Matariki Celebrations

  Our last couple of weeks of Term 2 also saw us finish off our wonderful Matariki celebrations with a school hangi and a trip to the Star Compass.  Both events were amazing and enjoyed by everybody.  It was great to see all the children really interested in the process of the Hangi- the preparation of the pit and the cooking of the food. And when it came to actually eating the hangi, everybody enjoyed the delicious offering as you can see by the photos.

Our visit to the Star Compass was the coldest day of the year to date but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm.  We took the whole school in 2 buses and arrived there to be met by some friends of Whaia Jaquie, our Te Reo tutor, who had organised a wonderful series of activities to learn more about the Star Compass.  We found out the names of the main carvings and the stories associated with them and the significance around the stars at this time of year- the Maori New Year or Matariki.  We were shown how to use and throw a rope when travelling on a waka and also a game to learn the Maori names of the compass. It was a great trip and one I know will be a special part of our on-going celebrations around Matariki.  

We finished off the term and our Fractions unit making waffles.  They were divided into fifths, so we had fun working out how much of one we could possibly eat.  Could it be 1/5 or could we possibly manage 2/5 ?  As there was only 16 of us on the final day of the term most of the children actually got to enjoy 5/5 or one whole entire waffle!!  They all enjoyed squeezing lemon and a sprinkle of sugar to make their very own delicious waffles.

Whatever The Weather

Term 2 had a big weather focus and saw us looking at where our weather comes from, the water cycle and weather extremes.  This culminated in a great trip, with Room 8, to the Aquarium to take part in their educational program around The Forces of Nature- volcanoes, tsunami and earthquakes.

The lessons were perfectly pitched at our Year 1 and 2 Year levels and with their hands-on approach had all the children, and adults, full attention. We made volcanoes erupt, saw a tsunami in action, built buildings that could withstand an earthquake and thought about what was important in a home survival kit.  There was lots of interesting discussion and our children showcased their high levels of interest and knowledge.

Then we all got to see the penguins being fed and had a super look right around the rest of the aquarium before heading on a lovely walk along the path to the playground where we had our lunch and a play.

We returned on the bus back to school after a great and memorable outing.

Our School Musical Production was also a celebration of our term and such a lot of fun.  Our item was a song called ‘Weather Song” and had all 4 elements of sun, rain wind and snow.  We all dressed up and had fun with our song and the actions.  I hope you got to see the show in the last week of the term because we certainly had great fun performing it. I really liked the variety of items by each class and the way Lynn Urwin our magical music teacher had tied everything together into a fabulous show.

Our butterfly girls

Sensational Seven