Category: Hanga | Create

As part of our Matariki and Literacy learning, we read The Kai Stars of Matariki, written by Miriama Kamo. This pukapuka teaches us the important role that Tupuanuku and Tupuarangi play in determining whether the year’s harvest will be good or not.

Tupuānuku is intimately tied to Papatūānuku (Earth Mother). She represents everything that grows within and upon the soil, e.g. kūmara, potatoes, carrots.  Tupuārangi is tied to Ranginui (Sky Father). He governs everything that grows or lives above the ground, e.g. fruit, berries and manu.

At the end of the pukapuka, the people of Te Mata Hāpuku had a hākari. We learned what a hākari was, talked about who we would invite, and then we planned our own, including our favourite kai. First, we planned our kai by drawing it, then we got a pereti and created our favourite kai. Then we used Explain Everything to share and explain what we included in our hākari.

What kai would you bring to a hākari?

A couple of weeks ago during CRT with Islay, Ata Hāpara teina dived into the world of mandalas!

We started by learning how mandalas use repeating patterns to create beautiful, eye-catching images. Then, it was time to get hands-on. We gathered natural materials like leaves and flower petals, carefully arranging them on paper to practice our symmetry skills. Once everything looked perfectly balanced, we glued them down with PVA. Check out some of our amazing creations below. Ka pai tō mahi, teina!

Whaea Emma’s pangarau rōpū have been learning about measurement. Yesterday, they learned about perimeter and that to find the perimeter, you needed to measure around the object. We practised measuring with non-standard units. We used popsicle sticks, cubes and post-it notes. We then recorded our findings and compared them. We learned that it was important to make sure your units were touching so you could get an accurate measurement. Are you surprised by any of our results?

This week, we have been learning about the different planets in Space. After learning about Te Marama and the phases, we wanted to investigate what else was out there. Whaea Koha read us information about the 8 planets, and we had so many questions. We found that 4 planets were rocky and 4 were made of gas. They all look so different and are different sizes. We are practising learning the planets in order from the Sun. We can’t wait to continue this learning this week!

We have had so much fun today during choice & challenge! Thank you to our tuakana who ran mau rakau, poi, play dough making, maker space & colouring. We also had pink shirt day today to stand together against bullying, remember if someone is saying mean words or trying to hurt you, say stop & tell an adult!

Whaea Emma’s Maths group have been working on their skip counting. We went outside to practice our skip counting. We recited our skip counting in 2’s to 20, then had a go at skip counting as high as we could. We noticed that there was a repeating pattern, 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, which helped us when we were exploring bigger numbers. We then went and looked at each other’s mahi and practised our skip counting together.

After reading our shared pukapuka, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we were interested in how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. We did some learning about metamorphosis and the steps of the life cycle. We had fun creating headbands to help us remember the life cycle. The next day we did some procedural writing and wrote each step of the life cycle. Some of us used Explain Everything to record ourselves as we could add more detail then when we wrote our ideas down. We experimented using procedural language such as first, next, then, finally. Watch our video to hear our explanations.

I te wiki, Whaea Emma’s Pangarau rōpū learned about the months of the year and seasons. We created a wall sharing all of our birthdays. We learned which month and season our birthdays were in. We began learning more about each season, what they look and feel like and what events happen during each season. Then we worked together and created some posters to share our learning and added them to our wall! What is your favourite thing about each season?