Matariki Stars

The end of term is a good time to finish unfinished things - and that is just what we did with our Matariki stars.  We didn't have time for these in Term 1 when we made and tested our Matariki bird kites and telescopes.  But now, at last, our stars are hanging down from the ceiling, watching over us.

First, we had to colour the star.

Then we had to add tassels, beads and feathers.

Here is a finished star - you can see more in the VISUAL ART page or hanging in the classaroom.

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Koanga Festival

Cockle Bay hosted the Koanga Festival for the first time.  Many schools from our local area came together to showcase their kapa haka, including our junior and senior kapa haka groups.  As Room 18 is close to the hall, our classroom was used as a dressing room.  We relocated to Room 5 for the day, and worked with Year 4s for the day.  In the morning, we rotated through several activity stations with a Maori perspective: weaving, Maori myths, local history, traditional Maori games and waiata.

Weaving in Room 5

Watching kapa haka in the hall

Te Reo Maori

On Monday mornings, Howick College students come with their teacher to teach us Te Reo Maori. The focus is to feel more confident is speaking Maori.  We learn action songs to help with our pronunciation, and  useful phrases so we can introduce ourselves and make people feel welcome.  Some people have written their pepeha and are practising reciting them, so that they can introduce themselves more formally.

This week, we learnt how to tell people our name.

Here are Andrew and Lincoln practising their introductions, and telling us their names.

Matarki Celebrations

To celebrate Matariki, Cockle Bay had a special assembly.  Parents got a special invite and were also invited to visit our classrooms afterwards.  In Room 18, we have been reading the book, 'Matariki' and learning about the kinds of things people traditionally did to celebrate the Maori New Year.

We decided to make telescopes in Room 18 so that we could see the constellation, the Seven Sisters, whenever we looked through them.  It was good having adults to help us.  In the afternoon, we followed instructions on a video to make a kite, another traditional past time at Matariki.

All our parent visitors and students (except Lincoln's Dad who was here earlier).

When the telescopes were finished, we took them outside to look at the 'Seven Sisters'.

In the afternoon, we made bird kites.

Then, of course, we had to test them out on the field.

Here is a video of our second test run.

Maori lessons with Howick College

On Monday mornings, Howick College students come to Room 18 to teach us how to speak and sing in Te Reo and to help us learn more about Maori cultural.songs.  Everyone has been writing and reciting their own pepeha.  We all enjoy the action songs too.