley

"Brodie" by Joy Cowley
Karen and Robin chose to podcast this book because they really liked it when their teacher read it to the class. In this book everyone in the class knew that Brodie was sick, but they thought he'd get better. Maybe it was because he talked a lot about being a chopper pilot. Brodie was a really talented artist as well and he shared a lot of his dreams with them through his artwork. This book is a happy, funny, sad book that talks about how the class support a very sick friend when he is in hospital and how they cope when he passes away. We are sure you will enjoy their podcast and their discussion about how Karen felt last year when she was sick in the Starship.

KPE Episode 195: "A Booming in the Night"

"A Booming in the Night" by Ben Brown On a still, quiet night, when the moon is full and the stars are winking in the sky, Pukeko is woken from her slumbering by a booming in the night. Kakapo is lonely, so Pukeko sets out to find him a friend. She meets many others but none of them want to come along to find some company for Kakapo, they’re all too busy. But who’s that peering out from behind the leaves of the forest? Perhaps Kakapo doesn’t need Pukeko’s help, for it seems – with a tumbling, blundering flap of feathers – that the booming in the night might have attracted just the right sort of company after all.
This latest podcast is the work of the students from Room 8 and they show us that 6 year olds can podcast too! Jonita and TylerMarie are the podcasters and you will be amazed at how talented they are when you listen to this episode. They know a lot about New Zealand wild life and they tell us that this is a really good book with lovely illustrations and a happy ending. Tell them what you think about their first podcast....