The Rubbish Monster

Purpose of the Project

The purpose of our project was:

·    To show our understanding of our Bromley School value of caring.

·    To share a strong message of kaitiakitanga and our responsibility as guardians of our school and planet.

·       To celebrate and showcase our wide range of growing creative digital abilities and then app smash them together in one incredible project.

It all began with a journey of inquiry and exploring the value of caring and what it means to us.  Our first stop was an instant connection with a beautiful book called Love the Earth by Julian Lennon.  Alongside this book, the tamariki enjoyed learning of the concept of kaitiakitanga and seeing themselves in the role of guardians and protectors of our earth.  The book contained a clever concept of pressing a button to spark some sort of positive change and this inspired us to come up with some of our own. 

Some of their clever ideas included: 

‘I can save the world by picking up rubbish.’ – Madi

‘Small things can grow into bigger things that can change the world.’ – Callum

Initially we all got our thinking hats on and used animation in Keynote to design our own buttons that when pressed would produce some sort of good for others or the planet. 

This evolved into the concept of a single act or conversation that can start a chain reaction leading to lasting positive change.

We connected our understanding of the value of caring with inspiration from the 2020 Digi Awards concept: Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu – Although it is small, it is precious.

Three courageous students stepped forward, two to be our main actors and one to film using a school’s iPad.  The entire rest of the class contributed in several creative ways and pulled out all the stops. 

It just so happened that we had been introduced to a new app that year called FlipaClip, which we excitedly used to create animations of terrifying rubbish monsters growing, festering and taking over the screen.

We took photos of the actual rubbish from our lunches and using our own playful and theatrical voices, brought them to life using ChatterPix Kids. 

We used GarageBand to express how moods can be achieved through music with the use of stringed instruments and minor keys which can create tense and dramatic soundscapes.   

Lastly, with some teacher assistance we used iMovie and it’s incredible Greenscreen capabilities, collected all the music and animations from the class through AirDrop and delicately weaved everything together.

The final result after months of mahi through a global pandemic from 52 students, two teachers and one teacher aid, was a comically entertaining relevant piece of cinematic art with a beautiful message of caring and the courage to stand up for the good of our school and our planet.

The Final Outcome